GAIA

Chapter 1: GAIA

It was getting late. Eighteen year-old, Kyrien Shira was the one of the few people to be left on the school compound at this hour. His close friends had called him here after overhearing rumours that there was going to be a Gaia fight that night.

Gaia fights were common but not everyone could be part of it. The fights were mainly held at night to avoid any attention from the police. The general public tend to steer clear of Gaia fighters when they recognised that there was a fight coming up. People who wanted to be Gaia fighters needed to obtain special spherical cores known as Gaia that could be absorbed and assimilated by the body to give them new abilities. Science created these cores to help mankind but as the years passed by, these cores now serve only one function; to create Gaia users.

A Gaia core can only be absorbed if the user is compatible with the core. There are seven common cores that can be easily obtained if one knew where to look, and then there were the rare ones known as Regalia amongst Gaia users. These were one of a kind and were only used by specific Gaia users. The common cores carried different abilities that were known as the Core Attribution Generation Equaliser, also known as C.A.G.E. in short.

There were seven Kings who kept the system of Gaia users and their teams in order. These Kings were selected because of their unique ability to use Regalia to its fullest potential. They were feared even the common folks who knew about Gaia users. Although they were part of the night, people of the day knew of them.

And every night they competed to throw teams out of the league and rise in ranks with the rank F being the lowest to rank S which was the rank before King. It is said that if one could gather all seven Regalia, an eighth Regalia would be revealed with powers that could give one the power to break all barriers and achieve the ultimate form.

“Kyrien!” Came a sharp whisper from round the corner and he turned to spot three silhouettes just behind the next block. Looking around for an all clear, he made a silent dash towards them.

These two were his best mates since they were in junior high. Kyrien had unruly dark midnight coloured hair that cut off just before they brushed the top of his shoulders. His eyes were a piercing sea green, accompanied by fair skin.

“I thought you weren’t coming for a minute.” Kyrien cussed at the redhead male closest to him.

Jem was about as tall Kyrien with the same athletic build as the other male. He grinned at Kyrien roguishly, dressed in a black tank top and ripped jeans, his blonde hair hidden under his favourite black beanie. “Do you think we’re going to give up this opportunity to watch a close up Gaia fight? It’s like the best thing that’s going to happen to us ever.” Kyrien could see the excitement in his friend’s eyes and the adrenaline kicked into his system.

“We thought you were a no show for a moment.” Shin laughed as he punched the fist that Kyrien directed at him. Shin was slightly shorter with a lankier build than the two with short black hair that was slightly unkempt and warm chocolate coloured eyes.

“My sister is going to kill me if she knew that I snuck out here to meet you guys to watch a Gaia match.” Kyrien almost laughed out nervously but he refused to let it show.

He had heard that Gaia battles were brutal and could sometimes result in death amongst the less orthodox fighters. “Come on, we need to hurry. They will be gathering at the courtyard in a bit.” Jem said as they hurried towards the courtyard.

The trio hid behind a thick clump of buses, narrowly missing the eyes of several of the Gaia users that had already gathered. Rumours were that a small team had scratched off the insignia of one of the more prominent teams to gain attention. The defacing of insignias indicated only one thing, the want to take over territory.