Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Briefing

Elaine Caldwell stood at attention in the assembly hall of the secret military compound bearing the deliberately unassuming name of Base 15. For weeks her and the other five Awakeners had had the place pretty much to themselves, well, except for the staff.

Now, though, the base finally felt lively as the promised thirty cadets had arrived. When the Professor had said that not all of the cadets would be human he hadn't been exaggerating. The lady with the lower body of a snake and the girl with fox tails were easy enough to spot, but Elaine knew from the briefing that there would be others.

After spending centuries pretending that the supernatural didn't exist the government had had little choice in dropping the facade after the event that had been dubbed the Invasion; that time seven months ago when horrors from beyond the universe had invaded the world and started destroying everything they could get to. Within weeks humanity had been decimated.

Partly that had been humanity's own fault, like when China decided to issue an order for all citizens to flee the countryside for the nearest cities and then nuked their own country after only giving the citizens of that gigantic country forty-eight hours to comply, leaving only the largest metropolises and the areas immediately surrounding them whole. A lot of other countries hadn't gone to such extreme lengths but had been decimated just the same. The good old US of A had had enough of a military presence to ward off the attackers at first, but even they had suffered terrible casualties.

And that's where Base 15 came in, a secret military project meant to create fighters with a certain potential. And if you're already researching magic you might as well conscript supernatural humanoids alongside normal humans with the right potential.

Elaine was not one of the ones with potential. Elaine, like the other five Awakeners, was dressed in a white uniform. The new cadets, though, the thirty fresh-faced recruits who had been selected for the program and who were now standing in the assembly hall, all dressed in black uniforms but not yet drilled in how to stand at attention, they were the ones with the potential. Elaine's job would be to, as the name suggested, awaken that potential inside them and then lead them into battle.

The only problem, as far as she was concerned, was the looks the cadets were giving the other Awakeners and especially her. For whatever reason the cadets all skewed towards being very attractive and over two thirds of them were women. Maybe women just had higher potential for this kind of thing but seeing this many attractive people after so many weeks of near isolation was still playing hell on her libido. Especially after the... side effects... that the experiments had had on her.

Becoming an Awakener took not just the right potential but also constant testing, drugs and surgery, which the Awakeners had had to endure on top of their military training and while being rushed through a university course on military strategy, but since the Professor was treading new ground with all of it there had been some odd anomalies with the process that the Professor had chosen to disregard as they fell outside his parameters.

In other words, he hadn't cared about the side effects.

Elaine wanted to adjust herself but, standing at attention as she was, moving to do so would only draw more attention so she just stood there alongside the other Awakeners, their backs to the left side wall, watching the cadets stare at the stage to her left where the Professor, a man with long, gray hair wearing a lab coat, walked up to the podium.

**

Alexis Bigsby was a nervous wreck. She didn't do crowds, as a rule. When they had told her she'd qualified to be part of a special unit she'd been elated, thinking that meant she would only have to deal with a few people at a time. And honestly, the fact that this whole military complex apparently only housed thirty-five other people, not counting the staff, did mean it was fairly small scale as such things went but being in a room with all of them was still rough on her. Especially because this brand new black uniform practically seemed like cosplay on her it felt so unnatural to wear. She thought everyone was staring at her, even though nobody was.

It was just part of her damage.

She looked around, trying to find something or someone to distract herself with and her eyes landed on the very attractive woman with fluffy light brown shoulder-length hair in the white uniform standing to her left, Elaine Caldwell, though Alexis didn't know her name then. She felt herself smiling at the woman but her expression quickly soured when she noticed that the man to Elaine's left, a tall muscular guy with slicked-back blond hair, had apparently thought her smile had been meant for him and was giving her a lecherous look back. She quickly tore her gaze away, but she still heard two girls talking behind her.

“Do you see the brunette in the white uniform? She's so pretty.”

“Pretty? Did you hit your head? Handsome I'll give you.”

“Ugh, you're focusing on the uniform. Look at her face.”

“...Yeah, okay, I see it.”

Alexis had to agree. The brunette had a very pretty face and the uniform did look very handsome on her. But most of all, she saw a little of her own nervousness reflected in the way the brunette was clearly avoiding eye contact with everyone while keeping her gaze respectfully above chest height of everyone present.

Finally, Alexis was pulled out of her musings when a man in a lab coat made his way to the podium.

**

Ophelia Devereux was standing in the back of the group of cadets, pretending to be calm and relaxed as she tried to push the beast inside her down, something she was usually very good at. She had spent most of her life in New York City, one of the most densely populated places in the whole world, and even surrounded by all those people every day she had never even gotten close to losing control of the thing straining inside her. She was proud of her self-control.

But after weeks of seeing barely any people around, suddenly being stuck in a small box with dozens of delicious-smelling humans and humanoids was driving the thing inside her crazy and her last blood meal hadn't even been that far back.

Ophelia had grown up reading shlocky vampire fiction and had therefore been led to believe that vampires ruled the whole world from the shadows and, once she had been turned, the other vampires had done nothing to dissuade her of this notion. Hell, their secret vampire government had seemed so thorough and efficient it had made it easy to believe that the vampires were in fact lording over the cattle in secret.

But then the monsters had come and it had become clear that the vampires had been as far out of their depth as everyone else. Even worse, after everything had been well and truly FUBAR'd the government had admitted that it had always known that vampires and other supernatural species were real and hey wouldn't you like to do your part in conquering the world back from the monsters so you can go back to pretending that you rule us from the shadows?

Of course Ophelia knew that there would be no going back to the status quo even if they managed to take the world back from those things, but having a world that wasn't fucked was still something worth striving for in her opinion. So here she was, doing her part.

What surprised her more was the amount of supernatural humanoids present. The lamia and the kitsune were easy enough to spot but beyond that it got difficult. Only Ophelia's thermal vision let her know that there were at least three therianthropes present, she guessed werewolves. Well, two of them were werewolves. The third was a guy so big and bulky Ophelia was almost certain he was a werebear. Not that it looked bad on him.

Ophelia also knew there was one other vampire in the group, but since they neither knew each other nor had the same sire they had done their best to stay out of each other's way.

She chanced a look over to where the six people in the peculiar white uniforms were standing. What was up with those anyway? They looked more disciplined than the rest. Were they an elite unit within this elite unit? Ophelia didn't know. She did, however, notice the pretty brunette who was very pointedly not checking out the cadets in the black uniforms.

Ophelia had to smile. She was cheerfully bisexual – normally with a preference for men – but that brunette could ogle her all she wanted. There was also something peculiar about her that Ophelia couldn't quite puzzle out. Then she chanced a look at the brunette's black pants and thought she saw something.

She decided it would require further investigation but at that moment someone in a lab coat took the stage.

**

Evelyn Dupree was a bit upset at the moment. She wanted to understand what was going on with this special unit nonsense already. She'd decided to join the military to battle the things that had fucked up the world but instead of being sent off to a normal boot camp she had been told that she had qualified for some special unit program. Joining had been optional, but everything about it had sounded great to her so she wanted to find out what this was all about. And, more to the point, why was there already a division between the people in attendance? Thirty people in black uniforms, six in white uniforms. Were the ones in white better than them?

Evelyn tried to stare daggers at the six in white but none of them noticed her. The one of them that truly caught her attention was the brunette girl of the group, which shocked Evelyn. She had always been able to appreciate a woman's good looks, but in a clinical way. But this girl was somehow pushing her buttons. Evelyn was straight, damn it, where was this coming from?

She decided to investigate this woman and why she was doing this to her, but only after getting some answers on this special program.

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She wanted to tap her foot in impatience but just then a haggard-looking man in a lab coat stepped behind the podium.

Finally.

**

Stollos Cypher was many things. Grandson to the Morning Star, former Demon Lord of Despair, former head researcher in the infernal city of Gomorrah but then exiled from Hell and, most recently, head researcher at Base 15.

The official reason for his exile had been the amoral nature of his research, though the fact that he had been exiled from Hell and the fact that his old laboratory back in Gomorrah was now in the hands of one Joseph Mengele (under the very assumed name Iosephus Flavius) belied the truth:

His exile had had nothing to do with morality. He had been trying to make humans strong enough to rival angels and demons, which neither side had been very happy with. In Stollos' opinion it had very much been their own fault for making fun of him for being half human, but that was neither here nor there.

Now, with the earth overrun by the horrors from Outside, they had welcomed him back with open arms and the new combined government had put him in charge of this research project, to finally recognize the work he'd already invested centuries into.

He'd already created a method for empowering humans but the chance of failure had been deemed unacceptably high for a whole military unit, so he'd had to create something new. Something the thirty cadets in black had shown very high aptitudes for.

The situation had not yet escalated to the point where using his old method was required, though Stollos was a jaded enough person to admit that performing the Oath of Crystal Tears on these thirty-six people would probably be worth it in the long run. It would likely turn thirty of them into mindless monsters but ending up with even just six Lacrima would be worth the sacrifice.

A Lacrima, when properly trained, would rival one of the Cherubim of Heaven or one of the Arch-Fiends of Hell, both the second highest ranks of their respective realms, only one step beneath the Lords.

But the situation was not yet dire enough. And anyway, part of this project was to find out if any of the cadets showed the necessary aptitude for the Oath of Crystal Tears. If that aptitude was proven, the success rate of 16.66% could be increased to almost 100%. All they needed was a bit of patience. Well, that and the willing cooperation of the one angel and the one demon on staff at the compound. Rachel would be amenable, he was sure, but he had a much harder time reading Jeanne.

Stollos walked up to the podium and tapped one finger against the microphone to test if it was on. Before he began his speech he turned around and checked that the others had showed up. His speech would have some very awkward pauses if the others weren't present, but there they were. Rachel, Jeanne and Lieutenant General Francis Hayworth.

Good.

Stollos turned back around to the microphone and began his speech. His voice, in contrast to his appearance as a reedy researcher, was deep and rich and though Stollos didn't like being the center of attention his voice alone made every person in the compound listen up and take notice. It also helped that the speaker system was excellent and even the cadets in the back row could understand him perfectly.

“Hello and welcome, young cadets. My name is Stollos Cypher and I am the head researcher here at Base 15. You have all been selected to be part of Project Divinity. Along the way you might have heard rumors about the government working together with angels and demons to fend off the horrors you have all no doubt seen. I am here to tell you that those rumors are entirely true.”

He paused a moment to let the gasps and mutters pass. It was quite a shock to the system for most people. Angels, maybe, but most Americans had been raised to think of demons as evil and none of them knew that Outsiders were one of the few things Heaven and Hell saw eye to eye on. They wanted nobody to mess with humanity except for themselves. They had even cooperated in driving the Fae out of this world back during the Industrial Revolution, the first and only time both sides had performed a large scale operation on Earth.

Once people had calmed down a bit Stollos continued. “I know this is hard for some of you to believe, but you need to come to terms with this. Thus, I want to begin by introducing the main staff members at this compound other than myself. Rachel, if you would?”

Up stepped a woman in a pastel pink nurse outfit, though it looked more like fetish wear than an actual uniform on her. And anyway, who designed nurse's scrubs that left the wearer's back bare? Someone who knew who Rahel the Temptress was, that's who.

The woman was a gorgeous redhead, the kind who drove men and even women to make very poor decisions, all hourglass figure and legs for days. Rachel looked to be only barely legal, though of course that was a deliberate choice on her part. In truth she was millennia old. As she stepped forward a pair of bat wings erupted from her back and small forward curled horns sprouted from her temples. The very thin tail with the heart-shaped tip was easy to spot from where Stollos was standing but he wasn't sure if it was still visible for the cadets in the back row.

“Nice to meet you, my little lambs”, she began and Stollos thought she was laying it on a bit thick, her voice husky with undertones of pillow talk. “My name is Rachel Cypher. In case you were wondering, no, I'm not related to the Professor, at least not by blood. I am the firstborn daughter of Lilith, Adam's first wife, and thus Lucifer is my stepfather. Back in hell I'm known for two things: I am the princess of the succubi and one of Hell's most accomplished healers. Thus, they put me in charge of the medical wing of this compound. Both as a show of good faith and because I'm damn good at my job. So if you have anything”, and she made sure to put as much innuendo into that one word as she could fit, “you need my help with, don't hesitate to come knocking. My door is always open. Always.”

Stollos saw a few of the male cadets shifting uncomfortably. He couldn't blame them. He'd built up a certain tolerance to Rachel's presence, but she still exuded sex appeal to such an extent that she could make a monk drop his vows and boxers in two seconds flat.

“Thank you for the thorough instruction”, Stollos said dryly, “but we have two others who need an introduction. Jeanne, would you like to go next?”

Rachel stepped back, letting the tail, the wings, and the horns disappear as she went. Next up was a blonde with shining blue eyes and a braid that reached all the way down to her hips. The clothing she wore suggested that it would go under a suit of armor and that was precisely correct. As she walked a pair of pure white wings appeared behind her back and a halo of solid golden light flickered into existence above her head.

Jeanne had a noticeable French accent as she spoke in a high, clear voice: “It is good to see so many gifted young warriors willing to fight for the world they were born in. My name is Jeanne. In life, they called me Jeanne d'Arc. I believe my story is still being told, no? Anyway, after my death I became the protege of the Angel Lord of Chastity and Temperance, Lady Venus. In this compound I am in charge of the armory. If you need gear for your missions, you go through me. If you need a sparring partner who will really push your limits, let me know. I'm looking forward to working with all of you.”

She stepped back, the wings and halo vanishing, and without prompting the man in the military uniform stepped forward.

“Welcome, cadets. I am Lieutenant General Francis Hayworth. I am in charge of operations at this compound. Until you are all trained up Professor Cypher has priority on your time, but once you are ready I will be in charge of sending you out to take our world back from these blasted things. Other than that I am here to teach tactics to any who are interested and as a figurehead, to demonstrate that the US government is entirely on board with this project. I'm not going to bore you anymore, though. You are hopefully all eager to learn what Project Divinity entails, so I'll let the Professor get back to it.”

He stepped back without another word and Stollos continued: “Thank you, Lieutenant General. Now, with our pedigree established there is another hard truth you need to come to terms with. As you've probably realized by looking around you, not everyone in this unit is human. And I am not just talking about the two everyone can clearly tell aren't.” He was of course referring to the kitsune and the lamia. “Because yes, there is magic in this world and there are magical creatures in this world. All of you here today were chosen for your potential in awakening a certain supernatural power. I will now briefly explain what is so special about you and what you need to do to access the power slumbering within each of you.” He paused while clicking a button and opening up a PowerPoint presentation that listed his most important points and gave illustrations for each.

“When gods run out of worshipers, they die. However, unlike you, who have their soul go to some sort of cozy afterlife, gods shatter into pieces. These pieces are called Soul Shards. Some of these Shards are small and weak, others are large and powerful. Whenever a new soul is born a Soul Shard of some god or another will attach itself to them, sometimes even more than one. Why, we don't know. What we do know is that Soul Shards exist beyond time and space and one might hold a Soul Shard of a god who is still alive, or even a Shard of a god who never existed in this universe.
“For normal people these Soul Shards do very little. They might affect your personality a little, but generally nothing too dramatic. Someone with a Soul Shard of Zeus might have a particularly high libido and someone with a Soul Shard of Bragi, the Norse god of poetry, might have a gift for fine arts, but that is usually all.
“However, I have devised a method for amplifying the power of Soul Shards that allows a person to draw on it to become superhumanly powerful.
“Those of you in the black uniforms were chosen because you have some particularly powerful Soul Shards inside you. We call you Shard Bearers. If you manage to amplify the Soul Shards slumbering within you, you will be powerful enough to fight the horrors on even footing.
“Those in the white uniforms, meanwhile, were chosen for a different purpose. They are Awakeners. They aren't fresh-faced cadets. All of them have at least gone through basic training, they each have a degree in military strategy and, more importantly, they have the unique ability to amplify the Soul Shards of others. There are many open questions about this and one of the purposes of this project is to find out why their abilities work the way they do, but for now we only know that it works, not why or how it works.
“In order for Shard Bearers to gain powers you need to first create a bond with an Awakener. This bond can be one of friendship and trust or a more intimate and romantic bond. We don't judge, so long as it helps you strengthen your powers. The closer your bond with one of the Awakeners the more skills you will gain access to. In order to actually learn those skills you need to go out and fight the horrors to gain experience.” Stollos paused as muttering broke out. He gave it to a count of ten before he continued:

“You may have noticed that this sounds like something right out of a video game. You'd be correct. I have no idea why it works the way it does, especially since absolutely no other supernatural power in this world behaves this way, but it makes it highly convenient to explain. Bond with an Awakener of your choice to gain access to new skills, then gather experience by killing Outsiders to unlock those skills. Unlock enough skills to increase your level and grow stronger. That is the gist of it.
“The system is a bit more intricate than that and frankly it takes a bit too long to explain here right now. However, you will only need to understand it after you've been on your first outing and we have given the Awakeners all the necessary information to be able to brief you.
“Go out with an Awakener, come back and your Awakener will explain to you how to allocate the points you gained.
“For the first two weeks, however, we will rush you through basic training so you don't die in the field. Once that is over you should have had at least a little time to get to know each other and decide who you want to work with. Was there anything else?”, Stollos asked, apparently asking himself as he continued:
“Right, Credits. Your money is no good inside this compound. Inside here we use Credits as a currency. You can exchange whatever money you have on you for Credits and when you leave the compound for good you will be able to exchange your Credits for a currency of your choice. Hopefully by that point we will have restored civilization to the point where we have a reliable currency again.
“Now, what do you need Credits for and where do you get them? You are supplied with basic necessities and clothing for free. Similarly, the food in the cafeteria is free. Basic gear at Jeanne's armory is also provided. Credits are used for luxury goods and advanced combat gear as well as potions and other consumables. You gain a weekly allowance of Credits but the true way to gain Credits is to go out and kill monsters. Each of the known types of enemy awards a certain number of Credits when you kill one. If you are fighting in a group the Credits will be divided among the party members, but with a bonus for larger parties. So a monster worth fifty Credits would award fifty Credits to a solo fighter. That same monster killed by a party of two would award thirty Credits to both members. In a party of three, everyone would gain twenty-five, a party of four would gain twenty-two each and finally a party of five or more will gain twenty Credits each. This way we don't get any lone wolves trying to go it alone. This is very much a team effort.
“Now, I think I've said all I needed to say. Are there any questions?”

There were a few, but most were asking for clarification on things he had explained. Stollos found that things had gone well so far.

 

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