1 Wake up.. History lesson.

"Damn it! Another dead one. Somebody tell me you have something?" A young woman with a sporty ponytail yelled. Flipping over another medical capsule, she started to become frustrated. Her eyes lit up when the medical monitor showed a pulse. Seeing the brain function was low she lost it again. "Dammit! Another one!"

A young boy about 12 or so came up to her. Plugging a cord in from his wrist into the capsule he became quiet. The young woman moved her head close to him, observing his actions. The boy was a Jacker.

All across his body were tether plugs. A different plug for each different device. The one on his left wrist was used for older machines. The medical capsule happens to be the latter. About 123 years old tech-wise.

"Sigh," removing the plug the boy stepped back. "He is waking up. However, his personal memories may be damaged. So far, motor functions and rudimentary tasks should be fine. I don't know about his skill set."

He did not mention the possible chance the individual may be paralyzed.

"What happened? Is he usable?" The young woman sounded desperate. She needed a win.

"Maybe. He has been in the capsule to long. The dating show's he is a Gen 1. The first batch diagnosed with the symptom. Good news there, he should turn out powerful. Bad news, the growth rate may not be desirable." The boy looked at the young woman with a single eye. "I am sorry Leader. But this won't help us right now."

The others in the room started to grumble. The discontent had been building since the last year. It has been straight downhill since then. One man in particular voiced concern. "You said this would be a bountiful harvest. And what do we have? Nothing! That's what!"

The others behind him agreed.

An argument then ensued for the next 15 minutes. Then a fight left the young woman slightly wounded. If it wasnt for the other Healer amongst them stopping everything before mass escalation, the people in the capsule would not be the only dead ones in the room.

"Fine, you got it, Samantha!" The man said to the healer. He reached over to his badge on his left arm and double-tapped it. "I hereby resign from the Guild." His badge glowed "black" then "red" before settling on "white" to signify the status change. "I am out of here. Have fun following this fool. I can do better setting up a new Place."

The other four looked around staring at their longtime Leader.

One by one they did the same and followed suit the same as the first. The Healer went to the door and watched them leave before turning back. If this would have panned out correctly, they would have been safer. She couldn't miss the chance to start anew. With her healing abilities, everything would be fine for her.

Setting up her badge for independent mode several responses came in immediately.

"Sorry but.. the Guild looks finished. I.. have to think about myself." Reaching into her inventory she used a means of transport to take her to a safe city. "To much time has been wasted. It is already worse out there as it is."

All that was left was the boy and the young woman. She took out some medical paste and placed it over the wound. Her badge started going off as she saw to it. Answering questions and responding accordingly in short whispers.

The worst of the matter, she went down in ranking. She was now just a Queen Rank. To make the matters worst, the guild members had taken all of the supplies they could have withdrawn already. The guild coffers were barren. Her own stash will only allow her to buy food for so long.

"Now what sis?" The boy asked in wonder. Since the others were gone no reason to keep strictly professional. Seeing his sister's distraught face he decided to leave her alone. Walking around he started to store the capsules and dead bodies in his inventory. "Waste not want not. That's what mom always said."

Scavenging and gathering was the means of survival lately the young man thought.

As the hours went by, he finally returned to the room his sister was in. She was slumped against the wall unconscious.

"Hey, wake up!" Plugging a jack into her hand, he realized she was poisoned. Why didnt she say anything? "I can't help if you moved to far along!"

*Boop!* Seeing his radar starts to go off, he realized this was a dangerous place to be at this point. He had no transportation tech left and no magic transport abilities. He was basically screwed.

Trying to lift his sister up turned out to be a struggle. His little arms could barely lift her weight.

"Should have spent more essence into my strength. But no, I had to listen to sis. Put it in wisdom, put it into tech, and it would get you off the planet and into the greater galaxy. Bah, we cant even afford to get out to the greater cities!"

Dragging his sister to the stairs he was about to search for a way out or to buy time anyway. If she could get up, there was a chance for her to use a Home Transport. Heading back upstairs, he went to look for any possible thing that could have been missed.

*Tssh!* A seal broke.

"Reanimation Succesful!" The pod lid came off slowly the moment the digitized voice spoke.

Stepping out, the man stared at the place intrigued. Slowly the node on his wrist started implementing data about his condition, and how long he had been asleep.

As well as the data it could about the facility when the connection spottily reconnected. In two minutes, he received full control over his body. A rhythmic pulse had passed through his extremities to help with further reanimation processes.

Floating in front of him an "Option" appeared. It was a magical symbol showing his choices. The only problem, everything was greyed out and ineligible. His "Node" was damaged from the long sleep.

Moving his hand to the left he pressed a random button. The magical energy swirled around his body and settled in his chest from the environment.

The information about the "Class" and the "Abilities" poured into his very soul.

"Ugghh, ok that's nice." Looking around the man spotted the woman slumped over. He walked to her grabbing her hand to check if she was even alive. To at least get her name off some clothing anyway. No luck. Everything was greyed out. Except for the word Leader that is. "What a funny name. Wait, to speak of name's.. what the hell is mine?"

Scratching his noggin, the man couldn't figure it out. If he had continued looking at the young woman he would have seen the lights leave from her wounds and flow into him. A dinging sound went off but he couldnt hear it due to the malfunction of his node.

The boy made it back down in a rush but he didn't find anything useful. Except for a wheelchair that is. It was an ancient model. It didnt even have electric capabilities in it! Seeing the man by his sister, he moved his wrist summoning his gun.

*Woom! Woom!* A few particles of light appeared and a gun formed in his hand. A small one made of a dark metal. Old school Deranger model wise at that.

"Get away from her!"

"Huh," the man said standing up. He saw the gun and then backed away. "I didn't do anything to her. Was just checking on her is all. No need to point a gun at me. That is a gun right?" The man was not trying to be funny. The gun in the boy's hand reminded him of a standard concealed pistol. Just weird, but looking closer it had a green streak of light running down the barrel. 'Is that some toy? No, the kid is too serious for that to be a toy.'

"Ahhh, thanks for coming back, Sam. Knew you wouldn't abandon me." The woman mumbled opening her eyes. She was surprised to see her brother to her right, checking over her. The man in front of her didnt bother her at all. A lvl 0 could do nothing to her really.

"Sorry sis, but Sam didnt come back." The boy stared with a self-deprecating smile. "Just lil ol Monty. Oh and that guy." His thumb pointed to the man.

"Hi," the man pointed back at the boy with his own thumb. "Can you get him to stop pointing that at me? I understand this is later in the years, but.. the little shit needs a gun safety class."

"Monty put it down. We need to return home before its too late. I doubt the defenses will continue to last." Standing up, the woman was surprised when her brother pulled her.

"Wait, let me finish running this check. You were poisoned earlier." Finally removing the plugin, he smiled. "Ok, you are in the clear. You are no longer poisoned. must have been only a little in your body." Looking at the man he questioned him. "Did you do anything to her?"

"I touched her wrist. I was checking to see if she had a bracelet. Like the ..." his voice trailed off once he realized his medical bracelet was no longer there. "Where did my medical bracelet go?"

"Medical bracelet... It is in your wrist. If you are thinking about the medical bracelets of old, they are gone." Pointing to her wrist, she held it up some. "What I have here is a Territory bracelet."

"Territory what?" The man asked confused. His Node was still damaged and did not provide accurate information still.

*Boop!* The boy's radar went off again.

"We need to leave sis. The last of the defense bots are gone. We have to go really soon."

Checking her own radar, she made a decision. "Come with us." This shocked her brother. "Look, we need your help and you need ours. We will provide all that we can while you get back into shape to help us."

She knew it was a long shot, but couldn't waste the opportunity. Especially since so many had quit the guild.

"Sure. Have nowhere else to go." Walking up he extended his hand. "Hopefully we can get along Leader. I definitely dont want a repeat of ol Monty pointing a gun." Shaking her hand they all were transported in lights right as a giant Pantherman broke in.

'Dammit!' In the flashing lights, Monty saw the tag on its foot. They were tamed beasts. Somebody sent them to the location.

The trio arrived at a house. The home definitely has seen better days. A message floated in front of the brother and sister immediately. Unable to control herself, the sister left the room and headed upstairs.

While she travelled the stairs fresh hot tears started to trickle down.

"Damn it!" The boy swore stomping his feet. "Why us!?"

"Huh, whats wrong?"

"The others, they cleaned us out. Well, not them. But a rival guild. This is a Safe House. We are not even in the same "Territory" anymore. The only reason we have this place is because of Sis's rank. The tech level here is not that high. But at least there is a lot of space." Typing away at the hovering display, he continued to tweak what he could. "There is some good news. The house-claimed rooms are the ones we used to have. So not to bad there. But the house as a whole is unclaimed. I guess I will go and claim the kitchen right quick."

"Wait, explain some things to me. What the hell is going on? I have a few bits of information in my head right now. A lot of it, is garbled up. Clarification would be nice." The man said stopping the boy by grabbing his shoulder.

"Right... forgot about that." Monty said smacking his head. "So history lesson. Then the short explanation will have to do." He started to explain in a practiced tone.

The badge was a tracker for which organization and the realm you were a part of. A mystical scorekeeper if you will. Black was the existence of the World passing judgment. Checking to see if you were abandoning your team or offering them up to another guild or entity. The red showed when not at fault and had justifiable reasons to leave. The white glow was to show when something was in the clear.

The Badge was designed by the World Government in their attempt to prepare for the "Schism" or the "Rupture" depending on who you were asking. Some just like to call it the Event. The "Event" took place in late 2019. Mid-December. Massive spatial distortions ripped the galaxy in on itself.

The planet Earth started receiving all kinds of strange phenomena. People started to disappear by the 100's and then the thousands daily. With each month changing how many people vanished per day.

After five years, it came to a stop. At an assembly in Sweden, it was revealed that the members of humankind that were taken had been judged accordingly. From the different individuals removed, the consensus was that Earth was ready to return back to the bigger Universe.

The return to the stone age all those years ago was at the behest of Earth's Ruling body at the time. Due to their own self-imposed exile, and resources, Earth returned to the Primordial Age all those years ago.

Away from the other alien races.

Even with the history lesson, people were upset. Having been told it was their own decision they should stop complaining.

The problem was, everyone didn't see it that way and it was hard to come to terms with a foolish decision like that. A military strike attacked the first meeting between the Outer People" and Earthlings. Before peace talks could happen explaining it was a splinter group everything hit the fan.

A dignitary was killed. What made it worst, the person who conducted the killing was a young prominent woman who had political ties across the world. She beheaded the alien after the stabbing of it.

When the helmet was removed she was the first to cry out.

The person was her own mother. After an investigation, it was found that she was an alien herself. A mixed-race which caused pandemonium in several people at the fact they could interbreed. War broke out all across the globe with everyone suspecting their neighbors, grandparents, and their own children.

As for the woman, she was abducted. The alien she killed had certain rules that must be honored. She would pay the price. 200 years the Earth spent in a war before peace finally popped up. The Earth was ravaged by something fierce. Selling portions of the landmass as well as large quantities of ocean water, the remaining humans left Earth with the aliens terraforming the other planets in our solar system.