Chapter 1

June, Year 2039

"Iris, come on! Hurry up! You must be the slowest person on Earth!"

Iris shot her younger brother, Aster, an annoyed look as she slowly stood to her feet, having finished tying her shoelaces. Placing one olive-skinned hand on her hip and narrowing her bright blue eyes at the impatient young boy, she raised a brow.

"I'm sorry? Do you want me to trip and fall?!"

Aster, a 13 year old boy with a mop of curly red hair, brown eyes and skin a shade darker than his sister's, rolled his eyes as he huffed. 

"No, but at this rate we won't get to do anything and the Rewind Festival will be over! Now, come on!"

Iris sighed, but let her Aster drag her by the hand between the many food and game stalls that were arranged throughout her school's rather large courtyard. Liberta Academy was a very peculiar school even for a private institution, but none of it's unusual events beat the Rewind Festival. The Rewind Festival was a tradition that dated back to the school's foundation which had been nearly 2 decades ago. The Rewind Festival was something akin to a themed fair and it was always held on the evening of the last day of the school year. It was held to celebrate the school year that was behind them and to set goals for the one to come. This year Iris was celebrating the end of her year before last at Liberta as well as babysitting Aster who was for the first time allowed to attend the Festival with his class and not their parents, however, it wasn't like they were going to let a hyperactive teenage boy roam around unsupervised and so Iris had ended up playing chaperone while wandering around a mythical themed Festival. It was not easy. She supposed she could only be thankful that the Festival started in the evening and that she had had time to go home and to change into comfortable clothes before being dragged back out here. Oh well. As Aster dragged Iris past a stall that was selling hotdogs, she couldn't help noticing the holographic projection that hovered above it, displaying the last few minutes of the track race that had taken place when Liberta had held it's sports day in the spring. That was another thing that Liberta did during the Rewind Festival: they holographically projected video clips from throughout the school year to make the message of the Festival clear. The Rewind Festival this year was very beautiful, there was no avoiding that fact. The lighting seemed to be made up of colourful old paper lanterns hung up on cords throughout the courtyard, the stalls were all decorated with different mythological characters or objects and the people at the stalls had decided to dress up in costumes, add to that the fact that soft themed music played in the background and the atmosphere was perfect. 

   Iris nearly crashed into Aster who had stopped rather suddenly in front of a purple tent. Iris raised an eyebrow as she peered around the young boy to look at what this particular attraction was. The small plaque before it read: "Madam Ailli's tent of fortune telling".  Iris sighed, casting her grinning brother a tired look.

"This is where you wanted to go?! Seriously, Aster?"

He turned to her with puppy-dog eyes.

"Please, Iri! My friend, Carl, told me this lady isn't a fake! Pretty please!"

Iris crossed her arms over her chest, frowning.

"Aster, real fortune telling isn't anything good."

"Oh, come on, Iri! She'll just look into her crystal ball and guess my fortune! It's not like I'll stick around if she starts worshipping some evil spirits or something! I like my soul too much to have it be stolen. Please?"

Iris sighed and handed her brother two pounds, throwing her hands up in a gesture of surrender. She was fairly sure this lady was a fake anyway, they always were and a fake couldn't really hurt Aster. Aster gave a cheerful cry of triumph and, after quickly hugging his sister, ducked into the tent. Iris sat down cross-legged on a nearby patch of grass and looked up into the sky. Despite all of Eastbridge's technological advancements and all the proclamations of the fact that it was nearly 2040, the stars had never changed. They were great bodies of power that shone in the heavens, steadfast and seemingly omniscient they had long watched over humanity and, if science was to be believed, would continue to do so for centuries to come. To pass the time and alleviate some of her boredom, Iris proceeded to name off the constellations from memory. She didn't have to wait long as Aster came out of the tent practically skipping some five minutes later. Iris climbed to her feet, wiping off the grass stains and raised a brow at her sibling.

"So, was it worth it?"

Aster eagerly nodded his head, his brown eyes shining with excitement.

"Yeah, Madam Ailli told me I'll be a great football player in the future! She also told me that I should focus on my studies a little more. It's like she knew my problems and hopes! She's awesome, Iri!"

Iris sighed inwardly. Yep, another fake. It was fairly easy to tell that Aster was an avid football fanatic and player judging by his attire and his problems with his studies could easily be attributed to his hyperactive personality. It was all too easy to guess. Iris was swiftly brought back to the present when she heard the next words that came out of Aster's mouth.

"She, uh, knows you're here too. She says she's curious to tell your fortune, too."

"She's going to do it for free?"

Iris asked, sceptical. Aster affirmed her guess with a nod. Iris shrugged and resigning herself to her fate, ducked inside the tent. She almost choked on the potent smell of perfume and scented smoke in the tent, but she pushed on through. Coughing, Iris asked the woman dressed like a genie that sat on a cushion deep in the dim tent.

"You wanted to see me?"

"You are Iris Elizabeth Fawners, yes?"

Iris's blue eyes shot wide open and her dark brows flew up to her forehead in surprise. Now wary, she spoke cautiously.

"How do you know my full name?"

The fortune teller laughed, her laugh sounding slightly like the tinkling of wind chimes to a bemused Iris. She smiled and gestured for Iris to sit down on a poofy purple cushion with golden tassels. After throwing her a "you better not try anything" look, Iris did as she was told. The woman, Madam Ailli, steepled her long fingers with red fingernails before herself in a pyramid, elbows resting on the low table between herself and Iris where an undoubtedly fake crystal ball sat. The woman surveyed Iris with a detached sort of interest before quietly speaking on a sigh.

"So you have come, Chosen. I knew you would. The stars told me."

She waved her hand indicating at the ceiling. Iris blinked in confusion, trying to answer without seeming to weirded out and failing spectacularly.

"Uh..That's good for you, I guess?"

The fortune teller didn't seem put off by Iris's attitude and instead smiled brighter, a smile emboldened by Iris's reaction.

"You sound uncertain, Chosen. Do not worry, all will become clear soon."

For some reason that phrase didn't sit right with Iris and neither did the fact that woman knew her name and kept her calling her "chosen". Chosen? Chosen for what? This was  getting a bit ridiculous. Crossing her arms over her chest, Iris looked the woman in her jade eyes and bluntly told her.

"Lady, no offence, but I have no clue what you're talking about. Anyway, aren't you supposed to "tell my future" or something? And why in the name of the Solar system do you keep calling me 'chosen' ?!"

Instead of being upset or offended, the woman merely laughed again. Okay, this was seriously beginning to creep Iris out. She shivered. Her instincts were warning her to be careful. That was it: she was leaving. The fortune teller suddenly grabbed Iris by the hand and the girl's vision dimmed replaced by flashes of images: 5 shadows, a symbol she'd never seen before glowing gold, blond hair, a strange looking her and then Iris was back in the present. Taking deep shuddering breath's Iris collapsed back on her seat, but scooted back from the woman until she was out of arm's reach. Trying to regain at least a semblance of balance, Iris choked out.

"What did you just do?!"

Madam Ailli merely smiled and when she spoke she obviously was avoiding Iris's question.

"My, you are a peculiar one, indeed. Very well, since you so desire knowledge, I shall give a hint to you:

A creature not from Sol has risen,

Five of Terra it has bidden.

Five from all corners of the world,

Shall have to lose all that they dear hold.

A loss of mind, a loss of body, 

A loss of feeling, a loss of paths -all unavoidable.

Prepare, oh, chosen child, prepare for there's no escaping

It's deep rooted snare."

Iris stared at the pleasantly smiling genie lady for a few silent moment before rising to her feet mutely. No, she couldn't handle any more of this creepiness. The woman called out to her.

"Are you doubting my word, Chosen?"

Iris didn't turn around and simply answered.

"No. I'm leaving. Goodbye."

The woman chuckled, sending Iris's skin crawling.

"Very well, goodbye. You would do well to heed my advice though."

Iris left, unable to stand another minute within the tent. Something about Ailli set off all sorts of alarm within Iris's head. That lady had something wrong with her, she was almost inhuman. Iris wanted nothing to do with that. Even as she went off to look for Aster, who'd predictably disappeared, Iris's bad feeling continued to build. Something was drawing closer to her and she couldn't see what. 

***

Aster was a master of disappearing, Iris would have to give him that, but it was stupid to wander around this late at night alone even on the school's ground. Huffing in annoyance, Iris clicked on her wristband. A holographic screen projected. Wristbands were something that most people had, at least in Eastbridge, Berkshire. Wristbands were fashioned as small bracelets on a coloureds strap with a holoprojector and a screen. In essence, they were universal mini-computers that had replaced phones and that shared a live connection with the medical network, one's PC and tablet so work could be done on the move. They had first appeared on the market with an anonymous designer the same year as when Eastrbridge had finished being constructed - 2020, 19 years ago, but now they were fairly widespread. Iris quickly pulled up her brother's contact info and fired off and irritated 'Where are you?'. She waited a full half a minute before her wristband pinged and Aster's cheerful reply of 'At the bonfire with Carl :)' popped up. Huffing and closing down her wristband, Iris moved in the direction of the heat source. That boy was in for a lecture of a lifetime. Their older siblings were bound to have her head if he got lost and that was not mentioning their parents. Iris was so wrapped up in her own thoughts and frustration with Aster, that she didn't notice as she bumped into an older lady. She looked up, quickly apologising, to see that she had brushed against their elderly headmistress- Ms. Luna Tase. Despite her age, she was a tall woman with an ageless sort of beauty about her - curling grey locks of hair and startling grey-blue eyes. Nodding in passing to Iris, the headmistress kept going on her way, muttering something Iris only vaguely caught a few snatches of:

"Damn Ailli...Messing with my students...Can't keep to herself... Time is close...Must hurry..."

Frowning before shrugging and dismissing it as nothing, Iris continued on her way her thoughts drifting to their headmistress. Ms. Tase was the sole founder of the Liberta Academy which had been built along with the rest of Eastbridge back in 2020. She'd presided over it ever since. Due to the school's early appearance some belived that their headmistress had some connection to the founder of the city, though of course there was no proof. 

   Eastbridge was not an ordinary city. It, to be frank, was the technological capital of the UK. Eastbridge was a very young city, built after the total annihilation of Windsor due to Impact Zero, but it was a very strange city nonetheless. In the countryside county of Berkshire it stood out like a sore thumb: a futuristic city among the rolling fields and woodland. No one minded that now though. Eastbridge was really like something from a sci-fi novel: a city with tall, towering office buildings, smaller houses towards the outskirts, a silent electric railway that went through the tops of the city instead of underground - it was in some ways the land of technology, but amongst that technology there were beautiful parks and woodland areas all within the city. It seemed like an utopia sometimes. Add that to the fact that ,by some miraculous feat, the people of the designer had built this entire city in only a year and it was something like a legend. A lot of people thought that unrealistic too, but Eastbridge stood there as living proof. The speed at which the large city had been built wasn't the only mystery - no one knew the name of the man or woman who had funded the whole project, designed the entire city and then vanished. Only his or her initials remained: 'T.S.E.' Eastbridge was no ordinary town, that was for certain.

  Iris was abruptly jerked out of her thoughts when unexpectedly a burning pain erupted in the soles of her feet. The pain was unbearable, it felt a strange though her feet had been set on fire. The world around her seemed to mute. Iris didn't even hear her own cry of pain as she feel to her knees on the ground. People rushed to the teenager's side, they were all saying something she couldn't hear - their voices were blurred, some pulled her up to stand and they tried to make her walk. Iris absently found her foot taking a step... 

   Iris snapped back to full consciousness to find herself standing in an empty classroom, one of the older ones. What had just happened? She'd just been outside and now she was here? How? The pain in her feet was gone also (not that she was complaining) ! Her kneecaps stung as she'd scraped them when she fell, but other than that it was as though no pain had ever existed. Iris's bad feeling came back in full force and her mind whispered 'It starts now.' What started now? What was she thinking? How could her own mind know something she quite obviously didn't?! Iris's frantic thoughts were cut off, when out of thin air four other people materialised. They all seemed as out of it as she had been, but just like she had, they quickly regained clarity. Iris didn't bother trying to hide her shock and neither did they. The teenagers simply surveyed each other in stunned surprise. Just what in the universe was going on?!