[Title Hidden]

Altin, Eléonore, Julien, and Paul stayed silent.

For Eléonore, it was the first time meeting Jurgen, but she had long heard of him. The man fitted every description she'd heard: crazy, maniac, antipathetic, sadic.

They had no chance of survival if all the crowd started firing at them.

Altin was silently readying the handgun Sergeant Aster had given him. If he were to die, he would bring down Jurgen before he did.

But what were the children doing here?

"I didn't see any point in keeping you alive until I saw your powers at work. So I'll give you one chance." Jurgen said.

He paused.

"Join us, or get a bullet in the head."

Altin's determination flinched. By firing at Jurgen, he would cause the death of everyone. What if he surrendered?

But the idea of working for him horrified him even more than death.

Jurgen saw hesitation showing up on the faces of the kids, so he said: "You see, I'm a practical person. After meeting you kids, I've realized how useful it could be to have ability users in my team. You've shown me that you are very capable toys, so it's in my best interest, and so your interest, to join me."

Eléonore suddenly remembered her guess back when they escaped the black hole. That ability users were among the assailants. But she dared not say anything.

However, Altin dared: "The black hole... the jamming... so it was your -"

Jurgen interrupted him; "Yes. A wonderful plan, right? I managed to kidnap a few useful kids and had them set up the jamming. Then, in the same night, other toys triggered a black hole anomaly at the police station. Blinded and taken by surprise, it was then a piece of cake to take the station."

He was obviously taking immense pride in his achievements, so he continued: "It made the town a safe haven for a free world where we would do anything we wanted. So naturally, free from interferences, like-minded people started to come here, and soon enough, we took every boy and girl hostage in the town. It was easy. With the police decimated and the inability to seek help, the townspeople who hadn't left didn't dare to struggle.

"No one can enter nor leave this town without us knowing. Some tried, but we killed them before they could exit the jammed area.

"We knew that somebody would eventually come looking for the deceased officers."

Jurgen laughed at this thought. "You've seen the bodies, haven't you? Pretty, uh?"

Altin wanted to vomit. This fu*ki*g psychopath!

"Mind you; you aren't the first to come looking. Did you know? No? I guess the government is a real mess now. Every time, we have to clean up the traces—what a pain.

"You fell right into my trap hahahahaha."

Jurgen laughed crazily.

Julien felt like crying.

It was all true. They had fallen right into his trap. Now that Julien thought of it, it was obvious. There were signs too... The crime going down around Paris, and the people's reaction when they arrived here -- everything made sense.

"You - Altin - I have no idea how you survived. But considering your performances today, I am not too surprised."

"However.... YOU!" Jurgen pointed his finger at Julien. "Come here."

Julien hesitated.

"Yes! Come here!" Jurgen shot a warning shot in the air with his sniper.

Julien finally moved, and he walked till nearly reaching Jurgen.

"You can't do anything useful, right? I know. I've been watching, remember? " Jurgen mocked; Julien stayed silent.

Jurgen then turned to Altin, Eléonore and Paul. "Do you know why you will obey me?"

He raised his sniper toward Julien, said: "Just like every people. Because if you don't, well, somebody you care about dies. Even if the army comes, they'll let us live in peace here. We have a decent number of hostages after all." Jurgen looked meaningfully at the children assembled in the courtyard. "And they have other nuts to crack after all."

"Now, do you know why my men are happy here?" Jurgen said, smiling, motioning toward the criminals around him.

"They do whatever they want. Killing, raping, stealing - it's all fine. This is a free world. UTOPIA!" Jurgen screamed.

"UTOPIA!" More screams followed.

"UTOPIA!" The criminals in the courtyard repeated.

"UTOPIA!"

"UTOPIA!"

Finally, the cheering ceased.

A child kept captive cried loudly.

One of the men heard it and ruthlessly slammed his rifle against the child's head.

The child fell unconscious, bleeding...

Eléonore, Altin, Julien, and Paul saw everything.

It was all so sad... so horrifying.

It awoke into Altin a renewed will to fight. This wasn't right. Something had to be done. He thought to himself: "If only I were strong enough. If only I were powerful like Eternitus. But I just have one gun; what can I do against a hundred man? What can I do? WHAT CAN I DO !!!"

The guilt of being powerless ravaged Altin.

"Now, you'll have to do something for me if you want to join me, you see," Jurgen said. "Castor, bring them here," Jurgen ordered to one of the nearest men.

The latter left the courtyard, and a minute later, he was back with three people bound by ropes.

It was Henry, Emma, and Riana - what remained of the radio squad. Judging from their bruises, they had been violently beaten.

"You recognize them?" Jurgen asked Altin, Eléonore, and Paul with his trademark demi-smile, a clear sign of provocation.

"One each. Kill one each, and you would have proven your royalty. We need no coward among us."

"Noooooooo!" Henry screamed.

"Spare us!" Emma lamented

"We'll do everything you say!" Riana pleaded.

"YOU, THE GIRL, GO TO CASTOR TO TAKE HIS GUN. NOW!!!"

It was too much for Altin. He would never let Eléonore be forced to kill... her smile would never survive this. A daring idea came.

He did not have the power alone to change the situation. But with the orb... he fell confident he could draw more power. However, the orb was kept in Interoutes camp for research, but couldn't he summon it as he did unconsciously last time? He furiously came up with a plan.

He murmured to Paul and Eléonore, next to him, so that nobody else could hear: "Paul, Eléonore.... there's a way. But you'll have to trust me. It's the only way to save everyone.

"Eléonore, go along for now. Break the gun when you hold it. It'll be a good enough distraction. You can do that... yes?" Altin asked.

Eléonore was scared to death. Trembling all over, she muttered a meager, "Yes..." with her teeth chattering.

"Trust me.

"Paul, when Eléonore holds the gun, creates a black hole anomaly, no more than a one-meter cube. I'll dive in there... hide. You have to hold it steady for a full minute! Can you do that??? "

Paul nodded: "I'm letting you be the hero only once," he said jokingly with a sad smile. He would follow Altin's idea, but he had given up on escaping alive from this.

Like Altin, he had already resolved not to obey Jurgen. He did not want to kill people - he would rather die than doing his bidding.

So Paul was convinced they would all die here.

"GO, NOW!" Jurgen shouted again, urging Eléonore to go.

Eléonore waited no further: she walked away, up to Castor, which held Henry, Riana, and Emma in line of his rifle.

Altin lost not a single moment.

He started to look for the orb's presence, just how he had done subconsciously by calling out the string force back in the garage. However, he only gently looked for the orb, as summoning it would create a vortex that wouldn't go unseen... for now.

Paul, on his side, was already channeling the string force in this head, doing the best he could.

"What's your name?" Castor asked Eléonore. She stood next to him, slightly bent, afraid.

"Eléonore," she struggled to say.

"Then, Eléonore, take this gun. Aim at the boy. The loudest."

With trembling hands, she took the gun. As she did, she remembered Altin's request, "Break the gun."

Holding the gun in her hands, she made the hammer of the weapon vibrated. It was a delicate exercise.

She heard a satisfying crack.

Then, taking a deep breath, she aimed at Henry.

"Noooo! Please!!! Eléonore! Please!!!" The latter screamed.

"FIRE!" Jurgen ordered.

Eléonore pressed the trigger. But although the trigger was pressed, nothing happened. The hammer was indeed broken (* the hammer of a gun is a piece of metal connected to the trigger, which, like its name indicates, is responsible for hammering the bullet in the chamber, thus enabling the shot to light up and go).

"It doesn't work!" Eléonore said aloud, doing her best to look surprised.

Jurgen frowned.

"It WORKS! Press the damn trigger, or...!" Castor warned. He had fired with the gun just earlier, and he did not want to provoke Jurgen's displeasure. The man was ruthless.

"I swear! It doesn't work... ! I swear! You can... you can kill me if I lie!" Eléonore pleaded to her captive.

She did not seem to be lying.

Doubting, Castor took the gun, aimed at the sky, and pressed the trigger.

It indeed didn't fire.

He became puzzled. Since when did his gun stop working? He tried again and again, no luck.

Displeased with the events, Jurgen finally lowered the sniper, ceasing to threaten Julien, and walked towards Castor to try the gun himself.

But at that very moment...

"Paul, now!" Altin murmured.

Immediately, a small dark hole appeared next to Altin, and the latter immediately dived in.

Gaps in the crowd alerted Jurgen.

He looked, saw the black hole but did not see Altin.

"WHERE IS HE?" He asked Paul, who was motionless next to the black hole.

Paul ignored what Altin was planning, but he knew he had to play along. "I don't know!" He said. "He disappeared all of a sudden!"

He needed to hide the fact that it was he who created the black hole.

"Altin... it's up to you now..." Paul prayed silently.

---

Thankfully, the distraction brought by Eléonore's play had got Altin time to dive into the black hole as soon as it appeared. And once inside, Altin immediately ran far from its entry point for fear that Jurgen sent men after him or even shot through the entry.

He ignored if summoning the orb was even possible inside a black hole anomaly, but the orb was his only shot at gaining enough powers to do something.

He didn't really know where the orb was, but he had spent the last minute searching his "connection" to his orb. It was a mysterious feeling, almost like a memory gently pulling at him. It was faint, and so he had needed time to find it among the various string interferences he felt in the town.

Now, he was directly pulling at this mysterious feeling without restraint.

And indeed... he felt the connection growing stronger.

Altin was now entirely focused on summoning the orb and quickly forgot about everything else.

---

"SHOOT AT THE BLACK HOLE!" Jurgen ordered.

Paul hurriedly moved away from it.

He prayed Altin wouldn't get hit inside.

Few of Jurgen's men hesitated.

Bullets rained directly inside the black hole.

The bullets that went one side were not coming out of the other side.

After a few seconds of shooting, Jurgen decided that it was enough. He shouted: "STOP FIRING!"

He aimed his gun at Julien once more and warned Paul: "If one more funny thing happens, your friend is dead."

Then Jurgen turned to a group of men behind Paul, said: "Aim at him and shot if he moves a single inche."

Paul gulped. He had clearly heard the thread.

Finally, now turning to yet another group, Jurgen ordered: "Find the girl who controls the black holes. She's probably still in the police station. Fetch her now."

Then, to Paul, Julien, and Eléonore, Jurgen said: "I don't know what your friend plans, but he'll soon be killed...or trapped forever. So don't be stupid like him. Join Utopia."

---

Altin had heard bullets whistling as he continued to summon the orb. It had disturbed him, but he had kept at the task.

Fortunately, perhaps because Jurgen ignored the actual internal structure of a black hole and thus neglected its infinite size, Altin hadn't been touched by any bullet.

It finally happened: fully formed, a vortex had spanned next to Altin, and the orb laid there.

Although Altin could not see it in the darkness, he knew exactly where it was, for the connection was now fully opened.

He held it with both hands.

Immense energy came.

It was like when he first held the orb in the former Hub of the 5th force association. By then, the crowd of the 5th force association had been shocked by the results he had displayed while in possession of the orb.

Looking back, he had always been connected to the orb: only, he had yet to awaken his latent talent and learn to control the string force.

Now... back in possession of the orb, Altin felt he could do anything. It was as if the orb would do what he willed.

He smiled, only to immediately tighten his jaw. He realized that the moment he came out, he would have to kill every man of Jurgen before they could react and kill his friends or even the children.

Was he ready?

Altin clenched his fists.

Too many things had happened. Too many deaths he had witnessed.

François.

Mrs. Durand.

The dead officers in the armory.

Private Bambi.

Private Marlo.

Corporal Rico.

And finally, Sergeant Aster.

And if he did nothing, Eléonore, Julien and Paul would either die or become murderers.

And Henry, Emma, and Riana of the radio squad.

And all those teens and children...

ALL OF THEM! !!!

ALL OF THEM!

"JURGEN, I WON'T LET YOU... !"

Rage replaced hesitation.

Altin held the orb, and exited the black hole.

He had been next to an anomaly exit all along.

All of a sudden, he reappeared in real space.

Holding the orb, he instinctively sent arcs of electricities towards any person holding a metallic weapon.

Every man holding a weapon was momentarily paralyzed, earning Altin a few seconds under the stunned eyes of the crowd, including Eléonore, Julien, and Paul - too shocked to move.

With pure hate and rage, he looked at Jurgen.

He was laughing and defiantly looking back, slowly raising his stiff and numbed arm holding his weapon...

But before Jurgen could extricate himself from the numbness, Altin sent a disintegration ray towards him.

Jurgen disappeared out of thin air, his atoms returning to nature.

But his laugh seemed to echo to no end in Altin's mind.

This day would haunt him forever.

Not stopping after killing Jurgen, Altin disintegrated ruthlessly any man with a weapon in the courtyard.

Although Altin acted quickly and decisively, within 5 seconds, some recovered from the paralysis.

They fled.

But Atin didn't let them.

He killed on sight remorselessly.

He had seen enough.

He had seen too much.

He would not second-guess his acts, not now.

He flew in the air.

It was his first time.

But it was effortless to him.

The orb was helping him: he only needed to will to fly in a direction, and he would fly.

There 150 meters above ground, he disintegrated half of the antenna on the school's roof. He saw kids at the bottom of the antenna running in all directions, surprised by the turn of events.

He also saw other men running away from the school: the same men who had run after his friends and the alpha team as they escaped the station.

He did not spare them.

Altin flew after them and methodically disintegrated them.

After sweeping the streets nearest to the school, he stopped.

It was then.

Two helicopters were coming towards him.

Altin immediately identified them as two "Puma," two medium helicopters for troops transportation.

The sight brought Altin back to his senses.

Taking in the full consequences of what he had just done, Altin felt suddenly tired and guilty. He had never killed anyone before. Yet today, more than a hundred died at his hands.

What would people think of what he did?

Altin was lost in thoughts: "Did I really have to kill? Oh my god... I... Did I really kill them?"

For a moment, Altin didn't know what to do.

He stood there, in the air, motionless.

Then...

Altin felt an immense wave of string energy washing through him, comparable to when Eternitus had manifested himself in the mysterious dimension where Altin was lost.

Next, a massive black hole appeared far from him, perhaps a kilometer in radius, high in the sky.

It was the largest Altin had ever seen.

Shocked by the turn of events, he stayed in the air and waited.

The black hole was like an ominous dark sun. It projected a shadow all over the town.

Everyone from the ground to the air stared at it in trepidation.

A dot emerged from the black hole, then two.

The dots swiftly flew towards Altin.

Soon enough, the dots became silhouettes; the silhouettes became humanoid.

However, in the middle of their flight, they paused to look at the helicopters.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, one of the silhouettes motioned toward the two helicopters.

BOOOM!

They exploded.

Altin felt his heart tightening. Who did he know in these helicopters? What's worse, he had a sinking feeling that the two beings were far stronger than even him with the orb.

As if it was a casual act to carry out, the two humanoid beings resumed flying to Altin until they were barely 20 meters from him. They and Altin observed each other.

Both beings could have been considered humans if it weren't for their extraordinary paleness and their large, dark eyes.

Altin... did not know what to do.

Then... he heard a clear thought in his head: "Give it to us."

Altin jumped with fright.

It was like back then, when Eternitus had spoken to him via direct-mind communication.

It could only mean the two people in front of him were two advanced beings - Energicians.

"You refuse?" The first humanoid spoke.

Altin struggled to think: "Who... are you?"

Both of the beings frowned. "You can't speak?"

Altin frowned as well. Were they not able to read his thoughts? Should he speak, then?

"Do you understand me?" Altin asked aloud.

"We don't speak your language, yet you tried to speak? Haven't you learned to communicate by mind?" They smiled. "Ah. It seems your world is still in the early stage of its transformation."

"Too bad for you. Now, give us the orb."

Altin instinctively refused. He held the orb even firmer.

However, he felt an immense power pulling at the orb in his hands. He failed to resist, and the orb flew to the hands of the first being.

Immediately after, Altin felt his connection to his orb halt.

Unsupported by the orb, he fell from the sky.

However, before he could touch the ground, he found himself floating again.

Looking up, he saw Eléonore had stabilized his fall on time right he reached the hard floor.

With the immense anomaly in the sky, it seems string energy was freely pouring everywhere.

Eléonore then brought Altin back to the courtyard where Paul and Julien waited.

The two beings silently observed all this happening.

Back on the ground, Eléonore asked Altin: "Did they say anything?"

"Not really," Altin replied, "I couldn't talk to them, but they could talk to me telepathically. They wanted the orb."

However, the two beings left no time to Altin to collect his mind as they quickly landed on the ground.

Altin, Eléonore, Julien, and Paul all heard the same message: "We've come to your world to obtain this orb of power. We wonder how you came into this possession given your meager power. It seemed only you four have some meager amount of string energy in your bodies. Oh, maybe those three as well."

"We were planning on just stealing the orb of power, but since this world has just entered the String Age, we will also take it."

"You will learn to speak our language, and you will submit to our rule. This world is... now ours."

Up high in the sky, hundreds of dots were now coming out of the black hole.

Everyone in the schoolyard desperately stared at the scene.

They could only see this scene for what it was: an unknown civilization was invading Earth, and they had little chance to fight back.

Next to his friends, Julien murmured. "I see...."

This caught Altin, Eléonore, and Paul's rasp attention.

"The black holes anomalies," Julien said slowly, looking at the enormous black hole in the sky. "They aren't just pits of darkness. They're portals...

...Portals to other dimensions."

Chapter 38: The End of Times -- end.

Part 2: The End of Modern Times: END

Book 1 : The String Age: END