《For our tomorrows》 Prologue: Into a darker dawn This is my first work, therefore: - Please (gently) point out my mistakes - Don¡¯t rate it just yet: although I have a complete plot in my mind the storytelling may change a lot during the first few chapters (unless it¡¯s five stars, I¡¯ll take five stars anytime ^^). - If you have time, quickly comment about: what you liked, what you disliked, what you found awkward, which passage you skipped, and what didn¡¯t feel was realistic enough. I hope you enjoy my small contribution to RRL ---------------------------Prologue: Into a darker dawn--------------------------- ¡°As mankind faces annihilation, we need to entrust our salvation to a greater power. Our history is marked by men of exception, men with enough vision and strength to bring us a better future¡­ Yet what could mere humans do against the Horde? This is why our organization exists! We make sure that people fit to fight against this apocalypse come to be! Ascended humans spreading great wings of blazing red or brilliant white to carry our hopes! Yes, our methods lack compassion. Yes! We understand how some of you could even call them cruel! Yet what choice do we have? The only alternative to our work is extinction! It is not selfishness that leads us to subject our own children to so much pain and danger. It is hope! This perilous ordeal is not designed to let them save us, it exists to allow them to save themselves! Answer me, citizens of the Earth! Will you, because of a short-sighted compassion, leave our future generation powerless to defend the planet that is rightfully theirs? Or will you continue to support our battle for survival? WILL YOU HOPE TOGETHER WITH US?¡± After those final enthralling words, the spokesman of the Hope Initiative bowed deeply and left the stage. That he had not given any actual fact about the rejects scandal did not seem to bother the fervently cheering audience. After a brief exchange with his security detail, he exited the room through a small door situated behind the stage. As he arrived to the elevator he bade farewell to his bodyguards and pressed the button that would lead him to the roof where the CEO¡¯s chopper would soon land to pick him up. While he waited for the elevator to arrive, he started humming a cheerful tune, anticipating his superior¡¯s satisfaction at his flawless performance. When the doors opened again to the night sky, he stepped onto the windy roof and nearly had a heart attack at the sound of an unexpected voice. ¡°Heresy!¡± yelled a familiar old man wearing a tattered windbreaker. ¡°What are you doing here again?¡± he replied angrily. ¡°Are you stalking me? I have nothing to say to you, lunatic tramp.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve done it now!¡± the other continued, undeterred. ¡°Your cowardice led us to our doom! Torturing children¡­ Tinkering with what should be left alone¡­ And for what? Power? Hope? Don¡¯t make me laugh!¡± ¡°Enough! As we have already said earlier this week, there is no such thing as rejects! The only deaths occur during training!¡± The Hope Initiative representative discretely dialed security. ¡°I know it¡¯s a lie,¡± the madman mumbled. ¡°But it¡¯s not just about the rejects¡­ Even the others¡­ How could they not hate us when they ascend? Now you¡¯ve done it. You¡¯ve done it you¡¯ve done it you¡¯ve done it you¡¯ve done it¡­.¡± He looked even crazier than the previous time he had seen him. Yet he did not worry much, after all, his bodyguards were probably rushing here, and the beggar looked physically weak anyway. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! As he started to relax, he took notice of his surroundings and suddenly froze at the sight of a helicopter on the other side of the roof. Its lights were off and it was completely still but there was no one on the roof whether it be pilot, passengers or bodyguard. Suddenly the darkness gave him an uneasy feeling. It couldn¡¯t be his lift, otherwise it wouldn¡¯t have been left unattended. But then, what was it doing here? ¡°Hello?¡± Compelled by an unexplainable anxiety gnawing at his insides, he stepped toward the abandoned chopper and away from the raving old man. Why would he be afraid? He had no logical reason to¡­ And his superior logic was his pride and greatest quality, after all! There, you see? There was even room for a second chopper, his chopper, to land. Nothing to be wary of, obviously! ¡°Hello?¡± He had nearly reached the helicopter, and through the wind and the soft rain, the rambling of the beggar had been reduced to a buzzing in the background. He couldn¡¯t even hear his own footsteps. He suddenly recognized the logo of the Hope Initiative on the empty chopper and had to acknowledge that it was the CEO¡¯s. ¡°Nothing serious could have happened, though,¡± he thought desperately. After all, the CEO, because of who he is, is the only person being guarded by two distinct ascended humans at all times: a Fallen and an Angel! The power of two archenemies, red and white wings combining together for his protection¡­ How could a demon possibly trump that? He abruptly realized he was walking on something soft that was muffling the sound of his footsteps. He slowly lowered his eyes. Feathers. Purple and ebony feathers everywhere on the wet floor. His mind started to be slowly overcome with terror. ¡°Why so much dismay?¡± a gentle voice asked. He raised his head sharply. At the edge of the roof, so still that he had missed her at first, stood a young woman. She was wearing a jet black dress, the same shade as the long wet curls plastered around her pale face, the color of the night behind her. She couldn¡¯t have been older than twenty. The water dripping from her face and the slightly lost look in her eyes gave her an aura of loneliness that momentarily entranced him. As she imperceptibly tilted her head and returned his gaze, he caught a glimpse of a dark shape slowly rippling behind the girl. The air was faintly pulsing along with the shadow, whirling and pulling him to her. His sight and his hearing dimmed until he could only barely hear the beggar who had started whimpering in the distance, far, far away¡­ ¡°It cannot come as a surprise,¡± she continued quietly. ¡°After all, could you walk unpunished after what you have done?¡± Alarm bells rang in his mind at those words, but he somehow couldn¡¯t manage to think clearly. A feather twirled in the wind between them. He absent-mindedly looked at it and immediately snapped out of his stupor. Terror stricken once again, he stammered: ¡°This color¡­ It¡¯s not¡­ It¡¯s not possible¡­¡± The girl then took a step backward and incomprehension filled his features as he felt he was falling, falling, falling¡­ The next day, more than half of the Hope Initiative executives and employees were found dead. Most of them were reported to have a look of panic and bewilderment on their faces. The Wester News reported that only a few core scientists of the project seemed to have had the presence of mind to attempt to run away. Chapter 1: Downsizing (Full) This is my first work, therefore: - Please (gently) point out my mistakes - Although I have a complete plot in my mind the storytelling may change a lot during the first few chapters. - If you have time, quickly comment about: what you liked, what you disliked, what you found awkward, which passage you skipped, and what didn¡¯t feel was realistic enough. - Because of my previous points, the latest published chapter may receive heavy modifications. I hope you enjoy my small contribution to RRL EDIT: I have completed the chapter. The second half of it was previously missing. ---------------------------Chapter 1: Downsizing --------------------------- **************** Ryann **************** The door exploded inwards. The twisted steel panels were blasted to the wall behind me, and I fell to my knees, disoriented by the shock-wave, and momentarily deaf. After a second of stupor, adrenaline kicked in and I jumped to my feet, checking myself for wounds. It seems I came out nearly unscathed. My left hand looks broken, though, but I cannot feel it yet. Yay. Where is Mary? I looked around briefly before remembering that she had been standing on my left, on the trajectory of the right panel of the reinforced door. A quick glance at the wall to my back confirmed the presence of a puddle of blood under one of the big chunks of steel. My heart unwittingly tightened. You know you deserved that. Steel Still, rest in peace¡­ I snickered at the bad pun. I know, I shouldn¡¯t laugh at stuff like that. Footsteps neared the entrance. I rushed toward the exit at the back. As I kicked the door open and left the room, a couple of spikes flying past me and a third one embedded itself into my shoulder I stumbled under the pain and took a right turn to escape their line of sight. I crossed a wide living room and exited it again when my pursuers entered after me. I slammed the door shut and kept running along the long corridor leading outside. When they appeared behind me, I had gained enough distance that their throws couldn¡¯t reach me anymore. It simply turned into a race to the exit. Just a few meters. 6, 5, 4¡­ ¡°Vale, demons incoming!¡± I rushed into the bright light of the outside world and the demons followed me. As all of us were suddenly blinded by the sun I heard slashing sounds followed by a brief howl and a gurgle. It¡¯s funny how the most terrible sounds can sometimes bring you so much relief. I turned around and sat heavily, panting. My eyes recovered just in time for me to enjoy the sight of Lilly halfheartedly delivering the finishing blows to my pursuers. She and Vale had just ambushed them right at the door and taken advantage of their rage and carelessness to quickly dispose of the three Tilzichs. It would have been impossible without the element of surprise, otherwise I would have killed them myself. I pulled the spike out of my shoulder and dropped it to the ground with a groan. Vale withdrew his bloody spear from one of the demon¡¯s body and raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°Mary?¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t make it,¡± I answered coldly. At my words, little Lilly¡¯s lip started trembling. I knew she had grown attached to our squad, so I tried to comfort her. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t have made it anyway, you know¡­¡± Lilly directed her innocent brown eyes at me. ¡°¡­seeing as her deck master died with the rest of them back in the hall and all¡­¡± I finished absent-mindedly. Then I thought about what I had just said and froze as tears begun to fill her big eyes. Let¡¯s just pretend I was never intending to cheer her up. Vale stared daggers at me and I shrugged apologetically before laying down on the soft grass. Let him handle it! I¡¯m not the one who recruited Miss Crybaby, after all. I closed my eyes and sighed in bliss at the feeling of the sun on my skin. In the background, the mansion shook for a second and was silently swallowed by a pit of endless darkness, along with the bodies of our fallen companions. That process had quite scared me the first time I had seen it: an entire building quietly imploding and shrinking to finally be sucked into a bottomless chasm. The chasm would then close and all was as if the arena had never existed. I heard the buzzing of the gate materializing, but I didn¡¯t get up. I felt light headed and I just couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. And God, The smell of that freshly cut grass almost makes up for that taste of iron in my mouth! After a while, Lilly¡¯s uncontrollable sobbing waned before being slowly replaced by a weak sniffing. I heard someone curse, then footsteps coming toward me, and I felt a light pressure on my chest. ¡°Hey, can you hear me?¡± Vale asked. ¡°mnmn¡± ¡°Ryann, get up!¡± Was that concern in his voice? Nah, can¡¯t be. ¡°Get your foot off me, dickface,¡± I answered as politely as I could. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding out, idiot! You have a wound on your thigh!¡± ¡°Not my problem!¡± Oh, wait¡­ It actually IS. I opened my eyes to the sight of a confused Vale. He shook his head and glared at me. On my thigh? I don¡¯t remember that one¡­ Did it happen in the main hall? Lost in those idle thoughts, I held a hand out for him to lift me up. As he grabbed it, he started at the feeling of my bones moving unnaturally and I let out a loud scream of pain. Shhhhhhhhiiiiittttt, I forgot that one was broken! He jumped backwards and let go of my hand. I fell on my injured shoulder and screamed a second time. ¡°What¡¯s WRONG with you?¡± He yelled, remorseful and bewildered at the same time. ¡°Why? Just WHY would you do that?¡± I started crying at the pain coursing through my body while snickering at his expression, which contributed to increase his shock even further. That face, though!! As I felt that breathing was becoming difficult, I heard Crybaby¡¯s panicked voice. ¡°Mr. Vale, carry him back to the gate! Hurry!¡± And then, everything went black. **************** Vale **************** I let myself fall onto my bed and I spread my arms. That was close. Only three survived from a squad of eight. The other five would not even get a proper burial. Back on Earth, their relatives still hoped they might be alive and one step closer to returning. It will be some time until we manage to leave this hell and get word of their passing to their families. Can we even do that? I don¡¯t actually know their real names! Lilly might. Even though I have known them for longer than she has¡­ Or Ryann, maybe? Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I laughed softly. The idea of Ryann remembering something personal about them seemed as ludicrous as the dream of making it back home. She had never cared for people outside of the team. Which was sad, really, because until Lilly had joined a few weeks before, the ¡°team¡± had just been the two of us. And even now, all she does is intimidating her! Shit, couldn¡¯t she have shown even a hint of compassion earlier? No, you¡¯re right, that time doesn¡¯t really count, she was somewhat impaired by the blood loss. Impaired enough that she didn¡¯t even think of notifying us of her impending death¡­ Well, I still wasn¡¯t sure that giving me her mangled hand wasn¡¯t just some kind of sick joke, though. I could have sworn that she was laughing between her tears! She couldn¡¯t be finally losing it, could she? She¡¯s always had an odd personality, but this was crazy even by her standards. A soft knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Mr. Vale, it¡¯s me, Lilly. Can I come in?¡± Of course it¡¯s you, honey, you¡¯re the only conscious person besides me on this ship. With a weary expression I rolled to the side of the bed and sat up. ¡°Come on in, Lilly.¡± She opened the door but she didn¡¯t dare to actually come in. Is she THAT shy, or is she afraid I¡¯m actually going to do something to her? Considering those two possibilities, I didn¡¯t dare to invite her to sit beside me. She was still wearing cloth sullied from the fight, and there was dry blood in her hair. Fidgeting, she started speaking again in a small voice. ¡°So, I¡¯ve checked, and it seems Mr. Ryann is going to recover. He is still unconscious in the silver pool, but the screen says that he is stable.¡± Right, she still doesn¡¯t know that Ryann is a girl. That was one of the first changes Ryann had made to her appearance. Quickly after we had begun, a situation much like the current one had occurred. With weaker demons of course: back then, a thousand of us wouldn¡¯t have held a candle to a dozen of adult, battle-trained Tilzichs! Yet everyone but us had been wiped out. The following day, she had discarded all of her clothes and replaced it with more practical gear. Pants, and a bullet proof vest under a loose fitting jacket. An additional leather coat with concealed weapons in the inside. When I had asked why she was armed to the teeth inside of the ship, she had just replied that it would get her used to it. She had soon completed her set with a dark cloth mask hiding the bottom half of her face and a matching headband and hood concealing her hair. When the first replacement for our teammates had arrived, he had mistaken her for a man and she hadn¡¯t corrected him. Hell, Ryann hadn¡¯t even reacted to his greeting. In the end, neither Lilly nor the rest of our squad, had ever seen her face, or learned anything remotely personal about her. To anyone but me, she was a nameless apathetic male battle-maniac. What a shame. If anyone had known the girl from before, they would be weeping. Have I also changed that much? ¡°Mr. Vale?¡± Lilly asked. ¡°Right. Thank you, Lilly. You did well, today. Don¡¯t worry about it, Ryann has seen worse.¡± Her eyes widened. ¡°He has?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the silver pool can heal anything but death. Have a shower and get some sleep. Since Ryann is out of it, if we get newbies tomorrow, I¡¯ll need your help to brief them.¡± ¡°Alright. See you tomorrow,¡± she answered reluctantly after a short pause. ¡°Was there something else?¡± I enquired as I notice her hesitation. ¡°N¡­ No. Good night, Mr. Vale.¡± She left the room and I gathered my strength to drag myself to the bathroom and take my own advice. **************** Lilly¡¯s Diary **************** Today was the worst day of my life. ¡­so far, I guess¡­ We knew it would all go to hell when we saw the arena: a huge Japanese-looking mansion. There were cameras on the walls and the doors were reinforced. Traditional yet modern and heavily secured. In other words our opponents had modern combat training and equipment and probably served a magical entity. Given the darkness of the place, we hoped for zombies and a ghost or a lich, which would have been bad enough. Instead we encountered a high shaman, and about a dozen of mid-level demons that Vale called Tilzichs. They were two meters tall, agile, and in addition to human arms they had praying-mentis-like front legs and mandibles. They ambushed us all at once in the mansion¡¯s central hall, and it was a blood bath. Only Vale, Ryann and I survived. And I only did because they protected me. I¡¯ve come a long way since I¡¯ve entered this place. I am tougher. I¡¯ve learned to be ruthless. When most people would have lost it back there, I managed to hold my ground. Yet these two are in another league! Vale is powerful and inspiring, truly fit to become an Angel. I¡¯m not entirely sure, but I think he is the one who managed to kill the shaman. Ryann looks terrifying when he fights, when he trains, and even when he sleeps, but I feel a lot safer knowing he is in my team. At some point, I noticed everyone in the room was dead, and that Mary and Ryann had vanished during the fight. Vale told me we had to ambush the remaining demons in the front yard using their weakness to daylight, and that Vale was drawing going to draw them out. And maybe find and bring Mary back. Vale came back alone. Every single one of those people we had shared our meals and hopes with are now gone. I despise myself for being weak in front of those two, but I couldn¡¯t hold my tears. Vale held me in his arms while I calmed down. I sound weak, I know, but I think it¡¯s better to grieve when you can. I know Vale felt sad as well but he just ignored it, and that is not a good thing for him. I¡¯ll go tell him that right now, using checking on Ryann as an excuse! What makes me the most afraid, however, is Ryann¡¯s state. His hysteric laugh, and the fact that he nearly died. Because among all the incertitude and doubt, there is one thing I¡¯m sure of. If Ryann is gone, we won¡¯t make it. --------------------------- Chapter 1: end --------------------------- I made dis. Thank you for reading. I have two followers right now. Whoever you are, please know that I love you.