BP: Ok, after serious debate, I have decided to rewrite this story. I decided to revamp the character I made and this is set after the Rise of Nine, and I know how her Legacies should work now, no more Magic + Legacies crap with unknown side effects. I realized this concept was used by me all along and this single "Legacy" would be called Aura Manipulation, which would be explained in this story.
My name is Noel Amadera. I am from Lorien. Or what remains of it, anyway.
I can't really remember anything about myself other than the fact that during my childhood, I was abducted by Setrákus Ra and became one of seventy-two children that were his test subjects. He called it Project Aurelia, after that Elder that was able to harness a unique source of energy that could mimic other Legacies, but was different in the sense that apparently, he could not deactivate the Legacies used by that Elder.
I don't know how to describe it. It's like they were Legacies but yet, they were not. There was something about her too that intrigued Setrákus Ra, but I don't really know what.
72 of us were injected with her DNA in the hopes that we could replicate her ability to use magical powers, as well as activate the many unique weapons used by her. He was forced to abandon the experiment when the war was at its peak, and also believed that none of us had survived.
He was wrong. I was the lone survivor. I found myself endowed with the Elder's abilities to create hexes and bad luck to opponents just by the snap of my fingers, and finding myself surrounded with light blue energy.
I don't know what this light blue energy does, but what I do know is that if I used enough imagination, I could do numerous things, like shooting bolts or manipulate the weather.
I'll get straight to the million-dollar question. What happened to my planet and what am I doing here, you ask?
Well, during the Invasion, the Lorien Elders, who are in charge of the defense of the planet, disappeared for an unknown reason. This gave the Mogadorians the perfect opportunity to surprise attack the planet. The first bombs dropped during a time of celebration on the planet where we, the Loric were enjoying fireworks and other festivities.
While the bombs continued to drop, thousands of ships dropped from the skies dropping Mogadorian Soldiers and creatures off. We were vastly outnumbered and soon, despite many fighting back, every man, woman, child and creature were slaughtered and the outer shell of the planet demolished.
The war began during the Quartermoon celebration on the planet. The first part of the attack consisted of bombing the planet with missiles and destroying several locations where a lot of us were at that moment. Some of these locations include the Chimæra nightclub, the spires of Elkin, and the Lorien Defence academy. It is also known that before the attack, the Mogadorians disabled the grid by shooting large violet beams of energy in the sky.
Unknown to us at first, the beams were draining the grid's power systems so that the grid would not function on the day of the invasion. The reason that the Mogs could land so easily was because of the Loric's own mistake.
Since it was near the Quartermoon festival, the Loric believed that the violet beams were actually signs of the beginning of the Quartermoon but unbeknownst to them it was signs to their doom.
When the first missile barrage ended, the Mogs landed a part of their ground troops and beasts on the service to begin the attack. Shortly after they landed a second wave of missiles came and even more ground troops touched down on the service. Apparently, we fought extremely bravely but hardly stood a chance because they were unprepared and caught completely by surprise.
It took the Mogs 3 days to exterminate all life on the planet and turned Lorien from a beautiful paradise into a wasteland. Nobody knew this, but I am known as "Number Eleven".
Unlike Number Ten, I have a Loric Chest, and the Loridas Charm cast on me. That means technically I am Number Ten, but that title was given to the baby on the ship with me, and I was given "Number Eleven" instead. Who knows why I missed the first ship even though I have the Loridas Charm cast on me.
Number One was eventually killed in Malaysia.
Number Two was hunted down in England.
Number Three was murdered in Kenya.
As for Number Four…they tried to kill him in Ohio, but failed.
By now, perhaps all the Cêpans have died trying to protect their Garde or something. Even mine is dead, but I won't go as far as to say that my Cêpan died heroically, cause she…didn't. She died shortly after landing on Earth when I was very young, leaving me to fend for myself at the age of five.
How did she die? Well, even I don't know, but Kelly was not exactly a stable Cêpan. When I say stable, I meant mentally and emotionally stable. Most likely, she couldn't find the courage or inner-strength to move on for Lorien.
Perhaps the shock of losing her family and friends back in the invasion got to her. I wouldn't know, because I actually never opened the letter she gave me before she died.
All I could do at her last moments was promise to stay in hiding until I train up my Legacies and feel that I am strong enough.
"Take care of yourself, okay?"
That was what she said.
After her death, I hiked alone with all the supplies in my bag too big for a child, hungry, tired and scared. I ended up living day to day without a guarantee of enough food, having to resort to using my abilities to kill victims just to get my hands on the goods I need and stealing to get by. Sure, I had gems, but something told me not to just give them away.
No one ever caught me, until one day, an older guy with black hair and purple was able stop me in my tracks with his katana alone, deflecting the attack back to me, hurting my arm. I blinked at how I had gotten hurt, because I never got hurt when I was hit.
The man squinted at me and said, "You use Aura." It wasn't a question.
"Aura?" I had asked. "What do you mean? I'm-" I try to hide the Chest I was holding.
"Come with me. You won't be hungry again." He held out his hand.
Looking back, I should have rejected it, but I was a hungry kid back then. Perhaps he was even after the gems I had. What do I know? All I knew was that the guy opened a door for me, and I'd be a fool not to accept it.
It turned out that guy was Shiki Kurobane the second-in-command of Quarantine, the first legally sponsored blacklist organization by the United Nations and they are contracted to handle threats around the world and was based on America. Of all the official blacklist groups, they have the most jurisdiction.
There was a Blacklist Clause, a law that protected blacklist organizations that have been officially recognized from prosecution from their actions. It basically granted free reign to this organization to carry out their tasks.
What others do not know was that the other members, they use something called aura and psychic powers. I was pretty surprised to find out they were humans, not fellow Aura-using Loric like I had assumed. This makes me wonder if the Elder with Aura Manipulation had come to spread her gifts here before.
I've been in America ever since, eleven years in a mansion that served as Quarantine's base with every room being more like something you'd see in a palace rather than a normal home apartment, living with the others that were like me. Aura users. But unlike me, they were perfectly human. I know Loric had been visiting Earth for centuries, but then how did it explain why humans were able to use this "Legacy"?
I don't know much, other than the fact that all of them had one thing in common- being hit with that Legacy. So they are the lucky ones. Almost no human can ever survive an Aura-based attack unguarded. Even if they did, there's a high chance they would be be crippled for life. I am sure it would come as a surprise to even other Gardes, that this Legacy, unofficially named Aura Manipulation, can spread among humans.
I spent my time going to school, being trained by Shiki Kurobane in the wonders of Aura usage and being sent to assassination missions as the other members see fit. I find it peaceful, composing music and signing songs I hope to contribute to games someday when I was not in a mission. They definitely treat me much better than those people back in Lorien.
I'll admit I had lost the urgency to be on the run, because I felt safe here. Everyone in Quarantine could fight back in their own ways, and with two technological geniuses on our team, we were efficient enough to erase any tracks I may have made to alert the Mogs. At the same time, they were scouring any information on the Loric in order to find out just who and what are we, in the case if we ever have to go up against the Garde or ally with them.
No offense to the rest of the Garde, but I rather stay out of this resurgence of Lorien thing and live out the rest of my life safe in what I now call home. Sure, it would be nice if humans treat us like how civilians do superheroes in comics, but this is real life. People would fear us. Power-hungry individuals may even hunt us down in the hopes of inheriting the power or making us tell them how to get the same powers, killing us if we don't or can't reveal it.
Also, superheroes make everything alright by the end of the comic. Realistically, how are the remaining eight Garde supposed to take on a whole planet of Mogs, which the population was probably twice the size of Lorien? Sure, we could use the help of the humans, but according to my commander Anna Guth, the FBI is helping the Garde.
Well, I guess it wasn't my business, because chances are the FBI doesn't know I'm a Garde and everyone outside Quarantine perceives me as completely boring and average. It doesn't seem like there's any reason for anyone to suspect I'm a Garde. I'd like to think I am completely average except for two things.
The first is of course, my sole Legacy. Well, true, I can mold it into forms of other abilities, but those abilities aren't Legacies. It's just simply an extension of my Aura Manipulation. Sometimes I wonder if Lorien hated the fact that this Legacy was possible for humans to have that made me be treated like an outcast.
I never got a chance to ask them, which was too bad, since I would have told them if you don't want people to have powers, you don't visit them. Simple as that.
Second non-average thing about me is since my Cêpan died early and probably not as heroic as other Cêpans might have, I got taken in by Quarantine, which consist of twenty core members, each of them commanding a team themselves.
You might wonder why they were allowed to exist despite them being what you might call "assassins". This was because Archie di Angelo, multibillionaire businessman extraordinaire, managed to convince those in the UN that they need other ways to execute justice. Let's face it, sometimes the punishment mete out by the judge would not make up for the physical or mental trauma done on the victims. However, no one is willing to get their hands dirty just to dish out justice.
That's when Quarantine comes in. We do the dirty work for a price, so the morales here are kind of compromised. Since we get paid very well, only the very best of the people gets recruited here. Ironically, all of them can use Aura, one way or another. You can even say the international task force doubles as a sanctuary for the ones with powers.
If I were to be honest, even if Quarantine didn't have powers, I wouldn't exactly call them normal. Even without their powers, they are still talented people described as being the very best at what they do. Considering each of them are internationally renowned, the claim that they are the best at their area is not far-fetched. Even my mentor (or I call him my new Cêpan) Shiki is a world-renowned Defense Attorney who had founded the biggest law firm in all of America.
Here's something disturbing though. The kills committed by us are never traced back to us. The only reason why police know that some murders are done by us is because we leave a calling card. Cool, huh? Yeah, I was taught to not take crap from anyone, so I make sure if anyone messes with me or tries to, they'll get a lesson they'll never forget. Or repent in hell.
You might think this is bad, but wait until you meet one of the other seconds-in-command, Amethyst Paradinight (stage name Pakura Ameyuri, that idol singer everyone loves), who was raised by Anna Guth herself. Or Amelia Guth, as Anna insisted her name was. Most people call her Amy though. Unlike Shiki, Anna's methods of raising Amy was extreme, to say the least.
I won't elaborate on how Anna raised her because even I am not sure myself, but what I do know is that Amy gets what she wants. Always. You might think she is some sort of spoilt brat because she always gets what she wanted when growing up, but she's a sweet girl. Most of the time anyway.
Another thing I am aware of it that as a result of Anna's parenting, according to the records, there were a lot of children deaths in the past when Amy was growing up. Yes, it's obvious Amy was the culprit, because the victims have all offended Amy in some way. But did she get convicted for her murders? The answer is, she never did.
Part of the reason was because the judges laugh the case out mainly because they don't believe Amy could have committed the crime due to her cute and innocent appearance. She can milk the innocent little girl image that isn't helped with the fact that animals love her very much. Secondly, the victims in question were usually way bigger, taller and older than her. It was simply impossible to believe that a little girl would do such a thing to the victims.
To be fair, if I were any of the judges, even I wouldn't believe a little girl would have the capability of pulling off that much damage to someone at least five years older than her. But I've seen with my own eyes what Amy can do, and really, even the Mogs would be afraid of her if they ever met her.
Perhaps the victims deserve it, since Amy almost never attacks unless it's for self-defense or provoked. The number of cases that got laughed out because of Amy's appearance reached around dozens, perhaps even hundreds.
So, the families of the victims almost never get their justice, but Amy's like a walking karma, prowling around to kick your ass. As Shiki once said, you reap what you sow.
Sorry, I must be rambling now. What I can say is, at least I'm not as murder-happy as Amy. That's probably because Shiki, not Anna, was the main parental figure in my life. Shiki must have learnt his lesson after giving Amy to Anna to raise as an infant or something.
Anyway, from time to time, I do wonder how the others are doing. I bet they couldn't locate me because my Aura distorts signals, which is why only other Aura users can really sense and locate me.
But I have no intention of finding them.
"You needed to see me, Lieutenant Anna?" I ask, when I am summoned to the office. Anna Guth was an older woman, but you'd be forgiven if you think she's only in her thirties.
She has brown-blonde hair that is tied in a ponytail, and her eyes were brown, but not the warm chocolate brown, but it is more like how ice would look like if it was brown. The gaze she usually gives me makes me wish I could melt the brown ice away.
"Yes." Anna says professionally. "We have received word that the suitcase that we have hidden near New Mexico may have been compromised, thanks to the recent battle in the Dulce Base."
"What Dulce Base?" I narrow my eyes.
"Apparently, the members of the Garde have all gathered in New Mexico for a major battle. Some of the FBI members are…indisposed." Anna tells me. "They are currently searching around the vicinity for stray members of the Garde."
"Isn't it unlikely for them to stray from each other, if they are now together?" I ask.
"You're right. However, the humans are smarter than Mogadorians. They are likely to try and salvage whatever is destroyed to build their next equipment. They may have told the Mogs about it." Anna tells me.
"As if the Mogs would even listen. They are like mindless soldiers." I roll my eyes.
"It is likely they will, or have to under the leader's orders. After all, the humans, in exchange for those Mogadorian weapons, may have had to help them in every way they can in exchange. Anything over the Garde." Anna waves.
"And you want me to get it." I say, knowing the answer even before it's said.
"Exactly." Anna says. "Not, of course, that the Mogs could use whatever's inside without Aura, but if they get their hands on it, the leader may be alerted to the existence of humans with Aura. Bring back whatever might be of interest."
"If the Garde sees me?" I ask. "Chances are they probably hijacked some van and are making their way to a safety place, probably a place a Garde had previously stayed in. Not all of them would think of going from place to place if they are safe enough."
"Then you just make your way to the nearest properties of one of our members. The John Hancock Center." Anna tells me. "I'll await your report from there."
"Yes, Lieutenant." I salute her, before going down to the garage where all our vehicles are parked. I chose sports bike that has a design emphasizing speed and aerodynamics. With the maximum speed increased drastically thanks to some technical meddling and my ability to avoid any obstacles instantly, I am sure I can get to New Mexico within hours.
Well, you really cannot say I do not think of my fellow Garde. I even think about them as I ride on a bike towards the location on the map, but I simply don't worry because if they are dead, I will have gotten a fourth scar by now. Also, them being together means one thing: I no longer have the protection of the Loridas Charm, the charm that ensures that we cannot be killed out of order.
While true, the charm should have protected me from Shiki's attack back then, I was the one who initiated the attack. That's probably why it didn't protect me from that, because I was the one who used the attack in the first place. All Shiki did was deflect it back to me. Also, there was no intention to kill, so it might be another factor. Maybe Kelly wasn't even worried about me dying out there at her last moments, because of that Loridas Charm.
All of that doesn't matter now though, because I got a mission to complete.
When I arrive at the destinated location, I see the Mogs have gotten to the suitcase first. They must have been there to look for the other Gardes, which according to the intel Quarantine has, all of them were heading to New Mexico, where some Government Base in Dulce was located.
That doesn't matter, since all I want is that suitcase.
With them was some creature that is a four-legged monster, around 30 feet tall, and enormous teeth jut from its mouth like tusks you might see in an elephant. Speaking of elephants, the colour of its skin is similar to it, except much thicker and much darker.
Luckily, it is in a cage. So I don't have to deal with it yet.
Maybe if I ask them nicely, they will hand the suitcase over. If they don't…well, then I'll have to do it the hard way. They won't like the result though.
I clear my throat, making them look up. They narrow their eyes at me, and asks in a guttural voice, presumably in Mogadorian, to get lost or something.
As a warning, a blaster is shot, hitting the ground near me and creating smoke. The Piken also snarls, like it wants to eat me or maim me. What a bother.
"Excuse me." I say, smirking "I just want the suitcase you're having. May I have it?"
When they point their blasters at me, I say, "Is that a no?"
At their growls, I shrug. "Alright, let's do this the hard way."
Four
After some debate after the Battle of New Mexico, we agree we should retreat to Nine's place in Chicago to plan our next move and to rest up. I squeeze Sarah's hand as we jump on the government van we stole after knocking the occupants out. Nine volunteers to drive, while Six gives him the directions.
"So, that just leaves Number Five, right?" Six says.
"Yeah." Marina replies. "John, you and Nine found his dot at Jamaica, right?"
"Yup." I reply, opening the tablet, and gasp. This cannot be! Is that an extra dot?
"What's wrong, John?" Marina says, walking over to me. "Hey! There are 8 dots now!" However, the dot in question is flickering, making it barely visible.
"Really? Where?" Eight rushes over, and looks over our shoulder. "How come we never noticed this before? And why is that dot flickering?"
"Maybe the 8th Garde has the legacy to masking his/her presence, or maybe something happened to the Garde." Just as I say this, the dot disappears. For one wild moment, we think he/she is dead, but we do not receive any new scars.
"I wonder what happened." Eight muses, looking at the ceiling of the van as if it will give him answers.
BOOM!
Everyone jolts with a start.
"What happened?" I ask.
"Holy shit, an explosion happened!" Nine blinks, and we all crane to see what is going on, but all we see is smoke. Six turns the vehicle invisible just in case.
When the smoke clears, a group of Mogadorians is facing us, along with a Piken.
However, they did not seem to be able to see us. Rather, they were staring down a girl with sapphire blue eyes, long brown hair, high cheekbones, and ivory skin. She has an amazing figure as well. She is wearing an unassuming outfit- navy blue sweater, black skirt, black leggings with white boots. She could have passed for a normal teenage girl going shopping or something, not a girl on a mission. I bet Nine will go for her in a second.
The girl holds out a hand towards the Mogs, and with our enhanced hearing, we hear her ask for the suitcase. It seems that she is after whatever is inside the suitcase that one of the Mogs is holding. In response, they level their blasters at her. One of them goes to unlock the cage the Piken is in.
"We should help her." Marina whispers.
I nod, and was about to exit the van to help, but the girl has it covered. She charges icy cobalt blue energy with her right hand, and shoots it at the Mogs, repelling their shots.
"She's Garde." Six realizes.
At the same time, she unsheathes her katana and runs towards the Mogs, faster than the eye can see. It is like she was teleporting among them, just like Eight does. She then sheathes back her katana, and all their heads got cut off at the same time, turning them into ash effectively.
I have never seen someone decimate a group of Mogadorians with ease before. It seems like it is almost a workout for her. She walks over to the unlocked cage, where the Piken roars at her, but she locks the cage back up and examines it before placing her hand on the cage, and a shockwave travels from the cage to her hand, which shimmers in blue.
The cage begins disintegrating from the back, forward. The powder flows into a black hole in her palm, which disappears as she makes a fist.
Before anyone can even react, she has taken the suitcase she is after and opens it to check the contents. After confirming everything she needs is inside, she summons her motorcycle with telekinesis, wears her helmet, hops on and rides away. It amazes me how fast she can complete these tasks while all of us are still in awe of what she has done.
"After her!" I cry, pointing to the motorcycle. "Ella, try to make a connection with her!"
"On it, Johnny!" Nine cried, starting to drive after her.
"She's not answering." Ella reported. "I think she doesn't want to talk to us."
Six moves to let go of her Invisibility, but I stop her. "No, if you do, she will know our position, and will do whatever it takes to slow us down." The van goes speeding after the motorcycle, which is a miracle, considering Nine cannot see the steering wheel and controls.
Funnily enough, she is heading to the same direction we are in. Could she be heading to Chicago?
Ella looks upset, and Marina asks what's wrong.
"Before she cut off my Telepathy, she only said I'm sorry." Ella says. "She knows we are trying to find each other to defeat the Mogs, but it's like she's running away."
"Dammit!" Nine cusses, pressing on the accelerator harder to try and keep up with the Garde. "Why is this Garde not eager to help us?"
"I'm not sure…" I say. If she is indeed Garde, she should know about what is going on, right? When we reach Oklahoma City, she made a stop, and went to Steak n' Shake, likely to get something to eat, or ask for information.
"Do you reckon we should follow her and see what she's up to?" Eight asks.
"Just make sure we aren't so obvious." Marina suggests, giving Nine a sceptical look, as we entered the small establishment, where she is sitting at a booth with the suitcase strapped to her back, sipping on a chocolate milkshake.
As it will be obvious if we all squeeze into the booth with her, we decide to sit at the empty tables, while Ella and Marina sit at the booth to try and listen to what she has to say. Ella will help broadcast what she heard to our heads.
Unfortunately, the girl does not say anything verbally, other than tapping repeatedly on the booth with a pen, with one hand on her smartphone. It almost looks like she's bored, like she is waiting for something.
Try to see what website she is surfing, Ella. I tell Ella through my thoughts.
Ella nods, and leans over, as Marina pretends to read the menu. I turn my attention to the television at the corner of the restaurant, where a news reporter reads about fugitive terrorists destroying the Dulce Base, and information on the group would prove beneficial.
I clench my fists. Agent Walker. Agent Purdy.
"Why can't they see that we are trying to help them?" Six grits her teeth, slamming her fists on the table, startling those nearby. The girl spares us a bored glance, before turning back to the television, still tapping away. She keeps a blank expression as she watches the news piece about us.
"They are promised those Mog technology." I reply. "They'll come around."
"Yeah right, Johnny." Nine snorts.
She's surfing an ordinary website, as far as I can tell. Not news on us or anything, because there's no pictures of any of us. Ella observes. Both Marina and I cannot tell because it's in another language.
"Maybe the girl just likes surfing the net as a hobby." Eight suggests.
"Or she is hiding something." Six says. "The website is in another language."
She isn't doing anything out of the ordinary though, as Ella has observed she has started to play games on her cell phone to kill her boredom, still tapping away with her pen. It is almost as if she is waiting for something.
The girl stops tapping onto the counter, and a text seems to come through, judging by the ringing on her phone. Before we know it, she stands up and rushes out of the restaurant. Ella catches a glimpse of the text, and says through Telepathy.
She knows! She knows we're following! Ella cries. The text confirmed her suspicions.
"What?" I say. This means she knows from the very beginning that we are following.
We all rush out inconspicuously, chasing after the figure, who runs faster than any Garde I have ever seen. We see her run down towards the Marriott Residence Inn, and enter the lobby. We reach a few minutes later, and unsurprisingly, we do not see her anywhere. However, the lobby is also empty, not even the receptionist is here. Something is wrong.
"Mind telling me why are all of you stalking me?" A cold voice asks from behind. We turn to see the girl behind us, the entrance sealed.
BP: I'm back, people! And with a rewritten story as well! For some time now, I've wanted to rewrite this due to Magic and Legacies being too OP and this is something that's been on my mind recently, being inspired as to how I wrote the PAL Series, with the characters having Aura.
So what if it was a single Legacy that can simply branch out to abilities, instead of copying other Legacies like Ximic?
For the sake of the readers who don't read my PAL Series, this story would explain how Aura works in the next few chapters in the storyline. For those who do, you might have a gauge of how dangerous Quarantine is, since the PAL Elites (not spoiling it for those who didn't read my PAL Series) are all members of Quarantine.
The characters in this story would originate from the PAL Series, or the OCs from N. Aepic Fael. I also revamped Number Eleven's personality.
Also, I will also rewrite The Lost Files: Eleven's Legacy soon.