“She is too young, she is not ready.” A woman walked up to Alpha, and stood tall watching through a one-way mirror the figures sparring in the vast training room. The woman was wearing leggings under a skirt made of layered leather strips of varying sizes, all of which were tucked into a tight black leather corset overtop of a lace shirt that clasped in banded platinum over her throat, and trailed lace in long sleeves down her arms. In her hand, she carried a double bladed staff the same metal color of her hair in contrast with her dark brown eyes.

Alpha pulled her weight off her elbows rubbing where the handrail had bit into them. The straps across her chest holding the open leather jacket together and twin swords on her back strained, and the short sleeve grey shirt underneath filled with a deep breath. She shifted her weight equally to both of her combat boots, and folded her leather and metal gauntlets covered arms across her chest. “She is more ready than she seems Titiana.”

A bright flash of light went off in the corner of the room, and the smaller figure turned to look at it, distracted and caught unawares as another flash came directly towards her, that she was barely able to block.

“That was sloppy.”

“She only started a couple days ago.”

“And she goes into battle tomorrow.” Titiana’s voice, like her expression, remained completely neutral. “She is not ready. She will be killed.”

Alpha met Titiana’s gaze. “She will go into battle with me.” She put light stress on the last word before continuing. “She will be fine. She is doing excellently, and will be more than prepared to take the bunker tomorrow.”

Titiana turned back to the sparring pain through the glass. “I will drill her myself this evening.”

Alpha cracked a small smile, eyes also finding Asa through the glass. “I’ll give her the warning. But I don’t think she’ll do badly at all.” The smaller figure through the glass sat down heavily and began chugging water from a water bottle on the edge of the mat, while the other held up both hands to the glass, one with four fingers, the other with three. “See?”

~*~

“Tonight you’ll do drills with Beta Titiana, but for now . . .” Alpha stopped in front of a set of double doors embedded in the long halls of the Legend’s ship. “We should get you some proper equipment. Now listen, there will be a lot of people in the labs, so be careful what you touch, and stay with me.”

I nodded, and Alpha waved her hand in front of the doors, which melted in a hexagon pattern into the walls to reveal a giant room several stories tall, with shelves and closets of materials in cubes of varying sizes, giant three dimensional printers with spools of metals and plastics ready to be melted and molded, fabricators with multi-colored lasers putting together chips and wires. Aircraft engines and repairs covered people in oil stains, and giant holograms gave detailed analysis from wrist devices and remote projectors, and giant pads surrounded by cameras off to the right wall served for test trials. The clear staircases led up to the second floor where rows of people worked with smaller devices and equipment, as well as fabricating weapons and custom-made armor in still more fabricators, printers, and sanders. But the most impressive things were the metal spheres that hovered through space roamed around, bringing materials or conveying messages from one person to another.

Alpha walked straight over to the staircase and I followed her up it, finding it hard to not stop and look around instead of following. One thing I did notice was that it everyone had some sort of earpiece in, connected to a microphone that followed their jawbone close to their mouth.

“Asariel!” I looked up to Alpha already at the top of the stairs, as I had apparently slowed to a stop. “Come on! You’re blocking traffic.” I turned, and sure enough there was a crowd of people trying to come up the stairs behind me. I jogged to the top. We were almost to a small door almost directly diagonal from the top of the stairs, when someone shouted, “Alpha!”

Alpha turned and knelt to meet the gaze of the small girl who was running up to her. “What are you doing here, cara?”

The girl frowned. “My name’s not Cara, it’s Tzofti!”

Alpha smiled, “Well, that’s a lovely name! Is there something I can do for you Tzofti?”

“My daddy said I have to go to bed at nine o’clock. She says it will help me grow up big and strong, like you! Did you have to go to bed at nine too?”

“Tzofti! Where are you?” A man’s voice rang out from the din, and Alpha waved her hand in a small arc by her side, and a metal ball hovered orange above their heads.

“Well, I definitely had to sleep a lot, and I think it’s a good idea to go to bed at nine.” Alpha replied.

“Tzofti, there you are!” a man with red hair to match Tzofti’s pushed himself through the crowd to pick up his five year-old daughter. “I am so sorry Alpha.”

Alpha rose and brushed off his apology. “It’s fine! Don’t worry about it, amatus.”

“That’s not my dad’s name either.” Tzofti spoke. “His name is Ira-Irm . . .”

“It’s a nickname. Just like I call you Tzo.”

Comprehension dawned on the little girl’s face. “Ooh! Just like you called me cara!”

Alpha nodded, laughing. “Exactly. You’re a smart one aren’t you?” She bopped Tzofti’s nose. “I’ll bet, if you go to bed every night at nine o’clock, and eat super healthy foods, you’ll get to be just as strong as I am one day.”

Tzofti bounced in her father’s arms, as he mouthed a quiet ‘thank you’ to Alpha before walking away. I could still hear her excited exclamations all the way down the stairs, “did you hear that? I can be just as strong as Alpha!”

“Come on in here Asariel.” I followed Alpha into a side room of the labs, where she pressed a button so it glowed blue. Alpha sat in the chair at the end of the room, and began murmuring into her earpiece. While I took a moment to look around.

In the center of the room, a hologram table rested, monitors covered the right wall, and the back left corner was home to an elevated platform and measurements were marked on the walls.

“The other one goes to Loki on Asgard.”

I resisted the urge to turn and sit next to Alpha in an effort to hear better, knowing I was not part of this conversation, and instead took to studying my reflection in the monitors as Alpha kept speaking. “No, I fully expect Odin to find it. But if he knows what it is, then he’ll know better than to parade around the fact that he has it. He knows that’ll only get him killed. . . If you bring it up, I’ll bet Ria can make a case for it, that way Odin doesn’t have full control over it . . . I don’t think he’ll notice, no. . . . Yes, the other one comes with me. It’s going to Agamotto. . . . He swore to protect Earth from the spacers, and he is honorable. I trust him. He and anyone else he trains. Alright, thanks Aenor.”

Alpha touched the device in her ear, and fixed her gaze on me. “You are not very good at being discrete.”

I turned to her, attempting to look surprised as she lounged in the chair by the door. “What do you mean?”

Alpha raised an eyebrow. “No one can stare at themselves for a full five minutes at the same angle in a monitor.”

I looked at the ground, “I may have been listening.”

Alpha stood. “I know you were, and if you did not come from Asgard, and were not going to Earth, I wouldn’t be bothering to explain this to you.” Alpha clicked on the hologram table and pressed a button on her gauntlet. The table showed a single glowing sphere. “Before the dawn of time, there was a single Alpha.”

“You mean there are more of you?”

Alpha gave me a look, and I fell silent.

“Everyone is made up of two pieces. Their body, and their synergy. Your body is pretty self-explanatory, but a synergy is like your soul. The eternal matter that makes up your power. Synergies are complex, despite being used for millions of thousands of years, we still have no idea how they really work. However, we do know that when someone dies, their synergy,” Alpha pointed at the holographic ball, “their synergy separates from their body. Usually, this matter is released to live in the stars forever. Much more rarely, a synergy can be forced to a form, to be used as a weapon. That’s what happened to the first Alpha, Lady Infinity.” The hologram sphere split into six different pieces, colored blue, purple, yellow, orange, green, and red. “Her five children each took a piece of her synergy to use as a weapon, and her husband took what remained and hid it under a price too awful to pay. The children, and their families, named the Shadows, Demonics, Defenders, Poisoned, and the . . . the Eternals. They use these stones, and their own power to wage war over countless worlds and realms in the universe. Over time, these clans mutated, massacred each other, and lost many members, but they still wage war today. And soon, once we leave, it will be your duty to watch over Earth in the case of it being attacked.”

It was a daunting prospect to wrap my head around. Each one of these clans had an Alpha. How would I compare if one of them decided to attack Earth? I, ultimately, would fail, and Earth would fall. Alpha touched my shoulder, wheeling me to face her. “It is not your duty to fight against another clan. Your job is to tell me or Asgard when there is a threat so they can sort it out. Alright?”

I nodded, looking back up at the holographic crystals. “So one of these is going to Loki?”

Alpha nodded. “The Legends have two of them. And it’s not safe for me to take them with me to win back my mother’s lands. One of them is going to Loki, on Asgard. I would prefer that I could give you one, of course, but it is dangerous to have two stones on the same world. The other stone we have is going to Agamotto, on Earth. The two of you won’t meet, and I’ll be surprised if your duties come in contact as all, but it is still dangerous.”

I nodded, thinking over everything she had told me. Even if I had no dominion over these stones, I still had a sense of protectiveness over the ones I was close to. But one thing kept eating at me. “What about the Legends. You haven’t mentioned them yet.”

Alpha sighed deeply, and she looked older to me than she had ever looked before. I knew she was old, but I could see weariness in her somehow duller eyes, and her face seemed to sag downward. “The story of the Legends is not pleasant. It is not something you can't unhear, by any means.”

It was my turn to place a hesitant hand on her shoulder, “I do not want to pressure you.”

Alpha shook her head. “It’s fine, just stop me if you don’t want to hear any more.” She shook her shoulders, sliding my hand off, and lifting her head. “My mother was Alpha Eternal. She, and a group of Eternals fell in love with a group of Poisoned. Their kids, the Legends, lived in the ranks of the Eternals until I was about eight hundred years old. Then the Alpha Poisoned found out we existed. They are . . . very honor driven, and massacred every single Eternal, and took us Legends into slavery. I won’t describe what they did to us, but I endured that for fifteen hundred years while other clans took over my mother’s hard-earned lands, until I managed to escape. I wasn’t able to come back and break them out for another five hundred years. And now, we’re finally ready to take back the lands that my mother promised us as she lay dying.”

    I sat there, stunned. There was more to the story, but I was glad she had spared me the details, even thinking about it made me feel an odd combination of sick and numb. I had very little time for a reaction however, before the door to the room opened, and Alpha tapped her gauntlet again to shut off the hologram.

“Bion, how wonderful to see you.” Alpha got up and hugged the man, as he replied, “Alpha, how’s the crusade going?”

Alpha let out a long breath. “It’s going alright. I have to head out soon though, and Asariel here,” Alpha gestured to me, “needs equipment.”

Bion offered me his hand, which I shook, and said, “Lovely to meet you, Miss Asariel.”

“You as well, Mr. Bion.”

“Asariel is from Asgard, and she will be the scout on Earth for us.”

“Oh wonderful, let’s get you all set up then.” Bion rounded the table and turned it back on. Alpha joined him and I wiped my hands on my Asgardian dress before doing the same. This handshake thing was still an odd concept to me. “First thing’s first, you’re going to need some lenses.” Bion said, putting in an order for a pair on the monitor.

“Lenses?” I asked. “What are lenses?”

Alpha turned to me, “they’re a type of thin film you can put on your eye that will allow you to stay in touch with the team you are with, and give schematics of an area with team member positions, all through AVIS.”

I knew what AVIS was. Alpha told me she was a robot in the ceiling that kept the database of the Legends, working with reports of missions, relaying messages from team to team, offering advice, giving reminders, and controlling the metal robots that moved around the ship.

“Here.” Alpha reached up and pulled a thin, almost invisible lense-shaped film off her eye. “This keeps track of almost everything for me. I wouldn’t remember to sleep it it didn’t remind me,” she laughed. “But it writes all my reports for me, and can even keep track of blood sugar levels for medical reports. These things are the best things to ever come out of this lab.”

“But you’ll need more than those if you’re going out to the field. You’ll need armor too. And weapons,” Bion interjected. “Have any idea what you’d like?”

I froze. “I thought I’d only be using magic . . .”

Alpha smiled, her gaze warm and endearing. “You’ll need more than magic. Magic is useful, yes, but it is completely dependent on your energy levels. And I won’t have you dying because you’re too tired to use your magic.”

“Do you have any idea what you want? Knives, swords, bow, crossbow, staff, double-blade, anything?”

“Um . . . which is the easiest to learn?” I asked uneasily.

Bion gestured to Alpha. “If I were you, I’d go for knives and daggers. They’re the most versatile, attract very little attention, easy to hide, and it won’t look weird training with them on Earth.”

Bion looked at me and I nodded. “How many?” he asked, putting the order in on the hologram.

“Just one.” I replied at the same time as Alpha, who said, “all of them.”

Bion looked at the two of us. “All of them,” Alpha restated.

“Okay then.” Bion nodded. “And armor? Any preference?”

I shook my head. In truth, I had no idea what I wanted my armor to look like. As long as it worked, but there were some interesting armor configurations around the ship, and I had yet to see Alpha’s full armor. There were high stakes to measure up to, and I wanted mine to mark me as one of them.

“We have a master list of options if you want to look through.” I nodded.

Alpha’s earpiece started buzzing as Bion pulled up the master list. “I’m so sorry Asariel. I have to take this.” she told me, and sat back down in the chair by the door to take her call.

Bion started messing with the screen on his forearm as I scrolled down page fourteen. I had been searching for long enough that my eyes were having trouble focusing. I could feel a twinge of a headache behind my forehead, but none of these felt right. Alpha was being patient, but I could tell she had pressing issues on her mind, and more things to be doing.

It wasn’t for a couple more pages until I found it. The metal of the armor curled up high around the neck, black and maroon fabrics flowing downwards in thick braids. The right arm was mostly bare, a silver cuff wringing around the arm just above the elbow and an elegant piece of metal covered the forearm, once again interlaced with the maroon fabric. The left arm, however, seemed to be intended for defense, the plating covering the shoulder downwards. Pieces of metal crossed over each other on the bicep, glinting silver until it was replaced by the fabric once more. The breastplate laid like an upside down heart, fitting snugly around the chest, while the fabrics twisted and laced together over the torso, bits of metal peeking out. The same metal intersected across the back, weaving together in an intricate pattern. Four metal disks sat on the armor, one on each shoulder and in front of each hip. The main piece of armor triangulated beneath the hips, a thinner sheet of metal lengthening to cover the tops of the thighs. The fabric that had been twisted into the armor also draped over the thighs, barely braided together. The pant material almost looked like leather, though it stretched comfortably enough. The boots were tall, going up to the knees, with wedges that seemed to boast of elegance. Thick straps crossed over the feet, twisting up the calves toward the top of the boots. And it was mine.

“That one.”

“Oh thank goodness,” Bion exclaimed, pushing me to the back corner of the room. “Stand on that,” he told me, gesturing to the platform. I jumped up, facing the room, as metal spheres moved around me in circles, and I attempted to watch their movements. “Don’t watch. Just hold still” Alpha chided, and I did so, even if it was difficult when a sphere extended a metal arm to hold up my hair as the rest of the spheres kept circling.

    “Done. You can hop down now.” Bion announced. “Everything will be delivered as soon as it’s done.”

    “Good,” Alpha announced. “Come on Asariel. I’m going to drop you off with Beta Titiana, but I have to leave. I shall see you early tomorrow morning, when we head off to Earth.”

~*~

    I stood in the middle of a vast training room, facing the blank face of Beta Titiana, as she surveyed me. She snapped down her double-bladed staff and it took effort not to jump in surprise. “This morning you were given a four in the ability score, but only a three in attention. You can see outside events, but can only focus on one thing at a time. With dozens of people around you on a battlefield, or taking an enemy bunker like you will tomorrow, you will not be able to mistake any sounds as threats, or lose any attention. There are several dozen metal spheres from the lab floating around in this room. Some only flash, some will send laser shots, which you will have to deflect with a shield, or a blade. Some will do both, but all of them move. Let’s see how long you can last. We are not leaving here until you can go for a half-hour straight.”

    I nodded, and pulled out a dagger from my newly delivered armor, blinking to reset the lense in my eye, a feeling I was still not used to. The flashes came in all colors, from all directions, milliseconds after each other. I turned to look at one flash, and immediately was hit in the back with another. It was going to be a long night.

~*~

    I was sitting in my plain room on the ship in a daze, my back, arms, and left leg were all stinging from repeated laser shots. They were not lethal, but they still hurt. A knock came to my door, and I looked up, expecting it to be Alpha back from whatever she was doing tonight. But instead a different woman walked in. She had dark caramel hair thrown up into a messy bun, escaped pieces tucked behind her ear, matched with pale lips, and almond shaped hazel eyes. She wore a light brown leather coat that wrapped itself tightly over her chest and biceps before opening and giving her the back half of a skirt down to her knees, with matching leather pants and fur-lined boots.

    “I’m Althea, the head healer.” She introduced herself, shaking my hand. “I was sent by Beta Titiana to help you get to sleep.”íí

    I almost sighed in relief. “I was not allowed to leave until I made it a half hour with the metal spheres.”

    She knelt to examine my leg from where I was sitting on my bed that occupied the back stretch of wall. “Oof, you got hit pretty hard, didn’t ya? Does it sting, or is it just sore?”

    “That one stings,” I groaned, the soreness in my back pulling resistance from my efforts to point out the welt just above my knee. Althea smeared a white paste onto my skin and rubbed it in.

    “Here” I offered, “I can do my arms.” She handed me the tube of paste and I began smearing it on my right arm.

    I allowed a beat of silence to pass before asking, “Do you know where Alpha is? She was supposed to be back tonight to take me to Earth in the morning.”

    Althea sighed. “Yes she told me. Apparently the plan’s changed.”

    “Changed?”

    “Yeah. Here, turn around, let me get your back.”

    I did so, and she lifted my shirt to smear on yet more paste. “The run this evening did not go as planned. Irene and Vladís are both injured, and apparently they just barely made it out. She’s staying the night as the guard. I’m taking you in the morning, and I’m staying as battlefield medic.” She stood, and straightened. “I think that’s you all sorted out. Have you put your lenses away?”

    I nodded, gesturing to the small box filled with liquid on the bedside. I felt my throat constrict at the thought of going to Earth, especially if I couldn't meet with Alpha beforehand. Still, I tried to calm my frayed nerves, my hands clasped tightly on my lap.

    “Well, then,” she handed me a couple small pills, “if you take those they should help you sleep tonight. AVIS will wake you up in the morning.”

    “Take?” I asked softly, slightly embarrassed as Althena hurried to explain.

    “Oh, um, just swallow them. Without chewing.” Althena gestured with her hand the pill traveling down her throat.

    “Okay.” I nodded.

    “Well, then, I will see you tomorrow morning.” And with that, she left the room, leaving me alone with nothing but my own thoughts and a promise of my new future.