STARING AT THE MYSTERIOUS MAN AND THE FRIGHTENING WOMAN, the young man said, "What the hell is going on with you people?"
Standing up, Mr. Mysterious said, "Well, my friend, I work for the government, and, well… this one was on patrol and happened to find you, and I just happened to be floating around the area myself, taking a closer look at the both of them."
Now that all the action had come to an end, the young man looked upon the woman. She seemed to be in her mid-20s, with gray straight hair that went past her shoulders. She wasn't extremely tall, but she was taller than most women the boy had seen. Their black attire was the same: a coat with mid-length sleeves and a fur lining around the collar. Simple, bland at best but somehow, the young man knew that was on purpose. Their uniforms were carbon copies, blending in with the night sky like dark shadows. She wasn't bulky, but he could tell her muscles were strongly defined even while wearing the coat.
Looking toward the man, he couldn't really get a read on him. He could tell he was probably around the same height and age as the shadow lady. He had silver messy hair that seemed like it didn't want to lay down or stay still but that was basically it. His muscles weren't as defined. He didn't have anything that made him stand out as a threat or interesting, except his expression. It wasn't a wide smile or anything it was just a slight smirk that exuded confidence and, from what he could tell, amusement.
"Now, my friend, I'm wondering what to do about you," the mysterious man said. "I don't want to kill you because it would take too long to clean up. Hmh… what to do…"
"Wait, don't kill me, dude! I won't say anything about you! I'm a street rat. I know my lane!" the boy shouted.
"You are a street rat. That's why I can't just let you go. I couldn't really trust a word that comes out of your mouth."
"Well, I guess I saved you from Mimi for no reason. Then this must be done."
"Wait, no! Please!"
Walking closer and closer to the boy, he stands in front of him and says, "You're coming with us now… to jail."
"Ha-ha, no, silly. You're coming with us to give up your life."
"Wait, what?!"
Then it all went black. No conscience, just black. His head spun like a tornado, his eyes trying to adjust to reality.
When he came to, all the boy could do was look in shock. He was just in the vault. Now he was in a room without light. He couldn't make out the slightest bit of his surroundings. His hands were not known to him at all. In fact, it was as if, in that darkness, his whole body was missing. He wondered if his eyes were still closed or if they simply hadn't adjusted to any sort of light.
To make things worse, he wasn't alone. He started hearing voices growing voices not like the ones that keep you up at night, but a collective sighing and mumbling. Finally, after all the confusion and mystery, light appeared one by one, lights that seemed to never end, row by row. They turned on to reveal that he wasn't just in a dark space; he was in a room with hundreds of people.
Those weren't voices those were other people. The room had scratches and impact marks along all sides of the walls, and somehow, even the ceiling. All along, there were markings stating things like: Help! The end is near! You can't escape!
It was overwhelming. Most ran, searching for an exit in the giant cube-shaped space. Some gathered together to try to break their way out with brute force, but none prevailed. They were like mice trapped in a cage. But within that very same cage, an evil, even worse than being trapped, was about to ensue.
Descending below a square platform from the top of the so-called mice cage came to greet all below, and on that platform, a lone girl came down. Her hair was frizzy black at the back of her head, with two big long braids at the front, with pink highlights in them. Her attire, just like her hair, was overall weird. She had a suit on that looked like a poor attempt at dying the suit wasn't fully colored, with splashes of red, white, blue, and pink basically the whole rainbow
Standing tall and proud, with cheer and excitement, she uttered, "Hello, all my new friends! Welcome to my humble abode. My name is Pixie. I am lead of our science department. Here, a few words before we get started. I know the situation right now seems weird and unexplainable, but don't worry it will all be over soon.
"Anyway, now, either you were crazy enough to sign up for this, dumb enough to sign up for something you didn't know what it was, or you were a bum we just picked up. This is to ensure all of your futures… well, not actually. Maybe a few generations down the line, but to hell with that. I'm talking too much. Here, let me wrap this up quickly.
"The tiles from above open again. This time, all over the huge room, stone statues began to fall, drooping from above. They created loud thuds that shook the entire room.
"Now, my friends, your one and only job is to stay alive. Oh, wait, sorry, almost forgot. When in danger, yell out the words in your heart the one that calls out to you in that moment. I hope you all the best. This is to weed out the weak. So, let the death begin."
The platform she stood on rose back up. As soon as it did, the tiles were all in place again. The stone statues broke apart and crumbled, revealing them all to be pigs. High in a space directly above the cage, scientists in lab coats were everywhere, monitoring the contestants.
"Sneed!" she called.
"Yes, Miss Pixie," an older gentleman with glasses, his long gray mustache and beard larger than his own face, appeared.
"Is the serum fool proof?"
"Yes, ma'am. We tested it earlier on other subjects no problems."
"Great! Because if this fails, they won't be the only ones who die. How much longer, though?"
"About eleven more seconds of the original minute."
"
Perfect."
Down below, everyone was confused. What was the danger? What was the threat? Suddenly, one of the pigs grew horns from its head and tusks from its nostrils. The pig grew larger, veins popping from all over its body.
"Ahhh! What the hell?!" a man shouted.
Before he could even run or say another word, the now larger pig bit his head clean off. People ran in terror. They began to die left and right. Screams filled the room. Blood scattered everywhere.
It was no longer just mice in the cage; the predators were here. But hope wasn't completely lost. One of those answers came from the sky.
With a simple motion, a tall blond man with a smirk made the monster pigs explode. Eyes, guts, and intestines rained down. Nearby, a short boy wielding an abnormally large scythe swung it and, with impossible strength, cut some of the pigs in half. Another girl floated pigs to the ceiling. A man made a whole area lava, drowning others in fiery pain.
All seemed to be looking good for the humans. But to everyone's surprise, the remainder of the pigs merged into a grotesque pig monster with black veins, standing on two legs and roaring. With a single slam of its hands, it killed half the remaining people.
"Run!" was all that could be thought.
The mischievous little thief ran past everyone. He knew this was no time to be a hero his own life was at stake. Running at top speed, he noticed a small boy with dark hair, one piece sticking out, clear glasses, and a huge brown backpack. The boy was holding his legs, shaking, unable to fall off.
"Hey, friend, don't leave me!" the small boy cried.
"We just met. We're not friends," the thief replied.
"Don't mean that, friend!"
Suddenly, a large bubble surrounded both the young man and the small boy. The lady who had risen some pigs earlier had used her powers to save them, slowly raising them into the sky.
If the boy feared the giant monster grabbing them and popping the bubble, he had nothing to worry about the pigs were smaller than a building.
"Well, friend, one like me would think these are powers of old that people in the past used to fight off evil," the thief said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, at least that's what it seems like. How else would you explain it?"
"Good point," the boy said.
"What's your name, dude?"
"Me? I'm Kael. Kael Ardent. What's your name?"
"My name is Axis. Axis knight "
"Well then, friend, what do we do from here?"
"I guess we try to figure out how to use these powers," Axis thought deeply. Thinking back to what the lady said, he uttered, "Open sesame… power…"
Nothing worked.
"What was it? What were those words?
Then it hit him. He realized the power didn't just come they must be a source for something of that magnitude.
"Let's make a deal," he said.
Suddenly, he was no longer in that bubble. He was in a white space with clouds and birds alike. At a distance a woman sat in a chair at a table with another seat.
The woman said to Axis from afar, "Sit. Let's make our deal."