Intro
The Beginning of the End
Date: January 4, 2030
Location: Iraq
The soldier walked over the smoldering ruins of the city that stood only hours ago... until an unexplained explosion occurred at noon. It wasn't until ten hours later when the special forces got there to clean up the mess, but it was already too late for those within a mile of the city. They were incinerated during the initial explosion, no survivors had been found, and it didn't look like there would be any either. A voice broke through the soldiers earpiece, "You find anything?" the soldier tapped on the side of the earpiece, "Nothing but rocks and twisted metal... Any clues to the cause of the explosion?" "No... It wasn't us. That's for sure. Must've been the Tara guard..." "But I thought they were only stock-piling small weapons, like machine guns, tanks, that sort of thing. Not nuclear warheads... Especially not electro-warheads." "Well, you never know what these guys will throw at us during war." A sudden crackle went through the earpiece, and the
soldier on the other side began to breathe heavily. "Shard, I think I heard something." the soldier stopped walking, and listened carefully. "It sounded like... like a kid." "Are you sure? Check it out, but be careful. The chances of anything surviving this explosion are slim to none." there were a few moments of silence before the soldier spoke again. "Shard, head to sector 7x. There's something you need to see."
"7x? That's the epicenter of the explosion." Shard replied curiously. "All right, I'll be there in a minute."
It took private Shard nearly ten minutes to actually find the location of his squad member, but when he did he saw that there was a crowd of soldiers already there. "What's all the fuss about?" Shard asked the nearest soldier. "See for yourself, it's unbelievable." Shard maneuvered his way to the front of the crowd, where a small child sat curled in a crater. "This is it? A kid?" he asked. The soldier next to Shard leaned toward him and whispered, "Take a closer look." Shard kneeled next to the child, he saw nothing at first, but then Shard saw that the kids eyes were glowing several different colors. They kept switching between red, blue, purple, and many others. Shard tried to lean in to gently pick her up, he was stopped by some invisible barrier. "What in the world?" he placed his hands on the barrier and tested it's strength, it proved sturdy, so he gave up trying to push through. Shard turned back to his fellow soldiers, then, once again, to the
child. The hood on the child's jacket covered most of the kids features, except for the glowing eyes, which continued to flicker between many different colors. Once again Shard placed a hand on the barrier, "Who are you?" he asked kindly. The child merely sat there, staring at him with Technicolor eyes. "Do you need some help?" the child curled a little tighter, retreating from Shards advances. The barrier expanded by nearly a foot, pushing Shard back. "Take it easy now, I just want to help." After a few seconds of thought, Shard told the men to back up, most of which complied. But there were still a few soldiers who held their guns tight at their sides. Shard turned back to the kid, who still held a relentless barricade between the two, not letting down any defense. "Put down your weapons," he said to the few men still holding their position. "Sir?" "Put down your weapons!"
After they had all laid down their complied, including Shard himself, he turned back to the child. "Were not here to hurt you... Please let us help." The child looked at the many soldiers, and stood from where she was, the barrier expanding with her. Only this time Shard wasn't pushed back, it allowed him to pass through and get closer. Shard chose his actions carefully, "Who are you?" he asked calmly, the child reached into a pocket, and pulled out a necklace, giving it to Shard. There was a small metal locket with the name, "Haley" inscribed on the outside. It looked like there was a way to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He didn't try too hard for fear of breaking the locket. Shard handed the locket back to the child, who put it back in the same pocket it came out of. "So your name is Haley?" Shard asked politely. He looked down at the child, who slowly nodded. "Hmm, that's a nice name." Shard said with a smile. The child looked up at him, and after a
second the barrier faded. Haley fell to her knees, but before she could hit the ground Shard caught her. "Well your just full of surprises aren't you?" Shard asked, lifting the limp body in his arms. She still had a pulse, nice and strong, it meant she wasn't dead. Shard climbed out of the crater with the girl in his arms, one of the soldiers stepping towards him. "Sir, what do we do now?" Shard looked back at him and said, "Request immediate medical evac for the girl." "What about you?" "I'll go with her, make sure she gets where she needs to go." Shard looked down at the girl in his arms, her head softly leaning against his chest. "What are you… Haley?"