I get out of my plain white dress and into something a little fancier for the evening. I had something picked out for every possible ending I could think of for the ceremony, but I hadn’t thought of this one. At the end of my walk in closet my six foot mirror sits facing my. I tap once on the glass and some options come up for what I want to wear. I select the last option ‘dresses’ and swipe through until I find a couple that might work. I select one to try on and it appears on me through the mirror. Since it’s not really on me I look at the description and see that it’s felt, which will be way too hot for a day like today. On planet Tetramida we have four suns and two moons, and in the summer, like today, three suns and a moon can be seen at once. I’ve never seen all fours suns at once, or both moons at once for that matter, but I’ve heard that if either were to happen something terrible would have had to occured. I tap on another, a black silk gown with straps that flow over the shoulders and silver beading across the sweetheart neckline, which perfectly suits the evening. As I leave the room I turn the lights off with a twirl of my finger and go finish curling my hair and doing my makeup.

By the time I’m done getting ready some of our guests have already started arriving. Most of them are just extended family members who have come to help finish setting up. The rest of the guests will start arriving in about an hour from now, so closer to 7 pm, all from our region, Elegire. I’m on my way out to go greet my family when I see Zade running up the steps and towards his room. I grab his arm to stop him before he can go in, “Woah, are you over the party already? Why aren’t you downstairs with everyone else?”

“Ebba, something’s wrong, they won’t tell me what but something’s wrong,” he pulls away from me and locks his door as he goes in his room.

Considering how many things my family already has to hide from Zade because of his age, I’m not really worried about what he just said. If something was really wrong we’d be on lockdown right now anyway. So I continue to leisurely trek down the stairs and when I get to the foyer I see everyone huddled together and talking in hushed voices. “Guys? What’s going on?” I ask as I walk over towards them.

“Ebba, you know the planet Masonite right?” asks my dad.

I nod in response and my Aunt Pina chimes in fanatically, “They’re destroying everything! They’ve already taken over Ginope, Theon, Zidrilia, and Vogarvis and are probably headed here next!”

I take a step back and look around at the rest of my family whose faces all carry grave expressions. “You mean they’re taking over whole planets? Why would they do that?” I countered.

“We don’t know, and we don’t know what their plan is either. Alls we know is we have to be prepared for the worst. If your Aunt is right and they do come here next, we need to be ready. We’ll only have about two days, since we got the alert from Bruna just now saying that they were invaded. We’ve already alerted the other regions of Tetramida but none of them have responded to us,” my mom informs me.

“Your moms right, we need to get our affairs in order before even the earliest chance that they’ll get here. Once the other regions respond we can start getting troops out, for the meantime we need to get you and your siblings safe away from the danger zones and send the rest of Elegire into lockdown,” my dad chimes in.

“Why can’t I fight? I’ve done my training and now that I have more than one power I can definitely help,” I respond bitterly.

“No, no you haven’t done your training. Yes you know how to fight, but you haven’t even started using your powers yet and nobody, not even you, knows what you’ll be able to do. A war is not how you’re going to start training with your powers,” my father retaliates.

“No I can handle this and I want to help,” I snap back. “At least let me get ready for it and if you still think this way by the time they get here then I’ll go into hiding like everyone else.”

“Fine, in that case we need to get you down to training right now, we don’t have any time to waste,” my dad says to me before turning to my mom. “It’s probably best that everybody who was coming for the party stay here anyway, they’ll be best protected here and this will raise less alarm.”

“Agreed, I’ll inform everyone on the list to prepare a bag to stay overnight,” my mom replies.

…...

My mom and the rest of my family start messaging everyone they know to inform them of the news, while my dad takes me down to the training room. We head back out of the foyer, through the dining room, past the spiral staircase and into the library. The library is probably one of our largest rooms, with three center isles filled with books to the left. And to the right is my dads office, his desk seemingly empty, scattered with electronic documents that only appear when one of my parents faces are scanned in. The ceilings go up twice as high as our other rooms, the glass windows of the roof convexing outwards, letting the purple light of our suns shine through. The brilliant glow of the purple streaks light the way to the back corner behind the last bookcase. Books line every wall in the room, going all the way up to the ceiling. The book we’re looking for is about halfway to the top and can only be reached using our hoverboards.

As we walk past the first row I can see my dad already fidgeting with his despa and I wonder whether the other tribes have gotten back to him yet, or if the community is freaking out over the lockdown. As we pass the second row I hear the sound of a murmured alarm roaring past our gated lot and into the city beyond. In an instant the purple sparkles of the skylight have vanished and a deep red glow flutters on and off. I look up to see the black metal barriers covering the top of the glass windows, and as I look around I see the four hazard lights, one on each wall, blinking simultaneously to relieve the darkened room of its gloomy state.

Passing the third row of books, we follow the curve into the far left corner of the room. I swipe up on my despa and release my hoverboard, as my father does the same. Holding onto one of the supporting pillars that jut out about an inch from the wall, we float upwards until we get to the “M” section. We scan the books in front of us, using the flashlight on our despas to read the titles. My dad finds the book “Mastering mechanics” and pulls it off the shelf. Behind it a large red circular button glows vibrantly as to make its presence known.

“Will you do the honors?” my dad says in his best Lopis accent. The Lopis are our closest allies on this planet and all have this distinct animalistic voice, as they are the shape shifting tribe.

“Why of course,” I reply in the same tone. I shove the button hard with my left hand, still holding onto the pillar with my right. As I do this the wall itself begins to swing outward, the books now locked in place so they all don’t fall down as the wall moves. Letting go of the other wall, we fly towards the new opening and into the bright blinding light behind it. As we get farther into the room our eyes adjust to the light and the rest of the shapes start taking form. Thick black mats cover the floor as far as I can see, some spots shinier than others, those coated in a thin layer of sweat. We slow on our hoverboards and lower to the ground and right as our feet land we hear a hollow boom behind us as the wall slams shut again. From here I can see the second floor gym, the balcony leading up from the north wall mirror that spans the whole view in front of me. My dad and I turn to the right and head towards the training rooms.

The first room we reach out of the first hall is empty. I’ve only been out of this open room for about a week, but it still feels like the first time. The mats in this room are replaced by concrete, in fact every wall in this room is concrete which will soon be covered in a metal sheet. My dad starts getting the room set up while I continue onto the next room where we keep our armour and weapons. The only armour we really need is a slim skin tight suit that covers the body from our ankles to our necks. I slip on the suit, grab a pair of sneakers, and tie my hair back in a braid. When I get back out to the training room metal covers every wall except the floor, and halographs of people and targets cover the sides.

“Alright, lets see what you got,” says my dad as he steps back and swirls his finger to reveal a sheet of shatter proof glass.

We start off simple, an object drops from the sky covered in flames of orange embers. My body takes over for my brain and while my first reaction would have normally been to run, a steady stream of water shoots out from the palms of my hands and sizzles as the flames are put out. The rest of my powers seem to work the same way. Fire shoots out the same way as water, I can control the air so that something else or I can fly, and manipulating Earth powers I can shift the ground and even speak to animals. I barely got a hold of these basic powers when the holograms start to fade out.

“Okay, this is going to have to be good enough for now, the other tribes just got back to us and they’re here,” yells my dad as he steps out from behind the glass, “Apparently Masonite is already on their way to us, we need to get everyone ready right now.”

He flips a switch on the wall as we leave and the room suddenly becomes bare again. The floor is clean, the walls are plain and concrete, and everything else is tucked back away in the ceiling.

…...

Going back into what I thought would be the empty gym, I see hundreds of creatures filling the vast space in front of me. With four more layers below the ground, we have enough room in here to fit an entire army, which is what we plan to do. The Lopis are the first to arrive, some look like us, while others have shapeshifted into other animals. The Madry tribe shows up next, clearing the room with their growls as they enter. We aren’t as close with them as we are with Lopis but have still have never fought with them. They’re twice the size of us physically, but their only power is strength. The farthest region is Turent so accordingly they are the last to get here. The Turent people are the strangest to me, with boths wings and gills to travel by land, in the air, or through the sea. They’ll need the most armour in battle to keep their physical bodies safe, but they have powers like mind control and time manipulation which give them a bit of an edge.

Not a second after I hear the heavy door slam shut again, the leader of the Turents, Sasha Mulof, runs up to my father and I, panting heavily with a strong gaze in his eyes. He gasps as he says, “Masonite... they’re here!”

Mae shimmies past my parents and I in the middle of the gym, dragging Zade’s limp body behind her. “No! No, I don’t want to leave you!” Yells Zade as he gets scuffed along the floor.

“Well I have to help fight and you aren’t old enough yet so you know the drill,” replies Mae through gritted teeth. “Come on! Just walk, we need to get you down there now!”

As they pass my parents Zade finally gets up, but instead of walking with Mae he runs to my parents and grabs their legs. He hugs them, hugs me, and finally is forced into the shelters in the basement by Mae. As this happens the leaders of the regions make their way over to my parents and they continue to discuss potential plans to combat this attack. We are finishing up our plans when -BOOM- the ground shakes and the walls rumble so much I think they might fall.

“Everyone remain calm,” my dad yells and everyone turns their attention towards him, “trust me this building will not fall, but now that they’re here we no longer have time for an attack plan. We are now all defenders of Tetramida, and we all need to work together if we plan on being able to stay that way. We should diverse regions so that every line of attack has a good mix of powers within it. We’ll follow the tunnels below the city lines to try and catch them where they least expect us. I hope to see you all back here by the end of this, we are all family today.”

The mood in the room shifted from being terrified to being proud and strong. We all bustled down to the tunnels as the rumbles continued from the attacks above. We spread out to the four regions of the planet, but now with a good mix of people in each. My family decided it would be best if we went to different regions so that if there was a large attack in one region not all of us would be killed. My mom insisted that I stay with her since I was so inexperienced and I agreed considering she almost didn’t even let me fight. We all huddled tightly in a group hug before saying goodbye and heading our separate ways. That was and probably will be one of the most terrifying moments of my life, not knowing whether I would see my dad, or Mae, or even Zade again. But I had to quickly get rid of that fear or else it would take over my mind and I wouldn’t be able to focus on the fight.

As we continue on our separate ways the seemingly endless tunnels appear to only get darker and narrower. I can’t tell whether that’s really happening or if it’s just my anxiety playing tricks on my mind.

“Hey you’re breathing a little heavy there, are you alright?” my mom leans over to me and pats my back gently.

“Oh, yeah I think I’m just getting a little claustrophobic is all,” I respond, although I hadn’t even noticed that I had been breathing heavy. Close ahead I see a red “X” and above it I know is the entrance to Lopis even though it doesn't look like it. The tunnel appears continuous but as we approach my mom waves her finger at the ceiling and a square hole appears only visible from below it. From here it appears that they haven’t got to this region yet but if they were just in Elegire we know they’ll be here any minute. We use our hoverboards to cross over to the ground surface and the Lopis people use their powers to create a invisibility shield around a group of us each. The Lopis shielding my mom and I is now a deep purple color, with scales visible on her neck, and hair that reminds me of seaweed. I should be used to seeing things like this, but in Elegire everyone looks pretty much the same, so this is somewhat new to me.

“Hey! Snap out of it we need help over here!” yells a Madry who is now holding off a pack of what looks like the familiars of the Masonite people. They are black shadowy creatures that flow like spirits but can be stopped with physical force. Their long white tongues hiss at the Madry while a Turent sneaks in from the other side and stabs them with a shining silver dagger.

…...

Without realizing it, my group had now moved decently far from the tunnel, and now lie in the middle of Lopis’s main city. Looking through the now shriveling familiars body, I see swarms of Masonite troops headed our way, with narrow, black train looking ships flying above, and hovercrafts on land. They run over farms, drop bombs into houses, and in the distance I see more artillery emerging from our bright orange ocean. Our troops attack but one by one are getting destroyed by the Masonite army. The Masonites are bigger, stronger, and have more powers than I’ve ever seen, and I start to think about what’s going to happen if we lose this war. But I can’t let this beautiful place be destroyed by these disgusting horrible people. This is my home. This is my family. I only got my powers less than 24 hours ago but if anyone is going to save us from ultimate doom it has to be me. My mom and I are weaving out of grenades and arrows, and are fighting our way together towards the main point of conflict.

“To your left!” I yell as I flick my wrist upwards to hold an incoming Masonite in the air. I shoot him with a burst of flames and he immediately disintegrates to the ground. We make a sharp turn and spin to avoid a familiar sprinting in our direction and as we pass I lift my hand in the air to bring up the ground from under him and launch him 50 yards in the other direction.

“Duck!” my mom screams as she pushes me down towards the ground and a glowing green arrow flies over my head. We’re approaching a denser point and weapons and bodies are zooming by in every which direction. We’re fighting two and three masonites at a time now when suddenly I’m thrown up and back down onto the ground behind me. My ears ring and my vision gets blurry and in front of me I see a crater sized hole in the ground and blurs of bodies strewn to my left and right.

“Mom?” my voice echoes in my head as I try to stand up and nearly fall back down. The world is spinning, hopefully just in my head, when the ground starts to shake again and I barely manage to stay on my feet. “Mom? Mom where are you?” I ask again, but alls I can hear is the clash of metal and fists, and static booms off in the distance.

I stumble back towards my left where I find a tree to lean against to gather myself. As my vision finally starts coming back into focus and the sounds around me get louder and louder, I see the entire Masonite army practically covering this area now. Line by line they move forward, shooting out of oversized laser guns as they walk by. I look up just in time to see a shot coming right at me but fly up at the last second to avoid it. From here I can see my mom, lying on the ground in the opposite direction in which I was thrown. I fly down to her and kneel by her side.

“Mom, are you okay?” I ask grabbing her hands in mine.

She coughs and opens her eyes, “Don’t worry about me you need to go fight,” she says and her breathing gets shallower and louder.

“No, mom we need to get you help first, you need to see a doctor,” I reply firmly.

“Ebba, I… I love you so much,” her voice starts to drift and flutters, “Your father, you kids, it’s all I ever wanted. I’m so proud of you sweetie.” She smiles as she says this and with one swish of her hand shoots me back up into the air again. I don’t want to leave her, but I know what has to be done.

First, I call dad on my despa and tell him to send more troops over and to find mom and get her help. Then, I fly towards Elegire, where the Masonites are coming from, until there are no more Tetramida people that I can see. At this point I take a deep breath, and feel power rush through me like I’ve never felt before. Electricity flows through my veins and out my palms and I burn all that stands before me.

The Masonite ships and people turn to dust and fall like rain to the burnt ground. The rest of the Masonite are now easily destroyed by our growing army of Tetramida soldiers and once again our land is free of invaders. I make my way to the ground and run towards my dad. I jump into his arms and he holds onto me so tight I didn’t think he would let go. Mae grabs on over us and I can feel wet streaks starting to fall down the back of my shirt. In that moment I realize why they’re holding on so tight, and I squeeze onto them tighter as my mouth begins to quiver and tears stream down my face. The only thing I can think about is that my mom is gone, and I couldn’t save her.