[Star City, Obi's house]
"Here you go," Obi said as he gave Commander Donald a glass of whisky with ice.
"Thank you very much," Commander Donald said as he sat down on one of the armchairs and the other two also sat down as they waited for Obi to sit.
Sitting down, Obi stared at Commander Donald "So about my brother?" he asked impatiently.
"Relax Mr. Obinna, your brother is in safe hands" Commander Donald said.
"For the past few months, the Rose Empire has been running an operation where we pick the most talented children and train them till they can serve the Empire efficiently, we have not made this public yet as we've been looking for the best seeds to be recruited directly for training in preparation to enter the special forces of the royal army, your brother and one other boy have been chosen from this town, they are still young and I know but believe me they will be in the best of hands at the newly formulated special force academy and they need to be recruited early and start training early"
Hearing this Obi was shocked as he had never heard of the royal army recruiting young teenagers, also he had never seen them suddenly recruit the kids with no permission from their parents and or guardians. Doubt had started growing in his head as he didn't know what to believe.
Standing up to pour himself another glass of whiskey he said "Why did you guys not first meet me his guardian before recruiting him? He is still a teenager and is not at the legal age to make those types of decisions for himself, also why did you not bring him with you so I could see him and talk to him?"
Commander Donald nodded at his two escorts as Obi's back was turned, seeing this the lady closed her eyes as her body briefly glowed with green light as she whispered 'Gertevi, Gaia's persuasion!' after which she pointed at Commander Donald who the glow transferred to and then vanished, this happened fast that Obi who was turning back did not see a thing.
"Good questions Mr. Obinna," Commander Donald said "We are deeply sorry if our unconventional methods of recruiting bother you, but your brother is such a genius we decided to recruit him first and then come ask for your opinion, we are here with the legal documents for you to sign so that his registration into the school will be completed"
He then was given a couple of documents by the other man which he placed on the table in front of Obi "You both come from a family of soldiers Mr. Obinna, don't you think your mother would be proud that your brother is following in the footsteps of his father? Serving this country and protecting the civilians?" he added as he smiled at Obi.
Obinna who was on the listening end was conflicted, he wanted to question the logic of the commander's explanation but for some weird reason it all made sense to him and he was beginning to agree with the commander, also the remark about his father did make him more inclined to agree.
He then spent some time reading the documents before him, looking up he saw the commander offering him a pen with a smile on his face.
Taking it, Obi signed the documents albeit reluctantly after which he handed it over to the commander who crosschecked it and nodded at him.
Standing up, the commander said "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Obinna, we will get back to you on the visiting schedules and when he will be allowed to come home for the holidays"
Obinna stood up too and shook the extended hand of the Commander "Thank you too for giving my brother the opportunity" he said as he led the commander out.
The commander stopped at the door as he was about to leave, turning to Obi he said "Your brother has a lot of potential, I expect him to do great things" as he left he added "Take care of yourself Mr. Obinna"
Obi closed the door, sat down, and picked up his glass of whiskey, after swirling it around for a minute he took a sip, paused, and said to himself "What just happened?
[Outside]
As Commander Donald and his escorts left the house he immediately picked up his phone and dialed a number.
"Matriarch, it is done" he spoke into the phone as he walked away.
[The day after the storm, Unknown Location]
A confused Jake had just woken up and he found himself on a king-sized in a large room he didn't recognize, and he saw a strange glowing rock beside the bed he lay on.
Not long after he woke up a woman came in, he would have called her an old woman because of the gray hair and the wrinkles that had started filling her face, but with how straight she stood, how firm her steps were and how her eyes glowed with vitality, she looked more like an army general than an old woman.
"So sleeping beauty decides to wake up" the woman said in a calm soothing voice as she smiled at him.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"Oh, you're in my house" she said, "Oh, forgive my manners, my name is Ronae Isambard the current Matriarch of the Isambard family, you can call me Grandma though" she added as she smiled at Jake.
Jake was stilled confused so he asked "How did I get here?"
"I found you in the marsh hills of Star city wounded and with two broken bikes by your side and decided to take you home with me" Ronae said.
Jake was surprised at the straightforwardness of the lady, it inadvertently made him trust her a little.
"What is your name young one ?" she asked him
"Jake" he replied
"Ok, Jake do you remember what happened and who you were with when it happened?" she asked as she sat down on a nearby chair.
"Well, I remember chasing that bastard Chike into the hills on a bike, and when I had finally caught up something...someone flew down from the sky, it was an old man who looked wounded and had wings or something, he seemed like he was running away" Jake explained as he frowned.
"When he landed I felt like I had been thrown into a freezing lake and a mountain was placed on my head, the whole world was spinning and I could not stand properly, Chike seemed to be going through the same thing too as we both were on the ground" He continued as he started hyperventilating.
"The old man walked towards the old dead tree and did something to it after which a tunnel of some kind appeared and he jumped in, the pressure disappeared when he left so i and Chike were standing up, we wanted to get out of that place" At this point, Ronae placed a hand on his leg and a deep blue energy was transferred to him which calmed him down without him knowing.
"When we were almost up, a huge explosion happened in the sky, the shockwave knocking us back down and knocking me out too" He said then sighed deeply.
"When I managed to force myself awake the last this I saw was something hit Chike into that tunnel thing" He concluded.
Ronae listened patiently as Jake poured out the details of that day, after which she sighed and paused as she arranged her thoughts.
"Good, now we know what happened" she murmured.
Waving her hand the glowing talisman hanging close to the bed vanished, Jake saw this and his eyes seemed like they would fall out of his head with the way he widened it "How...How.." he seemed to want to ask something but lost courage.
Standing up she looked at Jake "You have almost recovered so you can walk, follow me let's have breakfast, you've been asleep for almost a day, after that I will take you on a tour of the compound and prepare you for the journey we have in 4 days, waving her hand a set of cloths appeared on the bed.
"Get dressed I'll be waiting outside, be quick" she said as she left the room leaving a completely stunned Jake alone.