Chapter //1

You grit your teeth as the spiral of colour sends you flying into a brick wall. The man in front of you smirks at your face as you groan and pick yourself up. He's wearing the typical clothes of a guard, dark armour of metal studded with pieces of amber. Everything about him screams dangerous but you cannot stop now. Not with your friends who are out around the back of the building, gathering precious information from it. You stand up, shakily, and step towards the guard. He grins at you, daring you to attack him. Ancient rules made long ago stated that no one, not even the High Pater could fight them in combat. Guards were chosen before they were born, the traditional star patterns under which each of them was born made them unique. The choosing happened shortly after each had been alive for around a year. Then trained desperately under savage conditions until they were fit to be let out into urban civilisation. The Ancient rules also said that Guards could only attack someone who has threatened them first. You raise your weapon, a sharp blade the length of your arm, and jab it towards his face. The knife misses, he strikes back with such brute force that you stagger and struggle to lift the blade against his sword. A burst of energy hits you, ripping through your body and leaving you seeing only foggy images. In the distance, you make out the Guard lifting his sword to bring it down onto your head. You cannot let him kill you - what would happen to your friends? You struggle to hold up your knife and feel the sword slash at it as the Guard brings it down on the blade. You hear sirens wail from inside the building beside you both and grin. The Guard curses, and runs towards it, sending a backwards glance at your broken weapon and body. Threat neutralised. You grab the ground beneath you as the world jerks you off balance. The Guard has gone and you slowly get up to find the building has been evacuated. Your friends are hiding around the corner from the explosion. You stand up, grimacing and steal a look at them. The Guard comes running back from the inside of the building. You hear the crackle of a radio com.
"....five major artefacts on government secrets, missing? .... requesting back up.... report to High Pater immediately..."
He clips it to his belt, grimly regarding you as you stand there. The Guard steps towards you, unclipping another thing from his waist. S**t.Cuffs, ones which slowly drain your strength until you can barely walk. You have the first-hand experience on what these things do. You pause for a split second, wondering whether or not you should run. He just looks at you calmly. You make your mind up, and start sprinting down the alleyway. The Guard doesn't waste any time, he just leaps after you. The knife clatters to the floor, you hit the ground and feel the heavy metal chain your hands together. Then the burning starts. You scream as the metal starts absorbing your strength, forcibly removing energy from your blood, digestive system and muscles.
He picks you up, roughly as though you are a dangerous criminal, and slams you into the back of a cargo bike. Your body is encased in a silver-blue sparking light.