Global Announcement

"Good morning and welcome to another brand new day! How are you feeling today, John?" A woman dressed in a black blazer, sat at a large oval desk and with the backdrop of New York city behind her, asked her co-host John. 

"I must say it truly is a beautiful day today, Janice!" John replied with an overly exaggerated smile. His sharp haircut, black suit and red tie perfectly accommodated Janice's own wardrobe. 

"It really is John, but enough about the nice weather — it's probably time for us to start doing our jobs, don't you think?" Janice asked through controlled laughs. 

"Haha I think you might be right Janice! With that said, make sure not to go anywhere soon because we have a breaking new story for you today! Janice, what could you tell us about today's story?" John read off the teleprompter. 

"Well, here's a little hint. Our next story cover's a topic that blew up in the media just a few weeks ago! I'm sure everyone at home has already heard of the mysterious white light that brushed over Greenland quite recently! Today's story is somewhat of a continuation of that report." Janice turned to John. 

"Ahh yes, the white light. Some people have been referring to it as a 'Super-Charged Northern Light' while others seem to believe it's a blessing from God. Tell me, what do you think Janice?" John retorted. 

"I think instead of asking me, you should ask today's very special guest! Please everyone, help me welcome Dr. Maximillion Stein to the show!" Janice and John stood from their respective seats and applauded their guest as he entered the room. 

Dressed in a typical, yet elegant suit adorned with black and silver trim, Dr. Stein entered the view of the camera's and strode across the stage — taking his seat on a comfortable interview couch prepared for these segments. 

"Pleasure to meet you." John shook the Doctor's hand. 

"No-no, the pleasure is all mine!" Dr. Stein replied in a light and casual tone. 

"So Dr. Stein, what can you tell us about this unprecedented light?" Janice leaned over the desk and asked. 

"To be quite truthful with you my dear, there's not much to tell." Dr. Stein shook his head. 

He pulled his spectacles from his face and cleaned their surface before continuing. 

"But perhaps, that's the most fascinating element of the light." 

"I apologize Dr. Stein, but do you mind explaining what you mean?" Janice asked. 

"The light is essentially untraceable. If it weren't for various recordings proving otherwise, I would be convinced that the light hadn't appeared at all. Our sensors didn't detect its heat, there were no pronounced levels of radiation, it seems to have had zero effect on the people and topography of Greenland." Dr. Stein shook his head dejectedly. 

"And just to be clear — the Northern Lights ARE able to be measured by all of these sensors?" John inquired. 

"That's correct." Dr. Stein confirmed. 

"Although faint, the Northern Lights are just that — light. And light is energy. Light has a speed and possesses waves that are able to be measured and dissected. The Northern Lights clearly exist and we can prove that they exist! For some reason, the white light is different. It almost feels like I'm chasing a ghost!" Dr. Stein laughed. 

Then, the television screen behind the camera crew and the teleprompters went dark. The live broadcast was forcibly interrupted. 

"Hey! What happened?" John stood from his desk and asked the camera director. 

Just as he was going to respond, however, an intern from the live-editing department burst into the stage room. 

"The connection's been hijacked!" The intern shouted. 

"Hijacked?" the news' director repeated, "By who?" 

The television behind them that had turned black suddenly flickered to life. This was the TV responsible for showing the live broadcast of their own news channel, but at the moment it clearly depicted a foreign landscape. 

Hills covered in grass with frost sprinkled overtop. Mountains covered in white powder filled the horizon and at the forefront of the picture, a mature woman with leopard print glasses stood behind a dark oak podium. 

Beside her, the President of the United States stood on her left while the King of the United Kingdom accompanied her right. 

"I apologize for interrupting your daily scheduled program —" Secretary-General Sarah Barber leaned into the microphone sat atop the podium. 

 "— but as you can see, I'm currently joined by the President of the United States and the King of the United Kingdom. And if you don't know who I am, my name is Sarah Barber and I'm the Secretary-General of the United Nations." Sarah Barber paused to allow her words to sink in to the millions upon billions of people listening to her. 

"Today, myself along with the rest of the world leaders, hope to share something incredible with the rest of you. Behind us is the country of Greenland — home to the recent fantastical light that's taken the world's media by storm, and yet I'm here today to tell you the truth behind this light as none of the report's I've seen have got it right yet." 

Secretary-General Barber paused and looked down at the prepared speech hidden behind the podium's curve. Taking a deep breath, she began. 

"The world as we know it is about to change…" Barber made sure to look straight into the camera as she explained the Status, the random summonings, the Gates, and most importantly — she emphasized the Abilities and powers of the newly Awakened among their populus. 

"It is for these reasons that today, here and now, the United Nations and the countries that are a part of us have decided to enact a new Global Constitution. In this Constitution, not only are we creating a new organization dedicated to the care and support of the Awakened as they return, but we're also desperately in the process of creating facilities aimed towards training civilians we likely suspect will be summoned to the other world." 

"If you'd like to read the new Constitution in full, see videos of the Awakened in action, or are curious about the future plans of our new organization, please visit our new website World'sGuardians!" 

"Thank you for your time and please — do take this seriously." 

***

The overbearing jackal took an anxious step away from Cain. 

The jackal's eyes repeatedly shot between the |Jug of Mist| and Cain himself. The creature was entirely unsure of what to do. 

Then, enlightenment shone within his violet irises. 

The jackal grabbed Cain's shoulder and pulled him out of the stone wall. 

Now free, Cain struggled to raise the |Jug of Mist| towards the ferocious jackal. His arm weak and limp, shaking from the exhaustion that plagued him. 

But when Cain finally managed to raise his eyelids and look upon his opponent, he found the jackal kneeling below him. The jackal's head was aimed low in respect and one arm laid straight across his raised knee. 

"Lord Death!" The jackal bellowed with intensity. 

"Forgive this one's ignorance!" The jackal pleaded. 

'Huh?' Cain thought. 

'Did I hit my head too hard back then?' 

After a few long moments of silence, Cain peeled his eyes off of the lowered jackal in search of Olive's figure. When he attacked the beast earlier, he feigned consideration for Olive's safety. 

Only after did Cain realize how fatally dangerous his attack had been as he had never fully empowered an Ability like that before. The effects were astonishing, to say the least. 

'Although it still didn't hurt this bastard!' 

But Cain digressed, he had to find Olive among the rubble of collapsed columns and fallen ceiling. 

"The human is safe." Unexpectedly, the jackal's deep voice interrupted Cain's search. 

"Where is she?" Cain muttered at a volume just above a whisper. 

The jackal stretched his black staff to the side. Green light ignited the space just before Runes fluttered down onto the cracked stone and joined together — forming a Circle of Runes that further expanded with light. 

The green light momentarily overpowered the dimly lit space and when the light diminished, Olive's unconscious body lay where the Runic Circle had once been. 

"Would you like me to heal her, my Lord?" The midnight navy jackal inquired while still refusing to look upon Cain's visage. 

Meanwhile, Cain's thoughts ran amok. What made the jackal's tone change so egregiously? One moment, the jackal was moments away from slaughtering Cain and the next, the jackal was his servant? 

'He called me Lord Death.' Cain realized. 

'I suspected having some relation to death, but I didn't expect anything like this to happen?!'

'What is even happening?!!' 

Cain parted his dry lips. 

"Why do you call me Lord?" Cain finally asked. 

"The |Jug of Mist| is not something mortals can wield. Created by Death Himself, it is a Relic of the past — thought to have long been destroyed but…" The jackal paused, unsure of what to say. 

"Now I have it." Cain muttered. 

'Wait!' Cain realized. 

'I have a cloak too!' 

Cain called upon the |Reaper's Cloak| and immediately his identity underwent a transformation. 

Growing taller than the jackal, a shredded cloak hovered above the ground. Torn in hundreds of places, strips of black cloth miraculously fluttered in the underground space even though there existed no wind to cause them to flutter. 

Through the movement of the cloth, a black silhouette was shrouded within the cloak. Appearing like an apparition, muddled by some sort of mist and fog, a black entity possessed the cloak. 

The black being could not be discerned for it had no arms and no legs and yet, the strips of cloth moved in accordance to Cain's wishes — acting as extremities for the black phantom that guided them. 

Underneath the cloak's hood, hidden deep in a seemingly infinite void, two golden sparks burned in place of irises. Beside the two razing flames, nothing else existed within the hood. Nothing else but darkness. 

The two candle-sized golden flames flickered intensely and fluttered around the empty space of the hood — moving around the darkness like the pupils of an eye. 

With a piece of cloth now wrapped around the |Jug of Mist's| handle, the floating being looked down at the jackal shivering at his feet. 

Cain raised his arm to inspect his new outfit, but instead of his human hand greeting his eyes, a bundle of cloth wrapped together to form the silhouette of an arm. 

In wonder, Cain experimented with the fluttering cloth. He had it wrapped in various forms. 

From the cloth, Cain formed a sword, an arm, a shield and many more random objects. Cain felt that manipulating the cloth was even easier than molding his black arms — almost like his black arms were the tutorial for this very phenomena. 

He studied his legs or lack thereof as when he looked down, Cain saw nothing more than a hollow space where his legs should have been. 

Cain raised his leg. 

Nothing happened. 

Cain tried moving around. 

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from Cain's ethereal form and moved him in the direction he tried to step. 

Cain tried to jump. 

And again, a gust of seemingly wind or energy burst underneath him and launched Cain higher into the air. Unfortunately, Cain couldn't figure out how to maintain this greater height as moments later, he plummeted back down to his original hovering height of about two feet off the ground. 

'Am I the cloth itself or am I something like a ghost manipulating the cloth?' Cain pondered. 

He knelt down and touched the stone floor. 

What really happened, however, was his ethereal form clouded in cloth lowering towards the stone ground. Then, a single strip of black cloth flew against the ground's embrace and fluttered across its cracked surface. 

'I can't feel shit!' Cain shouted alarmingly in his head. 

'Wait — can I talk?' 

Cain's mysterious golden flame irises lingered towards the jackal's still kneeling form. 

Relying on the muscle memory of speaking, Cain attempted to say something. 

'So who are you anyway?' Cain tried to ask. 

But what actually sounded from his ethereal form, in an incomprehensible voice — as if thousands were screaming in terror at once, but at the mere volume of a whisper — Cain spoke. 

"Anubis — Fourth Apostle — raise your head." Death spoke. 

///LostNoteFound///

Happy Tuesday! Thank you to WalkingBush and DevilGod_of_Chaos for the power stones!