Aetherium Reborn

Chapter 1: Beginning of the End

On a dark, rainy night, a news broadcast echoed throughout the city: "At 11 o'clock, the superhero Solarion entered the city hall, which had been taken over by the Dark Jester moments before. Police are warning people to stay clear of the area. But for now, we await further reports."

Outside the city hall, the heroes awaited their cue to enter. Inside the building, Solarion walked through the hall, with a dark corruption covering every inch of the town hall. As he moved through the rooms, a voice echoed through the halls, "Welcome, Solarion! I always enjoy playing with you, but this time is even more fun than usual. For you see, I realize that our games have started to bore you, and that has deeply saddened me." Solarion interrupted: "Shut up! I've had enough. Just tell me what you are planning to do this time." The Intercom replied: "How rude! I go through all the trouble to set all of this up, and this is how you react? If only you had this mindset earlier." Before he could continue, he looked back and saw Solarion behind him.

Solarion emotionlessly said: "I'm going to kill you. I'm done with giving chances." The criminal burst out in laughter, exclaiming: "Kill me? Did you forget what would happen? If you kill me, then the rest of your planet dies, that's our deal, remember? We are going to play till the end of time!" Suddenly, Solarion had him by his neck and started to choke him. As the criminal started to lose breath, he laughed sarcastically, "Oh no! One of my trillions of minions is going to die," as he started to laugh even louder.

The entire city heard his laugh as it started to get softer. Unexpectedly, Solarion also started to laugh. He smiled with tears in his eyes as he said: "You were right, Rester. I tried so hard to protect them, and they died anyway. And because of that, I have nothing left to protect." Solarion then choke-slammed Rester to the ground and said: "I dare you to come here! See if I care if you kill them." Both of their laughter filled the air before Solarion softly said: "See you later." Suddenly, a giant explosion destroyed the entirety of town hall. The explosion was so bright that half of the planet could see it. Most of the heroes dodged the explosion by running away, but some sustained damages.

Where the town hall was, was only a crater. Solarion climbed out. The heroes near the area stood in shock at what they saw. As Solarion walked out of the crater, he had a smirk on his face. The hero, Shard, stopped Solarion, asking him: "What happened? Where is he?" As he spoke, Solarion looked down at him, with a blank expression. Shard, in denial, responded: "No... No, you didn't." Shard had a devastated look on his face as he saw Solarion walking away. As Shard looked around, he saw his pupil with half of his body scorched.

Shard's heart dropped as he ran towards his pupil. As he held his pupil, he asked: "Lucas, what are you doing here? I told you to stay at home." Lucas coughed as he said: "Damn, I thought I was faster than that." Lucas laughed as he looked at his left arm, which had a burn mark. Shard had a look of horror in his eyes as he looked back, with Solarion nowhere to be found. His fear turned into a worried smile as he told Lucas: "We should get you to the hospital."

At the hospital, the shouts of a woman were heard throughout the building. "Second-degree burns!? What were you thinking taking him with you?" Shard responded: "I told him to stay with you; he chose to ignore me." As Lucas lay on a hospital bed, he remarked: "Aren't any of you proud? I mean, I only got second-degree burns from an attack that was as hot as the sun." Lucas' mom snapped as she said: "Proud? You could've died! You're lucky you're so durable." Shard sarcastically said: "Well, I wouldn't say luck. I'm just that good of a teacher." Lucas' mom angrily said: "Don't motivate him. Remember, he only did it because you gave him that mindset." The room grew silent until Shard responded: "You need to understand, I am just as upset as you, but you should realize that what he did was brave. I know this isn't the best time to say it, but he could really make a great hero." Lucas' mother furiously responded: "This is what I am talking about! You are filling his head with these idiotic ideas. How many times do I have to tell you, saving these people isn't his responsibility, it's the responsibility of people like you. So for the last time, I do not want you near him or the rest of my family, got it?" Shard slowly lowered his head as he looked at Lucas, with Lucas asking him to say something. Shard nodded his head as he then walked out of the room.

As Shard looked at his phone, he saw he had over 100 notifications from the elders, asking him to urgently come to headquarters.

At the Elders headquarters, one of the people said: "Damn, Shard, ignoring us again." While another person remarked: "It's fine, we shouldn't hold our operation just because he decided to be lazy." A large figure above all the other people eerily said: "Enough distractions, onto the problem at hand. What are we going to do about Solarion's betrayal and the imminent threat of Rester?" Another voice responded: "Why don't we just set up evacuation pods?" The large figure responded: "That's another problem; Rester's minions have stolen a majority of the shuttles. We can create more shuttles, but it wouldn't be enough to even evacuate a fourth of the planet." The tension started to rise as sweat rolled down the large figure's face. "You know what? Screw the planet, The seven of us are the priority," said one of the figures. "What the hell are you saying!? You selfish piece of shit! It's our responsibility to protect these people," said another figure. Another figure responded: "In any case. The prophecy can't be fulfilled if any of us chicken out." The selfish figure gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, exclaiming: "Are you stupid or what? We aren't even sure if we are the real elders. What makes you so sure that the prophecy is real?" The large figure exclaimed: "Enough! Shut up, all of you. I can't believe we are even debating about this. We are going to hold off Rester long enough for the pods to take our remaining family members off the planet. As for the remaining civilians, we are going to activate Project Aether to save the capital of Aetherium. Got it?"

All of the people in the room looked at each other, with distrust filling the room. The selfish figure seemed annoyed as everyone was staring at him.

As the moon filled the sky, the civilians ofAetherium went to sleep, not knowing the dangers that await them in the future.