In Earth's Orbit...
Prometheus's missile appeared out of thin space, scorching as it finally made it to Earth. The five elemental clones Tobi had sent to accompany it detached themselves and surrounded it as they placed their hands out, before the missile exploded.
An explosion that did not reach a fraction of its full radius erupted shapelessly in all directions. Completely engulfing the clones before suddenly stopping and collapsing back into a golden ball of light. Before magnificently exploding out one final time in the silence of space.
However, this time, raining light and energy on all allies it could reach. On land, sea, air and space. The people of the Federation had gradually started to realize that they were not alone. This technique did not rely solely on Tobi's energy. It was an invitation to all those who could participate, fighting or not. A moment to unite humanity as one.
Miracles that could not be explained began spontaneously occurring across the planet. Those in comas suddenly woke, while others on their deathbeds got up, filled with temporary energy that reversed their ailments, sickness or wounds. Many who had gone missing and those who were long to be forgotten, were suddenly teleported near loved ones or to safe locations of their choice.
Moral began to skyrocket, as a phenomenal feeling of euphoria and strength brimmed up within everyone touched by the energy. There was no need for an announcement and no notification; however, what was happening seemed obvious to everyone on Earth.
"He's back!"
"Tobi's back!"
People chanted, rushing into the streets, celebrating as others looked out of their windows and on TV to confirm their hopes. Those on the front lines were among the first to notice. Their fears vanished as the weight of their armour, weapons, and equipment felt much lighter.
Soldiers who faced certain death through explosions, gunfire or combat miraculously escaped in one piece, as their strength, stamina, and speed seemed infinite. Kirosian soldiers could no longer hide from them and took increasingly more damage from African and Federation weapons.
Leading the opposing army to come to a horrifying conclusion. The people they had come to conquer were far more dangerous than they had previously thought.
Twenty minutes before, in a remote village south of Ghanzi, Botswana...
"Today is the day." The boy thought as he gripped his bow and arrows tightly. He had gathered everything he would need for the long hunt. A few ostrich eggs he had buried and unearthed himself, filled with ground-cooled water, hung loosely by his side as he ran as fast as he could to the village gates. 'They won't deny me today.' He thought as he hurried as quickly as possible.
He had watched the other hunters for some time against smaller local game; however, what he wanted to participate in the most was the long hunt. One that would really test his limits.
Through a pathway in between huts, he hurried, dashed faster, excited as he thought of what to say. Then the path ended as he finally saw the group ahead of him, gathered together and murmuring to themselves. Meticulously checking over their weapons and equipment, as the women, elders and children of the village sang prayers and blessings.
With confidence, the boy walked up to the group as they had finished the last of their preparations and started to make their exit.
"Kasin, I'm coming with you ." He paused as the group went silent and heard him out. "You know I'm ready." He declared while holding onto his weapons and satchel, nervous but unwavering.
Everyone looked back at him, some breaking into laughter, others shaking their heads. The one he seemed to be addressing, however, kept a soft expression, then started walking up to him.
When Kasin stopped, he looked him down from head to toe, then broke into a smile. "You certainly look ready..." He nodded once more as he noticed the eggs and batch of arrows the kid had prepared all on his own. "And you've thought of everything."
The boy nodded back. From the small animals they could find around the settlement, to the panthers and other wild threats that would wander too close, he was never scared to run for help. So he knew his courage was never the question.
He knew he was now at the age, most runners would join the long hunt in their village. Yet all he ever received since he had turned of age were delays. Once more, he patiently awaited an answer different from the excuses he had been given in the past.
"But no."
The boy was frustrated, but already anticipated the answer. The boy started shaking and vividly tapped his foot as he tried to think of a rebuttal. "Why!"
"You might be able to keep up with us, but we can't protect you against the land desecrators." Kasin looked back at the hunting group, then back at him. "You have yet to see what they do. The way they leave animals alive, suffering, with parts of them stolen. That's why we are bringing the weapon with us."
The boy followed his eyes to the rifle strapped to the back of one of the hunters. Each of them looked prepared for the long run. It had been a long time since they had a good hunt as a construction and poachers had started to scare the animals.
He walked closer and then placed a hand on his shoulder. "We need you to protect them while we're gone. Can you do that?"
The boy was still trembling, but he started to calm down. He didn't know why the answer would be any different. In defeat, he started to relax, then nod.
"Good." Kasin turned as villagers gathered and began praying for him and his group on their way towards the entrance.
There was nothing left for him to do but watch as the hunters left the village and vanished into the trees. The numb feeling of rejection paralyzed him, leaving him to continue to stare after them while the rest of the villagers dispersed back to the village.
He sat watching with all of his equipment on the floor, hoping one of them would come back and call him to join. Hopelessly, until a sudden phenomenon caught his attention above him. Dacaari's broadcast had just reached them, and although they had seen the world screen a few times before, this broadcast carried an energy that started to scare the villagers.
"Maybe this is what Kasin meant." He whispered to himself, then grabbed his stuff and started to rush back into the village. However, a rustle of leaves and branches caught his attention to his left. Opposite of where the hunters had come from.
Still, he was sure they had seen the broadcast. Elated at the possibility of their return, he stayed back and watched as his hopes turned to dread as a Kirosian soldier walked out into the open.
"There are people even out here?" The soldier's voice came out in his language, terrifying him even further. Slowly, he started to back up towards the village.
However, the soldiers next act nearly paralyzed him to the spot. The soldier smiled, one who gave no comfort to the boy.
"I guess I'll clear this area for myself." He said, then, with one step forward, the soldier thrusted his fist from his torso and towards the village. Simultaneously, the ground beneath his forward foot began to rise exponentially.
Even as the boy tried to outrun it, within seconds, he was flung forward into the tsunami of soil and earth, demolishing his village. Nothing remained standing, as the wave of earth crashed through the trees and into the forest.
Loud enough for the hunters to notice and immediately turn back towards their village in fear. However, once they broke out into the clearing and saw the soldier standing alone in their village's destruction, they knew it was too late.
One by one, each of them drew their weapons as the last hunter started prepping the rifle. Kasin shook his head as he walked forward. He could not stop his tears.
"For our home." The rest nodded, as there was nothing left to say.
One by one, each of them charged as the energy spreading through the world finally reached them. People from around the world felt their pain from a semi-shared ethereal realm, filling them in on the situation and immediately allowing them to pitch in to help.
They didn't know each other, they had never met, and possibly never will, but the emotions everyone felt were all the same.
Each hunter felt a rush of energy coming in from people around the world, giving them courage. The Kirosian soldier started to notice the level of iko that began bursting out of them.
He was perplexed by the situation, but shook his head in disbelief. "I thought they weren't capable of using it?"
Disrupting his thoughts, an arrow nearly missed him as he dodged to his left. However, what he noticed in the next second put him on alert.
The arrow had made a ball-sized crater behind him. When he turned back to look at them, the hunters had just released several more as a few began to flank him.
Quickly, he raised a stone wall and dozens of rock golems to take them on. The field between them exploded in dust and debris as the arrows touched down.
One by one, the hunters rushed through the smoke and engaged the golems. With whatever they had on hand, they bashed and broke apart each golem in their way, pushing closer and closer to the soldier.
However, he didn't plan on taking any chances. The ground beneath them started to rumble and quake, as a massive 30-foot golem rose from village rubble. Unearthing many buried villagers that could be kept alive from the wave of energy.
The boy started to wake as his pain started to dissipate away and the noise above him grew ever louder. When he stood up, he finally saw the battle unfolding before him, then he looked around at his village and clenched his fists, before he began running.
At the forefront, several of the hunters had nearly made it to the soldier; however, the massive golem had started to move. Jumping to an unimaginable height for its size before slamming down and shaking all of the hunters off their feet.
Dust and smoke kicked up more, blinding them. Before Kasin noticed the first hunters dropping down below the ground, from pitfalls appearing too quickly for them to evade.
"Watch the ground and keep moving!" He yelled, startling them, but helping the remaining evade their appearing split seconds later.
The soldier cussed as he started to shoot stone valleys at the next couple that managed to get past his giant golem. The rest continued to barrage it. Before a loud bang burst apart the golem's fist and torso, and then another took its head.
Kasin looked back, seeing the hunter manning the rifle begin to lock onto to soldier, then fired four more. Each bullet blasted apart the stone walls he had managed to raise on time, barely keeping him alive.
He covered his face as debris crashed into him, then reopened his eyes, just in time to take on the hunters that had reached him in hand-to-hand combat.
Although they had been empowered, they could not match his military training. With the addition of him arming himself in stone armour.
He found it easy to crush and break the bones of those coming at him. He started to smile, wondering why he had been worried. He was a Kirosian; no one could stand against them.
Once he was done, he raised his hand towards the rifleman and manifested a pitfall beneath him. Just in time for the hunter to finish loading his rifle and throw it up into the air towards the last hunter near Kasin.
He promptly dropped his bow and began yelling, as he and Kasin continued to run towards the soldier, unable to mourn their fallen comrades for fear they might waste this moment.
Suddenly, in front of them, a boulder rolled up out of the ground and into the air. Too big and too quick. All they could think of was the unfairness of the situation. 'Who was he? Why did he come here?'
However, nothing could stop them from running. The boulder landed behind them, nearly shaking them off their feet, then began rolling back towards them at top speed. The soldier didn't stop there.
One by one, volleys soared at them and with sudden pitfalls that opened up after every couple of strides.
Kasin looked over at the hunter, just in time to see him smiling. He had been hit and could no longer run. "You can do this." He said, before throwing the rifle with the last of his strength, then one leg got stuck in a pitfall before the boulder overtook him.
Kasin couldn't look back; instead continued to run. Other than stamina, he was not yet injured, but was nearly paralyzed from the pain welling up within him, weakening him and nearly stalling him for a second, as he caught the rifle.
Everyone he had known and everyone he had hunted with was now gone. However, a split second snapped him out of it, as he heard the yell, then an explosion from a rock the boy had thrown at the soldier. Completely catching them both off guard for a moment, but it was all that was needed.
"The kudu is tired. Run!" Kasin yelled, an order the boy could feel as their eyes met, meant one thing.
The boy turned towards the opposite direction and retreated from the golems rising after him. While Kasin flanked and gained back the attention of the soldier with a few shots. However, the armour of rocks the soldier covered himself with made it harder for the hunter to even phase him. Confirming Kasin's fears, as he closed in on him.
Golems continued to appear out of nowhere, with sudden stone walls rising into each other to squish him, while the soldier topped it all off with a concentrated storm of rock and stone volleys. All efforts in vain as the hunter remained on his path and smashed apart each golem with the end of the rifle, hardening it with resolved iko.
Then, he jumped. Higher than he had ever jumped before, as a last large diamond-headed golem rose to grab him out of the air. Kasin pulled the trigger as fast as he could, blasting it apart as the shot nearly knocked the hunter off his feet.
He grinned, knowing it was the end. A light bubbled, and a surreal feeling, that terrified him, but also comforted him, in the fact that he did everything he could. With all of his might, he threw the rifle ahead of him as fast as he could. At the same time, the diamonds and rocks that had been blasted apart, all surrounded him, then buried him in mid-air like a bleeding falling stone.
The Kirosian soldier stood up admiring his triumph, but wondered if the hunter had run out of bullets, he would throw the rifle past him, instead of at him. A faint memory of the boy had just popped into his mind as he turned around to the sound of someone catching the rifle.
The boy slid, feet first and aimed. He had never fired a gun before. He had only one bullet; however, many riflemen around the world, tuned in and helped him hold it steady, as the world's iko poured into the bullet.
His tears were the only things he felt moving, other than the heartbeat of the soldier. With a loud yell, he pulled the trigger, blew apart the body of the soldier before him. Recoiling the boy back several meters and knocking him out almost instantly.
As his consciousness started to fade, he felt the rustle of leaves from ahead of him. Coming with the chatter of Kirosian soldiers, who were in the area, and came to investigate the commotion.
The boy cursed as he started to cry, but could no longer fight the darkness calling him to sleep. However, what felt like only a moment later, the boy opened his eyes to Saphyra, standing near him and observing the remains of the soldier. Beyond and Botswana's military secured the area in the background.
An android treated his injuries meticulously, putting him in a state of fear as he wondered what was happening to him. However, he started to freeze as Saphyra spoke to him. She spoke perfectly in his people's tongue.
"Did you do this?" She asked, simply.
He nodded back slowly. "But not alone." He said, trembling as he started to think of everyone.
She gave him a soft smile, trying to comfort him. "I understand, and I'm sorry for your loss. However, I want to ask you something, if you are willing to hear me."
He nodded, wondering what she could want from him. He had lost everything. There was nothing he could offer back, even for the treatment he thought, as he fell further into despair.
She shook her head, as if reading his mind. "Would you be willing to join the next generation of Novas?"