Burning Phoenix - Saga 1

He awoke to an unfamiliar sight.

Looking around him was nothing but the world of white, everything and nothing being in perfect harmony.

In some twisted fate, he can move his head, arms, and body, as he puts his hand on his chest to look up at the white nothingness.

(???’s thoughts) Is this a dream?

Getting up rapidly, his feet settled on the solid white floor that was nothing, feeling the presence of white marble but it wasn’t there. With his eyes seeing nothing but white, it made his breath hotter and raspy, and his body started to quake under the sudden sight.

With nothing, why is he here?

(???) Hello! Anyone! Is anyone here?!

Cupping his hands between his mouth, the young man shouted throughout the world of white, his voice reaching the endless horizon. With nothing beyond the human’s horizon, the young man continued to quake his body more as the mounting pressure of despair mounted on him.

(???’s thoughts) This is just a dream, right? Usually, if I get too scared, I’ll just wake up and forget about it right after breakfast.

His way of getting out of this dream-like world was to move forward. Lunging his right foot forward, the young man forced his body to move out of his terrified state, not looking back as he kept his face forward.

(???) Live…

Stopping in his tracks, he slowly turned his head towards the ungodly individual who was a couple of feet away from him. Angling his hands, his body quaked even more as whatever was in the back of him—

(???) Mom?

Seeing the dark brown-haired woman behind him, the young man took a couple of steps back, tears building up in his eyes as he remembered that silicon face. Putting his arms down, he slowly moved his body toward the woman he called Mom—

A finger gently tapped against the man’s right shoulder.

(???) What the?

Quickly turning his head, he saw a figure latched in white fur and bunny ears. The young man widened his eyes as his jaw slightly opened.

(???) Ryan?

Nearing the bunny-human was another beast human. With this beast human having a long neck and horse ears, the young man put his hand to his chin, trying to remember the name that was given to him…

(???) Wait … who are you…?

Taking another couple of steps back, his eyes slowly started to shut himself up. As his face started to turn pale, the young boy then bumped into another figure.

(???) Eep!

Jumping up out of shock, his back let out a small cold shiver.

He turned his body again to see a girl with green eyes, a girl taller than most girls. Not taking his eyes off of her, the young man’s eyes started to tear as the faces of the past continued to stare at him, their eyes glued to the young man’s face.

He quickly fell to the ground, his bottom hitting the white of nothingness as he put his hands to his ears.

(???’s thoughts) Please wake me up! Please wake me up! Please wake me up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Don’t make me remember! Don’t make me remember! Don’t make me remember! Don’t—

(???) Get up, Luke.

Hearing a familiar voice, the young man named Luke lifted his head, his hands still wedged in his ears. As his eyes slowly gazed at two other individuals, Luke’s eyes began to water as he could recognize those two figures from anywhere.

A woman and a man looked down at him, their faces all too familiar to him as a single tear rolled down his right cheek. Forcing his body to stand up, the woman in front of him walked a couple of steps towards him, putting her hands on Luke’s shoulders.

(???) No matter what, never give up.

The world then started to shimmer into nothing, the white of nothingness turning into the nothing of nothingness.

(???) Because in the end, you’ll be a burning—

Luke fell into nothing.

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(Quintiles 29, 59 / 8:02AM)

(Gwen) Wake up, sleepyhead!

His body resigned to the comfort of the bed. Gwen, a dark-haired girl with freckles, continued to tug him, her smooth yet stitched hands touching the shoulders of the sleeping man.

(Gwen) Hey, come on. Breakfast is ready. Just wake up, please?

As Luke continued to solace in the comfort of his bed, Gwen stood up and immediately headed towards the front of his bed, her boots creaking the wooden floorboards of the old building. Rubbing her hands rapidly, a form of electricity and sparks came out of it, the sparks somewhat brightening the darkness of the dimly lit room.

Holding a large amount of friction in her hands, she moved her way towards Luke’s shirt, slowly pulling it up as his chest was bare right in front of her.

(Gwen’s thoughts) Man, talk about a change from six years ago.

Despite being skinny, his chest was somewhat well formed, his pectoral muscles not that muscular but it was clear that it had some meat. Moving her eyes towards his abs, Luke’s abs were much well defined, a small six-pack that was ever-present.

(Gwen’s thoughts) I thought he was just a twig, but I guess this twig has some meat on him.

Rubbing her pointer fingers and thumbs rapidly, it created another barrage of sparks that lit up the room. Bending down to give Luke the best purple nurple, Gwen gave off a cheeky and devilish grin once her fingers were wrapping around Luke’s nipples.

Holding them firmly, Gwen then made sure her feet were on the ground steadily.

(Gwen) Clear!

Just as she was about to turn her fingers, the door to Luke’s room busted wide open.

(Luna) Hey Luke! Get your ass up!

Another woman figure, a tanned beauty with short dark hair and a curvy body, saw the sight unfold, her eyes widening as her fists started to tighten.

Instantly, Gwen stood up, flinching backward as she rapidly got away from Luke. Unfortunately, her fingers were tightened around Luke’s nipples…

(Luke) AH!

Springing his whole body up from the pain, Luke rapidly moved his head forward to collide with Gwen’s stomach. Gwen then clenched her eyes, as if a brick was thrown at her, causing her to let go of Luke’s nipples.

Luke felt a surge of electricity throughout his whole body, the pain ticking every nerve and cranny. His body shook with vigor, followed by his legs quivering and his arms shaking as he put his hands on his chest.

Controlling himself, he wrapped a blanket onto his body, his eyes clenched shut as his front and bottom teeth ground with one another.

(Gwen) Oh, shoot, hehe … sorry.

(Luke) Why did you do that?!

(Gwen) Blame Luna! I was just going to give you a slight purple nurple, but Luna scared the bejeebers out of me!

(Luna) What the hell is going on!? And why are you here with Luke alone?!

Luke pouted hard as his face turned bright red, the pain still ever present as his legs shook gently. Continuing to stare at Gwen with his sharpened eyes, Gwen rubbed the back of her head with her right hand.

(Gwen) Sorry, I was just trying to get you up Luke, so no hard feelings. For you Luna, I wanted to wake him up the hard way that’s all.

(Luna) I already told you I was going to wake him up!

Luna unfolded her arms as she took a couple of steps into the room, her eyes glued to Luke’s sultry pout. Clenching her fists, her body started to gently shake, her arm muscles slightly sharpening as she then moved her glance toward Gwen’s freckled face.

Gwen, who still had her right hand rubbing her head, put it back down as she placed her hands into her pockets, tilting her head to the right.

(Gwen) But you have the worst wake-up calls out of all of us? Especially towards me and Hope out of all people.

(Luke) I kind of prefer Luna in terms of waking up. At least she doesn’t molest me.

(Gwen) That’s because Luna gives you special treatment. With the rest of us, she drags us by the hair or ears! You get to be carried by her bridal style!

Luna’s face turned a bright red, her mouth gaping open as her body tightened with anger.

(Luna) Shut up! Out of everyone, he gives me donuts! Of course, I give him special treatment!

(Gwen) Hmm … is there something else besides donuts—

(Luna) Get out!

Positioning herself in a fighting stance, Luna put her fists up, her eyes glaring at Gwen, who then stood up and put her hands in the air.

(Gwen) Ok, ok. You don’t have to fight me… but as Jack says, you should be more honest you know?

(Luna) Shut up!

(David) Hey you three, Boris wants all of us back in the breakfast room now. He wants to hold a meeting after breakfast regarding the blood eagles.

A man clad in all black with a brown cowboy hat stood in the doorframe of Luke’s room. Seeing that Luna was in defensive mode, David inhaled and exhaled slowly as he put his hands in his pockets.

(David) Luna, calm down. Let’s just get breakfast.

(Luna) Shut up, old man! You can’t tell me what to do!

(David) What did you just call me?

David walked slowly into Luke’s room, his eyes neutral and calm as he slouched. Seeing that David was slowly approaching her, Luna then put her shaking fists down.

Taking a couple of steps back, a bead of sweat dripped from Luna’s forehead. As David towered over, his face was soullessly glaring at her, yet his body was relaxed and calm.

(David) Did you just call me old man?

Luna then let off a little sly smirk, despite her forehead having more droplets of cold sweat. Putting her hands on her hips, she positioned her body so that she looked like she was making a taunting stance.

(Luna) Y-yeah. What are you going to do about it? Y-you know that you have a soft spot for me, so you’re not going to do anything bad to me—

In a flash, David grabbed Luna’s right ear, his fingers having a tight grip on it. Pulling her body towards him, her head bent downward to look at the floor.

Luna, her ear aching in pain, used her right hand to get a grip on David’s hand that gripped her ear. Using her fingertips, she tried using her immense strength to loosen the grip on David, but David didn’t budge. David started to tighten the grip on her ear.

(Luna) Ow, ow, ow! Dammit, you geyser—ow, ow!

With Luna now being subjected by David, he turned towards Gwen and Luke, his eyes now nonchalant. Luna started to throw hard fists at his stomach, the fists seeming as if they could knock out a mammoth. David however, did not pay heed.

(David) Gwen, stop picking on Luna, you know how she is even though her temper has gotten better throughout the years.

(Gwen) Aww, you know I tease everyone equally~

(David) And Luke, make sure you get dressed because it’s going to be a long day.

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(Quintiles 29, 59 / 8:25AM)

(Jack) Oh, look who decided to sleep in late?

(Luke) I’m not like you Jack.

Long ago, the breakfast and lunch room looked more like a typical boot camp or school cafeteria, with most of the tables being wooden with the floor being stone.

Now, it took on the appearance of a big house kitchen, with three tables, two stoves, two refrigerators, and many barstools. In terms of appearance, it was more colorful since the walls were painted.

Despite behind the scenes dark angels and the frontline ones being completely different, there were no rules that determined they should sit at different tables.

Many of the members decided to merge two tables, leading to one super mega table next to a small one.

(Stan) Yo, drink orange juice man. You’ll lose your teeth by the time you’re 30.

(Miles) Then what about the amount of fat and grease your omelet has? That thing will give a mammoth a heart attack.

(Gary) You guys have really bad eating habits…

(Diego) Says the person who only eats junk food.

(Gary) Hey, I love my junk food.

(Luna) That’s why you’re a fatass.

(Gary) I’m not fat! I’m big-boned!

(Luke) Jack, why are you putting so much syrup on your pancakes?

(Jack) Because I like syrup bro. Hold on a minute, why do you have mustard on your bacon?

(Luke) Because mustard is good for you.

(Jack) pfft … that’s a really funny joke. You know, you should be a comedian.

(Luna) You should shut up.

(Jack) sigh … always to the rescue huh?

On the other table, it was just four adults, casually eating their food despite the nosiness of the other table. David, Jerry, and to an extent, Jenny were fine with the overall vibe that everyone had at the mega table, but with Boris clenching his fork tightly, and his chubby right hand started to shake violently as he eyed the rest of them. David, who noticed that Boris was on the verge of exploding, clasped his hands as he looked at him.

(David) Don’t worry Boris, let them be. For punishment, you could just have them clean the entire building like always.

(Boris) Do you understand David? They’re adults! Soldiers! Why do they act like little kids?!

(Jerry) Are you honestly asking that question?

For a moment, Boris felt a pang of guilt.

(Boris) Jerry, I’m aware they’ve gone through some tough times, but they do this every day!

The noise of the candidates grew louder, leading to Boris holding his fork even more tightly as he began to sharpen his glare towards the rest of his soldiers.

(Boris’s thoughts) They’re just young adults. They’re just young adults.

Something smacked Jenny in the face.

(Loraine) hehe.

Everyone stopped to see that Loraine threw an omelet at Jenny’s face, everyone looking towards Loraine’s goofy face as she stood up in her seat. With everyone seeing the weird face Loraine made, all the candidates on the table started to shake a bit.

Not by anger or frustration, but…

By laughter.

Laughter filled the colorful room, with members like Benn and Luna laughing at the seriousness of the event taking place.

Hope and Luke, who despite wanting to help out Jenny, didn’t want to be seen as the party poopers of the group. Because of this, they kept themselves silent.

Even David was holding back, shaking extremely hard as his mouth puffed up like a chipmunk. Boris and Jerry, the only two who didn’t find it funny, stood up and turned towards Jenny who let the omelet on her face stay there.

(Boris’s thoughts) That damn brat!

(Jerry) Hold up Jenny, let me get that omelet out for you.

Peeling the greasy omelet out with ease, Jerry then gently put it down onto her plate, as Jenny’s eyes were bloodshot red.

(Jerry) Hold up Jenny, I’ll handle her—

Jenny instantly stood up, her greasy face turning towards Loraine. Her hands were shaking violently, followed by her bulging veins all around her forehead, combined with the fact that she started to deathly glare at Loraine.

Loraine jumped back down from her seat. Using her legs, she pushed herself off the rich wooden floorboards, making a mad dash out of the breakfast room. Turning her head back as she looked upon everyone, she gave out a peace sign as she pointed out her pointer and index fingers together.

(Loraine) Toodles!

Jenny instantly stood up from her seat, her knuckles on the verge of crushing themselves under the weight of her strength. She sprinted her way towards the door, her legs thrusting themselves to the limits as she pushed off the floor wood boards with each step.

(Jenny) LORAINE!!

Everyone remained silent as Jenny lost control of herself, looking down at their plates. Jerry, despite eating his breakfast, stood up and pushed his seat in.

(Jerry) Shit, I’ll go get them.

(Boris) No, let Jenny handle it. She could capture Loraine with no problem.

Boris looked towards the larger table. Even though his fists shook, he clasped them together tightly, putting his right thumb over his left.

(Boris) Once Jenny comes back, I want everyone to apologize to her. To rub salt in the wound, you guys also are going to clean up all the dishes and garbage throughout the day, do I make myself clear?

(Gwen) Come on Boris, it was just a harmless prank.

(Boris) And about that meeting. That shall be delayed until everyone is finished with their chores.

(Dark Angels and Stan’s group) Awww man…