1 Chapter 1: The Dream

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬, 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥-𝘴𝘰𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘉𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘰𝘪𝘭. 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥. 𝘉𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘵. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺, "𝘕𝘰𝘵...𝘺𝘰𝘶...𝘵𝘰𝘰..."

Theodore woke up with a jolt. It's the third time I had this dream, he thought to himself. He looked at the wall clock mounted right beside his bed.

0830 hours, 5th April 2069

"Shit! I'm late!"

He got up and went to the bathroom, still a bit sluggish, as if he hadn't yet recovered from the nightmare he saw a few minutes back. He searched for the touchscreen light panel with his squinted eyes, missed a few times, but finally switched on the light. He hastily took his toothbrush and toothpaste, and almost knocked his shaver off its charging port. As he brushed his teeth, he became fully awake. He washed his face and went to the dining room, put the bread in the instant toaster and got it out the next moment. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 2𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, he thought. While eating, he also wore his Supercloth, a type of stretchable skintight t-shirt and pants that lets him choose the clothes he wants to wear that day. He pressed the small button at the side of the cloth, and a hologram popped up. He chose the school uniform and the Supercloth morphed into place.

He quickly wore his shoes, locked his house, and went straight out towards his school. He joined the hyperloop that arrived at his school. Quickly, he rushed towards his classroom using the travellator. He took a peek inside his classroom to see that the next class hadn't started yet.

Inside, his teacher, Mr White, was mouthing his famous catchphrase to Theodore, "Don't be late for class."

"If I go inside now, Mr White is gonna berate me for the nᵗʰ time. Class ends in about 5 minutes, I'll just wait it out," Theodore said to himself.

As he went to his locker, a swift breeze struck him, as if an object was moving at a high speed just beside him. He didn't pay much heed to it, although was a bit startled. He put the keycode into his locker panel.

Swish.

A figure swished in and grabbed Theodore in a manner that seemed as if they were saving him. They both tumbled across the hall and came to a halt. Just when Theodore could decipher what had just happened, he saw the figure clinging to him. It was a person, wearing a jet black hooded attire, with a golden lining on it, as if it seemed to signify a certain rank. Still dazed, he glanced over the mysterious hooded person and fixated on a point on their back, which had 4 arrows pierced into it. He quickly regained his senses and attempted to pull out the arrows when the person's hand grabbed him.

"Don't... it's of no use..."

Theodore was taken aback by the feminine voice. They then removed their hood and looked at him. It was a woman in her middle age, with a boy-cut, sharp features and blood spilling out of her mouth. Her hand gently caressed Theodore's cheek.

"Ah... I finally found you, my Theo..."

Theodore felt a sense of familiarity within him. He never had parents. He was created synthetically, as the majority of the youth of this generation was. But this woman gave him a peculiar sense of warmth and amiability.

"Who- who- who are you...?" asked Theodore.

Without a word, the woman touched Theo's forehead and started chanting. She slowly started to vapourise while bright red lines started flowing into Theo's body from his forehead.

"Don't.....forget.....me....", she said, before vapourising completely.

Theodore's eyes became bloodshot, his veins popping out. The pain was so enormous that he couldn't even let out a scream. Slowly gagging and gasping, he laid down on the ground, clasping his chest tightly. His eyes started to bleed, and his vision was blurred, but he still was able to comprehend what he could see.

Behind him, he could hear a faint clanking sound. It was as if bones were getting smashed against each other. The clanking sound kept getting closer and closer. Soon, Theo could hear footsteps as well. The clanking sound came to a stop right when it got louder. The next thing Theo knew, he was being grabbed by his hair and dragged across the floor. He was in too much pain to correctly decipher the source behind the dragging. He turned himself to get a better look. It was a man with a robust build, short but muscular, with blood sprayed on his face. As he attempted to take a better look at the man, he threw Theo aside.

Theo's vision was getting blurrier, and the pain was not wearing off. Still, he tried his level best to get his eyes to focus on the man in front of him. The man suddenly started talking. Theo couldn't hear and comprehend what he was saying but could identify the voice.

"What the..." Theo mumbled.

"Don't be late for class, Theo." said the man. "I warned you several times already. But you don't listen, eh? Looks like Mr White has to do something about you."

"Why... why are you doing this...? Did you kill that lady who saved me earlier?"

"Why, it seems your eyesight is good enough to distinguish what is happening and what is not. I commend you for that. That lady, her lineage and her one surviving 'son' are all sworn enemies of the Horde. Everyone and I mean everyone who stands against us shall perish, regardless of who they are, what they stand for. It's useless to retaliate."

"What are you talking about...the Horde? Lineage? Son?"

"Yes, you are part of that cursed lineage. You should be happy to die. You are the next heir."

Mr White then takes out his weapon, a plasmadagger coated with deadly neurotoxins.

"Well, I must say I have very little time, and worthless scum like you don't interest me at all," he said.

"W- Wait please... please don't do this!" Theo screamed in fear.

Mr White swung his hand back and was about to stab Theo when a plasmaxe swung towards his hand and sliced it clean. Mr White was silent for a moment but started frantically screaming the other. Theo looked over to the other side to see where the plasmaxe came from.

There he saw, standing in black hooded attire, a girl with sharp eyebrows, and a petite and slim body. In her right hand was a plasmaxe, and her left hand had blood on it.

She advanced towards White swiftly, her steps as silent as that of a jaguar's. White swung his fist against her, but she evaded him easily and cut off his arm. Without wasting a millisecond, she grabbed her other plasmaxe and thrust it into his back. White's blood splattered out, some of it falling on Theo. White collapsed.

"Tha- Thank you... so much..." Theo said to the strange woman.

"We do not have much time. Come with me, Chieftain of the Ancients."