A group of young kids sit in a classroom, grade schoolers, around ten years old. The teacher stands at the front of the class holding a mug that reads “history is fun”. She smiles as she instructs the class. “Okay class, today we're covering something very special. The Mass Incursion Event of twenty eight. As many of you probably know, about ten years ago our world was driven into unprecedented chaos. There were a number of notable events that led up to this one. The first notable major event would be the election of President Merrow earlier that year.”
The teacher paced and sipped from her mug before continuing. “At this point the number of missing persons had reached an all time high thanks to the increased activity of feral Cryptids and the appearance of smaller incursions. When running one of President Merrow’s promises was to find out why people were going missing. Eventually, after an incident in what most people know as The Bermuda Triangle, the knowledge of Cryptids became public. This led to a number of changes and restructuring. Black Eagle was made a proper part of the military and the new identification laws were eventually put into place.”
The teacher paced again and took another sip from her mug. “Unknown to him the increase of fear and hate in the world was what was causing the incursions as the barrier between the worlds started to degrade. The timing of this big adjustment was unfortunate, but many see the changes he made as necessary. With some tweaks after the incident the new identification cards were better used as crackdowns on anti-discrimination laws increased.” She issued for a moment and took another sip. “Sorry, getting sidetracked. Back to the mass incursion event.”
The teacher paced and took yet another sip from her mug. “With the barrier between worlds all but gone, two entities of immense power came through. Phobos and Thymós. These two entities merged into a singular entity we called Malice. With an artifact holding hope energy in hand, a dark hero going by Pitch Black called on the entire world to… pitch in their energy.” She let out a dry laugh. “He then used that energy to blast Malice and save the world.” The teacher stopped to take another sip of her mug. “Unfortunately, due to some unusual dietary requirements, Pitch had to be out on trial.”
The teacher started to pace back and forth again, sipping from the mug. “In recognition for his efforts and the unusual situation Pitch found himself in, an original sentencing was shortly changed to one that would result in less time served. Though Pitch wasn't officially recognized as a national hero until just two years ago, after Merrow left office after his second term. With multiple congruent life sentences, the hero known as Pitch could be released in as little as five years from now on parole. Needless to say, there are a lot of people who are looking forward to it, and a lot of people who wish he would have been excited instead of imprisoned.”
The teacher stopped pacing and took another sip from her mug. “I'm getting sidetracked again. Anyway, after the mass incursion event, three new artifacts were recovered from the site where Malice was killed. These artifacts were each around five foot tall crystalline replicas of the human heart. One yellow one, dubbed the Heart of Phobos. One red one, dubbed the Heart of Thymós. And finally a blue one, dubbed the Heart of Elpída. These artifacts were found to not only hold, but produce large amounts of energy.”
The teacher paused, her face seemed to beam with excitement as they started talking again. “In fact, each of these three artifacts produced one hundred gigawatts an hour. That's a hundred times that of the average nuclear power plant. Thanks to the developments and efforts of N.R.G Salutations, a subsidiary of Tomorrow Corp, these three artifacts provide clean and radiation free energy to most of the United States. In fact the hearts provide nearly half of the energy we use.” The teacher practically quakes with excitement. “Though it is a bit sad it took something so crazy to get us there.”
The teacher takes a final sip from her mug before setting it on her desk. “The three hearts cover over a third to nearly half of the national energy consumption. This development alongside the increase of electric vehicles and renewable energy has nearly eliminated our dependence on fossil fuels. The reduced reluctance to use nuclear energy has also definitely helped thanks to several improvements in safety measures. It's just a shame we don't have more of these Hearts to send to our allies. Though N.R.G and NexGen have talked about finding a humane way to gather electricity from feral Cryptids like the Raiju.”
The teacher grabs her chair and wheels it out to sit on. “They estimate that we can completely remove all dependence on fossil fuels in just five more years. The only things that'll use the old fuels would be collectors items, and some collectors have taken to having replicas with electric engines for driving while the authentic item sits in storage to maintain value. The future has never been brighter, and I'm sure the national hero Pitch Black will be very proud of what we've accomplished as a society.”
The teacher rocks a bit in her chair. “I'm not saying it's perfect, because there are still tensions between human and Cryptid citizens. But anti-discrimination laws do ease that a bit and punish those who commit hate crimes based on such things.” She's paused again. “I'm getting sidetracked again. Although, I think I've covered everything around the Mass Incursion Event anyway. I could have covered more of the things that lead up to it today, maybe, but you've probably already covered this famous event in previous years.” She checks the clock. “It looks like we have enough time for questions from anyone that has any.”
A few kids raise hands with the teacher picking one. “I remember hearing that Pitch Black used to be human, and that the name he used was one he gave himself after transforming. If Black Eagle knew his human identity and this information would have been available to the court, how come Pitch's human name has not been made public?” The teacher nodded. “That is a very good question. One I unfortunately don't have a definitive answer for. It's possible that they wanted to give the controversial figure some privacy. Any other questions?”
Another student raises a hand and is called on. “So… if the hearts were left over energy from the clash ten years ago, how are they still creating energy?” The teacher smiles. “Great question. Seems someone was paying attention in science class earlier. N.R.G Salutations thinks the energy is coming from the realms of emotion tied to each heart. So all the energy in the fear realm Phobos didn't use powers the Heart of Phobos. The energy will probably run out some day, but by then we'll hopefully have something to replace it.”
The teacher paused for a moment, then continued. “The best part of the hearts besides no pollution is we have yet to detect a single downside to using the Hearts. It's one hundred percent guilt free and pollution free energy. The kind of things humans could once only dream of.” She checks the clock again. “We still have time for questions.” Another student raises a hand and is called on. “I know this is more current events, but what's with the division of Cryptids based on what emotion spawned their species I've been hearing lately. Just the other day I overheard someone referring to another student as a D?mon Cryptid.”
The teacher frowned. “Unfortunately even among a minority you'll see divisions and friction. The emotion that created a Cryptid citizen’s species isn't as important as that individual’s actions. In reality, there is no such thing as a "negative" emotion. It's what one does with that energy that makes it bad or good. There are plenty of good things that happened throughout history because of fear or anger. The civil rights movement in the fifties, the woman's rights movement in the twenties, the American Revolution. None of these would have happened without fear or anger.
Stolen novel; please report.
The teacher takes a small pause. “Although some might say they wouldn't have had to without fear or anger. However, repressing these emotions can be just as bad as using them poorly. As we now know from what little information we've recovered on the Atlantan culture.” Another student raises their hand but doesn't wait to be called on. “Is it true the Atlantans came to earth from Mars?” The teacher sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “We don't know, but it has been suggested by a few people. The implications would be interesting to say the least.”
The teacher looks at the clock one last time. “I think we have time for one more question.” One student raises their hand and is called on. “Earlier you said that you think one of the reasons Pitch's human name was never made public was to respect his privacy. Does that mean he has a family out there somewhere?” The teacher sighed. “I'd assume he has a family. Everyone comes from somewhere. He probably had a normal life at some point. Parents, siblings, romantic relationships, he could even have had children. We simply don't know. However, since the government knows, they are likely keeping tabs on them.”
The bell finally rings. “That's all for today, your homework will be to research a famous Cryptid from history to write a report on. Due at the end of the week.” The students all shuffle out of the class and into the hallway. “Man, history class is so boring sometimes.” Commented a student. “Yeah, but at least the classwork is usually easy. All you have to do is spend some time looking up things on the internet and paraphrase what it says.” Responds another. One student grasped the shoulder of another.
“Hey Adrian, are you okay? You seemed distracted.” Adrian, a pale skinny kid with black hair and dark brown eyes looks up at the one who grabbed him. “I'm fine, it's just…. That event is kinda personal is all.” The other kid knitted their brow. “The Mass Incursion Event happened the year we were born. Are you saying you lost someone that day? Before you were even born.” Adrian sighed. “Not exactly lost, but my dad fought alongside Black Eagle that day. He's not dead, just… preoccupied I guess.” Adrian knew he couldn't tell the other student the truth, that Pitch is his dad.
“I'll be fine Franklin, don't worry about it.” Franklin had a serious expression for a moment, then nodded. “Whatever you say man. Just make sure you're getting enough sleep. Those dark circles under your eyes are getting worse.” Adrian nodded and hit the bathroom between classes to look at his reflection.” Based on the dark circles it looked like I haven't slept in days. Though that wouldn't be entirely unusual. I've gone three days in a row without sleeping before and felt fine.” Adrian downs a bottle of water, though other students wouldn't know that the bottled water he drank was holy water.
Adrian washed his face in the bathroom before going to his next class, but he couldn't get the thought of his father out of his head. “(Five more years, five more years and I finally get to meet my dad.)” After school was over, Adrian grabbed his backpack from his locker and headed out the door. Once outside the school he was picked up by a black jeep with a truck bed. Driving the Jeep was his mother Kathryn. “How was school today sweetie?” Adrian shifted awkwardly in the backseat. “It was okay. My history teacher talked about dad today.”
Kathryn let out a soft sigh. “I know it's hard, sweetie, but your father felt it was important to display that no one is above the law and agreed to stand trial. I'm just glad we were able to change how long he was sitting. Though I do wish they would let us visit him. He went willingly but they still felt the need to put him in a special cell to make sure he didn't skip out early and keep telling me that visitation poses too much of a security risk. They won't even tell me or Jiryu where they're keeping your father.”
After a pause, Kathryn continued. “But he's due for parole in five years and I highly doubt they'll not give it to him, all things considered. Your father is a national hero, even if it took a different president to acknowledge that.” She paused to take a heavy sighing breath. “But you still have your aunties and uncles to help us through things without him until he gets back. Just remember you can't tell anyone that Pitch Black and James Holden are the same person.” Adrian nodded. “I know mom. I know.”
Kathryn nodded and hummed. “So any new developments? Increase in hunger, strange aches, trouble sleeping?” Adrian sighed. “I've been going two or three days without sleeping at a time, but still sleep for eight hours. The holy water helps keep me regular so I haven't noticed any weird craving or hunger pains.” Kathryn hummed. “And so far no special abilities?” Adrian did a so-so gesture. “I can kinda feel electromagnetic energy and to an extent tell what someone is feeling but the range is short. Like ten to twenty feet.” Kathryn hummed. “No weird shadow partials showing up?”
Adrian shook his head. “No, not yet mom.” Kathryn sighed. “Well let me know if anything changes. We'll keep running blood tests and checking for anomalies.” Adrian crossed his arms and huffed. “I can't believe that you're still running that lab, after everything that happened.” Kathryn let out a soft growl. “It's the only way to keep them honest honey, my oversight stops them from putting someone shady who'll only exploit the feral Cryptids without any regards to the fact they are just as alive as normal animals.” Adrian nodded in understanding. “Right, because without you running things there's no way to know what kind of person they'd put in charge.”
With the conversation over, the two made it home and entered the building. On the couch was Kasa in her more human form sitting with Fae and watching TV. Adrian waved to the two. “Hey auntie Kasa, auntie Fae. Sorry if I can't stay for smalltalk, I've got homework to do.” Adrian heads to his room. Both Kasa and Fae looked at Kathryn. Kathryn put both her hands up. “ He says he still hasn't manifested any major powers or symptoms. I'm guessing we're in the clear till he hits puberty, but since he's unique I don't have any existing data to go off other than his dad's.”
Kasa sighed and pulled off from her cozy side cuddle on the couch to stand and put a gentle hand on Kathryn’s shoulder. “You're doing a great job as a mother. So just keep doing your best and I'm sure it'll turn out fine. Whether he develops abilities like his dad or not. You've got this. We've got this. Don't forget we've got your back whenever you need a little help.” Fae nodded in agreement before standing to hug Kasa from behind.
Kathryn hugged them both. “I'm so grateful to have such good friends. You are all my anchors in this crazy storm I call life. I just wish they would let me visit Pitch. I haven't seen my husband in ten years, and although they say that they are taking good care of him and he is healthy I can't help but worry. Especially considering after his two terms as President, Marrow went back to running his company. Not that he wasn't already running it in secret as his own son. I still can't believe he got away with everything he did.”
As they settle in for the night, little do they know that in the shadows of society a dark secret looms over America and their family. Our story shifts to an N.R.G Salutations building seemingly in the middle of nowhere with nothing but forest around it for miles. Inside several lab techs work around a special containment unit with several tubes and wires hooked up to it with computer displays showing scans of the Heart of Elpída. The door to the room opens and Thomas Marrow Senior walks in wearing a loose fitting open lab coat.
The head researcher turns and stands. “Sir, I didn't expect you to come in person today, had I gotten a heads up I would have had the area cleaned. Former President Merrow shakes his head softly. “This isn't an inspection, I just wanted to check in on the hear myself again. Make sure it's still stable.” The head researcher nodded. “Right. As you can see everything is stable and it's still producing the same amount of energy sane as the other two hearts. We did have to make changes to the containment unit to prevent the sounds it generates from reaching those working on it.”
Merrow looked at the head researcher and raised an eyebrow. “Sounds, what kinds of sounds?” The head researcher adjusted their glasses. “Well it changes but from what I can tell the extraction process causes the crystal to vibrate at a frequency that generates noise that can be described as either singing, crying, or screaming from time to time. The sound seemed to have an effect on all that heard it with the effect being different depending on the sound. We think these are caused by ultrasonic vibrations underneath the stuff we can actually hear.”
Merrow nodded and looked at the chamber. “Can I go inside the chamber and see the heart directly? The head researcher shrugged. “You technically could. Unlike the Umbran generator there's no stray electrical currents. So the only danger is the sounds it makes and the side effects those cause. We only really open it up for routine maintenance." Merrow hummed as approached the door. “I'll be going in alone for a bit. Make sure no one bothers me.” The head researcher nodded. “If you insist, sir, I'll make sure you're completely alone with it.” Merrow opened the door, shutting it behind him and making sure he was alone with the large crystal.
Merrow lets out a maniacal laugh. “I may not have gotten exactly what I wanted, but I have all the time in the world. Meanwhile you're stuck here being used as a power source. I win, and you lose.” The crystal lets out a sad sounding moan. Merrow scowled in response. “Oh quit your whining, no one can hear you. Anyone that does thinks it's just an auditory illusion. Oh, they managed to change how long you're supposed to “sit in prison”. Not that it matters. You and I both know you're never getting out of here.”
Merrow runs his hand on the crystal as it lets out a sorrowful singing sound. The man laughed again. “Yeah, keep crying about it. You may have obtained god-like power, but what good does that do you when you're stuck in this form and being used to power a chunk of the nation? God or not, you're just another resource to me. Since I've subjugated the powers of gods, I guess that makes me something beyond a god. A Titan. Welp, I've got a country to run since my company has fingers in everything. I may not be president, but I'm still in charge.”
Merrow started leaving, waving as he did. “I'll be seeing you again.” The man walked out as the crystal heart continued to let out a sad song. Its color occasionally shifts from a deep blue to a pale grey-blue. Unable to do anything other than cry out in vane, the Heart of Elpída remained still.
