New Terra: A Journey Born

Prologue

The Knights of New Humano are nothing like the Knights of Old Terra; they were not born to exist in machine bodies that towered ten stories and were bristled with technology that made them the ultimate weapon. Such indulgence in technology and the belief that a human mind and AI construct could exist in the same form for a purpose with commonality had long since been abandoned. In this new world, the Knights still stood, but not as they once did. Nevertheless, the recent generation had done as the generation before them, committed themselves to be the most elite fighting force in possession of the New Humano government despite its isolation.

And none were more efficient, capable, and skilled in their purpose than Fourth Knight Jeremiah "Spear" Holland. His rank did not match his youthful and natural boyish face, with blonde hair swept aside only by the wind and swift movements of his own. His armor glistened wherever he went; even in the darkness, he was a beacon, unlike his brothers and sisters. This was on purpose and the right of his position to make himself stand out from the others and their matte black armor, which turned them into deadly shadows, with only their faces providing a splash of color and identity against the backdrop of their slated armor, magnetized to their flesh nanite suits worn underneath.

He stood slightly taller than his allies at eight feet compared to their seven feet size as they moved through white rocks from a beach. Their transport craft remained behind and guarded by some droids deployed with them. As standard, he brought his best friends Knight Leonard "Defiant" Martin and Jessica "Raven" Appleton on this mission. They had grown up together training for their service in the Knights at the Knights headquarters far to the north of any New Humano city at the Castle.

Their training included surviving in the sheer vastness of cold nature and facing off strange and deadly animals with nothing but edged-shaped rocks, and marching countless miles together. They had seen each other through their studies in every combat technique of the old world and new and also battled each other to near death with these techniques. Ensured each other could shoot a target without even aiming down the sights using light rounds from a minimum of five hundred yards! But most important of all, they had ensured each other had survived the augmentations and mutations that came along with the final trials of becoming a Knight, operations which killed, on average three-fourths of the trainees. The threat they prepared for was out there in the rest of this world, somewhere, and while they knew of native interactions with those beings, they had managed to keep their location a secret. But should it ever come to light, then the Knights were the sharp end of the spear in defense of New Humano, each Knight able to kill at least ten thousand on oath before even thinking about death.

But neither Jeremiah, Defiant, nor Raven believed threats were waiting for them on this island. The Baron Isles were named such not only because they had no inhabitants, but even the Ven Rer referred to them with such a name. Once long ago, the islands could offer comfortable living, but then as the world shifted and changed, many of the islands sank, and only the tips of the mountains that once dominated the island chain remained. These tips were barren rock; barely even shrubs could grow upon them. Even the Followers, in their heartless allowance of the destruction of old Terra, could not find a way to survive here no matter how many bodies and religious zealotry they could throw at the rocks. And they had no reports of encounters with them but a Knight to prepare themselves for what could likely be their last fight.

They were sent out here to look for something that came scorching down from the sky just a week ago, a meteor of some sort that split into many nearly untraceable pieces. However, this one rock was emitting a strange signal during its entire descent down—a signal that piqued some interest in the Council, but not all.

"So where do you think it came from? The astronomers are still trying to chart the system's stars, comets, and asteroid fields." Raven says, breaking the strange silence between them as they head for the flat-topped surface of the island.