FIVE days had passed, I and the other guardians did training alongside with their new buddies. The five guardians who were new in the legion had also trained hard. Now is the time, due to our trainings and rush things about being a chosen guardian, I almost forgot about Selene and this day. The Day of Annunciation. I talked to King Alexandrov yesterday and requested if I can have a live video feed on the Announcement he'll be making where I, along with my other guardians and comrade in the Raven Legion, will be announced dead and casualties in the recent mission. Luckily, he approved my request.

While the announcement is held outside the Palace where all citizens of the City of Domes are summoned to attend, all of us Guardians and Ravens are locked up on our bases. Nobody is allowed to roam outside the base. Even the doors to the training grounds are closed.

"It's about to start." Alexiese announced as he looked into the clock here in our barracks. I'm shaking as I turn on the thin screen King Alexandrov provided me for live video feed.

"Alpha Guardian DuTritz, you may now turn the screen on. We've already connected the signal to it for the live feed." Commander Rusty said through the high-tech microchip implanted inside me 3 days ago by the Palace scientists; it works mainly as locator and communicator exclusively for us guardians. Only us can hear and communicate with others who were also implanted with it, alongside with King Alexandrov and Commander Rusty. It can also work like private communicator between two guardians or guardian to King Alexandrov or Commander Rusty. With this, we don't have to speak into a device or what, the chip works into our whole body system mainly with brain, vocal cords, ears and optical nerves. It can even detect injuries in so as medics could be immediately summoned to us in case. We only need to use its features by our brain; like talking or responding by just using our brains, then the microchip sends the signal to the receiver/s.

I turned the screen on, seeing crowds of citizens waiting for the arrival and announcement of King Alexandrov, not knowing that the announcement is about the casualties and our fake deaths.

"Don't worry, Solem. Everything's gonna be fine. Selene will get through this, we know she's as tough as you." Alexiese consoled beside me, also watching the live video feed.

King Alexandrov then appeared in his Balcony walking towards his microphone set up. The crowd cheers.

"I wonder if all that will be announced is just part of the Raven's." I said. Then Lexxus replied to me using the microchip implant.

"No actually. Some of those who'll be announced were really part of the casualties from the mission against the wolves." He sighed deeply. "I'm sad for all of them."

"I wonder how my family will handle my death." Michael said. "That's my mom, the Japanese woman standing near your sister, Alpha Cardinal."

"Wait...Are you all watching through my eyes?!" I exclaimed.

"I'm not, I'm reading some books here." Johann replied, while the others denied though their obviously guilty.

"He's about to start his announcement." Alexiese informed.

"All citizens of the City of Dome's, please lend me your ears for a moment. I summoned you all here for an important announcement." He stopped, making the crowd nervously silent. "Last week, our warriors were sent for a mission chasing after a pack of wolves that brought destruction and panic on dome 12. Dome 12 was closed, citizens living there were sent for a temporary evacuation place here in Central Dome." He heaved a deep sigh.

"Unfortunately, the pack is more in numbers than we expected. The mission was successful, but a lot of our brave warriors had to give their lives for the success of it." The crowd gasped, murmurs starts to spread to the whole area. "I'm here to announce the list of casualties, wherein some non-legion citizens had been also included..." Then the King started to announce numbers of names. "...Solem DuTritz; Delta force member, Dome 12 citizen. Alongside with her Battle buddy, Alexiese Morgann Ce' Vieze citizen of dome 1. Ian Pasivoch; Food house worker, citizen of dome 5. Aaron and Lewis Santiago; Clothing house workers, citizen of dome 3..." The King continued as Guardians and Ravens were announced next after next.

When my name was called, the live feed focused on my sister. She was wide-eyed, doesn't seem to have absorbed the news. After a minute or two, tears start to travel down from her eyes. She wiped off her tears though it continues to fall. I touched the screen, my heart thumped in too much pain that quickly spreads throughout my whole body.

"Selene..." My eyes started to swell.

"Solem..." Alexiese held my other hand and slightly squeezed it. "Pull yourself together. She'll be alright I promise." He then pulled me for a hug, and I can't stop myself anymore to cry myself out. I also heard sobs from my microchip implant, looks like the other Guardians are also having a hard time with this.

"This is why were all locked up here, right?" I murmured while crying. "To prevent us from backing out, to prevent us from spilling the beans about the Raven Legion, to prevent us from running away. To... torture us just to prove our obedience and loyalty." I cried harder with the thoughts flooding my mind.

"We need to sacrifice for the sake of all, that's why we're Legion warriors. These things, all of these, is part of the sacrifices we need to do." Alexiese said while gently patting my back.

"Warrior's, please all head to the HQ." Commander Rusty's voice boomed through my head.

"They're calling us now." I informed Alexiese for he hasn't been implanted with the microchip.

"It's now time for the announcement of our first mission." He said as we quickly fixed ourselves. We then head to the HQ, that was just placed at the center of our base. As we arrived in the HQ, the other guardian's had already arrived. Observing them, I knew that they've also gone into crying as they saw what I saw from the live feed.

"That's the backfire of peeking through Guardian Solem's eyes." Gabrielle whispered, addressing to our other fellow guardians.

"Whatever." Kylie murmured. "It's not as if you didn't peek even a moment. Don't be hypocrite." She said, addressing directly to Gabrielle.

"Will you please stop? The two of you." Liam commanded. "Your pissing my ass off."

Then, Commander Rusty entered the HQ holding a pile of folders in his both arms and dropping it hard on the table that made us flinch a little.

"Warriors." His voice boomed, making us all stand straight just because of his simple word. "Here you see the set of missions you will be finishing this month." He said as he points his finger to the pile of folders in the table. "The base will still be in lockdown, and some of your missions on the other hand, will be finished here inside the base." He walked and looked each of us.

"Your missions should be finished by sequence, as for now I'll be handling you the first five missions on hand to you. After you all finish that, I'll be handling you the next five then." He stopped. "Is all clear?" he asked, face still serious as ever.

"SIR, YES SIR!" we answered in chorus.

"Good then. Now Guardian Solem, here's your first set of mission." Commander Rusty said as he gave me five pieces of thick folders and disappeared immediately, leaving us all looking to each other and to the five thick folders in my arms.

"Let me carry those instead, Solem." Alexiese insisted as he carry the folders from me and put it down to the table. The other guardians then gathered and sat around the table, waiting for me to open and read the first folder that contains our first mission as guardians and as ravens.

"It's an efficiency test." I informed them as I finished reading the contents. "Our mission is to recover an underground city once built by the former survivors of humanity. According to the data, its center point is found underneath the central dome. Our entry point is actually at the training field here in the base." I continued as the folder was passed from one guardian to another.

"That's it?" Johann exclaimed.

"Nope." I shook my head for disapproval. "We actually need to finish that in 2 weeks, starting tomorrow."

"And alongside with five researchers whose scientists that will go along with us." Lexxus said as he reads the folder.

"That's ridiculous. Are they going to sacrifice or spare those researchers? This could be a suicide for them, you know." Michael commented. I just sighed.

'Maybe this could help me detach from today's drama.' I whispered on my mind.

'This is actually their way of detaching us from our families.' Kylie also whispered.

'Stop talking by your minds, I'm hearing you. Your disturbing me!' Johann grimaced.

'STOP.' Jacob commanded.

"Could you just please talk? Stop using your minds will you?" Jacob said, putting the folder back to the table. "We need to communicate with each other efficiently by words, not by our minds."

"Are they expecting us to use our powers here? I mean, it's impossible to recover the location of that underground city for Pete's sake!" Ethan exclaimed, fully confused about how can we execute the mission.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

All our eyes then looked to the doors direction, wondering who will be the person knocking this time.

"Good afternoon guardians, we are the researchers and scientist summoned to be here for your first mission." A voice outside announced.

"Come inside, please." Lexxus replied to them. "Thank you."

"Hi everyone, I'm Charles. Head Scientist of the Royal Palace and the primary head assistant of this mission. We are here to prepare for the mission deployment tomorrow." He started.

"How do we start this though? We were just starting to talk about the mission, I'm sorry. Please explain to us, will you?" I asked.

"Oh. We will start the mission by digging under the training ground of this base. By then, we'll be tracing the tunnel way used by those who built it. Your actual mission is just to help us for manpower, and the other will be our work." Charles explained.

"That's it? We will be digging for two weeks?" Michael asked.

"By the looks of it, yes." Charles replied. "It's mainly to help us excavate down there. And because this is a confidential mission given by King Alexandrov himself." He added. Jacob sighed deeply.

"So, let's all get some rest for the digging tomorrow." Jacob suggested. We all then walked to our barracks to grab some sleep.

A WEEK after, we already had dug for 20 kilometers underground and found the tunnel way. It was easy because of the help of the scientists and their techs, now were up to using each other's location to triangulate which point would be the probable entry point to the underground city.

'Got something there, Guardian Solem?' Lexxus asked. We were parted separately through every tunnel way, wandering by threes to locate the entry gate. We've been here for 3 days now after discovering the tunnel, armed with giant bags that contains our food, water and blankets for sleeping.

'Still nothing. Only long endless dark pathway infront.' I replied.

"Let's rest in here for a while." Alexiese suggested. Looking behind the other way of the tunnel were walking for days now.

"I'm exhausted." I said as we sat through the alley.

"How long would it be to locate the entry gate, Charles? Were here for days now. Still only dark endless pathways are what we see. We've been mapping for so long, but still no results." Alexiese asked the scientist with us.

"By the map were creating from the signals of the other guardian's and from those we gathered to compare, it looks like this underground city is the biggest of all. Were done recovering the 75% of the tunnel way. By my calculations, one of our groups will find the entry gate by tomorrow. If we compare the digital mapping we've got as we wander here to the closest similar mapping of the underground cities, its maybe 10 km ahead of one of us." Charles explain.

'Got that everyone? 10 km ahead of everyone would be the probable entry gate.' I announced. Addressing to every guardian with receivers.

'Copy that. We'll just be resting for a while, then we'll continue walking.' Ethan answered, who's wandering the tunnel way 20 km away from us here, heading to 100 degree Northwest.

'Roger that, Alpha.' The others replied.

"Solem, let's eat." Alexiese said as he gave me some food and a bottle of water while Charles was already eating his own food.

"By my calculations, tomorrow we can already get back up there." He pointed up, meaning the city of domes above ground. "Just some more patience, then these scientists could already start their research about that city." He sighed, looking intently to the dark pathway ahead.

"What exactly is your mission again, Charles? Why are we recovering and mapping again that certain undercity?" I asked the scientist with us, as I remembered we haven't asked him about the mission they were assigned to finish after we find the entry gate of this undercity.

"We were assigned to recover some important things buried along the city." The Scientist shortly replied.

"Then?" Alexiese asked. Intend for the scientist to explain further.

"That's all." Charles replied, which made Alexiese and I exchange looks.

'We actually had been asking also the same thing to the scientist with us, and he replied exactly the same.' Liam said through an open line.

'Their being a bit suspicious, don't you think? They're sacrificing just for that? How important are those things would be?' Kylie connected.

'Let's just finish the mission. Whatever they would be doing inside that undercity is actually none of our business. We are also told to help them recover and find the entry gate, then our mission will be done.' Johann also connected, joining the discussion.

'Focus on the mission everyone. That's all we need to do and finish. We only have 4 days left on our due date imposed.' Lexxus reminded, as he also joins the open line. He also seems a bit irritated.

"Who wouldn't be? This is a test of patience guardian." Guardian Ariean showed up. I disconnected from the open line of connection of the guardians as I talk to her. "Lucky I was when it was my time as a guardian they were no cities like this. We only protect the above land from the cycle of apocalypses. Not as complicated as your time here in earth now." She added.

"Yeah lucky you." I snorted.

"But if I were the one to ask, it's really suspicious to have a mission like this. It's been a long time since the domes were built, right? Why haven't they tried to locate it back then before? Why just now?" Ariean commented about the matter. "As a guardian, all of you should know everything. Every single thing that is connected to your responsibilities." She added.

"It's still not our decision. The King only decided for the sake of everyone so we should just trust him, right?" I retorted. "After I knew about the Raven Legion, I slowly realized how everything works for the King as he shoulders all the responsibility for the survival of the last humanity. He sometimes need to keep secrets just to protect everyone." I said, then Ariean vanished without saying anything more. I then looked Alexiese who's now taking a nap before we get back to walking in this endless pathways. I decided to take a nap too then.

I got woken up by a unique smell hovering near me, and as I open my eyes I saw Alexiese and Charles whose both tied up by a golden tie. I looked around and saw an old man holding a small flask where the smell comes from.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" I shouted as I struggle due to my tied hands and feet. The man carries I and Alexiese's sword on his shoulder. "WHY DID YOU TIE US UP?! HOW DID YOU GET HERE?!"

"I should be the one asking you that, young lady. Who are you and what are you all doing here?" he asked back to me.

"I am the one who ask you first, so answer me first before you asked me the same question old man." I retorted, giving him a sharp look.

"Don't negotiate with me, young lady. I won't mind burning you into ashes if you won't answer me." He warned, but I didn't give in. "I repeat, who are you and what are you all doing here?" he asked again, pointing me my own sword.

I touched the ring on my finger and asked a question. 'Who is he?'

Then whispers ring my ear, but only one thing is I hear clear.

"Why are you here, Alchemist Peter?" I asked him, who's now looking at me wide-eyed due to shock. "How did you get here?" I asked him again. While the golden tie slowly burns from my wrists for hell I don't even know how but I don't care as long as it helps me free my hands.

"How...?! That tie is unbreakable!" he exclaimed. "I was the one who created that tie! That's unbreakable!" he steps back, now full of horror. I stood up as the golden tie were now burnt into ashes falling to the ground.

"Thank me later." Ariean appeared, though I know only me sees her. "And don't hurt Peter. He's a good man. I know him from old times, I just didn't expect that his experiments became successful to prolong life." She added before she vanished again.

"Mr. Peter, I'm Guardian Solem. The new Aries Guardian, warrior of the Raven Legion, serving King Alexandrov and the City of domes. Please state your name and how did you get down here." I politely asked, as if he didn't tie me up minutes ago. "I won't report to imprison you, but only if you will answer my question."

"You are a warrior of Alexandrov?!" he exclaimed, now holding my sword tightly and pointing to me to defend himself. "Get out of here! You have no right to enter our undercity! I won't give him all my elixirs and resources. Go back to the aboveground now!" he shouted. Trying to slash me using my sword. I dodged and disarmed him, getting my sword back to my hands and pointing its edges to him as I push him to the corner