Today, Estella was spending her lunch that day with her ex-boyfriend (now friend with benefits) Jay Hayward. The tall-ish young man had olive skin, short brown hair and blue eyes. They were sitting at a table at the main courtyard in campus.

As Estella tore into a burger, she noticed a woman walking past with a cameraman beside her. She didn’t even need to say anything, Jay noticed her gaze and quickly followed it, seeing the pair right before they went out of view. “Oh, they’re probably from the Angel Bay Times. I heard something earlier about a journalist coming in to report on certain research projects.”

"Well, not a lot to report on when it comes to this town… Aside from the disappearances,” Estella said. “But those have been covered by the big networks and papers, nevermind being completely overshadowed by that thing in the sky.”

“Yeah, I heard about that, crazy stuff on both counts,” Jay frowned, leaning back in his chair, speaking right before taking a bite out of his burger, “the most worrying part about the disappearances is that they’re random. No apparent connections between any of the victims. Thirty-two victims in mere weeks is alarming by itself, they’re talking about calling in the federal police to aid in the investigation.”

“Can we not talk about this? I really don’t want to think about stuff like this while I’m eating,” Estella sighed, before taking another bite. Just thinking about what might have happened was distressing, and she would really rather not contemplate it. It just ruined her good vibes and all that. She already had to deal with a wraith today.

A lot of her thoughts kept coming back to the morning just after she woke up. It was still absolutely vivid in her own mind.

Estella yawned as she sat up in bed, blinking, light filtering through the window blinds. She got up, reaching to open up said, blinds, letting the morning sun shine through and fully illuminating the room.

“Ah, you’re awake,” spoke an unfamiliar masculine voice coming from right in front of her bedroom door.

Estella froze, slowly turning towards the door.

Propped up against the door was a large sword, nearly as long as she was tall. And it was a beautiful sword indeed, with multiple gorgeous rubies on the guard, grip and a trio in a triangle formation right above the guard itself, all of it gloriously illuminated by the light streaming in. The guard was a mixture of gold and silver, in intricate patterns and extending into a sweeping basket guard that looked like wings. Along the length of the sword were five runic symbols that she didn’t recognise as belonging to any culture she was familiar with, and the blade bulged out slightly just past the middle towards the point. Wrapped around the grip were multiple pieces of paper with more runic symbols, but also English text.

“There’s a sword in my room and I swear I just heard a voice. Guess I’m either going mad, or I still need more sleep,” Estella sighed as she fully climbed out of bed, going over to the sword, reaching out tentatively to touch the guard. Instead of her hand phasing through it like she was expecting from a hallucination and instead she was dazzled by the almost marble texture. “Okay so it’s actually real.”

“I beg your pardon, young lady, I am indeed quite real,” said the unknown voice. And Estella was quite certain it was coming from the sword.

Estella paused. She took a deep breath. “Okay. I am talking to a sword. Still not convinced that I haven’t gone crazy.”

“Your sisters can determine that quite independently if that is required. You are Estella Kendrick. And I am Galowye, Arcane Arm forged to slay demons and other terrible evils. And I am offering you the opportunity to become an Arcane Knight capable of saving lives and doing much good.”

“‘Arcane Knight’, huh? I kinda like the ring to it,” Estella chuckled. “Is there a catch?”

“Besides the inherent dangers involved in fighting evil? Not really. Whether you accept the power and responsibility offered to you is entirely your choice. But based on what I’ve been told and shown, I believe you have immense potential. So, what do you say?”

Estella barely even needed to think about it before she reached out for the handle. “Sounds like a dream come true. I like the cut of your jib, Galowye. I’m in.”

Then she gasped, as the text and symbols on the papers glowed, and the ink seemed to literally go into her arm. A whole set of knowledge seemed to enter her head all at once, but she needed a bit of time to process the whole lot of it.

Apparently… She could use magic, now. That was going to take time to process. And she couldn’t be more excited.

“Fair enough, it’s talked about enough on TV and on the net as it is,” Jay nodded, clearly sharing at least some of her discomfort. “I just wish I could be out there helping to solve the case. But, you know how it is, I don’t want to just be some cop, gotta get my degree and then go to law school and all that.”

“Why are you complaining? You enjoy that crap, you want to go to law school,” Estella smirked.

“Es, really? Must you make me sound like the most boring guy on the planet right now?” Jay chuckled, shaking his head. “I totally want to do that stuff, but I also want to be out there, dispensing justice and righting wrongs. Sure, whether I become a prosecutor or a detective, I imagine it won’t be quite as thrilling as my head has built it up to be, but I still wanna do it. Someone’s gotta help maintain law and order to protect people, might as well be me.”

Estella smiled softly. This was exactly the sort of thing that had caused her to start dating him in the first place. Maybe they weren’t the best fit for each other, but she had full confidence he’d make someone very, very happy one day. Their was a reason their breakup was pretty amicable. “Yeah, I’m sure you will someday, Jay.”

“And I’m sure you’ll make some kind of crazy archaeological discovery someday, Es,” Jay smiled back. “You wouldn’t shut up about it while we were dating.”

Estella laughed sheepishly, as she began to bite down into her burger again, “yeah, I might’ve gotten carried away on that.”

“Oh, no, the stuff you talked about was interesting, it just wasn’t as much my jam as it was yours,” Jay smirked playfully. “I get why you’re more into digging up and exploring the past, though.”

“There’s not a lot left to discover here on this planet,” Estella sighed. “Space is more Nat’s thing, and while there’s vast swathes of the oceans humanity hasn’t explored, it’s just… Creepy fish and squids and all that. Not like anyone’s gonna find Atlantis or anything, that shit’s just a parable invented entirely by Plato to rail against Athenian decadence while showing off how much of a hard-on he had for Sparta’s way of doing things.”

“Okay, that’s a new one, so, what, no continent of Lemuria or El Dorado?” Jay leaned forward, elbows on the table as he took another bite.

“Lemuria got disproven by continental drift theory, and El Dorado was a whole load of wishful thinking by the colonial Spanish because they literally could not comprehend that the native American peoples had no monetary use for gold and didn’t value it as much as the colonials did,” Estella shook her head, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of what surfaced in her mind. “The natives just kept telling the Spaniards complete nonsense to send them off into faraway, deadly locations just to get rid of them, and the Spanish kept falling for it. It’s hilarious. If El Dorado actually existed, there’s a 99% chance that someone would’ve found it already, and even then it probably wouldn’t have lived up to expectations, because, realistically, nothing would’ve. That’s how insane the legend became. And just to drive things home, Spain actually dumped their entire supply of platinum in the ocean just because they didn’t realise its true value and people were using it to make fake gold.”

That actually got a laugh out of Jay, who leaned back as he swallowed his last chunk of burger. “Wow.”

Estella was a student of history, specifically studying for a bachelor’s in ancient history, though she minored in modern history as well. She was regarded as a good student by her professors, though she liked to think she found a good balance between her studies and her social life.

“I believe that was not long before I was hidden away. I’ve missed a lot in the last few centuries, it seems,” Galowye noted mentally.

“But yeah, there’s still plenty of history we haven’t uncovered, and I want to be there to unearth it,” Estella remarked with a swell of pride. “If this was a Disney movie, I’d be singing about how much I wanna do it.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Jay remarked, with a chuckle. “I like the sword necklace you’re wearing, by the way.”

“Thanks, I bought it from some store the other day. It’s one of a kind, apparently.”

“Huh. So. I could walk you home later this afternoon, if you want.”

“Already made arrangements with Anja and Nat, but thanks. And besides, we both know it’s just a booty call in disguise,” Estella smirked at him.

“Maybe, but you can’t blame me for wanting to spend some private time with my gorgeous, very busty ex-girlfriend who is now a friend with benefits,” Jay smirked back.

Estella recalled how good Jay was in bed, and just smiled. “Fair enough.”

❖

Anja was currently hanging out at the back of the shopping area, leaning against a wall. And she wasn’t alone. Sonia Mata was with her. And she was always a good companion for times when she just wanted to hang and be chill. Sonia was darker-skinned, with long back hair and green eyes. Her attire could be best described as ‘lite goth’, which really just translated to some purple lipstick and makeup, basic black shirt, jacket, pants and boots, and a few earrings.

“So. That blue hexagon thing’s gotta be aliens, right?” Sonia said idly, looking out towards the horizon. She was chewing gum in her mouth quietly and slowly. She was the type of person who would smoke if they didn’t care about their own well-being, but Sonia did, and so she indulged in alternatives like gum and sweets. “Like… There’s no real alternative rational explanation unless the US has been developing some weird secret project.”

Oh, and Sonia was a conspiracy theorist. Not a hardcore one, but just enough to be a little obnoxious about it sometimes.

Anja snorted. “Sure, and there’s a stargate under Cheyenne Mountain. I mean, you’re not wrong, but let’s not jump to to conclusions that quickly. If aliens are that capable of setting up a shield around the planet, they’d be able to hide themselves until they want to be seen. Can we talk about something else?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s fair,” Sonia said. “You still thinkin’ about the crap you mentioned the other day about fate and all that stuff?”

Anja nodded slowly. “Yeah. I’m really not sure any of us really have free will, I guess? There’s the illusion of choice, I guess, but we all end up doing whatever destiny has in store for us. Wonder what Matt would say…”

Sonia paused, thinking it over, and shrugged. “I guess that’s possible, can’t deny that. But I think you’re just trying to overthink something that wasn’t your fault to begin with. If he exists (and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t), God’s supposed to have a plan for all of us, but I’m sceptical it’s even a well thought-out plan. I personally think there’s no real ‘destiny’ and everything’s on us and our decisions, because if there is a sky dude out there deciding everything, he’s a fucking jackass.”

Sonia was also an atheist, if that wasn’t already obvious.

In Anja’s head, Prometheus just laughed. “I like this chick already!” His voice was basically that of a guy in his twenties.

“Fair enough, but… I guess it’s just a hunch of mine. Don’t know what else to say other than that,” Anja said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the symbiote’s remark.

“Or, again, you’re just overthinking things again. What happened back then was a freak accident. I’m just glad I didn’t lose you as well,” Sonia said.

That gave Anja pause to think. She smiled softly, “well, I’m glad fate gave me a friend who helps keep my head on straight.”

Sonia smiled softly, clearly flattered by the remark, “oh, come on, Anj, I thought you didn’t do the sentimental shit.”

“What? It’s what I really think. I don’t bullshit you, Sonia. Never have,” Anja said. “Still looking into the occult stuff?”

“Girl, you know it,” Sonia replied, with a chuckle. “Yeah, I know, stereotypical, but I always had a thing for myth and fantasy and shit like that since I was a little girl. But checking out what those harmless weirdos think is interesting. Some weird speculation about there being another Earth where all the magic is and some shit because Jesus chased off all the old gods and monsters who ruled the roost or some nonsense.”

“Huh. That’s… A thing, I guess,” Anja blinked.

Sonia nodded, grinning. “Imagine that, we can’t find any fantasy stuff because they all ran off somewhere else we can’t go to. That’d be all sorts of crazy.”

Anja nodded, staring off into the distance. “Yeah, I guess it would be…”

There was silence between them for a good thirty seconds, before Sonia spoke again.

“Hey. You heard about that big bio-lab complex just outside Newcastle that had some kind of accident?”

“Hmm? Some kind of containment failure, right?” Anja replied, recalling that particular news story in her head. “Didn’t seem like an accident to me, from the footage I saw. Looked more like deliberate sabotage… Or something breaking out. But what kind of biological experiment could possibly break out? Doesn’t make any sense…”

“Now that sounds familiar. Maybe it’s the lab I got broken out from,” Prometheus said.

“So you were created by humans, not extraterrestrials?” Anja thought.

“Yup, though it seems like they were workin’ with stuff that wasn’t of human origin. I don’t know much of the details myself.”

Anja was studying biology. Her course was a bachelor’s in medical sciences, though she wasn’t entirely sure whether she wanted to go into becoming a doctor. She already felt like she had blood on her hands, she wasn’t sure if she was ready for more of it.

But thinking about Prometheus and how he was created brought her back to that morning, when she first woke up.

Anja was awake, but she didn’t want to get out of bed. She just didn’t have the energy for it. Just one of those mornings, she supposed.

“Hey, I know you’re awake.”

Anja groaned, rolling onto her other side. Now she was hearing things - a male voice from right beside her bed. Maybe she was still half-asleep. She decided to just go back to sleep and ignore it.

“Hey, lady, I know you can hear me.”

Anja wasn’t sure whether to answer, take a look at who was trying to talk to her, or just continue ignoring it. However, that choice was taken out of her hands when her bedroom door opened. She opened her right eye, seeing Estella standing at the door.

What Anja wasn’t expecting was to see Estella carrying a huge sword in her hand, in a reverse grip. Estella blinked, looking at whatever was beside the bed. “Galowye, do you know anything about… That?”

“He’s an ally. We will need him for what lies ahead,” spoke a male voice. And Anja swore it was coming from the sword.

“Oh, sweet, Galowye, you got your partner on board. Hey, beautiful, can you tell your sister to get outta bed?” Asked the other identified male voice.

“Ah welp,” Estella sighed, as she walked over to Anja, putting her free hand on Anja’s shoulder and shaking her lightly, “hey, Anj… You gotta get outta bed. Some crazy shit is going on, and I don’t think you’ll want to miss it.”

Anja groaned as she sat up, finally gathering up the emotional energy to bother. “Okay, but why do you have a sword, and why does it seem to be-”

Something else drew her attention. Sitting on the floor right next to her bed, basically impossible to miss, was a sealed cylindrical container, most of it transparent, about a meter wide and about half her height. Inside, was a red and purple formless organic mass, moving in a pseudo-liquid fashion. The mere sight of it caused her to freeze and make her heart race. “Okay what the actual fuck.”

“Wow, rude,” said the first male voice, which she was now certain was coming from inside the container. “Calm down, not like I’m a threat to anyone as long as the container’s sealed, you dig? I’m what you call the results of an unethical science experiment. More specifically, I’m a symbiotic entity - see, I can’t do a lot by myself, but by bonding to other creatures, my host and I can do all sorts of crazy shit.”

“According to Galowye here, he and this thing were teleported in here for the purpose of basically giving us crazy superpowers and stuff,” Estella said. “I’ve got a magic sword and magic now, it seems.” Just to drive the point home, she held her hand up, and a flame appeared right above her palm out of nowhere.

Anja stared wide-eyed at the flame, before staring at the creature in the container. It was getting hard to breathe. How was she supposed to handle all of this at once? This was crazy.

“Look, I understand if you don’t wanna, but apparently our compatibility is really good. We can give it a shot and if you’re not keen, I’ll leave. I promise I won’t screw with your head or anything, not that I really can…”

Anja realised that he sounded oddly… Lonely and isolated. Granted, being trapped in that container probably sucked a lot, but if he was a symbiotic entity, then being without a host to bond with was probably not pleasant for him.

Estella nodded, “your choice, sis. If something happens, I’m sure I can fix it somehow.”

“I do believe he can be trusted, Anja,” Galowye said. Geez, an actual talking sword. Not making this any less stressful.

She took a deep breath, getting out of bed, and reaching for the handle at the top, which doubled as the main mechanism for unsealing the container. She gripped a handle on the side, and twisted the top, eliciting a hiss from the lid as it came off. “Okay. But you better behave, got it? Otherwise I’m kicking your ass.”

The symbiote laughed as the mass emerged from the container, latching onto her arm and surging up her body. “Oh, trust me, I’ll be on my best behaviour. Okay, this is probably gonna get a little weird, so brace yourself.”

“Right, fair enough. You got a name?”

“Not really. I guess I have the designation of ‘Project Prometheus’…”

“Eh, ‘Prometheus’ works. Alright, show me what you got, ‘partner’.”

She was not exactly prepared for what came next, but it wasn’t as unpleasant as she expected, feeling him enter via her orifices and pores, and a flexible but armoured mass beginning to cover her body…

Anja’s thoughts returned to the present, and back on topic. “Getting into another conspiracy theory, Sonia?”

“Hey, I might be wrong, but a chemical or biological accidental just didn’t seem to match up. Or maybe I’m overthinking things again too,” Anja sighed. “Probably won’t matter either way.”

There was another awkward pause.

Sonia asked, “so. Wanna shag after classes are over?”

“Eh, sure, why not, got nothing else better to do,” Anja shrugged.

She thought she saw something dark moving in the distant shadows, but figured it to be a trick of the light or something.

❖

Natalia was having lunch with one of her fellow engineering students, Florrie Ashworth, at a table on the greens not far from the lake. Florrie was a short but curvy woman, with medium-length blonde hair tied back in braids and green eyes. She wore a black jumper and a set of jeans. The pair were sharing a sushi box together. Florrie was using a couple of books to boost her height on her seat. Florrie noted, “your parents still ain’t back?”

Natalia sighed, “yeah, it’s the longest they’ve been gone. They send regular updates and photos, but I guess I just can’t help but worry just a little bit, even though I know they’re pretty tough.”

“I guess the best you can do is just wait and pray their trip is a safe one, then,” Florrie said, eating another piece of sushi. “Focus on your studies, I guess.”

“Been trying, but that just makes me stay up late working!” Natalia groaned, putting another piece into her mouth. “I need to get back to sleeping earlier…”

“You indeed should be adhering to a proper sleeping schedule. Lack of sleep is not conductive to good physical health,” advised Natalia’s Neural Intelligence Assistant, or NIA for short - she had been installed alongside her cybernetics.

Natalia was getting used to having an augmented reality heads-up-display/user interface in her vision, without any external equipment to facilitate it. While for the most part those elements were not visible, they did appear when NIA considered them relevant at any given moment. Natalia could see all sorts of information available to her cybernetics, including the status of her body, the equipment stored in the compression capsules inside her torso, the status of her integrated personal shield, a three-dimensional radar system (though ‘radar’ was oversimplifying it), and more.

As for how she received all of this, it was something she was still thinking about, not just because it was so overwhelming, but because of the sheer intellectual puzzle of how it worked.

Natalia stared at the small circular platform, roughly a meter wide and roughly a quarter meter tall, sitting right in front of her bedroom door. On top were feet markings indicating that someone was meant to stand on top of it. She didn’t remember ordering something like this online or anything.

A brief inspection indicated no real openings she could pry open, and the top where she was meant to stand had a rubbery texture, indicating it wasn’t conductive. But there was also no apparent way to switch it on, either.

Out of curiosity, and despite her caution, Natalia decided to step up onto the platform. If anything popped out that could potentially harm her, she figured she could just jump off. Not that she figured it was harmful, otherwise why would it be in her room in the first place? How did it get here, anyway?

Before she could continue with that thought, a thin, multi-linked mechanical arm extended out from the platform almost silently and outside her peripheral vision, pressing something against her neck. She felt something shoot into her skin, and when the arm removed the object in question, she was able to get a look at it. It was some kind of advanced jet injection module that didn’t require a needle. The sight of it distracted her from more arms that emerged, holding her in place by the arms, legs and neck as it began to perform more injections across her body. Her head felt strange, as if something was growing inside of it.

“Installation complete. Apologies for the discomfort, Miss Kendrick. I am your Neural Intelligence Assistant, or NIA for short.” It was a feminine voice in her head, vaguely robotic in cadence.

Natalia panted, her mind suddenly clearer than before, and she noticed there were user interface elements in her vision, like something that would be on a computer screen. “What’s happening to me…?!”

“Do not be alarmed, you have been injected with a suite of cybernetic systems courtesy of the installation platform. While my creator regrets that she couldn’t provide the full suite of functions she desired due to time constraints, you are properly equipped for handling a variety of combat scenarios.”

“COMBAT?! Wait… Cybernetics…? I’m a cyborg now?!”

“As far as that terminology is concerned, I suppose that is indeed correct. Included is a full-fledged battle-suit, and a full set of weapons, vehicles and equipment. Observe.”

Natalia gasped as something emerged from her torso, right above her breasts, surrounded in a blue glow, as it enlarged, forming some kind of sci-fi energy rifle. She grasped the curved handle firmly, being careful to keep her finger away from the trigger. It was noticeably designed to be used one-handed, for the most part. Natalia gasped when blue energy burst out around the top and bottom of the blade, forming a blade shape. She took a few tentative swings, noting it was lightweight and easy to use, hearing the hum of the energy blade as it moved through the air, before deactivating with a mere thought. “I’d consider pulling the trigger, but I don’t want to put a hole in my wall…”

Still, she needed to tell her sisters. Her being the only person to be aware of this would drive her crazy. She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, immediately seeing her sisters, both of them in their pyjamas as well for some reason. “Estella, Anja, you’ll never believe what just-”

-then, as they both looked at her, she saw Estella holding a huge sword and half of Anja’s body covered by some kind of moving, organic mass. Natalia’s eyes widened. “Okay what the FUCK?!”

“Yeah, I can sympathise with that,” Florrie chuckled. “Geez, girl, you worry too much about this stuff. Take it easier. You’re good enough to not need late nights. You’re like, the opposite of someone who does all their work at the last minute.”

Natalia couldn’t help but stew over those words, and sighed, “yeah, you’re right. I just can’t help it right now, I guess. God, I am so stressed.”

“Then you need to wind down and reduce the stress somehow. You need a date,” Florrie said. Judging by the fact that she was smirking upon seeing Natalia’s horrified expression, it seemed she expected that reaction. “Come on, it’ll be good for you, you haven’t had a boyfriend or girlfriend in years.”

“Florrie, that’ll only make things worse! I can’t deal with dating someone right now!” Natalia winced, squirming in her seat. “What if it goes horribly wrong?!”

“Okay, okay, calm down,” Florrie said, raising her hand. “Sorry, I was just teasing.”

“Well, I am the only person you know you can tease,” Natalia said. Both of them were, to put it simply, nerds. Both of them were different degrees of shy, and while Florrie was somewhat less so, she still had some shyness in her, enough for Natalia to sympathise. “Not in a mean way, I know…”

“Yeah, right, I know. Nat, you’re special and one of the coolest people I know,” Florrie smiled, tossing another piece of sushi into her mouth. “Once we graduate, if we started a tech company together, I think we could be unstoppable.”

“Geez, trying to rope me into your grand plans for riches again?” Natalia giggled, her mood lifting. Florrie had big dreams, for sure. It’s just that she wasn’t quite sure how to achieve those dreams right now. “Yeah, I totally get it, geez. You wouldn’t need me, you’re super smart, your eye for mechanical and electronic analysis is amazing.”

“Yeah, but you’re better than me at coming up with cool ideas,” Florrie said. “Nobody can think outside the box like you can.”

Natalia’s field of study was electrical and electronic engineering, with some mechanical engineering on the side. It was something that interested her a lot ever since she was a little girl, and she put her being into her passion with incredible enthusiasm. However, this sometimes came at the detriment of her social life. That was not to say she was friendless, however. Case in point, her friendship with Florrie.

Natalia’s face flushed, looking down at the box of sushi, “Florrie… Thanks, but…”

“Okay, okay, I get the point. We’ve got years to figure out what we’re gonna do after we graduate,” Florrie chuckled, as she grabbed the last piece of sushi and ate it. “For now, chill out and take things slower, you know? It won’t kill you.”

“I’ll give it a try. Thanks, Florrie,” Natalia nodded.

“But in the meantime, you gotta come over to my place, version 4.5 is ready and it is wild, hits all the right spots,” Florrie giggled.

That caused Natalia to blush profusely. “Florrie, we shouldn’t be talking about this sort of thing at lunch…”

“But we’re gonna be busy the rest of the day, though! And I made a new double-sided one that I need a partner to test,” Florrie replied, keeping her voice relatively hushed.

Natalia bit her lip, and the temptation overcame her. “You’ll have to bring ‘em to my place, then, I’m going home together with my sisters because of people disappearing.”

“Good enough. God knows you need the stress relief,” Florrie remarked with satisfaction and triumph in her voice.

Poor Natalia simply wondered what exactly she had gotten herself into this time. And that was on top of what she had already gotten herself into as it was…