The Prologue

Prologue

"It's over, Dragon!"

"No... you could never destroy me Eclipse. You don't have the guts to."

"I won't let you're evil continue!" Eclipse formed a knife of light in his hand, holding it over Dragon's chest. "It's over." A gunshot rang through the area. Cold, red blood seeped over Eclipse's costume.

"For you, it is," Dragon smirked.

"Hello, Dragon," A man in an army uniform holding the gun which had shot Eclipse stood in the doorway.

"Nice of you to arrive, General."

"The plan is clear to proceed."

Lights From The Abyss

"We need to do something about this... we can't just sit here and do nothing, Drako!" I yell. "I know the past 3 days have been tough, but think about it. Maybe all of this is happening for a reason." I sit back, wondering how this all began...

Cold rain hit my face as I ran through Times Square.

"We need to get home, fast!" I yelled to my friends, rain soaking my dirty blond hair and bringing out my bright blue eyes. We ducked under an archway, lightning striking behind us. BOOM! Thunder rings out as lightning struck a neon sign above us. I saw two of my friends leap away before the sign came crashing down on our heads. As it hit the floor, the very ground shook. Buildings fell, more rubble covering us. Then, things went still. Darkness filled my eyes, as I lied in the rubble.

Our world is filled with pain and suffering. The government reigns supreme over our land. Our days are filled with regulations. Your school is area-based. We all wear the same uniform clothing, showing what our school or job is. Fun is limited. Kids are only allowed out from 8 A.M. to 9 P.M. If you are not home, the Searchers will know. They take away a sibling, to the government testing labs. You are also punished. If you don't have siblings, well... it's best not to talk about that. Adults have strict schedules. Your husband or wife must be chosen from your class and you must pass a "compatibility test". Punishments are harsh. Most people punished are never seen again. Ones who do turn up are never the same. Jobs are chosen for you. If your family is poor, so are you. If they're rich, well, you're in luck. Strict laws are placed on everything. Where you live, who you associate with. No friends are of different classes. History is best left buried. Breaking these rules also results in severe punishment. I live in the government capital, New York City. I… don’t know if anything’s ever been different… but maybe… somewhere… someday… there will be something better. I will be a light. A light from the abyss. My name is Ian Koal. But after that night... people call me Bruiser.

I woke up to silence. The storm had subsided. Piles of rubble and concrete surrounded me. A sharp piece hung not far above my head. Next to me was the body of one of my three best friends, Arlen McCool. She started to stir. Her eyes slowly opened.

"What happened?"

"I think buildings fell on us," I broke the news to her, "We're trapped in here, and I don't see Eddie or Drako."

"N- IAN LOOK OUT!" The chunk of rubble above me fell down. I put my hands up by instinct, although I knew it was too big to push out of the way. Surprisingly, I caught it. I placed it down next to me, eyes wide. "How did you-?"

"No idea... but if I can do that to other rocks..."

"We can get out of here!" I tried to move a piece of rock, and found that I was successful. I dug, and dug, throwing the random pieces of anything that was in my way back.

"Ugh... there's gotta be an end to this somewhere," Arlen said, annoyed.

"Wait... I think I hear something."

The next piece of concrete fell down, but I didn't even touch it. A blast of darkness flew straight at Arlen.
"Eek!" She turned into a piece of a building, identical to the one that was above me earlier. The blast hit the now concrete Arlen, barely denting the hard metal. She transformed back. "Whoa."

"Ian, Arlen?!"

"Drako, Eddie?!"

"You're alive?"! We all asked in unison. I ran over to my two other best friends, Drako Starr and Eddie Glob.

"We can do things now... I control the weather. Drako controls darkness," Eddie said.

"I also have telekinesis!" Drako added.

"It seems Arlen can shapeshift, and I have some type of enhanced strength. What do you think happened?"

"We can think about that later, we should get out of here. We don't want to miss curfew."

"Good point. I guess we should try going up." I tried to jump up to the rock above me, and to my surprise, I leaped high into the air, punching a hole through the rubble. "Whoa." Arlen transformed into a hawk, flying up the hole. I leaped up behind her. Eddie used wind to propel himself up the hole, as Drako used telekinesis on a rock he was standing on to carry himself to the top. He slowly moved the final rock, as we exited the hole into light.

"Light... that means it's already morning! We need to get home!"

"That might be a problem," Eddie said, pointing to a battle between a teenage girl a squad of government troops.

"We have to help her!" I exclaimed. "You guys go, I'll be fine."

"We can't just leave you!"

"You can, and you will," I knocked them back by stomping the ground, causing a small quake. They fell back. "GO!" They finally complied, and started to run. Hiding behind a wall, I slammed the ground with my fist, causing the troops to fall in a quake. The girl leaped up in the confusion, and I followed. She matched my super strength jump's height. As soon as I was sure we were not being followed, I spoke, "Hi."

"Hey, thanks for saving me. I'm Tifa, Tifa Twilight."

"I'm Ian Koal. Do you have some type of super power or something? That was pretty unbelievable."

"No, I don't. I train. And I should be asking you the same question."

"I have super strength," I said sheepishly.

"Look, I don't have time to talk right now. Meet me at Central Park in two days. Bring your friends, too."

"How'd you know I had friends-?" Before I could finish, she was gone. I ran to my house as fast as I could, slipped into the window, and went to sleep.


"Ian?!"

"What.. but... it's Saturday... no..."

"You're alive! Thank god you're-you're alive!" By then, I had fully woken up and realized who I was talking to and what was going on.

"Mom!"

"I was so worried about you, what happened?!"

"We...." I began, not knowing what to say... "got... lost... in the rain... yeah... and... had to find somewhere to... wait what about the curfew penalty?!"

"Don't worry. We got lucky, and a nice inspector came... he understood, and only asked for a small amount of money. No worries, Kyle and Chloe are safe."

"Thank God... I'm so sorry, mom."

"It's okay, now get dressed, everyone's worried sick about you!"
I still couldn't help but worry that she was lying as we walked down the hallway.
I ran into our small living room to find that my little brother and sister, they're twins, Kyle and Chloe, still there.

"IAN!" they yelled in unison (they tend to do that a lot). I sighed in relief.

"Hey guys." I hugged them. We spent the day together, although mom and dad had to go to work. As I fell asleep, I remembered the meeting the next day.

The next day, I rounded everyone up and we started walking to Central Park. We walked, almost silently, until Drako muttered one word.

"Jason..."

"What about him?" I asked.

"T-they took him..." Drako started to cry.

"The inspectors?!" Arlen asked.

"Y-yes... he's gone... and it's all my fault!" Arlen and Eddie were fine, we live in the same building, so we have the same inspectors, but Drako's little brother Jason had been taken.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Look, Drako..." Arlen began, "there was nothing you could do..." We spent the rest of the walk in silence. When we reached the bench, I saw Tifa and greeted her.

"I want to show you something," she said. A boy watched suspiciously from the shadows. Tifa kicked the ground, and a small hatch opened. A second later, the boy was gone. As we jumped down into the hatch, a small puppy followed. Tifa picked it up.

"We barely see dogs anymore. Did you know they used to be pets?" Tifa told us.

"Pets?"

"You have so much to learn," Tifa said. "This is the base where I've trained all my life. For the three of you who haven't met me yet, I'm Tifa."

"I'm Arlen."

"I'm Eddie!"

"Drako..." Drako mumbled.

"My grandmother trained me here, she told me what she knew of the past. But there's time for that later. I called you here because we need to rebel. We have listened to the government too long. But I need your help."

"She's right," I said.

"I'm not so sure, Ian..." Arlen said.

"We need to do something about this... we can't just sit here and do nothing, Drako!" I yell. "I know the past 3 days have been tough, but think about it. Maybe all of this is happening for a reason."

I snapped out of my flashback, focusing on the present conversation.

"I agree with you," Eddie said.

"I say no," Drako argued. "Remember what happened last time we used our powers?"

"We need to fight back! We can help! We need to stop the government from doing what they did to Jason to other kids!"

Arlen, convinced, added, "Maybe we can even help Jason!"

Drako seemed to think of something, but kept it to himself. "Fine, but only until we get Jason back."

Tifa stood up, wanting to say one more thing, "Look... I can help you... but I think Ian should lead this resistance."

"What?!" I yell.

"You're a leader... and that's what we need right now."

"I agree," Arlen and Eddie added.

"I-" Drako is cut off by Tifa's shriek. We turn to her, and she points to the exit, as a ten year old boy runs out of it.

"That was the dog. It turned into that boy!"

"He's probably long gone by now. As leader, I say we should come back tomorrow. The boy may return."

"Before you go, take these," Tifa hands us different suits and masks, "They can hide your identity. You'll also need code names."

"I'll go by Bruiser," I said.

"Midnight Breaker," Drako put in.

"Cloud," Eddie said.

"Call me Ghost," Arlen finished.

"Good. You four should get home before curfew."

"Alright. See ya soon, Tifa."