Reyn looks around in confusion.
He finds himself back inside the Forge, his skin burning as the newly installed aetheric-circuits settle into his flesh. His neck is stiff from the power-core socket adorning his nape.
"Barely a peep from you in there. You ok, ya?" Doctor Ravinok inquires, his face looking worried.
"Y-Yeah, I think so."
"Good, good. You had me worried Mitchells' boy. Your procedure, hm, we see some strange readings. Fluctuations in the aether. Very peculiar. You sure you're ok? No funny business?"
"Yeah, I'm good Dr. Ravinok. I'm ok."
Reyn replies with a forced smile. Electing to hide the details of his experience in the Forge for now.
"Good! Go get your augmentation reviewed and healed. We will see you soon."
Reyn is assisted to an adjacent Black-Light room while the graduate group cheers on.
The darkness inside reminds him of his recent experience, yet nothing compared to the deranged purgatory he had just endured.
Did it even happen? Was it real? He begins wondering, but quickly neglects those thoughts in order to focus on his current reality.
He is gently led to some kind of bed hidden within the dark room and instructed to lay prone.
Invisible hands and devices poke and prod at the aetheric-circuits trailing his skin. The GAARD scientists inspect the intricate details of their work.
"All good here, Mr. Mitchell's. Please relax, a healer will be with you shortly."
Footsteps fade into the room from an unknown direction. Reyn can't see it, but he faintly feels a powerful presence hovering over him.
"You're Lunara's boy, uh?" A voice comes from the darkness. Unnatural and distorted, yet still holding a certain kindness and maturity.
"Don't worry. I've been assigned to heal you. Just lay still and relax, ok."
"Who are you?"
"Classified, I'm afraid. You know how it is with us healers."
Reyn shrugs. He knows all about the plight of aetheric healers.
Healers are one of the rarest ARCH-types. Of the more than 100,000 archaners discovered since the First Invasion gate, only 24 had a healing ARCH-type.
Healers are highly sought after by many governments, organizations and private parties for obvious reasons. The ability to heal almost any disease or injury is invaluable to humans.
It is not uncommon for healers to be headhunted or even kidnapped by desperate parties. GAARD forces strict security protocols on the healers in its employ for this reason.
Reyn feels the man's hands hover over his body.
"Relax, this will only take a moment."
Despite the Black-Light, Reyn could clearly make out the shimmer of aether.
His skin tingles and his body begins to feel light. He feels the aether weave through the damaged cells of his flesh, repairing each broken molecule.
"I know, it feels weird, right? You'll get used to it. Front-line Archaners tend to get pretty messed up out there"
"Yeah, I've heard."
"I've met your mom a few times, you know. Strong woman, that. Queen of Elements."
"Really? Where?"
Reyn turns to the voice hidden in the Black-Light.
"Um, I think the last time was about 5 or 6 years ago, after the gate in St. Petersburg. She got pretty beat up. Wait, didn't I have to replace half her arm?"
"Yeah, sounds about right." Reyn chuckles.
"Man, that lady was relentless. You see that time she ripped those giants in half with the ice-blades in L.A.? Oof. Can't imagine the cleanup she left behind."
"Yep, she liked to brag about that one. The thunder dragon in Shanghai was her favorite though. Took down the barrier crystal too with that flaming ice-vortex."
"Who can forget! Remember the Johannesburg Gate? That horde of stone-spiders? Joseph ripped through them like a kid in a candy store!"
"Boulders flying everywhere! Think he destroyed more of the city than the etties."
The men continue to happily reminisce on the accomplishments of Reyn's mother and her Strike Team. Something Reyn had not had a chance to enjoy for too long.
"There ya go, buddy. All fixed up. Just relax here and one of the assistants will take you back out. Good luck, I'll be keeping my eye on you."
"Thanks, mister."
"My pleasure, Mitchells."
Reyn hears the man's footsteps fade into the distance.
"This way Mr. Mitchells."
A hand firmly grips Reyn's shoulder, leading him back out the dark room and into the dim-light hall containing the Forge.
Reyn moves back to the group of graduates who immediately swamp him with questions and praise.
"What happened?"
"Didn't it hurt? You didn't make a sound."
The questions come thick and fast, Reyn struggles to answer, trying to find a plausible explanation for his experience in the Forge.
"Hey, give him some space. Jeez!"
Jocelyn's voice breaks through the crowd as Ghazal's arm wraps itself around Reyn, pulling him away from the group.
"Thanks Jose!" Reyn yells with a thumbs up pointed to the woman.
She nods and smiles.
"How's it feeling, man! Shit. Looks painful."
Ghazal inspects Reyns' augmentations, tugging at his collar and sleeves to get a better look.
"Pretty cool, uh?"
The friends continued to discuss the fascinating technology as the day's activities progressed. Eventually Ghazal is led to the Forge as well. His experience left him strangely quiet for the rest of the day.
The procedures come to a close and the group is led back up the elevator to the lobby of the administration building.
"That's it for today folks. Feel free to head back to your dormitories. I'm sure you could all use some rest."
Agent McCain explains as the group moves through the lobby to the building exit.
She gives the graduates a short explanation of what activities they could expect the next day.
The late autumn sun hangs low in the sky, laying a shade of auburn sunlight across the landscape.
Reyn can barely make out the shimmer of the evening's first stars starting to twinkle in the sky. He pauses a moment to appreciate the scene outside the building.
"Beautiful, hey?"
Jocelyn appears from among the group and prods Reyn as they move.
"Huh? Oh, yeah! This place looks amazing."
"Reminds me of home, growing up in Vancouver, heading up to the mountains with my Dad to hunt and fish."
Reyn notices the glimmer in her eyes as she speaks fondly of her family.
"You miss them?"
"Hell yeah, I have barely seen them in the flesh in 3 years. Can't wait to see them again. You? You got family waiting for you out there?"
"Yeah, my dad. Got a little half-sister too. Kayce. Think I miss her the most."
Jocelyn giggles.
"Cute! I have an older brother. Bane of my existence. Can't believe I even miss him too."
The two walk closely for a bit, discussing their family situations and past home lives as they survey the sky and landscape revelling in the evening sun.
"Do you ever feel like the moon is watching you?"
"Huh?"
"You know. The man-in-the-moon. You think he's watching us right now? You think he cares about us little humans, trying to survive against those monsters?"
Her hand points to a full-moon laying low on the northern horizon, peeking eerily over the Tahtali mountains.
Reyn looks at Jocelyn in confusion as she breaks out into stifled laughter.
"I'm kidding Mitchells. You need to lighten up."
She greets Reyn with a warm nodded smile and moves further ahead to join her group of friends, waving him off as she leaves.
He looks at the moon again and smiles. A man-in-the-moon, he ponders. Wondering what such a being would think of him.
"Come on bro, I need to get out of my head. That Forge fucked me up!"
Ghazal protests, pushing Reyn faster toward their dormitories.
"How the hell did you take that shit without screaming? Felt like my skin was being peeled off by those damn lasers."
"Four in. Four out."
Ghazal's pout turned to a grin and then to a roaring laugh.
"You crazy fucker! Victory or Death!" He declares, punching the air.
Reyn joins him as the two strut back to their dorms in triumph of the day's accomplishments.
The group reach the dorms where many members immediately make their way to their rooms, disappearing for the day. Some decide to meet in the communal kitchen over a late snack to discuss the day's events.
Reyn, Ghazal and a few others finish their day with a round of video games and gossip in the lounge before heading for their own rooms.
Reyn reaches his room shortly before 10pm.
His body still felt light and full of energy due to the healer's work, but his mind was beyond exhaustion. The thought of his experience in the Forge having plagued him through the day as he struggles to make sense of the incident.
He throws himself into his bed, mind racing, trying to find the rhyme or reason. For hours he tosses and turns as he calculates all the possibilities, eventually falling into a soft slumber as his tired consciousness begins refusing any more stimulation.
~ BRRRRRRAAAAAAAAA BRRRRAAAAAAAAAAA ~
The siren-sounds rouse Reyn wildly from his sleep.
He looks around his dark room frantically, trying to find the source of the racket, his mind still half stuck in a dream state. He reaches for the vibrating phone under his pillow, the cause of the noise.
"3 AM?" He wonders.
Before he could consider the situation further, a news headline adorns his phone screen.
"15TH GATE APPEARS! ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT PREPARES FOR INVASION!"
The news hits him like a brick, instantly bringing him back to reality. He half falls out of bed, scrambling to find his clothes and accessories in the dark. Another message pops up on his phone.
"You see the news? 15th Gate in Buenos Aires! Come down to the lounge, we're all gonna watch it on the TV."
A message from Ghazal.
Reyn slips into some clothes and cleans up his appearance before rushing down to the dormitory's lounge.
There, all 16 graduates are huddled around the large TV screen hanging on the lounge wall. Some sitting on the couches neatly spread around the room, others sitting or kneeling in various positions on the floor. The look of worry and anxiety pervaded every graduate's face.
On the screen, a scene familiar to every human on earth.
A gigantic shimmering portal floats precariously in the center of the Buenos Aires skyline. Hovering high above the top of the tallest buildings.
The pulsating doorway flashes and glimmers with the raw aetheric energies that power it. In its center, a swirling kaleidoscope of impossible colors rippled in a spinning swirl of light and color.
"What do you think's coming out this time?"
"Just hope it's not dragons again."
"Or the fucking constructs. Those fuckers are tough as hell."
The group persists in speculating about the nature of the latest invasion's hostile forces, the 15th to strike humanity. Each invasion before it presented a new and different challenge to the defenders of humanity. What manner of monstrosity would the enemy present this time, the group wondered.
They watch the screen in anxious anticipation as the GAARD reporter on the scene covers the defense preparations that had already begun.
"Hello again folks, if you're just joining us, I'm Michael Rappaport of GNN. You are joining me live as we cover scenes of what will become the 15th Invasion of Earth, here, in the capital of Argentina. Buenos Aires!"
The reporter sits perilously over the door-seat of a roaming helicopter, below him, a scene of chaotic preparation, military and GAARD personnel working furiously to prepare the defences of the city.
After 15 years of the annual incursions, humanity's ability to prepare their defenses has become second nature. Years were spent perfecting response times and preparations, every battle a learning experience for humanity to better handle the ongoing incursions. Almost every nation on Earth had set in place comprehensive plans for civilian evacuation and defense preparations of their largest cities with the help and oversight of the military-minds and scientists of GAARD.
"Looks like GAARD is starting the transfers!"
On the TV screen, large metal platforms can be seen dotting the perimeter setup around the city.
On the ground military and GAARD work furiously to prepare ATGs. Aetheric Transfer Gates.
These mobile teleportation gates allow GAARD to instantly move equipment and personnel from various facilities and storage locations to any point on Earth.
The process requires absolutely enormous energy and aetheric resources, but is the only way for humanity to prepare an suitable defensive line in the limited time between the appearance of the Invasion Gate and the release of the hostile entities waiting within.
The ATG's are set, and in a flash of shimmering light, upon them appear various equipment and personnel. They are quickly moved off and set in their prepared positions and the ATG platforms wait for their next arrivals.
Archaners start appearing on the scene. They work quickly to assist the various teams with their preparations.
Some use their immense strength or aetheric skills to help move equipment. Others used their abilities to help boost the physical and mental strength of the various ground troops that lined the perimeter as well as the durability and power output of the various aether-based equipment and artillery that had been prepared.
More archaners help in the evacuation process, using their skills to quickly move civilians to safe locations and bunkers in and around the city.
In the heart of Buenos Aires, directly below the Invasion Gate, 2 Strike Teams wait impatiently.
Within 10 hours, preparations are complete. The city stands starkly empty.
A solemn silence pervades the air as all of humanity waits with bated breath. All eyes focused intently on the pulsating vortex crowning the center of the Buenos Aires skyline.
"I've been informed that all defense preparations are complete. The city has been evacuated, and we have Strike Teams Split-Nova and Thundering Fury waiting on the battlefield." The reporter confirms to his audience.
"Now, we wait."
The helicopter continues to rove the city's skies, alternating its cameras between the invasion gate and the defenders of humanity, waiting below.
Time passes slowly and minutes feel like days.
A message pops up across the graduates' phones informing them that all of their recruitment program activities have been paused until further notice.
The future-recruits have no time to consider the news, their eyes transfixed on the scenes unfolding half a world away.
Then, suddenly, it starts.
"IT'S OPENING!"
The reporter screams, bringing everybody watching a bit closer to their screens as they watch scenes of history unfolding.
The swirling vortex slowly begins to open, releasing from within a cascade of raw aether. The shower of glittering particles poured from the gate like an iridescent waterfall or light and color. An undeniably beautiful sight.
"Is - is that a foot?"
"It looks human!"
The graduates stare intently at the TV as a distinctly human foot slowly descended from the void. Its complexion, ghostly white.
The feet are followed by slender legs, a flowing white robe, a golden sword, then brilliant feathered wings and perched atop a long slender neck appears a face of near perfection.
"Fucking angels!?"
Ghazal proclaims as his face is held inches away from the TV screen, prompting other graduates to move him out their way.
The sight on the TV screen was unmistakable.
Brilliant beings which seem to shimmer with unnatural light soared graciously just below the gate. The enormous wings on their backs fluttering as they bob delicately in the air, each flap releasing a shimmer of light and color. The scene looks ethereal.
"A-ANGELS! The invaders look like angels!" The reporter shouts.
The entities continue to rain down from the gate, in total, 16 angelic beings fill the air above Buenos Aires, each one basked in an otherworldly elegance.
The gate ripples, its energies seeming to reach a crescendo. Then, from it, an explosion of raw aether rained down to earth.
"It's the Barrier Crystal!"
The reporter announces as an enormous aetherite crystal slowly starts to descend from the gate.
At least 12 meters tall and half as wide, the shimmering crystal hovers for a moment before promptly plunging to the ground in a fiery crash.
Dust and debris fills the air as the large crystalline object bursts through the roof of a recreational shopping center in the city, settling itself in a crater of rubble deep in the building's basement.
"I - it looks like the barrier crystal has broken through a building in the downtown area!" The reporter confirms before turning his attention back to the aetherians.
"The scenes here are… Well, they are quite literally biblical! We have a group of what looks like angels hovering over the city. We wait now only for …"
Before the reporter can finish, another figure starts to emerge from the gate.
A colossal ghostly-white monstrosity slowly descends. Its shape takes form as it seeps into reality. No feet, no slender limbs, no wings. Just an immense face.
The vaguely human visage hangs over the city ominously, its mouth and nose perfectly sculpted, like a mountain of luminous marble. But where its eyes should be, the face sat bare.
Instead, around it spins a twisted mess of oscillating eyeballs, each connected to each other in tangled vines of flesh and aether. The floating face wears them like a revolving crown.
"I - I don't…" The reporter stutters.
The atrocity finishes its descent, and the gate promptly closes above it, revealing the colorful vortex of aether once more.
As the gate shuts, 6 floors beneath ground-level of the demolished shopping complex, the barrier crystal hums to life, spewing out an enormous dome of plasmic aether that quickly engulfs a large part of the city, creating the Aether Concentration Zone that would become the main stage for the day's battle.
At GAARD HQ's Combat Command Center, the scene has become frantic.
"What the fuck are we dealing with here, doctor?"
The authoritative voice comes from the center of the command center.
Rows of desks and monitors line the room, each manned by furiously working agents. Numerous large monitors hang from every wall as video feeds and various defense details display across their screens.
At the front of the room, multiple monitors display scenes of the invasion in real time, the winged aetherians all visible in crystal clear clarity.
At its center, Director Jesse Lyon, head of the agency, and the man most responsible for handling defense against the gate invasions.
"Ah, this is a difficult one, Director! You see, many angels…"
Dr. Ravinok disappears mid-sentence, appearing next to the Director a moment later.
"... religions and cultures across history. This is obviously of the biblical variety."
"I can see that doctor. What can they do? What should we expect? Flaming swords?"
"Ah, that, even in the bible. Very vague. Doesn't really go into details on angelic combat abilities, you know."
"Damn it! GAIA, you got anything?"
The Director snarls as pokes at the computer interface next to him, rubbing his head in frustration.
"I'm afraid it's as the doctor says. The texts are vague concerning the natu…"
"FUCK! So we're going in blind!"
The Director rubs the sweat off the stumble on his chin as he carefully calculates his options.
"Ok, listen up people!"
He yells as he begins to quickly move amongst the various people and equipment in the command center. Barking rapid instructions as he goes.
"Load up the artillery. Everything! Have suppression teams set up and prepared along the perimeter. 1km intervals. I want nets, gas, sound, the-works. Setup 10 teams of archaners with workable ARCH-type matchings to help with perimeter suppression. Move everybody else out of the ACZ, and if they are not manning some kinda weapon or equipment, tell them to find shelter and await further orders. Go!"
With each instruction, an agent would furiously work their console, relaying the Director's instructions to the frontline.
"Anything comes within half-a-click of that perimeter, I want goddamn hellfire raining down on them! Do. Not. Let one of those etty fuckers make it through."
Like a lightning bolt from heaven, the orders rain down to the frontline, sparking action in the personnel as they execute every command. Artillery was loaded, suppression systems set, and non-combat staff evacuated.
The stage is set.
"Have Split-Nova track down that barrier crystal. I want Thundering Fury ready to engage the guardian. When this pops off, that's our main target. And where the fuck is Bladestorm and Warden-Unit? I need them in this shit, now!" The Director questions furiously about the 3rd and 4th Strike Teams assigned to the defense of 15th Gate.
In Buenos Aires, the invaders begin to move.
"It's been 40 minutes folks, the scenes here remain incredibly tense. No movement from the invaders, but it seems GAARD has made some adjustments to the defence strategy."
The reporter continues as his crew surveys the city.
"Wa… wait! There's movement! The invaders are moving!"
The stunned audiences of the world watch as the angelic aetherians slowly drift down to Earth, each wing-beat easing their descent. They set down across the city on its various rooftops and roads.
"They've landed! Is it starting? Will this be the start of the battle for Buenos Aires?"
Instead, the entities each bow down to one knee, lift their swords with both hands and lower their gaze to the ground.
"Are they… praying?" The reporter wonders aloud, his brow bent with bewilderment.
"The angels seem to be praying! What does this me… oh, OH! Look! The guardian! The gate guardian is moving!"
The spinning crown of eyes slowly came to a halt. Their irises twitch around rapidly as they survey the area.
The face starts to move.
Its mouth creaking open slowly, crumblings of crystallized aether break from its lips as they crack with movement. The mouth opens wide, then ever wider. The sides of the face breaking off in explosive chucks, revealing a writhing, fleshy interior gilded with aether.
Then, the entity inhales.
It sucks in vast amounts of raw aether from the area, fed in by the humming barrier crystal buried in the earth below.
"Oh shit! It's gonna attack! Get us this fuck out of… "
"WHAT!?"
Ghazal screams at the blank TV screen before him.
The graduate group all stares in dismay as the battle's broadcast abruptly ends.