What shaped an individual's life?
Mostly Circumstances? Mostly Choices?
For the elites, it was most circumstances. They were born with a diamond spoon.
They would be methodologically instilled with a set of values and aspirations. Maissa Hall, for instance, was one of the current top 10 youngsters. She was born in an incredibly elite household.
For a few years, her father had been the governor of Uranus' cluster—a supervisor of all cities.
But when she was born, he was a Mayor of Orion, one of the twenty cluster cities.
Still, her environment majorly paved her life path.
She went to the best school on Uranus, trained under the best mentors, drank the best potions, and got the best resources.
With her inherent talent amplifying every benefit she received, Maissa soon turned from one of the many privileged geniuses to 'The' genius of the cluster cities.
Her path to the future was clear. Join the military, rise, and reach level 9 or higher.
This was a pre-determined path the moment she was born. It's not as if she hated said path. In fact, she liked what she was doing.
But what if she was born in a poor household? Would she have taken the same path? No one would know.
Then there was Bali. He was tortured for being a dual awakener, ran out of home, and was eventually abandoned by his parents.
What would the resentful and bitter teenagers whose hearts were poisoned with rage become?
Menaces to the society. Destroyers of Law and Order.
Very likely, members of Shadow Order.
Since the great war, many ended up in Bali's position and they became one of the best recruitment pools for Shadow Order.
Not Bali.
He engaged in crooked things for some time and eventually, he joined the military.
Whatever he did, it was based on his choices. He dictated his life, not the other way around.
He was a complete contrast to Maissa.
And then there was Blue Flash.
Born in a very ordinary family, she too lived in the generation that witnessed the human-abyss war that ended in 430.
The 450s and 460s were the times when the new generation was booming. These kids didn't know the horror and trauma their parents and grandparents lived through.
"Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."
Following the words of an ancient earthling, the federation started a wave of awareness programs.
Movies, dramas, games—all of these were completely VR. That means a person could dive into that world and witness the horror his predecessors went through as if he was also living it.
Since the goal of the programs was to make a strong impression on the new generation, these events were mostly realistic and accurately depicted the tragedy and loss in the war.
Blue Flash was also a kid of that generation.
Her favorite was VR games.
In each of these VR games, there would always be a hero fighting against the abyssals.
And in every single game, the hero would lose something very dear. A loved one, his hometown.
The most tragic were heroes that lived outside planets. Like moon or space stations or planetoids.
Because a lot of times, they'd be the lone survivor.
They'd watch everyone in their land—the moon, the space station, the planetoid being killed and could only escape in hopes of revenge.
Then, after countless hardships, the hero would grow strong and repel abyssals.
Such VR games created a lot of enthusiasm in the youngsters. They all wanted to be a 'hero' that saves humanity. A hero who's so strong that he can change the course of the battle by himself. A hero who ultimately gets all the recognition and fame.
Blue Flash too would've felt that way if not for a certain organization.
Shadow Order.
Shortly after the human-abyss war ended, abyssals supported the Shadow Order which was on the verge of extinction. The terrorist organization roared back to power, found new secret realms, and hid from the army starting a reign of terror.
Her parents were one of the many, many victims the Order claimed.
Her life changed forever ever since. But the only thing that remained before and after her parents' death was the VR games.
They were still the same—a tragedy befell the hero, he escapes, grows stronger and the hero saves the day.
She no longer wanted to be a hero. She wanted to be a guardian that stopped those tragedies.
She didn't need the fame a hero received. She would work from the Shadows.
And at an early age, she realized that while humans had an excellent mechanism to deal with abyssals, their strategy towards Shadow Order was little effective.
So, she decided her primary goal would be to tackle the Shadow Order—the enemy within and everyone that supported such an enemy, everyone who was responsible for the tragedy—from the greedy merchant to the silent supporter.
After graduating from the Earth's defense academy, she joined the Athena Group.
It was a hard journey, but in a few decades, she was already the vice leader of Earth's branch.
She stopped a lot of tragedies. But the restrictions of the government stopped her from taking down some of the big shots that were rotten to the core. The people that supported the Shadow Order.
So, one fateful day, when she accidentally found a secret realm, she finally pursued the idea rooted in her heart since childhood.
Shadow Guardians.
It grew from a couple of colleagues to hundreds of people. But somewhere along the line, just like the Athena group, they once again hit the limit.
There were places they couldn't go. Things they couldn't do.
Until one woman appeared carrying the head of Roxanna Xander.
She wasn't even a level 9. But she inspired them like no other.
She dived into the deepest corners of darkness where even light was afraid to venture.
She provided them with a potion that lived up to its name as a miracle.
She won the respect of the level 9s, admiration of level 8s, reverence of level 7s, and worship of the rest.
Under her banner, Shadow Guardians grew from a thousand to tens of thousands of people in a short year.
After witnessing Enigma's sincere heart, Blue Flash vowed to never betray Enigma.
She believed Enigma to achieve things she couldn't. To save this world from tragedies.
So, when no one else believed her, she did. Even the whole world turned against her, she didn't flinch.
But Blue Flash also knew that her resistance was futile. She couldn't win against the whole world.
It was a hopeless situation. The darkness of despair filled her when—
"Blue Flash?" A voice snapped her out of her daze and Blue Flash turned her head.
"I am ready." Varian grinned at her.
Blue Flash looked at him seriously and stared at Varian with a complicated gaze.
Varian...unlike her, was not only going to fight the world, but he was confident to win it.
For his plan, two steps were left.
1. Kidnapping Dr. Thomas
2. Painting the Xanders' as evil.
Even for Varian, they were exceedingly difficult.
But anything worthwhile was never easy.