YEAR 5035: New Era of Gaia
Gaia is a world where people are separated based on the symbol embedded in their right upper arm. Their marks identify them based on their hierarchy and status.
The Celtic Dragon symbol represents the highest leader of a country, who oversees the country's economy, infrastructure, and social status and has the authority to give commands when a war arises between them and their people.
The Red Bull symbol is a form of government that oversees the country’s wealth, finances, and taxes.
The Black Lynx is the symbol of soldiers who work under the command of the Celtic Dragon. However, some Red Bull opponents have discreetly established a secret agency that does their dirty work. They are called the shadow assassins of the Fallon Organization, and their mark is the Black Eagle. It has a strong foundation and disguises itself in the community so that even the Celtic Dragon cannot destroy them.
The Flores symbol is the middle-class citizen who was born with silver spoons or naturally born with talents that can benefit the country.
Unfortunately, the welfare of its people was neglected for greed and political reasons. Not everyone was lucky enough to have a symbol; some were born out of misfortune. These were called the Rattus. They were treated like rats and treated as if they were unmarked. Iris Jin and Colleen Yung were among them. People like them lived in the ruins of slavery or the ruins of the poorest, who eat one loaf of bread a day and a bottle of water rationed by the givers. The givers act as the good Samaritans, supported by middle-class citizens who were philanthropists of the country.
Despite Iris Jin and Colleen Yung being unmarked, they were naturally born with fighting skills to survive. That was when Fallon took them in and marked them as one of the Black Eagles.
Three hours earlier…
“Iris!” Colleen yelled out while she was jogging on the Fallon’s training field.
She stopped and waved her hand up high. Colleen made a run towards her, and they ended up in a running relay. They caught their breath and sweated as they both chuckled. Colleen suddenly braced her shoulder.
“Should we go treat ourselves to karaoke after our last suicidal operation?” She teased.
“Suicidal? Ha! We are just going to retrieve a silver case. Piece of cake,” Iris said, taking a sip from the water bottle and sharing it with Colleen.
“I know—but I heard they are going to put a capsule tracker on us in case we get stuck.”
“Well, it's the Fallon protocol when our operation is dangerous. So, taking precautions is not going to hurt us. Plus, we are shadow assassins; who will dare to take us down?” Iris boasted.
“Correcto! And we can yappy yippy at karaoke later.” Colleen happily said as they laughed and returned to the Fallon underground headquarters.
The Fallon Team Secret Operation—Iris Jin, 25 years old, leader of the shadow assassin and under the supervision of Fallon Moteif, and Colleen Yung, 21 years old—was tasked with retrieving a silver case that had been stored in the old Golden Empire of Verticulas, now known as the Ruins of the Golden Empire. It was said that the silver case had been strongly protected by the Leaders of Vēntas and had been wholly sealed its location.
Neither knew what was inside the silver case, but the opposition government needed to be more generous to let them do the dirty work.
In the helicopter, Fallon Moteif, Founder of the Fallon Organization, painlessly injected them with the capsule tracker on their nape and wished them luck. Iris and Colleen smiled for the last time and jumped off the helicopter, soaring through the sky until they reached the dark, secluded ground of the Ruins.
They removed the parachute belts and put on their black masks, and Iris looked at Colleen, who nodded.
“Are you ready to snap their ass off?” Iris grinned.
Colleen smirked behind her mask. “Of course! Let’s go rock and roll.”
They discreetly and swiftly moved into the shadows, quietly snapping each soldier’s head and hiding them behind the shadows of the ruins. When they reached the far end of the palace, they saw a steel door underground. Iris quietly opened it while Colleen watched in the area. She signaled to her that it was safe to enter.
When they reached the palace's underground, it was dim, and the full moon glade lit the subterranean river. There was only one passage of the river, the one they were in, and they had no idea where it led.
“We have to swim underwater. It’s said that the silver case is somewhere on the underside of that ruined wall.” Iris pointed to the dark entrance.
Colleen nodded. They wore snorkel masks, jumped into the deep river, and swam under the water. They'd seen parts of the ruins, such as bricks, broken statues, silver platters, and jewels. The more bottomless Iris looked at it, the more she saw uncollected skeletons and shattered skulls littering the ruins. The small fish seem to make it their home.
When they rose from the water, it was very dark and quiet. They turned on their night vision goggles with illuminators. They were surprised, as the place had no security. It’s unusual to hide a silver case without security, Iris thought as they moved along. The surroundings smelled musty, and there was a foul scent of dead rats. At the far end, a torch of light could be seen. As they entered, a small sculptured archangel held the silver case.
They nodded to each other, ensuring it was safe to take the silver case. When Iris took the silver case, the three corners of the walls started to shake, and several spears and arrows were shot at them in every corner of the wall. They dodged every one of them, which was covered with a dark plum kind of poison. They jumped, backflipped, and rolled on the cemented ground with their bodies as the spears and arrows continued to shoot at them.
“What kind of a boring trap is this?” Colleen said, dodging and backflipping.
Iris smirked. “Maybe it was installed thousands of years ago,” she said as she dodged, jumped, split, and rolled on the ground.
When they retrieved the silver case, Iris clutched the handcuffs from her left wrist and placed them on the silver case handle. They dived again into the river to return to where they first entered the underground.
“Wow, that wasn’t difficult. But I did not expect the arrows and spears to have poison in them,” Colleen said as they both threw the goggles into the river.
“Yeah, piece of cake. Let me call Fallon and tell him that we’re done.” Iris took out an old flip phone.
“Sir, the silver case has been acquired. Requesting for pick-up.”
“Good job, black eagles. Please stand by.” Fallon hung up.
Fallon nodded to signal his assistant, and she activated the capsule tracker by pressing the red button, which would take 30 seconds before the explosion. Iris returned and saw Colleen, who stood and smiled at her excitedly, not knowing what came next.
“Finally, we can brea–” she was interrupted by an explosion.
Colleen’s head was cut out and separated from her body. The blood burst out from her neck, and her body fell sideways on the ground as the blood overflowed. Her head rolled towards the stairwell, where her eyes closed with a warm smile. Iris's eyes widened in shock before she could even say a word.
“Coll—” Her nape exploded while her tears dripped.
She let go of the silver case, knelt, and her body fell sideways, facing Colleen’s beheaded body to hers. Her eyes were opened in tears as her head rolled over and fell on the river.
They had been used as pawns by Fallon after working for the organization for more than ten years. Iris Jin and Colleen Yung lost their lives for nothing of value. The years that they had tried to survive went in vain without their bodies being found after their last Fallon Operation.
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