The New Age

Planet Grenkar, Floating Haven City, Science Sage School, Dark Dusk House, Room No.7...

Laying on his back with his hands raised up, Jayden traced invisible symbols in the air absentmindedly. His recent talk with his parents had really shaken him. How could he ever cope? With how fast things were going, he didn't have time to properly think things through before making a decision, and now another situation had occurred that needed his immediate response.

The Interstellar Tournament was coming up in the next three weeks and if he didn't participate, he was going to get an earful from his parents and perhaps, he might be denied his monthly funds which he really needed. He really didn't understand why his parents treated him like shit.

On the other hand, his sister was taken care of like a princess and Jayden hated them all for that.

"I might as well not have been born if treating me like Junk Metal is my only use." He said dejectedly.

As he was having his depressing thoughts, a loud knock brought him out of his state of reverie.

"JAYDEN!!... JAYDEN!!... Jayden come out we're going to be late!!"

'No we're not, we're never late.' Jayden thought.

He got up from his bed and looked around his almost empty room which consisted of a table, two chairs and the bed in which he just got up from.

He sighed and walked to the door, opening it, the person who knocked earlier had his hands frozen in the air as if about to knock again, in fact that was what he was about to do.

"I thought you were dead." A short handsome boy with blonde hair, bright electric green eyes and a slightly muscular frame sighed before saying.

This was Nate Shaw, Jayden's best friend, they had known each other since they were little children.

Their parents were business partners who traded Mech Suits.

Everyone who knew about Jayden's parents business at one point expected him to have the best of the best Mech Suit provided to him while fitting it with several OP skills, but he was given a mediocre Suit that looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment with the most basic skills almost everyone started out with.

__________

Long ago, humans had achieved a breakthrough in technology, they had discovered planets that had weird creatures living on them, this creatures could do things that could only be found in fairytales and fantasy novel.

They realised that killing this creatures resulted in them procuring what was known as Energy Orbs –the essence of the creatures powers–. Using this Energy Orbs, they were able to power up devices that initially required electricity to work, little by little they invented new and distinct devices.

Happy with their breakthrough they travelled and explored more, and not contented with what they had achieved, the first Mech Suit was then created.

During one of their exploration with Major Oliver –the first Mech Suit user–, they were attacked by a creature more powerful than the previous ones they always encountered.

Major Oliver being a selfless person sacrificed himself to let others get away, the team returned mostly unharmed, but they had lost their only Mech Suit and the only man who understood it best.

This had made them sombre at first, but they came back stronger, a better Mech Suit which they had been working on was finished some years later. This time though, they trained several experts to man them, they were also trained to fight as a group to support each other significantly and avoid casualties.

This sharp increase in the technology world was known as the New Age.

Now it is a normal thing for anyone, even beggars, to have a Mech Suit of their own, though they varied in quality.

Not everyone could also use their Mech Suit always as it was powered by Energy Orbs which needed to be replaced after being used, once the energy in the orb is used up, it cracks and falls apart and a new Orb will be needed to replace it.

Another thing that needed to be known was the levels of this creatures, depending on how strong the creatures where determined the level of their Energy Orb. The creatures were then given levels based on their strength. They were as follows:

Basic

Intermediate

Evolved

Sovereign

Monarch

Lord

Mythical

Legendary

Till date, everyone wondered how the higher-ups knew about the last level –the legendary Level– since there was no news about killing a beast at that level, rumors were spreading about the higher-ups keeping the Energy Orb for themselves to maintain the power balance that had been established for a long time.

__________

Back to the present. Jayden stared at his friend speechless before replying.

"Why in the world would you think I'm dead!!"

"What do you mean 'why', have you forgotten what Derrick said he was going to do to you?" Nate replied.

"Ohh!! He was just bluffing." Jayden said without any worry in his voice before adding quietly. "I hope."

"You messed up big time, why did you take his Energy Orb?"

"I didn't, I was the one who killed the beast."

"You should have just left it for him."

Seeing the confused look on his friends face he continued.

"This is a dog eat dog world Jayden, the strong want to exercise their power on those they feel are beneath them, I know you know this, but you shouldn't fight a battle you know you can't win."

With that they walked out of the building and headed to the cafeteria to grab their breakfast.

Walking along the path to get to the cafeteria, Jayden looked around him, taking in the beauty of the fresh grasses all around them. This was one of the things that could take Jayden's mind away from all the things that bothered him. Nature.

Smiling to himself, Nate broke the silence.

"I wonder what type of beasts we're going to face today."