Crystal

Kiora walked with arrogant steps out of the girl's house. Her heart felt extremely satisfied after executing that second Radiant. Previously, she had also executed another Radiant who also lived in Nata District, a district of King Nata's legacy. Several guards walked behind her, ready to guard and take her orders.

Kiora suddenly stopped walking and turned to her bodyguards. Among her guards was General Zhor, who had always been loyal to the vile-hearted Radiant.

"General!" call Kiora.

"Yes, Queen," replied General Zhor while lowering his head.

"Find the other 3 Radiants soon, especially those who lead the districts! Send your men all over Samsara and they have to spy on all the Leaders of each district! I'm sure there's at least one Radiant among the Leaders. We must defeat them first before they defeat us and seize Gora's power over Samsara," Kiora ordered.

Actually, Kiora was not afraid that Gora's power over the Land of Samsara would be taken. She was more afraid that her throne would be taken by other Radiants. She knew very well that with the extraordinary strength they possessed, Radiants would definitely be able to easily defeat her army.

"Yes, Queen." General Zhor replied while lowering his head. His heart no longer knew good or bad, right or wrong, all he knew was to serve and follow whatever Kiora told him to do.

"And one more thing. Collect as much gold as possible from mines all over the country! We have to increase the number of our Golden Army." As the power of the Radiants will immediately disappear when in contact with gold in large quantities, of course Kiora must collect a lot of gold as well to fight her enemies.

"But... there is only very few gold mines left in this land, Queen," said General Zhor with a half-guilty face.

Kiora immediately turned to face General Zhor and looked at him in surprise. "Since when did you dare to disobey my orders?"

"Please forgive me, Queen." General Zhor lowered his head even deeper. His bold face that frightened many people instantly dimmed when he faced his queen.

"Do you think that I will use the gold only to multiply the Golden Army? I will also accumulate a lot of wealth for Gora so that Gora can have much more power over the other districts. Don't you know that everything would be easier if we had many treasures?" Kiora turned her gaze to the rest of her guards. "Isn't that right?" she asked them.

"Yes, Queen!" replied the guards in unison.

"Did you hear that? Quickly do my orders! Do not disappoint me! Your performance is always good, that's why I trust you." Kiora looked at General Zhor who was still looking down, then walked away leaving him followed by the rest of her guards.

Kiora returned to the House of Power and sat on her throne. She sat in silence, thinking about how she would eliminate the other Radiants. She thought with a smile and looked at her open palm. A red light appeared from the palm of her hand.

"Debbie and Elle have been terminated. They deserve it," Kiora muttered with a wicked smile and looked at her palm which was still emitting a red light.

She would never forget that she actually knew all the other Radiants, her former friends. Yes, all the Radiants knew each other even before the apocalypse. At that time, Kiora's name was still Meghan...

Year 2040 (Two Years Ago) - St.Louis Girls Orphanage, New Orleans

Girls in gray uniform with pulled-back hair walked carrying trays of food to their dining tables. There were 8 teenage girls sitting neatly at 2 different tables. There were only 11 teenage girls in the orphanage, while the other dozens were under the age of 13.

Two of the 3 tables available were fully occupied with 4 girls each. They were casually eating while chatting with friends around them. But their fun suddenly stopped when they noticed one girl walking with a tray towards the empty table.

The girl was dressed the same as the others, except that her hair didn't look neatly pulled up, causing a few strands of her hair to fall down her face. Her face was unmakeup and looked pale, as if she had no zest for life. On her wrists that held up the tray, there were several slash marks that she seemed to have gotten at different times.

"Look, there's not a day without Meghan looking depressed," whispered Debbie starting their morning gossip. No wonder if one day Meghan met her again in a new situation, she would be the first to be targeted and exterminated.

The girls sitting with her turned their head and looked at Meghan who had just sat down in her chair. They stared at her with disgust and hatred, as if Meghan was a cockroach that needed to be killed.

While her friends were talking, Meghan just sat quietly at her table and ate her food as if she hadn't heard her friends whispering to each other about her. It was something she had been very used to since 3 years ago when she entered the orphanage and was still 13 years old. This was also one of the reasons for the scars on her hands.

Another girl came in with her tray and suddenly stopped when she saw that the only empty seat was at the same table as Meghan. She then looked at Denise, an innocent girl with glasses sitting at the center table.

"Denise, move to that table!" asked Elle, the girl with the tray, which sounded more like an order than a request.

"B-but I-" Denise stammered as she tried to refuse Elle's request.

Annoyed, Elle walked over to Denise. "Hurry up!" shouted Elle.

Terrified and without words, Denise was finally forced to agree to sit at the same table with Meghan. She got up from her chair and left the table immediately.

"That's very good. Weirdo has to sit with weirdo," Elle sneered in a low voice, but still audible to her mates so they laughed. Of those sitting there, only one person didn't laugh at all, that was Regina. She even looked disgusted at Elle's treatment of Denise and Meghan.

Denise hesitantly sat in the chair opposite of Meghan, but not facing her directly.

"H-hi, Meghan."

Meghan looked at Denise who greeted her but she just kept quiet and continued eating her dinner. The atmosphere became very awkward at that table. But soon another girl came and sat down next to Meghan without hesitation.

"Hi!" said Jillian with a bright smile at Meghan and Denise. But once again only Denise answered the greeting.

Of all the teenage girls, only Jillian dared to openly approach Meghan, the girl who was the most avoided in the orphanage. She was not afraid of being shunned by her other friends. All of them liked her for her kindness and sincerity.

"Jillian, you'd better sit next to Denise. Aren't you afraid of Meghan?" Debbie shouted sarcastically from her table.

"No, I'll just sit here. It's the same anyway," Jillian replied, keeping a smile on her face. She then brought herself closer to Meghan. "Don't listen to them, think of them as bunch of birds passing by," she whispered.

"Don't pretend to be nice to me," Meghan said curtly. Unexpectedly, the girl replied quite bitterly.

"I'm not pretending. Eat a lot and take care of your health. If there's something you want to tell me, just tell me. I've been waiting all this time for you to-"

"I'm done eating," Meghan interrupted. She immediately got up from her chair and brought her tray of food that looked not completely finished, then walked away from the table.

Jillian looked very disappointed with Meghan who always refused the kindness given by others and prefered to remain silent, suffered alone, and in the end chose to hurt herself. She knew what Meghan was going through. Abandoned by her parents and shunned because of her tendency to be quiet, which was caused by the depression she had experienced since years ago.

Out of the dining room, Meghan walked alone into the garden and sat on a lounger overlooking the garden which was lit only by garden lights and moonlight. She couldn't hold her tears any longer. She had experienced such things many times at the orphanage. She really wanted to scream, but... suddenly she looked up and saw a fiery mass coming down from the sky and getting closer to her!

She immediately stood up to avoid whatever was falling towards her and...

Blarrr!!!

The lump of fiery rock five times the size of a basketball fell to the ground, causing a hole to contain half part of the rock's body. It looked like a lump of meteorite. The glowing meteorite suddenly exploded!

Boomm!!!

Meghan was very surprised by the scene in front of her. She was even more surprised when the rock spouted out several smaller stones that emitted rays of varying light. The small stones were more like crystals with various facets and sparkle.

Hearing the noise outside, the teenage girls who were in the dining room came out and ran towards the scene. They looked very surprised by the sight that had taken Meghan by surprise.

Meghan seemed not to hear the noise of her friends behind her. She was hypnotized by the beauty of the crystals scattered by the exploding meteorite and ignored everything else. She slowly walked towards a red glowing crystal stone that was lying on the ground.

She knelt down and slowly reached the crystal stone. Somehow the red color really caught her attention so she chose that. It didn't take long for the crystal to be in Meghan's hands without her knowing that it would change her life forever.