(Morrison): Centuries ago a meteorite landed on the planet of Rein, a planet that was home to 4 different races who lived together. There were humans whose ingenuity and knowledge for advancement knew no bounds. Elves whose wisdom and longevity made them the recorders of the world. Demihumans whose strength and instincts were unmatched by any race in the world. Finally, the merfolk, who kept the oceans and those who traveled it safe. When the meteorite was discovered, inside they found a crystal that shone as bright as the stars at night. No one had ever seen anything like it, so the races of the world gathered their greatest minds to uncover the hidden secrets of the crystal only to have it shatter unleashing monsters on the land that the people would come to call Eclipses. The Eclipses showed no mercy to the inhabitants of Rein, killing everyone and anything indiscriminately and taking over the planet. However, when the crystal shattered, it gave the people the power to fight back, it gave them control of the elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Steel, Light, and Darkness. With the power of the elements on their side the people of Rein pushed back the Eclipses and retook their home after a long hard battle. While many brave souls were lost, new life was born and so was the world. Centuries pass and life goes on, but evil comes in many forms and it falls on future generations to extinguish it.
*It is nighttime in the kingdom of Brister where a female rabbit demihuman with brown hair and her little daughter with brown hair as well have been cornered in an alleyway by five human supremacists wearing masks to cover their identity. The mother demihuman holds her child close to keep her safe all while looking terrified as she stared down the supremacists*
(Mother demihuman): Here, take my money and leave us alone. Just don’t hurt us, please.
*The demihuman reaches into her purse and pulls out her wallet to present it to the supremacists where one of them swats it away*
(Human supremacist #1): We don’t want the filthy money of some animal. All we want to do is clean the kingdom up of vermin like you.
*One of the supremacists pulls out a butcher’s cleaver and points it at the demihumans. The mother’s terrified look intensifies, and the daughter begins to tear up all while clinging to her mom. As the supremacist with the cleaver approaches the demihumans, the cleaver gets yanked out of his hand by a wire and lands on the ground of the alleyway away from them. Shocked by what just happened, the supremacists turn around and see Dust Balor with headphones around his neck and having on a black trench coat, black shirt, and black pants*
(Dust): You know, if you’re going to try and harass demihumans for dumb and nonsensical reasons, can you do it in a less conspicuous place and not close to my home? I just had a long day at the office, have to go in early tomorrow, and I’m looking to relax.
(Human supremacists #2): *Clicks tongue* Great, a disgusting dark elf.
(Human supremacists #3): The kingdom really has gone to shit letting their kind into the kingdom.
*One of the supremacists walks up to Dust and pulls out a revolver to point at Dust’s head while the supremacist who lost the cleaver goes to pick it up. Dust stands with an amused look on his face as the revolver is pointed at him*
(Human supremacists #4): We were trying to do this quietly, but I think one loud noise won’t cause a disturbance in this part of the kingdom.
(Dust): Hmm~, a Ruger SP101. A weapon like that could kill a guy.
*Just before the supremacist could fire off the revolver, Dust bends his right index finger which releases a wire that cuts the wrist of the supremacist who drops the gun from the pain and Dust hits him with a left hook which sends them flying unconscious into a nearby pile of garbage. The supremacist with the cleaver sees this and runs toward Dust trying to slash him with the cleaver only for Dust to dodge the attack with a sidestep and head toward the other three supremacists. Holding out his hands, he shoots out two wires from his wrists which latch on to the fence at the end of the alleyway where the demihumans were cornered. Dust jumps into the air and allows himself to get pulled in by his wires. He gains speed and passes by the first two supremacists to dropkick the third one in the face which sends them flying backwards into the fence where they land on their butt unconscious and blood staining their mask from a bloody nose. Dust lands on his feet after successfully landing the dropkick and turns around to face the remaining supremacists. Two of the supremacists try to hit Dust with a 2×4 and baseball bat they found lying around in the alleyway, but they miss him as he dodges their attacks and runs past them all while tying one of their legs with his wire. After Dust runs past them, he dodges the supremacist with the cleaver by jumping into the air and landing on a light pole hanging from one of the buildings. Dust jumps backwards off the pole pulling on the wires he wrapped around the legs of the supremacists where they start to get lifted into the air. As Dust falls to the ground, he sticks out his left foot to stomp in the face of the supremacist with the cleaver. Dust drives his foot into the face of the supremacist where the impact causes the supremacist to fall to the ground backwards creating a small crater on the ground where his head landed and knocks him out. The other two supremacists that were lifted off the ground go flying through the air before landing painfully. One of the supremacists hits the ground face first and falls unconscious while the second one lands in a dumpster where the impact knocked him unconscious. The demihumans let out a sigh of relief as they were now safe and run over to Dust to thank him for saving them*
(Mother demihuman): Thank you so much! I don’t know how I’ll be able to repay you.
(Dust): Don’t worry about it ma’am. I was just passing by.
*Dust and the demihumans begin to hear sirens heading in their direction*
(Dust): Have a good night now.
*Dust shoots out a wire from his wrist to a light pole hanging from a building and goes flying through the air toward the building where the momentum allows him to land safely on the roof of the building. As the knights pull up to the alleyway in their patrol cars, Dust begins to walk away knowing that his work was done*
*The next day: Early morning*
*In the office of Internal Affairs building in one of their conference rooms, we see Morrison sitting down at a table with Amarti, Zia, Ryuuji, Morgan, Jade, and Raika looking over Jin’s file when in walks Dust*
(Dust): Good morning everyone.
(Raika): Well, well. Do my eyes deceive me? You actually showed up. I was expecting you not to come.
(Dust): Nonsense, I always show up for meetings.
(Morgan): Yeah, two out of ten times.
(Dust): Okay, I only show up for important meetings. Especially today’s meeting, we’re getting a new member. It’s the first one we’ve had since the order started. So, who’d you find for us? Must be someone pretty amazing.
*Dust takes a seat next to Jade and looks over Jin’s file*
(Amarti): Jin Hephaestus. Son of Seth Hephaestus and grandson of Arthur Hephaestus aka Iron Justice. He’s Seth’s fourth child and only son out of seven making him the sole heir to the Hephaestus name.
(Dust): Below average grades, graduated near the bottom of his class, and fighting skills are below average. You sure he’s a good fit for us?
(Amarti): I admit he has a number of shortcomings, but his ability is what really caught my attention, Metal Manipulation.
(Morgan): Metal Manipulation huh? I’ve heard of this ability, but I’ve never seen it in action before.
(Raika): Never heard of it.
(Morgan): It’s a unique ability that only those of the Hephaestus family have. The Hephaestus family started off as blacksmiths by trade and still supply the kingdom with some of the best weapons and armor. A large reason for their craft work is due to them being able to manipulate metal and form it into whatever they want by simply touching it with their magic. Swords, axes, guns, shields, cannons, you name it. As long as they have metal in their hands that metal can become anything they want it to be.
(Jade): And you’re telling us this kid can do that?
(Zia): Yes. I saw it with my own eyes at his test.
(Amarti): With that ability on our team not only will we have an improvement in our weapon qualities, but we’ll have access to our own personal blacksmith who can craft us just about anything.
(Ryuuji): On top of that we gain a new recruit and I’m always happy to train new up-and-coming knights. With such great talent in the room right now, there’s no telling how far he can grow.
(Dust): Well if you guys are all on board with it then so am I. But if the kid slows us down or gets in the way I’ll leave him behind. I’ve done enough babysitting in the past.
(Morrison): Excellent. He should be arriving here shortly. For his first day I’ll have him work with you and Ryuuji on your case.
(Dust): You sure that’s a good idea? Given me and Ryuuji’s case it could get dangerous. Why not give him to Raika? With Sanada out of town she could use a partner.
(Morrison): I want him to get use to field work as soon as possible. With you two watching over him nothing bad should happen. Plus, I think he has a better chance of surviving with you than spending a day with Raika.
(Raika): Amen.
***
*Outside of the Office of Internal Affairs building, Jin was standing outside the building looking at the letter to confirm that he was at the right place. His letter told him to wear his fieldwork attire, so he came wearing the clothes he wore for the exam. Taking a deep breath, he enters the building with a backpack and suitcase in hand. As he walks in he sees many knights walking around in business attire with the order’s emblem on their shirts. He walks up to the receptionist desk which is being run by a catgirl demihuman with long black hair and purple eyes wearing business attire clothes*
(Receptionist): Hello. Welcome to the Office of Internal Affairs, how can I assist you?
(Jin): Hi, I’m Jin Hephaestus. I have a meeting with Sir Lamorak today at 10am.
(Receptionist): Oh you must be the new recruit they’ve been talking about. I’m Luna, I recently just got started here not too long ago. Oh, but I’m not a knight, I’m just an office worker unlike you.
(Jin): Really? I didn’t know this order hired non-knights.
(Luna): Apparently, this is the only order that does this. Me and my dad were making our way to the kingdom when we got attacked and captured by bandits. I almost got raped until we got saved by this mysterious wolfgirl who came and freed us all. Once I got to the city they scouted me for the job at the office. They’ve been so good to me and my dad ever since we arrived. They found us a good place to live and even helped with my dad’s medical expenses.
(Jin): Woah, that’s amazing.
(Luna): Let me be the first to welcome you to the Black Tortoise Order. Since we’re both new here let’s do our best from here on out.
*Luna extends her hand to shake Jin’s hand who happily complies and shakes her hand just as a woman with medium length purple hair, and green eyes wearing a business casual black attire who looked to be in her mid to late 20s walked over to Jin and Luna*
(???): I see you’re doing a good job at the making the new recruit feel welcomed, Luna.
*The woman’s presence surprises both Jin and Luna who stop shaking hands and pull away from each other all while slightly blushing. This earns a chuckle from the woman*
(Luna): Uh, Ms. Gareth, I wasn’t trying to overstep my boundaries.
(Ms. Gareth): *Chuckles* It’s okay, I know you were only being friendly, Luna. Also, I told you to feel free to call me Rika. We’re all friends here.
(Luna): Right. Sorry Ms. Gar- I mean Rika.
*Luna’s blush intensifies as Rika turns her attention to Jin*
(Rika): You must be Jin Hephaestus. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Rika Gareth, vice-commander of the Black Tortoise Order, but you may call me Rika.
*Rika and Jin shakes hands where Jin blushes at the beauty standing before him*
(Rika): Well, now that pleasantries are out of the way, let’s head up to meet Morrison and the others. Feel free to leave your baggage behind, I’ll have someone put it in a safe spot for the time being.
*Jin leaves his baggage with Luna and follows Rika to the elevator where they enter and go up. Once inside the elevator Jin was about to ask Rika about the second emblem on his letter. It was an emblem he’d never seen before and no books or past records had any recording of it. Jin was all the more curious of what the emblem was and what it meant. The question was how would he bring it up in a conversation*
(Rika): I’m sure you have a lot of questions concerning the second emblem you saw on the letter.
*As if reading Jin’s mind, Rika started the conversation for him*
(Jin): Yes. I have so many questions. I looked it up in the archives, searched online, the record books, and found nothing about it.
(Rika): That’s good. That means we’re doing our job well. You won’t find that emblem in any record books as the order is only five years old.
(Jin): Five years old? That’s around the time the kingdom quelled the Rebellion of Osidious.
(Rika): Indeed. After the rebellion was quelled, King Sirius became concerned that neighboring nobles and smaller kingdoms would try something like this again. In order to counter this threat, he and Sir Lamorak established a new order that would work in secret to protect the kingdom as well as handle any missions that seemed too difficult for the other orders.
*The elevator reaches the floor they needed to go to and they both exit the elevator with Jin following Rika who led him down a hallway to the conference room where the others were waiting for them*
(Rika): An order that would watch over the kingdom from the shadows to keep it safe. The name of that order is Shadow Eye.
*Rika opens up a door to the conference room where the others are waiting and walks in with Jin who is surprised at the various faces he sees. He remembers seeing Morrison along with Amarti and Zia, but was surprised and excited to see Ryuuji and Morgan there as the duo were legends that all knights aspired to be, and wasn’t sure who the remaining people were*
(Morrison): Welcome, young Jin. Please, take a seat.
*Rika closes the door as Jin goes to sit at the front of the table as everyone watched him*
(Morrison): Alright, I think introductions are in order. I’m sure you know I’m Morrison Lamorak, chairman and commander of the Black Tortoise Order. To my right is Morgan, Jade, and Raika. To my left is Amarti, Zia, Ryuuji, and Dust. This is Shadow Eye. We have another member named Sanada who’s away on another mission right now, when he returns, I’ll properly introduce you to him.
(Jin): Wow, this order is a lot smaller than I thought. I never expected I would be in the same order as the Blazing Knight and Scholar of Ice themselves. It’s a huge honor to meet you both.
*Ryuuji chuckles at this statement while Morgan smiles*
(Dust): Don’t get too overexcited rookie. These two may have legendary status but behind the scenes they’re works in the making.
(Morgan): The same can be said for you, Dust.
(Jin): So, you guys are a secret order? Does this mean everybody in the Black Tortoise Order know about you?
(Morrison): No. Only us and a select few high officials within the kingdom know about our existence. The rest of the Black Tortoise Order are just normal citizens or knights working in the office.
(Jin): Why the secret? Why not just tell everyone who you are?
(Amarti): Because the underworld of the kingdom is a dangerous place and if everyone knew what was going on in the shadows they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Six months ago, the kingdom was being set to explode. Three months ago, a major drug ring was busted. One month ago, a huge Eclipse nest was destroyed before a nearby village could be attacked. Last week, it was discovered that a noble was trading kingdom secrets with a nearby kingdom to give them the edge in war and he was taken out without a word. All of these things happened, were stopped, and kept a secret thanks to us. Imagine what secrets you’ll find tomorrow.
*Jin sat there amazed at what he just heard. All of this stuff happening in the kingdom and he knew nothing about them. Let alone knew they were happening. These guys did and they managed to stop it all by themselves. Jin couldn’t help but gain a huge amount of respect for everyone in the room and felt even more honored that he was selected to join their order. However, he had one question he needed answered*
(Jin): So, what’s the catch?
(Morrison): The catch is your missions will never see the light of day. On paper you will be seen as nothing more than a Black Tortoise knight. You will not speak of them to anyone and any glory or praise you hope to gain from them will never come.
(Raika): Such is the life of a secret agent in the kingdom.
(Jin): And what if I decide this order isn’t right for me?
(Morrison): If you feel that the order isn’t right for you then you are free to leave and we will have you moved to another order of your choosing. However, this deal is only valid if you complete your one-week trial with Shadow Eye.
(Jin): That’s it? Survive one week in this order and if I decide it’s not for me, I can go to any other order I choose?
(Morrison): That is correct. After all, you have three esteemed knights here who can give you a letter of recommendation. All I ask is that you do your one-week trial and carry out your duties like a knight. Do we have a deal?
*Jin thinks about it for a minute*
(Jin): Deal.
(Dust): Hold it. I would like to add something to this deal. During this one week, I want your word that you’ll follow orders and perform out in the field. If I catch you slacking off or doing anything to undermine us I’ll take you down myself. Got it?
*Dust’s statement and stare scared Jin. He felt like he was looking into the eyes of a demon*
(Jin): It’s. . .it’s a promise. I swear on my family name that during this one-week trial I will give you nothing but my absolute best.
(Ryuuji): Well said, young knight. Now, let’s get started.
To Be Continued