『"With great power no one asked for, comes great responsibility"』
The Director proceeded to explain. "Every five centuries or millennia, five people are drawn together and awaken with five distinct spirit weapons: The Sword, The Shield, The Boots, The Breastplate, and The Helmet."
"That's a lot of fives," Raj said.
The Director studied each of them in turn, looking for fear, perhaps, or doubt. Whatever he found seemed to satisfy him. "Your awakening is always timed with a foreboding threat, or threats, that could bring about the extinction of humanity or the end of all things as we know them."
The words hung in the air for a moment, and Amara felt herself go cold. Extinction? The end of all things?
She wanted to laugh, to call bullshit, to point out that this was insane. But the Director's expression was dead serious, and Ethan wasn't contradicting him. Worst of all? There were no red auras or tingling sensation.
Which meant...
Oh, God.
Hiro cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
"Meaning—" His voice cracked slightly, and he cleared his throat again. "Meaning, we are sort of like a cosmic early warning system?"
"Indeed. Throughout history, the Five have stood against primordial monsters, rogue gods, dimensional invasions, and threats the Institute has kept humanity blissfully oblivious to." The Director kept his voice steady. "But right now, you will need to focus on the immediate threat. The Malices."
Amara felt her knees weaken a bit, but she took a deep breath and said, "You mentioned that earlier. Malices. What are those?"
The Director's expression became grim. "They're also residents of the Chaos Sea, but they're something else entirely. Where wraiths are simply mindless foot soldiers, Malices are far evolved. They're nightmares born from humanity's greatest fears and hatreds, given intelligence and purpose."
He gestured, and the holographic display shifted to images of woodcut prints from medieval manuscripts, grainy photographs, and satellite imagery of prior disasters.
In each one, if you knew what to look for, you could see them.
Hiro leaned closer, squinting at a photograph from 1518. "Is that... what the hell is that?"
"The Plague," the Director confirmed quietly. "One of many."
Amara leaned closer, and her skin crawled. The thing in the photograph looked almost human, if humans had a tail, six hands, and had burning eyes.
"They're intelligent, powerful, and actively hostile to all life that doesn't feed their particular brand of suffering." The Director said.
Raj rubbed his chin in understanding and asked, "So the crazy, fucked up, and stupid shit that goes on here is basically what creates those monsters?"
"That's one way to put it." The Director said with a light smile. "The negative emotions born from those situations are what spawn these creatures."
"And they're coming for us specifically?" Sophia asked quietly.
"Yes. Just as wraiths are attracted to new Awakeners who haven't learned suppression, Malices are drawn through rifts only when the Five awaken."
Raj's face contorted with anger and disbelief. "Wait, so it's going to be our fault that these things show up? We're going to be responsible for—"
"Raj—" Amara started, but he wasn't done.
"No, seriously! We didn't ask for this! We didn't ask to be some cosmic alarm system that attracts fucked up shit!" His massive hands clenched into fists. "How is that fair?"
"It's not about faults or fair," the Director cut in gently. "It's about balance. The universe creates weapons when weapons are needed. Your awakening is a response to the threat, not the cause of it."
Raj's jaw worked and Amara touched his arm lightly, just enough to say I hear you. He didn't relax, but he didn't explode either.
Hiro's fingers moved to his lips, tapping on it, his nervous tell. "That's just great. So not only do we have to deal with becoming these... cosmic warriors overnight, but we also get these rocky horror monsters specifically gunning for us?" He pulled out his inhaler, shook it, and drew in a deep breath.
Amara felt her grip tighten on nothing, feeling the phantom presence of her blade wanting to materialize. "Is this supposed to make us feel guilty? Get us to actually get involved in—" she gestured at the screens, at the red dots, at all of it, "—all of this?"
Ethan turned to face her fully, and there was something simple in his expression as he asked, "Is it working?"
She groaned, looking at the ground for a long moment. Everyone's eyes were on her again. This was what she got for always being the one who kept her head when others panicked.
Except right now, she had no idea what she was doing.
But she did know one thing. She couldn't walk away and let people die when she had the power to help them. So any thoughts she had of telling them to shove it quickly faded.
Damn it.
She raised her head to meet Ethan's gaze. "Yeah." The word came out quiet. "Yeah, it's working."
Ethan had known. Of course he had. He'd known her sick sense of responsibility would be used against her, that she couldn't turn away from suffering when she had the ability to stop it.
Amara waited for someone to argue. To tell her she was being stupid, that they should run while they still could.
Instead, Sophia let out a long breath, slumping further against the wall. "Well, shit." She looked up at the ceiling. "Guess I'm in too. Because apparently my life wasn't complicated enough."
Hiro nodded jerkily. "Yeah. Yeah, okay." He tried to smile, couldn't quite manage it. "We're really doing this."
Raj just crossed his arms and grunted, his version of agreement.
"It seems you've all made your decisions," the Director said, studying their faces with approval.
"That's why I've taken the liberty of contacting your respective parents and guardians. They've been informed that you've been accepted into an exclusive advanced scholarship program. Remote, accelerated, and fully funded. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They've been assured you're safe and supervised."
Sophia's eyes widened. "You spoke with my mum?"
The Director adjusted his cufflinks as he said, "Funny you should ask. Your mother was the only person we couldn't reach directly, so we sent a physical letter to her residence. Still waiting on a reply."
"Shocker," Sophia muttered, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Absolutely shocking that she wouldn't respond."
Everyone turned to stare at her for a moment. There was clearly a story there, but no one was stupid enough to pry.
Except Raj, bless his big heart.
"I'm guessing you're not on good terms with your mom?" His voice carried nothing but genuine sympathy and zero awareness that this might not be the time.
"Dude!" Hiro slapped Raj's shoulder, but it sounded like hitting a brick wall.
"What?" Raj looked confused. "I was just—"
"Reading the room has never been your strong suit." Amara said gently, placing a hand on his arm.
The Director cleared his throat, mercifully moving past the awkward moment. "I never expected I would get to see the Five awaken in my lifetime. It's..." He paused, something almost reverent in his face. "It's an honor."
Then he turned to face Ethan. "Ethan will show you to your quarters. Afterward, tomorrow morning at 0600 hours, you'll report to the transport zone where you'll be taken to your first classes."
"Classes?" Hiro asked, perking up slightly.
Amara raised an eyebrow as well, equally curious. This was news.
"You didn't think it was just an elaborate story we told your parents?" The Director chuckled. "You've indeed been transferred to the accelerated program I mentioned. You will learn what it means to be an Awakener. What it means to be part of the Five. "
And yes—" he smiled, "—you'll also learn enough law, medicine, engineering, psychology to function in the world you're protecting.
Amara folded her arms across her chest, processing this new information. This meant her plans were still possible. Law school. Caplan & Gold. The future she'd spent years building. Maybe she was being naive, but she'd take it. "You should have led with that."
"Where would the fun be in that?" The Director replied, already moving toward a platform in the corner of the room, where a circle of light began to glow beneath his feet.
"This is a lot to take in. But I trust you can handle it." He met Amara's eyes one last time. "Welcome to the Institute."
Then he checked his watch and said, "Alpha Beam. Training Room Six."
A cylindrical beam of light enveloped his form, and the Director vanished with a soft hum of energy.
For a moment, nobody moved. Then Hiro gestured with excitement.
"Now tell me that wasn't awesome!" He put his arm around Raj's neck while pointing.
Amara stared at the spot where the Director had been standing. "I'm never getting used to this place," she muttered.
"You say that now," Ethan said with a small smile, "but give it a week."
In sharp contrast, Raj had a dull, resigned look on his face. "Great. Got out of school to go to more school. Living the dream."
Amara's phone buzzed in her pocket—2:47 AM. They'd been awake for almost twenty hours. Running on adrenaline and the growing certainty that sleep wasn't coming anytime soon.
Then she wrapped her arm around Raj's bicep, or tried to, it was more like holding onto a tree trunk, and offered him a soft smile. "Alright, big guy. Let's go."
They all followed behind Ethan as he led them deeper into the Institute's impossible architecture.
Amara glanced back one last time at Central Command, at the holographic maps showing threats scattered across the world like a disease.
Twenty-four hours ago, her biggest worry would have been about applications and finals.
Now she was the Sword.
With a slow exhale, she tightened her grip on Raj's arm and kept walking forward. There was no going back now.