A NEW AGE I

Waking up later on, Myles found himself surrounded devices several devices, while he laid on a bed. He realized that he had scars from his previous injuries which didn't heal as usual, it was highly unlikely to Myles.

His legs felt unsteady, and his skin appeared pale. Struggling to stand, he leaned against the wall for support and managed to crawl towards the nearby door. As he opened the door, the landscape revealed a vast underground city.

The underground city was a rugged landscape, dotted with rocks and boulders, and it housed several strategically placed facilities equipped with advanced technology along with several compact housings such as the one he was placed in.

"Where is this place?" Myles wondered as left the building.

Myles left the comfort of the housing he emerged from to explore the surroundings. He noticed people moving about on their normal daily activities– people consisting of both humans and anomalies. That, once again, seemed highly unlikely to Myles.

Examining his hand, he noticed an armguard mounted on his hand. It featured various functions, the most striking function, being a status bar indicating some sort of energy reserve constantly blinking.

The events at the cliff had significantly impacted Myles, leaving him feeling like a mere shadow of his former self. As he strolled through the area, his gaze caught sight of a mirror.

The reflection in the mirror, surprisingly depicted him with a full beard. He was surprised to find that he had grown a large beard during his unconscious state.

"How long was I out?" he wondered aloud, pondering the time that had passed as he stroked his hand across his chin, feeling his beard.

Suddenly a loud voice screamed, "He's awake! He's awake!!" The scream ringed in his head, causing him to lose coordination and immediately stagger, taking a few cautionary steps back.

Myles felt rusty, and as such was not as reactive or responsive as he used to be in the face of danger.

His armguard ringed as the bar glared red, the bar on his armguard depicted his actual energy reserve.

As his armguard's energy blinked on minimum, Myles felt vulnerable, he yet had understood what was going on.

"Myles..?" A voice called out from behind.

Startled by the sudden voice behind him, Myles turned to see who it was.

It was Jiele and Nero rushing towards him. They looked different now, with Nero sporting a scar on his left eye and Jiele wearing a headband and some fitting combat pants and top, an appearance far of from her former college girl outlook.

"I, I know you...." Myles managed to say, recognizing her face.

"Come on, we gotta get you back," Nero said urgently, guiding Myles back to the room he had come from. Inside the room, they carefully placed him on a bed and immediately began administering treatments to help him regain his strength.

Myles was still woozy from the experience and was barely holding up. He shut his eyes and drifted into a light sleep once more.

Rushing into the scene was Nylar's, whose eyes were filled with relief as he looked down at the weakened Myles.

"He's awake, thank God." Nylar muttered with joy.

"Give him some time, he needs all the rest he can get for now." He announced.

Hours later, Myles awoke once again, this time spotting Nylar, the father figure he thought he had lost along with Jiele and Nero, before him.

"Hello Myles," Nylar greeted with a soft smile.

"You... You are alive....!" Myles stammered, disbelief tinged with hope.

"Yes, Myles." Nylar replied

"How?" Myles questioned.

"A few of us managed to escape before the bomb hit," Nylar explained.

"Jon? Where's Jon?" Myles inquired, anxious about his friend's fate.

Nylar paused, his face filled with sorrow, "He didn't make it, Myles," he confirmed.

The news hit Myles hard, and grief washed over him. "This.... This is all my fault... If only I had stayed!" he sobbed.

"Don't blame yourself, Myles. If only you had stayed, wouldn't make a difference. Denumbit played us right into his trap," Nylar reassured, offering comfort to his distressed companion.

Myles tried to understand the events that led to his current state. He recounted, "I....I fell, then, I lost consciousness."

"It's been a while, Myles. You've been unresponsive and in a coma for 15 months," Nylar explained, shedding light on the time that had passed.

Myles' eyes immediately glared open... "What??"

He exclaimed.

Myles' was deeply dumbfounded by this revelation, he had been unconscious for 15 long months.

He placed both his hands on his head, seeking to comprehend the information that had just been conferred to him. He had lost so much time during his unconscious state.

"What, what happened, to everything, what happened to everyone?" he asked, in doubt of the information Nylar had just conveyed, seeking clarity amidst the confusion.

Jiele who stood beside, stepped in to narrate; "The world has been taken over by the syndicate and district Incorporations. After humanity assigned their SYND division to lead all anti-anomaly patrols, they rose to power, and chaos ensued."

"We were captured on the same day as you, locked up in a facility when the disasters struck," Nero added, sharing their ordeal in captivity.

As Myles absorbed the information, he realized the gravity of the situation he was now entangled in. The world he once knew had morphed into something different.

He recalled the cataclysmic event at the cliff and how his explosive energy had unintentionally triggered the convergence of dimensions, leading to the rise of the anomalies and the world's transformation.

"What happened to the cities? To humanity?" Myles asked, his voice filled with concern.

Nylar sighed heavily, his expression burdened with sorrow. "The city, along with many others, fell into ruins after the new anomalies emerged."

"New anomalies!" Myles repeated.

"Yes Myles," Nylar replied.

"A new breed of anomalies were created, with a different more subtle type of mutation"

The merging of the planes had mutated everyone, some more subtle than the other and some, unreactive to the mutation