11 years later, known year 268, Sector One central plaza.
"Hey Dren, can we go outside the dome?"
Kael Ranz, a blonde-haired boy with emerald green eyes, by now he's 11 years old and he hadn't lived up to the expectations placed upon him, not yet at least, whereas Dren, who was the only one in the Ranz family to not ridicule Kael, was still seen as a prodigy and had recently joined the Phantom Line's 72nd Platoon. He excelled in both strategy and fighting, which got him the vice-captain spot at the young age of 16. He'd played the position for around a year now as he recently turned 17. Kael heavily looked up to his brother as an idol and wanted to join the training for The Phantom Line when he turned 12.
"Kael, we both know it's both highly illegal and dangerous to go out without a platoon captain's supervision!"
Dren was a stickler for the rules—after all, he had a reputation to keep up—but in doing so he made one slight oversight in his words, one of which Kael took advantage of extremely quickly.
"You're a vice-captain! You fit the criteria! So come on, let's go, I wanna see what's outside the dome, what is so scary people have to risk their lives defending it!"
Kael was extremely persistent, and on top of that, Dren was easily persuaded, meaning Kael often got his way and Dren would often fold fast too, always wanting the best for his younger brother, wishing to always keep Kael safe too.
"Fine, but only 5 minutes and no going too far. Follow me."
As Dren caved, he would lead Kael to the barracks where Kael would put on one of the gas masks used by the force. Dren would pick up a handgun and a magazine and would load the firearm, placing it in the pocket on his chest as he was wearing the green jumpsuit classically worn by the Phantom Line. He would then take a mask from the table; just like the other official gas masks, his had his Phantom Name printed on the side of the eyepiece, which was a goggle-like design with murky green glass that actually helped with vision in the gas. The name written was Wraith Six.
"Well Kael, are you ready?"
Dren's voice was shaking, clearly showing his fear and uncertainty about what he was about to do—he hated the idea altogether, but it would make Kael happy.
"I've never been more ready! I can't wait!"
Kael was very excited, likely unaware of the true dangers of the outside world and what resided there. He truly was going to have a massive shock in a few years when he'd see for himself just how brutal the outside could be.
Dren was still reluctant to take Kael, but there wasn't any real way he could stop Kael from going. He was an acrobatic and stealthy child. On top of that, Dren was confident in his abilities to protect Kael if he fully had to.
"Then let's go."
The two made their way to the northern entrance of Drelmaar, both showing contradictory expressions—Kael grinning with excitement, Dren frowning due to his worry.
The entrance was guarded by two members of the 71st Phantom Platoon. This was for the safety of the citizens; they didn't allow anyone to leave the premises of Drelmaar, that way no one who didn't need to get hurt got hurt.
"Sorry you two, only authorised personnel are permitted to move beyond this point."
Dren looked slightly relieved; the fact the two men hadn't recognised him yet gave him an excuse to get Kael to go home and not have to go out into the gas.
Dren would avert his gaze and look at Kael.
"See Kael, we can't go out, we aren't allo—"
"But that's Dren Ranz, vice-captain of the 72nd Phantom Platoon, I'm pretty sure we should be allowed through!"
Dren froze, his opening had been closed by the interjection of Kael. He now had no way of getting Kael to stay without telling his brother he wouldn't take him, but it would kill him to say no to Kael, so with his voice shaking, he averted his gaze from Kael back to the guards.
His voice was shaking.
"Yep, that's me."
"My apologies, sir, you can go through. Don't get yourself killed out there, sir."
"I won't."
Kael and Dren walked through the gates, then through the entrance of the dome, their view now abruptly obstructed by the thick gas that resided just outside of Drelmaar. This gas was called Withering Gas due to how it affected human bodies if out without a gas mask. Unfortunately, the gas mask only prolonged its effects, not stopped them.
Kael was disappointed with the sight; after all, he had thought you could actually see something.
"There has to be more to see!"
Kael would begin running off into the gas, completely ignoring what Dren said earlier about not going off too far. Kael was determined to see something other than gas.
"Kael, I said not to go too far! Kae— for fuck's sake."
Dren would begin to run after Kael as his words were seemingly useless in getting him to come back. Despite now having to put on a tough persona, internally, Dren was terrified for the safety of Kael.
Kael ran pretty far; he could no longer see the glass dome of Drelmaar. The only thing he could actually see was the shadow of his brother chasing after him—the running was fast, Dren was extremely speedy after all.
Once Dren caught up, he began to scold the disobedient and stubborn Kael.
"Kael, what the fuck are you doing?! You're gonna get yourself killed if you do that again."
"I'm sorry, brother!"
As Kael apologised, he noticed something—the colour of the gas had darkened all around them, up until about six feet up. As Kael went to tell his brother, it was obvious his brother had already noticed, pulling the handgun from his pocket, turning around. He did this whilst also shooting the shadows. These shadows were The Withered.
"Kael, we have to go now!"
Dren shouted, grabbing the hand of his brother and running through the gap he had made from killing those few Withered. Kael had caused what Dren feared would happen to actually happen.
Dren kept shooting in front of the two as they ran; there seemed to be an endless number of Withered, the thick gas being the reason they were unable to see them at first.
The two kept running non-stop until one of the Withered grabbed the arm of Dren. Dren would let go of Kael and give him a slight push before blasting the skull of the Withered.
"Kael, the path ahead is clear now, don't stop running! I'll make it back to you!"
Dren would turn around and start blasting the head of Withered after Withered.
Kael ran and didn't look back. He was terrified, but he believed in his brother to survive. Still, his eyes welled with tears. He ran and ran until he had made it through the gates—they were only a straight path from the entrance.
"Sir! Sir! My brother! He's fighting a horde of Withered alone out there, please help him!"
Kael alerted the guards, severe panic in his voice, who radioed their platoon and began to go fight the Withered, helping Dren.
Kael ran to his house in the central area of Sector One. As he knocked on the door, his mother opened it, but before she let him in she asked him:
"Where is your brother?"
"He's fighting, we went outside and were ambushed. Another platoon went to help him, he said he would make it back to us!"
"Why on earth were you two outside? Do you not know how dangerous it is?"
"I wanted to see what it was like but I accidentally went too far out and got us attacked, but Dren saved me!"
"I—You—You got you two attacked? Are you fucking stupid? I can't believe this, Tihbur, Dren might be dead. Kael, fuck off out of my sight!"
Rosemary slammed the door in Kael's face. No matter how many times he knocked, she wouldn't open it. You could hear her muffled crying. Did they have no faith in Dren?
After about an hour of knocking, Kael gave up. He went to the only other place he knew the location of—the barracks. He hoped they would allow him to stay there; after all, he had nowhere else to go.
After a long, begrudgingly slow walk, Kael finally made it to the barracks. He spoke with one of the guards and they agreed to let him stay; after all, they can't make a child live on the streets. They also allowed him to join the 73rd Phantom Platoon early—the Platoon was entirely in training as of now.
A few more hours passed. Kael had trained a little, but his mind was flooded with thoughts of his brother. As he lay on his bed in the barracks, he thought:
He will come back, right?