Mythic Knight: Prepare

In a candle-lit office space sat a man with purple hair and eyes, his eyes and hair so dark that in the candlelight it looked as if a galaxy swirled in each. In one pale hand was a quill that was a striking red color, with his other hand he held the old parchment he was writing on steady, he looked up as if hearing something and then smiled.

"Ah! Hello young readers, I know you must be curious who I am but my name is not important right now, you're here for a story aren't you?" His eyes twinkle more as he smiled jovially and leaned back in the old navy blue leather chair he sat in.

"I think I've got a good one for you." Without another word he clears his throat, looking off into the distance as if no longer there in the moment, he begins to speak.

"The world of Armora. While similar to the far-off Earth, there are a few major differences, They have found special crystals that distort reality when given an electrical charge. A single crystal can power a city, or... a spaceship. The people of Armora have looked to the neighboring planets for years, but now with these crystals will have a chance to visit them, by warping the reality around the ship they can make it to their sister planets within hours.

While the ship is being built the crystal, a large version of these reality-warping crystals called "The Heart" is being housed in the utopian city of Realfan, But no Utopia is what it seems, on the outskirts of the city a pair of masked wrongdoers have proclaimed their desire for the crystal, and they've amassed a force to help them. Now the city needs a hero if they want to keep this evil at bay."

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A young man wakes with a shout. Panting desperately as sweat ran down his light grey forehead. He wipes it from his brow taking deep breaths as he sat up in bed, which glowed blue before changing into a chair that looked to be a bean bag but didn't fall into a mound on the floor after forming.

"Time computer?" He asked rubbing his temples. Dark blue hair down to his shoulders, the room was immaculate, pure white save for the window showing yellow sky, He reclined in his chair in a black shirt and sweatpants.

"Time is 1 mega click Master Frowen." A female voice responded. "You are late for class." Frowen groaned and stood, the chair glowed and disappeared into the floor, from the wall drawers emerged with clothes. He grabbed a purple and white uniform and got dressed.

"Shall I alert your mother that you're unable to make breakfast?"

"Yeah go ahead. Send a message to Mr. Faldom too, Practice blade please." A dull blue light covered his arm and a wrist-mounted device in the purple and white colors of his uniform appeared.

"Thank you, see you in two mega clicks." He sighed and began running down the stairs which disappeared behind him as he went.

The young man made it to the bottom of the stairs crossing into a single gold and blue house. "Gold today mom? Thought that was too extravagant." He said as he passed a tall grey-skinned woman wearing an expensive, sparkling blue dress.

"Oh your grandfather's visiting while you're in school, you know how he is about traditional colors."

"Right. Well, I'll just grab a snack and head out. Love you!" Frowen grabbed a blue bar-shaped food and ran outside. The forest green sky of dawn was like an emerald as he ran down the quiet streets. Arriving at an off-gold and purple house. "Teach always says it's electrum but it just looks like a paler gold to me…" Frowen commented as he knocked on the door.

"I told you knocking isn't necessary." A voice called from behind the door. Frowen opened the door into the purple wood room, standing there sorting books is a tall man with short purple hair, his skin is pale, but not in the same way Frowen is pale, this man's skin is peachy in color, almost pink but with a bit of cream mixed in. His irises are solid green, a ring of purple on their edge. Wrapped around his body is a purple cloak that reaches down to the floor. The hood pooled around his neck.

"Good good you're here. Come sit, I'm afraid class is going to be a little short today." Frowen's brow furrowed as he sat down, a chair forming for him as he made the motion. Mr. Faldom spoke again before he could speak his mind. "Yes something is wrong, no I can't tell you what."

Frowen shut his lips and raised an eyebrow at his teacher. "No, I'm not a mind reader you're just predictable. Now, where were we?" The man rushed around the room as he spoke putting books into their places on their shelves. "Sparring with training blades?" Faldom nodded, a holographic wrist device appearing on his left arm the same as Frowen's save for its purple color.

"Stand, battle stance." Mr. Faldom stood on the balls of his feet, legs bent and arms chest-high, ready to block or dodge. Frowen stood up, a single-edged blade popping out of his wrist device as he copied the older man's stance. Mr. Faldom didn't have to wait long as Frowen charged fast at him, swinging his right arm to strike the robed man, Mr. Faldom dropped his arm and his purple blade popped out, blocking Frowen's strike.

"Fast as ever, old man." Frowen teased with a grin as he moved away and then back in with a downward slash. Terias raising his arm to block while his free hand struck Frowen's stomach.

"Don't forget that you have two hands." Mr. Faldom said sternly. Frowen throwing a punch before jabbing with the blade, the older man caught the punch and twisted Frowen's arm causing him to twist and fall on his back. Frowen groaned as he lifted his legs kicking up into the other man's chin as he got back to his feet, turning on his heels he manages a punch into Faldom's side before he grabbed Frowen's arm and stabbed into his shoulder, the trading blade sent a shock through the younger man making him cry out as he fell to his knees.

"Ha…. very good, that's the first time you've hit me…." Faldom said between pants of breath. Frowen groaned standing back up, he took a deep breath as his teacher retracted their wrist blade. "I think you've earned this." Mr. Faldom said throwing a star-shaped crystal over to the young man.

"T-this is… a Terran Crystal? I-I'm not supposed to have one of these till my Title day." In the world of Armora 18 years after their birth, 6 planetary revolutions from now for Frowen, an Armorian is gifted a Title based on their personality meant to show either their potential or show what they have grown out of.

"Ehhh I'm a few revolutions early. You've earned it, now I've gotta run. Lock up when you're done and don't be home late, I don't want another angry cyber voice from your mother." Mr. Faldom chuckles putting his hood back up and grabbing a bag, putting it over his shoulder before leaving. Frowen sighed as he watched him leave, retracting the light blue blade he looked at the star-shaped crystal in his palm. "Well, while I'm here might as well look up my first device to put this in."

Frowen began walking deep into the Library, fascinated by what, to him, was a long-dead form of information gathering and collecting. The books and bookshelves were made of actual wood and paper instead of the hard light and liquid metal he was used to. As he wound his way through the maze his teacher called "Library" he came across an odd door, unlike the purple of the rest of the building this door was white, with a blue glow emanating from the cracks in the frame.

"What the… Did he leave an experiment on? He can be forgetful but jeez… Well, I better turn it off…." He reached out his hand and pushed the door open, the glow dying down as he saw a white disk with a star-shaped hole in it in the center of the room. Floating next to it was a pair of cards.

"What the…" Before Frowen could say any more the star-shaped crystal floated out of his hand and into the disk, the disk turned mid-air, three needle-like points now facing towards Frowen. "Ohhhh no-" The disk launches itself at Frowen slamming into his chest, missing his heart by inches.

"FORLNING OW!!!" He shouts, laid out on his back as he clutches the area where the disk embedded itself. With an audible hiss, the disk heals the area suddenly. Frowen gasps slightly at the feeling of relief, then looks to the two cards that were now on the floor in the center of the room. He walked over to them, picking them up slowly.

On one card a hulking man with a sword in his hand and lion skin armor. The word "Heracles" is printed on the bottom of the card. There was an engraving on the back of the card that Frowen didn't recognize. On the other card was a woman dressed in robes with a simple stick in her hand. "Morgan Le Fey" printed on the bottom of her card, this one had a strange engraving on the back as well. In the final card was a man holding a flag, his golden armor shining in the sun of the battlefield, "Karna" was printed on the bottom and like the other two, it had an engraving on the back.

"I… Okay, maybe Mr. Faldom will have some idea as to what's going on. But for now, I gotta get home…" Frowen stood up and rushed out of the Library, his wrist device locking the door behind him as he ran home. Moving down the blue and gold road towards his home. The towering, fork-shaped building not far from him, his computer in his wrist device alerting him that his grandfather was already there. He groaned looking down at his simple purple and white uniform.

"Color change, Blue and Gold." He states into his wrist, the uniform reformed over the disk in his chest, concealing it. Blue replaced white as the primary color with gold filling in the shoulders and the waist area, looking like a belt. The inside of his pant legs also turned gold.

"It's just gramps, I can do this…. Probably." Thoroughly unconvinced, Frowen steps into the house, in the cooking room he sees a wrinkled man with streaks of black in his otherwise silver hair. The older-looking man was dressed extremely formally, with Giant gold shoulder pads showing he was a retired general.

"And where has he been?!" The man asked incredulously, turning to Frowen's mother who was setting dinner. She was dressed in a red and silver dress with her long hair flowing to her shoulders. His mother smiled patiently.

"Dad I told you he was at his teacher's place. Now sit down." The older man sighed as a table and chair appeared while he sat down. The woman set square plastic plates filled with food down in front of him then in her spot, Frowen taking his plate from her and setting it in his spot. Smiling awkwardly as he sat and his chair appeared under him.

Meanwhile.

Several metallic tents were spread out on a hill overlooking the city. A middle-aged man, with red hair, grey skin, and several dark blue marks on his arm, looked at the city's walls through a holographic imager. "There are so many holes in the defenses, it's like they don't even know we're coming."

A middle-aged woman with vibrant blue and pink hair chortled into her hand. "Well I should hope not, cloaking tech isn't cheap~," She said with a teasing smirk. The man lets out a laugh.

"You know what I mean my beauty, their skeleton crew is an insult to skeleton crews, a couple of security drones and cameras, No shields, how is a city like this not a cesspool already?" He laughed as he set down the imager on a clear floating disk. Said disk moved back into his metallic tent as he wrapped an arm around the woman with a jovial grin.

"We're so close my dear! With that crystal, we could reshape this ugly world." The two smiled leaning into each other. Grabbing weapons up from a nearby table. The weapons were simpler than the ones projected by the wrist bands in the city.

The weapons resembled swords with long curved blades with several holes down the center of the blade to the wrist guard. Which had one of the much smaller versions of the reality-altering crystals.

"Let's tear this world down, starting with this city!" The woman called, waving over a group of men and women dressed in dark grey suits and navy blue undersuits that covered them from head to toe, making their faces featureless.

"Ah yes, one of you will work." The woman smirked and leaned over a large silver box, pulling out a large grey cylindrical device with a crystal slotted into the tip where the cylinder tapered off into a point. She pointed it at one of the grey and blue figures at random, the people around said figure backing away from their leader's target.

"Good, stand still deary." The "Lucky" woman she chose shuddered but kept her chin up as the woman looked to her partner. "What do you think dear, Big cat?" The man smirked and nodded.

"Something with claws to tear through this city's pitiful defenses." He offered his sadistic smirk growing on his dark grey face. The woman nodded and slid two cards into the cylindrical device, it hummed as it began to power up. The crystal went from red to a glowing purple as it sparked and then a stream of purple energy slammed into the grey and blue woman, she grunted as the reality-altering energy began to change her. Purple fur burst through her suit as she roared in pain.

"OH, wonderful! Even this small crystal holds so much lovely power!" The lead woman grinned maniacally, a smile almost splitting her face as she watched the other woman turn into a large bipedal creature with purple fur, black stripes, and dark silver claws. More metal-coated her arms and legs like segmented armor, she opened her feline maw and the fangs grew and became the same dark silver as her extremities and claws. Growing out of her right shoulder was a dark silver cannon, its own small crystal glowing black at the tip of the cannon.

The bipedal feline woman dropped to a knee, bowing her head to her two commanders. "Well then, I'd say this needs a name. TigerTank comes to mind but Hmmm too straightforward…." The man commented, stroking his bare chin as he stared at the bowing creature. Its shoulder-mounted weapon almost scraping the ground.

"Tigernon?" The female commander suggested smiling gently. Her partner shook his head.

"No no that doesn't fit... Wait I've got it, Rajah was the name on the tiger card. Let's use that? Rajah." He grins at his partner as she nods eagerly. The tigress smirked at the new name, standing tall, towering over her peers who stood behind her motionlessly.

"Alright Rajah, take your squad, and take this." The woman tossed over her sword to Rajah who caught it in one hand, the once two-handed weapon fitting almost perfectly as a one-handed sword for the large, beastly woman.

"Once you've dealt with the skeleton crew at the outer wall work your way into the city, contact us when you've reached the crystal itself." The man added, standing with a broad smile as he watched the glistening city. The monstrous woman nodded and departed with the men and women around her.

Back with our hero.

Frowen sat down at the dinner table across from his grandfather, Mi'Keal Sorris was once a beast of a man physically but age and retirement had left his frame scrawnier, still tall the older man was wrinkled, his hair was graying, and he was almost a twig muscle wise.

"So Frowen, what does this Mr… Faldom, weak name, anyway, what does he teach you exactly?" He asked as the utensil with three curved prongs sank into the cheese and chrokin pasta dish in front of him. His stiff demeanor and rough voice making every word seem harsher than was likely intended. Though it was hard to tell with the impatient army commander given straightforward bluntness.

"Mostly helping me brush up on self-defense combat. Among other things I want to brush up on before Title Day." Frowen answered between bites, trying to hide the nervousness he felt. His grandfather always made him feel inferior. The man's expectations of him following in his footsteps didn't help matters much.

"Of course, good thinking ahead. When you get placed in the military it will serve you well." The lack of any doubt in his grandfather's statement struck Frowen like a sack of bricks. Frowen wasn't sure what he wanted to be but the feeling of the choice being gone made him feel… hollow.

Despite the sudden hollow feeling, Frowen forced a smile towards his grandfather while they ate.

"I won't let you down grandfather." He said calmly, not flat but the emotion was subtly gone from his voice. His grandfather didn't seem to notice as the dinner dragged on. Frowen's mother distracting her father with talk of his old military days. While he had never seen a war he always had a story to tell about his long military career. As the dinner was wrapping up and they began to put the dishes in the deconstructor, Frowen's wrist device vibrated on his arm.

"Incoming communication channel from Mr. Faldom." It stated in the soothing feminine voice as usual. Frowen excused himself as he left the constructing room to open the comm channel.

"Yes, teacher?" He answered, trying to force a smile over his nervous features, feeling his heart thump against the suddenly uncomfortable metallic piece over it.

"Hey kid, I see you found the rest of your present a little earlier than I expected."

"Not to sound ungrateful but what the Underworld is this thing?!" Frowen could barely contain his fear and slight rage. Mr. F seemed to understand these feelings an apologetic look crossing his face.

"Something… I hoped wouldn't turn on anytime soon." Mr. F responded cryptically, a flash of annoyance and rage, filled Frowen for a moment. But he quickly calmed himself at his teacher's somewhat scared expression.

"The fact it reacted to you all can mean only one thing, the city is under attack."