Chapter 5 : Lincoln (Present)

He jolted awake, gasping for breath. The details of how he ended up in his room eluded him, his memory shrouded in a haze. However, fragments of his dream began to resurface, teasing his recollection. The hiking trip, the heart-stopping fall, and most notably, the enigmatic stone.

He got up and moved his hair up with his hand, but it fell in front of his face again. His mind suddenly went blank, and he couldn't remember what he was thinking of.

How did he get the stone? He had forgotten. He's been having memory issues ever since he had been granted his power. However, he had asked for this, he knew the consequences, yet he went with it. And now he cannot escape his destiny. They told him he'd forget, but at that time he didn't know how important his memories were to him. He was put in a life-or-death situation, but he still had a choice. And he feared he chose wrong.

The stone wasn't of any importance, or at least no more important than merely a lucky charm Lincoln carried with him throughout his military life and the few years before it. The events after the discovery of the stone had drastically changed. But memories of most of those events had long gone.

Has yesterday's battle already gotten to him? Lincoln felt another blank space in his memory, it had to be something related to his diseased parents.

He couldn't even remember their faces anymore.

"It's just another day." He said with a sigh. He brushed his teeth and changed into his military uniform, strapped his sword to his back and exited the room, closing the door behind him. He caught a glimpse of the clock as he closed the door, half-past nine. Their intel says that the enemies will attack their walls by noon. He had a lot of time to spare. He decided it wouldn't hurt to walk around until he rendezvouses with his team.

His driver stood outside his dorm waiting for Lincoln to get in, and once he did, they set off to the military camp, which was located in the outskirts of the lower Imperiale.

A while later, Lincoln got off the vehicle and walked around the outskirts of the city for a good half an hour, before taking the path to the west gates; where, as their spies had said, the enemy would attack. He changed routes to get to the arsenal to suit up. He took off his sword and got someone to help him into his armour. He had his sword with him every time, strapped to his back. As the general of the army, surprise attacks can come from anywhere, allies or enemies. This is why he would keep his sword with him at all costs, strapped to his back waiting to be used.

He then strapped the sword into the back of his armour magnetically and walked out of the armoury.

By the time he reached the west gates, his elite team of twenty were waiting for him. "General," One of his team members, Jason, said with a respectful salute. "Greetings," Lincoln replied and turned around casting a last look at the city. Flying vehicles started filling the skystreets as it was almost lunchtime for the working-class people. Dexter and his backup team will be coming in an hour if they ever need help.

He faced his team again, "We leave now." He announced and signalled for the gates to be opened. Those massive doorways parted for his team, who was dwarfed by the magnificent structure, to the empty desert outside the city of Imperiale.

Lincoln spotted the enemy on the horizon. He heard collective gasps from his team. He too had not expected so many soldiers to be on the enemy's side. "Looks like we would be needing the backup team after all," Lincoln said and waved his hand up in the air. One of the wall guards got the message and went to call for backup.

And therefore, Lincoln had always been well prepared.

"Charge!" Lincoln yelled and the people with him yelled in response. Melee users ran towards the enemy while the gunners and snipers shot from afar. Lincoln's body charged with scarlet red energy before disappearing, leaving energy traces behind. He reappeared in midair as two blades of energy merged with both his arms, he then charged down towards the enemy, spun and took out the head of a man. His arm then glowed with aura as he blasted the people around him with red energy.

Lincoln spun, looking for the leader. Another jumped at him and the tip of his sword neared Lincoln's chest. He turned around quickly, forming an energy blade in his arm as he did so and stabbed the man before jumping behind to avoid another slice by the person behind the man Lincoln had just taken down. Spikes of red energy formed out of thin air and he shot them forward all ten of the spikes hitting their mark and killing their targets instantly.

Lincoln spotted two gunners aiming for him and created a barrier of red energy around him. The bullets crashed against the barrier, but it still held strong as Lincoln fused more energy into it, sweat dripped from his brow as he did so. Lincoln shot energy spikes towards the two gunners, trying to keep the barrier up at the same time. He missed his first few shots before finally getting them. Lincoln was too exhausted, so the spikes had just stunned the enemy. But it gave Lincoln enough time to warp away.

Lincoln spotted the leader and grasped the hilt of his sword. He focused and disappeared, leaving red energy traces behind. He reappeared in midair, his sword going in for an attack at the leader's head. It's over. He thought to himself.

Then suddenly things slowed down, and Lincoln was suspended in midair, his sword gradually nearing the head of the leader, and his eyes widening slowly in surprise. The leader turned around, the slowing down of time not affecting him one bit. The leader made eye contact with Lincoln, a slight smile forming on his lips. His arms started glowing with an orange matter before swinging his right fist and connecting it to Lincoln's chest sending him flying far away.

Lincoln's quick instincts made him spin horizontally in midair and strike his sword to the ground to stop his flight. Next, he flipped backwards before he could lose his balance. He then removed his sword from the ground and reappeared in front of the leader.

"Who are..." Lincoln paused. "What are you?" Lincoln asked the mysterious man, thinking that would be a better question. Was he like Lincoln? Another successful subject? If so, then was Lincoln special in any way? Or are there other people special like Lincoln? Real question is, what was special about him?

The man had long blonde hair and his eyes were red, just like the eyes of Lincoln's whenever he uses his energy. However, this person's eyes looked more natural than that of power. His uniform was neat, and his posture was flawless. He didn't seem scared at the sight of Lincoln, something Lincoln did not like. The leader smiled, "General Lincoln, I've heard a lot of you and your Scarlet's Synergy." The leader stated.

He wasn't surprised at how much this person knew; Lincoln was known by all as the Scarlet Reaper. Dexter initially suggested that they would be needing a name for the power he possesses. Since he had been the only person in this world to ever wield supernatural powers, up till now. And so, they went with Scarlet's Synergy. Even to this date, Lincoln did not know the reason behind Dexter's obsession with the name scarlet.

"Who are you?" Lincoln asked again.

"Going straight to the point right General? Fine, I'll entertain that question. I'm like you Lincoln, not as powerful, but very much trained." The leader replied. To prove his point, he jumped towards Lincoln, his fists charging with the orange matter. Lincoln formed a shield to block the punch, but as soon as the man's fist connected with it, the shield disintegrated sending Lincoln sliding a few meters back. He disappeared before the man could get another hit at him.

He reappeared on top of him, in midair, and blasted him on the back with red energy. The leader fell to the ground, his face buried into the sand. Lincoln went for a final stab, an energy blade formed in his arms now and he tried using his fall as an opportunity to stun the mysterious so he could ask more questions once the battle is over.

Just before his energy blade could connect with the leader's back, time slowed down again. However, this changed nothing as he moved with a normal speed and the blade struck Edgar's back. Edgar's eyes went wide in pain. "How..."

Blood leaked from where the blade came out from, he groaned and fell to the ground, revealing the real Lincoln standing in front of him. "A-a clone... How did you know..." The man groaned and fell to the ground. The clone then disappeared and Lincoln bent to look at the man in his eyes.

"I didn't stab you with the intention of killing, but I made sure you won't be getting up soon." The leader gasped upon hearing his words. "So, you need to start talking. Where did you come from? Who are you fighting for?" Lincoln asked, getting more frustrated, as minutes passed.

The leader sighed. "You've defeated me, and so I'll entertain you. My name is Edgar, I come from a secret organization that originated from Germany which specializes in replicating powers from artefacts by fusing their genetics to that of a human's. The same people who gave you your powers." He explained.

He knew it, it had been them all along.

"You brought this on to you Lincoln. You should've just destroyed the facility, but you only wanted an escape." Edgar said and spat on the ground. Edgar's words triggered flashes of Lincoln's past. The compound, the experiments, those scientists.

"So, you were special, like me. So, you got an ability too, right?" Lincoln asked as he tried to push the images in his mind back to where they had emerged from. Edgar laughed, "No. I'm not special in any way. You remain the only person who mysteriously got his power, that's all I'll say." He explained. "No. You must tell me more." Lincoln pushed. Edgar laughed again, "You'd think I came here unprepared?" Edgar said.

Lincoln's sense went alert, this man has a point, there could be more like them in this world. No, that's not what he meant. What he meant was...

A sonic boom sounded in the distance. He was right, there were more on this battlefield!

"What the hell?!" Lincoln yelled. "You think you can defeat me so easily?" Edgar replied with a smirk. Just as he said that five more powered individuals jumped into the battlefield to attack Lincoln.

He should've guessed the man was just stalling him. All five of the people that jumped him had different powers. Lincoln quickly warped away from their strike zone. He was lucky he did, or he would've been a dead man. Lightning and fire struck the ground with unbelievable force, the aftereffects of the explosion ringing in his ears. What was left of the land was a massive crater. Had they evacuated their comrades beforehand, or did they just leave them in the strike zone? Lincoln didn't know.

Lincoln reappeared a few meters behind the enemy and struck his sword to the ground and rested on it for a while.

A bullet whizzed past his ear, and Lincoln jumped. He had completely forgotten about the rest of the enemy's army. Lincoln spotted the sniper and attempted to form an energy spike, but then suddenly black smoke filled the area. He then heard wires being shot and screams followed. He would recognize that tactic anywhere. It was Dexter's squad, The Wings of War.

The smoke gave Lincoln a chance to regain his energy. His arm charged again, but this time the energy spread through the rest of his body making his body glow with a red aura.

His hair turned blue, as his Overdrive mode started to activate. Energy rushed all around his body, if Lincoln goes any further, he would be forgetting, but it was either that or losing his life to them, giving them a victory against Canada. Or worse being captured and experimented on again. The smoke cleared and Lincoln saw that it was indeed Dexter's team, slicing among the enemy as if it was child's play. He spotted Dexter soaring in the air as the wires connected to his sword allowed for this type of mobility.

Lincoln sighed, turned around and charged towards the powered individuals. He created five clones with energy and had them make a wall around him, all equipped with energy blades ready for combat. He realized that Edgar was nowhere to be found. He then formed an energy blade in his arm, teleported behind one of the attackers and stabbed him in the back. He then kicked his feet from the man's back and jumped into the air, flipping backwards as he did so, he warped again leaving energy traces behind.

One down, five more to go. Lincoln could already feel his memories fading. But he will live, and his memories will pay the price.