The Birth
Twenty-one year old Aaron Anders was sulking; all he
had in his possession was a duffel bag of clothes, and his skinny wimpy tail.
Brown hair matted his forehead, and hadn’t been washed for several days as well
as his clothes. The aura he gave off was that of a man who’d lost everything,
and everything he had lost.
Maybe his mom and dad were right all along after all. He
was a loser and quitter, somebody who gave up when too much resistance came.
He’d lost his college grant at the University of Mobile, had been fired from
his full-time retail job at Wally World, and his car had been repossessed.
Fuck it all, he
thought bitterly as he moseyed through the downtown. He sat down in an alley way
to rest for a few minutes, and to count up how much cash if any he had left.
He pulled out his cellphone and saw that Dominic nor his
sister Cheasa had called. Cheasa never really called anyway; she only saw him
as a friend, but the argument they’d had several months back had thrown things
out of wack on that end of his relationships. Maybe he should have taken
Dominic up on his offer for a traveling job.
Sighing, he reached for his back pocket when he heard a
commotion in the alley way, and saw a haggard man with a silver case running
towards him. He stopped and looked at Aaron.
Sweat dripped down his
whiskered face as he was out of breath,
his green clothes reminded Aaron of an old Marines’ clothing from the
film Full Metal Jacket. “Are you
Henrick Matthews?”
“Um, no. My name’s Aaron, and I don’t know anybody by that
name. Why? Are you in trouble?” asked Aaron forgetting his own crap life.
The man caught his breath, and forced the suitcase into
Aaron’s hands, “Listen, the military is after me. They’ve been working
with…well less than desirable people and things. I need you to get this to
Henrick Matthews. Here’s where he said he would meet me; he’s the only one
they’re truly afraid of. I’m his old friend Lawerence. They
injected me with some kind of serum, and it’s making me sick, and I’m afraid
changing me.
“Our only hope in stopping them and what they’re planning,
the ones they’re working with is in this case. Stay away from the authorities;
if you can’t find Henrick Matthews look up Joe Zaraneth. Thank God, for you
being here Aaron, and goodbye.”
Lawrence handed the case to Aaron who was now wide-eyed
thinking, What the hell just happened?
Then he saw them; a military special ops team had arrived,
and the whole area was surrounded by police cars as Lawrence ran into the street.
The Special Ops team aimed their weapons, and told civilians to stand down, and
move away.
A child was crying for his mother, and one of the SWAT
raiders in full gear, yelled at the child to shut up, and get out of the way.
What Lawrence had just told him about their only hope being in that case ran
through Aaron’s mind as he jumped into the near empty dumpster unnoticed.
Opening the suit case he saw what appeared to be an
octagonal belt buckle centered with a glowing slightly neon orange ruby that shifted
in color to blue. It gave off a light and warmth that was powerful yet inviting
to Aaron.
He noticed there was a small bird’s head, with wings and
talons etched around the buckle, but the buckle was not the only thing in the
case. There was a small silver feather patterned egg. He knew what he had to
do.
He peeked out a little as something new appeared, strange
reptile monsters that resembled alligators in their head but the dinosaur
Allosaurus appeared snapping, causing the Special Ops and SWAT teams to begin
firing. The bullets only had a small effect on the monsters.
You’ve got to be
freaking kidding me? Am I in a cartoon? Well, here goes nothing, he thought
as he took the buckle and attached to his own regular belt. A strap wrapped
around his waist, and he noticed a small sliding portion with a button underneath
above the buckle’s beak.
Aaron hit it, and in a flash of light and energy that blew
the dumpster apart his body was covered in a black material with small pieces
of armor on his body. On his right arm was a gauntlet with a small point
sticking out above the rest of the metal, and on his left was a rounded
slightly triangular pattern.
He wasn’t sure what to do next, but his instincts told him
to protect the people, even that dumbass SWAT guy that had yelled at the kid.
Damn him having a conscience, as he ran in front of a store window.
“Yo! Tongue ass! Over here!” he yelled as he held his fist
up. Seeing his reflection, he saw that he was cloaked in small armor that had
small wing shapes on the back, and a hawk’s beak over his visor. That’s when he
felt the smack of reality and one of the reptile monsters’ claws. His body was
smashed into said window; glass shattered everywhere, and poked into the
leather but rebounded.
Aaron shook his head, rolled over, and grabbed the jaws of
his attacker. The rows of saw-like teeth etched against his left gauntlet when
the circular triangle expanded into a small shield. He jumped up, and limped
because of the pains in his body.
“Okay. Looks like I’m gonna be doing some bashing today,”
he growled, and plowed into the monster’s jaw.
The monster grabbed Aaron and threw him back into the
alleyway. He shook his head, and noticed a dark cloaked figure with glowing
orange eyes on the roof with an arm
outstretched.
“How cliché,” he whispered. It occurred to Aaron that the
otherwise unseen figure was controlling these monsters, but he wasn’t sure what
to do as his mind went to the case.
Sleep. Blackness was all he knew. How long had it been?
Were the experiments over, he wondered. Everything felt tight, clustered together
at the moment or had it been thousands of moments. He’d lost count a long time
ago, too long to remember.
Then he felt it; one was wearing his old armor of ancient
times, but the wearer had no idea, no training of what he was doing. He could
feel it; if only he could communicate to the suit-wearer, he’d be able to guide
the rookie. It had been so long since he’d had a real conversation with
anybody, all be it a friendly one.
He wanted to open his eyes, but couldn’t. The urge to stretch
his limbs out was strong. Stronger than it had ever been; but flashes of before
his sleep.
There had been somebody called Lawrence who had made
contact with a man that could help him. Brief images of his body being injected
with metal, blood spewing every where caused him to blink in his mind.
If you can hear me,
awaken me, please! I can help you fight for who you’re trying to protect. You
are not delusional. I will help you, he telepathed to the suit wearer.
He waited, and after what seemed like forever, he opened
his eyes to the bright blue sky and shining sun. Heat, it felt good to feel
heat, he thought as the suit wearer appeared before him.
Aaron shook his head and ignored the fresh pain. He heard a
voice in his mind tell him, If you can
hear me, awaken me, please! I can help you fight for who you’re trying to
protect. You are not delusional. I will help you.
His best guess had been the feathered egg. “What else can
go crazy, today?” Aaron asked himself as he dived to the case, and hit the top of
the egg. A small red spark issued from his right hand, and the silver egg
unfurled to reveal a closed eyed two hawk-eagle hybrid. Its eyes opened,
and stared at Aaron momentarily.
“Thanks rookie. By the way, the name’s Xelbrius. Looks like
you’ve got some reptoids on your hand. Give me a moment, and I’ll be right to
helping you,” spoke the bird.
Of all the things, Aaron could understand the telepathy,
but the bird was speaking, with his mouth. Even after the fact that he was
fighting monsters, who had turned their attention from the crowd to Aaron with
the crowd’s eyes following.
“Did you just talk?” he gulped.
“Yep. By the way there’s a sword blade on that right
gauntlet of yours. Might help. The shield bow is good for bashing, and did you
know the jaewastafeir in the buckle, its energy can travel to any body part you
want,” explained Xelbrius as he hopped up stretching his wings. “Boy,
this…wait…WHY AM I A BIRD!!!!”
Everybody including the SWAT, Ops teams, and previously frightened
bystanders all heard the last five words.
“Crap, crap. That son of a… I’ll break his arms in two!
VENICCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC!!!!” yelled Xelbrius his shout going into a loud
squawk, causing the reptoids as he’d called the monsters, roar in agony.
“You said this side of the armor has a sword blade? Sweet!”
grinned Aaron as he noticed a small notch near the palm of his glove. He
flicked it, and the blade popped out. On a whim, he stuck it to the
jaewastafeir in his belt, and energy surrounded it. He felt a new surge of
power in his right arm, and swung at a reptoid’s neck, chopping the head off.
A sense of satisfaction, filled Aaron, and he felt his
adrenaline increase, and all frightened and unsure emotions died away. For some
reason this felt good, and right. The
reptoids on the other hand were less than pleased with the death of their
comrade.
The monsters all surrounded him snapping, but Aaron decided
to do something, he’d been wanting to do ever since he had been watching Kamen
Rider in high school. In an instant, he crouched down, and, hit the gem with
his palms. He followed that up by slamming his hands to his legs, and feet, and
squat jumped up.
The energy sent him four feet above ground, and his armored
body defied gravity briefly, as he came down and round housed a second monster
in its side, burning a foot sized hole into its side.
Said monster and companions were less than pleased as they
pounced on the rookie warrior, and Aaron felt his adrenaline lower as he crouched
down again to shield himself from the oncoming attacks.
