Chrysoverse: Technopath Alliance

This… is Chrysoverse.

A city that exists somewhere on the edge of the planet you know as the Earth. Although, here, the Earth isn’t quite what we call it. This planet has had different names and titles for years, as all that have existed on it undergo continuous change. Let me rephrase that: all that lived on this planet in the past, when it was still a wasteland, got wiped out by famine, and only a few survivors of its former inhabitants remain.

Chryso was a beautiful city. It had everything—brimming with life, it served as a home for species of different kinds. A safe haven for everyone and everything that breathes. But that was in the past. A few years ago, a large storm swept by, turning the city into nothing but a shadow of what it once was. A lot of lives were lost that day.

Chryso has returned to being the wasteland it once was. No one knows what caused the storm, and no one can bring themselves to believe that it was just an ordinary storm.

***

A large ship slowly floated on the surface of waters that looked like blood. It had a strange red color and a scent that made it seem like it was once a war zone.

The large ship had a mermaid carved into its bow as a figurehead and had the image of a hawk painted on all of its sails.

“What in the world happened here?” a man with a large white beard asked, shocked at the scene. He walked further to the edge of the ship, glancing at the red water, mesmerized by its strange color.

Suddenly, a human arm popped out of the water, followed by a head. The head was of a female, and the arm that of a child.

“What in God’s name…” the bearded man exclaimed silently. What kind of bloodshed occurred here that turned this amount of water red?

News of ships going missing around this area had already spread through the land. Nobody dared to come to check what had been happening, but Captain Grimhold, the bravest sailor of all time, decided to make the trip with his crew.

“Turn the ship around!” Grimhold exclaimed, walking towards his quarters.

“But, Captain, the mystery hasn’t been uncovered,” one of his crew members said, walking with him.

“There’s something here. Something beyond our imagination, and I have a feeling if we wait to find out what it is, we’ll be nothing but mincemeat.”

“Does that mean it’s over?” the crew member asked.

Grimhold let out a sigh, then replied, “No! We’ll go back, get some more weapons, then come to finish the mission.”

As the ship turned around, deep inside the darkness that was the Red Sea, a short growl sounded.

***

A set of golden-yellow eyes swung open in a dark room. Sunlight shone through a gap between the window doors, and the thin rays bothered these beautiful eyes so much.

The young boy who lay on the bed placed his palm over his face to block the light, then said with a husky voice, “Ugh, it’s morning again!”

He got up from his bed and made his way to the window, then grabbed the door handles.

“Yo, Ethan!” a male voice yelled from the outside as he pulled the window open. A large beam of sunlight blasted through, causing him to shut his eyes.

“What do you guys want so early?” he asked, placing his arm over his face.

“So early? This is like 1:30; the coach is really pissed,” the guy outside his window said. He had dark hair, fairly dark skin, and dark brown eyes.

“1:30?!” Ethan asked in surprise, then raised his palm to push a button on his neck.

As he did, a female AI voice spoke. “Good morning, subject 1010, Ethan Morphy. You are extremely late for practice. Your ass is going to get whooped by your coach.”

“Man, I need to get the clock on this thing fixed…” Ethan said, then quickly rushed outside.

***

“To fly a mega-tenazoid, first, you have to understand what the machine is about, its basic concepts, how it operates, and other important things like that. Then, you have to establish a link with the machine. Each of these tenazoids can link with two people, and each of you will test them out after learning the basics to find which one you are compatible with and which partner you will be flying with,” Coach Vendet explained. He was a tall man with dark hair and bright red eyes. He wore a white uniform that had two horizontal black stripes.

The students he spoke to all dressed in grey uniforms, signifying they were only cadets in the force—a force that had the job of protecting the city of Terra-Zeldra from large monsters with unknown origins.

Terra-Zeldra was a flourishing place, filled with sights and sounds of different kinds. Everyone lived in peace and harmony, and with the help of the tenazoid force, the city was the safest place on the planet.

Suddenly, the door to the lecture theater swung open, and Ethan ran in.

“Ethan Morphy…” Coach Vendet said, turning in his direction.

“I’m so sorry, sir. My chip had a small issue, so I failed to awaken earlier,” Ethan explained.

Vendet glared at him for a moment, then turned away, saying, “Let’s move to the warehouse, shall we?”

All the students began moving along with Vendet, and Ethan was left with shock on his face. He had expected his coach to skin him alive and hang him on a long stick to dry, but for some reason, he escaped punishment—or maybe Vendet was planning something even worse.

***

“These are the mega-tenazoids! This is probably the first time you’ve seen one inactivated. These machines are going to bond with you and your partner forever, or at least until you die gloriously in battle,” Vendet said as he guided the young teenagers into a large storehouse filled with large humanoid machinery of different colors, all in dark shades.

“Whoa! This is amazing,” Emmanuel, Ethan's best friend, the guy from earlier, exclaimed as he walked into the hall, side by side with Ethan.

“Boy, this sure is a lot!” Ethan replied with a smile.

Suddenly, he felt something. His instincts told him someone was staring. He quickly turned to the direction he thought the person was in but saw no one.

“Huh, weird,” he said, then turned back to the giant machines.

“I sure do hope we get paired, bro!” Emmanuel said, then turned to Ethan, who stood staring at one particular machine. It had a dark purple color and gave off an aura of darkness.

“What’s wrong, Ethan?” Emmanuel asked, and Ethan replied silently:

“That one, it kinda looks like it’s…”

“Losing focus?!” Coach Vendet interrupted, and all the other students turned to Ethan.

“Uh, not at all, sir!”

“Ethan, first of all, you came late to class, and now you don’t want to listen to the lesson. Your parents entrusted you to me before they left for Chrysoverse, so my top priority is to make you the best soldier you can be. But if you keep doing this, you’ll just get left behind,” Vendet reprimanded. “No more coming late, and no more distractions, or I’ll have to hand you over to the Mad Commander. Understood?” he continued.

Ethan lowered his head in shame, then replied, “Understood, sir.”

As he replied, he got the feeling again. Someone or something was watching him. Not the countless number of students who peered at him, but something even more particular. He turned in the direction he felt was right but saw nothing. Then he turned to the giant purple machine again and noticed the dark aura around it become more and more prominent.

“Everyone, scatter!” Ethan suddenly yelled, and the giant machine raised its arms and began shooting at the students.

Its blasters were so powerful they broke the ground as they hit. The students scattered all around in panic, looking for a safe place to hide, and Coach Vendet tried his best to calm them down. The giant machine broke out of its glass container and began moving, cracking the ground with every step.

Ethan moved back, confused and completely baffled, as he watched the huge machine lose control.

The tenazoid slowly moved to the group of students who gathered in a corner of the laboratory with the commander, then raised its arms to finally end their lives.

The students’ eyes were filled with fear as they watched death heat up in the form of purple energy, gathering in the machine’s blaster, and some even cried.

Suddenly, the energy faded out as quickly as it had come, and the machine shut down. Everyone was surprised, especially Coach Vendet. He stepped forward to inspect the machine for any faults, and as he did, Ethan stepped out from behind its right leg, his eyes glowing a bright shade of gold.