The rain fell hard, the worst weather they had seen in years. Lightning cut across the sky in jagged streaks, thunder booming in the distance like the roar of an angry beast. She leapt from building to building, her footing light but cautious, every surface slick with rainwater. The wind howled like a warning, but Alena Hart pressed on, hoping not to lose her balance.
With snow-white hair and matching eyes, dressed in an unusual assassin-like uniform, and a katana strapped tightly to her waist, Alena was considered either a hero or a freak by most—depending on who you asked. Her inhuman speed, reflexes, and heightened senses set her apart from others.
The rain kept pouring, and the scent of blood grew stronger with every step. "I should never have left him alone!" she thought.
Her boots skidded across the rooftop ledge as she jumped down, parkouring her way through scaffolding, fire escapes, and any way to get down. She landed with a splash. Her eyes froze—blood mixing with the flowing water, forming dark crimson streams along the pavement.
She stood paralyzed. Her stomach twisted.
"No... no... no," she mumbled, stumbling forward.
In a similar uniform as her, but with black shadow hair and eyes, and tan skin, stood. On his knees, face tilted upward toward the stormy sky, rain poured down his face the light in his eyes faded. The street around him was painted with corpses—enemies, all enemies he had killed
"Kai!" Alena broke from her frozen trance and sprinted over to him, nearly slipping on the blood-soaked ground. She dropped to her knees beside him, cradling him. Pressing her ear to his chest—there, a faint heartbeat. So weak, yet still present. Her heart surged with a fragile hope.
He stirred the light coming back to his eyes, coughing up blood, and stained the collar of his uniform and her arm.
"Kai!" she screamed, panic surging in her voice.
He chuckled weakly, the sound rasping in his throat. Cut, wounds covering his body, blood dripping. He lifted a trembling hand, touching her cheek with his bloodied fingers. "Hey there, beautiful."
"Don't talk. Help is on the way! Just hang on!"
He smiled gently, sliding his hand across her face, leaving a red, smeared bloody handprint. Then he reached for her hand. She hesitated only briefly before taking it, giving it a soft, lingering squeeze.
"Injustice... across all... You mustn't let corruption take you as it will do to me..." He coughed again. His breath hitched. "I'll always be with you. Don't trust... the one trying to be closest to you..." pressing something into her palm—a yellow star-shaped hairpin, dull with rain and blood.
His eyes lost their light. His hand slipped from hers.
"No… no, no, no!" Alena screamed, shaking him. But his body was limp, unmoving. Her throat tightened, and tears poured down her face in waves she couldn't stop. She held him tighter, burying his face close to herself, sobbing.
The next day, a funeral was held for Kai. It was small, quiet, surrounded by friends and strangers he'd helped. But one chair remained empty.
Alena didn't attend. She locked herself in her room, curling up on the floor like a ghost of her former self. The star hairpin remained clutched in her hand.
Two years passed, no better than the other day, depressed by the loneliness she had felt her dear friend, the one she loved the most, she never got to tell him, "now it's too late." She whimpered
–Knock, knock.
Outside her door stood Ezra, a tall young man with shoulder-length brown hair, pulled into a loose ponytail. His eyes seemed concerned as he looked at Alena's door.
"It's me, Ezra. I think it's time you left that solitary room of yours. You've been in there for a long time now, only coming out during the night. A lot is happening within the Empires that we need to look at. I think it's time to go back to work."
He walked away before pausing for a moment, "This is what Kai would have wanted."
Hidden from the public eye, operating between the four great empires is an organization of enhanced humans known as Mythicals. Some could bend fire, stop time, or control lightning. Fought to protect the empires from crisis against Mythicals who went mad with power, or those who try to damage the empires. They weren't the only secret organization.
Alena slowly got to her feet and looked in the mirror. The sight of herself in this state was not a good feeling. Paler skin than usual, hollow cheeks, bags under her once bright eyes, and her snow-white hair—now dingy and matted.
"I'm going to need to clean myself up first," she muttered.
She took a long shower, letting the water run down her face as if it could wash away her grief and regret. She brushed her hair, combed out the bits of tangles, her once short hair grew out uncontrollably, she had to get it cut later, and tied it neatly into a ponytail. Last but not least, she pinned the star-hairpin into her hair. Looking in the mirror, she smirked weakly. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
Her uniform felt tighter across her shoulders and looser around the waist. Isolation had changed her body. Still, she strapped it on, adjusted her belt, and stepped out.
The HQ had changed. Sleek white walls, new holographic panels, advanced tech. Down the hallway, three people were gathered around the main computer, looking over footage.
There was Ezra. A young girl with short lavender and blue eyes—Lily. And a red-haired, red-eyed man in a lab coat—Dante.
Ezra turned and grinned. "Look who finally decided to rejoin the living."
"Captain!" Lily beamed, running over to hug her.
"Heya, Captain," Dante said, voice deadpan, but eyes soft.
"Update me," Alena said, all business. "Ezra mentioned incidents across the empires."
She had been made captain after Kai's death—against her wishes, but no one else had the experience or drive either.
Lily stepped aside so Alena could approach the monitor. Ezra brought up footage—smoke-filled streets, ruined government buildings, underground vaults, and criminal bases in flames.
"Multiple political and criminal buildings were hit within the two years. All of them had this left behind." He zoomed in on a symbol—a white cross, painted crudely on walls and corpses.
Alena froze. Her breath caught. Memories resurfaced—whirring machines, the constant testing…endless pain. The cross. Old trauma resurfaced from the past, something she had hoped to never remember again.
Ezra noticed her uneasiness. "You know that symbol, don't you?" Ezra asked.
"They were a twisted group who ran an orphanage called The Order. On the outside, it looked like a place of care—but on the inside, it was anything but. Just a den of deranged and twisted people," she said, her voice low. "Their goal was to create artificial Mythicals. They ran countless experiments. Most of them failed… and many children died because of it."
"So they tested on kids… just to fail in the end?" Dante asked, his voice laced with disbelief.
She shook her head slowly. "No. They succeeded—at least, in their eyes. Only two children survived their experiments, Kai and I."
Then, without another word, she pulled down her sleeve. Branded on her skin was a burn mark in the shape of a cross. The others stared in horror. "Every orphan was marked, ten years ago, they suddenly disappeared without a trace, nothing after that, we were picked up by the organization."
"Didn't you think it was a good idea to tell us?" Ezra said
Alena raised her voice, "It's something I did not want to remember!"
The room fell silent moment of silence before Ezra spoke up, changing the subject.
"While you were in your room for the two years, we have heard some rumors about the rise of a new political movement. They have been growing rather fast within the two years, which might be intertwined with this Order," Ezra said
"Lily, dig up everything you can about the Order and the new political group," Alena said.
Lily nodded, "You got it. Give me thirty minutes."
Although Lily, being the youngest at the age of fourteen, was the smartest out of us all with it comes to technology, her abilities being Techno Prodigy allows her to directly connect to technology with her mind
Dante turned to Alena. "You've been out of action for quite some time. Your katana's a relic and might be rusty."
Alena glanced down at the blade strapped to her side. The once-shining metal was now dulled with rust, the edge chipped in places. It hadn't been cleaned in over two years—and the dried blood still clinging to it served as a grim reminder of the last time it had been used.
"Follow me down to the lab. I've got something new for you."
Following Dante and Ezra to the Danta lab, they entered a large room surrounded by transparent reinforced walls, the organization's base research department. Employees of the organization worked doing their things. Dante led them to a display table.
He lifted two black-sheathed blades—one a sleek Wakizashi, the other a weighty Tanto dagger. Each had golden star-shaped guards.
"Kai commissioned these for you a month before he... yeah. Said to give them to the time was right, he knew how much you admired the Eastern Empire's weapon. I think that time's now."
Alena ran a hand over the weapons. They hummed faintly with energy. She strapped them on with custom magnetic clips.
"They're perfect," she whispered.
Dante chuckled, "Thanks, there my best work yet."
Ezra grinned. "Want to test them?"
She smirked.
Alena stepped into the arena. Across from her stood Ezra, his sword already unsheathed.
Without a word, Alena drew her wakizashi, assuming her stance.
Ezra vanished in a flash before making contact, teleporting mid-dash—disappearing just inches away from her blade—and reappeared behind her.
She turned instantly, steel meeting steel as she parried the attack.
Ezra's Mythical ability: short-distance teleportation—perfect for speed and aggressive close-quarters combat.
He kept the pressure on, teleporting relentlessly into her blind spots, slashing and thrusting in a dizzying rhythm. But Alena wasn't backing down. She deflected every strike with precision, her eyes narrowing, slowly learning the timing of his ability.
Slash after slash.
Then again, Ezra blinked into another blind spot.
She was ready.
With a sharp motion, she unsheathed her tanto and caught his next strike mid-swing.
—CLASH!
The sound of steel meeting steel rang out across the arena. It was… refreshing. Familiar. Almost comforting after so long. Ezra's eyes widened in shock. The surprise threw off his footing, his posture breaking.
Alena didn't hesitate.
With swift, seamless movements, she unleashed a flurry of attacks with her wakizashi. Ezra staggered, clearly overwhelmed by her precision and speed.
Thinking fast, he let himself fall—on purpose—backwards into one of his portals.
Alena didn't let up. She threw a dagger where she guessed he would reappear. It would either look incredibly cool—or incredibly stupid.
Ezra leapt out of his portal…
Only to be met with a dagger headed straight at him.
"Shit—!" he muttered, barely managing to deflect it in time. But that brief moment left him wide open.
And Alena was already closing the distance.
Too fast.
"Damn it—not enough time to react!" Ezra thought, panicking, hands up, footing lost. In desperation, he tried the same trick—letting himself fall backward toward another portal.
–YANK.
"…Wait, what?"
A hand gripped the front of his uniform.
Alena stood over him, her wakizashi pressed against his throat.
"Where do you think you're going?" she said coldly.
Ezra blinked, then gave a nervous chuckle. "I give. Mind letting me go?"
Without a word, Alena released him. He hit the ground with a grunt, opened another portal, and slipped through it—this time reappearing above her, dropping down feet first.
"Rude," he muttered, brushing himself off.
"You'd be fine either way."
Back in Dante's lab, he beamed. "Well? How do my masterpieces feel?"
"Like they belong in my hands."
Dante flushed, pushing his glasses up. "How you used them… made my skin crawl in the best way~"
Alena scowled. "You're doing that freaky thing again!"
"Ahem—professional admiration, Captain."
Returning to HQ, Alena sighed. "He always gets weird after showing off his new toys."
Ezra shuddered. "Reminds me of that creepy clown, the one with the tear and star tattoos next to his eyes."
Back at the terminal, Lily was typing furiously.
"Progress?" Alena asked.
Lily frowned. "Not much in public records, only the usual political thing,s but that's it, but I found fragments of the Order. They tried to hide their tracks... not well enough. Just need a few more minutes."
"Thanks, Lily. Don't push yourself."
Alena sat, wiping down her Wakizashi. In its reflection, she saw herself... and heard Kai's final words:
""Injustice... across all... You mustn't let corruption take you as it will do to me..I'll always be with you. Don't trust... the one trying to be closest to you...".
"FINISHED!" Lily shouted.
The room snapped to alert.
"That was fast," Ezra said, impressed.
Lily pulled up an image on the main screen. A masked man in red hood and armor with the symbol of a cross on his chestplate stared at them through the feed as if he were looking at them
"Who the hell is that?" Ezra asked.
"I don't recognize them," Alena said
Suddenly, a whisper echoed through Lily's ear, only she could hear it:
"I didn't expect you to solve that puzzle so fast. Call me impressed."
–ZZZZZZTTT!
Sparks flew from the console. Lily convulsed as a jolt of electricity surged through her body. The computer went haywire.
SYSTEM BREACHED.
ACTIVATING AUTOMATIC SHUTDOWN.
Alena bolted towards Lily
"Lily!"