15 YEARS LATER...

  DATE: 07/01/2918 — 854 Years Since the Unification of Pangea.

  LOCATION: Unknown Planet.

  "Shh... everything will be fine. The monsters don't exist anymore," a female voice whispered, cradling a child's head in her lap.

  "What if they come back?" the boy replied.

  "Then I’ll cover your eyes."

  The boy clung tightly to her blouse.

  "I don't want to cover my eyes. I want them not to be there."

  The woman stopped stroking his hair. Her hand went rigid atop his head.

  "Don't be silly, Cedric. They are always there."

  "NO!" he shouted.

  "WAKE UP!"

  The scream shattered the illusion.

  A brown-haired man opened his eyes with a start, letting out a sharp breath. He was sitting up, sweating cold. In front of him, a woman with long black hair watched him seriously.

  "Are you okay, Cedric?" she asked.

  Cedric looked at her, blinking to erase the image of the dream, and nodded in silence. He turned his head to the left, looking for the window.

  Outside, the reddish sky of the sunset bathed a sea of green trees that crashed against distant mountains. A beautiful view, but one that could only be appreciated from the cold metallic structure of a ZH in mid-flight.

  "You slept the entire trip, Cedric. I hope you fight better than you snore at the exhibition," said another woman sitting to the right of the first one, pressed against the window. She had tanned skin and short hair.

  "And I hope you fight better than you complain, Lunaria," Cedric replied, stretching. "There's a reason I'm an excellent Fractal."

  Don't you forget it, he thought.

  She didn't even deign to look at him; she closed her eyes and crossed her arms with indifference.

  "Why us...? Huh? Will we get no days of rest?" complained a blonde man with glasses sitting between the two women.

  Cedric looked at the man without showing any concern for his lamentations.

  "Stop bellowing already! You've been doing the same thing the whole trip, Krzytof!" Lunaria flared up, opening her eyes suddenly.

  "Huh?! Why don't you shut up? " Krzytof retorted, adjusting his glasses. "You two have been measuring your egos for three hours. It's boring."

  "What did you say, four-eyes?"

  "I said you're boring. Or are you deaf too?"

  Lunaria rose from her seat in a blur of motion. With one hand she grabbed Krzytof by the collar and with the other she raised a fist, ready to break his nose.

  "Don't fight... please," a soft voice asked.

  It was another girl sitting opposite Lunaria. She had her hands on her thighs, squeezing them nervously. Her large blue eyes watched the scene with panic, and her light brown hair shone with the last rays of the sun. Her white complexion flushed in a blush.

  She was too pretty to wear a military uniform, and too shy to carry a weapon.

  Lunaria and Krzytof paused for a second.

  "Only because you ask," Lunaria grunted, letting go of Krzytof reluctantly.

  "Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Lyana," he said, touching his neck.

  The beautiful girl, Lyana, lowered her gaze, embarrassed.

  The woman in front of Cedric, the one with long black hair, let out a deep sigh. A faint smile of resignation crossed her face.

  When will they behave like Vexillarius soldiers? They look like kindergarteners with weapons, she thought. Then she looked at the beautiful girl. And you...? When will you drop the shame, Lyana?

  "Captain Selene... we have arrived at Military Installation 9-2-1 of the Black Cradle," the pilot's voice sounded through the nearly invisible transmitter in her ear.

  The woman wiped the smile away, and her expression turned to steel.

  "I wish never," she whispered to herself.

  The ZH descended. The ship, marked by combat scars and grime, sported the gleaming logo on its fuselage: a winking fox, with a cigar in its mouth and an assault rifle.

  Among the large concrete buildings hung immense black banners belonging to the Black Cradle: three golden wolf heads looking in opposite directions, joined by a single neck. The dark background seemed to swallow the light of the sunset.

  The ship touched down in the central plaza, kicking up a cloud of dust that silenced everyone present. The side door opened with a hiss.

  From an office at the very top of a building, the highest-ranking officers watched.

  "Colonels... we have the mission report: Penumbra 07," said an officer with a respectful bearing, holding a folder.

  The colonels paid him no attention. They kept looking out the large window at the figures descending from the ZH, turning their backs on the officer. He, accustomed to the lack of respect, swallowed hard and continued.

  "The operation was a success despite the unexpected dangers... thanks to the deployment of Vexillarius Squad M-368, the massacre of the elite soldiers in that death trap was avoided."

  Silence.

  "It is true that we had problems... two Vexillarius members disappeared in combat for an entire night. Even so, it was they who finished hunting down the Liberation Commander... to be exact, Agent Lyana Torgarius."

  This time, the chairs swiveled. The colonels took the pages and read the report, still not looking the officer in the face.

  "According to High Command, due to their great progress, Squad M-368 will be sent to planet Elytor-III... where another rebel commander supposedly appeared."

  The colonels looked up, fixing their cold gaze on the officer.

  "With this uprising, it would be case number 1533 since the rebellion of the Truth Rebels in the year 2879..."

  "We want the full report on the Bellicose Fox Squad," one of the colonels interrupted, interlacing his fingers with boredom. "Once their evolutionary assessment is finished."

  The officer nodded, waited for one more order that never came, and withdrew.

  Down below, the Fox Squad was already making its way inside the building. Five figures in navy blue medieval-style armor. They walked with a firm step, ignoring the whispers.

  It's them... did you see them...? Five and not four...? Incredible.

  They looked like freaks in the middle of the base.

  In a hallway, a woman in a white coat intercepted them.

  "Welcome home!" she said with a clinical smile.

  "We're back," Selene replied, with a grimace that attempted to be polite.

  "I'm glad to have you back, my little ones... I know you are tired from your last mission, but you know the rules."

  Selene took the woman's hands and nodded slightly.

  "Let's go."

  The scientist guided them through a corridor with three doors. She entered the first one, an observation room with a large console and a glass wall facing into darkness.

  The Foxes entered the other doors: changing rooms.

  Inside, the ritual was mechanical. They stored their weapons in lockers under lock and key. They pressed a blue button on their wrists and the armor vanished, retracting until it was contained in two metallic bracelets.

  They were left dressed only in tight black bodysuits, waiting in front of a door labeled: BLACK.

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  "Fox Squad... beginning exhibition combat," the scientist's voice sounded over the speakers. "Please, use your full strength. We need the best data on the evolution of your mutations."

  The door opened.

  The lights turned on one by one with a clack-clack-clack, revealing a black combat room.

  From the opposite wall, four other people emerged. They wore black helmets with opaque visors that completely covered their faces. They were three women and a single man, or so their physical silhouettes suggested.

  "Sorry for being late," said a male scientist who rushed into the observation room, holding a steaming cup of coffee with both hands.

  "Save your apologies. I need you to see this!" the female scientist agitated in her chair, pointing a trembling finger at the holograms sprouting from the console. "It's incredible...! The two fractals already almost rival someone cradled in the Black Cradle!"

  The man approached, sloshing his coffee from the shock.

  The scientist typed commands at a feverish speed, her eyes jumping from one screen to another, while she watched the Foxes out of the corner of her eye through the armored glass.

  "Begin," she announced over the PA system. Her voice sounded distorted and metallic in the black room.

  Lyana, hearing the warning, felt a knot in her stomach. She observed her teammates, tense, and then her adversaries, static like obsidian statues.

  But we were supposed to fight holograms, she told herself, feeling the air turn heavy.

  After a few seconds, the sound of nanotechnology broke the silence.

  Cedric activated his bracelet. Liquid metal climbed up his waist until it solidified into a sheathed sword. Without waiting for orders, he took momentum. His boots squeaked against the black floor as he ran toward his adversaries.

  No Vexillarius will come to challenge me, he thought, adrenaline clouding his judgment.

  "Selene..." Lunaria whispered, crossing her arms and watching her teammate's suicidal run.

  "Mm?" Selene didn't even blink.

  "Shouldn't we stop him?"

  "Let him try..." she replied with cold irony. "He needs to learn."

  Cedric devoured the distance. Upon getting close to the rivals, he unsheathed his sword with a wide two-handed movement, seeking to split the enemy in two.

  The only man on the rival team reacted with insulting laziness. He partially activated his armor; only the right gauntlet, and unsheathed his sword, materializing it with a speed the human eye could barely follow.

  CLANG!

  A flash of sparks illuminated the darkness for a second. The swords remained locked. The man stopped Cedric's blow with a single hand.

  "Don't think too highly of yourself just for being a prodigy fractal..." the man whispered, bringing his helmet close to Cedric's face until their breaths mixed.

  Then, Cedric's world inverted.

  A kick to the lower abdomen. Dry. Precise. Cedric let out all his air at once, doubling over. Before falling, he received a punch to the face that crunched his neck and, to finish, a spinning kick that lifted him off the ground.

  He went flying backward, rolling across the floor until he stopped at the feet of his squad, coughing and gasping for air.

  "Delusional," the man murmured, shaking off his boot.

  "Damn it...!" exclaimed the scientist in the booth, frustrated. "Cedric's mutation is incredibly progressive, but his ego will get him killed fast."

  Lyana hung her head seeing Cedric writhing on the ground. She felt secondhand embarrassment, but also fear. Selene cracked her knuckles, a dry sound in the silence, while Krzytof and Lunaria lifted their teammate from the floor.

  "Captain of the Fox Squad..." said the rival man, relaxing his posture. "I see no reason for us to fight against all of you."

  "Huh...? Well, I do," Selene smiled, a sharp smile that promised violence.

  "I propose a deal. Let the strongest soldier of your strange squad fight the weakest member of ours," the man said, watching Selene walk toward him step by step.

  "HA... shut your mouth. There is no..."

  Fwip!

  Selene's voice cut off.

  An arrow whizzed millimeters from her ear, lifting a lock of her black hair. Selene stopped dead, surprised.

  Lyana ran past her side. She had a black bow deployed and her gaze fixed on the target. She fired. One, two, three arrows in rapid succession.

  The man, forced to defend himself, deflected the projectiles with his sword, stepping back.

  "What the hell are you doing?!" Selene shouted, exalted by the recklessness.

  "That's a yes, I suppose," said the man.

  As he finished his sentence, another volley of arrows flew toward him.

  One of the women on the rival team, fed up, materialized her primitive weapon; a bow, and launched into a counterattack.

  The clash was brutal. The woman fired several arrows that collided against Lyana's. Then, upon getting close to her, she disabled her weapon to fight with fists.

  Lyana, seeing this, deactivated her weapon to gain mobility. She moved fast, dodging blows that could break her bones, responding with kicks and punches. But the difference in level was abysmal.

  Lyana connected one out of every ten blows. Her opponent connected all of them.

  The fight turned into a unilateral beating.

  The Foxes, seeing she was being cornered, took a step to intervene.

  "Halt!" the scientist's voice rumbled through the PA. "No one intervenes! I want to see how far she goes."

  Cedric, who was sitting on the floor catching his breath, looked toward the booth with hate. Then he looked at Lyana, who was breathing with difficulty, bleeding from her nose. He pressed his fists against the floor until his knuckles turned white.

  Damn it... if only I were stronger, he told himself, helplessness burning his throat.

  Lyana felt like her lungs were going to burst. She knew the fight wasn't going to last much longer. Her legs were trembling.

  Her opponent threw a high kick.

  Lyana ducked, sweeping the floor with her own leg in a last effort. It worked. The woman lost her balance for an instant. Lyana seized the opening and threw a punch with the full weight of her body straight to the cheek of the helmet.

  CRACK!

  The impact resonated in the room. A piece of the black helmet broke off, falling to the floor.

  The woman recoiled, bringing her hand to her face. She took off the broken helmet with fury, revealing short black hair and a swarthy complexion stained with blood.

  She spat on the floor; the saliva was red.

  "Good," she said, with a calm that was scary. "Now we're going to play."

  Lyana swallowed hard, stepping back.

  "I don't want to play."

  "Pity."

  The woman straightened up slowly, adjusting her hair with an arrogant gesture.

  Lyana, breathing heavily and her chest rising and falling painfully, watched her without lowering her guard.

  I have to protect them... whatever the cost, she repeated like a mantra.

  "Hey you..." the woman pronounced without emotion, looking down at her as if speaking to a squashed insect. "Don't ever touch my face again."

  Lyana ignored her, clenching her fists so the trembling of her hands wouldn't show.

  "Hey...! I'm talking to you!"

  Lyana's silence was the trigger. The woman gritted her teeth so hard a grinding sound was heard.

  Apart from him, no one else had ever touched me, the woman thought, and the silhouette of a man in her memory filled her with volcanic hate.

  "Pay attention, because I'll only say it once... I am Astrid Blair," she said, wiping the blood from her lips with the back of her hand. "And I will make sure that name is engraved in you."

  Astrid got into a stance.

  The man on her team, seeing his teammate's posture and the murderous intent in her eyes, took a step forward and placed his left hand behind his own back: waiting. He knew what was coming.

  Silence flooded the room.

  The eyes of the Foxes were locked on Lyana.

  Lyana stared at Astrid. She tried to analyze her posture, her blinking, her breathing... but Astrid simply disappeared.

  The floor creaked.

  The impulse was so fast it broke Lyana's concentration. There was no technique, just pure speed. With surprise and terror, Lyana saw Astrid's fist rising in front of her face. Time seemed to stop. It was a finishing blow.

  Damn it... Lyana told herself, closing her eyes and bracing for impact.

  "Stop!" shouted Astrid's teammate.

  BAM!

  The sound was dry, dull.

  Lyana felt a gust of wind hit her face, but the pain never came. She opened her eyes slowly.

  Astrid's fist was stopped in the air, caught firmly by her teammate's hand, centimeters from Lyana's nose.

  "The ascension combat is over," the man pronounced, looking at Astrid with warning, or so it seemed behind the visor.

  Astrid struggled for a second, looking at him with fury, but then relaxed her arm. She said nothing, but her look promised vengeance.

  Lyana, still trembling, frowned and turned slowly toward her teammates.

  The Foxes were pale, incredulous at the speed they had just witnessed.

  Cedric, seeing the fight and recognizing their movements, opened his eyes wide.

  "What is a Phantom Corps squad doing here?" he asked, his voice full of disbelief.

  "Regrettably... they did not qualify to ascend to the prestigious Phantom branch," the man announced seriously, letting go of Astrid. "They failed."

  Astrid smoothed out her bodysuit, recovering her coldness. She looked at Lyana one last time.

  "Wretch," she whispered as she passed her.

  She turned around and headed with the rest of her squad toward the exit. The man lowered his hand calmly and, without saying another word or looking at the "freaks," followed his own.

  The moment they turned their backs, the adrenaline abandoned Lyana's body. Her legs gave way. She stumbled.

  Selene and Lunaria ran and caught her before she fell.

  "It's truly incredible... INCREDIBLE, I SAID!" shouted the scientist in the booth, hitting the console with euphoria and standing up.

  Her male colleague looked at his empty hand; the coffee cup had disappeared, fallen to the floor at some point during the fight, staining his coat.

  "I wasn't wrong about her..." the scientist said, breathing with difficulty from the excitement. "Lyana will receive another dose of the mutation."

  "But... if we do that her body will become unstable!" warned the man, scared.

  "That won't be a problem... she is already one step away from rising to the Third Imperial Branch..." the scientist covered her face with a hand, hiding a twisted smile. "And at only eighteen years old."

  A silent laugh emerged from her throat.

  "She could be a member of the Black Cradle elite... and the rest of the Foxes will be the most powerful creatures ever created."

  The lights of the Black room flickered. They went out one by one, leaving the Foxes in gloom. The opposite door closed with a metallic slam after Astrid's exit.

  Only the smell of stale sweat and an uncomfortable silence remained in the place.

  "Excellent..." murmured the scientist, regaining her composure and pressing the PA button. "Lyana, with me."

  Behind the glass, the booth also looked like a medical room glowing with white, sterile light.

  In the center was a vertical capsule, connected to thick hoses that pulsed as if they had a life of their own.

  The scientist filled a large syringe with a bright purple liquid. When she held it up to the lamp, the reflection made it look like a precious jewel, a deceptive beauty.

  "Well... while they do that, we should head to the mess hall," said Krzytof, breaking the tension. He put his hands behind his neck and looked away.

  Cedric didn't answer. He clenched his fists, nodded slightly, and watched as they took Lyana away, dragging her feet. He left the place minutes later, with a bitter taste in his mouth.

  In the medical room, the air was cold.

  "Strip her," ordered the scientist, with the same coldness with which she would ask for a scalpel.

  Selene and Lunaria obeyed without complaint. They lowered the zipper on Lyana's back. The sound of fabric tearing the silence was harsh. They slid the sweaty suit down. Lyana shivered, exposed under the clinical light. They put her partially into the capsule. It was a routine they knew too well.

  "Breathe deep," said the scientist, approaching with the needle. "This dose adjusts the neuromotor threshold and pain tolerance. It's going to burn. A lot."

  Lyana closed her eyes and held her breath.

  She felt the cold tip of the needle touch the sensitive skin over her ribs.

  When the metal pierced and the liquid began to enter, her body went rigid. First she felt cold. An absolute ice that froze her blood. Then, embers. As if they were injecting hot ground glass. Finally, a dull thud in her sternum, like the tolling of a giant bell, that vibrated through her bones and rose to her eyes, blinding her for an instant.

  Ahhh...!

  It was a stifled moan. Her knees failed.

  Selene and Lunaria held her tightly, preventing her from collapsing inside the machine, waiting for her pulse to stop galloping.

  The capsule sealed hermetically for an instant for a scan. Diagnostic lights swept her naked body. Then, it opened with a click of decompression.

  "Side effects: mild fever, photophobia, and hunger," listed the scientist from memory, without looking her in the face, typing on her tablet. "Don't act tough with the pain. Did you hear me?"

  Lyana came out of the capsule stumbling. Her skin was reddened, the burning ignited just below the surface.

  Selene took a half step and offered her hand. She took it blindly, squeezing it hard.

  The scientist turned her back on them.

  "Get dressed," she said, her eyes fixed on the screen. "We are not finished with you.”