Sitting on a gigantic white cloud was the mysterious figure of Exodus. His hourglass in one hand and a pack of coins in the other hand. He still had no idea how to use them but nonetheless he liked the structure. Being a fictitious character without any information in his brain, he had to start from scratch.
"Exodus!" he heard a voice call him. He cranned his neck from side to side in search of the voice but all in vain.
"I'm in your mind, so you can't see me. You can only hear me," clarified the voice.
"From now on, you'll be called Mark Angel. I bestow you with knowledge of everything apart from humanity. Summon the rest of your surbodinates using the hourglass and the coins in that bag," explained the voice.
Exodus glanced at the two items in his hand and did as told. He held the hourglass on which on top of it was a small roundish gap, the size of a coin. Retrieving a random coin from the black mini bag, he fixed it on the hourglass. The hourglass twirled a few times before releasing a blinding light.
The light gradually faded revealing a young teenage looking hunk dressed in a pair of casual pants and a black t-shirt. His blue eyes glowed as he scanned his surroundings in confusion. Meanwhile, Exodus could only view the young creature through his hourglass.
"Those will be your creations. I now crown you King of Mobodoon. This will be our last time we meet, remember to kill all Maltimores. Humanity is the enemy," concluded the voice before it left.
"Yes, humanity is the enemy!" Exodus repeated the last words. Looking at the small creature, he said, "I bestow you an identity from now on you'll only serve me. Remember a Maltimore is an enemy!"
Like a robot, the creature repeated, " A Maltimore is an enemy."
Just like that Mobodoon was created with all the villains in the comic Villains Era under the control of Exodus who was crowned King by a mysterious voice.
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Back in PCC, the night workers somehow got alerted and headed towards the processing area only to find the character screens empty like blank without designs. How could characters suddenly vanish into thin air?
The best IT workers tried retrieving the copies of the characters from the server clouds but they barely found anything.
The security managers checked the cameras that were installed all around the company but to their surprise, everything looked normal and that none had entered the company. Who could the culprit be? It was already chaotic for most of the readers and PCC supporters were eargerly waiting for the final release of the comic after the trailer.
Toppled with that, the founder of PCC laid in the hospital bed unconscious barely breathing and surviving the help of oxygen. Click, clack, click went the keyboards as the IT workers did their best to check for the designs taking turns with the day workers who had already arrived before their actual time.
It was almost 6am in the morning but the workers in PCC had already lost track of time with the brewing chaos which needed quelling. Around 7:30am, a meeting was called in the large conference hall located at the second floor of PCC tower. The heads of each department occupied the seats murmuring each with a pair of dark circles beneath their eyes. None seemed to have had a good sleep.
The main chair which belonged to Old Dafour was empty. Suddenly, the door to the meeting hall burst open and in emerged the imposing secretary of Old Dafour where two teenagers tailed behind him.
The room suddenly quietened as they looked at the new guests. Some of the employees knew Yohan who went by the name Sage however, the boy beside Yohan was a mystery to them.
Just as an instinct, Ares sat on the remaining empty chair which belonged to Old Dafour and lazily leaned on it. The resemblance of him and Old Dafour didn't escape their eyes. However, judging from his looks he looked inexperienced and for a moment they wondered, "Was the company handed down to a kid?"
However, this could only be in thoughts and none dared to say it out loud. The other shareholders weren't notified for fear of the news going public. In absence of Old Dafour, his secretary who was also his right hand man became in charge. As for the time being, the secretary had the final say.
The long yet supposed to be brief meeting finally ended though not peacefully. Ares and Yohan exited the company however, Ares's mind reeled with lots of thoughts. Questions like 'Was it the end of freedom?' 'How I'm I going to handle such a large company?' ' How did the characters disappear?' Appeared in his mind.
Nonetheless, all of them went unanswered. Yohan who walked beside him had a faint smile on his face as he gazed at Ares's lost gaze. Tapping on his shoulder he encouraged, "It's going to be ok...It's just a temporary problem."
However, none knew that the so regarded temporary problem would turn out to be an eternity problem. Ares looked tired for he had spent his night at the hospital pacing to and fro, standing and sitting while he waited for the results for his grandpa's diagnosis.
The two friends drove to their favourite cafe situated near their Academy, Blackendo. Heading inside, Ares excused himself and headed to the bathroom to wash his face. In the bathroom, Ares splashed water on his face to keep himself awake. Raising his head to look at his reflection in the mirror, he saw a couple of words scribbled on the mirror.
Ares was so shocked that he speechlessly. He closed his eyes trying to calm his chaotic mind, giving himself a prep talk, "It's a hallucination. Don't worry, all you need to do is breath in and out."
Following his words, Ares took a deep breath in with his eyes still closed and exhaled then opened his eyes only to be welcomed by a smiling reflection of him which he was sure he didn't make those reactions.
"Hello, Ares Maltimore, it's a pleasure to meet you," said the reflection in the mirror.