Chapter 2: The Encounter

Emily was escorted to a house by her "Risen" as she decided to call them. She stayed there for a month and a half mastering her powers and talking to Wisteria for the right time to search for the Warriors. While she was partaking in that she was also taking care of her brother Danny who was able to learn a lot of life and survival skills along the way.

On the other side of the Globe, the United Nations met together to decide the actions that they should take. While many were pointing fingers, in the middle of the room, a man revealed himself testifying "My name is Hades. I come to create order for the planet of Earth." Many were confused and others believed that whoever the man was, he was crazy.

"I do not look for Peace…" Hades continued. "The only way for Earth to be spared and saved… is for the Human Race to die," Hades ended.

Following his speech, Fallen enter the building, and the servants who work for Hades, calling themselves "The Disciples" entered the room shortly after as well.

Whoever was watching TV that day witnessed the massacre of the UN. It wasn't just testimony that Hades would crumble the world, it was a warning to the warriors, to fear him. He will not stop until the Fallen rise again.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Walking through the freeways and buildings that have begun to look worn out, and from all the damage they took, some even missing their upper halves while others have already crumbled to the floor.

It's been a month and a half after the asteroid event. Emily was on her way to look for the first Warrior. Danny was complaining the whole way, saying his feet were hurting so the Risen started to carry him.

"I've never been good at taking care of my family. But I've done the best I can, I do care about them." Emily tells Wisteria.

"That is one of the many reasons I've chosen you." Wisteria responds

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"It's raining…" Nautic tells Asher.

Walking out of his armory into the forest, he felt the droplets of water hitting his face. It was cold enough to be soothing, and the rain was not too hard that it'd soak him.

To Asher, it was perfect rain. Thought Blight had other plans and appeared in his spirit form, "I hope this rain is enough to drown you," Blight had happily said

Asher slowly looked at blight, showing that he was very disappointed in Blight's form of Humor.

"Maybe you can try to be less condemning next time?" Nautic suggests.

Asher walks away as the two spirits argue like a married couple.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

6 Months Later.

After 6 months, Emily finally reaches the location of the Warrior.

"Danny, I need you to stay here, I'm going to scout the area to look for the first warrior," Emily tells Danny. Danny nods and Emily starts to climb her way to the top of a tree, scouting the area she finds Fallen attacking a grocery store to the North-East of where they are.

Once she gets down, the sound of explosions off in the distance, towards the same area is heard. Emily and the Risen run to where the first warrior is defending a camp of survivors against the Fallen.

Emily uses the Risen to fight against the Fallen

"So you're the lady," the warrior says, he was carrying a fully automatic Fallen blaster. Though the gun looked heavy, he was able to carry it with ease.

Though Emily was taking control of Fallen and repurposing them to defend the Camp, Emily couldn't keep up, as more explosions were mysteriously being set off, and more Fallen kept pouring in.

"He's here," Wisteria said as off in the distance a figure in an ancient suit appeared with a sword in hand.

"The swordsman," the warrior said in awe. While Emily and the warrior watched, the figure kept destroying everything in its path with the blade, slicing through the Fallen.

Soon enough the Fallen retreat, the figure stops and watches them run.

"Let them go," Nautic told Asher. He parries his sword watching them run for their lives. Not too long after, it starts to rain. Asher takes off his mask, staring into the sky, feeling the way he felt more than 7 months ago.

Emily recalls his face from the hospital. Fate has brought them together again, he looked stronger, older, and even smarter. She felt the ashes of old feelings, it began to start a flame, but even so, she had too much to worry about and quickly shuts off any fuel to the flame.

Asher looks back at Emily and the warrior. Nautic immediately speeds over to them and inspects them. The white spirit of the warrior emerges. "Nautic? So then this is the Swordsman?" the white spirit greets Nuatic, speaking of Asher.

"His name is Asher, Con" Nautic responds. As Asher arrived, standing in front of the 2, he gave a subtle nod. "Name's Absko" the warrior introduced himself, reaching his hand out to Asher. Asher quickly shakes his hand and looks at Nautic who seems to turn around as if to make eye contact with him.

"I have already introduced you, the white spirit is Con, the woman here is the one in the prophecy I told you about, and the spirit she holds is Wisteria," Nautic tells Asher, Wisteria emerges from Emily.

"Her name is Emily," the violet spirit told Nautic. "And I am Blight!" Blight yells out as he emerges from Asher.

"Oh nice so he got the blue genie and Jafar," said Absko. Though Absko was trying to be comedic, he didn't get even the slightest smile from anyone. More so, Con felt more disappointed than anyone that heard that joke.

"Okay sorry, but I'm not useless alright? Watch this" Absko starts to repent, explosions mysteriously happen behind him in sync to when he snapped his fingers.

"Ah, so you can explode anything metallic?" Emily questioned, noticing that it was the Fallen which caused the explosions.

"Yes ma'am," Absko proudly responded.

Though Emily was amazed, Asher seemed to be thinking of something, his mind wandering in a different place, Blight took notice and told Asher "Hey, maybe you should go and chill."

As Asher walks away Nautic and Wisteria tell Emily "He's the one who'll protect you, the one you will fall in love with." Wisteria felt that Emily was not interested, she felt overwhelmed but still, Wisteria has hope that something will spark the flame.

"Nautic, a word?" Blight calls out as they both enter Asher's consciousness. "How are you doing, Asher?" Nautic asks, Asher nods and the others take note and wonder if he's started going mental.

"Nautic. I don't think he should get attached to her. Think about it, he has a duty to carry out, but his emotions will get in the way. What if he gets hurt? What if the prophecy doesn't get fulfilled." Blight began to state his argument.

"Look we just need to have hope…" Nautic continued but then Blight cuts him off saying "Hope? If he hopes, he could lose more than everything. There's so much risk in love, it's already been taking a toll on him. He wants it, Nautic. Though we both sense that it's hurting him. If he loves her, he'll give his all, and if he can't protect her if he loses someone again… it could mess him up. I'm not saying to prevent their love, I'm insisting that maybe we try and help him get through it."

"Didn't know you were a caring type of person Blight," Nautic said hoping to get lighten up the mood.

"This feeling. It hurts like heaven, makes me feel strong but so weak. Love is so contradicting yet it makes sense. I'm scared of it, yet I want to dive deep into it. If it's her, I'm willing to try, but my heart still aches. So please, Blight and Nautic… help me out" Asher thinks to himself, to which Nautic and Blight hear and Asher feels the warmth of Blight and Nautic as they nod in his consciousness.

"Emily, I felt that you were disturbed, a little unsure about Asher… what's going on?" Wisteria asked Emily, now residing in her consciousness. "Wisteria, the fate of humanity lies on my shoulder, on our shoulders. I have to find the remaining warriors and what? You expect me to fall in love. I have to take care of my brother, my family, my friends, the whole planet! I can't worry about love." Emily replied to Wisteria.

"Psst, Con, what are they doing" Absko whispered. "They're talking in their subconsciousness… are you that stupid? Read the room…" Con responded and Absko clearly understood that it should've been obvious.

"Emily, Asher!" Absko yelled despite Emily being next to him for the past 15 minutes.

"I think that we should probably move more North and help out my buddies at the Hospital," Absko requested of the two.

"North? Hospital? You mean the Healthy and Brave Hospital?" Emily asked.

"Yeah… why?" Absko responded

"My mother, she worked there, maybe she's alive," Emily replied

"Maybe, but we need to save everyone there first." Absko finalized.

On their way to the hospital, Absko and Emily begin to bond together, talking about past experiences with family and friends. "I remember very well too my dad said that Karma would get the best of us for laughing at him, right after he tripped and fell down the stairs and immediately we all laughed harder as he laid on the floor as if his soul ascended to heaven," Emily was recalling, the memories she had of her family made her happy. Taking Danny with her, she felt a comforting emotion, knowing that soon she'd be reunited with most of her family.

"Wait, I think we might want to rethink our choices of walking in the front door," Absko said as they arrived around a block away from the hospital.

Asher spent 7 and a half months training, locked in the place he first became what he is now. Only now did he see the horrors of the Fallen. A hospital building that had 47 floors, now cut in half, overtaken by Fallen, looking like a lost cause. Asher saw that just 7 months was enough to lose more than just a town, but a city, a state, it was enough for the UN to get overthrown.

"I know a way to get in, technically we'd be using the back door, but it's a shot." Emily insisted.

They continued their way, even taking Danny, though as scary as it may have seemed. Danny felt safe that Asher, who seemed like a knight to Danny, was there to protect them.

When they reach the back of the building, corpses of the dead who ran out the emergency exit, crushed by falling rubble, greeted them. Absko immediately raises his hand to destroy the rubble, but Nautic emerges from Asher and stops Absko "It'll make too much noise, let Asher handle it." Asher immediately uses his right arm to move what looked like a column of cement that weighs at least 2 tons.

Though Emily and Absko were clearly impressed, Asher who's lifted many much heavier things during his training didn't even think too much about it.

They walk in through the door, finding the generator still on, they take escalators to where they need to go, though Asher believes they'd be faster running normally, he's not willing to deal with them when they complain about not wanting to do more work, and just being lazy.

On their way, they encountered very few Fallen, as if they'd been located elsewhere.

When they arrived at the floor where the survivors were. Absko warns the two "There's plenty of bodies here. You can still smell the stench, but don't worry, these are not my guys,"

On their way in they noticed that everyone was gone, "This… this can't be, they're supposed to be here," Absko said.

Emily notices a computer, something brings her to it, she looks through the computer hoping to find anything about her mother. So she found something, she found a video.

"Emily, baby, I'm hoping you and Danny are safe, and if you see this then that means that's true. You need to go and find somewhere to survive and stay, the Hospital… it's been overrun. Take care of Danny…" Rose requested. It was her, she was on the video, thought Emily saw that her mother was scared, she was crying towards the end, and after she said: "I love you." Emily heard screaming, and Fallen entering the room and then the video ended.

"What happened?" Emily asked, she felt it, she only asked to be sure. Those were the final moments of her mother.

"She's buried outside… I'm guessing that's your?" Absko responded.

Emily nodded and walked with Asher and Absko outside, where Absko led them to the burial.

Emily broke down into tears, reminiscing on how happy she felt talking about her mother as if she was still alive. Her mother died protecting people, her father somewhere in Puerto Rico where it's mostly flooded. All she had was Danny, who too, felt the same.

Absko felt that he needed to do something, help somehow, he wasn't going to let his team, his new friends down. He didn't accept any idea that crossed his mind saying he wouldn't be able to help.

"I know this is probably a bad time… but if you guys want I have an idea of what we can do to get our minds off of everything," Absko insisted. Emily nodded and Absko ran into the locker room and got 4 skateboards.

"Oh yeah!" Danny calls out with a smile on his face.

Not too long after the 4 strolls around the area on the skateboards, Asher takes notice of the surroundings, ready to protect the group from anything that may emerge from the darkness.

Through the crumbled buildings that were now consumed by Earth, looking as if from a different time. Cars were still stuck in place, moss taking over the different areas, and some parts of the city were flooded while others were sites of rubble and destruction.

Skateboarding through the area, Danny and Emily seemed to be feeling better, they felt free, what Absko thought would only help them cope with the pain, it helped them forget it. Danny and Emily were new to skateboarding but they got it right off the bat, trying their best they were able to through the entirety of the city in just that day.

When it was night, they went into the nearby woods and started a campfire, Emily and Danny were happily talking about how fun it was, and Absko was glad that he was able to help. Though Asher was on his own about 15 feet away from where the other 3 were. He just stared into the distant stars and let himself process the day. Understanding and running through his emotions and thoughts, though it would often lead to overthinking, to feeling too many emotions… he felt the presence of Emily, and that was enough to comfort him.

"Asher? Are… are you ok?" Nautic asked, Asher nodded and Nuatic emerged from Asher saying "Do you remember those times you'd skateboard with your family, just the four of you? It was fun wasn't it?" Asher smiled reminiscing on the moments he spent with his family, and took notice of how Nautic brought this up so that Asher could see, that even if Emily may not love him yet, he still has them as a family. Danny, Emil, and Absko were all he had left, and they were enough.

As Danny, Emily, and Absko fell asleep Asher was awake speaking to Blight and Nautic in his consciousness, and as the hours passed by, the sun rose and Asher was still awake.

Emily woke up and suddenly came back into thinking about the survivors, and woke up Absko saying "Wake Up! We should've been looking for the survivors not out here playing and meddling." Though when she saw how happy Asher was, for the first time seeing his smile. She continued "Although… thank you, it was fun."

"Sorry I didn't hear a single word, can you restate that?" Absko responded.

The four start working to pack up the camp and Emily checks up on her "Risen" who were also awake all night but keep surveillance.

Absko walked to Asher and asked, "So does she always like to walk around with the pack of Terminators?"

"Hey, we can recon the area from this hill right here, it'll give us a good sight of the area," Absko told Emily, Danny was still sleeping so Asher kept his post next to him until they were walking to a hill, to which Asher carried the boy all the way up the hill until he found a spot to lay him down.

Emily was looking around throughout the city, looking for signs of fighting or movement. Emily walked closer and closer to the edge, and right on the last inch she felt imbalanced and fell. Asher ran as fast as he could and threw himself, grabbing a whole of Emily's hand, Absko holding Asher's leg. Emily looked up at Asher, noticing his eyes, noticing he looked, for once, worried. Emily then glanced down to see if Asher didn't catch her, she would've fallen at least 20 feet straight into the hard floor which was littered with rocks.

Absko pulls the two up and when Emily gets up her instinct tells her to say thank you, but instead, she scolds Asher for his carelessness, "Really?! I don't need some protector or escort, if I fell, I could always just help myself as if nothing happened, but if you fall and go head first, you die, Asher! Stop being an idiot!"

Asher looks at Absko with a confused look, Absko just shrugs and feels pity for Asher.

"So while you guys were having your moment, and I held on to Ash's leg I located the survivors. I was right, they're at the outpost where we hold most defenses. They should've survived the night, if we get going now, we'll be there in 20 minutes," Absko interrupted the lecture.

"Then let's go," Emily says, Absko looks at Asher who, with confidence, gives a nod.

They set on their way out, Asher still goes to carry Danny, who was awake the whole time but decided to act asleep so he wouldn't walk.

Though Danny thought he was sly, Asher knew that he was still awake, but he didn't carry Danny just so that he could chill. Asher saw the many times that Danny would look at Asher, with hope. So Asher became what he needed, a symbol of hope, a hero, a knight in shining armor, and he also became something that he didn't expect to become… at that moment Danny truly saw Asher as a brother.