Prologue

Among the Five Great Academies of the Galactic North Frontier, the Tower of Millennium was famous for Psionic powers. On top of that, the Tower was backed by the intergalactic Cult of Gaia, the galaxy's richest and most well-accepted environmentalist-religious entity. Graduating from the Tower practically guaranteed acceptance as an inner court disciple of the Cult. Many famous high ranking officers of the Cult of Gaia graduated from the Tower.

Therefore it was no surprise that a huge fanfare accompanied this year's intake day. Millions of applicants aged 5-7 from star systems around the Galactic North Frontier (and even some from the Galactic North-East Frontier) had been filtered, sorted, and replied; on this day, ten thousand approved applications arrived at the Starport of Flora III, the Forest World, for the Entrance Exam.

Only one thousand of them would actually enroll into the Tower as students.

On this day, five year old Cody Rivers was brought to the Lower Starport by his father. "Where is the Assessment for the Tower of Millennium?" his father asked an information console.

A holographic map popped up, with a blinking red star marking the spot.

"It's up there on the Orbital Starport." Dad studied the map. "It's actually on a ship, the CSS Kottos. Can you tell me what sort of ship it is?"

Cody read the information console and said, "It's a Cruiser. It's just as big as your big cat ship."

"Actually, mine's bigger…" Dad insisted.

"But this one is longer." Cody protested.

"Mine's taller, and broader, and it has paws!" Dad went on.

They boarded a carriage on the space elevator, taking it from the Lower Starport to the Orbital Starport where the bigger ships were docked. The Orbital Starport was packed today, and there were lines leading up to the CSS Kottos that were literally thousands long.

"This is going to take a while." Dad grimaced.

"Like Mom said. We're late." Cody grimaced, too. With the same dark brown hair and eyes, and such a strong resemblance in their faces, Cody was able to make the exact same face as his dad.

Dad let out a laugh, seeing his expression mirrored. "Let's go get lunch."

There were a lot of people at the food court where they opted to get lunch. There was an overwhelming amount of parents and children about. As they were eating, a particularly large boy shoved a smaller, frightened-looking girl sideways. "Get away from me, you fish-girl!"

The girl was thin and seemed a bit clumsy as she walked. Being shoved like that, she stumbled, spilling some of her drink on top of Cody.

"Hey!" Cody got to his feet.

"I'm sorry…!" the girl gasped. Silver hair framed deep blue eyes that looked at Cody worriedly.

"Not you!" Cody turned to the bigger guy. "Watch it!"

"Heh." The bigger guy didn't seem to care, simply stomping on his way through the food court.

The girl shivered. "I'll… I'll get some paper towels…"

"It's okay." Cody shrugged it off. "Do you need a table?"

"Um… yeah." She admitted. It was very crowded indeed.

"Come join us." Cody invited. "I'm Cody."

"Laila." They shook hands.

"Jerome." Dad introduced himself as well. "Laila, are you here on your own?"

"No, my sister brought me." Laila said. "She's over there."

Cody turned to see another silver haired girl surrounded by admiring guys competing for her attention. "Oh. She seems popular."

"She usually is." Laila agreed. "Where are you from?"

"Right here. Flora III." Cody said. "Or actually… down there. You?"

"Ocearan." Laila supplied.

"So that's why he called you a fish-girl!" Cody realized. "Uh… sorry. No offense meant."

"None taken."

They went to the assessment together, Laila half-stumbling the entire way. She really wasn't very used to walking on dry land, it seemed. They went through the IQ tests in Virtual Reality Spheres. They climbed ropes and jumped obstacles and even swam for a bit in the physicals test (Laila totally aced the swimming part, but Cody beat everyone in their batch at climbing). Then they went for their Psionics Test.

"Just put a hand on a handle, and don't move." The instructor told them.

They were in a batch of ten for this round, coming up to a row of vertical handlebars. Cody took hold of one, and a sudden thick beam of light shot up out of the handle.

"Wow!" Cody stared in amazement.

Other beams shot upwards. Some were thin. Some were thicker. Laila's was very thick too.

"Look at those numbers!" One examiner nudged another.

"Incredible." The other examiner said. "Is he… watching?"

Just then, a side door opened and out walked a tall, skinny man in a dark green armor and a deep purple cloak. He pointed to Cody and Laila. "Those two are coming with me."

"Lord Hades…! It's an honor to meet you…" the instructor began.

"NOW!" Hades snapped.

Without further ado, the instructors grabbed Cody and Laila by the hands and hauled them off to the side room.

"Huh? Hey! What's going on?" Laila asked.

"Um… teachers?" Cody queried hesitantly.

"Quiet!" the instructors said, their faces cold.

Laila got frightened. "No! Let me go! Let me go!"

Cody wasn't quite so scared at first, but then they went into another room where there were huge machines, and people plugged in to them, and needles and tubes everywhere…

"Process them." Hades instructed.

Laila started screaming. Cody likewise, began to panic. "Stop! What are you doing?! No!"

They fought. Laila bit down, scratching the instructor holding on to her. Cody kicked, flailing with his fists wildly, scoring a direct hit on someone's glasses.

"Stop that!" Cody's instructor let him go for a moment to ward him off. Laila's dropped her entirely.

Abruptly, an invisible pressure flooded the room. Cody and Laila fell to their hands and knees, unable to stand up straight any more. Hades turned toward them and narrowed his eyes. The pressure doubled, and both of them were pinned down on the ground.

"What… why…?" Cody gasped.

"It is an honor for you to be chosen by Lord Hades!" one instructor said in an aggrieved manner, rubbing his arm where Laila bit him. "He is the most powerful Psionic in the galaxy!"

"But… what are you…"

"Relax. It will all be over soon." They came again, and Cody did not like the looks in their eyes. "No one will even know you were gone."

"No!" Cody struggled, and something burst out from him. The pressure lifted for a moment, and then he was on top of the instructors…

They threw him back down to the ground. The pressure came back, and Cody found himself facing Laila, their gazes meeting, their eyes wild.

"Help! HELP! Kidnap!" Laila screamed.

"Do it." Hades ordered again.

In desperation, Cody found himself clutching Laila's hand, something in him likewise linking with something in her, and then there was another outburst, and the pressure was thrown back across the room, and Hades stumbled back, and the instructors stumbled back, and the machines shook in place, several alarms and red lights going off all around the room.

"Enough!" Hades thundered, and then the world seemed to spin around. He strode right through the chaos, laid his hands on each of them, and then ripped them apart both physically and Psionically.

"Cody!" the last thing Cody saw that day was his Dad charging into the room furiously.

Then, everything went black.