Orbitian

Boom The sound of an explosion echoed through the forest leaving an intense whirlwind of flames behind, whisking through the forest like a cheetah. The sound of children crying awoke the dreary birds in the moment of dusk. The sound of the hurried steps of Lunaqiú jolting the squirrels awake.



"Mommy!" A brown haired child called out. Brown hair peaked out of the hood, a sharp contrast to his emerald eyes.



Running through the forest and clinging to the boy the mother quietly assured her child, "It's okay, they won't hurt you. You're Solian, a child of Sol. They're only going after Lunaqiú.



"Kill those wretched savages!" A man clad in black armor said, his voice low and gritty.



"As you wish, milord." A soldier said, raising and lowering his head in agreement



A quiet humming sound slow built up in frequency and tone, growing louder and louder as blue energy charged inside of a rail-gun.



tch... The woman placed the child on the ground and spun around, short and fast. "I won't allow that!" She raised her arms placing them in front of her as an orange shield appeared in front of her, it grew in size and covered her and the boy.



Woosh! The rail-gun shot out the blue energy and it smacked against the barrier with audacious ferocity.



The woman gasped, before closing her eyes for a few seconds, as if contemplating something. She soon opened them, then turned her head to face her child. "I'm sorry to leave you like this..." Tears welled up in her eyes, "I wanted nothing more than for you to experience a life without pain. Without hardship." She shook her head, "No, you can still have that life. Run, get to Eden, The city of the gods!"



The barrier she held in front of her began to crack, the laser chipping away at it slowly. "You have to run."



The little boy frantically shook his head, wanting to be with his mother.



"I'm afraid you'll have to listen to me just this once." An orange line drifted out of her, and into the boy. The energy welled up inside of him before he began to fly away. Tears fell down his face as he reached towards his mom, but was unable to get to her.



With a loud screech the barrier shattered and the laser bathed the forest in white light. All sound and color draining from it like a stone. Leaving nothing but ash in its wake.



***



"This is the first attack from the Qiú clan, those that cast aside their heritage from Luna and instead desired to grovel at the feet of Solians. This gave rise to the religion of Solgamy.



The boy sat in a classroom, observing two birds outside of the window beside him as he recalled the memory. A crow cawed as it raised its razor-sharp talons at an orange bird in front of it, that constricted itself, bringing its wings closer and closer as if it would defend itself.



He turned his head, paying more attention to the paper of notes in front of him, for it was June fifteenth, the date at which his teacher would finally teach his class the origins and laws of the Paradigm.



A boom of lightning tore his attention away from his notes, and back outside the window. Observing the rain and cloudy skies that blocked out the sun, the boy couldn't help but feel a miasma of gloom hanging over him. The rain drowned out the happiness that usually followed summer like the hopeful season had never existed. An endless spring that dragged on and on



He twisted a curl of his light brown hair above his ear, as his eyes again moved to the black and orange birds.



Writing on the board with chalk, the teacher spoke, "Newton's third law of motion, 'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.' This sounds like something you would never need to know in a real life situation, however, this is the epitome of the Laws of Paradigm."



'Mhm.' The boy created a flag on the page in front of him, labeling it: First law of the Paradigm.



"For every use of a Paradigm, the exact opposite of the ability used would occur on the body at the same time, and strength as the Paradigm. The Second Law of the Paradigm is that Mana, the base element of all things in this world, must be either taken from the body or world as a base for usage of the Paradigm."



The boy wrote the information down, faster than the teacher would speak. For he had already listened to this lecture many times before.



"For things such as theories and manmade concepts, an object which embodies that concept needs to be used. For example, if someone has a power that falls under the usage of time, they need to have a clock on their person."



As the lecture went on, the boy quietly kept along, writing things down with an elegance that could enthrall even the gods.



"Jeanne, when will you learn. No matter how many notes you write, and how much you hope you'll get a Paradigm, it won't ever happen." A tall pale teen with black hair said to the orange haired boy.



He slowly tilted his head, taking his eyes off the birds and towards those speaking to him. His eyes were dead, glazed over. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month. This is the routine he has gone through for eternity. Dragging on and on. Never to end. To the point where it almost seemed fake. However deep down inside of him was an illustrious power feeding on his anger, and it took his entire being to hold it back.



Jeanne obliged to the towering figure beside him, giving every single one of the carefully crafted pages he had worked on throughout the class. But it didn't affect him in any way, as had already memorized today's lesson.



Yotsuyu gripped her left arm with her right and looking visibly uncomfortable with the situation. "Scott..."



"You're right. There's no use in trying. Might as well end it here huh?" Jeanne let out a dry chuckle. "Or perhaps you would like to do it yourself?" He tilted his head back, observing a black feather as it fell. "I don't know why I even bothered having hope for this rotten world."



"What are you saying?"



"I guess you won huh?"



The black feather and everything else in the room froze, in an instant.



"I'll grant you one wish, and in return, you'll become a god of the new world. That is what I told you many years ago." The White Tiger of Autumn and Death stood beside Jeanne, The stripes of it wrapped around Jeanne like black and white chains of fate.



"I'm central to your plan of controlling the world. If you think for a second I would ruin the balance of the world for selfish desires like Genbu's Successor did then you're out of luck. The way I see it," Jeanne tapped his foot against the tile floor, prickling a piece of his hair. "As long as I'm the only one who can form a pact with you, and without me, you have no power, it seems I have some leverage."



"So that's your answer..."



"I wish to be strong enough to save this world."



"That goes against my purpose in this world."



"Can you do it?" Jeanne asked retorically, "Then I don't care."