“Entry”

"Good morning, Mr. Pathfinder."

"Your key?"

Darahyon rustled through his pockets until he unearthed a key card which held SODA's crest. Not too far behind him laid three full bags of luggage. The lady in front of him held a strict stare. Her thinned framed glasses squeezed tightly onto the thick bridge of her wrinkly nose. The lodging office was quiet today as the semester came to a close after yesterday's graduation ceremony. Not many students took up residence at the academy. Darahyon did not mind this though since this meant that the facilities were practically empty at night, however; this was all behind him now. With his school career completed, it was time to move on.

"Here you go," he said, looking at the little card one last time before it escaped his grip.

In what seemed like a blur, he found himself sitting on a bench in New Arkenheim's Metro Station.

There were tons of bustling footsteps which filled the station. Coughing, laughing, chatter and ringing. A stark difference to that of the school's dormant compound.

"Transit forty-five bound for Convergence Square."

Darahyon tilted his head up to the speakers above him. The near silent whoosh of the hyperloop forced his focus back to in front of him. The doors slid open and released the crowd from inside. The blinding white light coming from the interior of the train wooed Darahyon inside. He did nothing but observe the metro station succumb to the horizon.

"He's here!" Elise shouted, waving to Darahyon who was making his way to the entrance of the Convergance Complex.

The rest of the group stood from the benches which lined the exterior of the compound in anticipation of Darahyon's arrival. There was an influx of newly graduated gatherers entering through the gates. Darahyon emerged from the crowd and waved over to his friends.

Together, they entered Founder's building which sat at the centre of Jyrinion's capital city. The group strolled into the lobby, staring at the unique architecture.

Pillars stood at all five corners of the building with marvellous swirling towers peering down at the group. The sun shone through the blue tinted glass of the ceiling and reflected off the white marble floors. At the centre of the lobby, hung a pendulum, suspended by Ph2x cables which gradually shifted in response to Jyrinion's rotation.

"Show me your certificates," said the lobby assistant.

Everyone handed her their citizen chips.

She sat behind the counter, the blue light hitting her rounded glasses perfectly.

"So," she continued. "All of you are registering as gatherers?"

"Yes," Darahyon said.

"It seems here that you have not registered a formal name for your team," she added. "Therefore, you shall be defaulted to The Gatherers"

The teens threw a sharp glance at Elise. She had forgotten to submit their team name with the application. The group decided to name themselves 'Team Axis Two' after the famous team of gatherers that they all looked up to. That team singlehandedly broke all the records at the Convergence Complex and had been revered by the country. That was a name to live up to.

"I was rushing this morning," Elise said.

"Last time we let you have responsibility with anything," Hunter complained, rolling his eyes.

The assistant cleared her throat.

"You can apply to have your team name changed next week," she said, adjusting her glasses.

Everyone nodded at her before gazing, once again, at the pendulum. After recording their names into the database, the group received their ID chips.

"Head straight ahead through the double doors, turn left and you will find the locker rooms. You can change into your attire there," she instructed.

On the wall, stood three large rectangular screens. Put together, they formed one tremendous canvas which displayed the names of all the gatherers that were currently deployed. The group stood and peered up to the screens, waiting to see their names appear.

"There they are!��� Elise shouted, jumping up and down with excitement.

Everyone in the lobby stared at the group.

"Lower please," whispered Daniel.

Elise looked around at everyone and whispered, "Sorry".

They left the lobby and stood in front of a building perpendicular to the Founder's building which shared the same architectural characteristics. This building is solely dedicated to locker rooms. Every room had a sign, 1B, 2B, 3B and so forth.

"Which locker room are we assigned to again?" Jessica asked.

Hunter pulled out his badge and checked the back of it.

"Mine says 4C," he said.

"Same here," Jessica added.

The group looked at the map, which was virtually projected onto the side of the building.

"It's on the second floor," Darahyon said.

They all gathered onto the platform and huddled together.

"Take us to the second floor," Daniel commanded.

"Lifting," said the virtual assistant.

They elevated to the second floor and entered the room marked 4C.

It was a fairly massive space. The sun shone through the glass panes that lined the back of the room and highlighted a table which had a spread of items. On this table were uniforms that displays our unique, gatherer identification number on the pockets. Next to the clothing were technology that they had never seen before. Tiny chips which laid beside a fairly compact drive. The group made their way towards the table, curious of the spread.

"Hello, The Gatherers."

A blue beam emanated from the drive on the table and plastered itself against the wall behind the group.

"My name is Proxima Centauri," it said, in a static voice. "I am your intelligent companion for the duration of your careers. The items on the table in front of you are vital to your success as gatherers."

Elise practically had stars in her eyes as she witnessed this feat.

"Hi Proxima!" she screamed.

"Greetings, C4-565. Please refer to the chips and plug them into my drive. The special features contained within them will then be streamlined straight into the receiver banks located in your hippocampi."

The group turned back to the table, glancing down at the objects once more. Jessica picked up the chips and read the strange symbols at the back of them.

"One is a translator and the other is Proxima's codebase. I don't know what the rest of the chips mean."

She threw them into the drive and within a few seconds, the beam shut off completely. There was utter silence, until-

"Greetings, The Gatherers."

This took the group by surprise. The robotic sound which was once outside was now inside of their heads, their thoughts.

"Peculiar," said Daniel.

"This is very advanced tech," Jessica added.

"The Gatherers, you may prompt me by my default name, Proxima. I have access to Jyrinion's Intelligent Hive which will prove useful to you on missions. Please refer to my manual located in your shared cloud folder at any time."

After throwing on their new uniforms, the group took a minute to process what had just occurred. Proxima Centauri was just one of the thousands of intelligent companions that were assigned to every gatherer team. It served as a link, both between the members of any given team as well as to the Intelligent Hive. Jyrinion was praised for its advanced, linear infrastructure and the way it connected technology to its citizens. The possibilities were endless. An intelligent companion could instantly connect you to others, even from worlds away. Infinite information at your fingertips.

A sharp knock at the entrance to the C4 locker room knocked the group out of their stupor.

"I see you're settled in."

The group looked up to the door frame and standing there was a tall, fit guy who sported silky blonde hair. He stood with confidence. His uniform looked like theirs, though, his was themed orange and the group had uniforms which presented thin green stripes which wrapped around the torso area. Their outfits were predominantly black and fit very well to the form.

"Call me Chris." he added. "Follow me, I'll give you a tour".

Chris was an appointed employee of the complex. He led the group away from the building and through the main courtyard. Water shot out of the pipes, landing into the many fountains which scattered the premises. Chatter layered the courtyard as other Gatherers conversated on the benches that were placed every so often.

"What do you do here?" Elise asked, while trailing behind him.

"I show newbies like you all around the complex," he explained. "After I show you around, then you'll start your training."

The beauty of this place overwhelmed the group, they had never seen anything quite like it.

"Convergence Complex is gatherer headquarters. It was constructed in 1565KV and recently modified in 5004KV, following the war of Old Arkenheim. The war brought about mass destruction to the capital and its five complexes which included this one."

Chris led the group into another building.

"This is the Aridat Wing, named after its builder, William Aridat. Let me show you this neat room".

The intrigued group followed closely behind him. They stood onto another platform which descended about six floors underground.

"What is this secret room about?" Daniel asked.

"You'll see," Chris said, flashing a grin.

They stepped off the platform and walked through a brightly lit hallway of which at the end stood a large room. They peeked through the glass panel of the bulky door and noticed an assortment of wires as well as the faint sound of humming.

"This is the power room," he said. "Supplies the entire complex with power. Told you it was pretty neat right?"

"Can we go in?" asked Elise, her voice muffled due to her head being plastered against the glass.

"Sure," Chris replied.

"Are we allowed in there?" Daniel asked, clearly concerned.

"It's okay," said Chris with his key card in hand.

He swiped the card against the sensor next to the door and it came sliding open, making the humming noise more prominent. Darahyon, Hunter, Elise and Jessica trickled into the room. Daniel hesitated but entered as well. Hunter marvelled at the sophisticated energy system.

"Blonde guy was righ-"

The door slammed shut, trapping the group inside with Chris safely on the other side. He quickly locked the door and waved through the window.

"What gives!" Jessica shouted.

"Swipe the card!" Darahyon shouted, while banging the door.

Hunter sparked his relic and materialized the mighty Trial-Axe. Chris pulled out a current converter from his pocket and connected it to the metal door. A visible sheet of electricity scaled the surface area of the door until it consumed both sides.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," warned Chris. "This door is dummy proof. Touch it and you'll get fried."

Hunter disregarded this and made a running start towards the door. Darahyon and Jessica managed to grasp the material of his uniform before he made contact.

"Are you insane?" asked Darahyon.

"Let me do it!" Hunter screamed.

Chris' chuckles could be heard from the other side of the door until it eventually ceased and left him nowhere in sight. Hunter released himself from their grip and swung his axe against the door. The feedback knocked the large weapon from his hands and threw him against the pipes of the generator, knocking him out and reducing his axe back to a ring. Daniel and Darahyon both rushed to Hunter.

Raw energy scrambled out of the damaged generator pipe and danced freely throughout the enclosed room, making the lights flicker on and off.

Elise glanced around the danger zone and noticed the broken pipe which was hanging onto the ceiling by a thread. Without thinking, she whipped out her Tyranix and attempted to copy it. If modified with a non-conductive material, then it could be used to safely pry the door open. This failed miserably as a strong current blasted the Tyranix out of her hands mid-summon. The half-created pipe morphed into a strange and dark cyan box.

Jessica threw on her special gloves with the intent of reducing the energy in the room. Perhaps if she could draw power from the Aether then she could reverse the process as well. Elise rushed to grab the unknown box and as it entered her palms, time slowed, dimming the lights. A sharp gust of wind exited the box and swirled unnaturally around the room, forming a deep, menacing shadow onto the ceiling.

"My gloves!" shouted Jessica as they flew off her hands and up into the growing darkness.

It was as if the room shifted upside down, forcing the teens through the opened mouth of the hole which swallowed them completely; doomed to suffer the same fate as Jessica's gloves. The group went spiralling throughout the expanse within a beam of white light until they halted to a complete stop in pitch darkness, knocking every one of them unconscious. The darkness retreated as fast as it came, revealing rays of light that glistened onto a damp surface plastered with moss and the faint sounds of nearby wildlife.