"Once again! I know you can do it!" An old man with a long white beard could be heard screaming from several miles away. He had a stick in his hand, ready to strike anyone who moved the slightest out of line.
Such was the daily routine over at the Maya Academy. The place where the top 'defenders' trained and got ready to face the world that had inherently become a warzone since the past half-century. The world had been thrown into chaos the moment these otherworldly 'aliens' had arrived, bringing along the calamities. What once was thought to be a scientific advancement - the development of the human race, was instead just the beginning of the downfall. And to finally freak it all even further, humans were now somehow able to tap inside their had always existed but were dormant qualities - powers, abilities to be superhumans powered by the mana that was now a part of human biology. Truly mindboggling.
And so, fifty years past that one fateful fall, humans had figured out a way to keep their Earth theirs. These mana-user superhumans were the only ones who were able to damage the 'aliens' and so were these training centres like the ever-prestigious Maya Academy were opened across the globe.
Kaiden had known only this about the Earth's history. His only world had always been this academy, where he admittedly was one of the weak users. His powers - an ability to manipulate time itself was one of the rare ones. But just having a cool ability did not guarantee him being powerful.
So he trained, even though he hated it. Trained every day from four am to evening just to balance out his physical strength for the lack of his mystical ones.
The sun rose over the Maya Academy, casting a warm glow over the sprawling grounds, the air crackled with anticipation as they prepared for another day of rigorous training, their minds focused on the challenges that awaited them.
Master Ravi surveyed the group, his voice booming across the arena.
"Well, since you all are now done with the drills, let us begin the test." Master Ravi said as he moved towards one of the arena's exit gates.
The test happened each year, and each year Kai numbered as one of the top tens solely relying on his physical strength. The test was nothing but a stimulation of the inside of an actual convergence. The aliens were all artificial and did less harm to the students than the actual ones would. But it was hard, where their powers were reduced, their numbers had increased.
Everyone lined up behind Master Ravi, their weapons out, mana recovered, head held high. Kaiden held his bow up, his leather quiver heavy with the arrows he had sharpened the night before, and set off into the dimension pocket along with others.
"What do you think they've made this time?" Asked Arun. He was taller than Kai, and more powerful too with his longsword and infused fire ability. One of the finest of the academy.
Kaiden thought for a moment - last year when he had faced the Hydralians for the first time, he had thought he would die before his eighteenth birthday. But he clearly hadn't passed away.
"How would I know?" Kai rolled his eyes and left.
Inside the dimension was a new world every year, this time a rainforestesque abandoned cityscape. Maybe it was a replica. The buildings were almost real, they had climbed up one of the medium-sized ones - tall enough to keep watch and short enough to run in case of an emergency.
There were almost 60 of them in his batch. Six groups of tens were scattered around the landscape, and the top tens were each sent with on team.
No one wanted Kai.
"Ughh, what I wouldn't do to not have you with us!" Their so-called "leader" - Ash screamed. He definitely had a death wish.
"Fine then." Kai shrugged leaving his position at the top as the range support, "Don't call for me when you die." And left the building.
"What the f***! Ash! Why would you do that?!"
"Ash Martin if we die-"
"You stupidass f***** bimbo!!"
Kaiden smiled as he took a stance on one of the windows. He couldn't leave them alone, this was being graded after all.
And then he saw them. The black masses - Umbrals or shadow monsters. There were five types of these aliens one from each planet depicting their own element - Umbrals for Shadow, Hydralians for Water, Lumins for Light, Firekin for Fire of course and lastly Humans from Earth. But their appearances and powers often varied. Like he himself was a human but with time powers.
He had never encountered Umbrals before. The black masses floated towards them like some huge storm cloud. Kai notched one arrow into his bow, string taught ready to shoot. He could hear his teammates pacing and running around upstairs.
Ugh, he really had to do everything by himself, didn't he?
"Useless." Kai muttered as he released the arrow. It struck its mark. Of course, it did. An umbral only had one weakness they had learned, their necks. The rest of their body was just air. Weird alien biology or whatever. He knew he had to take down most of them before they got close. Closer, they were deadlier, faster. And a trainee like him wouldn't be able to handle them. Let alone the ones above.
As the first Umbral fell to Kaiden's shot, he quickly notched another arrow, his movements fluid and practised. The Umbrals were relentless, their shadowy forms swirling and shifting as they closed in on Kaiden and his teammates.
He had to get back upstairs he knew that. But he just couldn't leave right now. If he took more than a few minutes, they would all lose.
Suddenly, a shrill cry echoed through the abandoned cityscape as one of the members- Rocky, fell, a dark tendril of shadow wrapping around his ankle and dragging him towards the ground. Kai leapt out the window and caught Rocky's hand.
"Kai, help!" Rocky screamed scared. Fuck, and so was Kai. This didn't happen. Never happened in any stimulation. The enemy always attacked, never took anything back. Maybe they had updated the tech?
Kai shook his head - think later, act first. And started pulling Rocky up. But it was of no use. One man against five-something aliens was an obvious lost fight. If he let go, Rocky would be alright, wouldn't he? And it would give Kai some time to go back up. Sure they'd lose a few points but otherwise, Rocky wouldn't be hurt much.
He explained Rocky his plan as fast as he could and the red-haired screamed back, "I get it! Win this for our team please, Kai!" And pushed his hand away.
Crash!
Kai quickly ran upstairs only to find his team all surrounded by the black mass. Ash spotted him and started screaming, "Kai! Kai! Get away from here! This isn't normal!" He shook, "Please- it's- this-" A tendril was wrapping around his throat making him unable to speak and yet Ash screamed with mouthful of blood pouring down his throat.
Kai was terrified.
"Kai- please run!" Snap!
Kai ran, didn't care at all to look behind. This wasn't a stimulation anymore- this was life and death. How was this possible, could be answered later, if they made it out alive somehow.
His heart pounded as he sprinted through the abandoned cityscape, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
He had to get to the rest of his classmates, and soon. What if they didn't know about this? What if they all had also- No, they wouldn't. There were nine others out there way stronger than him. They'd be fine.
Crash!
Kai step-sided a falling lampost. God, they were chasing him. He had to get away somehow fast. With each step, Kai pushed himself harder, his muscles burning with exertion. He knew that time was running out, and that he needed to find a way to escape before it was too late. And then, just as he rounded a corner, he saw them - Arun and his team. The strongest ones!
He thanked his luck and sprinted towards their direction. One of them - Kaila, had noticed him, "Kaiden! Quickly, there's something wrong with this-"
But she was cut off by a huge roaring sound.