Back when Pax was just seventeen, his transport ship descended through the skies of Planet Scargo, landing in the Scarlet capital.
As Pax and his father stepped off the ship, his father placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Son, this is our new home now," he said with a smile that didn't quite hide his worry. " I'll be back soon, stay inside."
Without another word, his father turned and boarded another shuttle bound for the Colosseum of Scargo.
Left alone, Pax made his way to his assigned apartment. From the window, he looked out at the bustling streets below, Scarlet citizens walking proudly among their Indigo slaves, who labored in silence. It was a city that thrived on obedience and blood.
Then something unusual caught his eye.
Across the street, a young Scarlet noble sat on a bench, feeding ice cream to his much older Indigo servant. There was no cruelty in his gaze, no arrogance, only kindness.
Curious, Pax leaves his room and followed them through the busy market until they entered a small restaurant.
As soon as he stepped inside, the crowd went quiet. Conversations hushed, and people began to whisper. The color of Pax's skin and the faint glow of his Lilac mark made him stand out.
At the counter, the young noble ordered food with his slave standing respectfully beside him. When Pax approached, the noble turned—and to everyone's surprise, he and his servant bowed.
"Hey," Pax said, awkward but sincere. "What's your name?"
"I'm Ethan," the noble replied. "You must be one of the Lilac people settling here in our city right?"
Pax nodded with a smile. "Yeah. And I've decided that I want you to be my first friend in Scargo."
The entire room froze at those words. A Lilac, one of the "holy" species above both Scarlet and Indigo, calling a Scarlet noble his friend? It was unthinkable.
But a few minutes later, laughter filled the air as Pax and Ethan sat together at a table, chatting over bowls of steaming noodles.
"You're different, Ethan," Pax said, leaning forward. "Why treat your slave like an equal?"
Ethan smiled faintly and placed a hand on the shoulder of his old servant.
"He's been with me since I was born," Ethan said. "I've seen the pain he's endured because of my family, because of me. Treating him well isn't charity. It's respect. He's more like my father than my servant."
Pax nodded in quiet admiration.
Ethan is also curious and ask. "And what about you? You're Lilac, why are you so casual with me?"
Before Pax could answer, his phone began to buzz. He answered, hearing his father's urgent voice.
"Son, listen to me. Stay safe. Don't trust any Scarlet! I'll be there soon—"
The line goes dead.
Then all hell broke loose.
A man in a scarlet hood burst into the restaurant, knife flashing. He lunged straight for Pax but Ethan's servant moved faster, tackling the attacker to the ground.
Screams erupted outside. Through the window, Pax see chaos sweeping the streets, Scarlets and Indigos slaughtering Lilac settlers in their vehicles, fires breaking out, alarms wailing.
More attackers stormed the restaurant. Pax dodged a blade, but one of the men tackled him through the glass window, sending him crashing onto the street.
Dazed, he scrambled up, only to find a group of armed Scarlets aiming rifles at him.
One fired. A bullet tore through Pax's shoulder, another grazed the side of his head.
He fell, gasping, purple blood dripping onto the ground.
Before the gunman could finish him, Ethan's servant appeared again, punching the man so hard he crumpled instantly. Ethan runs up to Pax, hauls him up.
"Come on!" Ethan shouts.
They run through burning streets until they ducked into a store that has a small pharmacy. Ethan quickly wrapped a bandage around Pax's shoulder and head while his servant stood guard, watching the rest of the store.
Then the door burst open.
A Lilac commander entered, his armor glowing faintly beneath the light of his floating digital beacon. His soldiers followed, weapons ready.
"These traitors are hiding here too?" the commander sneered. "Guard the gates. I'll finish the ones inside."
His men took positions, firing at the chaos outside while the commander's beacon pulsed. A massive digital minigun formed in his hands.
"You should've known your place," he growled, aiming it at the Scarlet and Indigo refugees hiding behind the counters. "Betraying your Overlords is unforgivable."
He open fire. Bullets tore through the store. Shelves exploded. Screams echoes.
Ethan and Pax ducks behind the counter as glass and smoke rained down around them.
Moments later, the commander found them.
"Oh," he said with a smirk. "Another Lilac. You're safe, boy. Come with me."
He motioned for Pax to approach, then turned to Ethan.
"But this one here, must die."
The minigun began to spin.
Before he could fire, Ethan's servant charged, tackling the commander to the floor. They struggled violently, the beacon flaring. A digital shard shot out, striking the servant's back and yanking him across the floor.
The commander rose, grabbing for his sidearm, only to realize it was gone.
He turns to see Pax aiming it straight at him.
"Let us go," Pax warns, hands trembling but steady.
The commander laughed coldly.
"You dare betray your own kind?!"
His beacon charged again, but before it could release another shard, gunfire erupted from behind him. Bullets ripped through the beacon, shattering it into glowing fragments.
The commander spun around in disbelief, just in time to see his own soldier lowering a rifle.
"Are you insane?!" the commander roared. "Without my beacon, how are we—"
A single shot silenced him.
The soldier removed his helmet, revealing Pax's father.
"Dad!" Pax gasped, running into his arms.
His father gripped his shoulder firmly. "Let's get out of here. Now."
Moments later they find a car as they speeds through the chaotic streets, weaving between wreckage and fire. Pax clutches his shoulder, blood seeping through his shirt, while Ethan stares out the shattered window. Above, the sky as the planet Lilac is destroyed in orbit, raining meteors onto the city below. Explosions bloom across the skyline like fiery flowers of doom.
A sudden blast hits nearby. The shockwave flips their car off the road, it tumbles, crashes, and screeches to a halt upside down.
Minutes later, Pax's father and Ethan's slave drag the boys from the wreckage as more meteors tear through the city, lighting the streets in orange fire. Gunfire echoes in the distance. The group scrambles through the chaos, weaving between burning debris.
Pax's father sets him down, raises his rifle, and opens fire on advancing Scarlet soldiers. The air is thick with smoke and screams. But then, a massive meteor slams into the street. The explosion sends everyone flying.
Dazed, Pax stumbles up, coughing. He shakes his father, but there's no response, he grabs the rifle and fires at a Scarlet soldier struggling to reload, killing him.
More soldiers rush forward. Pax drags his father to cover beside Ethan and the slave. His hands tremble.
Ethan, blood dripping down his face, whispers, "I'll go out there. I'll tell them to stop."
Before Pax can respond, Ethan and his slave step into the open with their hands raised. The soldiers shout orders
Then, in a flash, Pax's father stirs awake, snatches his rifle, and unloads a volley. Bullets cut through the air. Ethan and his slave dive back for cover.
A sharp hum pierces through the gunfire and screams follow.
They peek out just in time to see Buzz cutting through the soldiers with a bone sword, his movements a blur of slaughter.
"Let's go!" Pax's father shouts.
They sprint away as Buzz deflects bullets with supernatural precision, his blade flashing with every strike. He slices through cars, through walls, through men, until an explosion engulfs the street.
From the distance, Pax looks back and sees him again—leaping across rooftops, carving his path through the city. Buzz dives into a tower. Seconds later, the tower explodes. He bursts out from the fire, sword impaling another building to break his fall, then crashes into the streets below, killing everything in sight. His eerie hum echoes through the flames.
Suddenly, Buzz turns. His gaze locks onto them.
He charges, faster than a bullet and hurls his burning bone sword. It slams into a nearby car, detonating it instantly. The blast sends Pax's father and Ethan's slave crashing into rubble.
Pax and Ethan freeze, paralyzed by fear. Buzz emerges through the flames, body drenched in thick layers of blood. He pulls his smoldering sword from the wreckage and rushes toward them.
They cover their eyes, but Ethan's slave leaps in front of them, impaled in an instant.
"Go!" Pax's father yells, grabbing the boys and running.
Buzz lifts the dying slave into the air, then tosses him aside like a broken doll.
They sprint across a long bridge littered with abandoned cars. Ahead, a squad of Scarlet soldiers blocks the way, opening fire. Bullets tear through the air. They dive behind a bus as the soldiers reload.
From the opposite side, Buzz charges in, sending vehicles flying into the sky with sheer force.
They then rush inside the bus, Pax and the others watch in horror as Buzz parries every bullet, leaping from car to car until he lands in the middle of the soldiers. Then, the slaughter begins.
Pax's father kicks open the VIP room door. The smell of death hits instantly, a Lilac noble slumps lifeless in a velvet seat, eyes open and glassy.
He moves quickly, searching the room. Reaching above, he opens an overhead storage compartment. Several suitcases crash down. He tears through them until he finds a metal case marked with security seals.
He glances back at the corpse, then kneels beside it. With steady hands, he removes a wrist device from the dead Lilac and straps it onto his own arm. The device flickers to life. He raises it toward the corpse's face.
Scan complete.
A green light flashes. The lock on the metal case clicks open.
Inside lies a small digital beacon. He pulls it out, assembles a few components, and powers it up.
Through the window, Pax and Ethan watch in horror as Buzz continues his massacre across the bridge his humming now deeper, darker, almost mechanical. Every swing of his bone sword tears through soldiers like paper.
Pax's father rushes back to the boys. "Alright, listen! I'll give you both an opening. When I do you run and don't look back. Got it?!"
They nod, terrified but determined.
He turns, the digital beacon hovering behind him, its light pulsing like a heartbeat. He presses several buttons on the wrist device as he exits the bus.A low hum fills the air as a digital field expands, forming into a massive tank out of pure data.
Buzz stops. His head tilts toward him.
Pax's father summons a pistol into his hand and opens fire. Bullets fly, but Buzz deflects every shot in a blur of spinning. With his free hand, Pax's father tosses smoke grenades in every direction, flooding the bridge with thick, swirling fog.
"Now!" he shouts.
Pax and Ethan sprint out of the bus through the smoke, coughing, eyes burning. Behind them, the tank roars to life and fires.
A massive explosion shakes the bridge.
Buzz barely avoids the blast, lunging forward and cleaving the tank in half with one swing of his sword.
The boys keep running, crossing halfway across the bridge as Pax's father frantically presses more commands on his wrist device. The beacon releases a storm of digital shards, firing at Buzz like spectral bullets.
Buzz deflects them all.
In the chaos, Pax's father grabs the beacon, but Buzz is already behind him. The bone sword pierces through his back, lifting him into the air.
"Father!" Pax screams at the end of the bridge.
Blood spills down his father's chin as the wrist device glows violently. A second later, the beacon detonates, unleashing a blinding explosion that shatters the bridge.
Pax and Ethan dive to safety as the bridge collapses into the river below. Dust and fire fill the air.
Silence.
Then, faintly—they hear it again.
The humming.
They look down in horror to see Buzz climbing out of the river, body mangled but still moving. The hum intensifies, as he dashes back toward the city until his sound fades into the distance.
Pax collapses, trembling. He cries, the sound breaking through the quiet ruin. Ethan falls beside him, tears streaming down his face.
Moments later they are walking to the colosseum that is out of the city.
At the edge of the colosseum, they find several Indigo slaves carrying Leo's lifeless body. Ethan runs to them, dropping to his knees, pleading for help.
The slaves exchange weary looks, then nod. Despite being of a different kind, they agree to help them.
A year passes.
The once-burning city of Scarlet now lies far behind them. Pax and Ethan live among survivors on a quiet farmhouse at the edge of the plains, sharing the land with dozens of refugees rebuilding their lives.
Ethan straps on his gear, preparing to lead a small group to search for other survivors. Pax stands at the gate, arms crossed, watching him.
Ethan glances back. "You sure you don't want to come with us this time?"
Pax shakes his head. "No. I'm staying to train. I need to get stronger."
Ethan smiles faintly. "You've changed a lot, Pax."
Pax looks toward the horizon. "I've decided to come up with my own name."
"Oh?" Ethan tilts his head. "What is it?"
"Since he is called Khaos…" Pax's eyes harden, fire reflecting in them. "I'll be called Orda because I'll be the one who'll bring order to his chaos."
Ethan laughs softly, impressed. "Orda, huh? I like it." He steps forward and clasps Pax's hand firmly. "I promise I'll come back stronger too and with more people. Together, we'll bring order to this world."
Pax grips his hand tighter. "I'll hold you to that."
Ethan nods, then turns and walks down the dirt road with his group. Pax watches him until he disappears beyond the horizon, the wind sweeping through the quiet fields.