When the Rache first attacked, the world devolved into chaos. Humanity had been on top of the food chain for so long that they had forgotten that they were once prey. A world government needed to be established yet humans still fought against one another, unable to comprehend the magnitude of the impending calamity.
Traditional weapons failed against the invading alien race, grenades and missiles barely doing any damage.
It was at that point that an idea took root. For ten humans to infiltrate the Rache and study their technology.
It was a suicide mission. The purpose was simply to buy enough time for leaders to assure their citizens that they were doing something, anything to stop the otherworldly threat.
Surprisingly, two people returned and with them a piece of alien technology, or so they thought. The history surrounding that time was still dark and so details were scarce but the single fact was: Humanity's hope had arrived.
With the advent of abilities, the Rache was pushed back. It was a promising future, a glorious one–It was the Golden Age.
And the two people? The heralders of the advent of that new Age? They became heroes, their names traveling throughout the world.
Yet even they couldn't escape their own shadows. One was sucked into her trauma, a noble sacrifice if you considered her sanity a fitting price for Humanity.
The other, driven by fear, built up an Organization, one that quickly superseded all military. One that controlled everything, from the birth of a human down to their very death–The UAE, United Alliance of Earth.
Of course certain problems soon arose from that format, one of them being how the military was in control of everything.
The solution: Factions. The rich and powerful were allowed to create various factions as long as they could follow just two rules: In times of emergencies, the military could exercise power on them and that every of their heirs were obligated to attend an academy course created by the military. The latter was where Jace was headed.
To represent all those things, the UAE logo consisted of four colors: black to represent the Dark Age or more precisely the moment the war began, the blue and green to signify earth and the white to signify the faint sliver of hope humanity had.
That had been over thousands of years ago.
It was that same logo that was attached to the chest of the man now threatening Jace.
“I'm going to say it again, who are you?” The man spoke slowly, carefully. He spoke as if speaking to a child, or rather threatening one.
Jace raised his hands slowly, his voice as soft as the one before him.
“Jace, Jace Blank. And where am I?”
For a short while the man stared Jace down. His eyes briefly scanned over him. The metal cuff wrapped around the officer's wrist beeped. “Student confirmed. Jace Blank, Student ID 021893”
As the watch repeated in a sexless voice, Jace slowly rubbed the hand where his cyberlink previously was. It was gone, taken by the military. That or by Edgis. Jace hoped it was the latter. He had grown quite fond of it.
The man sighed as he visibly relaxed. He offered a small disarming smile as he spoke, “Sorry about that. Rules.”
Jace frowned as he clarified. “So, what you're saying is you threatened to kill me and that's just … rules?”
“Pretty much,” The man replied, nodding before breaking out into a smile. “Plus, it's better than someone infiltrating as a regular student.”
Jace furrowed his brows as he clarified “You're saying, someone's tried sneaking in,”
The man's smile faded as he shook his head “No, but this is one of the safety precautions we have to take,”
He paused for a while before continuing “The base is one of the few secrets we still hold. Revealing it will be one of the worst things that could happen.”
Jace sat back down on the bed as he tapped the bedpost. He was there, on the ship headed straight for the Academy.
A smile slowly formed on his lips as his fingers tapped against the bed post faster. Anxiety and excitement crossed in Jace's body as the military officer watched, an amused smirk playing in his lips.
He called out, his voice low and a bit friendly “Are you that excited for the Academy, or is the poison still doing a number on you?”
Jace's smile froze as he repeated blankly “Poison?”
The officer grinned as he leaned against a metal wall. He reached into his pockets, retrieving two brown pipes. He spinned them round as he offered one to Jace.
Jace offered a polite smile as he raised his legs onto the mattress instinctively forming the lotus pose “No thanks, so poison?”
“Good. Saying no's a solid skill to have, especially here,” The man grinned. He tapped the wall rhythmically “As for the poison, yeah. Did you really think we were going to take a bunch of screaming bratty kids on a journey to possibly the most secure place?”
The officer chuckled to himself. Jace pondered on whether to inform the well built man that he was technically an adult but ignored it in favor of something else “They're others?”
A simple nod answered Jace's question “A few others–like you–have shrugged off the poisons effect”
Silence descended in the room as the two faced each other. Finally, Jace asked “Why are you here? You came here to verify my ID and you seem to have done that yet here you are.”
The officer attempted to grin yet failed. Instead, he offered a sad smile. “Because it's my job. That and I get a bit bored,”
The officer arose, dusting his uniform. He spoke evenly, as if he was reciting a common story “It's boring. Earth's a secure base and so not a lot of people can go there. So, I spend most of my life floating around.”
Jace nodded. He took a deep breath in as he allowed himself to fall backwards onto the bed. He sighed heavily, until his brows furrowed in confusion, then his face in confusion.
He sat up, a question written on his face. The officer gazed at Jace as he chuckled, his chuckles exploding into full-blown laughter.
Laughing until his laughter devolved into cough, the officer clarified “I'm not some weird super secret agent as you might think. And I'm not a desk officer. I retired. That's why I was given this job”
At the same time, he rubbed the ring on his finger, his eyes still fixed on Jace “That and my wife didn't want my daughter to grow up without a father”
Jace paused as he suddenly felt stupid “So the thing about Earth's being a secret base. That was fake. And what about the other things?”
The officer smiled as he retrieved the cigarette from his pocket offering to Jace. “You sure you don't want this. Seems like you need to calm down.”
Jace shook his head as the officer sighed before speaking “Earth being a secret base, that was a little fake. You see, they're no secret bases, not in this war at least. The rule on me threatening to kill you or any other students, that was true.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The man shrugged as he said that last part “Don't know why. The order came down directly from the head of the military.”
Jace’s hands unclenched as suspicion still roared in his head “So, what's the true reason you're telling me this? And don't say it's an order or you're bored.”
The man smiled at that statement “I've worked here for about six years, that's still small but I've seen my fair share of things,”
He paused for a moment, his smile disappearing. In its place were eyes colder than steel and a face carved from stone “I've seen average people, above average, geniuses, prodigies and finally, monsters walk into the academy,”
“The point of this test is simply to investigate who can survive. We're in a war. What do you think is the best skill to have in a war?”
“Survival skills? Intelligence?” The man laughed at his question, his eyes swimming in a sea of madness. “Adaptability.”
The man watched as Jace slowly tapped his bedpost once more before continuing
“Having a strong ability gives you a headstart, but that’s only when you can see the enemy in front of you. What happens when you're facing an enemy that's hiding in the shadows, waiting for you to get your guard down. Or you're facing an enemy that's waiting for you to fall asleep before attacking?”
“The answer: you're dead. But what if while your enemy is hiding, you begin hiding. What if while your enemy is waiting for you to let up, you wait for him to let down his guard. Then, it becomes a question of whose ability, technique and even environment is more advantageous.”
“That's the point of the test, it's to determine who's the fastest to adapt to the environment. Of course poison users have a clear advantage but again, nothing in life is fair.”
As he spoke Jace felt like he could hear his father in those words. He had droned on and on about war and its effect and the only way to win it was to be ready for everything.
It was half of the reason Jace's life had been riddled with training after training after training.
But, there was still one thing Jace was confused about. After touching the stone he had fainted in Edgis's basement yet here he was on the ship.
While this meant he had been unconscious for close to a day it also posed the question, how had Edgis managed to get Jace on the ship.
Jace doubted they would allow his unconscious body. The man's answer confused him more “What do you mean? You entered the way every normal person entered. The only thing off about you was that you didn't say goodbye but even that's not really uncommon.”
Jace sighed as he heard that. Well, forget it. The important thing was he was here right now.
The man began leaving the room as Jace called out “Hey, what's your name?”
The man turned back with a small smile and returned “Eric Steeler. Remember it, by the time you come back I'll probably be in dire need of a promotion.”
Laughing at his joke, he left shutting the door as he walked out.
“Wait,” Jace screamed as the door shut. Looking around, he muttered to himself “So what exactly am I supposed to do?”
Almost like an answer, the screen appeared, hovering over Jace. Jace sighed as he lay back down on the cold mattress.
With a soft sigh he whispered softly “Time to see what this thing truly is.”
* * *
Jace sighed one last time as he gazed at the screen in front of him.
[Skills]
[No skills available]
The stone of death which was supposed to give Jace unimaginable power was a fake. Thinking about it, Edgis had said something similar.
Jace furrowed his brows and racked his brains as he pondered on the events before the stone of death. Most of his memories were hazy but Jace was sure Edgis had promised him a weapon, right.
Finally with yet another sigh, Jace gave up. He needed to stop sighing too often.
Moving away from the screen, he checked his stats
[Strength: 7] Health [20/20]
[Speed: 8]
[Resistance: 6]
[Stamina : 7]
[Reflexes: 9]
[Perception: 4]
[The Average stats for a peak human is 10]
Jace scanned through them. Most were easy to grasp, all except perception. Jace associated it with senses, almost like a sixth sense or something similar but he couldn't be sure.
He dismissed the system window as he lay on the bed. It was hard–just like the mats he had to spend countless nights on for training. For a second, Jace found himself missing home.
Missing Eric and their games of chess, missing Edgis and his stories of long lost history, missing his father. Jace shook his head at that last line.
Nothing could make him miss that man, except the time he had taken Jace to the intergalactic softball championships, but even that had been a form of training.
Jace groaned as he pushed the picture away. He sighed heavily. Jace missed his cousin. No, that was too far. His cousin was too much of an arrogant manipulative piece of shi-
As Jace pondered on his complex relationship with his only remaining family members, an alarm resounded
‘Doors will be temporarily open. I repeat the doors will be temporarily open. Please exit the room and leave the ship orderly. The exit will be easy to notice. Thank you.’
As the voice spoke the metal wall blocking Jace from leaving slowly opened. It creaked and sighed but it opened, revealing Jace to the outside.
Jace rose from the bed and walked slowly towards the open wall. This was the last opportunity for him to leave, for him to go back to home, for him to watch the artificial sun go down as he gazed at the distant sky, completely at peace.
But Jace knew. The choice had been made when he had grabbed the stone of death, even though it had been useless.
Somehow he couldn't go back, not with his invisible to fate and mark of fate title watching him.
And so with a heavy sigh he walked out, his head not turning back.
As he did the door shut behind him highlighting what he had always known. He couldn't return.
Jace noticed others around what appeared to be a hallway, mostly teens but a few looked slightly older. Some of them were wide awake while others kept yawning.
A few people searched their pockets as they watched, as if looking for something which gave Jace the information he needed. All of them had been searched while unconscious.
Jace wasn't too bothered by this. Others, he wasn't so sure.
Looking around Jace was able to see the full scale of the ship. On both sides of the ships were rooms which seemed to go on forever.
Aside from that a stairwell heading up from the floor Jace was in reached into a higher one making Jace aware that there were even more rooms.
Turning to assess side, Jace could see a bright light originating from the exit of the ship. A slight breeze passed over Jace as he frowned.
And then an idea came to him. No, not an idea, a theory.
Jace walked towards the exit, this time with purpose and a vague sense of clearness.
A few others seemed to notice the same thing. The once orderly crowd devolved into mindless creatures with one singular goal, to reach the light.
Jace, meanwhile, ran until he reached the landing. There he saw it.
The cool wind blew around, tickling his skin, as he walked down the iron stairwell leading down to the ground. In front of him was a grass field stretched for miles on end.
Jace felt his lips tremble as he gazed upwards. There was no dome, no protective surface or measure.
The sky was light blue, exactly as Jace had heard. The sun meanwhile, Jace couldn't see it due to a few clouds containing it but he could feel it.
The warmth was similar yet different, casting over him in a way the artificial light had never. It had a unique tint, something Jace couldn't understand.
Jace directed his gaze downward reaching down to pluck a blade of grass.
Rubbing it against his fingers, it gradually took a shredded appearance, not at all like the synthetic ones which always felt hard and brittle.
Jace smiled, chuckles escaping from his lips. He had heard of this place, seen pictures of it. It was the location of the first battle in this intergalactic war, the cradle of humanity and one of the only ‘pure’ planets Humanity could live in without the domes.
This was Earth.
Jace had heard about it in stories but never had he thought he would one day be standing there.
Some of the stories Jace had heard could only be considered fairytales: a land where plants grew without synthesizing, a place where the ocean contained vast amounts of salts, a place where animals could live and breathe easily without requiring any form of tech implants.
As he thought, he heard a soft crunching, like plastic being shattered into a thousand pieces. Turning, he noticed a young man in a blazer.
Stretching out his hands in a welcoming posture, the sun turning his blonde hair golden. With a small smile on his face, the new arrival declared
“Everyone, welcome to Earth,”
