Centuries had passed by since the guardians became gods watching over the earth. The Divine eventually returned to the magic realm, searching in and out for the guardians and any other magic beings that did not flee since the attack. The Divine returned to the center of what was once their magic realm. Then, their eyes twinkled in satisfaction and a grin painted their faces. They found six sparkling crystals lying about in the center.

The Divine leader spoke while holding a crystal up to their fellow members; “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the beginning of a new era.” And so it began, the Divine began showing the crystals to chosen people they thought were worthy. Every time they showed humans the crystals, they suffered and died because of the overwhelming power. That’s how the Divine Leaders began to play God. They’re the true chaotic neutral of the world and the walls between good and evil. They wanted a group that could be almost like their army, their enslaved guardians. They want them to go through trial and error to see how awful the world is without balance and to make them destroy the world when needed. The Divine had chosen each group based on their confidence, strength and resilience.

One day, the Divine was getting anxious about their methods. Their last attempt began with a group of six young adults. The group was instructed to meet inside of a basement to perform the ritual. They got a strange letter that appeared mystical with golden letters printed on the piece of paper. Depending on the person they were dealing with, whether the person was struggling, shady, or maybe even dangerous and adventurous, each letter was different. It either appeared threatening, rewarding, or tempting. None of them truly knew what they were getting themselves into. A large circle was drawn around the six of them and smaller circles were drawn individually for them to stand in, along with strange symbols that seemed to represent elements. The atmosphere was fraught with uncertainty.

The Divine stood behind the chosen ones and their bodies were completely covered in black cloth. A brief moment of silence passed between them and one of The Divine members said, “Many are rather easily able to contemplate the heroism of sacrifice, yet it is the few who are brave enough to move that notion from thought to action.” The moment the group chanted the prayer, their crystals began to glow a scarlet red. The ground shook and the group immediately grew this run instinct, but they all were frozen in their circle. The crystals began to float into the air as chaos reigned around them. Windows shattered, the glass debris skittering across the floor. The lights buzzed as the members of The Divine chanted their prayer. During the ritual the group heard voices, demanding them to let go of their body and let them take it instead. However, the group persisted to not let these sentient beings take over them. They felt overwhelming pain, almost too much as their skin threatened to break. Their minds became dull and the immense power pushed them to the edge of death. They were having some sort of a tug of war over their own bodies. Luckily, after barely making it to the end of the ritual, they succeeded and they were alive.

Right then and there, this group was granted abilities.

Their bodies soon fell unconscious on the ground and the crystals fell and the light from the crystals became dull. The Divine checked their pulses and became ecstatic at what they had accomplished. They took the chosen bodies to their home base.

As soon as all six gained consciousness, the Divine smiled at them and said, “ Welcome, to your new life, your new destiny, your new era as the elemental guardians. We’ll call this, an ???? ???????, if you will.”

The Hero Project (Proglogue)