Rise of The Conquest

Chapter 3: Journey to Find Energy Shard Users

A couple months later, everything had returned back to normal. Or at least, that's what Ace and Spark thought. Their fight had been forgotten. Others had come to take its place. But the friendship remained, as it always did. Bumps on the road were expected between men who were as close as brothers.

"Hey," Master Zo called over his shoulder, as Ace and Spark made up heaping plates of random snacks. "I want you guys to be careful. There are some weird things happening in the world right now. Don't want you two getting caught up in it."

"What do you mean Master?" Ace asked.

The two joined him in front of the tv, as Master Zo sat watching the news. It was a UGN government broadcast.

The broadcast was discussing the new "monsters" in society. These monsters were born out of the meteor catastrophe, and they were going to destroy the human race. Since the monsters could camouflage themselves to look like humans, the only way to tell them apart was by a particular shard on their body. The shards came in different shapes and colors, but each one reflected light like a diamond would.

The broadcast continued with a video clip that showed a vehicle getting pulled over. After the vehicle came to a complete stop, the officer got out of the vehicle and went to speak with the driver.

"Do you know how fast you were going," the officer asked.

"No sir. I'm sorry, a coffee spilled in the backseat and it distracted me."

The officer glanced in the back where two friends huddled together, coffee dripping on the seat neither was sitting on.

"It's law now that I have to inspect everyone I pull over," the officer said. "So, I'm gonna have to ask you to step outside the car so we can talk.

The driver slowly got out of the vehicle. He looked young, couldn't be older than sixteen. Face pale, eyes wide. The officer noticed a light glow from his ankles.

"Don't you move!" The officer said, as he pulled out his gun and aimed it at the kid. "I got you now." He tossed a glance at the two women in the backseat. "Don't you traitors dare move either. I'm going to have to take all you monsters down to the station for some heavy questioning."

The women froze, both looked stunned. Terrified. It was horrible to watch. ​

"Leave!" The driver yelled. "He wants me, not you."

The officer fumbled his gun, clearly not used to such confrontations. The driver used the moment of confusion to shove the officer to the ground, giving the girl in the back-seat time to jump up front.

She drives off as fast as possible.

The driver looks at the officer. "You almost got me," he laughed.

His laughter is cut short as a tranquilizing shot hits him right in the chest and he falls to the ground.

Two pictures of the supposed accomplices take his place on the screen. The message, "If found, Contact Emergency Services Immediately" flashed below the pictures. The last known location was mentioned before Ace turned the TV off.

"Does this make us monsters too?" Ace asked, fury hardening his words. Spark shook his head in disbelief.

"We have to help the two women that escaped," Spark said.

"That's extremely dangerous," Master Zo warned. "You could get caught by the UGN and who knows what they'd do to you."

"I don't care," Spark said, as he stood and looked at Ace. This was the first time that they'd heard of other energy shard users, and he needed to know more about them. He already felt a bond to these strangers, and he knew Ace was the only one who'd really understand.