July 20, 2175
12:05 P.M.
Once Jack was sure that the Ortho Sapiens had left the locality, he slowly stepped out of his house, still on guard, reacting to every little sound he heard. He passed by the cold and immobile chassis of Peru, lying lifeless in the corridor. Electric sparks crackled violently from the holes the bullets had torn through his body. A few motors still whirred faintly inside him.
Jack cautiously approached the main door and slowly opened it, peeking outside to check for danger. Thankfully, there was no one around—no one alive.
Jack stepped out of his house, panting. He was frustrated and completely baffled by what had just happened. His home, his society, now lay in ruins, reduced to nothing by the terrorist organization. His mind swirled with questions. Why couldn't humans just coexist peacefully with them? Why did they decide to exterminate the Kratians, who had done nothing but help ever since they arrived on this planet?
Jack still tried to direct his hatred toward the lawless terrorists instead of humanity as a whole, but the sight before him made it difficult not to question humanity itself.
He rushed forward, only to be met with blood and death. Bodies lay scattered everywhere. His neighbors, once vibrant and full of life, now lay in a heap at the center of the road, their bodies riddled with bullet wounds. Franklin lay dead in front of his house, but unlike the others, he was surrounded by the corpses of several Ortho Sapiens.
"He must've fought them… Franklin, you should've run. You had the speedster Ikanami. You could've escaped. Why?" Jack muttered, kneeling down to close Franklin's lifeless eyes.
"You fought well, brother. Now, rest."
Lifting Franklin in his arms, Jack could feel the weight of his fallen friend—his body unnaturally heavy, limbs hanging limply. He laid him gently against the door of his house before turning toward his own home.
"Everyone… thank you for always being there for me. I hope your souls can forgive me for leaving you like this. May you rest in peace," he whispered.
Just then, Jack remembered the Ortho Sapien bodies. He turned abruptly and ran toward the corpses of the terrorists.
If he wanted to survive, he needed their identity cards and authorization documents. More importantly, he needed their uniforms. The Ortho Sapiens' suits were made of nanoparticles, controlled via a wristband—also the device they used to receive information and orders from their higher-ups.
As a terrorist organization, their only method of authentication was an officer number and officer code. This ensured anonymity, preventing captured members from exposing others. However, this same system had a fatal flaw—it was easy to hack, making it simple for spies and imposters to exploit. Jack knew all of this because his father had dealt with them before dying in the line of duty.
Jack tapped the wristband of one of the fallen terrorists, and the uniform unraveled, revealing a young man, likely around Jack's own age. He looted five of the ten dead Ortho Sapiens, noting that they were all human—some young like him, others middle-aged.
All the while, Jack wondered what had driven them to such hatred. Was it just greed, or had a Kratian wronged them so severely that it festered into this violent resentment? The answers were now buried in their lifeless bodies, never to be spoken.
"Whatever the reason, it doesn't justify participating in a massacre—a genocide," Jack growled, kicking one of the corpses. "Serves them right."
Jack rushed back inside his home, grabbed his item pouch, and stashed the looted wristbands inside, keeping one for himself. Pressing a button on the wristband, a holographic interface flickered to life, displaying various details and options. Just then, a video broadcast appeared on the organization's channel—a gruesome display of Ortho Sapiens slaughtering innocent trainees at the training center. Jack clenched his jaw and immediately closed the feed. Watching his classmates being massacred while he could do nothing to save them was unbearable.
Forcing himself to focus, he navigated to the home screen and selected the Deploy Suit option.
The small wristband, no more than three inches long and half a centimeter thick, expanded rapidly. Black threads slithered across his body, starting from his right wrist and weaving their way up to his neck. The threads interlaced into a web, solidifying into a fine fiber that enveloped his torso, limbs, and neck. Though it appeared tight and restrictive, it moved fluidly with his body, as if the fibers themselves contracted and expanded in sync with his movements.
Jack grabbed his black, non-transparent bike helmet and put it on.
Now, he looked exactly like the ones he despised.
An indescribable feeling washed over him—anger, sadness, disgust. He was feeling all of them at once, yet he had no choice but to wear the skin of his enemies to survive among them.
Steeling himself, Jack knew he had to leave. He needed to check on Diana. Grabbing his grandfather's car keys, he headed to the garage.
His grandfather, a pure-blooded Kratian, had been a prominent figure in the war and had collected several war trophies. Among them was this automobile—a masterpiece of unrivaled Kratian technology from their home planet, Creta. The vehicle was unlike anything humans had ever engineered, capable of morphing into anything from a bike to a battle tank.
Its secret lay in its special metal, unique to Creta. The metal had the ability to realign itself when exposed to a polarized Kana energy field of a certain intensity. Once the intensity dropped, the metal would harden again, becoming as durable as diamond.
Jack uploaded the blueprints of the Ortho Sapiens' vehicles into the system and hit Morph.
The car absorbed Kana energy from the atmosphere, and within seconds, its body began realigning at precise angles and proportions. The transformation took only ten seconds, and when it was done, the once-distinctive Kratian vehicle had perfectly reshaped itself into the same model used by the Ortho Sapiens.
Jack took a deep breath.
It was time to move.
12:25 P.M.
Jack drove the car out of the garage and stopped again. He rushed over to the bodies of the dead terrorists and put their guns in his item pouch, yet another great invention made with the help of Kratians. Space-time continuum—something that is always associated together when we talk about physics. Now, what will happen if the two components were separated and expanded individually?
It creates a rift in the space-time matrix. A place where time doesn't pass and space is endless. A place where you can only move through using pure energy as propulsion—that's the sort of place the fourth dimension is.
The item pouch uses Kana energy to create a fourth dimension within itself and serves as a place for infinite storage because the time component of space-time is constant, whereas the space is expanded. Thus, an item pouch is one of the biggest utility devices ever created—a place of infinite space! What else would we need?
Jack stuffed the guns in the pouch and hurried off to Diana's place. A few patrol cars of the terrorist society were patrolling the streets. Jack heaved a sigh of relief—disguising himself was a good choice.
All the neighborhoods had the same scene. It was as if Jack was watching the same clip again and again. The clip that was repeating the same part—where Jack would enter a street or look into one, he would see the road littered with civilian corpses. Only a few places had Ortho-Sapien casualties as well.
"They weren't lying when they said they would clean us off," Jack muttered as he turned into Diana's street.
Jack passed by a mound of corpses. His eyes grazed the bloody collection, hoping he wouldn't have to see Diana's face there.
How selfish it was of him! Complete families—children and adults alike—were lying there. He was terribly sorry, yet he was getting a bit relieved as every second passed because the face of the one he loved wasn't there!
He parked the car in Diana's yard and saw that Diana's door was open. He rushed inside, praying that the terrorists didn't catch her. He checked the ground floor. There was no trace of blood except a few cartridges that were lying around, which Jack hoped were used for empty shots.
He went ahead to the staircase to the first floor. He looked down and climbed the first step. Then he looked up and saw something he was praying he wouldn't have to—blood. His mind shook up. He pranced up the stairs, yelling, "NO! Please, NOO!" And when he reached the top, he could feel the world crumble beneath him.
He saw Diana, who was lying on the ground in a heap near the staircase, blood flowing out of her forehead. She didn't have any bullet wounds. However, there was a bullet cartridge here too, lying near her.
Jack took off his helmet and looked around the room. Diana's cat, Juno, was lying in the corner—a bullet hole in her stomach. She had died, caught up in something she wasn't even a part of in any way.
Jack could feel the world crumble onto him right now. All because of Ortho-Sapiens. His father had died on duty. His mother was trapped in Rawkins Law, and he didn't even know if she was alive. His best friend was murdered—he died fighting, and Jack, who was pathetically hiding, didn't help. And the person he loved—the one he saw his future with, the one he always kept in mind before making any decisions—was now lying at his feet. Motionless at his feet. And he was helpless as ever, just pathetically watching.
"Only if I had my Ikanamis… Only if I wasn't so powerless… Maybe I could've saved everyone. If only I wasn't this pathetic," he sighed, looking at the ceiling.
His body was standing like a statue—motionless—yet countless emotions were welling up in his mind. He was alone. This world of his was destroyed because of the greediness of humans. He hated them. He wanted to return the favor—kill them all. He wanted to grab their heads and pull them off their bodies. He wanted revenge. He wanted to end what they started.
The atmosphere rang with dead silence—well expected. He closed his eyes, thinking about everything that had happened.
Why? Why wasn't he crying? He had lost everything dear to him—his family, friends, and love. Yet why? Why didn't a single tear slide down his cheeks? He thought, his throat paining with the heaviness of his emotions.
The skies had completely darkened up too. It started raining. Thunder and the sound of rain falling filled the atmosphere.
It was as if the sky was crying with him. The rainwater fell on the dead bodies, washing away their blood into the drains. The roads were now covered in water, dyed crimson with blood.
The thunder roared, mighty as ever, as if scolding Jack for his uselessness. Scolding him for his lack of power. Scolding him for why he was so emotionless that what had happened till now didn't awaken his Ikanami.
Jack knew too that they were right. He was so sad. He was so angry. Regret, self-blame, and hatred filled his mind, and his aggressiveness rose.
"Stop... Please, I know it's my fault that I wasn't able to protect anyone. Am I hollow for still not being agitated enough to unlock my powers? I have lost everything, yet here I stand like an idiot who is waiting for a hero to show up and fix everything. Seriously, I am such a moron. WHY AM I LIKE THIS?" he asked out loud.
The clouds answered with more rebuking.
Jack stood there, silent as ever. His anger was off the charts at the moment, but he just kept looking at the ceiling, tired of life.
"Stop… Stop… Please, just be silent for once," he thought over and over again.
His heartbeat was off the charts. His hands were shaking. His eyelids were twitching. He was breathing heavily.
"I need power… I need my Ikanami. I need revenge. I will avenge everyone. This is the duty I have chosen. Even if I don't get powers, I will fight. This is my law—I will protect and avenge," he thought, his mind unsettled because of all the strong emotions he was feeling.
Just then, he felt a tingling feeling in his lower abdomen. It disturbed his emotional conflict. He was angry—angry at the world for taking away everything from him. His heart was beating fast. His heavy breathing and his hands, which were shaking until now, were clenched into firm fists—so tight that his non-existent nails were drilling into his palm. His senses suddenly diverted to the strange feeling in his abdomen again. He focused on the foreign sensation, which was making him restless—disturbing his thoughts.
"Get out… GET OUT," he thought as he tried to drag that feeling out of his body.
But instead of coming out, it just spread all over his body. Suddenly, he felt something—something filling up his body, coming from his abdomen. He tried to eject it all, the sound of thunder in the background booming loudly. Then there was a sharp crack, and again, and again, and again. Jack opened his eyes. He was enclosed in what seemed like a gas, violently flowing upwards. He could feel it emitting from within him. His hair waved from it. He suddenly felt warmth wash over him. He suddenly felt calm. The foreign substance around him calmed down too.
He tried to focus once again on his abdomen and draw everything out again. The substance grew violent, and suddenly, electric sparks started happening around him.
It was his Ikanami. Finally—at last—he had unlocked his powers. Yet he was ashamed of himself for the price it took for him to awaken.
Lying below, Diana stirred. "Water… water," she croaked faintly.
Perhaps she was unconscious. Jack hadn't checked because he didn't want to accept that she had perhaps died. He couldn't think of what he would do after sensing that her pulse had stopped.
Maybe her sensitivity to Kana energy emitting from Jack brought her back to her senses.
Jack quickly fetched a glass of water from the kitchen. He sat down and raised Diana's head into his lap.
"Here you go. It's water," said Jack faintly, handing her the glass.
"Thank you," she took the glass weakly and drank some water.
Jack felt really weak then, perhaps it was because of him overdoing his Kana energy emission or because a new ray of hope had pierced into the dark realm of negative emotions he had sunken into.
"Thanks, Jack," she said weakly.
"It's alright now, don't worry, I am here." Jack's body could be seen trembling, but he hid it from Diana as he took out a first aid box from his bag.
He gave Diana some painkillers, a regenerating, and a Kana energy recovery syrup. He then lifted her up and carried her to her room, where he laid her on her bed.
"I could feel so much Kana energy from you then. It's monstrous. Your Kana reservoir—an average Kratian or Homo-Kratian would've passed out if they maintained that form for even a second," she said to Jack as she used her Ikanami to heal herself. The wound closed up as if it was never there, and she rubbed off the blood stains on her forehead.
Jack didn't answer; he was lost deep in thought, looking at Diana, glad she was safe.
"So, what's been going on? Those guys, who are they? They broke into my home, and they... they killed Juna," she said heavily. Juna was the only family member she had, as her parents were at the army camp most of the time.
"I will tell you that in the evening. Please rest for now. There are still some things I need to think over," said Jack, getting up and smiling at her.
"Okay, sure," said Diana, who brightened up a bit, seeing her friend's smile.
Jack stepped out of the room and leaned against the wall, his composure crumbling as he slid down heavily. With a deep, weary sigh, he found some peace in the thought that there were still some things left for him to hold dear.