Cults

The young teenaged boy walks down the streets of Manhattan with a gleeful look on his face. His chesnut hair is short and messy. His hazelnut eyes are gleaming with joy. He is wearing a white shirt with some sort of video game reference on it. He wears baggy jeans that hang low although he wears a belt.
         "What's the point of the belt then?" a girl was crouched down on a nearby building. Her blond hair was in long pigtails and she wore a stealthy look on her face. She wore a blue shirt atop black jeans. She had on a white belt.
         "Dammit Spectre, I'm trying to obsevre this boy. I need quiet. No distractions!" a tall, thin man was crouched down next to her holding black binoculars and writing notes in a small journal. His black hair hung down short with spiked bangs. He wore a long black coat atop a collared white shirt and jeans.
         " Sorry Mr. Serious," she murmured grudgingly," I'm just so bored. When do I get to bust some heads?"
         " Patience, girl. Your time is coming. You get to capture the sacrifice."
         " Doesn't look so hard. Why didn't the agency just get one of the newbies to do it? They are all desperate for experience."
         " Because his girlfriend just so happens to be a Majik assassin sent to gaurd him," he said pointing to the girl holding the boy's hand. She looked like a typical teenager. She wore a denim skirt with a light blue graphic tee. SHe had long wavy brown hair. Spectre noticed the tattoo of a wolf on the back of her neck. The girl suddenly turned and looked up at them.
         "Um, Black Sniper, I think she saw me."
         " What immposi-" he was cut off by the sounds of bullets blazing past them. "Duck!"he yelled taking a thin black tube out of his pocket. He squeezed the tube and a thin, sleek high accuracy sniper rifle came shot out. He pointed it off the roof and began to pick off the gunmen. " The sacrifice is escaping! You have to get him before-" A bullet clipped his right shoulder. " Arrgghh!" he screamed out in pain. Spectre immediately started running towards them jumping off the building and landing in front of the couple as they tried to run away.
         " Hand over the boy, Majik assassin!" she said the last words condescendingly.
         " You'll have to catch us, Raven scum!" She began to run at full speed. She held the boy's hand as he tried to keep up confused and too scared to speak. Spectre chased after them. They weaved between cars as people honked and cursed. Spectre jumped over two cars and flipped over a third grabbing the boy by the arm.
         " Is that all you got?" I thought majik assassins were supposed to be quick and deadly!" The boy's eyes widened in awe and terror as he heard these words
         " I'll show you what I've got!" the assassin turned back and threw smoke bombs into her face.          The smoke came out in various different colors. It swarmed around Spectre and she baegan to cough and feel drowsy.She reached into her pocket for three small daggers and threw them blindly. “Aggh!” she heard the girl scream in pain and immeaditly kicked in that direction pushing the dagger farther in. The girl shot a small stream of purple and pink swirled energy at Spectre knoking her back into a car.Spectre jumped up and tackled her to the concrete.
“ Oh my god Sasha! What's going on?,” Spectre looked up surprised having forgotten that the boy was even there. Sasha took the oportunity to knee her in the stomach and pull out the dagger from her own arm. The wound instantly healed itself and she held up the dagger threateningly.
“ Matthew, get away from here!”she yelled not taking her eyes off Spectre. Spectre jumped up and attemped to flip over Sasha and tackle him down, but the girl grabbed her foot. “Not so fast,” Sasha lunged at her with the dagger. Spectre continuously doged Sasha's attacks stepping backwards and trying to find another weapon. She tripped on a chain behind her, but stabilized herself in time. She grabbed the chain and wraped it around her hand. She swung it at Sasha quickly as the girl blocked it with the dagger. Spectre wrapped the chain around the dagger, threw it back, and caught it with her other hand. “Enough of this,” Sasha hands began to glow purple and the dagger flew back into her hand. Spectre ran toward her and just when Sasha was about to stab her, she flipped over Sasha whilst grabbing the dagger out of her hand and swinging the chain around her neck. She quickly landed behind her and pressed her knee into Sasha's back causing her to fall on her knees. Spectre pulled the chain hard so it hugged tightly around Sasha's neck and she pulled the dagger in front of face.
“ You are a pain, but I won't kill you if you tell me what I need to know.”Sasha laughed an evil sickly laugh.
“You actually think I will tell you anything. You might as well kill me.” Spectre dug the knife into her shoulder. “Agggggh!” Sasha breathed heavy pained breaths. “ What do you want to know!”
“ That's more like it. Now where-” She was cut off by a blaze of bullets shot in her direction. She immeaditly took cover behind a trashcan. Sasha grabbed hold of the chain and as her hands lit up again the chain melted around her. “ Hey! Stop!”Spectre reached for the dagger, but Sasha turned around shooting energy out her eyes melting the dagger and the trashcan. Spectre was forced to run around the corner as more snipers appeared. By the time the shooting stopped and she looked around the corner Sasha was gone.
“ Arrrrrrrrrrr!” she turned around to see the boy running towards her fearlessly wielding a broken bottle. He suddenly stopped midway and collapsed reaviling Black Sniper behind him with a small syringe. He took out handcuffs and shackled the boy to a nearby pole.
“ Transport 's coming soon. Where's the girl?”
“Gone,” Spectre looked ashamed.
“ You lost her?!”
“ I was being shot down. Where were you?”she glared at him. He sighed and they stood in silence until a small helicopter flew down with a raven painted on the side.

. . .
“So how's the sacrifice?” a girl with long brown hair in a high pony tail sat in the cockpit. She wore a white t-shirt under a black leather jacket and black denim shorts. Black Sniper sat next to her with his arm around her shoulder. Spectre sat in the back next to Matthew who was chained to the seat.
“He's drooling all over me, Sarah.Why can't I sit next to you.”Spectre tried to push his head in the other direction, but it kept rolling back.
“Ha ha. That's a side affect of the chemicals I used to knock him out.”A small ring came from a screen in the front. He pressed a button on the side and an man popped up on the screen.
“ This is an urgent message. All helicopters and combat ready vehicles in range must immeditly report to Sector 6. There has been an attack launched by Majiks. I am sending coordinates.”The screen showed a map.
“ Everbody get in combat positions. This is gonna be a rough ride,” Sarah turned the helicopter around.
Elsewhere

“ I am very dissapointed in you. You are our top assasin and yet you could not hold on to one human boy. I shouldn't have to remind you that you are easily replaceable.” A tall man in a black suit stood in the front of a small purple room in front of Sasha.
“No,sir,” she was afraid to look up. Behind him was a teenaged boy with ruffled blond hair wearing jeans and a t-shirt and a teenaged girl with very long red hair wearing a purple tank top and a short white skirt. They leaned nonchalantly on the wall glaring at her with smirks on their faces.
“ You should have put me there boss. I don't screw up on jobs like these,”the girl chuckled.
“ Maybe I should have,” he angrily stared down Sasha, “ What do you think Sasha? Next time should I let Catlin do your job?”
“No, sir,” she said again.
“Then don't screw up your job!” he kicked the bottom of her chair sending her head back into the wall. He stormed out of the room.
“Come on, Zach. Let's go clean up her mess,” Catlin began to glow all over and she held out her hand.
“Later,”Zach grabbed Catlin's hand and they disappeared.
The boy slowly opened his eyes. His face was wet with drool and he was chained to the seat. The helicopter was abandoned. He heard gunfire and planes crashing outside. Boom! The ground shook. He decided he needed to get out and then he would try to recall what had happened. The chains were tight and smoke was beginning to enter the helicopter. He shook violently. He heard footsteps coming closer. He shut his eyes and pretended to be passed out. The figure entered the helicopter and took out a small laser. Matthew cringed preparing himself for pain.
         "Calm down,Matthew,"it was a woman's voice. She was wearing a dark blue cloak with a hood and it was too dark to see her face. She used the laser to melt the chains. She looked out to see if anyone was watching and then grabbed him by the hand."Hurry!" They ran out and snuck around the back of the helicopter to a manhole. She took out a necklace with a cloud shaped charm an it. Engraved in the charm was the word "Aria". She pressed it to a cloud shaped hole in the manhole and it began to glow white. It slowly moved to reveal an elevator. She jumped into the elevator and Matthew followed hesitantly. The top closed and the metal cylinder began to descend deeper into the ground.
         "So y you your hideout is underground," Matthew finally gathered the courage to speak. She took off her hood revealing her short blue hair, cocoa brown skin, and the scar on her left cheek.
         " Not exactly," she reached for a white lever on the side and pulled it up. The elevator shot straight up through the ground and into the air." Brace yourself,"she said smiling as he curled up in the corner and closed his eyes," Oh,and don't scream. You'll blow our cover." He looked out to see that the elevator had become clear. Planes whizzed by unaware as they soared hundreds of miles into the air.It slowed down just below the clouds. She reached to the top and pushed the lid off the elevator. A silver ladder came down. ”Stay here for a second," she quickly climbed up the ladder and onto the clouds. Several hooded figures in white came to her and they talked in a indistinct language. She walked back and motioned for him to follow her. He slowly climbed up and cautiously walked on the clouds scared that each step would be his last. They briskly walked through what seemed like a small garden which led up to the gate of a huge mansion. She whispered a password to the guard who wore a nice blue ,white trimmed cloak and held what seemed like a highly advanced assault rifle.
         "What kind of gun is that? I've never seen it in any of my games."
         " Our weapons are much better than those of your world."
         " My world? What do you mean? Where am I? Who are yo-"
         " Hush. Your questions shall soon be answered. I understand that you are confused," she took him by the hand and the gates opened. They walked down a pathway to the mansion. It was a very deep might night blue with white windows, a white roof, and a white door. To the side of the house was a huge tombstone.
                                                                     IN MEMORY OF OUR FOUNDER
                                                                               Еру Пкуфе Пгтыдштпук
                                                                               THE ARIAL KING
         They walked to the door which had a high tech lock on it. She took out a silver card which looked like an I.D. It had a picture of her without the scar and under the picture was the name Rebecca Fent and under her name were three clouds. She slid it through the lock and a white light glowed around the door for a second before it opened. Inside several people in white cloaks with blue trimming bustled about carrying stacks of folders and documents. Aside from the desk at the entrance of the mansion everything looked midevil. There were chandilers hanging from the dark ceiling. The back wall was covered by a potrait of a young russian man. On both sides of the potrait were tapestries which seemed to depict battle scenes. There were large wooden staircases along the back wall meeting in the center and going straight down. The ceiling had an intricate design around the molding. Matthew stared in awe of the giant masterpiece.
         "Impressive isn't it. It was built long ago, but due to some spells our sorceress cooked up it has been our home for centuries."
         " Who are you people?" he said
         " I appreciate your patience. Come, Our leader is waiting for you in the Chamber of Rituals. He will explain everything," she lead him up the first flight of stairs to the painting. She took out the necklace from before and pressed it a similar hole in the wall below the painting." Step back," she said as floor began to shift in front of them. A flight of stairs was revealed. They slowly descended the staircase and the floor came back together above them. Below was a large room that seemed even more historical than the mansion. The only light came from the four torches on the walls. There were statues of hooded figures on the walls that seemed to be looking down on the room. There was a circle of people in dark blue cloaks standing in a circle. One of them wore a cloak with golden trim and held a candle. The cloaked man stepped forward.
         " Welcome Matthew," they all said at once.
         " Greetings, you can call me Clef. I am the leader of this organization. We are dedicated to the peace and prosperity of this world. You probably never even noticed the difference when you passed to our world. The helicopter Rebecca found you in brought you here. If you haven't already noticed there is a great war and if not ceased soon it will completely devour our world until it is nothing but a large battlefield. That is where you come in. Even though you don't know it, you have a very important role in this."
         " Wow, this is the craziest dream I have ever had. I'm just gonna wake up now," Matthew pinched his arm.
         " I assure you this is real,"Clef said looking him in the eyes. Matthew slapped himself in the face. Clef stood there patiently as Matthew tried everything he could to wake himself up.
         " You!" Matthew pointed at Rebecca," You brought me here. You can take me back."
         " Please, Matthew," she said desperately," Just hear the chief out. We really need your help."
         " But why .. why me?"
         " It's in the prophecy," she responded as if it was obvious.                                                             The Prophecy
         It all started on Independence Day 3021. The celebration was not only restricted to Earth, but to many other planets as well. There were parades and festivals everywhere. No one was working or going to school and while the world had their guard down an unknown evil began to weave itself into the unmanned restricted areas of the most prominent planets. It stole their secrets and wore down their defenses. One bye one they began to fall and no one noticed the downfall. Finally as it became quieter and quieter. People began to wake up from their deadly spell of laziness and partying and noticed that they were alone. Four planets remained intact and they took the last of their citizens and protected them in a fortress. One day while Azur, president of Aria was performing a routine security flight around the boundaries of the fortress he received an anonymous message from an unexplored sector of space. It was a plea for help. He pointed his ship towards the sector despite the danger. When he arrived there he saw three other ships that he immediately recognized as: Silverclaw ,president of Raven, Magork , king of Majik, and Arroa, Prime Minister of SandStone. At that time they were all allies. They locked their ships together and talked via monitor inside their ships. They were all happy and surprised to see each other, but at the same time very suspicious. They discussed their problems with the threat and the measures they had taken to secure the area. Just then a bright flash of light blinded them and they heard a voice. It was the evil that had been destroying the lands and hopes of their citizens. The voice told them that it was in fact one of them and until they could find out which of the four countries was the traitor, people would continue to die. They each went back to their countries and shared the news. Wars began to break out between the countries, each of them afraid. Eventually they all began to crumble and they knew they had failed to work together and find the traitor. They did not want to give up , however and so they each sent a scroll back in time in hope that humans would find their stories and figure out who the traior was before the conflict before it happens. Each scroll landed on a different continent and they were found in 1956 by four different teenagers who learned the secrets of a certain country and eventually meet up later each of them completely sure of who the traitor was, but they all had different answers and there was a huge argument. They each started groups of followers who believed them and they started a war on earth. Later on they had a conference to settle the matter and the Sandstones claimed to have evidence against one of the groups , but before the conference they were all slaughtered in their sleep. A Majik assassin and a Raven ninja were seen at the scene and they have been fighting over it since.
         "Okay...but where do I fit in all this," Matthew said confused.
         " The Sandstones were said to write down what they saw and who the real traitor is, but only someone related to the original member can decipher the notes.
         " Wait are you saying I'm related to this nut job?!"
         " Don't you dare talk down such a great man. He was one of my greatedst friends and it's a shame he had to die by the hands of those evil brutes. I thought that surely you would understand, but I guess all you teenagers are all the same. Stupid and selfish!!"
         "Sir," Rebecca said concerned. Everyone in the circle seemed to stiffen. The candle began to flicker and there was a dark eerie silence. Matthew had never felt so lonely in such a crowded room. He flashed back to the day he had meet Sasha.
         It was two years ago. It was his second semester of his freshman year in high school. It was a rainy day and he was sitting at his desk as usual talking to his friends.
         "Dude, what did you do last weekend," a tall boy with short blond hair asked with a mischievous look on his face," Word is you totally went out with that hot girl Zoe. So?"
         " So whatever man. Maybe I did. She was all over me," Matthew leaned back in his chair with a cocky look on his face.
         " Yeah. Every girl digs you. Are you guys gonna go out again anytime soon."
         " Please. I can't go out with the same girl twice. It goes against all my rules. No girl will ever tie me down." The bell rung and everyone went back to their seats. A short brown haired woman wearing a green sweater and a long brown skirt called for everyone's attention.
         " Now class," she began, but Matthew had already droned off," We have a new student joining us this semester all the way from Georgia. This is Sasha."
         Sasha walked to the front of the class. She was wearing a pink shirt with a purple sweater and black skinny jeans. Matthew looked up briefly.
         " Oh man, is she a hottie or what?" the boy next to him leaned over.
         " I guess. She's kinda skinny. Plus she's from the south so she probably has some awful accent," Matthew said uninterested. He looked out the window at the rain.
         " Actually, I'm originally from Seattle, but my parents had to move to Georgia for my mother's job," he quickly turned to see her standing next to him," So I don't have a southern accent," she sat down in the seat in front of him as he sat there speechless.Later during lunch Matthew and his friends played football at the park. Sasha was walking around the park by herself as the ball flew up into a nearby tree. The boys all tried to climb the tree unsuccessfully and Sasha ran over to help.The boys snickered and laughed at her, but nothing seemed to phase her. She was quick and strong, yet graceful. He couldn't stop staring at her the whole time she scaled the tree. She then grabbed the football out of the branch and jumped all the way down landing in a roll. Everyone watched in awe and Matthew couldn't help but do the same. Ever since then he didn't think about other girls and he actually did his homework hoping to impress her with good grades. Eventually he gathered the courage to ask her out and he went on a second date for the first time. His friends were surprised and some of them even stopped hanging out with him, but he didn't care.
         He decided he needed to see her again and hear her side of the story. These people, however, weren't going to let him leave especially if it was to see her. He needed to sneak out and find her. Rebecca showed him to a small room upstairs. The room was surprisingly modern compared to the rest of the house. It was small with light blue walls and a nice bamboo floor. There was a floating white bed in the corner with the Aria symbol on the sheets and pillows. Next to the bed was a small glass table with adjustable metal legs and a small lamp. There was a bathroom in the opposite corner similar to the style of one in a hotel and across from that was a large closet and a bookshelf that was already completely filled. There was a desk where the outline of a desktop computer was. Matthew figured they took it out so he couldn't contact his friends. there was however a plasma screen tv next to that. He decided that if he ever got back home he might redo his room to look more like this one. Before Rebecca left, Matthew jumped up a gave her a hug. She was slightly overwhelmed, but she hugged him back and she did not notice as Matthew took of her necklace and shoved it in his pocket. He waited a couple hours after she had left to ensure everyone was sleeping and unsuspecting of his plan. Before he left he had to know where to go. Luckily Rebecca had shown him the main office which was on the same floor of his room. He carefully opened his door into the dark hallway closing it behind him. He then snuck past three doors and came to a small painting of the Aria symbol. He took the necklace out of his pocket and pressed it to the hole under the painting. The door slowly slid open revealing a small room with nothing but a desk with a computer . He sat down and the door slid closed. The computer was not password protected and he easily found a map of the bases of Raven and Majik. He remembered what that girl had said.
         
          " I thought majik assassins were supposed to be quick and deadly!"It did explain her fearlessness and how she was able to jump down from that tree. She had told him she had taken a class in Acrobatics and he had believed her, but now there was nothing he was certain of. He quickly printed the map and went back to his room. He took down the curtains in front of the window and tied them together. Then he tied one end to the nightstand which he had moved closer to the window and he flung the other end out of the window. It took a lot of his courage to step out the window, but he just kept reminding himself of Sasha how much he needed to see her. He began to climb down the curtains slowly. He looked up to see the nightstand was on the verge of toppling out of the window, so he speed up. When he was about four feet of the ground the nightstand fell out the window. He fell onto the ground and before he could get out of the way the nightstand fell on top of him. He sat there in agony looking to see if he had broken anything. He was severely bruised and he had scrapes on his legs and arms. He slowly got up and began to limp towards the gate. He found a place to jump over the fence where the guard wouldn't see him and then he ran as fast as he could towards the elevator. He opened the top of the elevator, jumped down, and pulled on the lever. The elevator quickly descended through the clouds.
     
        Meanwhile, at the Raven base, Spectre, Black Sniper, and Sarah sat with several other agents for a meeting. The room was small, but long. The walls were black and had no windows.There was a projector at the end of the room and a long white table in the middle. Next to the projector was the man that had shown up on the screen in the helicopter. The rest of them sat at the table. Some were mildly injured. Spectre's hand was wrapped up and her ankle had been sprained. Black Sniper had gunshot wounds in his left shoulder and right leg. Sarah had only minor scrapes and bruises. The room was quiet and everyone looked disappointed and sad.
         " I know you're all tired and the last thing you want to do is talk about what happened," Spectre looked and the ground and Black Sniper's face hardened. The man continued," Nevertheless, we have an important item of business to attend to. During the,"he paused painfully," During the battle two of Majik's top assassins stole some vital information," The screen showed a picture of Zach and Catlin sneaking onto the base," It is extremely important that those documents be recovered before they can decipher them. Obviously not all of you are in the best shape to take on this mission, so I chose one of you to take on the job alone," they all looked up," Sarah, this file should have all the information you need to find and sneak into their base to recover the documents they stole."
         "Wait, What?!"Spectre and Black Sniper shot up out of their seats.
         " Sarah doesn't have the combat training needed for this job. She could get hurt!" Black Sniper looked concerned.
         " Yeah, Black Sniper and I could easily take on this job," Spectre added.
         "Sarah may not have taken the advanced combat training or be as skilled with guns, but she does have advanced espionage training and is a licensed swordsman," they both looked at her in shook. Sarah just nodded quietly.
         
         During that time, at the Majik base, Catlin and Zach sat with Sasha and several other agents in a small circular room with purple walls and a pink carpet. There was a glass table in the middle of the room and the boss stood in front of the screen at the front of the room. Aside from the three of them many people were cut and bruised. They wore the same discouraged looks on their faces. Catlin and Zach, however, had the same cocky smirks they always had. Sasha looked determined.
         "Everybody listen up!"the boss looked at them sternly," Despite recent events, there is still hope. I know you all fell like you lost this battle, especially since our casualties were more extensive, but two of our best agents recovered some very important secrets from inside the Raven base. Congratulations Zach and Catlin!" Everyone began to clap except Sasha who couldn't help but wonder where Matthew was at that moment and if he hated her.
         " Of course they'll send someone to retrieve it. Sarah, you will watch the safe at all times. You are not to take your eyes off of it. Catlin and Zach, you will watch the base so if anyone attacks you can kill them before they enter the building. You all need to work together. Don't fail me. I'm counting on you,"
                   
         Matthew snuck around the outside of the building. It was tall and unlike the rest of the buildings nearby, which had glass outside so everybody could see in and out, this building had only a couple of windows on each floor and they all had their blinds down. He looked for some kind of a back door or secret passage to break into. He then saw a girl his age open the front door and walk in. He decided to follow her. He waited a bit so she wouldn't see him and went in behind her. She went to the stair door instead of the elevators. Then she practically ran up several flights of stairs as he struggled to keep up. He noticed her was in a long brown ponytail and she wore a black leather jacket. She seemed familiar to him, but he shrugged it off and continued up the stairs. Eventually they reached the top floor and there was only a single door marked " Authorized Persons Only". There were two plants on either side of the door. She picked up the one on the right and moved it aside. Matthew figured she must be one of the Majiks. He considered attacking her and trying to find out what she knew about Sasha. She didn't look nearly as tough as that other girl he saw before. She had very little muscle and she didn't seem to have any weapons on her. Before he could act she kicked down the wall in front of her revealing a dark tunnel.