Awaking the keys

The night we escaped was only the beginning.

My sister—whose real name was Lyra—explained everything on our journey north. Each of the seven like us was a Key, created not just through science but through ancient magic woven into DNA itself. Each of us guarded a piece of the seal that kept The Deep One trapped beyond the Gate of Worlds.

If the organization unlocked the Gate, it would release not just a creature, but a force so old and powerful that it could rewrite existence itself.

And worst of all?

The organization wasn’t alone anymore. Some of the Keys had already been turned against us.

--The Key of Fire

Our first mission was to find another Key: a boy named Elias who was bound to the element of Fire. We found him living off-grid in the ruins of an abandoned town. When we approached, he tried to burn us alive. Flames exploded around him, but Lyra and I

Our first mission was to find Elias—the boy connected to Fire.

Lyra said he was one of the strongest of us, but also the most unstable.

We tracked him to an abandoned steel mill on the edge of a ruined city. The air smelled like smoke and burnt metal. As we moved deeper inside, we saw scorch marks on the walls—huge claw-like patterns burned into the stone.

“He’s already awakening,” Lyra whispered.

Suddenly, the ground shook. A blast of heat knocked us back, and from the shadows, a boy emerged—his hair glowing like embers, his hands wreathed in living fire.

“Stay back!” he shouted. His voice was raw, desperate. “I know why you’re here!”

“We’re not here to hurt you!” I cried out. “We’re like you!”

But before we could explain, black shadows slithered across the floor. Agents. They had found him first. Their leader—a tall woman with silver eyes—stepped forward. She didn’t even flinch as Elias hurled fire toward her. With a wave of her hand, she absorbed the flames into a strange mirror-like object.

“They’re lying to you, Elias,” she said smoothly. “Come with us. Find your true purpose.”

Elias hesitated.

In that moment, I knew what I had to do. I focused hard, diving into his mind—pushing through walls of fear and anger. I showed him flashes of my memories: the lab, the rituals, the truth about our creation.

He gasped, stepping back. The fire around him sputtered uncertainly. Then his eyes locked with mine—and for the first time, I saw it: recognition.

He turned and blasted the agents with a ring of flame so hot the steel beams melted.

“Run!” he shouted.

We escaped into the night, Elias panting beside us. He agreed to join us—but he warned that not all the Keys would listen. Some were already too far gone.

— Gathering the Lost

Over the next few weeks, we traveled across the country, finding the others:

Selene, the girl bound to Water, who could drown whole cities with a wave of her hand.

Orion, linked to Air, who could vanish into mist and summon storms.

Kael, tied to Earth, whose footsteps cracked the ground itself.

Each of them was broken, confused, or hunted—but one by one, they joined us.

Except for the seventh.

The seventh Key was missing.

And that was terrifying, because the seventh Key wasn’t like the others. He wasn’t created to seal the Gate.

He was created to open it.

— The Shadow King

The seventh Key, known only as Lucien, had awakened long before any of us. Raised by the organization, fed lies and power, he believed it was his destiny to free The Deep One—and become ruler of the new world that would rise after.

Lucien’s powers weren’t bound to just one element. He could twist all reality around him—bending time, illusions, and even life itself.

And worse: he had already found the first two pieces of the broken Gate.

We would have to stop him.

But how do you stop someone born with the power to destroy worlds?

— Rise of the Guardians

Elias, Lyra, Selene, Orion, Kael, and I formed a bond beyond anything normal. We became the Guardians of the Seals.

Each of us trained to master not just our natural powers, but the hidden abilities tied to our supernatural origins. Lyra taught me how to dive deeper into memory-streams. Orion could now summon tornadoes with a whisper. Selene learned to create living weapons from water.

We weren’t just experiments anymore.

We were just experiments anymore.

We were warriors.

--The Final Battle (Teaser)

Lucien was raising an army of corrupted humans—twisted by fragments of ancient magic. The sky above the Gate burned with unnatural fire.

The final battle wasn’t just to save ourselves.

It was to save everything.

And as we stood at the threshold of the Gate, facing Lucien across the cracked earth, I realized something terrifying:

Part of me wanted to open the Gate too.

Something inside me… something ancient… was waking up.

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