38th of Baratus, 3000
3726 days to The Cataclysm

The burst of lighting sent everyone crashing through the walls, and a cloud of dust blocked their view.

"Goddammit, Zeke," said Alexa, as she got up and dusted her clothes and looked around for Vanessa. She found her under a pile of rubble right beside her and pulled her out.

"Zeke really is a freaking asshole" Vanessa panted.

The group of recruits that were startled by the walls crashing down surrounded the area and were curious as to what was happening. The whole squad, other than Gerard and Zeke made it out of the dust cloud and immediately got into a fight.

"Look at what your pal did" snapped Alexa at Elric.

"That asshole provoked him. Rule number one, you never provoke Gerard."

"Uhhh, guys," said Carleton in a slow voice.

"I don't think the fight is over just yet," he continued.

Elric and Alexa glared at each for a moment but ceased their standoff. The first to come into view was Zeke. His skin had a metallic shine and emitted constant sparks.

"Lightning can't hurt silver" mocked Zeke.

"So I guess this is gonna be a good old fistfight, eh?" replied Gerard as his approaching silhouette in the dust cloud slow faded into his being.

"Since you were interested in the beast, it's about time I show you what he's like."

Elric knew exactly how dangerous it would be if this fight were to continue. Terrifying memories he locked deep inside resurfaced to haunt him. Though Gerard was like a brother to him, it would be unwise to ignore the danger he presents to everyone around, should he lose his cool.

"EVERYBODY RUN AWAY," screamed Elric as he ran towards Gerard.

Before he could reach him, Zeke turned his hand into a giant mace and knocked Elric far away.

"Don't interfere, redhead" he scoffed as he turned towards Gerard.

Gerard flashed a quick smile and reached for his visor. He wrapped his fingers around it but as soon as he did so, he froze. Zeke tried to mock him further, but he too realized he was frozen.

"How cute, minor squabbles within the squad," said a voice.

Everybody turned around to see that the voice belonged to Randel, dragging a squirming Elric with him by his collar.

"Why does he keep popping up like that" wondered Carleton.

He threw Elric towards the squad and said;

"I really hope you don't act like this in front of the foreign recruits. They're from Zilevo I guess."

"ZILEVO" exclaimed the squad along with the onlookers.

"Everyone not in squad A412, get lost" snapped Randel.

The onlookers quickly made their way out of the area. Randel glared at them as they hurried out of sight.

"Yeah where was I?"

"You were saying foreign recruits are from Zilevo?" said Alexa.

"Oh yeah. Alexander Chase and Alexandria Chase if I'm not mistaken. Alexander is 15 just like you two," he said, pointing at Elric and the paralyzed Gerard.

"Oh fuck, I totally forgot," said Randel.

Instantly Gerard and Zeke were released from their paralytic state. Both of them fell to their knees, gasping for air.

"What the fuck was that" exclaimed Zeke.

"Nothing. Get ready to meet the recruits," replied Randel, dodging Zeke's question.

"But Zilevo attacked us like 3 days ago," said Carleton, shyly.

"Oh damn, I totally forgot about you. You've got to exert your presence, man. About the attack thing though, it wasn't really Zilevo, it was a rogue unit led by Odysseus."

"Where's Odysseus now?" asked Alexa.

"Don't know. See ya," said Randel.

In an instant, he burst into sparks and disappeared. Zeke and Gerard got up and faced each other.

"There will come a day when you answer to me. I'm better than you, I'm better than all of you," said Zeke.

"Good luck with that," replied Gerard.

"Okay, guys listen up" chimed in Vanessa, breaking up the confrontation.

The whole squad reluctantly stood in a circle, with Zeke and Gerard still in an apparent non-verbal standoff.

"We're going to be together for years now. We can't have differences within the squad. Understand?"

"As long as you guys know that one day I wi-" said Zeke before he was cut off by a screaming voice in the distance.

"HEYYY!"

The squad looked at the source and saw a person running towards him. The person was a boy with a brown complexion with messy hair and unremarkable dark eyes, dressed in the same attire as everyone else. He eventually reached the group and stopped to catch his breath.

"HEY! Isaac, My man," said Elric as he gave him a friendly pat on the back. Though it wasn't his intention, the pat was a little too hard for the frail Isaac who squirmed in pain.

"Dude, that hurts. Jeez"

"Seriously?" mocked Zeke.

"Hey, I'm not a soldier like you guys," said Isaac, rubbing his back in pain.

"Hey there," said Alexa, extending her hand towards Isaac.

Isaac reciprocated the gesture with a handshake. He looked around at the rubble and said;

"Looks like I missed something. Don't sa-"

Isaac ate his own words the moment he laid eyes on Gerard's visor.

"THAT IS SO FUCKING COOL" he exclaimed

Gerard flashed a quick smile and said;

"I freaking know, right? I even have my own personal assistant, you know?"

"Seriously! You didn't tell me that before" chimed in Elric.

"Yeah, because you didn't give me a chance with all your yapping," replied Gerard.

The rest of the squad stared at Gerard, wide-eyed, surprised at this sudden acceptance of social interaction with another living creature. The three continued to chatter between themselves until they were interrupted by Zeke.

"Yeah I know you three are having a moment here, but we really need to talk about the Zilevo recruits."

"Oh yeah, the recruits, what was the management even thinking accepting students from Zilevo," said Elric

"My dad did say it was a rogue unit that attacked, it wasn't actually the empire itself" interjected Vanessa.

"I guess it's alright as long as we don't have to go and pick them up, we would be killed instantly if there's anyone left of the rogue unit around," said Alexa.

"Yeah, about that," said Isaac slyly.

A few minutes later the squad found themselves in jet and on their way to Zilevo, much to their dismay. Strapped into their seats, the squad readied themselves for battle even though they weren't armed and none of them had the faintest of real-world experience. Many thoughts swirled in their heads, but much to Gerard's delight, none of them chose to say them out loud. Zeke constantly gave Gerard menacing looks with the intent to prove himself superior someday, a point he wants to convey to the entire world.

Just like this, a few hours passed.

"Okay guys, we're here," said Isaac, finally breaking the silence.

"That took long enough" exclaimed Elric as he got up from his seat and left the jet, followed by the rest.

What they saw was nothing but darkness all around. Darkness of the type they've never seen before. There wasn't a glimmer of light to break through. The squad was confused, but also couldn't help but tremble in their boots a bit. They frantically looked around, and on finding nothing, they decided to return to the jet. They turned back but much to their horror, the jet too was engulfed in darkness and was nowhere to be seen.

"Okay guys, what the fuck is going on," said Carleton.

"Do not worry, I was simply observing you?" said a voice.

The squad looked around and spotted a figure approaching them. What came into view was a fair young boy of 15, with slicked-back black hair and piercing red eyes that tore through the darkness like a hot knife through butter.

"I'm Alexander Chase," he said.

The squad stood there, stunned at his sudden appearance until Zeke stepped forward and greeted him.

"I'm Zeke, hop on the jet and let's get out of this shit hole."

"My sister is still out there. She requested Shirozou Elric to go and collect her," he said, handing Elric a piece of paper.

"The fuck does she think I am? " scoffed Elric.

"She said that you might say that, so she told me to show you this," said Alexander, holding up his phone to show a photo. The moment Elric saw the it, he hastily said;

"Okay, point me where to go, and I'll be there, for the pride of our empire, of course."

"The directions are on that paper."

"Okay, guys see you in a bit," said Elric as he quickly followed the directions.

"What did you show him," asked Zeke.

"Probably her picture" chimed in Gerard.

"And how do you know that."

"Well, his heart rate shot up, and he's weak when it comes to pretty girls."

"That is correct. I only had an idea about your hearing abilities, but I must say, they are beyond my expectations," said Alexander.

"Why did she specifically want Elric, though?" asked Gerard.

"Well, I observed you for a while in the darkness there and knew that Elric was the most susceptible to such incentives. I passed on that information to my sister."

"We were in the darkness for like a minute or two. You can't be serious, right?"

"Well, I had an idea about you an Elric because of your family name. Kurokami and Shirozou are considered royalty even though they don't have a throne. Getting information on you two wasn't really that hard."

"Yeah, the Kurokami have abandoned their name though, due to my father being a disgrace, apparently."

"Yes, the Sapiocyte line of the Kurokami family have abandoned their name and try actively to hide the fact. The Xenocyte line doesn't really care."

"What are you talking about?" asked Vanessa curiously.

"I'm sure your scientist would like to elaborate. He seems to be a knowledgeable person. This information isn't beneficial, so it isn't a priority to me," said Alexander, indicating Isaac.

"Oh well, see. Hundreds of years ago, when the wielders of the Kurokami and Shirozou Imperium's ended the war. Their Sapiocyte descendants who inherited the Skotono took on Shirozou and Kurokami as their first names. Kurokami's descendants also have a Xenocyte family line who took on Kurokami as their middle name. Shirozou doesn't have a Xenocyte family line, which is why all of them are Sapiocytes." explained Isaac.

"That is correct," said Alexander.

"Well, if you filter out everything unimportant, how you do know anything at all," asked Alexa.

"I cannot filter out all of the useless information, a lot of it is very accidental. I know about Kurokami because My sister and I are Kurokami's. Alexander Kurokami Chase and Alexandria Kurokami Chase."

"WHAT THE FUCK!" exclaimed the squad.

"How can you drop such important information so calmly?" asked Zeke

"How is it important, really? I cannot inherit the Skotono because I'm a Xenocyte. Probably the only thing of importance is that I am a shadow Xenocyte, but you probably figured that out by now."

"Makes sense. Why was your father considered a disgrace, though?" asked Vanessa, looking at Gerard.

"My father tainted the pure family bloodline by adopting me, a Xenocyte, and even before that, he spent most of his time in brothels. They consider that as a disgraceful act."

"Then how did he even inherit the Skotono?"

"When the wielder dies or decides to pass on his Skotono, a tournament is held. All participants around 13 years old and they fight in a massive battle royale to choose a successor. My father won that fair and square, so the Skotono is his right."

"That's pretty cool," replied Vanessa.

"Kurokami, Shirozou. Dumbass names, both of them. Like what do they even mean" said Zeke out loud?

"Kurokami means Black God, and Shirozou means White Elephant."

"In what fucking language?"

"I don't know."

"Must be some shit. My name, on the other hand. Lionclaw, means I'm the descendant of the Lion God himself. I was born to be the god among men," proclaimed Zeke.

"In that case, your twin brother Zacharia Lionclaw is also a god among men," said Vanessa, rolling her eyes.

"Fuck him. I don't even know where he is. He just disappeared after the-" said Zeke, stopping his sentence in between.

"After the what?" asked Alexa.

Zeke took a deep breath and blankly stared at Alexa for a moment. At that moment, his eyes narrated a story. A story of despair he kept hidden. A story that molded him into the man he is today. On the outside, he's a man with a god complex. On the inside, one can only imagine what he is.

"Let's just get back to the jet," he said

The squad silently followed him back to the jet. Meanwhile, in the streets of Zilevo, Elric was having a hard time navigating through very vague directions. An hour of wandering later, he found himself in a dark alleyway.

"Man not this darkness shit again," said Elric under his breath.

"HELLO! I'm Shirozou Elric. You asked for me," he called out to no reply but his own echo.

Suddenly, something grabbed onto his legs. He looked down and saw the shadows swirling around him and slowly making it's way up. He struggled to get free, but his efforts were futile. A pair of red glowing eyes appeared right in front of him. He tried to scream, but a hand covered his mouth. A sense of fear struck the young recruit, a sense of helplessness. He felt his muscles slowly lose their tone and his heart beating in his throat. His green eyes gradually lost it's light as they stared down the red ones right in front of him. He could feel the soft breathing of someone, something, right next to his face, and whisper;

"ELRIC"