Chapter 1

Turtle Cove. What was so unique about this place? I wasn't so sure myself, but I didn't feel anything but a blank emotion as my eyes wandered the surrounding areas of buildings and tall grass. I sighed and looked down at my bag, the few remains of food and clothing left to bits of nothing. I managed to stare out the window again, and soon found the buildings passing me one by one, big and small, all just shadows in a gloomy place. People are out and about on the streets, walking and talking, laughing even as they keep distance among one another. The people behind me are whispering to one another, and I could hear those words about me, but I didn't care. I don't have any feelings towards those who hurt me.

The bus comes to a complete stop, and I stay seated as everyone else is standing and walking down the aisle towards the opened door. I look over and don't mind the people. They don't have a lot of use to me.

"Hey, you getting off or not? I don't have all day." That Bus Driver is the last person left besides me.

I quickly shoot a glance at him and grin. He shakes his head and grabs the handle, closing the door to the bus. I look at all the people joining the one's on the street, and it makes me think of them as nothing but ants. They scurry but don't have a real place to go.

As the bus rolls down the street, I see the people fad away as we reach an empty gap between the busy city life and the poor, unsettling life. I don't see any reason for this type of life, but I'm living it. The Bus Driver keeps catching glimpses of me in the front mirror, his eyes full of compassion. I don't want it. What was there to seek such things?

"Tell me where you're headed and maybe I'll see fit to take you there." He grumbles.

I look at him. "Nowhere now."

"You've got to go somewhere. I can't stroll down the block all day."

I sigh and quickly notice the deserted area of small houses and parks. I grin and get up from my seat. The Bus Driver looks at me curiously and slows down, his eyes shifting from me to the road in instant seconds.

"This is it." I say.

The Bus Driver nods and slows down some more, able to move the bus over to the curve and make it come to a complete stop. The smell of smoke hits me once the doors open, and he smiles a little as I quickly smile back, but, knowing his story, I lift my hand and feel a rush of energy in my fingertips, green smoke the last thing I see before the Bus Driver is limp against the steering wheel. I look at the area around me and slowly get an uneasy feeling. I feel as though something is watching me.

I step off the cold steps and quickly make way out into the fields, the bag in my hands gripped tight beside me. I feel a rush of energy again, having a voice of its own to stop this way and go ahead making life a living hell.

It is hell for me. Knowing I'm the one with all the power.

I don't think I've been here before, but my eyes have seen these things closer in my dreams than most nightmares. I see the gaping hole in the street and quickly walk down the set of stairs, leading into an advanced darkness that blinds my sight. I don't care for the darkness, but I sense something familiar than to earlier. It quickly ties me down and soon gets me up to my feet, hurting my wrists when I try to break free from the grasp.

"Enough struggling. We've been waiting for you."

"Me? You've waited a thousand years for this moment."

I shudder at my words. A thousand years. Life wouldn't be the same in a thousand years. My captor leads me down a straight path, easy enough for me since I'm the one leading the way. The grumbles and huff of my captor lead me to a sudden ease of emotion. I quickly feel the captor's fingertips slide down my skin and back up it. He takes in a short breath of air and exhales it into my ear, the voice sharp and witty. The captor turns the corner of the path and I see a hole on the side of the mysterious room. He turns me towards it and we pause in front of the tracks below. I look over to the side, a light dimmed in the corner.

My captor shoves me down on the tracks and I grasp the dirt under me once my hands hit, feeling the coldness. The rails are slick and a little warm. It seems the trains come fast around here.

"Up," He says. "We have far to go."

I nod my head and look at my captor. His body is white and purple with one horn sticking from his forehead. He has a weapon at his side. His face is blank and his stare is uneasy. I get up and quickly make my way down the tracks, managing to balance the same bag in my hands the same time. He follows me, but grabs my wrists like before behind me. I'm certainly unmoved by his actions. The tracks lead to a corner, where I'm shoved upon a pile of dirt and on a platform. My captor takes out his weapon and quickly picks at a heap of dirt in the wall. As the pieces come down, a rumble occurs and a door appears in front of both of us. He motions his hand and I go in, not frightened by this discovery.

I hear our footsteps echo down a long trench, my eyes catching glimpses of dirt along the edges of the area. My breath is calm and short. A light comes into my eyes and I quickly see smoke coming out of the long doorway, walking into it and blinding my eyes a second before I saw the eyes of the stone figures lining the walls and stared at me at all areas of the room.

I look around at all the figures and quickly see a woman standing among the figures in a long, blue gown. She, too, has one horn on her head. I look and her and she gives me a look of disgust. She moves quickly from her spot and decides to point her long and sharp staff at me.

"You are a step behind me...human."

I nod my head at her. "So, you're the one they call Toxica."

Her eyes join together as her face hardens. "You have no right to call me that."

"She isn't your average human, Toxica. She's one of a kind. A prodigy." The captor points out, walking to the both of us.

"I won't be replaced, Jindrax." Toxica says cold.

"Who said you were getting replaced? I sure wouldn't replace you." Jindrax laughs and points his sharp and twisted knife at my throat. "Would you?"

I look at his knife and stare back into his eyes. "No. I wouldn't replace anyone."

Toxica keeps her stare at me. I feel nothing from it.

"Where have you been?" A voice booms over the room.

Toxica gasps as a shadow peeks its way around the corner and kneels down quickly, followed by Jindrax. I remain standing, looking a the approaching figure turning the corner and staring at me as it walks forward towards the three of us. Jindrax places his hand on my arm and gestures his head down, telling me to kneel. I ignore him and keep staring at a man approaching me with a long, wide golden robe and, like the others, has one horn on his head. I grin towards him, the man from my dreams.

"You," He hisses at me. "kneel."

I quickly do what I'm told, getting on one knee and extending my hands in front of me. The man pats my shoulder and I jump a little from his gestures. Toxica and Jindrax look at me a moment before looking back at the ground, not once meeting the gaze of the man.

"Welcome to the Nexus, Cathra. We have waited for you for many years."

I nod. "I'm happy to serve you, Master Org."

"You will call me master from now on. No longer will I have the title Master Org with you in my presence."

"Yes, master." I say silently.

"As your first order, I want you to show your skills in battle."

I nod my head, ready for this moment. I've waited for it for years.

"But, boss, isn't she a little young to fight, I mean, she has the-"

"Enough, Jindrax. She will prove herself worthy, even if I have to replace you."

"But, boss, replacing us isn't what we want." Toxica says, worried.

I look up at the master. "I will do my best by you, master."

Then, my head bounces back with a strong force, my body stumbled backwards and pain already in my head. I smell smoke and open my eyes, seeing the rising smoke signals and Master Org's extended hand.

"Never look me in the eyes when you speak to me." He says, curling all but one of his fingers inside his palm, pointing at me.

I kneel back into my place, head down, catching my breath. "Yes, master."

As we three travel down the gloomy highway, Jindrax takes deep breaths and signals his hands into the skyline of the massive buildings.

"See that city? We are bound to conquer it no matter what," Jindrax chuckles. "Once we do, of course, then the world will be ours."

"Why haven't you taken it over already?" I ask, the same bag gripped in my hands. I don't know why I'm still carrying it.

Toxica looks at me. "It's because of them."

"Who's them?" I ask, continuing my stare down the deserted road.

"The Rangers." Jindrax says, but his finger points out in the open road.

Toxica huffs and grips her staff. I look on, stopped in my tracks, at the six colorful beings before me.