Aegis Evolution

Chapter 1: Darkness or Light?

"Do you want to learn the truth?"

Alister looked up from his walk home. His cold and distant eyes studying the empty street for the voice's origin"Who are you? What do you want?" Alister called as a powerful wind blew by, drowning out the sound of his voice. 

A young man stepped out from the shadows into the light of a street lamp. He had eyes that seemed to be able to look deep inside Alister. "My name is Aurick Evard. I asked you if you wanted to learn the truth." he said while parting his long blond hair, further revealing his piercing eyes.

"Well Mr. Evard, people live life to find their own truth, because we're all individuals there is no universal truth" Alister answered philosophically.

Aurick smiled at him, "Are you the type of person who is content to live in the darkness of someone else's lie, or will you find the light of truth for yourself?"

Alister stared back at Aurick, returning his smile, "I will find the truth."

A brief glint could be seen in the man's eyes to Alister's response. "Alister Rhodes, you are a good person, just like he said you were. But, you don't need to speak so formally out here as the head of the Emergnce Foundation. No one is watching us because my team made sure that you and I could talk without anyone interrupting."

Alister's name was well known for being one of the chief representatives of the Emergence Foundation, one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations, it was a duty that fell to him when his parents passed away ten years ago. Despite his godfather, Noel, taking care of the logistics, Alister's name held great merit due to his parents' incredible legacy, and as such he had to be careful because there were many people who wanted to use him for their own gains.

Aurick sighed, "But, I guess someone like you has to be cautious. Faith, would you please give Mr. Rhodes some peace of mind?" he said, snapping his fingers towards a street camera. Instantly the street was covered in darkness. "There we go, now I can stop talking like a pretentious idiot," Aurick stated happily.

Alister was beginning to become suspicious of Aurick's words at this point. It was time to end this conversation. "Wow, turning off all the street lights, that's the first time anyone's done that. Most politicians tell me how happy they would be for my political support. Terrorist organizations always claim to be righteous, and say that I should execute the will of their God. But this, this is original. So what do you want?" Alister asked, visibly unimpressed.

Aurick sighed again. "I'm not here to use you. Like I said, I'm here to give you what you've been searching for. More importantly, I can give you the chance to change the world, in the way that the Emergence Foundation can't."

Alister was becoming annoyed. He wanted Aurick to feel like an idiot, so he began to laugh at him. "Really? You know what I've been searching for? You're just like everyone else. You know my name and my story, so you think you know me. Let me tell you something, you don't know anything about me at all!  But hell, you think you're so smart, then tell me what I want!"

Aurick's eyes cut through the darkness and looked into the depths of Alister's soul. "You want the truth about your parents' death." 

Alister immediately stopped laughing. Even in the darkness the color visibly drained from his face. His body began to tremble like it always did when he was a child and someone spoke about his parents' death. The cold and distant eyes were gone, now they were filled with hatred and anguish, but nonetheless, he stayed calm.

"Ha ha," Alister laughed sadly. "You're good, better than the others. You really researched me. You learned everything about me. You think you've got the answers I'm looking for? I'll tell you how my parents died. They died while trying to initiate the Second Impact Project. They died in an explosion," he said without conviction.

Aurick walked up to Alister and looked at him pitifully. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" he asked while pointing at Alister's trembling body. "The reason you've never been able to accept that is because you could never remember the time surrounding your parents' death."

Alister couldn't even bring himself to look at Aurick's eyes, "So you knew about that too, huh? I always wondered why I could never remember that time." 

Aurick looked up at the dark sky, "The reason why your mind locked away the truth about the deaths of your parents is because it was too horrible for a kid to deal with. There's nothing wrong with wanting to lock that away."

Alister was beginning to shake more and more with Aurick's words infuriating him. "This is just a huge waste of time. Now piss off.

Aurick walked even closer to Alister. "Alister, your parents were murdered during the Second Impact Project."

Alister was shaken, he knew that he couldn't believe what Aurick said, he barely even knew him, but for some reason he couldn't shake the feelings he felt when Aurick said those words.

"Why the hell are you even here?" Alister screamed.

Sirens were approaching from the distance in their direction. "Damn it, we should have had more time. Alister I'm really sorry about this, but you'll understand when you wake up. " 

An inquisitive look replaced the sadness on Alister's face. "What the hell are you talking about?" He was instantly caught off guard as a syringe hidden beneath Aurick's clothes stabbed him in the arm. Alister's body instantly went limp and he collapsed to the floor. 

Aurick knelt over Alister's unconscious body, picking him up. "I'm sorry, but I can't afford to be picky about all this, here isn't much time left. We... no,the world needs you right now," he said as he and Alister disappeared into the darkness.

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