The Author

[Energy signature alarm!?]

"What on earth is it this time?" Zarx yells as a sudden feeling of uneasiness sweeps over him. Beads of sweat immediately form on his face as he stares blankly at the screen in front of him. "Gideon?" he yells to him.

Gideon who began busily typing soon after the alarm begins sounding replies in a worried tone "Boss, a mysterious energy signature has been detected in here and its concentration is climbing up fast"

Zarx's eyes open wide with shock as he gasps

[Don't tell me... that time has already come... isn't it a bit too soon?]

A loud hissing sound fills the room, followed by a loud bang as the energy signature detector explodes causing Gideon to jump to his feet as the others also become very alert. The detector which was up the ceiling falls to the ground with a loud bang sending debris everywhere.

"What just happened?" Melanie asks

"I... have no idea. It seems the energy concentration was too much for the detector to handle"

"What is that?" Ace asks pointing to what looks like a tiny ball of light.

Everyone turns towards the direction pointed but soon after they start looking around as this tiny ball of light begins to rapidly multiply in the room, filling the entire room. They came in different colors with different levels of intensity. A faint glow appearing like a mist appears on all who were present. A golden glow on Shiro, a fiery red glow on Zarx, a blue glow on Ace, a purple glow on Melanie, a black glow on Gavin and an orange glow on Gideon.

"Guys, we are glowing" Gideon points out as everyone begins to inspect themselves.

"Wow" Ace exclaims "Does this mean we have superpowers or something?"

"That would be so cool!" Gideon exclaims and stretches his hands to touch a ball of light.

"No! don't...." Zarx exclaims but alas it was too late. As soon as Gideon's hands touched the ball of light, a sudden suppression force slams him to the ground immediately smashing his face into the ground with a bang. He lets out a wail as blood begins to trickle from his nose.

The others weren't in any good condition either since at that instant they were also smashed into the ground like Gideon however Ace is in a worse condition as his face was buried right in the edge of a stair causing a cut instantly as blood drips onto the floor.

[What is this force? I haven't experienced anything like it before. Is it the same as that force from back then? It seems kind of similar except this one is much stronger. Is that it?] Shiro debates.

Though the five were all grounded, the force seems to be affecting only them as every other thing in the room seems to be in a perfect condition. A sudden force shakes the room causing some dust to drop from the ceiling and a loud voice that sounds like the loudest animal horn begins to address them.

"The war you have started has caused ripples across the entire universe. You poked your noses where you were not supposed to and have alerted greater forces in the universe to target your world and others like it. How did that happen? You will find out soon enough".

As the voice is speaking, the force being exerted on them continues to increase rapidly and they felt the grasp of death closing in on them. The voice however didn't stop but continued

"I have struggled for years to keep the existence of this faction from the greater forces of the universe and yet they are on to us now. As a result of your folly and ignorance, we are in a predicament hence as your punishment you shall take responsibility for protecting this faction when the time comes."

"You will go through countless pain and near-death experiences but at the end of the day, you must protect the faction. If any harm comes to the faction, your heads would be used for compensation. Finish up with whatever you are doing and prepare for the worst. If you seek the Silver Coated Bridge, find The Author and he shall lead you to it. Farewell!"

The force pressing down on them suddenly eases off as the speaker stops speaking. Regaining their composure, they begin struggling to sit up one after another since the force caused them to lose all strength in their bodies. Looking over at Ace, Melanie rushes over to him as she sees half his face covered in blood.

"Ace!" she yells as she approaches him.

"We've got to get him to a hospital" Shiro advises.

"No I'm fine, it's just a little cut" he assures them.

Melanie sits by him and cleans the wound with water as Gavin goes to pick up the first aid kit from a table. Gideon whose face is full of bruises speaks up with worry

"What do we do now? And who was that? I have never once imagined this kind of power existed in the world, and if someone as powerful as that is wary of the greater forces of the universe or whatever they are, then do we even stand a chance?"

"Everyone please calm down". Zarx says.

"Boss?"

"Look I know we are all scared or more say terrified because of what just happened. We have no idea who or what that is but what use is it even worry about that when at the moment we know too well there is nothing we can do about it."

"Whoever that was can easily kill us but rather chose to help us so we could help him in return. Let's look at the bigger picture and focus on what's important right now. We still have a mission ahead of us so let's focus on that first then turn back to this at the appropriate time."

"I know this may not be much but how about we pay a visit to XIA industries? We could find some gadgets that would be of use to us. So brighten up people, let's make the most of the visit. In the meantime, Gideon do you know anything about The Author he mentioned?"

"Yeah, a little"

"Brief us then"

"Okay, boss. No one knows the identity of this person but most presume the person is male. He is one of the big shots when it comes to the dark web. Many know him by his other alias W3R371G3R"

"As in weretiger??"

"Yes, Melanie. He is the only one on the entire dark web who has access to all books that cannot be found even on the dark web and can duplicate any book as long as he has read it before, earning him the name The Author"

"So how do we find him?" Shiro asks

"Finding him isn't much of a problem but getting him to cooperate is"

After looking around at the depressed faces in the room, Zarx speaks up "Alright my brain is too tired to process all this right now. Let's take a visit to the XIA industries and continue with this later, what do you guys think?"

"Yeah, sure I could use some fresh air, it's getting stagnant here". Shiro says.

They all get up and begin walking slowly towards the door with tensed faces

[What should I do to cheer these guys up? Sigh! This is tiring" Zarx thinks as he follows behind.

SOMEWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE

In a giant room with huge shelves stacked with various books of different sizes and languages, a man sitting cross-legged on a large book stands up. The book is large enough to fill a small room and appears to have explicit runes and magical symbols on it. Jumping off it, the book shrinks and lands in his palm as his back was turned towards the huge front door. A young lady walks from behind and stands near him, both their faces shrouded in the darkness cast by the shelves.

"Was it really necessary to scare them like that?" she questions

"Their resolve needed to be tested because what is coming may crush their spirits"

"So did they pass?"

"Well, you would have to keep an eye on them to find out. Three of them could have easily offset the pressure but chose not to and the dragon was among them. I wonder why though. Anyway, let's see how things turn out for them. In the meantime, find the last one and the dragon's partner and be careful though, the dragon's partner may tear you to pieces"