Jillian

The red crystal in Meghan's hand began to glow brighter and brighter. The red glow was dazzling but Meghan continued to stare at it in amazement, as if she was still hypnotized by what was happening before her eyes.

After a few seconds, the red light slowly dimmed and got dimmer. Meghan noticed that the strange crystal she was holding in her hand was no longer emitting light.

It disappeared!

The crystal was missing from Meghan's hand! She was very surprised and immediately looked down to see if the crystal had fallen, but she never found the red crystal around her. She opened her palm again and looked at it carefully. Has the crystal got into her body?

Filled with surprise and curiosity, Elle rushed over to Meghan. She looked at Meghan who had been experiencing something strange earlier, then looked at some of the other crystals that were still scattered around the exploded rock.

"Elle, why are you here? It seems very dangerous." Debbie ran to Elle worried about what would happen next.

"Did you see what happened to Meghan?" Elle asked in disbelief.

Not wanting to lose, she immediately took the green and purple crystal that were still lying on the ground, then ran back to Debbie who was still standing with a worried face.

"What are you doing? Put that strange object down!" cried Debbie.

"This seems to be a magic crystal. Take this, and I'll take this one." Elle gave a purple crystal to Debbie and she herself was holding a green crystal. Debbie had no choice but to accept it.

Not long after, with the crystal in the hands of the two girls, the same thing happened to them. The crystals glowed in their palms, their light grew brighter, and a few seconds later they dimmed again.

"What? It disappears!" Elle looked confused to see the crystal disappear from her hand. The same happened to Debbie. They looked confused and looked at each other.

Meanwhile, Jillian and Regina walked over to Meghan who was still on her knees and stared at her hands in disbelief. Their concern made them pay more attention to Meghan rather than being curious about the crystals.

"Are you all right?" Jillian asked Meghan.

"What is that?" Meghan asked with her eyes were still widen and staring blankly in shock.

Jillian turned her gaze to the three crystals that were still lying on the ground. She slowly walked towards the blue crystal. Regina who was worried about Jillian also walked closer to the crystals.

Jillian picked up the blue crystal and looked at it carefully to find out what it really was. Regina also took the yellow crystal to take a closer look.

Because the crystals were already in their hands, the same thing happened to them both. The crystals disappeared before they found any information about what the luminous object was. They could only exchange glances with astonished and surprised faces.

"Guys! That thing looks really weird! Let's get out of here!" Elle shouted with a frightened face. She immediately grabbed Debbie's hand and ran away from the place. Not to forget she also invited her other friends, who had been just watching, to leave that place.

There were only Meghan, Jillian, and Regina left at that place. And one more. Denise. Jillian and Regina helped Meghan to stand up and leave that place. They passed Denise who could only stand watching her two friends help Meghan walk.

Afer the three girls passed her, instead of following them away leaving that place, Denise instead turned her attention to a black crystal that was left, lying on the ground and tending to be invisible because of its dark light.

Denise slowly knelt down and grabbed the crystal. The crystal also showed the same activity as the other crystals. It was just that Denise didn't feel surprised at all, as if she did it on purpose. She even smiled as the crystal disappeared from her hand and absorbed into her body.

"This crystal definitely carries some power. Maybe I can change the world with this crystal," Denise muttered with a smile as she looked at the crystal that had disappeared from her palm.

That was roughly the story of the selection of the Radiants. Everything was fine and nothing changed in them after that. Their days went on as usual. Even when major disasters hit the Earth a few weeks after, they were not any exception.

It was just...

Something strange began to happen to them. When the disasters stroke, Jillian was crushed by the rubble of a building after a mega earthquake, but miraculously survived unharmed, and her body began to radiate blue light. Meanwhile, Meghan was swept away by a huge tsunami wave, but she was able to survive without any slight pain, and her body also emitted red light. Meghan, who survived the Earth's apocalypse, is what we now know as... Kiora.

***

Jillian was lying on the barren ground behind her house closing her eyes enjoying the morning air, although it didn't feel as fresh and cool as the morning air in the past. With her eyes closed, she could imagine the morning she had missed so much. The cool air, the dripping morning dew, the butterflies fluttering around the flowers, and the clear light blue sky with clouds as white as cotton. She smiled imagining it all.

"Jillian! What are you doing?" asked Clara, walking closer to her.

"Hey, Clara! Here. Lie down with me. Enjoy this morning," Jillian said as one of her hands patted the ground next to her, asking Clara to lie down there too.

Clara, who was very obedient, followed her sister's request. She laid next to Jillian and her eyes looked up at the sky which looked quite scorching even though it was still early in the morning.

"What are you enjoying on a hot morning like this?" Clara asked Jillian innocently. Her curly blonde hair and her red cheeks made Jillian smiled with excitement.

"I just try to remember the good times," Jillian replied, smiling at Clara. Her platinum blonde hair gleamed in the scorching morning sun. But Jillian didn't seem bothered at all by the scorching sun that still continued to disturb the Earth.

"I hope... someday the morning like the ones in the past will come back," Jillian hoped, not forgetting to show her happy smile. Clara also agreed with Jillian's wish by nodding slowly as she laid beside her sister.

Prangg!!!

There was a sound like breaking glass from inside the house. Jillian and Clara who were shocked immediately got up from the ground and ran into the house, worried about John and Maggy. Although the two adults were not Jillian's biological parents, she cared deeply about the situation of both of them. Their promise is to take care of each other.

Jillian and Clara looked very surprised by what they saw inside the house. Several people dressed in black with black armor appear to enter the house and confront Maggy and John. Jillian knew very well that these people were Gora's Army.

Among the troops, there were 4 soldiers dressed in gold from head to toe, carrying golden swords as well. Golden Army! The thing she had feared for a long time finally happened!

"Where's the Radiant?" One of the Gora soldiers shouted at John and Maggy in a threatening tone.

"What are you saying? Radiant? What's that?" asked John. Of course he pretended not to know because he actually knew very well whom the Gora soldiers were referring to. Even though the thing he feared the most had finally come, he had to keep trying to protect Jillian from any harms, including the army from his own district.

"I knew she must be around here! Where is she? Don't try to lie to Gora's Army!" shouted the other soldier.

Convinced that the two persons would not answer honestly, one of the soldiers signaled to just go inside the house and look for their target. But before they started to walk, Maggy had already blocked them.

"You can't just walk into someone's house without permission!" Maggy exclaimed as her both hands tried to block the soldiers.

"Do you know whom you are talking to? We are Gora's Army! We are free to do anything in our area. Get out of the way!" The soldier pushed Maggy out of their way.

Still wanting to protect Jillian, it was John's turn to try to block them. But with the number of soldiers, of course they were able to get John out of their way easily. Maggy and John seemed to be unable to do anything else.

"Don't bother them!" shouted Jillian boldly from the corner of the room.

"Is this girl we're looking for?" asked the cruel-faced Gora soldier with a smirk. He began to walk closer to Jillian while playing with the sword in his hand, feeling confident that he would catch his target that day.

John and Maggy tried to block the soldiers but again they were pushed to the ground. Jillian who saw John and Maggy fell on the floor got her anger rise to the top. Although she didn't want to prove that the soldiers' thought was true about her, she couldn't hold her power not to take part in the situation.

Maggy and John gestured with a shake of their heads for Jillian to restrain her strength and not show it in front of the Gora soldiers who were looking for her. They had been desperately trying to keep the secret deep and train Jillian to be able to control her power. They knew Jillian's power would surely attract the attention of people with malicious intent.

But this time, it seemed that Jillian couldn't control her power anymore because the ruthless soldiers had hurt her adoptive parents. Her eyes immediately flashed a blue light and stared intently at the soldiers. A beam of blue light started to shoot out from her body and the radius grew larger only in a matter of seconds.

The power emitted by Jillian was able to send all of the Gora soldiers thrown far away, causing many of them to instantly lose their lives due to the magnitude of the power. Everyone around her fell down, except for Maggy, John, and Clara who were not targeted by her, as well as 4 Golden Army who still stood firm with their weapons.

"Watch out! Golden Army!" John shouted at Jillian. They already knew that gold was the weakness of the Radiants from the rumors circulating in the Gora District.

As if knowing that her position and her parents were squeezed, Jilian immediately fled from the back door of her house. She heard the Golden Army running behind her at no less fast pace even though the golden clothes they were wearing were quite heavy.

"Hey! Don't run!" shouted one of the army.

Jillian looked back to see the troops who were chasing her. She could clearly see that two of the four soldiers were pointing crossbows with gold plated arrows at her. She quickened her pace as she walked away from her neighborhood. She didn't know which way to run, but what she knew for sure that she had to save herself from the Golden Army.

Arrows aimed at her as she ran faster. To dodge the arrows, Jillian ran in a zig zag and irregular motion. And it seemed that her strategy was quite successful.

The fierce pursuit between her and the Golden Army was still fierce even though they stopped shooting their arrows. Jillian didn't feel tired because her legs kept moving for the sake of her life. No arrows had managed to injure her skin so far. She just needed to find the best hiding place.

She continued to run without knowing the direction through the arid land where there were only a few ruins of houses on either side. The Golden Army troops finally once again used their arrows. Since they were gold plated, they had to be good at saving the number of arrows they used.

An arrow passed Jillian and made her look back. The Golden Army used arrows again to attack her! She had to run in irregular motion once more. But...

Srett!!!

A sharp arrow tip managed to slash the skin of her arm and make her scream quietly in pain. And then another arrow tip slashed her right foot, made her fallen down.

The Golden Army looked closer! But no! Jillian couldn't give up! She didn't want to die that day. She had to see if Clara, John, and Maggy were okay. She must go back home safely! She immediately rose to her feet with difficulty, even though fatigue and pain began to eat away her body.

She kept running and running, until... She finally couldn't run anymore. There was an abyss stopping her steps! Before being able to find another way, the Golden Army had already stopped before her.

"Where else will you run? Just give up!" said one of them.

"No!" replied Jillian with a gasp.

Running out of patience, one of the troops stepped forward to get closer towards Jillian. That sudden movement made Jillian step back and slip slightly, almost falling into the abyss!

"Stop it," said another soldier while holding back the soldier who was about to approach Jillian. "Remember the Queen's order. We must bring her to the Queen alive. She wants to see her face before this girl dies."

Seeing the two soldiers discussing, Jillian finally had her own time. She had time to escape. No, she wasn't going to run in a different direction. She turned her body, and then threw herself into that deep abyss, wishing she could still live to the bottom there!