The humans had not even gotten the chance to celebrate their win before they witnessed Raphael falling to his knees.
Whispers spread through the crowd, glances were exchanged. No one wanted to say it, but they all could tell…
The dome of energy was dismissed, but the usual shouts that came from the crowd weren't there. Just silence—the kind that made people uncomfortable.
Two sets of medics rushed onto the stage, each for their Race's Herald.
The medics arrived at Raphael's side quickly and took out their equipment. They laid him down on his back and placed something akin to a metallic dial on his chest. The gadget whirred to life and split open, separating into a vest of sorts that tightly clinged to his chest.
It reached up to his mouth and nose, covering it like an oxygen mask. The device then began to mimic a Cpr, pressing down on his torso and pumping oxygen into his mouth at rhythmic intervals.
A robot carefully picked and placed him on a hoverstretcher, and he was rushed away.
The same thing occurred on the Ena'Ori's side, only that they used better technological gadgets and treated Kuzane faster. Though that wasn't really important to any human at this point. They all had their eyes trained on Raphael.
Back on earth, Emilia wasn't taking it easily. Her face was tainted with tears, snort and dirt. Her hair was a mess, and she seemed to have aged a few years in the span of a few hours.
Raphael was transported to earth in their fastest flying vessels. Although it took more time than just using a Teleportation Hexagon, it was for the best.
If they tunneled through space, they could cause more harm than good to Raphael.
Emilia had intercepted the medic team on the way, only to lay her eyes on her husband's wrecked body.
His veins were blackened, visible through his pale skin. He looked like all blood had been drained out of him, leaving him frail and lifeless.
His eyes were closed, but the pain he had to bear before he passed out was still visible in his tightly knitted brows that were frozen in that perpetual cringe.
Whatever it was that had killed him, it didn't look to have been the Ena'Ori.
'Overdrive,' a nurse thought, pushing the bed as she sped away, leaving Emilia behind in the hands of her relatives.
Logan was nowhere to be found. He wasn't with his mother as most expected, but no one noticed—at least not yet.
A few hours later—after arduous struggle and countless use of healing related abilities of high tier Evolutionists—Raphael was pronounced dead.
The shock of the news finally broke Emilia, and she collapsed right there in the hospital.
***
Meanwhile, back at the mansion he and his family lived, Logan was sitting on the cold, hard, tiled floor of the living room, his eyes trained on the pair of gauntlets and crystal orb.
He sighed after a minute or so and looked up.
"Just like he predicted," Logan said wistfully, a wry smile on his face.
He placed a finger on the crystal orb before him and closed his eyes. He concentrated, just like his father had thought him to, then he began to draw energy from within the orb, channeling it through the passageways in his body towards his Evolution Seed.
He felt a tingle as the energy entered it, and the seed thrummed, seemingly happy of receiving such potent, fiery energy.
Logan took his finger off, looking at the orb that had now turned dimmer.
The weird orb had red spiralling patterns on its surface reminiscent of flames, and it gave off a subtle heat.
His father had specifically told him where he had gotten it, but he had mentioned that he had defeated a beast of sort that was rather weak for the rarity and strength of the core it produced, so he doubted if any of its kind would linger in the surrounding area.
Raphael had also revealed that the core was able to regain the energy taken away from it.
Usual beast cores crumbled into dust the moment the energy within them was siphoned, but this was a first. Even the most powerful core ever recorded had crumbled when its energy was drained.
Everyone knew this. It wasn't hidden information as most humans were hunters.
Hunting was a daily activity for most. Even Logan at the age of 15 was already well adept at hunting low level beasts.
It had become something normal when the Gods took over their planet and changed the world order.
Teleportation Hexagons leading to other planets were introduced to Earth, and that was how humans discovered new planets other than the eight recorded.
These planets, though rich in raw materials and new plant life, possessed deadly monsters capable of causing mass damage too. Luckily, they were limited to their planets and couldn't cross over.
Normal weapons didn't work on them as effectively or efficiently as they expected, and this led to the discovery of Evolution Seeds.
Turns out, humans had always had this Evolution Seed within them. They just needed to find the right source of energy to awaken it.
This energy could be found within the cores of the monsters they killed. And by absorbing it, one could get stronger too.
This orchestrated the beginning of a new era…
The Era of Evolvers!
Just then, a knock came on the door, and Logan rushed to it, a dagger appearing in his palms.
His steps were silent, like a well trained assassin's. He didn't look through the peephole once he reached the door. However, he crouched down and placed his hands on the wall, murmuring a command and flipping a switch.
And like magic, the wall turned translucent on the inside.
Logan's eyes fell on the visitor, and he couldn't help but frown.
The dressing was similar to military officers. He could recognise the balaclava, insulated boots and thick jackets. It wasn't winter, so he seduced the scarf around the man's neck to be an additional accessory as a fashion preference, or a beast gear.
Suddenly the man looked straight at Logan, knitted his brows and leaned forward.
Logan tensed up immediately, but didn't move.
There was no way anyone could see through the walls as it blocked out Evolutionist powers related to sight from seeing through.
A few seconds later the man stood straight up, raised his hand and knocked again.
Logan sighed.