Lucius sat on his bed, staring into space. The sound of his TV echoed faintly in the background, but he didn't pay much attention to it. He didn't even need it on anyway, he just needed the background noise. Something to distract the mind. The light from the screen cast a bluish hue over the dark room, illuminating the contours of his face with an almost ethereal glow.
His room was a cluttered mess. Clothes were strewn across the floor, books piled haphazardly on his desk, and glowing shards from a broken lamp lay in a corner like discarded glass. Lucius couldn't quite remember when the lamp broke, he just refused to clean it up. The only thing that stood out in the disarray was the katana resting beside him on the bed. Its blade looked worn and the hilt was slightly frayed, but it carried with it an air of quiet dignity.
After what seemed like an eternity, Lucius finally blinked and his attention drifted toward the TV. The screen showed a news anchor speaking in a hushed, urgent tone. He watched for a few seconds, not really absorbing the words, until the caption at the bottom of the screen made him scoff lightly.
New Monster Variants Spotted in New Africa.
Monsters... once things of fantasy that now plagued the earth. Nightmares given flesh and teeth.
It all started almost a hundred years ago. Monsters and Titans, beings once whispered about in ancient mythologies and bedtime stories, suddenly appeared on the earth. They came from everywhere. From the depths of the oceans, clawing their way to the surface. From the core of the planet, erupting like infected wounds. Some of them even fell from the skies, burning streaks of destruction trailing behind them and it seemed like they had no purpose but to kill.
They killed everything in their sights, men, women, children, animals. Nothing was spared. Cities burned, countries fell. The military stood against them, brave and relentless, but completely ineffective. Guns, missiles, bombs, all of it proved useless. The United States, in a final act of desperation, unleashed dozens of nuclear warheads just to try and kill one. Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary were turned to glass. Still, the creature emerged from the radioactive wasteland without a scratch.
It was the beginning of humanity's end.
Finally, when humans were on the verge of extinction, gods appeared, it would've gone well as another folklore or made up story if not for the fact that their names were different from the ones in the myths and legends that they read about, but they were gods nonetheless.
They fought the Titans and monsters, killing with ease what brought the collective military powers of giants like Russia and the United States to their knees.
But even gods had limits.
The monsters were too many. For every one slain, a dozen more appeared. So the gods changed their approach. They sealed the creatures away, trapping them in what would later be known as the Mirror Realm, a separate dimension born of divine will. With the war won, the gods gave humanity a final gift.
A piece of their power.
Blessings, granted to select individuals across the world, imbuing them with superhuman abilities. Strength, speed, perception, control over elements. Powers that could help humanity fend off similar threats should the need arrive.
The need did arrive eventually.
Twelve years ago, spatial tears began appearing at random. Portals, glowing and unstable, erupted across the globe. From them came the monsters, familiar and terrifying. Humanity was forced to fight again, this time with the gifts left by the gods.
But even with those powers, it still wasn't enough. They were holding on, but barely. The balance was fragile. And the Titans had yet to resurface.
Lucius exhaled slowly. His gaze fell once again to the katana on his bed. Rusty. Old. Useless to most. But to him, it was everything.
It was all his parents had left him.
Lucien's parents were one of the people lost to the monsters. They had left for war when he was so little... he didn't even remember what they looked like. In the end they died, and all they left him was the rusty katana that was propped on the bed beside him.
He reached over and picked up the blade. It was heavier than it looked, but his hands moved with familiarity. He slid it into a scabbard, black leather with silver etchings, and stood up, brushing dust from his pants.
Time to go.
He stepped out of his room, the door creaking softly behind him. The hallway of Manne Manor was quiet, eerily so. Tall, antique portraits lined the walls, eyes that followed your every step. The decor was old, almost ancient. Velvet curtains, gold-trimmed furniture, chandeliers that hadn't been cleaned in years.
When he reached the main door and pushed it open, the early morning light greeted him with a muted glow. The air was cold, crisp. In front of the manor, a sleek black hovercar waited, its surface gleaming like polished obsidian.
Standing beside it was a girl who looked about seventeen.
She, like Lux, had long white hair that cascaded down her face in waves. Her eyes were a striking blue, like frozen lakes under the sun. She had a pale complexion, slightly paler than what one would call a healthy glow, but not enough to seem sickly. Just enough to make her look like she had stepped out of a dream.
She was wearing the academy uniform. A blue and white leather tracksuit, designed for mobility and flair, though Lucius had always thought it looked like something pulled out of a fashion disaster. On the left side of her chest, the letters AFD were stitched in silver. Academy for Demigods.
He never really understood why they chose to make the uniform look like that. There were better designs out there. This one made everyone look like a discount sports team.
"Come on, we're going to be late." Selena's voice snapped him from his thoughts. She pouted slightly, arms crossed, like she had been waiting far too long.
"Coming," Lucius muttered, without increasing his pace in the slightest. His footsteps were calm, steady, like he had all the time in the world.
As he approached, he opened his mouth to greet her, but she reached up and started running her fingers through his hair.
"Your hair is always so rumpled. Don't you even bother to take care of it?"
She had to stand on her toes just to reach properly, which made the moment even more absurd. But she was determined, smoothing and flattening his messy strands with the concentration of a sculptor.
"It's part of the look," Lucius muttered.
"What look?"
Selena finally stepped back, examining her handiwork with the critical eye of an artist inspecting a nearly finished painting. Whatever she saw must have passed her standards, because she gave a small nod, then turned to open the door of the hovercar and got inside without another word.
"It's my brand". Lucius muttered under his breath while getting into the hovercar.
A few seconds later, the engine hummed to life and vanished from the front of Manne manor in a blur.