When I opened my eyes, I expected to see the familiar blue ceiling of my room and when I didn't, I panicked, jolting up immediately. Instead of my blue walls, the floor, walls and ceiling were all a sickening gray colour. Opposite to mine, there was another bed that was perfectly made, not a single wrinkle in the blanket. Surrounded by different game consoles and stacks of games, there was a large television mounted on the wall. The only other furniture in the room was a comfy looking armchair that was occupied by a boy who appeared to eyeing me closely. We locked eye contact and held it for several minutes before the boy finally broke the silence by letting out a long sigh.
"What's your name, kid?" he asked, still eyeing me down.
"A-Andy," I stuttered, rubbing my eyes with my hands. "How long have I been asleep?"
"I dunno," the boy shrugged. "They brought you in late last night," Last night? Where the hell am I? There was something about the boy that made my head spin, like I knew him from somewhere but I had no clue from where.
"Where am I?" My heart started to pound as I recalled the events from the day before.
"Welcome to West Virginia," he smiled. Why did they bring me here? "Where did they transfer you from?"
"West Virginia? I'm not supposed to be here. I live in Canada." I shook my head. "They were supposed to help me find my father," This seems to intrigue him because he looks at me differently.
"You're like me," He mumbled before he stood and walked over with his hand extended, expecting me to shake it. "My name's Five," he tells me when I shake his hand.
"Five?" I frowned. "Like the number?"
"Yeah," He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Exactly like the number. So what's yours?"
"I already told you," I mumbled. "I'm Andy."
"No, I mean what Number are you?" He asks. "You're like me, so you must have a Number?"
"What do you mean?" I frowned, tilting my head.
"You're one of the Garde." he smiled. "I never thought I'd actually get to meet one of the others, face to face."
"What are you talking about?" I retorted. This kid must have a screw loose.
"Let's skip the part where you pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about." Five scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You can't fool me."
"I would, but I honestly don't know." I shrugged. Narrowing his eyes, eyeing me closely, his gaze rests at my neck, and I can see that he is staring at my necklace.
"You have the pendant." Rolling his eyes, he pulled down his collar slightly to reveal a black cord. "Like me." He pulled out a glowing blue pendant from underneath his shirt, just like mine.
"This is just a necklace that my father gave me when I was younger." I told him, shaking my head. Why does everyone care about my necklace?
"You really don't know what you are, do you?" Five raised an eyebrow at me. "What we are? What kind of power that you have?"
"What are you talking about?" I said quietly. "What power?" I really didn't like where this was going.
"Didn't your cepan tell you anything?" Five asked.
"I don't even know what a cepan is." I scoffed.
"That's an interesting method." he muttered to himself. "I always thought the rest of the Garde would have spent their entire lives training, but what was your cepan hoping to gain?" He sneered. "It's no wonder you were found. Keeping everything from you just left you useless against them when they came for you. You really have no training?"
"Training?" I frowned. "What training? What are you talking about?"
"Look, everything I'm about to tell you is the truth, as crazy as it sounds. You were never supposed to be kept in the dark. And we don't have much time before they come for you, so keep all your dumb questions till the end, alright?"
"Okay." I nodded. This is crazy! I thought to myself. What is this kid talking about?
"First off, your 'Dad', isn't your really your Dad." He scoffs. "He was your cepan."
"Whats a cepan? You've mentioned it a couple times now but I don't know what that is." I asked.
"I thought I told you to keep the questions till the end!" Five growled in annoyance.
"Well how am I supposed to keep up with what you are about to tell me if I don't know half the words you're using?" I retorted.
"Fine." Five sighed. "In order to explain that, I'd have to start with where we come from. I don't really remember much about it, just what I've heard from my cepan and from Them. We aren't from this Earth, Andy. We are from a planet called Lorien."
"We're aliens?" I rolled my eyes in disbelief, expecting his to call me gullible like MElody would have done. He doesn't start laughing, or even smile, he just keeps going.
"On Lorien, there were two kinds of people. There were the Garde, like us," he nodded towards me, "And the Cepans, like your 'Dad',"
"What's the difference?" I frowned. Five shot me a glare, but answered my question anyways.
"The Cepan maintained the planet. They were teachers, lawyers, janitors, store clerks. Some of the cepans even mentored the younger garde, helping them harness their power. They were our guardians." he explained. "The Garde, were to protect the planet. They had jobs like the police, the army, celebrities."
"What made the Garde different from the cepans?" I asked.
"The Garde had legacies." Five said with awe. "Legacies are like super powers." he said before I could ask him. "And the legacies varied with each garde."
"You said that you and me were garde?" I said slowly.
"Yeah." Five grinned. "If your legacies haven't started to develop yet, they will soon." he tilted his head towards me. "Do you know your number?"
"What number?" I scoffed.
"I told you about Lorien, well now you should know what happened to it. The elders of Lorien failed to see progress and so they were eliminated. Lorien failed to see the future, so that too had to go. The mogadorians attacked our planet, but the Elders foresaw the attack. They selected nine young garde, and nine mentor cepans. When the mogadorians attacked Lorien, the nine garde and their cepans went to the airstrip. An elder was waiting for us there. The elder put a charm on us," he lifted his left pant leg up to show a mark on his ankle. "Instead of names, we were given numbers. One through nine. The charm insures that we can only be killed in order of our numbers. And when each number dies," he lifted his right pant leg to reveal a symbol burned into his ankle. "The rest of us receive a scar. There's only one, so that means that Number Two is alive somewhere. The mogadorians are killing off the last of the loric resistance. Only then can we have peace. Does that make sense?" He asked.
"Yeah." I nodded.
"We aren't like the other kids here." Five told me.
"Other kids?" I frowned. "There are others here?" Mel? Is she here too?
"Yeah," he nodded."There are other garde here. When the mogadorians attacked Lorien, they didn't kill everyone. Some of the younger ones, the ones that were still too young to remember, they spared them. They brought them here, so they could train their powers. But they aren't the garde. We're special. We're far more powerful than they will ever be. So you and me? We're brothers now. Okay? We've gotta stick together." Five said seriously. "Do you understand?"
"Yes." I told him. "I understand."
"One other thing," he said quickly, glancing nervously towards the door. "They're gonna come and get you. They'll ask you questions, and you're going to answer them truthfully, okay? Don't lie to them. There's no use lying. Just tell them the truth and it will be fine. They don't trust us completely. All they have is our word that we're loyal to them, which doesn't really account for much. They're always watching us, so you have to be careful what you say, even in here." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the door opened and a man walked in.
"Ethan." Five grinned. "How's it going?"
"Hey Five," the man smiled. "I see you've met your new room mate. What is your name?" he asked me.
"Andy." I told him. Something told me that he wasn't satisfied with that.
"Andy." he smiled. "It's a nice name. But what is your number?"
"I don't know." I answered, shrugging my shoulders.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Ethan frowned.
"My Dad never told me anything. Five explained everything to me, but it doesn't seem real. Are you sure that I'm the right kid?" I retorted.
"Look at your pendant." Five insisted. "It's glowing. It wouldn't do that if you weren't a loric." To demonstrate, Five took his pendant off and placed it over Ethan's head. As soon as the pendant lost contact with Five, the glowing blue turned dark, like the pendant that Agent Walker had showed me. That's why she was testing me; to see if I really was one of them.
"Are you telling the truth?" Ethan demanded.
"Yes." I nodded.
"Alright," he sighed. "Andy, follow me. Five, you were requested in the training room." I had no choice but to follow the man. Five nodded to me before leaving, and I knew secretly he was telling me not to worry. I followed Ethan to a small room where he had me sit down. There was another man standing in the room. He wore some sort of uniform and his skin was pale white, almost unnatural. That has to be one of the Mogadorians that Five mentioned. He's too pale to be human.
"Andy, this is Commander Deltoch. He's going to ask you a few questions." Ethan told me. He shot me look, motioning to the glass mirror in the back. Someone's watching us. I realized. Five warned me. He said that they're always watching.
"What number are you?" Deltoch asked.
"I don't know." I said quietly. "My Dad never told me."
"What?" Deltoch hissed in rage. "Are you lying to me Loric?" He spat Loric as if it were the worst insult that he could call me.
"No." I shook my head. "My Dad never told me about Lorien or my legacies. Five explained it all to me." I told him. Commander Deltoch eyed me suspiciously.
"Well then we better get you educated in it." he smiled slyly.
"Of course. Since Five is the only other numbered Garde here, you can train with him." Ethan told me. "You'll train with the others here too, but most of your time will be spent with Five."
"Of course, just training and learning our ways won't be enough to prove your loyalty to us." Commander Deltoch continued. "To prove your loyalty, you will have to spill blood. Is that something that you that you are willing to do?" By the tone of his voice, I knew he wasn't asking. These mogadorians destroyed a whole planet. There was only one acceptable answer if I wanted to live.
"Yes." I answered firmly. I knew my life was changed forever in that moment, and a single, horrible thought swept through my mind. I'm never going to see my family again, am I?
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