1

For centuries, our ancestors, have been enslaved and forcefully taken to work at Causan Industries. We never discovered how to get to Causan Industries. First of all, they have assassins and camps all around our city to prevent us from looking for them and to take more people. A scientist and professor named Louisiano Alon made a stand to protect us and formed the Aleris Imperial Army by creating elemental and self-generating weapons. The people started to fight back, but it wasn’t enough. Causan Industries started to take our natural resources such as iron, oil, and fuel to make their own weapons, and they were good at it. They created weapons that can easily kill a human being even from a long range and trained the people they enslaved to be assassins with nanotechnology. Louisiano Alon infiltrated Causan Industries, the first to ever succeed. He discovered the true plan of Causan Industries- to make the city fall, literally. Our city is a big island that evolved. We made walls around the edges of the island and underground facilities to improve our security, but the whole island is at stake the moment Louisiano returned to share the information he learned. Not long after, Louisiano was assassinated.

“How long are you going to doze off, Red?” Marco remarked. I blinked and stared at the ceiling. I sat up from my bed and turned to him who was also laying down and obviously dozing off as well.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Shut the fuck up, Marco.”

The door suddenly swung open and we jumped to our feet. The sun from outside surrounded the room and the cold breeze sent chills to my skin. I was still wearing a plain black shirt without my uniform.

“Get your asses out here, Quinscity and Kleighs!” Captain Hiragi called. We immediately wore our uniforms and went outside. The camp was alive as always, almost all of the soldiers were training despite their classes and squad. Our squad was in a different area than everyone else. Captain Hiragi trains us himself.

When we headed to the back of the camp where we train, the others were already there. There are only four of us- me, Marco, Josaiah, and Xy.  I’m a marksman. I use an electrified steel bow that generates its own steel charged arrows. Marco Kleighs is an assassin. He uses daggers that poison the blood of the flesh it is pierced or slashed on. Even the smallest and slightest of cuts can kill the person in a matter of seconds. Josaiah Solace is the warrior, the fighter who has the best combat skills in the squad. He carries laser induced plasma twin blades that shade the color emerald. Xy Caurus is the creator or the inventor. He runs the ground game- creating traps, vision equipment, almost everything essential before battle.

“Today, you will be joined by another squad,” Captain Hiragi started. Xy nudged Josaiah to tease him, probably expecting women to join us. I laughed beneath my breath and Josaiah, who was beside me, slapped my back.

Captain Hiragi glared at us and we froze. “Gabriella Alon and her squad will be joining you later evening.”

Our eyes widened. The Gabriella Alon? The daughter of the general? I heard there’s only three of them in their squad. Gabriella herself, Ace Ledger, and Snow Esther. Those three are the best of the best. Our squad is the main force of offense, but we were never joined by them. Simply put, we attack the pawns, they attack the higher ups, and they succeed all the time. I’ve only seen Snow in action, creating healing and regenerating orbs on the spot for Gabriella, Ace, and other injured people around them.

“Wait, what? Are we serious?” Josaiah asked. The reason we’re this shocked is because we’ve never trained with them before, let alone have a conversation with them. They were like the elites of the whole aleris army. The last time we saw them was only silhouettes of them on top of a mountain above us, sighting the camp.

“Yes. This was ordered by the general herself,” Captain Hiragi said. Speaking of the general, we haven’t seen her in weeks. She usually monitors and observes the training and events here in camp, but I haven’t seen a trace of her lately.

Suddenly, I felt a burst of magnetic pulse behind us, inside the forest. The others sensed it as well, immediately turning with their weapons. Captain Hiragi raised a hand, signaling us to stand down. I observed the forest closely for any movement, but only the sounds of birds and rustling of leaves can be heard.

“There’s some kind of activity happening at least 800 meters from us,” Xy explained while touching the ground. He had a crystal wand sticking inside the ground, the crystal shining.

We looked at Captain Hiragi for his orders but he was staring at the forest with a horrified expression. I sharply inhaled.

“Captain?” Josaiah called. Captain Hiragi breathed and looked at us, his expression now different from before. Now, he looked determined, like he has a plan. I couldn’t understand what was happening except that there was something in the forest either enemy or ally.

“Squad 1-A led by Red Quinscity, you and your team are to investigate the activity said to be 800 meters from here. Eliminate any suspicious looking being on sight,” Captain Hiragi ordered.

I looked at my team and we all nodded at each other. “Yes, sir.” Captain Hiragi immediately went back to camp to report the activity. Me and my team entered the forest slowly in our defense formation. Josaiah was beside me while I was on his right. Marco climbed the trees while Xy set up tracing machinery every 200 meters we pass.

As we reach at least 600 meters, the ground felt moist and unstable. I raised a fist, signaling my team to stop. I looked at the ground and saw that pinches of it were rumbling. When I looked closely, the pebbles of rocks were rumbling as well.

“Xy, what do you make of this?” I asked Xy as I carefully take a handful of soil. There was nothing under it, but they were all lightly rumbling. Xy pressed the frame of his glasses and his right lens turned green.

He knelt to the ground and looked at the ground closely. “There seems to be a machine beneath the soil causing it to rumble. I’m guessing that’s where the magnetic pulse came from,” Xy explained.

Suddenly, a flock of birds came rushing to the sky. We looked up and saw Marco staring at something in front of us. I looked around for any sign of attack, but we were clear. I placed my weapon behind my back and it attached to my uniform, turning translucent.

“Marco! See anything?” I called to him.

Marco looked down and pointed north. “I see the general! She’s at the cliff!”

We all ran to the cliff while Marco hopped between trees above us. When we arrived, that’s where we noticed the ground glowing despite the soil. There was no rumbling but the ground felt like it was cut in half, like it was cracking. General Alon was in front of us, staring at the sea. We stood firmly behind her, waiting for her reaction. She probably sensed us coming already.

“Boys, we have a problem,” she softly said, still looking at the sea. Suddenly, a large wave rose from below, hitting the cliff. The ground shook and we all dropped down, but General Alon remained standing. The ground we were at suddenly collapsed but we were all surprised that we didn’t fall in the water at all.

“What the hell?” Marco exclaimed. The ground we were standing on was gone and we were now standing on a metal platform attached to the ground beside us. When we stood, General Alon was now in front of us.

“Causan Industries is directly corrupting our land and we are slowly collapsing. This is just one of the hundred machines connected around the island, but fortunately, this one only activates once every two weeks,” General Alon explained to us. So that’s why she wasn’t at camp for weeks- she was monitoring the machine. To think that Causan Industires has been secretly planting shit on our island without us noticing is a big downfall to Aleris. How long have they been doing this? Months?

“What about the other machines?” Xy asked.

“Most of them are still inactive, maybe because it still lacks resources. My daughter has been monitoring half of it, travelling around the island to check each one close to camp,” General Alon replied.

Now that explained a few things.