#dev royal

“How did this even happen!” Alter yelled, grabbing his head. His mind was currently melting over the fact that Noin now had a large pair of wings.  Noin just shrugged. “Iunno.” was all she could respond with. “They’re so pretty!” Dani said, circling Noin, getting a closer examination of her wings. “This is a big problem.  You can’t go outside until we’re sure the Branded snatchers aren’t around here anymore.” Alter said, rubbing his chin. “Not going outside sounds like the opposite of a problem.” Noin said, chuckling as she walked over to the couch. Her wings were spread open, bumping into furniture, pushing things all around. “You’re also gonna have to learn how to close them.” Alter said, going to put things back in their proper places. “Yeaaaah, I’ll work on that.” Noin said, her wings twitching a bit as she tried to move them. She folded the wings against her body, and slowly sat down, using the feathers on her back as pillows. “This is so comfy.” She sang out, rolling back onto her wings. Alter rubbed his temples and walked back into his bedroom. “I wonder how the store is.” He mumbled to himself. He figured he may as well go check it out. He had to get his board back anyway. Alter threw on some clothes and headed for the door. “Are you going to work?” Noin asked. “Sorta. Dani and Harbinger kinda ruined that, along with some other girl.” Alter explained. Dani had a look of guilt on her face when Noin turned her gaze to the blue haired girl. “I’m just going to grab my board and see if anyone knows Dani had anything to do with it.” Alter spoke, opening the door, “I’ll be back soon don’t worry.” The two girls waved to their friend as he left their home.

It was a bright sunny day that day. The type of weather that didn’t spell trouble at all, but that wasn’t at all what the universe had in mind for that day. Alter mumbled the incantation for his glowing disc, and summoned the bright ring of light. He hopped aboard and zipped through the air in the direction of the grocery store. “If it wasn’t so dangerous to be a known Branded, I would just ride this thing everywhere.” Alter thought aloud as he sped through the skies. It was no time at all when he arrived at the store, hopping off of his disc in an alley to not be seen. Just as he thought there were police everywhere. The manager was speaking to authorities as Alter approached. “What happened here?” he asked, feigning ignorance. “Someone broke in to the store and destroyed everything. Who are you?” one of the officers said, looking Alter up and down. “He’s a new hire. His first day was yesterday.” The manager answered for Alter. “Do you know anyone who might have done this?” the officer asked. Alter shook his head and shrugged. “Not a clue. I don’t really know any of the people that work here very well yet, I only met everyone yesterday.” Alter answered. “Is it cool if I go in and grab my long board? I left it yesterday on accident.” The manager nodded and the officers let Alter go past. The mage quickly went inside and to the back, making sure to check for any possible clues that might incriminate Dani. In one of the aisles, Alter noticed a nametag on the ground and knelt down to pick it up. The name on the tag read Marceline. “I wonder if this belonged to that girl…how dumb do you have to be to attack your workplace with your nametag on your person?” Alter thought aloud. He stuffed the nametag in his pocket and went to grab his board. There wasn’t anyone in the back of the store. Alter deduced that the manager must have told anyone that was supposed to work that they didn’t have to come in that day. Alter grabbed his board and left the store. Outside the manager was finishing up speaking with the police. They were getting into their squad cars and the manager was heading for the inside of the store. Alter went to walk past him but he was stopped by the manager. Alter’s heart skipped a beat for a moment, unsure of whether or not he was about to be accused of anything. “So, I’m not sure when we’ll be opening back up. We’ve obviously got a lot of remodeling and restocking to do, but I’ll be sure to give you a call when we reopen.” The manager said, rubbing the back of his head. Alter let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah no problem, just call my cell.” Alter said, tossing his longboard onto the ground and skating off with the utmost of urgency. Alter wanted to get as far from the store as possible as quickly as possible. He felt like he could be incriminated at any moment. Maybe today he would just relax in his room and study his spell book. Alter decided that was probably the best idea he’d had in a while and made his way home.

On the far side of town, there were a group of people who were doing the opposite of taking a relaxation day. “Get back here!” a short blond girl yelled, chasing after a girl riding on the back of a lion. “You’ll never catch meeee!” she cried out, giggling loudly. The girl riding on the back of the lion had long brown hair and was wearing what seemed to be a coat made of various animal furs that covered all but her hands and feet. This girl was undoubtedly a Branded, as was the one chasing her. “Get her now!” the blond girl yelled. A tall male jumped from a nearby roof top and landed in front of the lion, grabbing it by the head and flipping it over, effectively launching the rider off. The Lion Rider rolled across the ground and groaned in pain, pushing herself up to her feet. “That wasn’t very nice.” She said, glaring at the two Branded that were advancing on her. “That’s the price of stealing. How in the hell did you even manage to steal a lion from the zoo anyway?” the blond girl asked. “Like this.” The Lion Rider spoke. She whistled a tune of some sort and the Lion’s ears flicked. The mighty beast growled and reared back, swiping at the two Branded that opposed the Rider. “Genesis move!” the man said, pushing the short girl aside. The Lion smacked the man across his side, sending him to the ground, blood seeping from the large gash on his torso.  The man gripped his wound with one hand, gritting his teeth to bite down the pain. “Fuck this!” he said, aiming his open palm towards the Rider. Light began to form in the palm of his hand until it orbed. He pushed forward and the orb shot towards the girl at high speed. The orb collided with the girl, sending her flying backwards with intense force. She crashed into a wall, cracking it heavily. She cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. “Alan! Are you okay? Let me help you.” Genesis, the blond girl, spoke with worry audible in her voice. She knelt down next to her ally and put her hands against his wound. Closing her eyes, she concentrated hard and a faint green glow wrapped around her hands and the bleeding wound. The meat and skin that was previously torn began to reform and heal as if there were never a wound in the first place. Once the wound was fully healed, the girl exhaled and sat down. “There, now. To deal with her and the big cat.” Genesis said, looking over to the lion that was guarding the girl they were attacking. “She seems to be able to control animals. So as long as that Lion is around we can’t nab her.” Alan, the orb flinging strong man, spoke. “I’ll take care of this!” a man yelled, bursting forth from a nearby dumpster. “Where have you been!” Genesis yelled angrily. “In here…sleeping. I don’t tell you how to live your life.” The man said, crawling out of the dumpster. He was a tall bald man, dressed entirely in monk robes with giant prayer beads around his neck. Tied to his waist was a goard, filled with a mixture of alcohol. He slipped the goard off his waist and took a big swig before reattaching it. “Oookay! Let’s do this.” He said, walking past the other two.

The man stopped just a few feet short of the Lion, taking on a Tiger Style Kung Fu stance. There the monk and the Lion locked eyes, staring one another down. “Tiger versus Lion, fight!” the monk yelled and kicked off towards the Lion. The mighty beast snarled and lunged at his attacker, swiping for his torso. The Monk deflected the beast’s paw with one arm, and then jabbed at the cat’s chest. The Lion whined and fell back. The beast charged at the monk, this time aiming for his head. The man again deflected the beast’s paw with ease, connecting another jab with the feline’s chest. Before the cat could recover, the man laid a series of jabs on the poor beast’s chest and sides until it dropped to the ground in defeat. “Looks like the Tiger is the greater cat.” The monk said, slipping his goard from his waist to take a victory drink. “You’re an idiot.” Genesis said, walking up behind him and smacking him over his head. By this point the Lion Rider was regaining consciousness. She looked up at the three Branded that had just defeated her. “Who are you?” she asked weakly. “We Are Heroes!” Genesis said, balling her hands into fists and placing them on her hips. The rider just stared at them with a raised eyebrow and a look of disbelief. “I told you the name was dumb.” Alan said, whipping out a cellphone and dialing 911. After a bit of time, police were on the scene. The officers arrested the Rider and gave an awkward thanks to the three Branded that apprehended her. “So…are you guys like…super heroes?” one of the officers asked them, chuckling a little under his breath. “Something like that.” Genesis said, grinning big. “You can call us We Are Heroes.” She said confidently. The cop just stared at her like she was stupid. “That’s a dumb name.” he said, walking away. “Hey! Rude!” Genesis responded angrily. “Told you.” Alan said, walking past her and away from the police. “Jack come on back me up. It’s a good name right?” Genesis asked the monk. The monk had a look of panic spread across his face. “Uh…” before he could say a word to dig himself a deep grave he grabbed at his goard and started drinking, following after Alan. “You both suck.” Genesis said, following her allies.

High above the clouds, far from the visage of any Human or Branded, floated the skeletal castle of Gola and her Cultists. In the throne room of the Skeleton Queen, she peered into a well of water that lay at the center of the room. This well showed her things below, allowing her the ability to survey the city without leaving the safety of the castle. “Show me that girl. The one that controlled the cat.” She spoke, waving her hand. A small figure standing next to the well, completely covered by dusty tattered robes waved an arm. The waters of the well rippled and the images changed to focus on the face of the girl that had been controlling the Lion. “I want her.” Gola said, tapping her chin. “She could be of great use in the coming tide of war.” The Skeleton Queen said with vile intent in her tone. She retreated to her throne, sitting atop it. “Kaleidoscope! Scarlet!” she called out, her words echoing through the halls of the castle. Two women entered the room. One of them was a tall woman with rainbow colored hair, wearing a tie-dye sundress and shorts. The other was much shorter with bright red hair. She had chains hanging from her wrists and wore all black, visible scars adorned much of her skin. “Hello!” Kaleidoscope, the rainbow haired woman, spoke up. She seemed rather cheerful and sunny to be enlisted in an army of doomsday cultists. “I need the two of you to release this girl from captivity. Enlist her amongst our ranks. If she does not join willingly, bring her by force and I shall change her mind myself.” Gola said, tapping her chin, a sinister grin taking over her features. “Yes My Lady.” Scarlet, the red haired woman, said with a bow. The two villainesses departed from the throne room, heading for the land below to carry out their dark master’s bidding.

“All I’m saying is, we shouldn’t have a name that’s just a simple phrase. It’s too plain, people won’t get it if it’s not written down and shown to them.” Alan said, munching on a hot dog. The three heroes were sitting in the outside dining area of a fast food restaurant. They were busily discussing the issue of their ridiculous name. “What’s wrong with having a name that makes you think?” Genesis asked. “The thinking isn’t the issue, it’s the thinking we’re idiots that’s the issue.” Alan said, waving his hot dog at Genesis. “You’re an idiot.” She snarled angrily. “What do you think, Jack?” the both of them said in unison, turning to their third member. The monk’s eyes darted back and forth between his two fellow heroes, panic once again setting it. “I think we all could use a beer and just relax.” He said, slamming his hands down on the table. “I’m a minor.” Genesis responded. “I wouldn’t mind a beer.” Alan said, smiling at Jack. “You’re both idiots.” The blond girl said, dropping her head onto the table. The two men simply laughed. The lighthearted banter was soon drowned out by a scream from not far off. “Monster!” yelled a woman. The three heroes jumped up quickly and ran to the sound of the commotion. Around the corner from the restaurant there was a sizeable mob of people gathered around a giant figure. “Monster! It’s a monster!” a man cried out, throwing a soda can at the giant. Once the heroes got close enough they were able to make out the figure in better detail. It was a tall thing, it looked to be roughly eight feet tall, possibly bigger. It was muscly and covered completely in thin brown fur. Atop its head were enormous horns that resembled that of a bull’s. “What…is that?” Jack asked, squinting hard to focus in on the creature in front of them. “It looks like…a Minotaur?” Alan said. He couldn’t be any more right. When the creature turned to where they could see its face, it was indeed that of a bull. They were currently staring at what could not be mistaken for anything other than a Minotaur. “Is that even possible?” Alan said, his mouth agape. “I don’t know, but we better intervene before someone gets hurt.” Genesis said, charging in. “Please leave me alone.” The Minotaur said, putting his arms up to block the various items that were being thrown at him. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, please stop.” He said, sounding like his feelings were being hurt by the current display of fear that the humans around him were exhibiting. Luckily, Genesis heard the creature’s soft words and pleas for a yield. The Minotaur wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. “Hey! Knock it off!” Genesis said, getting between the Minotaur and the mob of people. Alan and Jack pushed through the mob and helped to add to the meat shield. “It’s a Monster! Get rid of it!” a man yelled, throwing a rock at the Minotaur. The man’s throw wasn’t very accurate however and fell short, coming towards Genesis’ head. The girl put her arms up to block, waiting for the rock to hit her. She looked up to see that the Minotaur had grabbed the rock midair. “Why are Humans so violent?” the creature spoke with a soft tone. The Minotaur dropped the rock, and snorted much like a bull would. “I only wish to go home safely. Please leave me alone.” He spoke, turning away from the mob and walking away. Genesis watched the bull man walk away, his tail swaying from side to side. She couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He didn’t once seem like he wanted to hurt anyone, yet here these people were all attacking him viciously. “You’re all disgusting!” she spat at the mob of people. “Wait up!” Genesis ran after the Minotaur, Alan and Jack held the mob at bay, allowing Genesis and the Minotaur time to get away.

It was starting to get late in the day. Genesis was walking behind the Minotaur, keeping a reasonable distance from the creature. “Why are you following me?” he asked. “You’re interesting.” She responded plainly. The Minotaur snorted and hastened his pace. Genesis simply matched it. They continued walking until eventually reaching the city’s pier. The Minotaur made his way to a warehouse. Genesis followed him in, and to the very back. Hidden behind a few crates was a makeshift bed. “Is this where you live?” Genesis asked, watching as the Minotaur sat down. He just gave her a nod. “Please leave.” He said in that same soft tone as before. Genesis stared at him with sadness in her eyes. No one should have to live like this. She sat down in front of him, and stared deeply into his eyes. “What’s your name? I’m Veronica. My friends call me Genesis.” She said with an outstretched hand. The Minotaur stared at her back. Why was this girl being so nice to him, when everyone else who ever saw him just showed fear. He hesitantly reached out and shook her head. “Gokkash…Gokkash Roggash.” He replied. “That’s a strange name. I like it. I take it you’re a Branded too?” Genesis asked. She pulled her shirt off of her left shoulder and turned so her back was facing Gokkash to show her Brand. Genesis’ Brand was an image of a green tree full of life. “Yes, but I know what you’re thinking. My Brand is not what gives me this form. This is the form I was born with. My Brand grants other abilities.” Gokkash stood up and turned his back to Genesis. He stood perfectly still, and after a moment an elaborate decoration of markings that Genesis had never seen before glowed on Gokkash’s back. The glowing faded and soon too did the Brand. Gokkash then sat back down. “I was once a member of a clan of the most feared and respected Minotaur Warriors. I however, preferred a way of peace. So they banished me. I somehow came to be in this place I know nothing of. Your Humans are a lot more prone to violence than the Humans I used to know.” Gokkash said. Genesis was confused by all of this. Gokkash spoke like he came from a completely different world, but that couldn’t be possible. Could it? “Are you…not from here?” Genesis asked. Gokkash shook his head. “I’m not sure where I’m from anymore. My memory is to be quite honest, hazy. I remember my kin, I remember war but it is all foggy. The most I can remember is awaking in this strange place. Humans here fear me, so I prefer to hide.” Gokkash explained. Genesis nodded. It was then she noticed the blood slowly dripping from the side of Gokkash’s head. Something one of those people from earlier threw must have cut him. “Don’t move.” Genesis said, leaning forward and placing her hands over the cut. She concentrated, and the green glow enveloped her hands. Soon after the cut healed good as new. Gokkash put his hand where the cut once was. “You’re a healer.” He spoke. “Something like that. My Brand lets me reconstruct molecules. I can’t create things from thin air, but if I touch something I can more or less rebuild it to its former state. I mostly use it for fixing my friends when they get hurt.” Genesis explained.  She was then shaken from her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing. Pulling it from her pocket, she answered the call. “Hello?” she answered. “Genesis, where are you?” Alan spoke on the other line. There was a lot of noise coming from Alan’s side of the call. “I’m with Gokkash, the Minotaur from earlier. What’s going on, it sounds like cars are crashing near you.” Genesis responded. “That’s cause there are cars crashing! There are a bunch of Branded attacking people! We need your help!” Alan yelled into the phone. “Where are you guys?” the girl asked. “Not that far from where we met your bull friend. Hurry!” Alan hung up the phone after that. “My friends are in trouble. I have to go. It was really nice meeting you, Gokkash. I’ll come visit!” Genesis said, running out of the warehouse. Gokkash watched as the odd girl departed from his secret home.

By now, it was almost dark out. Genesis was huffing and puffing, running back to where she’d left Alan and Jack. The closer she got, the more audible sounds of battle became. Genesis rounded a corner, and the scene she heard over the phone was now in full view in front of her. Alan was covered in cuts, blood soaking his clothes. Jack was fighting a bear and a lion. “Guys!” Genesis yelled, running to her allies. The Branded woman known as Scarlet was standing a few feet from Alan, a knife in her hand, and a chain from her wrist wrapped around Alan’s leg. “Genesis, watch out for her chains!” Alan said, noticing the blond girl charging towards him. Right on cue, Scarlet removed the chain that was wrapped around Alan, and whipped it towards Genesis. She barely dodged it, running to Alan. She grabbed him, and the two dove behind an overturned car. Genesis got right to work healing Alan’s various cuts. “What’s going on?” she asked. “I’m not sure. We had just calmed down that mob of people when the girl we arrested earlier showed up, but with two friends. They started breaking things and it just escalated from there. The red head is like some living voodoo doll. If she gets that chain touching you, anything she does to her body instead is done to yours.” Alan explained. The pain from all his wounds quickly fading as Genesis healed him. “Come on you babies! No hiding! Let me kill you!” Scarlet whipped her chains at the car, wrapping them around the busted hunk of metal and flinging it aside. Luckily for the heroes, Alan was fully healed by this point. “I don’t think we can beat them. They have that animal girl, and the other one can fly and shoot lasers. We’re fucked.” Alan said, orbs forming in the palms of his hands. “What are we gonna do?” Genesis said, standing behind Alan. “What else? Fight!” Alan said, throwing the orbs at Scarlet. The Voodoo Doll flipped around from side to side, dodging the orbs that Alan flung at her. “Nice try!” she sneered, whipping her chains at Alan. He and Genesis jumped to opposite directions, avoiding the Branded woman’s pain links. Jack was a few yards away from them, administering all manner of punches and kicks to the bear and lion that would present themselves as his opponents. “Why do I get the animals.” Jack said, running around the beasts. The problem at hand was that he wasn’t trying to simply kill the creatures. He was merely trying to incapacitate them, but as long as the Rider was whistling her tune, the animals stayed strong and kept to their cause. They also kept on Jack well enough to keep him from outright attacking the Rider girl. “This is bad. I can’t touch her and these things just don’t quit.” Jack said to himself, trying to figure out a plan of action. He turned to see Scarlet with her back to him, swinging her chains around at Alan and Genesis. “Sneak attack.” He muttered, breaking into a dead sprint. He ran as fast as he could and jumped into the air, colliding a foot into the back of Scarlet’s neck. There was an audible snap, and the woman toppled over and rolled across the ground. “Take that you freaky bitch!” Jack said, feeling quite victorious. His moment of victory was cut short however, as Scarlet stood up. Her leg was twisted backwards, her neck was broken, and her arm was bent upwards. She snapped her bones back into place, and cracked her bones until they were all where they were meant to be. “Oh man that’s gross.” Jack said, putting his hand over his mouth. “Alan, you go fight the other one. Take out the girl or else her fuzzy friends are never gonna let up.” He said, taking a fighting stance. “I got creepy here.” Alan nodded and formed orbs in his hands, darting past Jack to go fight the Rider. Genesis went to hide behind some debris, biding her time until she needed to heal someone. She wasn’t much use in a fight other than support.

Scarlet grinned with her teeth and flung her chains straight at Jack. He didn’t move at all to try and dodge them. Instead her allowed Scarlet to wrap the chains around his legs. “I wanna hear you scream!” Scarlet began to slash at her body, a visible jolt of red static crossing the chains and impacting with Jack’s body. Scarlet’s grin faded as she noticed Jack wasn’t reacting to her attacks. Jack scoffed and pulled the goard from his waist, taking a large chug of his alcoholic beverage. “Being drunk sure has its perks.” He said, dropping the goard and grabbing onto the chains that were attached to his legs. He yanked as hard as he could, and Scarlet came slide across the ground towards him. Jack, still holding onto the chains, began to spin around, Scarlet starting to hover off the ground a bit. Jack let go of the chains, sending Scarlet flying towards a building wall, crashing into it with an intense impact, her bones audibly cracking. “Hoooome run!” Jack said, pumping his fist. Alan had already made quick work of the Rider girl. “I knew they could handle this.” Genesis said, peaking over the pile of debris she was hiding behind to watch her friends battling. “I thought Alan said there were three of them.” She thought aloud. Little did she know that floating down behind her, was that third Branded. Kaleidoscope, with her arms stretched out, shot shimmering beams of light at Genesis’ back. The girl cried out in pain and blasted through the wall of debris she was using as her hiding place. Genesis curled up in a ball on the ground, holding her torso. Her back was singed from the light beams. “Veronica!” Alan said, charging at Kaleidoscope. The woman shot beams at Alan as well, sending him flying just like Genesis. “They’re not so tough.” She said, shooting at Jack. The monk was blasted through the air just like his fellow heroes, all three of them on the ground groaning in pain. “Sorry, you guys just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Kaleidoscope said, putting her hands close together, charging up a powerful beam. Just before she could finish her attack, a car flying through the air collided with her, knocking her away from the heroes. Genesis looked over to see Gokkash. On his back was what looked like a huge totem pole, and he was throwing cars and chunks of concrete. Kaleidoscope used her beams to slice the projectiles that were being tossed at her. “Shit we better go! Come on you two!” She said, defending her allies as they retreated. The three villains quickly escaped, Gokkash making no attempt to chase after them. Instead he immediately went to attend to the wounded. “Are you alright?” he asked, kneeling down next to Genesis. “Not really. She burned my back up.” She said, wincing in pain. Gokkash gently placed his hand on Genesis’ back and began to mutter something in a language Genesis’ had never heard before. Gokkash’s full body Brand began to glow and water seeped from his palms. The water enveloped the burns on Genesis’ back and healed her wounds. The pain faded quickly, and Genesis weakly pushed herself off the ground. “How did…is that your power?” Genesis spoke with confusion. “I am a Shaman.” Gokkash said, standing up. “Let us heal your friends.” Gokkash said, walking to Alan to administer the same healing magicks. Genesis went to heal Jack. After everyone was all patched up, they made the quick and unanimous decision to vacate the premises, lest they be held solely responsible for all the damages. The group of heroes regrouped at Gokkash’s warehouse home.

“That was crazy! First that nutso news report with the floating castle, and now teams of evil Branded. Do you think maybe they were somehow connected?” Alan asked, the four of them all sitting in a circle. “I don’t know, but one thing is for sure. We have to be on our A Game from now on. That light girl was dangerous.” Jack said, sipping from his goard. “If we never see them again, it’ll be too soon.” Genesis said. “Thanks again, Gokkash. If you hadn’t shown up when you did we’d probably be dead right now.” Genesis said, smiling at the Minotaur. “Think nothing of it. I had to repay you for your kindness.” He replied. “Well, let me give you another kindness. You can’t stay in this warehouse anymore. You’re gonna come live with me.” Genesis said, jumping to her feet. “I’ve got plenty of room at my house, and my parents won’t mind having you as a guest.” She said, holding her hand out. “I couldn’t possibly do that.” Gokkash said, shaking his head. “I’m not gonna take no for an answer. You’re either coming to live at my house, or you’re rooming with them. You can either stay at a stinky dingy apartment, or in my nice big spacious house.” Genesis said. “Hey, our apartment isn’t stinky!” Alan and Jack said in unison. “Yes it is.” Genesis said, laughing lightly. Gokkash looked to the three of them, and couldn’t help but be taken by laughter. This was the first time in months that anyone had shown him any kindness. “If you insist, I guess I have no choice.” Gokkash said, standing up. “I will be most grateful to be your house guest, Genesis.” Gokkash said, bowing lightly to the girl. “No need to be so formal.” She laughed. “I’m gonna take Gokkash home. I’ll call you guys tomorrow so we can talk more about our name. I still think We Are Heroes is good.” Genesis said. “You’re delusional.” Alan responded quickly. “You’re an idiot.” Genesis snapped.

It had been about a week since Gola broke the news. Other than that one sighting high above the city, Gola and her goons hadn’t been seen or heard of. Authorities were unbeknownst to the purpose of Gola’s contingent. The Branded kidnapping had been growing more frequent in the past few days, causing every Branded in the city to be on guard. Harbinger had been sleeping on the couch of the three Branded friends for the past week, and Alter was starting to get tired of it.

“Get out.” Alter said, standing next to Annelise who was half asleep. “Why? It’s only like….noon-thirty.” She grumbled, shielding her eyes from sunlight. “You’ve been sleeping on my couch for a week, I only said you could stay for one.” Alter spoke. He made his way over to the door and opened it, taking a pose to signal for Annelise to leave. “Yeah but your couch is really comfortable, plus I don’t have anywhere else to go.” She said, rolling over so her back was to Alter. “I don’t care! Leaaaave!” he yelled, dropping to his knees and wrangling his fists in the air. “I like Harbinger. Let her stay.” Dani said, walking in through the door with Angel behind her. “Yeah, she’s not bad.” Angel said. The two girls were carrying in groceries. There was a convenient store around the corner from the apartment complex. It was run by a friend of the landlord and so they would give free groceries to tenants of the apartments that didn’t have jobs. “If she was already kicked out for a violent history, then I don’t want us getting kicked out because we’re letting her stay here.” Alter said. He barely knew Annelise so he wasn’t about to give up his friends’ only shelter to give her a place to stay. “We’ll just say we didn’t know. You met her somewhere and she needed a place to stay and we were just being generous.” Noin said, putting the groceries away. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to start your new job in like 30 minutes?” Dani said, walking into the living room with a chocolate bar hanging from her mouth. Alter stopped to think for a moment, pulling his phone out of his pocket to check the time. “Oh shit you’re right!” he said, rushing into his room to grab his bag. He came back out with a long board under his arm and his bag slung over his shoulder. “I’ll see you two later. I better not see you when I get back though.” Alter said, glaring at Harbinger as he made for the door. Annelise just waved him off.

Alter ran out of the front door and down the steps to the ground floor. Tossing his board onto the ground, he ran after it and jumped on and bolted down the street. “I’m gonna be laaaaaate.” He said, holding his palms open behind him. “Tsug.” He muttered, and burst of wind shot from his hands, giving him added speed. Alter flew down the street at high speed, dodging people left and right. As he rounded a corner he noticed a news truck across the street. He wondered what they were reporting on, but he didn’t have time to stop and find out. After skating for a few blocks, Alter finally slid to a halt outside of a grocery store. He stared up at the sign hanging above the entrance. Spectral Food Place. “I can already tell this is gonna suck.” He mumbled, walking inside. The mage checked his phone, making a mental note that he still had fifteen minutes before he was scheduled to clock in. “Gotta go change…” he muttered, heading for the back area of the store. As he went to push the door open, it slowly swung open before his hand had touched it. A girl walked out with black hair that went down the full span of her back and further down some. She was wearing the employee uniform and stopped when she saw Alter. “Can I help you?” she asked, staring at him with a dead expression. “Uh no, I’m just new. I’m about to go change, sorry I didn’t mean to get in your way.” He said, side stepping her. She didn’t respond though, just looked past him and went off to go work. “Weird…” he said, going into the back to change.

Alter spent a full work shift at the grocery store. Eight hours of customer service, stocking shelves, and helping people find things. Alter had to chase some kids out of the store that were knocking things off of shelves. He made good use of his powers though to make the day a bit easier to deal with; using spells to hasten the shelf stocking. As the day came to an end and the sun began to set, Alter found himself in the back of the store changing back into his street clothes and gathering his belongings. “That wasn’t so bad I guess.” Alter said to himself, throwing his jacket on and zipping it up. With bag over shoulder, and headphones on ear, Alter was ready to go home. “You’re Branded?” he heard someone yell from the manager’s office. “Get out right now! I don’t employ your kind, you were specifically asked this question before being hired.” The manager yelled. Alter watched as that girl from earlier walked out of the manager’s office. She had on a hoodie and her face was hidden mostly by the hood and her immense amount of hair pouring out of the sides. She rushed past Alter and out of the back. “Freaks, all of em.” The manager said, shaking his head at the girl. Alter cursed under his breath and walked out after. It made Alter sick to see people act like that. It wasn’t like the Branded asked for their powers, it all just happened and no one knew why or how. Alter ran out of the store and saw the girl hurrying down the street. “Hey wait!” he called after her, rushing to catch up. Alter followed after her for a while, unable to actually get close enough for her to hear him. The mage watched as the girl turned down an alley and as he went to follow her, he found himself alone in the alley. “Where did she…go…” Alter instantly remembered his last time alone in an alleyway and decided to give up his pursuit and hurried out. At this point he realized he’d forgotten his board at work in his attempts to catch up to the mystery girl. “Damn it…it would take more time to go get it and then go home than it would to just go home at this point. Ah whatever, I’ll get it tomorrow.” He spoke, walking in the direction of home; unaware of the eyes watching him in the darkness of the alley.

Alter made his way up the steps to his front door. Producing his key from his pocket, he slipped it into the door and opened it up. As soon as he opened the door he heard Noin moaning out in pain. She was curled up on the couch with her arms around her torso. Alter rushed over to her, kneeling down next to her. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Alter said in a bit of a panic. Noin shook her head, her face showing signs of immense pain. “I don’t know, my whole body just hurts.” She said, rolling around. “I think I need to just sleep, maybe then it’ll stop.” She said, trying to get up. She fell right back onto the couch, the pain being too much for her to bare standing. Alter cuffed Noin in his arms and hoisted her up, carrying her to her bedroom. He laid her down in her bed and left the room so she could get some rest. Closing the door, the mage turned around to find Annelise standing behind him, tapping her chin. “That’s weird…What does her Brand look like?” Harbinger asked. “It’s in the shape of a star on the back of her neck.” Alter said. “…Wait didn’t I tell you to be gone before I got back.” He said, realizing who he was talking to. “Oh I did leave, but then I came back cause I have nowhere else to go.” She said, walking into the living room. “That doesn’t mean come back!” Alter yelled, slamming his head against the wall multiple times in anger. “Give up man she’s not leaving.” Dani said, walking out of her room with a manga book in hand. “I hate you all.” Alter said with a defeated tone. Alter went into the living room and sat on the couch next to Annelise. The television was set to the news, the same anchorwoman was on that reported on the Gola sighting. She was currently reporting on the same news truck that Alter had seen earlier that day. “As you can see there are signs of a struggle that could have only been created by the abilities a Branded would possess. It is suspected that this struggle is linked to the recent kidnappings.” The anchorwoman went on to say. “I saw that truck earlier today.” Alter thought aloud. The screen flicked to an image of the area that the kidnapping was suspected to have occurred. The entire area was destroyed. Huge craters in the sidewalk and walls of buildings, a fire hydrant had been ripped up and tossed aside, there were overturned cars. It was a mess to say the least. “I wonder who did that.” Dani said, looking up from her book for a moment to look at the damage. Alter just nodded. It was amazing to see something like that. You could almost never really tell what kind of powers a Branded had until they used them. Sometimes the Brand wasn’t even enough to tell. “That’s not that far from here.” Alter mentioned, pointing at the screen to draw attention. “That’s a bit unsettling.” Dani said, putting a marker in her manga and putting it down. “Be careful walking around for a while. If the kidnappings are nearby, any one of us can get nabbed at any time.” Alter said, leaning back on the couch. “I’m not too worried. If I got kidnapped I’m sure you’d come looking for me.” Dani said, grinning at Alter. “I swear, if you go run off to be super hero again I’m gonna lock you in a box.” Alter said, glaring at Dani. She just started laughing. Alter let out a sigh and got up. “I’m going to bed.” With that, the mage went into his room and got into bed. He was ready for the day to end.

Dani and Annelise stayed in the living room watching TV for some time. Buzz buzz. Harbinger’s phone went off on her lap. She picked it up and read a text over. “Hey…wanna help me with something?” she asked Dani, looking over to the blue haired girl. Dani’s eyes lit up. “Sure.” she responded. From what Dani could gather from Annelise, she was somewhat of a troublemaker. Dani was excited to see what kind of mischief Annelise was about to be getting into. “It’s nothing overly serious. A friend asked me for a favor and it would be easier if you came with.” She said, getting up and slipping her shoes on. “No problem, I don’t mind going on a night adventure.” Dani said, walking into the kitchen. She went through a cupboard until she found a big water bottle with a belt clip. She filled it up, and clipped it onto the side of her pants. “Okay lets go.” She said, following Harbinger out the door. The two Branded girls made their way down the streets of the city. Soon coming to the very same grocery store that Alter was recently employed. It was closed now. “So…what’s the favor?” Dani asked. “My friend got fired for discrimination, she wants me to help her get revenge. So we’re gonna trash the store.” Annelise said, taking her bracelet off. She unclipped the chain and whipped it. It grew to its normal size and she took her claymore in hand. “Uh…I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Dani said, unclipping the water bottle from her belt hesitantly. “Probably not, but if we don’t teach people not to fuck with us, they’re gonna keep being bastards.” Harbinger said, making her way for the front door. She pulled her hood over her head, and then bashed the doors open with her sword. Dani reluctantly followed behind her.

Once inside, Harbinger walked up and down the aisles as if she were looking for something. Dani followed close behind, clenching her water bottle tight and holding it against her chest. “Marcy! Where are you?” Annelise called out, looking around all the aisles. “Right here.” A voice spoke behind the two. Dani jumped, not noticing the person that was standing behind them until just now. There stood a girl wearing all black with a hood and long black hair covering most of her face. It was the very same girl that Alter watched get fired earlier. “Who’s this?” she asked, pointing at Dani. “A friend of mine. She came to help.” Annelise said, putting her arm around Dani’s shoulder. “That’s fine I guess. My name is Black Heart.” The long haired girl spoke. She pulled her hood down, her hair falling out down her back. Her skin was very pale, and her eyes bore her Brand. Instead of having normal pupils they were in the shape of flowers and her eyes were a deep red hue. “Whoooa, your eyes are so pretty.” Dani said, staring deeply at the red globes. Black Heart pulled her hood back over her head and covered her eyes with her hair. “Shut up.” She said, sounding a bit irritated. “I’m…sorry.” Dani said, not sure what she did wrong. “Let’s just hurry up.” She said, holding an arm out. Her arm remained extended out in the air for a moment, and soon after the shadows around her began to warp and bend. They whipped around until they rose from the ground in the shape of long black tendrils. “Let’s trash this stupid place and get out of here.” She flicked her wrist and the tendrils began to whip about and smash into shelves, knocking them over and the items on them. Harbinger took her sword tightly in hand, and got to work destroying things as well. Dani didn’t know exactly how to feel about all of this, so she opted to be watch instead. She went for the entrance and kept an eye out, just in case anyone were to notice what they were up to. A few minutes had passed and the two Branded had finished trashing the entire store. Every shelf was knocked over, all of the food was ruined and scattered about the floors, the registers were banged up beyond repair. It would cost a fortune to get the place fixed up. “Can we go now?” Dani asked, feeling really uncomfortable about the entire situation at this point. “Yeah we’re finished.” Harbinger said, shrinking her sword back to its bracelet form. “Thanks.” Black Heart said, walking next to Harbinger as the two followed Dani outside. “We probably shouldn’t have done that. I mean, two wrongs don’t really make a right.” Dani said, clipping her bottle to her belt. “So, neither does one.” Black Heart said, moving the hair from in front of her eyes to shoot Dani a dirty look.

“So then I guess adding a third wrong wouldn’t make much of a difference then, huh?” a voice spoke, rattling in the minds of the three girls. “Who said that?” Harbinger said, looking around the parking lot for signs of a person. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” the voice rattled again. The three girls were all looking around the parking lot intently, but there was no one in sight. The three girls had all been looking in the same direction, so none of them noticed when a car began to lift off of the ground. It was hurdled through the air at their direction, and Harbinger heard it just in time to grow her sword and cut the metal contraption in two. “We need to get out of here!” Annelise said, breaking into a run for the far end of the parking lot. Before she was able to make it far though, two cars slid at her from opposite directions. She only barely jumped into the air to dodge the cars. “Black Heart, find them please!” Harbinger said, getting into a fighting stance. It was obvious they weren’t going to be able to just run. They were going to have to find whoever was attacking them, and take them out. Black Heart sat on the ground and held her arms out in front of her. Her shadow began to distort and waver. “Dani, help me protect her.” Harbinger said, getting closer to Black Heart. Dani popped open the top of her water bottle and pulled the water from it, making a water whip. “Is that sword a power? Weird.” The voice rattled in the girls’ brains. Cars began to float into the air once again, and were all hurdled at the group at once. Harbinger swung her sword out by the chain, slicing some of the cars, and Dani took care of the rest with her water whip. “If you could hurry it up that’d be really fuckin’ awesome.” Annelise said, pulling her sword back to her. “Don’t rush me.” Black Heart said, her shadow distorting more so now. “Found them.” She said, her shadow darting out and heading up the side of the building. Harbinger chased after it, crouching low before launching herself up onto the roof of the grocery store. Standing in the middle of the roof was a man wearing a trench coat and a blank face mask. “Good job finding me.” His voice rattled in Harbinger’s mind. “Yeah well I have friends in dark places.” She said, taking her stance. “So what’s your story? You hanging around with Gola?” Harbinger asked. The man didn’t move at all, he stood perfectly still, it was almost as if he weren’t even alive how stiff his body was. “I’m just a bad guy trying to do a good thing. Clean up vandalistic trash like you.” His voice chimed in Harbinger’s head. The Branded girl could hear Dani below, whipping chunks of metal cars in pieces. Well one thing was for sure, this guy was obviously able to move things with his mind. How else would he be talking to them in their heads and throwing things around without moving? “Brains versus Brawn. Let’s dance shall we?” the man said, his body leaning forward ever so slightly before he began to float at Harbinger at high speeds. Harbinger stuck her sword into the ground and stood on the end, jumping into the air with the chain in her hands. She pulled the sword up after her, and the mystery man stopped in his tracks to look up at the girl. She spun around and whipped the sword down after her opponent. It moved with a blur of speed, but stopped just inches away from the man’s face. “Looks like brains win.” He spoke in Annelise’s mind. The sword turned itself around and was thrown up at Harbinger. The girl was falling towards it and there was no possible way for her to dodge. “Fuck!” she yelled, getting ready to take the blade through her chest. Instead she felt a blow to her side as she was knocked into a new trajectory. She looked over to see Alter floating on a glowing disc in midair. His face was scrunched up with anger. Harbinger just smiled as she fell to the ground and the sword whisked past them. “Now who is this? Another piece of trash come to help the rest of the dump?” the man’s voice rang in both Alter and Harbinger’s minds. “No. I’m just here to get the girl with the blue hair. You can have the other two, I don’t know them. However Lapis is a close friend of mine, and if you continue to try and hurt her I’ll have no choice but to end your life.” Alter said, floating down to the ground in front of the masked man. The man stood silent, staring at Alter. The lack of eyeholes in his mask was a bit unsettling to the mage, but he was here to protect his friend. No amount of creepy mask was going to falter his cause. “I can’t read your mind.” His voice rang in Alter’s mind alone. “What is your power?” he asked. Alter shook his head. “I’m not going to just tell you that.” He spoke in his head. “That’s fair. I’ll make you a deal. No one has ever landed an attack on me, simply because I can read their thoughts. If you can hit me, I’ll leave you and yours alone.” The man’s voice chimed. Alter cracked a smile. “Deal.” He said aloud. “Harbinger stay out of this.” Alter said, cracking his knuckles and taking a fighting stance. “I don’t know what you guys just did but I’m pretty sure it was weird so…yeah I’ll just stand back.” She said, putting her sword on her shoulder and stepping back from the two. The masked man and Alter faced each other, neither of the two moving at all. The scene resembled an old western standoff, only instead of guns and cowboys it was super powers and Branded.

“YtilibisivnI.” Alter mumbled under his breath, keeping his mind clear so that the man couldn’t read his thoughts. Alter faded from sight, and immediately went to moving behind the masked man. The telepath remained stationary. Once behind him Alter held his hands up like guns. “Gninthgil Niahc!” The mage spoke his incantation and lightning bolts shot forth from his fingertips. He faded into view again and the lightning flung through the air towards the telepath. It however missed, as the telepath bent himself backwards, folding flat over. “Nope.” He said in his mind speech. Alter just grinned. “Yup” he said, as the lightning forked and bounced off of Harbinger’s sword and flung towards the masked man. He turned his gaze to the oncoming attack just as it collided into him. His body shook and rattled until it fell to the ground, smoke rising from his charred body. Annelise had been knocked away by the lightning hitting her sword, but because it merely bounced off of her and did not stay she wasn’t dealt nearly as much damage as the telepath had been. “Hey that fuckin’ hurt!” she yelled, picking herself off the ground. Alter simply ignored her as he walked over to the telepath’s body. He knelt down, and examined him. No signs of life whatsoever. With an outstretched hand, Alter grabbed the mask that hid the identity of the attacker, and pulled it off. Blank. The body that was lying before them was nothing more than a mannequin. “Smart.” Alter thought, standing up and dropping the mask. “I see you appreciate my more cunning ideas.” The voice rang in Alter’s head. “Yeah I gotta say, using your telekinesis to move around a fake body. Genius.” He thought. Alter’s gaze spanned as far as he could see, but because of how dark it was at this point, he couldn’t see much. “Since you technically hit me, I guess you won. I’ll leave your friends alone…for now.” The voice spoke again. “Remember the name…Brainstorm.”

Back on the ground, Dani was getting exhausted whipping apart pieces of cars. By now there was nothing more than tiny shreds of metal everywhere. Black Heart had begun to help her by summoning more of the black tendrils she had created earlier. Alter floated down to the ground on his glowing disc and landed beside Dani. “You’re an idiot.” He said, glaring at her. “I know.” She said, putting the water she had used as her weapon back into the bottle on her waist. “You proved me right though. I got into trouble, and here you were to save me.” She spoke with a crooked smile on her face. Alter shook his head and started in the direction of home. “Hey, thanks for the save.” Annelise said, following behind him. Alter stopped dead in his tracks, causing Annelise to stop too. “You endangered my friend’s life. You are now a threat to me and my peaceful way of living. If you come near any one of us ever again…” Alter paused, turning to face Annelise. “I will be the Harbinger of your doom.” He said all too seriously. Harbinger raised her hands and took a step back. “I understand. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for things to escalate this far.” She replied, then turning to Black Heart. “Mind if I crash with you?” she asked. Black Heart just nodded. It was at that moment that Alter realized who the girl was. “Hey…aren’t you that girl that got fired earlier?” Alter asked. It finally dawned on Black Heart as well that Alter was the one she bumped into at work earlier. “Hey…you’re that new guy… why were you following me earlier?” she asked. Black Heart brushed her hair from in front of her face, looking at Alter with eyes uncovered. “I was going to ask what happened and see if you were alright. I see now you’re obviously fine. You got your revenge, and I’m now probably out of a job. You realize that with your little temper tantrum you probably caused a bunch of people their jobs in fact.” Alter wasn’t sure why he was scolding this girl. He felt rather strongly about the situation though. “You heard the manager, people like that deserve hardships. They look down on us like we’re a plague, we didn’t even do anything to them.” Black Heart said in defense. “You didn’t just ruin his life though, you ruined everyone else that worked here’s life too. I saw a lot of people on the staff being nice to Branded today. Do they deserve hard lives?” Alter said. Black Heart had no response to that. He was right, not everyone at the store was a bad person. It was just the manager. Black Heart turned away from Alter and took a few steps away before stopping. “What’s your name?” she asked. “Alter.” The mage responded. Black Heart looked back at him for a moment before looking away again. “Marceline.” She said, now continuing to walk away. Harbinger following close behind, waved to Alter and Dani.

“Marceline.” Alter mumbled under his breath. He had a feeling he’d be seeing both of them around again soon. “Come on, let’s go home.” Dani said, tugging on Alter’s sleeve. “Yeah.” He said, summoning the glowing disc he had before. Dani and Alter stood on top of it and her hoisted into the air, darting away in the direction of their home.

Alter landed the disc outside the front door, the glowing thing disappearing once the two were safely on the ground. “I really am sorry Alter. I didn’t know what Annelise needed until after we got there.” Dani said, following her friend inside of the home. “It’s fine. You’re an adult you make your own decisions in life. I’m going to bed for real this time.” Alter said, walking straight for his room. Dani followed Alter’s lead and went to bed. She was quite tired from all the excitement that night. The feeling of falling into bed was a feeling of pure heaven to Alter. The disc spell he had utilized that night was a new one, and newer spells took a lot of energy from him. It took no time at all for the mage to fall right to sleep. The next morning though he awoke to the sounds of screaming.

No one knows exactly how it happened, or why it did. We just know that it shook things up, big time. About a year ago, there was a huge burst of light in the sky and everyone the worldwide could see it. Following said burst of light, was what we’ve come to call The Branding. Tattoos began to appear on people randomly. What came after was the cool part though; everyone who was branded got super powers. The one thing that we were able to gather was that each Brand was unique to the powers that it gave. The government tried to round up all the Branded, but that didn’t go over so well. They didn’t necessarily have the means to take on people with super powers, nor were they allowed to just start blasting at people. We were all still technically human. Now that Brands and the Branded are somewhat a normal part of society, authorities stopped really trying to round them up. Of course though some people are still inclined to nab any unsuspecting test subject they can grab off the street. Branded have been going missing lately. No one really cares; we’re not very well liked. I’m sure you could imagine with super powers, come super heroes. You’d be right on that, some people started donning funny costumes and fighting crime. Now we’re in the age of super heroes and super villains. Me? I’m not really into it, I stick to my own. At least I tried to, until the world suddenly got rocked again….

“This is now a robbery! Everyone put your hands in the air, and you won’t get burnt to a crisp!” yelled a Branded man, wearing all black with a hockey mask to cover his face. His hands were ignited with flames, the blazes roaring as he yelled to the crowd of people before him. The Branded stood in the doorway of a bank, two more Branded standing behind him, exhibiting the same power set as the ringleader. The crowd of people stood scared, holding their hands high in the air to avoid invoking the wrath of these men. One of the Branded walked around the room with a duffle bag, taking any and all of the valuables he could from the frightened folks. The remaining member of the three was busy taking money from the tellers. “Don’t even think of pressing the silent alarm. I see you go for it and I’ll let you burn to death, bitch!” growled the Branded to a teller woman. “Whatever you say, Just please don’t hurt me!” she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks from fear. The woman finished piling money into the duffle bag, and the other Branded had finished robbing the bystanders around the same time. “Alright let’s get out of here!” the ringleader said, turning around only to be stopped in his tracks by a girl. “Move or I’ll kill you!” he said, the flames in his hands spouting high before mellowing back out. “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to take things that don’t belong to you.” The girl said, playing with a strand of her blue hair, spinning around on the heels of her shoes. The ringleader wasn’t about to sit there and talk to this girl. He reared his arms back and pushed against the air in front of him, attempting to scorch the girl that stood in his way of the door. Before the flames could touch her though, a nearby aquarium was drained of its water, the aquatic substance floating through the air to create a shield in front of the girl, quenching the ringleader’s flames and drenching him. “She’s a Branded! Take her out!”

The small girl darted across the room as quickly as she could, diving behind a desk just moments before getting hit with a spout of flames. “I need some more water.” She mumbled to herself. She held her hands out and began to move them about the air around her, pulling water vapor from the moisture in the air to create daggers of water. “This ought to do it for now. Now I just have to…” she said, stopping midsentence to peak over the desk. The robbers were advancing on her position, but they weren’t shooting any flames at the moment. Now was a good time to strike. She stood up quickly, throwing the daggers as hard as she could. They flew fast, heading for the Branded men’s hands. Just before reaching their targets, the daggers expanded and wrapped their hands up in globes. With a flick of her wrists, the water globes rushed together, clasping the men in watery shackles. She hoisted them up into the air, and threw them on top of the ring leader. With another flick of her wrists, she wrapped them all up in a rope of water, super freezing it into ice for extra hold. “Go ahead and call the police now. I wasn’t here though!” she yelled, jumping over the desk and rushing out the front door of the bank. “You said no one would be able to stop us, boss.” Groaned one of the criminals. “Shut up….” The ringleader said angrily.

The girl was laughing as she bolted down the street. “Oh man the looks on their faces when I threw them. Priceless!” she spoke to herself, still laughing. Without paying much attention to where she was going, she turned a corner and slammed directly into someone, falling to the ground. The person she ran into however didn’t move an inch. “Dani what are you doing?” the man spoke, looking down at the blue haired girl. Now, Dani was a rather short girl, and rather thin. She had short blue hair, and her Brand was hidden under her shirt. Her Brand was unique; it was in the shape of what looked to be watery wings on her back. Dani hopped to her feet, dusting her clothes of before looking at the person standing before her. “Oh, hey Alter. I was just stopping a robbery, that’s all. Noooothing big.” She said, rocking back and forth on her heels. “You keep putting yourself out in the open like that, you’re gonna be the next Branded to go missing.” Spoke the man named Alter. He was a tall black man with a unique Brand. His Brand was in the fashion of Arcane Circles on the palms of his hands. “I’m not worried about that. If I went missing, I’m sure you and Angel would come looking for me.” Dani said, spinning around in circles on her heels. “See…you’re doing it again.” Alter said pointing at the ice Dani had formed on the ground to perform her little spins. “Ssshhh you worry too much.” She said, putting a hand over Alter’s mouth. “I hunger. Feed meeeeee.” Dani said, walking past Alter and down the street a ways. The man simply sighed, shook his head, and followed behind his friend.

After a few minutes of walking, the two of them came to a somewhat secluded apartment complex. They hiked up a set of stairs, and up to a door. Alter produced a key from the messenger bag he had slung over his shoulder, and unlocked the door. The inside looked just like any old apartment would. The door opened up into a living room with a couch on the far wall facing a television, a coffee table in front of the couch. There was a hallway leading to bedrooms and a bathroom that served as a divider between the living room and the kitchen. Sitting on the couch was another girl. Long blond hair hung over part of her face, her eyes firmly locked on a book, a blanket over most of her. “Hey Noin.” Alter said as he entered the home. “Hi Angel.” Dani chimed after. The girl made no audible response yet, she merely held up one finger as a sign to wait. She placed said finger in her book, dragging it across the words she read until she came to a good place to stop. Snapping the book shut, she looked up at the two that had come inside. “Hi guys, how are you?” Noin spoke. Noin was a short, pale, frail girl. Her Brand was in the shape of a star on the back of her neck. She hid it with her long hair. “We’re fine. Dani stopped an armed robbery.” Alter said, going over to the couch. He dropped his bag on the floor and plopped down beside Noin. “I see….so she’s trying to get kidnapped?” Noin said, tapping her closed book against her chin, looking towards Dani. “That’s what I said.” Alter responded with a stressed rub of his temples. “I’ll be fine guys, come on I’m better than that.” Dani said, walking into the kitchen. She turned the water faucet on and pulled out a baseball sized globe of water. Turning the faucet off, she went and sat in a cushy chair with her roommates and started making shapes with the water. Alter and Noin looked at each other, and then to Dani. Alter whispered something under his breath and Dani’s water globe was torn from her control and splashed her in the face. Noin laughed at the now soaking girl. Dani just glared at the two and went to her room to change out of her wet clothes without a word. “Never gets old.” Alter said with a fist pump. “Nope, never.” Noin said with a chuckle. A little time passed and Alter reached into his bag, pulling from its contents a large book with odd patterns tapered across its cover. “Did you get any new pages today?” Noin asked, watching Alter open the book and flip through blank after blank page. “No, I still have the same new one from last month to master.” Alter replied, stopping as he finally got to a page with something on it. Alter’s power was strange compared to most. At least that was the way he saw it. Alter’s power came in the form of Magick. When his Brand came to him, it came with a book. When it was first presented to him, only the first page had anything written on it, but as he got better with the spells more pages filled with strange symbols. Alter seemed to be the only one who could read the symbols on the pages. He had never seen the text before in his entire life, but he could understand it completely. Everyone else though merely saw gibberish plastered on paper. “I’m working on this invisibility spell. I’m gonna use it to scare the shit out of Dani.” Alter said, propping a leg up on his knee to support his Grimoire. “Sounds fun.” Noin got back into her cozy position and went back to reading her book. Before she could get into it however, she was interrupted by Dani’s yelling. “I GOT BURNED!” the water bender screeched, barreling into the living room. She had on fresh clothes, pajama pants and a crewneck sweater that was obviously a size too big. She walked over to Noin and hoisted the back of her top up, showing off a scorch mark on her back. “I didn’t even feel it!” she said, wincing at the now apparent injury on her back. “This is why you shouldn’t be running around like a super hero, dummy.” Noin said, sitting up once again. She held her hands up about an inch away from Dani’s burn marks and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Her hands began to glow with a bright white light, and Dani’s burns slowly dissipated along with the pain. Noin had the power to heal most injuries. The fresher the wound, the easier it was to heal. Dani let out a sigh of relief and lowered her sweater. “That feels so much better. What would I do without you, Angel?” Dani said with a big grin on her face. “Probably die.” Alter said bluntly. “Yeah, probably.” Dani said as she plopped back down in the chair she was previously sitting in.

Hours went by and the group of friends did what any normal group of young adults would do. Dani turned the TV on; spending her time watching cartoons while Alter studied his Grimoire and Noin read her book. As the sunset on that day, Dani’s stomach grumbled loudly. “Alterrrrr, you never fed me.” She said, looking over at the young mage. “I’m not your mom, there’s food in the fridge.” He said, not taking his eyes off the spell book. “Yeah but that isn’t magic food.” Dani said, batting her eyelashes and smiling sweetly at Alter. “I’m not conjuring you another bowl of ramen. Last time I did it tried to kill us.” Alter said, obviously somewhat annoyed by the request. “Oh come on, that was two months ago. I doubt the food will try to eat us this time.” Dani said, shrugging off the possible dangers of magicking food. Alter glared at Dani. The sort of glare that you could feel even if you weren’t aware you were being looked at. Dani slinked out of her chair and slithered into the kitchen to make her some food. Alter snapped his book shut, dropping it into his bag. “I’m gonna go for a walk.” He said, heading for the door. “Be safe!” Noin called out just before Alter was out of earshot.

The young mage produced a pair of headphones from his bag and adorned them. Plugging the headphones into his phone, he turned on some music and began his walk through the night. It was a year ago approximately when the Branding happened, and at the time Alter and his friends’ lives were relatively normal. After the Branding though, they relied on each other to hide from the governments’ capture attempts. Soon after the government ceased its attempts to round up the Branded; Alter, Noin, and Dani found themselves without homes to go back to. No one would hire them at any jobs because they were Branded. Life seemed hopeless. Until they came about the apartment complex they now resided. The landlord of the complex rented freely to any Branded that didn’t have a violent or criminal history. The landlord would even agree to keep their tenants’ Brands a secret if they so desired. There wasn’t a whole lot to do with their lives anymore. Noin spent most of her time inside reading books or playing games. Alter would study his grimoire and play games with Noin. Dani was the oddball of the bunch however. While the other two liked keeping their powers a secret, Dani enjoyed flexing her watery muscles out in the open.

Alter found himself completely lost in thought as he made his way down a street. Completely unaware of the fact he’d just walked down an alley. The fact didn’t occur to him until he was already standing at the dead end of the alley. “Oh…whoops.” He mumbled, turning around to find a gun being held to his face. “Whoops is right, bro.” said a teenager with tattoos all over his arms, neck, and a few on his face. Alter slowly put his hands up. “I’m not looking for any trouble. I don’t wanna hurt you man, so if I were you I’d put the gun down.” Alter said as a few spells came to mind that might help his current situation. “You’re gonna hurt me? I’m the one holding the gun to your face.” He said, tapping Alter’s forehead with the gun. “Besides, maybe I wanted trouble.” He said, cracking a bit of a smirk. Alter sighed his trademark sigh, and whispered an incantation under his breath. With a poof of smoke, the gun sprouted wings and flapped out and away from the gunman’s hand. “The fuck? Oh you’re Branded!” he said, clapping his hands together. “That’s awesome, that would scare me if I wasn’t Branded too.” He said, holding his hands out as if he were holding handguns. Two handguns materialized from thin air into the Branded Gunman’s hands, and Alter cursed under his breath. “Name’s Arsenal.” He said, making a clicking noise with a grin on his face. “Bang.” And with that he pulled the triggers of his guns, bullets firing straight at Alter’s head. “Niksenots!” Alter exclaimed, rearing his head back a bit as he spoke the incantation. A split second before the bullets collided with Alter’s cranium, his skin was glossed over with a keen light. When the bullets landed, Alter’s skin turned to stone on the impact points and the projectiles bounced off. “Trippy. How about this?” Arsenal threw the handguns aside, the firearms turning to dust and blowing away in the wind. He held his hands up again, this time an assault rifle materializing. “Why me….” Alter groaned. “Ytilibisivni!” Alter spoke, and his body started to fade from sight. Arsenal took this as his queue to open fire. He started to sweep the area with a fan of bullets, taking no heed of the amount of noise he was making. “Come out come out wherever you are!” Arsenal said, ceasing fire for a moment to check for any blood stains. “Llaberif.” Alter muttered from the opposite end of the alleyway. He faded back into view, the invisibility spell wearing off by the cast of another spell. Fire ignited from the palm of his hands, and out shot a vast fireball that took up most of the alleyway.

Alter cursed again, watching his fireball be absorbed by a new figure in the alley. “I hate my life…” Alter grumbled, watching the fireball completely shrink. Standing between Arsenal and what should have been his demise, was a girl. She had shoulder length hair, most of which being black aside from the tips which were highlighted red. “Her Grace sent me to find you. I should have known you would be out here getting yourself killed.” She said. “I like to have fun, sue me.” Arsenal said, shrugging. “You’re an idiot.” The girl said, rolling her eyes. “I hate to interrupt your lover’s quarrel but, can I please go home?” Alter said, taking a step back. The unknown girl shot her gaze towards Alter. “If my friend here wasn’t such an idiot, maybe you could just go home. Unfortunately for you, you know who he is and that doesn’t bode well for us at the moment. So no, you have to die right here and now.” She said, advancing towards Alter. Alter wasn’t able to determine what kind of power this girl had. His fireball was too large for him to even notice where she came from, let alone what she did to stop his attack. His best bet was to run, but something in him told him he couldn’t just leave these two alone to do whatever they wanted. Escaping would be all too easy. Cast Invisibility and just run. Alter didn’t even want to play hero, so why was he now standing here ready to fight these people? He was shook from his internal conflict when the girl started running at him. Alter held his hands up and yelled out an incantation. “Gninthgil Niahc!” a bolt of electricity shot forth from his finger tips and towards the girl. She ducked, just barely dodging the bolt as it darted past her and slammed straight into Arsenal. The small burst of lightning rattled the poor boy and flung him backwards, the lightning forking off of him and back at the other girl. She held her hands out behind her back, catching the lightning in her palms and absorbing it. “I thought your power was fire? How’d you do that?” she said, shaking her hands off. “That actually stung a little.” She mumbled. “Sorry that information is classified.” Alter replied. He wasn’t about to tell his attackers what he was capable of. “Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I doubt you’d be willing to join up with us at this point so I’m just gonna have to kill you. I’m sure Her Grace won’t mind.” The girl said, once again running at Alter. “Shit what do I do?” Alter thought, trying to figure out what he could do to beat this girl. She seemed to just absorb anything he threw at her. Still he did only try two spells. Projectiles were obviously out of the question though. Maybe her power was some sort of Energy Absorption.

The sound of a chain clinking from above shook both Alter, and his attacked. Following the sound of the chains, something could be heard slicing through the air. The girl jumped back, just barely dodging what looked to be a giant sword being tossed her way. “Where the hell did tha-“ the girl’s speech was cut short as she received a powerful kick to her back. She was flung forward and slammed against the broadside of the claymore, falling back onto the ground. “Sup, bitch.” Yet another mystery girl chimed. She had long purple hair that was pouring out of the sides of her hoodie. “Where are all you psychos coming from?” Alter yelled to the heavens. “Hey! This psycho just saved your ass. Now come on, before they wake up.” The small girl said, yanking the chain that was attached to the hilt of her Claymore. The chain wrapped around her arm and glowed bright. It then shrank down, along with the sword, to appear to be a bracelet. The now tiny blade hung off it like a charm. The girl grabbed Alter’s arm as she walked past him, yanking him out of the alley and down the street a ways.

After getting a good distance from the attackers, she finally let go of Alter’s arm. “Alright, so I saved you. Now you gotta gimme a place to stay for the night.” She said, stuffing her hands into her hoodie pockets. Alter just gave her a dumbfounded look. “Are you serious? Look I appreciate you showing up and getting me out of that and all, but I don’t think I owe you a place to stay.” He said. “I already know where you live. I could always just tip those two off and get you and your friends killed.” The girl responded, popping a piece of gum into her mouth and chewing it loudly. Alter narrowed his gaze at her. She was probably bluffing. “Where do I live then?” he said, not ready to just believe this girl. “You live in the apartments two blocks from here. The owner of the place gives free room and board to Branded without violent or criminal histories. I know, because I’m your neighbor.” She answered, sticking a thumb in the direction of Alter’s home. “You live with a girl with blue hair, who can control water, and a blond girl. I don’t know what she can do though.” Well it was plain to tell, she knew damn well where Alter lived. “Wait…if you’re my neighbor then why do you need a place to stay?” Alter asked, having a hunch on why, trying to peek at the girl’s bracelet. He couldn’t see it though; she had her hands stuffed in her pockets again. “I sorta got outed as being violent. So I was served up an eviction notice a couple of days ago.” Looks like Alter’s hunch was right. With a simple and defeated sigh, Alter began to walk in the direction of home, the girl following close behind him.

Alter unlocked the front door of the apartment and pushed the door open. “I’m home.” He called out. Dani was sitting in her big chair, a bowl of ramen in her lap and a mouthful of noodles deterring her speech. “Welcome bwack, Alwer!” she spoke through the noodles she was slurping up. Noin was in the kitchen fixing herself a snack. Alter stepped inside, and his savior walked into view behind him. “Who’s this?” Dani asked, Noin currently unaware of the guest in the house. “She’s….you know what I don’t know and I don’t care anymore.” Alter walked into the living room, dropping his bag and laying across the floor in front of the television. “He got jumped, I saved him. My name is Annelise. My…uh…friends call me Harbinger.” She said, walking over to the couch and sitting down. At this point, Noin was now aware of the company and was hiding behind the countertop. “She’s in my spot.” The Angel said, peering over the top of the countertop like a cat stalking prey. “She’s spending the night. She’s homeless.” Alter said, his face firmly pressed against the floor. Annelise waved to Noin. The blond didn’t move an inch from her hiding place. “Ooookay.” Annelise said, rolling her eyes.

“Breaking News!” the TV blurted, changing from whatever it was Dani had been watching to a newsflash. “Hey! That was my favorite episode!” Dani complained. “Hush.” Alter said, looking up at the television. “An odd structure has just been spotted, floating high above the city.” Spoke the news anchor. In the corner of the screen was an image of what looked to be a floating castle. “Officials say it is most likely linked to the Branded, we have a chopper on the scene now.” The screen changed from the anchorwoman to a shot of a man in a chopper, hovering near the strange castle. The closer look gave more detail. There were skulls adorned on stakes all around the castle. It was atop a floating mass of stone, and there were three people standing at the edge of the isle. “As you can see, it is somewhat of a horrifying sight to behold. We’re going to try and get closer to the….wait….what is that guy doing?” the anchorman said, getting tripped up in his report. The cameraman zoomed in on the people at the edge of the isle. Alter instantly recognized two of them to be his attackers. Arsenal was holding what looked to be an RPG. Standing between the two of them was a tall woman with soft features. She had long inky black hair and wore an elegant dress that covered all of her skin, save for her head. Arsenal flipped off the camera, and screams of panic could be heard just before the RPG was launched and the helicopter was destroyed. The television screen changed to a “Technical Difficulties” card and after a few minutes changed back to the cartoon that was on before.

“What….what was that?” Dani said, putting her bowl down. “Those two, they were the ones I got jumped by.” Alter said, sitting up. “So they’re making their move now…” Annelise spoke up. Everyone in the room turned their attention to the purple haired girl. “What do you mean they’re making their move? Who are they?” Alter asked, standing up. “It’s…kinda complicated. They call themselves The Marked of Anubis.” Annelise said, pulling her sleeve up to show a tattoo of a jackal’s head. “I used to be one of them until I found out they were a bunch of crazed terrorist.” she said, pulling her sleeve back down. “Those two you got jumped by are named Arsenal and Cell. The one in the middle was Her Grace, Gola.” The three friends stared at Annelise, obviously more than confused. “So then…what’s this move of theirs?” Noin asked, coming out from behind the counter finally. Annelise folded her arms and bowed her head. “Well…Gola has the power to control the dead, so to speak. She can reanimate corpses to do her bidding, in other words she can make zombies. She believes the Brands came from another world; a world of Gods and Monsters. She’s got her whole cult convinced that Anubis, that Egyptian dog god thing, granted her powers of the Underworld to bring him souls. The Branded that side up with her are mostly a bunch of violent nut jobs.” Annelise went on, “I joined up with them a few months back because I needed a place to stay, and a floating castle seemed pretty cool. The smell wasn’t that great though. I left once I realized Gola was crazy.”

“So…then what exactly is this move?” Alter asked. Annelise looked up and around at the three Branded before her. “All I know is that Gola intends to sacrifice souls to Anubis. How she intends to do so, I don’t know. I don’t even believe in God. I do believe that this is the beginning of some crazy shit though.” She said.