It was still their childhood. A boy woke up, sixteen years old, and in pain. He had zero idea where he was. Nothing made sense. The ground felt metallic, absorbant to the elements, and smooth. He had yet to open his eyes. He tried to open his eyes and then nothing was illuminated. He was in complete darkness. The ground felt like a hard smooth rock. He refused to move for fear of what lay beyond where he was. Where am I? Is this a cave? What happened? Why does everything hurt so much? He let out a yell. It rang back at him immediately with a dull echo.

        "Wherever I am, it's not the largest space ever." He concluded. There has to be a way out of this place.

       Meanwhile, Zion was sitting, contemplating the situation he had gotten himself into, completely unaware that there was no way out. He sat in a crisscross pose, thinking. Wherever he was, there was a water source nearby. He could hear the sound of rushing water all around him where he sat. He even heard the sound under him and over him. How was he to escape? He could barely remember how he got where he was.

        He had agreed to follow a man in an alleyway, thinking that the man could help him with one of his biggest problems. He had been foolish to believe that the man had his best interest at heart. Next thing he knew, there was a gunshot and straightway his memory failed him. He had just now woken with no recollection of any prior events after the sound. There is no way a normal bullet would have killed him, or even taken him out. These men must have done something in order to knock him out and bring him here, wherever here was.

        Now he is sitting wondering what next to do while he still has control of himself. He would soon find out how to get back to his normal life.

        Also meanwhile, there was one man who sat in a chair near an entrance. A smart and observant man, who had been given a task: gather the preiminent. He has been successful so far. He sat in front of the giant glass window wondering what reason Frager could need these few individuals. He couldn't imagine the usefulness of the preiminent during this time. "We have a war to win, and yet we are gathering three unstable kids who are going to be nothing but a nuisance."

        "Having reservations, Harold?" Harold jumped. Frager, who was as professionally dressed as always, had walked up during Harold's complaining.

        "N-no, sir. You startled me. Forgive me. I didn't expect you to–"

        Frager put his hand up to stop him. "Save your rambling. What is the state of the assets?" Harold turned and immediately got to work at his desk and computer. He mumbled something about turning the locks off in the room across the window pane as Frager stood over him with his tall frame. He looked out the large window that lay in the wall behind Harold's desk. He could see the whole facility. He saw tens of rows that all had something different; many of the cells he saw were used to hold beings of the emergence. "Before you say anything else, take me to them. I want to see the state they are in for myself."

        "Sure, just let me finish the automations on this last camera." He pressed a few final buttons and then Frager noticed the thermal monitor that showed what appeared to be a man. A young man in a box-like cell. "Done!" Harold spun around and began to walk over to the door. Frager followed, towering over Harold's shoulder by a foot. Harold focused on the keypad on the door causing the elevator to open to them. They had taken only a few steps into the silver doors before it had closed behind them.

        "Harold, take me to the first asset." Harold nodded and clicked the first button on the other side of the elevator doors. There was an immediate shift as the elevator moved down from the position of the control room. "Harold," Frager began, "what is the status of the first three assets?"

        "All alive and supposedly well." Harold quickly concluded.

        "Good. You shall have no problem telling me about them then." Frager stated and the elevator doors finally opened. Harold shuffled out the door quickly and began his brisk walk down the floor of the large facility. Frager followed behind him taking slow, measured steps. Each calculated step rang through the huge room seemingly devoid of life. He noticed that Harold had already made it to the first asset. Frager looked around as he continued his walk at the containment seals, many with signs of elements and breach.

        He passed by one on his right, blasted from the inside out, leaving one big hole blasted out of an empty metal box. The next box was a glass container. The top was now shattered, leaving a bowl of water sitting in the bottom half. The third breach on his left was nothing but an everlasting sparking conductor. Frager did not dwell on these failures and caught up to Harold before he could see any of the rest of the many numerous breaches in containment.

        The Containment unit they had stopped at seemed to be nothing. There was a large panel in front of a large block made of a smooth rock the size of a small upright shipping container. It sat on top of a platform made of a heat absorbing metal.

        The panel in front of the large rock was connected to a camera showing a thermal image of the rock. "Harold," Frager started, "what is this giant rock? Tell me."

        "Well, you see, sir," He stammered as he pressed a few buttons and flipped a switch, "This is the containment unit-12-21, the Hollow Rock. It contains the first born of the preiminent." The monitor had turned on. The thermal camera showed a body on the inside of the rock indicating that the rock was indeed hollow. The body was still and blue.

        "Harold, is he dead?" Frager questioned. Just then the body moved ever so slightly.

        "No, he is actually very much alive. Somehow. Even though he is appearing at a cold temperature that would have normally killed a man, he is still thriving. And sir, look at this." Harold pointed to a steadily decreasing number on the monitor. "His temperature is constantly decreasing, yet he is completely fine."

        "That's–" Frager paused.

        "Impossible?" Harold finished. "Yeah, I know."

        "How did you manage to capture this one?"

        "Well, I don't know. Actually, I wasn't even there. My subordinate, Cecil, was the one who managed to get a hold of him." Harold stated. "Shall, we move on?" Harold had begun to move towards the next unit of containment.

        Harold stopped and looked up. Frager saw nothing but a wooden box, about as big as the first containment unit. It was as if they had taken a giant tree trunk and plucked it right from the tree, rugged and still covered in bark and moss. All around the tree water poured, soaking every inch of the wood in clear, rushing water. "Now, this one, I was present for. He was a tricky one, I'll give him that. Full of skepticism, that one."

        "A tree?" Frager questioned. "You had trouble with a tree." Frager sounded annoyed.

        "No, no sir, not at all. It is who's in the tree that caused the problems. One of my men died trying to capture him."

        Zion sat where he was, continuing to ponder. He was surrounded by wood, wet wood. He could see no way of destroying the small area of where he was. Yet now, he could hear voices again. He could understand every other word. "Containment...wood...tougher...resistant...died." Well, wherever I am, they build this piece of structure just to contain me. I'm flattered. He was annoyed as he thought. The sound rushing water was not helping him in his thoughts of the situation. "War...help...capture...Zion...Gunshot..." Wait a minute, that voice. I think I recognize that voice. But how can I figure out if it's really him? Zion looked around. The small area was dimly lit. Zion took a deep breath and realized. Wait a minute, I can breathe. I'm in a closed space, there's water, but I can breathe. That means that there has to be a hole or several holes to keep me alive. Zion began to search the walls. He couldn't see the best but he managed to feel an accumulation of water in a small puddle on the ground. He saw that there was a trail of water flowing from a tiny gap in the wood. There we go. Maybe I can see who's talking or maybe even where I am. He put his eye to the gap. He could barely see because of the water flowing in front of the gap on the outside. He saw two men, One excessively tall, the other was average height and decently plump. They were both dressed in black suits. Zion could not tell their faces, but he could see that they were talking. He pressed his ear to the hole and tried his best to ignore the sound of rushing water.

        "You said, what?" Stated the first voice, full of disbelief.

        "You heard me correctly. One person is very far beyond dead because of that one, the other one as well. Except the first one killed way more than the one we are looking at now, according to reports." the second responded

        "Well, how did he manage that?" Zion heard the first voice question the first in a skeptical and imposing manner. There was a pause causing Zion to take his ear off the moist wall, and ignored the dripping water as he looked at the tall and imposing man. He seemed to be the boss and the one asking all the questions. The smaller man was the one whose voice he recognized. He once again began to listen.

        "Well, I couldn't tell you how we lost so many to the first one, but I can explain what happened with this one." Hmm, what happened? Zion heard the indication for the smaller man to continue. "To put it simply, we had heard reports of small buildings coming down in the night. Several buildings, all of them were weakened at the structure's foundations. So as you know we presumed it was the work of someone from the Preiminent." Preiminent? What the heck is that? And what is this about buildings?

        There was a flash of memory of a dark alley. "Me and my fourteen men arrived there at night to investigate," The moon was shining from behind faded clouds, "we searched around the city for most of the night. We finally found the site of the reports." There were no stars in the dark black sky as the crumbled buildings still rose above Zion. The dark alley lay nearly deserted, filled only with the roaches scurrying in the dark, dumpsters filled to the brim with rubble and brick from the tops of buildings, and the sound of panting, breathless and filled with pain. "The buildings were all individually crumbled, in other words, not every building was destroyed in a consistent order. Here's the crazy thing, the bigger a building is, the easiest it is for an earthquake to destroy it, and the harder it is for a smaller building." The air was full of dust. The gaping hole in the brick building next to him was a constant reminder that he could not hide. The eyes hid in the dark. "Yet all the buildings that we came in contact with were destroyed." The dust settled, leaving way for tracks behind Zion where he walked. "We heard a loud explosion just a stone's throw away in a dark alley in the night." Footsteps, cautious and light, moved towards the alley, just around the corner. "We rounded the dark corner into the dark alley and we saw the strangest thing." Strange men came around the corner. The most notable one was an average sized plump man. He looked upon him with a surprised scorn, as if he could not believe he had come from Narnia for a kid like Zion. "We found a kid covered in blood, his arm had a large gash and his head looked battered to no end. He was panting as if he had been running or even fighting to his last breath. I thought that there was no way that this kid could be who we wanted. I was simply ready to walk away, but one of my more elite and focused men decided to show interest." One of the strange men began to slowly walk towards Zion, concern etched on his face.

        "Hey, kid," His voice was soft, his steps were cautious and his stance was outreaching. "you're a long way from home at this point of night." Zion began to back up. "Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Zion felt in his anxiety his body give off an explosive vibration, full of distrust. "He started to try to coax the kid out; he clearly knew something that we did not. I would have pulled him in for questioning after the fact if I could. Even so, after speaking to the kid for just a few seconds, the kid started vibrating violently. And not in any way that you would expect. Not in any way at all." The Caring man hesitated. His movements became more cautious, his expression changed in the dark. It was then that the man stood to his full height and began to look around. Zion wondered if he noticed the holes in the wall, small and not gaping like the one to his side. The holes like claw marks dug deep into the wood. He wondered if he heard the laughing growls, the smiling hisses, and the chuckling screeches that came from the thing hiding in the pitch black building. The caring man turned his focus back to Zion and tapped his foot on the ground. The other men began to walk around, circling the two, their faces hidden in the dark.

        "Who... who are you?" Zion questioned. His voice shook with fear.

        "My name isn't very important right now. What is important is that you come with me." He stretched out his hand once again. "I can help you."

        "What are you doing?" The plump man who had never moved finally spoke. The caring man turned slightly and Zion noticed that his other hand was not empty. With a swift and slick motion the caring man concealed his hand's contents. Zion thought nothing of it as his fear focused on the plump man in the back with a pale face barely visible in the night. He wore a scowl on his face.

        "What do you want with me?" Zion buzzed again, his face beginning to vibrate with fear and anger.

        "Hey, hey, hey, shhhh." The caring man used his soothing voice and directed Zion's attention back to him. Zion instantly calmed down. It was as if his father was back with him calming him down. "Do you want me to help you?" He stretched out his hand. Zion reached out a steady hand and spread his fingers out. His hand was of zero motion, still and void of movement. Zion stopped. Just before their hands touched, the moonlight shining in the gap, he noticed something. One man, average in height, was strange. He had no face, yet his mouth shimmered in the moonlight. Zion pulled his hand back shaking violently then he suddenly stood motionless.

        The plump man turned around and took a few steps. "Let's go." he ordered with contentment. The caring man never lifted his eyes from Zion and motioned for him to follow. Zion, with one last look and listen to the gaping hole that held creeping eyes, took his first few steps. He didn't know why, but he trusted this man as if he was his own father. The bond was there. It seemed that the man had lost something and immediately thought of him as a son. Zion followed weakly. His blood trailed behind him as the men that had surrounded him followed as well.

        A light passed over their heads faintly causing a shine on the face of the man to his right. A mask. The man with the shimmering face had worn a mask. Another light passed as they continued to walk showing another mask on his left. Another light. Zion, full of distrust, turned around, his neck screamed in pain as he realized that the man behind him wore the same mask as those around him. Zion stopped walking. The men around him stopped too, including the caring man.

        "Hey, keep moving, kid." he was roughly told.

        "Shut up." Zion snapped. The brute of a man gave off an aggressive sigh.

        "Hey, is everything okay?" The caring man's face showed concern.

        "Everything is fine. Right, kid?" The brute said.

        "What's in your hand?" Zion asked the caring man.

        "What do you mean–" In a quick second Zion had punched the man. The man fell back in a daze. There was a clank on the ground. And there lay behind him in the moonlight a mask. The same exact mask as those on the faces of everyone else.

        "What is going on?" Zion started shaking. "Who are you?"

        "Come with us."

        The man in the back sighed aggressively again and spoke. "Enough of this. Come here, kid." He roughly grabbed at Zion's shoulder and pulled him back, to which Zion yanked away, vibrating harshly and breaking the arm of the man. The man screamed behind his mask.

        BANG!

        A gunshot rattled Zion's memories.

        "One of my subordinates fired a gun. After that it was over soon and we captured him swiftly." Harold finished his story. Frager frowned slightly.

        "What of the man who died?" Frager questioned.

        "Not much to tell. He died. Died talking to the bruised and battered boy." Frager opened his mouth to speak as Harold quickly interrupted. "Let's move on to the third asset, shall we?"