The Diary of Adam Gareth

The Diary of Adam Gareth is a spin-off series following the Chronicles of Croft. The series follows Tier 2 Speedster Adam Gareth as he travels back in time to train with Darkstar and the Inquisition in preparation for The Cleansing, which sent his future into apocalypse.

Prologue

"Your mother... Junon Gareth..." Truman muttered, staring at the fire that we had made in the woods. The woods was a sacred place for the Aspects. It was home to Sanguine, the Aspect of Decay, the only Aspect that didn't care about torturing humanity.

Needless to say, Sanguine was the only Aspect that I could tolerate and would regret if I had killed. If I could kill the Aspects in the first place.

The year is 1777, and the world has been overrun by the Aspects, a race of deities who descended from the heavens one day and wiped out everybody. Those who survived the "Cleansing" were forced to serve as the slaves to the Aspects as their lords. We were placed in strict curfews, living in ruin and poverty. Despite this, our technology never went away, and we were forced into the Age of Cyberpunk. Technology and poverty, the perfect combo where we couldn't complain about not having anything, but at the same time, living in literal dirt.

My name is Adam Jonathon Gareth, 18 years old. I live with my twin sister Josephine Gareth in the ruins of a torn down hut in Corinth with my pathetic excuse for a father. I've been responsible for collecting herbs from the forest of Sanguine to sell to merchants for a living, while my sister tends to good old dad. My father, Mavus Shaw, was once some kind of well known superhero with amazing Technopathy powers. He was supposedly known for defeating Mogul, the Aspect of Sin alongside my mom, Junon Gareth and two other meta's: Giantkiller and Blackflame in a huge battle.

You might be thinking, wow, you have some amazing parents! You must be blessed! Well, that's part true. I was blessed with the power of the Achilles Force from my mom, a realm of limitless energy that gives me my powers of super-speed. My sister, Jo, is also an Achilles Force conduit, except she uses the power through telekinesis. I wish I had the telekinesis, it was such a strong and versatile power. All I had going for me was running away like a little bitch whenever the going got rough, which was almost all the time.

My father was supposedly an extremely powerful techno path, and also had Achilles Energy, but it was "shared" according to people I have asked. Well, it doesn't matter. Because he never uses it. Ever since the Aspects invaded, my dad, being the alpha he was, ran into the house and pleaded for mercy, hiding us in the closet. He has never used his powers, nor have I ever seen him use them. Whenever I ask him about it, he just brushes it off. I didn't need to ask to know that he's a coward, too scared to fight against the bad guys just because they're strong. If it was Mom, she would have fought them for sure.

I never met my Mom, by the way. She died during childbirth. My dad, whenever he gets drunk, always like to remind Jo and I that we were the reasons the love of his life is dead. I don't know much about Mom aside from old pictures of her. Whenever I ask my father about her, he would always throw a damn fit.

"Your mother was the bravest, and strongest woman I had ever met." Truman continued. He threw a piece of Elysium berries into the pot, which bubbled with the broth of dragon hide. Good for bones.

"Everybody tells me that. But who was she? What was she like?" I held my hands to the fire. It was warm and comforting, not really a feeling I had often back at the hut.

Truman laughed. "Junon was always optimistic. She always put others before her, but sometimes, this led to her suppressing her own feelings. Never letting people know if she was hurting inside. She was a natural leader, and led your father and I along with others in her own squad."

I stared at the fire. "Always optimistic huh."

Truman turned to me. "In a way, you are like her. You try to put on a fake smile, but even I know you're not okay inside. You've been through hell, kid."

"The only hell I've known is dear old dad beating us as kids."

Truman's face turned sad. "Your father wasn't always like this. He was one of the strongest in Corinth, and was one of the reasons why we had an edge against Mogul in the first place."

I suddenly snapped, a wave of emotion rolled over me. "Everybody tells me that! Oh, your dad was a hero! Oh, you should respect your dad more! If he was such a hero, why isn't he doing anything?! All he does is drink, then beat Jo and I, and abuse us. When he's sober, he ignores us completely!" My eyes started tearing up.

"See what I mean? You're hiding all of this pain behind your smile. Your father lost Junon, the love of his life. It hit him hard, you have to understand."

Truman continued. "If anything, Junon was definitely the most courageous person in Darkstar and possibly even in the Inquisition. She fought with the best of us despite having no powers, relying on training herself. She was our combat instructor at some point too."

I raised my eyebrow. "What? But Junon does have powers, she has the Achilles Boost doesn't she?"

Truman chucked. "People always see Junon based on who she was after the boost. That boost was initially meant for your father, but an old seer told him he wasn't worthy."
"Now that I believe."
"The seer went up to Junon and told her that she was the one to inherit the boost. She nearly died due to being unpowered but still took the Achilles Beam head on."

I didn't know that. I guess there was still a lot of things I didn't know about my mom.

"Ever since that day, she became so powerful, she didn't need to use her knife. She put it in her room for safekeeping, I think your dad still has it stashed."

It felt like a carpet was being pulled from under my feet. "You mean that dusty letter opener that I used?"

Truman's eyes went wide. "What? You've been using it for what?"
"Nothing."

Truman continued. "That knife, was wielded by your mother, a gift from her teacher, The Black Jason. Its name is Kronus."

Chapter 1 - My father is an idiot

My eyes flew open. A dream of my past.

I turned around and looked at the clock. 7:50am. Son of a. I slept in. I couldn't be late to my first lecture with my parents. I zoomed to the showers and cleaned up for 5 minutes, then got dressed, brushing my teeth. I checked the time on my phone. 7:58am. There was no time for breakfast.

I used my superspeed and zipped to the chow hall, asking for a to-go container as the lady was putting together my breakfast. It felt like an eternity before she was done. Being a speedster, the more normal tasks become the most unbearably slow ones. Especially when you were in a hurry.

The lady put my breakfast in the container and I swiped my card. I checked my clock again. Four seconds until 8am. Plenty of time. I put the tiny container into my jacket pocket and activated my Achilles Speed, cyan electricity arcing through my body as I felt a huge surge in power. My surroundings slowed down, elongating, as I activated my hyper speed, zooming to the lecture hall.

I reached the hall with two seconds to spare. Putting my container on the desk as I waved at Uncle Truman. No, just Truman. Along with his buddies Veran and Khione. I sat next to them, and Truman started eyeing at my breakfast.

"Wanna share?" He asked.

I looked him in the eye. This guy was Uncle Truman? I still couldn't believe it when I first saw him. He looked like one of those fat jolly guys who got along with everybody. It was hard to believe he was the same guy who would help look after me whenever dad was drunk, or taught me how to make medicinal herbs.

"Sure." I responded.

Truman's face lit up. "Really?!"
"No."

His face became possessed with the Aspect of Disappointment. Just kidding. That didn't exist.

"So where is Mo- I mean Junon and Mavus?" I asked.

"Knowing Mavus, he's probably still asleep and Junon trying to wake him up."

"Wait what?"

I went through all the hassle to get to class on time, and Dad didn't even show up. So he was just as pathetic as he was back then as he was now. The lecturer started discussing about medicinal herbs and potions. I had a pretty sturdy foundation from learning with Uncle Truman, so learning the new stuff was pretty easy.

One of the mages handed us some papers with some practice problems.

"We're going to go over these problems together as a class. Don't worry if you can't get some of these, they are designed to be quite difficult."

I read one of the problems. Determine the mass needed to neutralize the toxin. Easy. It was basic stoichiometry, the trick was to know that three molecules were needed to neutralize two, meaning the solution was to multiply the molar mass by that ratio and converting it into its standardized units.

I breezed through the problems, while also listening to the guy talk.

"So... as you can see, some of you might be tempted to say that the mass is one to one..." Yeah. Nope. This lecture was definitely useless, but I might as well stay to respect the guy. It was also my first lecture with my parents. It meant a lot to me.

"Hey guys..." Junon whispered, dragging my idiotic father by the arm. He looked like he had just rolled out of bed, his hair a rats nest. Mom had her curly hair tied back. She sat next to me, while Dad, who was still half awake tripped and fell into the seat next to hers. This guy was unbelievable.

Junon whispered at us. "Sorry about that, did we miss anything important?" Truman turned around. "Not really, teach is showing us how to do the first question. It's pretty tough though, huh?" Truman looked at my worksheet, which was already complete. Every single question was solved and filled out, the answers matching the key on the back.

"How the heck did you figure those out?!"

I looked at the paper. "It was pretty easy, I guess I can take this lecture off then."

Mom was impressed. "Wow, did you learn this stuff before? You're going to ace this class!"

"I had a pretty solid base." I looked at Dad, who was passed out in his chair, the worksheet blank. "So is Dad, I mean Mavus always like this?"

Junon held back a laugh. "Yeah, he never was a stellar student. But he is pretty diligent when he needs to be."

I spent the rest of the class chilling with Junon's squad, which was what Truman described it. Veran and Khione seemed to like doing things on their own, but they would occasionally wave me over and ask for help. So this was what college was like.

Classes ended and suddenly, Dad, er I mean Mavus jumped out of his seat like a man possessed, leaving the lecture hall. Khione and Veran were discussing about course material while I gave Truman my breakfast, to his enjoyment.

Mom, I mean Junon, strolled up next to me.

"So how was class?" As much as I really liked seeing my own mother face to face, it was definitely weird seeing her in her late twenties. Don't get me wrong, it definitely could have been worse, like if we were around the same age, but even so. She seemed more like an older sister than my mother. Josephine would have loved meeting her, if she was still alive.

"Adam! Check out this list I made of things I want to ask mommy when we meet her!" A little Jo had once told me. She had a huge list of things written down on a big sheet in crayon, and every day she would add onto it. What was her favourite colour. Her favourite food. Skirts or dresses. What makeup she would like to wear. She had the huge list pinned on the wall in our shared room.

Thinking about Jo made me sad all over again.

"Run... Adam. I hope you meet Mom for me." A dying Jo had told me moments before sending the rest of her powers into my system.

"Hey, are you okay? What's wrong Adam?" I suddenly realized I was tearing up. In fact I was standing still, the rest of Junon's squad was staring at me in concern.

"I uh, nothing, guess it's just the wind! Classes, right. Was pretty easy, didn't challenge me one bit." I wiped my face. "Allergies, you know. What a pest."

Junon definitely knew something was up, but pursed her lips. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me, but if you need someone to talk to, you know I'm here for you right?"

Yeah. She definitely was not making this easier for me. I took a deep breath.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks Mom I mean Junon. Junon."

Junon smiled. "You can call me anything you want. I don't mind."
"Yeah but I'm pretty sure the people around us would find it pretty weird seeing a 19 year old call a 27 year old his mother."

Junon laughed. "I see you inherited Mavus' sense of humour."

I hated that. I wanted nothing to do with that old bat. But I had to remind myself that the Mavus now was not the Mavus I knew in the future. There was still a chance to save Mom and keep all this from happening. And maybe... maybe there was a chance that Jo could be revived.

I went back to the barracks, where I shared a bunk with Truman. I put my books away and headed to the gym. There was someone I needed to see.

Chapter 2 - I play with knives

I found Jason working out in the gym. He hadn't noticed me, so I decided to hit a quick lift. By the time he finished, he noticed me waiting at the door.

"Oh hey, you're Junon's kid aren't you? What's up?"
"I want you to train me with this."

I took out Kronus. Jason raised his eyebrows.

"Kronus? Your mother is pretty good with it too, you should ask her."
"No..."
"Why not?"

My face turned red. "Because it's... weird. You know? I don't want to ask her to teach me knife fighting." The image of my mom grabbing my waist and checking my form appeared in my mind. I started screaming internally.

Jason laughed. "Sure thing, kid. You came to the right place, I actually trained your mother in knife fighting. I can show you a few things."

I spent the evening training with The Black Jason. His skill was as amazing as the stories I had heard. Sheer brute force, but alongside precision and technique. Most people who had immense physical strength tended to rely heavily on it. But Jason wasn't like that at all. Despite his physical conditioning, Jason still retained his accuracy and precision. The end result? Several sliced up training dummies.

"You're pretty fast, kiddo." Jason evaded my swings, and retaliated with his katana. Even with my superspeed reflexes, he was able to disarm and dodge my attacks easily. He sent me to the floor for the fiftieth time.

"How the hell are you able to keep up? Shouldn't I have the speed advantage?"

Jason held out his hand. I took it. "You probably know this, but not all fights can be resolved with just strength, or speed. There's also technique. Your fighting pattern is too linear, and as a result, I'm able to predict your move before you could even execute it. So it doesn't matter if you are faster, I would have already come up with a countermeasure before you could even perform the move."

We sat at the top of the castle, overlooking the entire landscape of Croft, the sun going down and making beautiful colours in the sky. I had never seen a sunset before.

"So... you're a remnant of Decen huh?"

Jason took out a cloth and began to clean his katana like a samurai. "Yeah. I represent Decen's perseverance. Every remnant represents something from their Paladin."

"Huh. They never told me that."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "They?"

I rolled up my jacket sleeves. "The survivors of the Cleansing. They all knew who The Black Jason was. Some crazy powerful samurai warrior who was derived from Decen the Paladin of War. He was the badass dark warrior who loved battle. Stories say that he was the only non-Tier Zero person in the resistance to damage Mogul's armour. Is that true?"

Jason put the cloth away. "I did damage Mogul's armour, but that didn't really do much. I was outmatched in every way." He stared at the sunset. "They also got one thing wrong about me. I don't like to fight."

I stared at him. "Really? But, you're always fighting, always training and you're so friggin strong!"

Jason laughed. "Just because a soldier is good at taking lives, doesn't mean he loves it." I guess it kind of made sense. Jason looked me in the eye. "War isn't something that should be craved or loved. I fight not because it is something I love to do. I fight because there is someone I love that I need to protect. I'm guessing from your future, you can relate."

I looked at the landscape. Junon was taking Mavus for a ride in a cyan construct. Her control over the Achilles Force was amazing. I was only able to draw out the energy through superspeed and lightning. Even Jo was only able to draw the power through telekinesis. Junon was able to draw out the energy in such a versatile way. Electricity, constructs, telekinesis. Everything.

Jason saw me looking at Junon. "Your mother is a very strong woman." I smirked. "I know." He probably sensed my undertone. "I'm sorry you never got the chance to grow up with her around. We'll find a way to save her."

I never had words of reassurance like that before. The feeling was almost alien. "I appreciate that. But we also need to work on improving ourselves. At least figuring a way to survive the Cleansing. In my time, no one from Darkstar survives. These guys are... overwhelmingly strong. Too strong."

Jason put his hand on my shoulder. "You know when you panic like that, I can't tell if you remind me of Junon before she learned to toughen up, or Mavus."

I stared at Jason. "Mom wasn't always like this?"

He laughed, leaning back. "Your mother was scared of everything. She always hid behind me in missions, but despite that fear, she still stuck around. She would always tell me she wanted to come with, despite having no powers. Everybody else thought she was crazy. Even my protege, Sam, found her a little cuckoo in the head. Despite what everybody thought about her, she kept soldiering onward. Getting stronger and making a name for herself in Darkstar."

I smiled, inspecting Kronus. The arcane lines on the dagger giving it an elegant vibe.

Jason looked at his former weapon. "You admire her a lot."
"What gave it away?"
"Kronus, and the fact that you're always wearing her jacket. Whenever I see you in that jacket, you remind me of her."

I flipped Kronus in my hand. "When I was a kid, whenever things got rough, or whenever Dad would hit me and my sister, I would run to our room and take the jacket. The feeling of it was like having someone to run to. Something to cry on. I don't do that anymore, but whenever I wear the jacket, it just gives me that extra bit of strength you know? Like everything is going to be okay. Jo and I were all alone. All we had was each other ever since Uncle Truman was killed by the Aspects."

Jason put his katana back in its sheath and stood up. "Well, not anymore. You've got us. Trust me when I say this, we're definitely going to get stronger. I'm not one to fall easily, especially when I've got people counting on me."

I watched as Mom and Dad flew up into the distant sky, in a cyan fish, the symbol of Pisces. My Zodiac Symbol. I smiled. Jason was right. I wasn't alone anymore. I had these guys, and we were going to get stronger somehow. We weren't going to lose to these Aspects, not without giving it our all.

Chapter 3 - I go on a hunt

"This isn't looking too good." Jo muttered.

The Aspects were already starting to dig out of the pile of mountains that Jo had thrown at them. Cracks beginning to form in the landforms. The sound of explosions emanating deep from within.

"We got to get out of here, we've done our part." I told Jo. We had already blown up The Cathedral, which was a sacred place for the Aspects. Kind of like their base. If we kept destroying the places that served as the anchors to the Aspects, we could drive them out of our world.

It was easier said than done. Each anchor was guarded by multiple Aspects and their worshippers. We couldn't fight them directly because it would have been suicide. We had to be smart about how we were going to take down the pillars. Two of the six pillars were destroyed, and we had just blown up the third one, until the Aspects managed to trap us. Jo used her max power to lift the entire landform we were standing on and flipped it on them. To be extra sure, she also threw a bunch of mountains for good measure. Unfortunately, just that was not enough to take them down. But the good news was that it broke the trap spell from one of the Aspects.

I activated my Achilles Speed and grabbed Jo, zooming out of the area. The wind in my face as my surroundings slowed down and elongated, running full speed. All I could feel was the rush of the Achilles Energy surging through my system, the electrical discharge coming from my body, as we left a trail of cyan electricity and smoking footsteps.

"Keep running Adam, we gotta lose them. Chances are they've probably broken out of the-"

Jo was interrupted by a sudden boom. My leg caught against something, and I tripped, sending Jo and I skidding on the ground at hyper velocity. We were stopped by a towering man in a long purple robe. Zophus, The Aspect of Motion.

"Your little adventure has gone long enough." He grabbed at us. I tried to use my speed, but it was no use. Zophus was siphoning my speed away, making me slow down to snail's pace. He regarded the two of us.

"A foolish decision, Arcbolt. To try to escape me given your power affinity being motion based." Suddenly, two more Aspects bounded to our position. We were surrounded. I looked at Jo, who was looking back at me. We were done for, but Jo put her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, it's gonna be alright. I have a plan."

I woke up in a cold sweat. I looked at my hands, which were sparking with cyan electricity, vibrating at superspeed. Another dream. Everybody in my bunk had already left. I got out of the bed and got ready. The sky was still dark, since our mission was to start early in the morning. My first mission with the squad.

"Dude you look like you didn't sleep at all" Truman had his weird fantasy outfit on. At first I thought it was a joke, but I guess he was for real.

"What are you talking about, I always look like this."

Our mission was pretty easy. Find and capture some guy who was causing trouble in the Outlands of Corinth. Within a week since Mogul's defeat, people were going back to their normal lives. Unfortunately, that also meant that criminals also went back to doing what they did best.

Our party was just Truman, Junon and I. This party didn't need everybody since the mission was pretty simple and straightforward. As for Mavus, he stayed cooped up in his room for unknown reasons.

"So why is Mavus not part of the mission?" I asked Junon, who was also wearing her Darkstar jacket. It was pretty embarrassing that we were wearing the same outfit, but neither one of us felt like changing, so I had to put up with it.

"He's been in his room all night, I don't know what he's up to, but since he doesn't have any powers anymore, it wouldn't make sense to send him out on a mission so quickly."

"He better not be drinking..." I grumbled. Junon laughed.

"We're looking for a man with a tattoo on the right side of his face, kind of looks like flames. He's been wanted for multiple cases of arson and assault on Inquisition officers. We should be careful around him since he could potentially be using people as hostages."

We reached an abandoned alley, which was where the guy was last seen. Junon peered inside. "Mr. Tolson? We're here on behalf of the Inquisition. We are aware that you have history with dis-" Suddenly, a huge wave of red energy was sent our way, pushing Junon and I back. Junon flew into the air, her body encased in cyan energy.

The guy who shot the wave ran on foot. I powered up my Achilles speed, and ran after him, pushing him into a wall while the others caught up to me.

"Let me go! I have to go back to my master or she will kill me!" The man shrieked, his body convulsing. I held him down.

"I don't care if you're on every type of meth known to man, you tried resisting a member of the Inquisition bud. You should stay put."

"My master!!!" The man shrieked, and began screaming.

"Oh my god, shut the hell up!" I kneed him, sending him to the ground.

Junon knelt down and looked him in the eye. The man calmed down as Junon's eyes glowed cyan. "Who is this master you serve?" I looked behind us and realized that Truman had calmed everybody down, evacuating the scene.

The man stopped convulsing. "I have failed her. You might as well kill me now. I cannot go back." Junon continued trying to reason with him. "We can help you. Just tell us why you're doing these things. Did your master command you to do them? I promise you we won't let your master get her hands on you."

The man looked at us. "Everything I do is in service to her." Junon's eyes narrowed. "And who is this her?"

The man took a deep breath. "The queen of the underground, Lapheth-"

"What did you just say?!" A sudden wave of rage coursed through my veins. I grabbed the man, unable to control myself.

Lapheth. The Aspect who killed Jo with that horrific smile on her face. Who was part of the Cleansing that took everything from everyone. Of all the Aspects, it had to be her. I swear I will kill her one day. And if it meant killing her subordinates to prove my point...

I grabbed the man by the collar, and zoomed out of the city in a massive cyan shockwave to the nearest hill, slamming his face in the dirt.

"I will kill you. I will kill every single one of Lapheth's lackeys. Then I will kill your damn boss and all of her kind." My voice was shaking with rage. I felt my hand go for Kronus. I wanted to slit this guy's throat. Make him suffer. Send his body back to Lapheth, to strike fear into her faction.

"All Aspects..." I began punching the man in the face, over and over again. I was hysterical in rage. Everything was coming out. All the pain I was hiding behind my fake smile. "I will kill all the Aspects... and all of those who serve them..."

The man's face was severely bloodied. He coughed and retched. "Aspect?! No... Lapheth isn't... you've got the wrong idea..."

"Adam stop!" Junon yelled, flying in and grabbing my wrist. I pushed her out of the way, and continued pummelling the man. Junon ran up to me from behind and grabbed my arms, attempting to restrain me. I roared in rage, trying to shake my mother off. "He's one of Lapheth's followers! I need to kill him. I need to kill them. I need to kill all of them!" I screamed. The image of Lapheth impaling Jo playing on loop in my mind. Her horrific smile, showing no remorse, but joy, in the idea of killing someone I loved. The only person I had left. In front of my very eyes.

"Truman! Restrain the man, and call for the Inquisition, let them know we have the target." Junon turned back to me. "Adam... please listen to me! You need to calm down! Please!"

"No!!!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face. "He's getting away Mom! He's getting away!" My body began to spark with cyan electricity, emanating waves of Achilles Energy as emotion flooded my judgement. I hit the ground alongside Junon. The both of us going unconscious.

"Adam, why do we only have one parent?" Jo and I sat on the ground, playing with a piece of brick that had broken off from when an Aspect harassed our neighbour, destroying his house.

"I don't know, I tried asking daddy, but he just hit me. I don't want to get hit again." I responded. Sliding the brick to her side.

"Do you think mommy left us?" I looked at Jo, who was starting to tear up.

My vision shifted, to that night. The night where we were cornered by the Aspects.

"I'm not going to leave you, Jo! You can't be serious!"
"What choice do we have?! You're the only one of the two of us who has a chance of escaping."

Zophus laughed at us. "What will it be, dear children. Which of you shall die first?" Josephine looked me in the eye, her energy entering my system. "Run... run Adam."

My vision changed again.

I had escaped from the Aspects in an immense burst of speed, my power boosted by Josephine's donation. I returned to where we were cornered. It had started to snow, the ground covered in beautiful white flakes as I approached a fatally wounded Jo.

"Sis..." I sobbed as I ran up to my dying sister, cradling her head in my shoulder. "Hey, Adam... guess you made it out alive."

I looked down at the hole in Jo's stomach that Lapheth had delivered to her. "I'm going to find Lapheth. I'm gonna kill her for you. I promise I will kill them all for you." Josephine shook her head. "No. What you need to do is go somewhere the Aspects cannot possibly find you."

"But... they're all capable of dimensional travel. There is nowhere to hide!"

"That's not what I meant." Josephine put her hand on mine, transferring the rest of her power and soul into my body, merging her Achilles Energy with mine. I felt my body surge with electricity. "Jo... please don't leave me... I can't..."

Jo looked me in the eye. "Run... Run to the past. Run to their past. Run... Adam. I hope you meet Mom for me..." Jo's eyes went empty, her hand slack. I screamed Jo's name over and over, hoping she would wake up. But I knew she had already died. I put my sister's head to my shoulder as the last person I had left in my life died in my very arms.

"Adam..." Said a familiar voice. I looked up, my face streaming with tears. It was Mom. Junon's face was full of concern and shock. We were in an Achilles Link. I connected with her from my emotional explosion, and she was seeing my worst, darkest memory.

Junon knelt in front of me, putting a hand on Jo's face. "This is my... daughter?" I nodded. "She... she's the reason why I'm here. She's the only reason I'm still alive. I- I swore to her. I will kill the Aspects. I will kill Lapheth. They took everything from me."

Jo's body disappeared, and all that was left was Mom and I kneeling in the snow, stained with the blood of my sister. Junon put her arms around me. She didn't need to say anything as everything turned bright. I regained consciousness.

The Inquisition soldiers took Mr. Tolson away for questioning. Truman told the two of us he would catch up and that he would head back first. I stood awkwardly with Junon as we watched the soldiers taking the man away.

"Adam." Oh no. Here it comes.

"You don't need to say anything. Just... just don't mention it." Junon's face was still full of concern. "Adam, this isn't something you should be keeping hidden inside." She went up to me and looked at my, no, her jacket. "Why didn't you tell me about your sister? Why did you keep so much pain inside?"

A wave of emotion started to well up inside of me, but I took a deep breath, suppressing it. "I can't let my past get in the way of what needs to be done. Look, I just... can we just not talk about it, okay?" Junon didn't look satisfied by my response. "Okay... but you need to know that you're not alone anymore. I'm here with you."

I held back a sob. I was so pathetic, crying over this. Mom must have been so disappointed in me. I wiped my eyes, forcing a smile on my face.

"Thanks. I know. Let's get back home."

Chapter 4 - Journey to the east

"A quest?! Cool!" Truman threw his hands in the air, causing Mavus and I to jump. Junon smiled.

"Yes, we've been assigned a quest by Lady Kyrael and Lady Calliope to search for a magical item for Lazarus. He might have some use for it in our preparations for the Aspects." Veran slammed his fist on the table. "A quest! Worthy of a true warrior! Where are we going?"

Junon pulled out a map from her bag. "It's complicated. This item can only be located by searching for clues. To find these clues we need to find the right people." Mavus facepalmed. "What is this wild goose chase? This quest is gonna take forever!"

Junon laughed. "It's not as bad as it sounds. We've already found the people, we just have to go to them. The bad news is... these people are from different dimensions... and different places in these dimensions. They also aren't the friendliest people around."

I rolled my eyes. "Great, they just had to be deadly as well. What's next, we gotta fight the magical item too to capture it?"

Junon put the map away. "Well... it's apparently guarded by some powerful creature, so yes but no."

I put my face in my hands. "Another clear answer. Thanks Mom."

We went to go pack our things for the trip. On my way to the barracks, I noticed that Dad was fumbling with a bit of tech. I approached him, holding back the urge of punching him in his face.

"Hey." I said.

Mavus turned around. "Oh! Adam! I mean son! I mean-"

"Adam is fine."

He looked back at the piece of tech he was carrying. "So... what's up?"

I looked at his tech. "Just came to see what you were up to. I thought you lost your powers? Why are you fumbling around with that stuff?"

Mavus frowned. "Just because I lost my powers doesn't mean I'm useless. Junon still fought even without her powers. Got to the powerful woman she is today. I don't have an excuse to perform any less."

I smiled. He really was different in the past. The Dad I knew in my time would have thrown the tech away and drank another bottle. Maybe whipped us if he felt like it. Unfortunately, I spoke too soon. The piece of tech sparked and sizzled, powering down.

"God dammit!" Mavus yelled. I looked at the sparking piece of tech and recognized the design. It was a repulser glove, similar to the one I wore in missions. But it looked... old. Like an older revision.

"Hey isn't that the repulser glove you use?"

Mavus chucked. "Hell yeah it is. Well, was. Now it just doesn't work. I gotta figure out how to fix it... but it's a lot different now that I can't just magically put it back in place."

"Mind if I take a look?"

Mavus raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure. I guess I shoulda known you were a technopath, being my son and all!" He started laughing. I cringed a little. Being his son wasn't something I liked bragging about. Especially when I had something in common with the old man.

I put my hand over the repulser, and my mind lit up with the thoughts of multiple mechanisms, light particle streams, and components, like a neural network of parts interacting with each other. I hated using my technopath powers. In fact, I always refrained from using it. But I guess I had an exception with Mavus. He wasn't the Dad from my time. This Mavus was more tolerable.

"Hey, the insulation material's worn out. Also you need a better power source since it's running on fumes of your old energy. That's probably why it isn't working, I think."

Mavus grinned. "Not bad kid! I should get you to come to my room more often! We'd be a killer combo!"

I smirked. "Ehhh I guess that doesn't sound so bad, as long as I get paid."

"Father and son workshop repairs!"

"Okay, don't push it."

We reached the rendezvous outside of the Fortress, which had apparently undergone some major expansion to house the refugees outside Corinth. With Calliope's help, she increased the engineering and military forces by sending her Celestial sentries. I had heard she was some crazy tyrant, possessed by Mogul, causing her to go insane, killing a ton of people. It was hard to imagine her being an evil person. She was the friendliest person I had ever seen. I guess people do change when they aren't possessed by Aspect scum.

"You listen to hip hop?" Mavus showed me his phone, which had a song playing.
"Yeah, I usually listen to it to help me run faster, puts me in a mindset."

Mavus and I shared songs until Junon walked in on us.

"Exchanging numbers you two?" I nearly dropped my phone. "No! I mean yes were exchanging songs, but no! No."

Khione laughed. "Judging from the quality of that response I can see how you two are related."

Junon nodded at Khione and Veran. "You two know where to go, right? We'll meet at the next spot once we've gotten the clues." Veran pumped his fist. "Sure do! We'll keep you in touch once we have retrieved the clues! I look forward to battling alongside the spawn of Maven!"

"The what?" I nearly gagged.

Khione shoved Veran into the chariot. "We'll see you guys. Good luck!" Junon waved the two off, then turned to us.

"Okay, you three are coming with me."

Chapter 5 - Worst Camping Trip Ever

We spent the day sloshing through a bunch of trees in the middle of the woods. Every twenty seconds, Dad kept complaining about his feet getting wet.

"Dude... why did we have to come here of all places?! I knew I should have gone with Khione and Veran..."

Junon laughed. "Well then that means you won't be able to come with me!"

Mavus suddenly stopped complaining.

I kept trudging forward. It was a good thing I was wearing my usual track pants, that were capable of blocking off water. The smell wasn't too great though. Kind of reminded me of Dad when he left his dirty laundry around in the hut, forcing either Jo or I to clean it up.

Truman didn't seem to mind, apparently he seemed pretty okay with getting his feet wet. "I'm an elf, nature is pretty much a second home for us!"

Mavus shivered. "I hate walking around in my human form. If I was in Main or my suit it would have been so much more tolerable."

Suddenly, a whoosh appeared in the corner of my eye.

"Get down!" Junon whispered at us. I ducked as a massive black object zoomed above me. It looked horrifying, with solid white eyes and everything else black as ink. It glared at us.

"What do you want?" Junon shouted at the figure. But it didn't pay her any attention, opening its wings. More monsters began to emerge from it.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Mavus screamed, hiding behind Mom, who was slashing at the monsters with a cyan whip. We were outnumbered. Truman turned to Junon from behind a log. "What do we do?! Should we fight them? Should we not fight them?"

Junon shouted at the monster once more. "Tell us who you are, or we will attack!"

The monster roared at Mom, blasting her with a bolt of black energy. I watched my mother as she was sent flying into several trees. My vision turned red.

"Okay buddy. You've just signed your own death contract."

I powered up, my body sparking with Achilles Energy as time slowed down, activating my Achilles Speed. I shot up the trees, using the trunks as leverage as I took down all the spawn in a flurry of Kronus slashes instantly.

I shot forward, cyan electricity arcing around my body as I reeled Kronus back to slash at the big bad, but suddenly I stopped. I wasn't able to move. I looked down and realized that my boots were trapped in black slime. Time went back to normal as my Achilles Speed deactivated. This wasn't good.

I stared at the monster's horrific face. It spoke in a raspy tone. "You dare to step into the territory of Loz... this will not do." The monster's body became elongated, four more legs emerging from its black mass. No way... It's... It's...

"A spider!!!" Mavus screamed. He aimed his repulser, firing it randomly in fear. I guess he was an arachnophobe just like me.

"Dad! Shoot it!"
"I am!!!"
"No you're not! You're shooting me!"

Truman ran up to the monster and tried to tie it down with branches, but the black energy emanating from it melted the vines. The monster sent more of its spawn, appearing on its back as lumps.

"Is there anything about you that isn't nasty?!" I yelled at the monster.
"Nasty? Speak for yourself, human. You and your nasty... appendages on your head."
"Oh yeah, because having hair is definitely more disturbing than live acne!"

The monster screamed at my face. Bad idea. I froze in terror as its mandibles began to stroke my face, leaving its disgusting slime all over my skin.

This isn't happening. I wanted to throw up.

"No!!! Get away from me!!!" I screamed, as I summoned my Achilles Lightning. I rarely used this power because I had no control if it, but I might as well use it. Dad and Truman were away from us far enough for the radius to not harm them. I clenched my fist, and a burst of cyan electricity disintegrated the slime. I was free, but the lightning wasn't enough to kill the beast. The monster leaped on me, pinning me to the ground, it opened its mandibles, ready to eat me alive.

"Adam!" Mom yelled as she suddenly zipped forward. The monster was grabbed by a giant cyan hand, as it was sent squashed into the ground. The monster screeched at Mom, but she walloped it again with a huge fist.

"Who are you?" Junon asked the monster. The monster was twitching. "I am the Guardian of Loz.... I am...." The monster's body stopped moving. Truman went to investigate the monster, while Mavus was hiding behind its back.

"Dude... is it dead?"
"Yeah, what you're scared of spiders?!"
"Uhhh"
"Haha! Inquisition's strongest man scared of a itty bitty spider. That's rich."

I was still in shock at having a huge spider monster basically violate my personal space. Mom ran up to me, propping me on the tree trunk.

"Are you okay?" She cleaned my face off from grime. Having her around suddenly brought a warm feeling in me, like my fear began to dissolve. I regained my breath and composure.

"Yeah... just... spiders...."

Junon smiled, brushing pieces of gunk out of my hair. "It's okay now, it's dead. Wow, this stuff is harder to get out than I thought." I tried cleaning out my hair too. Having curly hair sucked. I guess Junon read my mind, because she laughed.

"Aw, looks like you got my hair too. Poor thing! I guess that's one of the things I shouldn't be too proud of passing down to you."

I smirked. "It's not that bad, at least I didn't get Dad's hair."

I looked at the corpse. It still made me really uneasy. Suddenly, a green light went on the corpse. I turned and realized Mavus was scanning the monster with his glasses.

"It's definitely dead, but Juno is telling me the monster's got traces of Loz on it. I think we should be able to find her by following this triangulated path."

I raised my eyebrow. "How are you still able to use tech? I thought you lost your powers."

Mavus chuckled. "I lost my energy that fuels the creations and my technopathy, but I salvaged a bunch of old tech that served as a mini workstation that I had made for Junon in case she wanted to build something with me-"

Junon raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry?"

Mavus choked. "Uhhhh... Well anyway I found good use of the old tech. It's called the 'Capsule', a workstation that does most of the building for me. Kinda like a foundry."

That was pretty impressive, and cool.

"So you're able to rebuild your suits?" Mavus frowned. "Nope. Juno tells me I need way more materials to fabricate the materials. The good news is I could just upgrade the foundry, but doing that will also require more resources. Maybe you could come help me out once this is over!"

"I uh... I guess...."
"It'll be fun, father and son adventure."
"Do not call it that. Anything but that."

Junon laughed. "Come on guys, let's find Loz."

Chapter 6 - A witch hits on me

After ten minutes of following the trail and putting up with Dad's complaints, we finally reached the hovel. It looked run down, around the size of our houses in the future, but much dirtier. The place was covered in mold. The putrid smell that reeked in the woods turned out to have originated from this place. I never really understood why witches liked living in these conditions. Like do they like the smell of decaying bodies?

We stood outside of the hovel when suddenly, a beautiful young woman emerged. She had a red robe and black frizzy hair. I gasped as she smiled at all of us.

"What can I do for you?" Her smile was unsettling. She didn't look threatening, but something about her made me want to draw out Kronus and kill her immediately. She was a threat.

"We're here to seek information on locating the Equinox." Junon stepped forward, showing the woman a picture of the magical item. Suddenly, the witch freaked out, her appearance changing into the stereotypical hag that I had always read in stories.

"The Equinox! They seek it! They seek!!!" The witch ran up to Truman, who screamed. I zoomed forward, pushing the witch into a nearby tree with my superspeed. The witch cackled at me, its empty eyes regarding mine.

"A boy out of his time!" Suddenly, she grabbed my wrist, and a jolt went through my body. I fell back before Junon zipped forward and caught me, restraining the witch. Mavus and Truman caught up, Mavus holding his repulser at the witch's head.

"Why did you attack us? What do you know of the Equinox! Who are you?!" Mavus asked. The witch regarded us. "I am Fa'en, the Paladin of The Wood. I'm-" the witch suddenly started convulsing. "I'm the one that survived! I'm the one that got away! HAHAHA" The witch glared at all of us.

"Lord Mogul must not know I live... the wood protects me! The wood!" So the witch was a Paladin. I guess she went insane. I glared at the witch.

"So you're a Paladin. You must know how horrible the Aspects are. Tell us where the Equinox is, so we can prepare for them when they come!"

The witch continued to cackle. "You seek a way to warp your future! A terrible future, befallen on you poor child."

Junon narrowed her eyes. "How do you know this?" The witch turned to me.

"The boy... I have seen his memories. His world devastated by the Aspects, the Lords of the Cosmos. Such despair, such agony and misery! How... delicious..."

I could feel my blood boiling from rage. I took a deep breath. "Listen here, witchy, just tell us where this Equinox is, and we'll leave you to your... erm whatever witches do."

The witch suddenly transformed back into its younger form. "Poor boy, you have lost so much. Even when you are reunited with your parents... they aren't truly your parents are they? They are the parents to the child of their time."

My body surged with electricity as I shot to my feet, bursting forward and grabbing the witch by the throat. "We only need to know where the Equinox is, but if you want to die witch, I can arrange a quick reunion to the guy downstairs."

"Adam!" Junon rushed forward, putting her hands on my shoulders. "No one is worth killing in cold blood."

I continued glaring at the witch, who laughed in her younger form. "The magical item you seek is in the custody of a meta human. He goes by the name of Eris. But be warned, he is a conduit of The Motion Force. You are no match for him, little runner." The witch engraved a piece of rock with coordinates. She then turned to me, smiling coyly in her young form.

"Child, undoing time is like dealing with forbidden magic without knowledge of it. Some things are just meant to happen. If you ever reconsider, my hovel will always be here for you as you decay."

"Hell to the no."

The witch reverted back to her old form, snarling at me.

We left the hovel with the coordinates. The witch throwing insults at us. "You seek to defeat the Aspects! How foolish!" The witch began cackling maniacally. "The boy chooses to change the future!"

I clenched my fist as we left the woods, as we headed out to the next checkpoint.