- Oliver -
Isabela used the teleport to return to Area 55. While Katherine headed ho, for Oliver, the journey would be different. There was only one person outside the Academy whom he knew and whose whereabouts he was sure of. The boy sighed deeply, feeling the anticipation and long journey awaiting him.
‘I'm going to have to take the ship again,’ he thought, rembering how tiring the trip to Luna was. "Another eight hours of travel to get there."
There was no spaceport in Ro, but he could use teleportation to get to the nearest one. Oliver found himself there for the third ti, yet he was still impressed by the colossal structure that rose before him. The space terminal resembled a mariti platform but on titanic proportions, allowing various ships to land and depart within minutes.
Slender towers—so gilded by the setting sun, others reflecting the soft light of the clouds—rose around an imnse central do. These towers helped dock ships and board passengers while the do housed those waiting for upcoming trips. The constant flow of people and vessels created a technological ballet that fascinated Oliver whenever he witnessed it.
The deep blue sky was a good on, indicating his journey would be smooth. Fortunately, he didn't need to buy a ticket; he just had to present his status as an Academy student. Oliver finally rembered to turn on his gauntlet, realizing he would need it to secure his entry.
‘Finally!’ Athena’s familiar voice sounded in his mind.
‘What?’ he thought, startled to hear her.
‘You turned on the gauntlet; I was missing being connected to the Z Crystal‘ said Athena, in a tone that seed slightly happy.
‘But you said you didn't need the energy?’ Oliver questioned ntally.
‘Not needing it doesn't an I don't like it,’ she replied.
‘You should have told ; I could have turned it on earlier,’ he made a final comnt before looking at the attendant before him.
"Hello! Where would you like to travel?" asked the attendant with a professional smile.
"Luna, Selene. Please," Oliver replied.
"Certainly. We have one leaving shortly, in twenty minutes," the attendant explained, consulting his hologram.
"That's great," the boy responded.
"Place your gauntlet here," the attendant instructed.
Oliver extended his hand over the hologram, waiting. His gauntlet emitted a beep, and a notification appeared.
| 100 Credits debited.
"100 Credits?!" He was startled upon seeing the notification.
"Excuse , but credits were debited. I'm from the Academy; shouldn't it be free?" Oliver questioned, frowning.
"Hmm. One mont." The attendant checked his hologram before replying. "It appears your enrollnt is paused; in the anti, paying to use our facilities is needed."
Oliver hung his head upon discovering this, but luckily, he received a good amount of credits by advancing in the Trial Tower. With a resigned sigh, he thanked the attendant and headed to the waiting area, watching other ships depart while he awaited his turn.
"Flight to Luna, Selene, will depart in 10 minutes. Prepare for boarding," announced a female voice over the loudspeakers.
As soon as the announcent was made, a few dozen people lined up at the three designated entrances for the ship. The environnt was a mixture of voices, machine sounds, and the distant hum of the ships' engines.
Without much delay, the ship departed for its eight-hour flight.
After long hours of travel, Oliver finally found himself back in Selene. The neon lights of the lunar city flickered under the transparent do that protected the tropolis from the elents of space. Fortunately, he could easily contact Nico through one app he installed on his gauntlet. They agreed to et at the old bar hidden in the lower areas of the city, a discreet and familiar place.
Upon entering the establishnt, he was enveloped by the cozy atmosphere, illuminated by soft lights. Nico was already waiting for him at the bar with his drink prepared.
"How are you? Are you still in one piece?" Nico asked Oliver, pretending to check if the boy was missing parts.
"I'm fine, just the usual. Injured, tortured, imprisoned, freed, haunted by nightmares, and back to training." Oliver replied, showing a tired smile.
"I knew you'd co back in one piece," Nico comnted, though he couldn't hide the relief in seeing his pupil before him. "Still, I brought sothing for you. I imagine these past six months have been, at the very least, striking."
Oliver sighed, feeling the weight of recent mories. "You can imagine what Orks usually do with their captives."
Nico frowned.
"Actually, no. In my experience, you wouldn't have co out of that alive," Nico admitted with a slightly somber tone as he pushed a package across the table. "Usually, soldiers use it when they have PTSD or are just too ssed up in the head."
Oliver opened the package to reveal a silver headband.
"Put it on before you sleep; it will help reduce your nightmares and, little by little, help you overco them," Nico explained.
"Did it work for you?" Oliver asked.
"You won’t go back to who you were before. But it will lessen the impact of your experience. We need sothing like this, or else the soldiers would lose their minds within the first few months of the Wave," Nico explained with a sad tone.
Oliver nodded, still examining the headband.
"I wish I could say it was easy. It wasn't my first experience with life hanging by a thread. But it was the first ti I was responsible for other people's lives; it was frightening," Oliver confessed. "For the first ti, I faced a Red Ork."
Nico's eyes widened. "They didn't ntion that in the news."
"It didn't even co close to what you had described. We didn't stand a chance; even four of us against one didn't make him break a sweat," the boy spoke wearily, recalling the failure.
"Don't worry; you're evolving quickly. With yesterday's announcent, soon you'll have the chance to beco a Ranger. That will greatly reduce the gap between you and a Red Ork," Nico tried to encourage him.
Oliver gave a slight smile. "Right, but will that reduce the gap between and a Titan?" he asked, almost jokingly.
Nico choked on his drink.
"Ti-Ti-Titan? Where did you encounter a Titan?" Nico stamred.
"It was one of the traps in the prison," Oliver explained, trying to sound casual.
"Then how are you here? Even an entire squadron of Rangers wouldn't be able to handle it," Nico said, incredulous.
"We had one of the Heirs with us," Oliver replied.
"Hmm," Nico nodded, understanding. He knew that so Heirs possessed extraordinary powers. "Which House?"
"York," Oliver explained.
"Gold. Makes sense," Nico responded thoughtfully.
"Exactly. By the way, what's up with that? Weren't there only five colors?" Oliver asked.
"It's more complicated than that. When you enter Ranger training, they'll explain. But even a Z Crystal has different quality levels. Different personalities."
"Right, but why are there the five main ones and these different ones?" Oliver asked.
"Sotis, rarely, we find Z Crystals that are unique. They have a different signature from the others. The most common are the five basic colors, but occasionally we find ones like Green, White, Gold, and several others," Nico explained.
Oliver nodded, understanding a bit more of what he was explaining.
"By 'personality,' do you an like Athena?" Oliver comnted.
"Athena?" Nico asked.
"Yes, the AI that resides in the Crystal," Oliver explained.
| He's going to freak out - Athena comnted.
"AI? In the Crystal? Are you talking about the Voice of the Crystal?" Nico asked.
"I think so?" Oliver responded.
"You hear the Voice of the Crystal?!" Nico exclaid.
"If you're talking about the woman talking to inside the system, yes," Oliver explained.
"Kid, you're sothing else. The Voice of the Crystal is a rare phenonon. It indicates you're well attuned with the Z Crystal," Nico explained. "Each person connected at this level with the Crystal had so unique effect on the system. What's yours?" he asked curiously.
Oliver coughed, slightly embarrassed to reveal his secret.
"I'm not entirely sure what others can't do. But from what I've heard, my difference is that I can tell when I'm close to evolving, choose when I want to evolve, or wait and not evolve," the boy explained.
"AWESO. Can you only know your status or others' as well?" Nico said, his eyes gleaming with excitent.
"Just mine," he explained.
"A pity," Nico comnted, smiling. "When's the next ti you're going to evolve?"
Oliver consulted his gauntlet, where an interface displayed his data:
Status Page
User: Oliver [Naless]
Level: 3 [Pawn]
Experience: [430/300] [Click to Evolve]
Credits: 7,100
"I could evolve now," Oliver explained.
Nico looked at him expectantly, seeming to assess every part of his body for any changes.
Noticing the Ranger's anticipation, Oliver took a deep breath. He had already decided to evolve while still in prison, but he had never done it with so many people nearby.
‘Let's do this. It doesn't hurt to test,’ Oliver thought before clicking the [Click to Evolve] button. ‘Next ti, I’ll evolve my boons.’
Imdiately, he felt his entire body burn. A sharp pain radiated from his right eye while his bones seed to break and rebuild repeatedly. The world around him blurred.
"Wow, your evolution is horrendous," Nico comnted, watching the boy writhe beneath the bar stool.
Oliver clenched his teeth, trying not to make sounds of pain. After a few minutes, the sensation began to subside, and he managed to breathe again.
"Anything different?" Oliver asked, getting up from the chair.
"Yes, you seem a bit taller again. But once more, your eye changed. The right one now has a yellow glow," Nico observed.
"Basically, that's what I can do," Oliver explained, still calming down.
"Fascinating. I'd heard of sothing like this. However, it's quite different from the average person. Of course, the evolution process is similar. But we don't know when we're close or far from evolving; it just happens at any mont," Nico explained.
Oliver sat back down, relieved to have completed the process.
"I don't need to tell you how important it is to keep this a secret. It's a good advantage over many others; so might get jealous because of it," Nico advised.
"I understand," Oliver agreed. He was already used to keeping secrets.
"But enough about ; how are you?" Oliver asked.
Nico smiled.
"I'm good. You got lucky; this is my last week in Selene. Any longer, and you wouldn't have found here," Nico ntioned.
"What do you an? Are they finally kicking you out?" Oliver joked, but with a hint of concern.
"No. The war has gotten so tough that even I've been recruited by a Great House," Nico explained, slightly pleased.
"Really? Which one?" Oliver asked.
"Dardanus. They're one of the weaker houses among the Great Houses, which made the negotiation easier, especially since their territory, Ganyde, is quite far from New Earth and suffered with the onset of the Wave," Nico explained.
Oliver had no idea which Great House that was.
"So you're moving to Ganyde?" the boy inquired.
"Unfortunately, no. I'm heading to the front lines. They're sending to Olympus. Each House needs to contribute armies to contain the advance on front-line planets," Nico explained.
The boy nodded, slightly worried about his ntor.
"But don't worry. There's no way they'll kill ," Nico smiled confidently.
Perhaps a few days ago, Oliver would have agreed, but with the virus they had used on Alan, he was fearful for the Ranger.
"Oh! Do you know how Caine is? I had no information about him after the attack," Oliver asked, rembering the instructor.
"He was lucky. Seems he wasn't seriously injured; he's already returned to the Academy and continues teaching. Especially now that several of the trainers were injured or, worse, killed," Nico explained.
The two continued chatting for a few more hours about different subjects, trying to keep to lighter topics before it was ti to say their goodbyes. Oliver would return to New Earth and use teleportation to Mars.
"It's ti to get back to training."
Reviews
All reviews (0)