The Story

The story is a brief summary of what had happened during the time of

## Book I - The Red Blitzkrieg

Deep within the blackness of the night an ominous storm brewed above Baskerville. Redened lightning surged inbetween the clouds until it lashed out at the unsuspecting individuals below. The first to be struck, a female named Valerie Blaire Lockwood, a nineteen year old social reject who aspired to be more than what society painted her out to be. The next one, a female named Seraphine. A princess with an attraction to the bad boys and girls. Then a male named Salpsan, a convict and common thug who only robbed and murdered. Following him was Drake, a fire fighter, visiting a sauna. He was a good soul gone bad. Afterwards, a male named Atticus who was another thug, he was hit with the red lightning giving him power over all of the world, time itself. After him, a female by the name of piper, she was a middle class civilian on a nightly jog when she was struck and the final one to get hit was a male by the name of Noah giving him power over video itself.

There used to be a light inside of Valerie, she was so beautiful and innocent. When she was struck by the lightning, she was currently being mugged. Fed up with the state of her section of the city she became enraged, grabbing the gun from the male who threatened her. When she did her power activated causing her to take the power of his smoke leaving them both disoriented. When they both fell to the floor she had grasped a chain and decided to choke the male out, shouting and telling him that he was part of the problem. She had killed him, once she had she had fallen over unconscious.

Noah a recluse, an ex gang member who lost his fire. All he knew how to do was sit inside of his home and play video games. He had fallen so far from who he was. When the lightning struck him through the game console he had played he would fall into a coma for the next six months, unconsciously making demons constructed from his mind while utilizing his power.

### ***Chapter I - The Phoenix Born from Hell***

A year after the catastrophic incident everyone had acquired a good grasp of how their power worked. Three gangs were established over the course of that year. The Lockwoods, Phoenix Force and The Renegade. Valerie had become a vigilante who operated at night, going under the alias of "The Inked Smoker" She was the leader of the Lockwoods. Drake Blood created The Phoenix Force and took the alias of "The Phoenix." He was feared by all the people within his district. Noah returned to claim his place back within his old gang by eliminating the boss. He had done just that and became

### ***Chapter III - The March of the Blood Stained God.***

*"My father took me to this sacred city when I was a young girl, I grasped his hand when I asked him who had control in this world... And where is heaven?"*

 Cold air filled with the screams and shouts of dread and terror. The government soldiers, the PCU were paying for the creature they let out. It had hunted down other powers. The neutrals, the PCU and the gang members that had filled the wastelands of Baskerville. A siren resounded in the air to call for reinforcements. But she was the virtuoso of murders and crime scenes. She was a self fulfilling prophecy, only interested in erasing everything. Her name was Regina Caldwell, and she was an apex predator. "Don't move and you won't get hurt." A PCU officer asked her, it seemed he was a power as well. "A sea of desperate dreams." She spoke gazing upon the ocean in front of her. Mere moments later, Gavin came upon them. The PCU power hovered in the air, dripping blood before he shattered like glass. She hadn't looked at Gavin, but she told him to leave her sight. He had obviously taken offense by how she spoke down to him. As a result he had challenged her which she dismissed but he was adamant in fighting her.

At the end of all the dust and destruction, Gavin laid defeated, while she stood unscathed. She had severed his arm and tossed him off the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea. With broken ribs and a dismembered arm, Gavin's fate was left unknown. As Regina walked away she notice she was being spied on by Adam Lockwood. She looked towards him giving him a cold stare as to tell him if he approached her, he too would share the fate of Gavin.

## Book II - Soul of the Abyss, Heart of Heaven

The pendulum swings slowly. Images of the past stretch across the wall playing like an endless video, the battles of Baskerville. Victories and defeats lost to time yet, they left small echoes in history. Fleeting dreams, monsters laid deep within the shadows of their minds. Defenders, Assailants, Saviors, Monsters, Heroes and Villains. Time moves for everyone of them, all but one.

A tale left asleep at the deep sea, a children's tale...  A heartbreaking destiny of light and dark with bloodied history swirling between the gears. And so the gears of destiny turn once again, following in the footsteps of their ancestors. They march to the end of the world with the memory of that blood.

### ***Prologue - The Ancestral Gears of Sin***

Countless uprooted dead trees hung over a pathway like an arc. Their broken branches resembling the thorns of a rose. A blue haired girl walked down this lonesome snow covered pathway until she had reached a cave. She had entered the cave and carried a torch of some sort which cackled with a vibrant orange flame. Strange drawings were scrawled along the walls in blood while skeletons littered the pathway. At the very end of it there seemed to be a wide open room with a bed simply in the center. A small desk nearby had a candle placed upon it which revealed part of the figure's body. The blue haired girl hung the torch upon the wall and bowed in a submissive position. "I have returned, Boss." The figure looked up, directly at her, shadows draped over it's upper body. "What is it, Katya?" The figure spoke, it sounded as if multiple people spoke at once.

It had closed the book it was reading and edged out of the bed and walked towards her. Once it entered the light of her torch it's shirtless body stared down on her. Around his abdomen was a large diagnol scar which traced to his back. The very sight of his masculine form left Katya in awe. "Katya." He spoke in a sterner voice. "Sorry, boss..." She snapped back to reality for a moment. The shadowy man turned his back on her and began walking away. Right at the base of her neck on the left side was a birthmark, it looked like a serpent eating it's own tail. Katya found her words as fast as she could. "The Lockwood institute has been established and The powers have managed to secure their own continent... And after the -" She was cut off by the shadowy figure. The cracking of his bones was louder than her words, the sight she had saw frightened her. Her master's form changed, He had become a she. Katya had made illegible noises as she tried to figure out what happened. "What is it... Katya..?" His voice also became more feminine. "This is my original form..." The shadowy figure observed her own body, it was littered with scars. She walked forward and submerged herself in the icy spring that poured into the cave. "Begone, Katya... I'm nearly healed, I will come to you when I want your report." The shadowy female gave Katya a cold stare. Her heterochromatic eyes glew, letting a reflection move across the surface of the water as she submerged herself.

Katya continued to stare in amazement, but left once she felt Malice oozing off of her master. "The new semester starts today... I wonder what he -- er, she was so concerned about... What do you think, In This Moment?" Katya stopped and looked back at a floating pink haired female behind herself. "..." The figure said nothing, simply stared down at Katya. Katya had chuckled in response. "All right, let's not be late for our first day at the Lockwood institute!" She shouted while the female "In this moment" Picked her up and dashed off. "256 Miles." the Soul Drive spoke silently in her monotone, nearly robotic voice.