Guardians: Chapter 1

“Matthew...Matthew...are you there buddy?” a soothing voice called into the void of his sleep.

“Matthew!” He was yanked out of his dream by a sharp jab in the ribs.

“We're going to be late Matt, hurry up,” Charlotte's monotone voice whispered as she jabbed him again.

“I'm awake, I'm awake. Keep your fingers to yourself asshole,” he grumbled rubbing his assaulted side.

“Let's go, your Items have already been transported, we must leave now or we won't make it.” She suddenly arose, grabbing Matthew by the arm and lifting him off his couch. The last week has been a blur. He could hardly remember what had happened after Rita handed him the amulet. It was as if his frame of mind had changed making trivial life feel pointless.

“I need to change Charlotte,” he said, looking down at his half clothed body.

Why was I asleep on the couch he thought

“Be fast,” the creepy girl called to him from the door,” if you're fast we can make it”.

He ran to his bathroom, sighing as he leaned into the clean stainless steel vanity. His mirror lit up with information about his day. The day's weather, news from all over the U.I.P, stock information, and his personalized schedule lined up on either side of the screen.

“Hello Matthew," a female voice resonated from the mirror, ”it seems you're running late for your shuttle transit to spire 23.”

Not even the mirror will leave me alone, great.

Matthew exhaled, mentally and physically exhausted. His attention drifted to the mirror. He examined various parts of his face: right side, left side, nose, eyes, cheeks. His gaze floated down to the amulet around his neck, the same one Rita had given to him last week. He looked downwards as he grasped it, examining the neckpiece. She gave it to him, but he didn’t know what it was capable of.

As he looked deeper, the oblong amulet’s golden cross sections ever so slightly shifted, creating small holes along its sides. Matthew was brought back to reality as blue mist began to bellow from the openings, White hot energy arced and flickered within the cloud. Matthew, transfixed, brought his head closer, gazing deep into the openings as the mist grew thicker.

BANG BANG BANG

“Matthew, you forgot a change of clothes,” Charlotte said from behind the door

Matt jumped, dropping the amulet.

“Charlotte! What have I said about following me?!” Matthew yelled, startled.

“Well sorry, I just thought if you were getting ready you’d appreciate a change of clean clothes,” a hint of emotion had snuck into her voice.

“Just leave it outside the door, and thanks,” Matthew snapped, grabbing his amulet once again. Closed, great.

Defeated, Matthew would let go of the amulet, allowing it to fall around his neck once again, before popping out of the bathroom for a split second to retrieve his clothing.

Once properly clothed and accounted for, courtesy of Charlotte, the pair left the apartment and made their way to the street.

“We must take an inter-spire shuttle. The transport that’ll take us to the academy is docked at spire 23.” Charlotte would inform, she always seemed to know everything.

“Spire 23? Isn't that an hour away?”

“Yes, that is why we must hurry. You have been outside your spire, correct?’

At this, Matthew grew red as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Well not exactly. I’ve never had the funds or motivation to travel.”

Charlotte shook her head and sighed judgmentally.

“I will not be judged by you!” Matthew snorted.

She fell silent at this, leaving only the muttering of pedestrians and the occasional whooshing of an air vent. The closest star port was only a short walk from Matt's apartment, but the awkward energy between the two made it feel like hours. Once they reached the port, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a line of people.

“Do you have your transit pass?” She asked, pulling out a long pamphlet with a prominent ‘B26’ on the front cover.

“Of course I do, who do you think I am?” He said as he pulled out a similar pamphlet with a ‘B25’ printed on the front.

Once they reached the front of the line, they handed over their transit passes and the attendant looked them over. After a proper inspection the man looked up to the duo, as he stared at them, his face seemed to be stuck in a permanent grimace. Before things got too awkward, he handed the passes back to them.

“What was that all about?” Matthew asked as they made their way towards a set of doors labeled 'security'.

“That man is an Esper, he was searching for any discrepancies in our passports.” she said as the door whirred to life, automatic locks clicked as they disengaged.

“Isn’t that an invasion of privacy?”

“Not really, he can only access parts of our memories that those pamphlets prompt him to. Espers like him aren't that powerful so they need direction, perfect for a job like this.”

Once the locks were disengaged, the two moved into a cylindrical, windowless hallway. The pair stepped forward onto a clean white platform.

The platform disconnected from the walkway and slowly levitated towards the opposite side of the gap. With a series of clicks, various mechanical arms separated from the walls and began performing various scans on the pair.

“Biological scan complete, decontamination complete, viral scan complete, luggage scan complete,” a feminine voice droned overhead.

“That was an experience,” Matthew joked as they walked towards the next set of doors.

“Well you can never be too safe now can you?” Charlotte replied as the opening ahead began to hiss.

“Airlock sealed.” Informed the overhead voice as the heavy door opened.

Once the doors opened, they made their way onto the transport shuttle. Of the three stories, they were in the largest. Sixteen rows of seats, with a walkway between every four rows. Beside the two reserved for Charlotte and Matthew, the shuttle was packed. Matt shoved his way past a heavyset Mau man and his wife and sat down, seat B25. The wall next to him was a solid, desolate grey, save for a small touchpad with two buttons. He gingerly pressed the ‘open window’ button. Beside him, the opaque wall suddenly turned clear.

"Holy crap..." Matt whispered under his breath.

Outside the transport ship, the world was turned on its side. The skyscrapers and shipyards Matthew had seen his entire life looked as though they were plastered to a wall instead of built into the ground.

"Amazing right?" Charlotte whispered beside him," while we went through the airlock, we were detached from the spire's artificial gravity."

Before he could even process what he was seeing, the transport took off. Within a second the spire was twenty kilometers behind them yet, he couldn't feel the acceleration.

"You wanna explain that one Charlotte?” He whispered.

“I'm a soldier, not an engineer Matt,” she snorted, ”and please, call me Luna.”

“Luna...that rolls off the tongue nicer,” he smiled.

Outside, his life was growing smaller with the second. Seventeen years of existence disappearing on the horizon. The thought filled him with fear, but also something else. Something new. Something he had never felt before.

“Freedom,” Luna's voice chimed into his thoughts, ”freedom is the word you're looking for.”

Freedom…that has a nice ring to it.

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Homeworld: The Capitol world of the United Imperium of Planets (U.I.P). An earth sized planet with three moons. The world itself was originally desolate, but was terraformed and settled over the course of three thousand years by the three founding species. The Mau, The Dragons, and the Leporians.

Homeworld has a total of thirty spires (cities that stretch up from the surface into the sky). Each spire serves as a hub for a different section of the U.I.P’s economy. A spire's height can range anywhere from six hundred to twelve hundred kilometers, the tallest being spire 12 and the shortest being spire 1.

Matthews' previous home, Spire 12 is the economic center for starship research, construction, and trading. Despite its vital role in the U.I.P’s function as a whole, Spire 12 has the highest poverty rate of any of homeworld’s subdivisions.