Glorious: The Ascension

As Roksazza began to drink her alien liquor native to her homeworld, John pulled out of his inventory his guitar. When Ben saw it it took him by surprise mainly because he hasn't seen a guitar since he's been brought here. It was an instrument that he was deeply familiar with since he would often play his own guitar back on Earth to help him with his trauma. The sound of music always seemed to lift his spirits. 

He looked at John and asked him, "You play guitar as well?" 

John smiled and reminisced, "Yeah.... When I was younger my father would teach me how to play the guitar when he was still alive. I learned most of the basics from him before the soldiers killed him. He could make a guitar produce beautiful music so heartwarming that it could bring tears to anyone's eyes. After his passing I chose to honor him by learning as much about how to play the guitar as I could. The sound of it would help my mother sleep at night even before she got sick." 

"Your mother is sick? What happened," Ben probed slightly worried for the young man. 

John said only one word, "Cancer."

"I'm..... sorry to hear that.... Is she still alive," Ben responded genuinely sorry for bringing it up. 

"Yes.... For now at least. The doctor say that she probably has a year left if we're looking at it in the most optimistic light..... But realistically 7 months if we're being honest," John nodded softly strumming the strings of the guitar to make sure that it is in tune. 

Ben tried to dig a little deeper just to understand where the boys mind was at, but he did so while trying to remain respectful, "If you don't mind me asking..... Why did you choose to participate in the trials instead of stay with her? Do you think you'll be able to make it back before she passes?" 

John stopped what he was doing and genuinely thought about how to respond. After he gathered his thoughts he answered from a place of deep love, "She's the reason I chose to come here....... I want to save her. I want to be her hero like you were for me...... That's why I chose the class that I did... I want to save lives and protect people. I'm certain that I will find the way to save her by competing in these trials... Even if I don't win as long as I can make it far enough to find a way cure her..... That'll be enough for me."

Ben open to his mouth to speak but he didn't entirely know what to say. Instead he found himself slowly reaching out to John placing a hand on the young boy's head. He ruffled his hair a bit and told him with a bit of somber pride, "I thank your father would be proud to hear you say that, and I believe that your parents raised a fine young man." 

At first John didn't know what to say in response but eventually he simply told him, "Thank you." 

He started playing his guitar and the music was beautiful to hear. Claudette loved hearing John play his guitar as his music seem to be a reflection of him as a person. Joyful, excited, content, and hopeful. It was always some form of upbeat sound that got her dancing. Soon she found herself dancing to the sound of the guitar once more with Azzora tapping her foot and moving her head in tune with the rhythm. 

"That sounds real nice little man. You got some good skills there," Marcelina praised him as she tapped her foot to the rhythm of his guitar. 

Roksazza dance with Claudette as the music of the guitar was so uplifting that she felt that she needed to. The two women looked a little bit funny dancing near the bonfire to the sound of the guitar. But everyone was smiling, even Ben who tapped his foot to the rhythm as well.

As the song came to an end everyone sat back down, and enjoyed the beautiful view of the clear night sky feeling the gentle cool breeze mixing with the warmth of the bonfire. Taking a moment to get to know each other, Azzora asked about something she heard them mention earlier that only the humans seem to know about, "I'm curious you humans keep talking about a war that happened. John said you were a soldier in the war and you and some others rescued him when he was younger. Can you tell me about this war? How did it start and which side were you on?" 

Ben didn't mind giving her a summarized retelling of what they were talking about, "There have been many wars on Earth, but the war that I fought in didn't start off as one. Shortly after I finish my schooling I enlisted in my country's military. After going through training and being assigned to my own squad, we ended up getting assigned admission that took us to the Middle East..... That's a region on our home world. A lot of terrorist groups live out in that region vying for control of weaker nations that are led by religious law. On the mission me and my squad uncovered plans that were almost destroyed the detailed a secret organizations plot to take over the world from behind the scenes. We handed over the information to our higher-ups but my good instinct told me to make a copy just in case. Turned out to be right since our higher-ups deleted all the evidence we gave them and tried to have us killed. So me and my team while on the run for a little while uploaded all of the proof and evidence to the internet so that everyone who had access to it regardless of country could know what was really going on."

Marcelina and Claudette perked up hearing that. Marcelina shouted in actual shock, "Wait you're telling me that your team was the one who leaked that information?!"

"Yep," Ben confirmed and continued, "We were still on the run for another 3 months before things changed. Everybody on Earth took that information verified it then people began to rise up. The common man didn't mind letting their governments make the laws and keep the peace. But they would not allow a shadow organization to gain absolute power and dictate how they are to live while treating them like they are less than dirt. The majority of world leaders in many of the high ranking officials in different governments were part of this group, but most of their soldiers were not. We called it the 3rd World War, but unlike the previous two that were fought by conflicting nations, this one was fun for the very heart and soul of the freedom of individuality." 

"What is this internet that you mentioned? My people don't have something like that," Azzora asked seeking clarification. 

"It's a digital space that allows for a multitude of things. People primarily use it as a means of communication across the world on different digital platforms. It's mostly used in tandem with computers and a program called the World Wide Web to gather data and information that becomes accessible to anyone who wishes to use it. Well that's at least a simple way to try and explain it, but it's much more than that by a wide margin," Claudette explained to her. 

"I know of computers. However ours are quite slow when primarily just used to run calculations. You're saying this world wide web harnesses the power of the internet to allow for communication and information. You humans must be far more advanced technologically than us," Azzora states in fascination.

Roksazza spoke up curious to learn more, "I'm more interested in learning about what this group was called that sought to try and rule the world from the shadows. What name did they go by?"

"Les Illuminés. They were a new age version of an old group that most people didn't even believe existed anymore called the Illuminati. We actually learned more about them from the Illuminati. Apparently the members of Les Illuminés that founded that group originally broke off from the Illuminati a couple hundred years ago. It was mostly a group of French scientists who decided to, instead of pursuing human advancement and forbidden knowledge, pursue absolute power through any means. Overtime they recruited in secret and formed an organization that sought to rule the world from the shadows by controlling crime. They essentially controlled different criminal organizations and help them to make money and pursue their goals by placing their members in positions of governmental power and either changing laws or creating new ones that would allow for interpretations were criminals could get away with their deeds in exchange for a cut of the profit. Over time they formed several branches devoted to different things and that's when they truly sought to gain power over everyone," Ben answered slowly quenching his fist as he thinks about the enemies that he fought so viciously back then and they're twisted beliefs. 

"I see..... And let me guess they used the criminal organizations that they were working alongside as their own military when the everyday people turned against them," Roksazza wondered clearly using her military intellect and previous experiences to estimate the scenario. 

Ben nodded and gave deeper insights, "Yes. Although that wasn't their initial intention. Originally they held the world hostage with a type of weapon called a nuclear bomb. These bombs are so powerful they can destroy an entire city in an instant if detonated. And they leave a toxic energy that is invisible to the eye behind in the air and on surfaces that can kill over time called radiation. Technically the light from the sun is also radiation but people's bodies are able to handle that energy in certain amounts. These bombs produce so much in such a quick amount of time upon detonating both during and after the explosion that the lingering radiation is just as deadly as the initial explosion. And they threatened to use the entire world's nuclear bomb arsenals to wipe out most of mankind if we would not submit after their plan to remain secretive failed." 

"If they truly possess such a weapon and in such a great quantity that it threatened the entirety of your peoples existence how would they suddenly be forced to use criminals to fight for them," Azzora pondered trying to dig a little deeper.

Marcelina answered that question with a fondness and a bit of pride, "The Mechangels and the Asteroids. They were a group back on Earth of people who specialized in using the internet to manipulate other things connected to it from great distances and originally were a group of criminals that stole from rich people. Around the time that the nukes were being used to threaten us into essentially slavery there were giant asteroids heading towards our planet that were big enough to cause widespread damage if not complete destruction. Seeing death staring us down one way or another that group chose to take a stance. They use their skills to essentially take over the systems that controlled the bombs and targeted them towards the asteroids. They fired them all getting rid of the entire world's nuclear arsenal and saving us from three massive asteroids that would have wiped out our race. After that they had no choice but to use all of the criminals they worked with as their own personal army."

"That look on your face says you know one of them," Ben pointed out. 

Marcelina nodded and said, "My older sister. She was a member of the group before they were hunted down and captured. She died a hero that saved the entire planet. I was proud of her. I just wish she could have gotten a chance to live in the world she left behind."

Roksazza placed her hand on Marcelina shoulders seeing that she was starting to frown thinking about her sister who was no longer amongst the living, "All you can do is honor her memory by doing your best. I am certain that she will just be happy to know that her little sister got to continue living and even has gotten the chance to try and become a goddess thanks to her heroic efforts. Surely as long as you continue to breathe you can carry her memory with you wherever you go." 

"Yeah..... that's how I like to try and look at it at least. We are you a lot but I miss her more than I want to admit some days.... That's nice to hear someone try and say such nice things," Marcelina thanked her somberly. 

"I'm still kind of interested in hearing about these different groups within this shadow organization," Azzora said trying to see about getting them back on that topic. 

"Well all of the groups in the shadow organization were subdivisions devoted to different things. There was the Búllet, or just commonly called Bullet. Their job was drug smuggling, human trafficking, child trafficking, racketeering, black market weapons trading, assassinations, and being the enforcers over the criminal organizations that worked with them. Basically drug dealing, killing, and enslaving people." Ben said with a degree of vitriol and disgust that indicated he had a deep hatred and long-standing feud with this specific subgroup.

He stood up and walked over to the fire. He looked at it for a second before continuing, "Then there was the Acuñar, also called the Coin. As their name implies their job was dealing with everything related to the money. Basically they were in charge of any buying and selling that any of the other groups did as well as money laundering, embezzlement, and straight up planning robberies and heists. They also coordinated with lawmakers to set up laws that they could use as a means of legally gaining money from tax paying citizens while deceiving those people about what exactly that money was being spent on." 

He turned to look at them again and they could all see that he definitely didn't like thinking about his old foes. The look in his eyes was one of the hatred and anger for the entire group not just all of the subgroups. He then stated the last 2 subgroups, "Then there was both the Jiāngōng, the Overseers, and Mutaeasib, the Zealots. Although they were 2 distinct subgroups they essentially did the exact same thing. They were the ones that were placed in governmental and religious positions of power throughout the world. They made the laws and they tried to control the religions that people followed. Whenever they're needed to be a war they would manipulate members of government and of the common folk to provoke it in one way or another so that they could profit from their cell of weapons both publicly and through the black markets. The only difference is that the zealots also practiced different forms of what humans believe to be dark magic and demonic summonings. Most of which to my knowledge didn't work, but then again I didn't believe in Gods, angels, and demons before I was offered the chance to come here."

He folded his arms and his jaw clenched a bit as he thought about one more not exactly group within their organization but definitely the ones he hated the most. He said, "Although this last one wasn't actually technically a group it was the general name for those in charge. The Korony, the Crowns.... They were the ones in charge and led the entire organization and all of its subgroups. Most of them were nobodies that no one even heard of but there were a few whose egos demanded to be stroked enough that shows to pursue seats of power in the public's eye and became world leaders. None of the subgroups made a move unless they got the approval of at least one or more of the Crowns."

"Those monsters are the ones that gave the order for my village to be taken hostage. I'm glad you killed them all," John added quite angry about how the Crowns were the ones that gave the order that got his father killed.

"It's good to know that the people responsible for what happened to your dead. I just wish a boy like you didn't have to go through something like that," Azzora said trying to genuinely comfort John who for the first time in a while actually expressed any emotion that was negative. She didn't like when he got angry or sad because she enjoyed seeing that smile on his face. 

Roksazza curiously questioned like a general trying to get a better understanding of her soldiers, "I'm actually interested in learning about the side you fought on now if that's what you were up against. How did you all unite and organize well enough to actually win from the sounds of it?"

"After the nukes were taken off the table there were still a lot of deadly weapons in the hands of the enemy, but like I said the majority of the soldiers were on our side. Many of them turned on their commanding officers knowing that they were working for the enemy. They killed them and took command and then they began to organize the masses on several different fronts. Being the squad that started it all my group was touted as some legendary high ranking team that the others would follow. Or at least that's how most of the common folks saw us. We just traveled from place to place helping where we could. Most of us didn't know what we were doing for a long time. At the time we had a leader who was good at what he did, but he......" Ben trailed off has he thought more about the war and how many of the events played out. His mind was a buzz with all of the terrible things that had happened. All the people he watched die. All the friends he couldn't save. 

"He betrayed us when he saw a more profitable option. His actions got most of my team killed. In the end only two of us ended up surviving his betrayal. But I made him pay," he continued with the first time of actual hatred seeping from his voice. His hate was subtle in how he spoke it but the emotion leaked from him like a raging river. 

All of them could sense his bloodlust and killing intent when he thought about the man that betrayed his squad. It made all of them deeply unsettled and uncomfortable. Especially because his emotions seem to also trigger his magic. They noticed as his eyes began to give all the faint red glow. At the same time the bonfire began to grow in intensity and heat. 

Emma was clearly worried about him so she came up and crawled up his body and nestled on his shoulders. She started looking his face and he seemed to calm down quickly. He noticed that he had scared all of them somewhat and because of that Ben decided, "I think I've talked enough tonight. I'm going to head to bed now."

He began to make his way to his cabin. Some of them wanted to say something and stop him but instead they simply chose to let him walk feeling as though it was probably better in the long run. He clearly needed some space to catch his breath and calm his nerves.

Once he was inside the cabin John spoke up, "He has been through a lot. From what I've heard he's the last living member of his squad. Everyone else died. Most of them died in the war because of the man who betrayed them. Maybe we shouldn't talk about it anymore just so he doesn't end up thinking about what happened." 

"Yeah... Nobody likes talking about or thinking of their traumas," Claudette agreed placing her hands behind her head and leaning back in the seat she was in.

"I didn't know he had went through all that. Honestly I didn't even recognize that he was the same person until now. His face used to be all over the TV and his hair was definitely black back then. He shouldn't even be old enough to have nothing but white hairs. I guess all the stress of what happened might have caused it," Marcelina remarked feeling bad for him.

"I'm more worried about the pain he carries. I don't think he's gotten a chance to truly deal with and let go of all that he was going through. The way that hatred came off of him..... I've only sensed that from a few individuals, but never that intense. Until he properly deals with what happened he's only going to bury that much hate deep down inside until it erupts," Roksazza remarked thinking about it from the sense of a soldier who's been through similar circumstances.

While the others continue to sit around the campfire and talk Ben was finishing up his shower before laying down for the night. As he slid on his pajama short, he walked out of the bathroom and went to lay down on his bed. Emma was already waiting for him. 

He asked her while gently petting her head, "You ready to go to bed, Emma?" 

"Yep yep. I tired," she answered while slowly starting to stretch out on the bed. 

He laid down next to her and soon she began to snuggle with him. The two of them said nothing and just close their eyes and went to sleep while holding each other. It took a bit for Ben's brain to stop thinking about the past so he could fall asleep. However his dreams did not allow him to forget. 

He found himself back there once more. He was reliving that day they had found the information on the existence of Les Illuminés. Originally they were just taking care of a terrorist leader who was active in the area. They didn't think anything of it as it was originally a standard mission given by their superiors. However when they had come through the leaders base they discovered the secret room that held the information that changed their lives forever. They took that information back to the makeshift outpost that they had been fortifying for a couple days. Originally belong to the same terrorist group whose leader they had killed that day who turned out to be a secret new member of Les Illuminés. 

They didn't think anything of it at first until they looked over all the information. When they had realized what they had found it struck deep into their cores. The information changed all of their perspectives on life in that moment and would irreversibly alter the trajectory of how they would perceive the world. They had spent the majority of their time after clarifying the information and verifying its authenticity just trying to decide as a group what to do. They discussed it until nightfall when they were all tired and getting ready to go to bed. The other squad that was with them began to prepare for nightly guard duty in case of an attack. And that's when they were gunned down as several hundred enemy soldiers came out of nowhere and assaulted the outpost.

Now he found himself dreaming of that moment again. He was having that same nightmare of remembering when his squad was pinned down and bullets shredded through every bit of the building barely missing them. He was there again, in that moment when his team had prepare to distract the enemies to reposition when the front of the outpost exploded. The terrorist had fired rockets at the entrance of the building to try and kill anyone that might have been preparing to make a break for it. 

Usually he would wake up at this part but instead the nightmare continued. His team had been protected from the blast but the front of the outpost caved in due to the damage sustained from the explosion so now they were definitely trapped inside. They would all die here if they couldn't find a way out that was certain. For a moment the gunfire had stopped however as the enemies were probably surveying whether or not they were dead inside. 

As Benedictus was trying to figure out what to do a familiar voice called out. It was her voice as she popped out from under the floor showing a hidden latch. He had thought she had died but it would seem she had found a hidden part of the outpost they didn't discover initially when they took it. 

As her ginger curls peaked out from under her helmet her green eyes met his and she told him, "Ben, this hidden hatch leads down into an underground tunnel system. We can use it to escape."

Suddenly he woke up with the final memory of his dream being those familiar green eyes. Emma slowly stirred to consciousness feeling him suddenly jerk of violently as he laid there. She worriedly looked at him noticing that he was fine. He realized he scared Emma then began to calmly pet her to reassure her that everything was okay and that she could continue resting.

"Sorry about that sweetie. It's okay. I'm alright. Get you some more sleep," he said giving her a kiss on her snout and trying to reassure her. 

Emma seeing that he was truly fine gave him a couple licks on the face then went back to sleep. Ben on the other hand got out of bed and noticed that the sun was going to come up soon. He didn't really like waking up at dawn or before it but he didn't think he was going to fall back asleep. Instead he decided to go ahead and get his morning training done early. He needed to take his mind off of his dreams for a little bit.

He didn't bother changing his clothes since he was the only one up currently, and he just decided to start with the basics of his morning workout routine. While he did his daily 100 push-ups, he thought back on all of his friends from his squad. Elliot, Mendez, even the corporal, all of them were long dead and he was still here. He outlived everyone on his squad. Even her...

She was all that was on his mind as he began doing his 100 daily sit-ups. All those promises they made to each other. All those dreams that they had together. Goals that they wanted to achieve but never could. Even after they both survived the war and got to retire from the battlefield far earlier than most people. Life just decided to keep taking from him. It couldn't let him for a even a single second truly be happy. 

All that she tried to do to bring light and life into his world gone because life decided he needed to continue to suffer. So many times he thought about why he of all people was still breathing and none of the other people he deemed worthy of getting to live seem to still be alive instead. He would have gladly traded his life for the lives of his friends. He would have traded his life immediately for her as if he could have. 

But life for all that it is, it is most certainly a bitch. It is fickle and it plays favorites. And yet it tells jokes that only if you can understand and laugh at. His life was a great joke but every sign he got kept telling him to live even when he wanted to die. 

The thought of death and his many moments where he came close to killing himself was all that permeated his thoughts as he did his daily 100 jumping jacks. The first attempt he wanted to make jumping off of that bridge only to be stopped by his brother and sister who didn't even know he was planning to jump. To them it look like he was just staring at the water for way too long lost in his own imagination. They didn't even realize he was contemplating ending his life by drowning. 

He often questions how everyone else's lives would have gone if he had simply died. It was a thought that came quite often these days, and one that he still does not have an answer for. But it was a thought that was quickly chased away by the sound of someone coming out of one of the buildings. 

All right as he finished the last of his jumping jacks he looked over and saw John had walked out of his temporary sleeping hut. It appeared that the young boy was coming outside to perform a morning prayer. At least he was until he saw Ben. 

John waved at Ben and smiled while walking over, "Good morning Mr. Ben. I hope you slept well." 

"I definitely slept," Ben replied has he started doing his daily 100 squats. 

"I'm sorry about last night. If I had realized that everyone else's questions were bringing up past memories that you would have rather not thought about, I would have said something. I should have noticed how negatively the questions were affecting you. Nothing good came out of that war after all..... Not even the end result," John apologetically tried to put his mind at ease. 

Benedictus noticed that the boy was trying his best to be understanding and show empathy. The kid was one of the few things from that war that he was proud of. John got to live because of him and his team going to save that boy's village. The memory of them helping those scared people who thought that they were going to die was one of the few memories that he had that made him feel good about what they had done. 

He looked at the smile on John's face as John tried to be comforting. It was similar to the smile John had when he knew that they had saved him. It was the same smile he gave Ben all those years ago when he thanked him.

Ben took a moment and placed his hand on John's shoulder as he stopped doing his morning workout for a moment, "You're right. Nothing good came out of that war.... not even the end.... Nothing but you. I'm glad you came. Last night might have brought a bad memories but you're one of the few good ones. I will never regret helping save your village. And I will never regret helping save you."

Hearing that from his hero made John a little teary-eyed but he didn't cry because that would be so awkward to do in front of his hero. Instead he worked up the courage and asked, "Can I join you? Your workout I mean."

"Of course kid. I'm about halfway done, but you can definitely join in and try and keep up. Especially if you want to try and get nice looking muscles like mine," he said trying to smile and joke with John while showing off how nice his biceps look along with his shredded abs. The two of them laughed at each other and began working out together.