As the mysterious malady known as the Madness affects more and more animals throughout the world, a new alien threat is rising to replace the threat posed by Giygas 30 years ago. Unless something is done, the Earth will be cast into darkness for all eternity.

In the prologue, eight young men and women were introduced. It is their destiny to protect the world from the alien threat, but whether they can actually do so remains to be seen.
Here is a quick recap of the eight chosen ones:
Zain Maximillian: the reluctant yet dutiful leader.
Sasha Maybee: the soft-spoken girl with a strange power to see the future.
Guy Orangere: the highly-intelligent son of the owner of a major corporation, and an avid weapons designer.
Deckard Petersen: the powerful fighter who found new meaning to his life and lost it in the same day.
Karen: the formerly lonely girl who found friendship and searches for family.
Kato: the Crown Prince of Dalaam, and the youngest warrior in history to complete Mu training.
Mila Aisengarde: the tough-yet-caring girl who lost her home to a gang.
Kyla Quinn: the genius who graduated the Snow Wood Boarding School early, and left to help her father and a legendary hero.

Now the story continues. The only way that these eight youths can succeed in their destiny is to find each other and combine their strength... For the battles ahead will be the hardest that this world has ever faced...

After a while of walking, Zain entered the main part of his home town of Primera.
He looked around. It seemed like a normal day; nothing was amiss. Yet from Zain's perspective, it wasn't normal anymore.
He thought back to the events of last night. He vividly remembered finding the meteor, and meeting the hero Jeff Andonuts, and learning of the destiny that Zain now followed. He clearly remembered telling his mother goodbye, and leaving his home and family behind.
Zain remembered it all as clearly as if he were still experiencing those events now. And yet, part of him still couldn't believe that they had actually happened... As if the whole thing were a dream that he would soon wake up from.
Zain shook his head. There was no waking up from this. He had a solemn responsibility, and it was up to him to fulfill it.

He stopped at the corner drugstore and bought some cookies and cans of fruit juice. After all, he was on a journey now, and food was a necessary thing on a journey. He filled his backpack with supplies.
Afterward, he sat on the curb in front of the store and slowly drank one of the juice cans. He thought again of the other seven people with whom he was supposed to do this; who they were, and how he would meet them. Jeff had said Zain would meet them eventually, but Zain still couldn't help wondering.
As he drank his juice, a stray dog wandered up to him, coming right up to Zain's right side and sitting down. Noticing the dog, Zain turned his head to look at him.
The dog sat there, watching him with big brown eyes. Zain's own green eyes stared back. The dog seemed to want something.
What do dogs want? Zain wondered. Then he realized, and felt like slapping himself for being so dumb.
He reached into his backpack and brought out one of his cookies. "Here boy, you can have this." He held the cookie out to the dog, who promptly snatched it away and wolfed it down.
After the dog swallowed the last bite of cookie, he smiled at Zain, his big tongue lolling out. (Thanks,) he said, starting to turn away.
Zain's jaw dropped. "You... You can talk?" he asked, stupefied.
The dog turned back to him. (You mean, you can understand what I'm saying?) he asked.
With no idea what was happening, Zain could only nod, still staring in disbelief. The dog's mouth wasn't moving, but Zain could understand the words just the same.
The dog blinked, apparently in disbelief as well. (Well, this is very strange,) he said.
"You're telling me," Zain replied. Am I going crazy? he wondered. He looked around. People were passing by, too busy to notice him. At least no one else is looking, or they WOULD think I'm crazy.
Suddenly the dog seemed to realize something. (Oh, I understand now,) he said. (You have... nice eyes. Well, it was fun talking to you, but I have to go and mark some territory now. Thanks again for the cookie.)
The dog turned around and trotted away. Zain stared after him, wondering what the dog had meant.
Then he remembered what Jeff had said. "If a person has the gift, you can see it in their eyes; their eyes have a certain sparkle that normal people don’t have."
Then, Zain thought, I spoke to the dog through... my PSI. But if I could do this, why have I never been able to do it before?
Because he had just realized his power last night. That was another thing that Zain was still having trouble believing: that after sixteen years of being a normal person, he had this special power that had been locked inside him all along.
Zain realized that he liked being able to speak with animals. The dog had been very nice to him.
The area around the drugstore was becoming less crowded. Zain stood up and looked around. A cat strutted out of the nearby alley and stood in front of the drugstore, its tail waving.
Zain walked over to it. "Hello," he said.
The cat looked up at him. (Oh, hi,) it said.
Zain smiled, pleased. "What are you doing?" he asked it.
(Just looking in the window,) the cat replied. (They sell catnip in there, but I can't get inside to get any.)
His smile growing larger, Zain nodded. "Wait right here." With that, he went back into the drugstore.
A moment later, he came back out with a bag of catnip, and deposited it on the ground. "Here you go."
The cat's eyes widened, and it looked up at him gratefully. (You are very generous,) it said.
"Do you want me to open it for you?" Zain asked.
(No, I can do it myself,) the cat replied, showing Zain a pawful of razor-sharp claws.
Zain nodded. "I suppose you can."
The cat picked up the catnip bag in its mouth. (Thank you again,) it said. (By the way, you have nice eyes.) It turned and headed back into the alley where it came from.
This is kind of cool, Zain thought. He looked up at the drugstore window, and suddenly froze.
Reflected in the store window, his own visage was staring back at him... With blue eyes.
That's not right, Zain thought. My eyes are green, not blue!
It was an unnatural-looking blue, almost neon. Wondering what had happened to him, Zain inspected his reflection. He was surprised yet again when the blue color faded, and his eyes became green once more.
Zain looked in the direction the cat had gone, realizing that he had just spoken with it a moment ago. He decided that the change in his eyes had occurred when he had used his PSI to speak with the animals. He only wondered why briefly, before he decided that wondering why at this point was probably a wasted effort.
With a shrug, Zain smiled again. What had happened to his eyes was probably just a side effect of using his PSI. It didn't make it any less nifty that he could now speak with animals.

After getting over the new sensation of being able to communicate with animals, Zain adjusted his goggles, reached into his pocket, and checked his wallet. He had 108 dollars on him, which wouldn't get him very far. Furthermore, his bank account was almost empty; he only had a few dollars in it at the most.
He sat down on the curb again. So now what? he wondered.
Finally, he had an idea. He didn't know how good it was, but anything was better than just sitting there. He decided to go the the public library and see if he could find out anything about Lumina Pillar, the Sanctuary that Jeff had told him to go to. Jeff had said that it was in Primera, but Zain had no idea where to look. He had never even heard of it before.
He got up and started walking in the direction of the library, unaware that something was about to happen soon that would change his life forever.

About a half hour later, Zain was about halfway there; Primera was a decent-sized town, and it took a while to walk anywhere.
He stopped to take a break, taking out a cookie and munching on it. He realized that he would have to start conserving his food if he wanted to make his money last.
Just as he finished eating it, a bus pulled up and came to a stop. Zain swallowed the last of his cookie and brushed the crumbs off of his face.
Zain looked at the bus. It was a Grayhand, like most of the buses were in the present age. He looked at it, realizing that he would probably have to ride one like it when he finally left Primera and moved on. Tickets for the bus were $4 per person, so it wasn't expensive; it would be a cheap and efficient way to travel.
The bus opened its doors, and passengers started getting off of it. Zain turned and started to continue his trek to the library.
As he began to move away, something made him stop. He had no idea why, but he suddenly had a strange gut feeling that he should turn back around.
Suddenly Zain felt a hand tap lightly on his shoulder. "Excuse me, mister," a soft soprano voice said behind him, "could you please tell me where I can find the hotel in this town?"
Zain turned around to reply, and found a girl behind him with long brown hair and eyes that reminded him of the sky on a clear sunny day.

The effect of the two of them seeing each other was momentous, to say the least. For Sasha Maybee came face to face with the boy from her dream.
There he was, with his wavy blond hair, green eyes, and those goggles he wore on his forehead. It was as if he had stepped directly out of the dream and into reality. She stared at him in shock.
Zain, for his part, was suddenly struck with a powerfully intense feeling of deja vu. He felt as if he had seen her before, many times, even though he had never met her before.
For at least one minute, Zain and Sasha stared at each other, both completely stupefied.

As quickly as it had come, Zain's feeling of deja vu wore off, and he was the first to recover.
He blinked as if clearing away a dream, and scratched his head. "Have... Have we met?" he asked.
The sound of his voice broke through her reverie, and Sasha knew that it was not a dream this time, that she had truly met him. She suddenly threw her arms around him. "I can't believe I really found you," she said.
Caught off guard, Zain stood there. Well, this is awkward, he thought. What's going on here?
Zain cleared his throat. "Um, why are you hugging me?" he asked.
Embarrassed, Sasha let go of him. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to. I was just so happy to see you that I..."
Happy to see me? Zain thought. But I've never even seen her before. Then again, though, why do I feel like I HAVE seen her before?
He shook his head and looked at the girl. "It's fine," he said. "But could you please explain how you can be happy to see me when we've never even met before?"
Sasha blushed with embarrassment. "Well... We HAVE met before... Sort of, anyway..."
At Zain's bewildered expression, she started to try and explain.

A while later, they were sitting on a nearby bench, and she finished explaining everything that had happened to her. "...So now I'm in Primera," Sasha concluded, "and by some kind of luck I found you."
Zain scratched his head. "Let me see if I have this straight," he said. "You've seen me before, in this prophetic dream thing called Premonition. And in it, I'm the person who saves the world, and I also stop some immense evil from capturing you?"
She nodded, and looked at the ground, feeling somewhat sad. "I know it sounds crazy," she admitted. "Sometimes I think it's crazy myself. But it's all I know."
Zain had accepted quite a lot of crazy things recently. "Well, you're right about the 'salvation of the world' thing," he said.
With that, he proceeded to tell her about the events of last night.

"So it's true, then. My dream was true." She smiled at him. "You're the one who will save the world from the dark one."
Zain shrugged. "Yeah, but not alone. There are seven others, too." In fact, he had begun to suspect that he had just met one of those seven others; that deja vu feeling couldn't have been a coincidence.
Sasha suddenly understood the way he was looking at her. "You don't... You don't think I'm one of them, do you?" she stuttered.
"I don't know for sure," Zain admitted, "but I think you are. I mean, Jeff said that I would start meeting the others soon. It can't be just coincidence that we suddenly met like this."
She looked away, still unsure about it. Zain looked at her. She's scared, he thought. And for good reason, if the new evil is after her. Zain realized that he wanted to, HAD to, help her.
Zain stood up and faced her, offering his hand. "Why don't we forget about destiny and prophecy and all of that..." he said warmly, "and just be friends."
The girl looked up at him and smiled. She took his hand and stood up also. "...I could really use a friend."
"Well, you have one now," he replied. "My name is Zain Maximillian."
Her smile brightened. "Sasha Maybee."
That's a pretty name, Zain thought.
He adjusted the straps of his backpack. "I'm hungry," he said. "Want to get some burgers and fries?"
Sasha nodded. "I'm hungry too."
"Okay then," said Zain. "There's a restaurant near here."

Later, they were sitting in the nearest burger shop, enjoying a meal. Sasha watched in amazement as Zain downed a hamburger in under thirty seconds.
He was about to pick up another when he noticed her look. He picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth. "Sorry," he apologized. "I have a bit of an appetite." He decided not to mention the cookies and juice he had eaten a few hours ago.
"No, it's okay," Sasha assured him. "Your appetite kind of reminds me of my brother's... At least, when he isn't busy pestering Shyla."
Zain laughed. "Oh, yeah, you're from Falconland, right?" When he stopped to think about it, he could detect a hint of a Falconish accent in her voice. "That country's a long way from here."
"I know," Sasha admitted. "My father's working in the Orange Enterprises base in Troisemburg, and I came here to visit him."
"Your dad works for Orange Enterprises?" Zain asked, impressed.
She nodded, taking a bite out of a hamburger. After swallowing, she said, "Yes, he's a high-ranking executive there." She laughed. "It's funny, because I don't even know what he DOES there." She put down her food and looked at Zain. "What does your dad do?"
Zain's mood darkened. "...He was an aviator," he finally answered.
Sasha stared at him in puzzlement. "Was?"
Zain nodded. "He... He died in a plane crash a few years ago."
Sasha looked down, feeling terrible for asking him. "I'm sorry," she said sadly. "I didn't know."
"It's okay," Zain assured her. "There's nothing for you to apologize for."
He pointed to the aviator goggles he wore on his forehead like a headband. "These belonged to him," he explained. "After he died, they were all that was left of him. I wear them for good luck; I'll sure need it, with this quest thing and all."
Zain took a drink of his soda, and suddenly choked. "Zain! What's wrong?" Sasha cried, concerned for him.
Coughing, Zain put down the cup. "The soda's WARM. It surprised me, that's all." He looked over at the counter. "Their machine must be broken. Crap, I hate warm soda."
Sasha smiled. "Maybe I can help with that. Is anyone looking?"
Perplexed, Zain looked around at the other customers; none were looking at them. "No, no one's looking."
Her smile brightening, Sasha reached across the table and placed her hands around Zain's cup. Zain wondered what she was doing as she closed her eyes and concentrated. "PSI Freeze Alpha," she murmured.
Zain's eyes widened as the soda froze solid. "Wow!"
Sasha let go of the cup. After seeing what she had done, she hung her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I guess I don't have very good control of it."
Zain grinned. "You have PSI too? That's amazing!"
She looked up. "'Too?'"
He nodded. "Yeah. I can't freeze things like you can, but I can do something cool too."
After looking around for a moment, he found a cut on Sasha's arm, just below the sleeve on her short-sleeve shirt. "There."
Sasha looked at it. "Oh, this? That's from a scrape I had a few days ago."
Still grinning, Zain placed his hand on her arm, and willed his new power to come forth. "Lifeup Alpha."
Sasha stared at her arm in amazement as the cut healed before her eyes. She looked up at Zain. "You can heal--oh!"
Zain was staring at her with neon blue eyes. "What's wrong?"
As she looked at him, dumbstruck, his eyes faded back to green. "Your eyes..."
Zain scratched his head. "Oh, they turned blue again? Yeah, that seems to happen whenever I use my PSI."
Sasha shook her head in wonderment. "I've never seen anything like that before. I don't think even my dad knows anything about that." She paused, staring at him almost reverently. "I didn't even see you concentrate. You just touched me and used your power."
"Concentrate?" asked Zain. "What are you talking about?"
She stared at him as if he were suddenly going to grow a third arm. "Zain, you have to concentrate to use PSI."
Zain shrugged. "Oh. I guess I don't know too much about it yet. You see, I only learned I had the gift last night."
Now Sasha stared at him as if he actually HAD grown the third arm. "That's impossible," she said. "People with the gift are born with it. They become able to use it early in life."
"Oh," said Zain. "I guess I don't know much of anything about PSI, except that I can use it."
"I'm sorry," Sasha apologized. "I didn't mean to make you feel dumb. I'm sorry for doing that to you."
"No, you're right," Zain replied. "There's nothing to apologize for."
He turned his cup upside down, and a frozen cup-shaped mass of soda fell out onto the table. Zain laughed. "I guess that's what you call a 'pop'-sicle."
Sasha laughed at his joke. She hadn't felt this good in a long time.

After they finished, Zain and Sasha left the restaurant. Zain was drinking his now-mostly-thawed soda. "That was fun," he said, "but I do have to go and find Lumina Pillar. I have a responsibility."
Sasha nodded, smiling. "We'll have to go and try to find where it is, then," she agreed.
Zain looked at her, surprised at the way she included herself in his quest; earlier, she had been unsure about what was going to happen. "Does that mean... You want to come with me?" he asked.
His stare caused her to avert her sky-blue eyes shyly. Her smile widened, and she took his hand in her own. "Together we'll make it," she said.
Zain smiled warmly, and he grasped her hand tighter. "Together we'll make it."

Zain decided that they should try the public library, just as he had been going to do before. He didn't know where else he could find information about Lumina Pillar.
On their way to the library, a dog limped up to them. Zain saw it and turned to face it; he started in surprise as he recognized it as the one he had spoken with earlier. "Hey, what happened to you?" he cried. Sasha was startled as his eyes turned blue again.
The dog looked up at him, standing on three legs while the left front leg hung limply. (Oh, it's you,) he said. (The one with the nice eyes.)
Zain nodded. "But what happened to you?"
Sasha tapped Zain on the shoulder. "Um, Zain... Why are you talking to that dog?" she asked, perplexed.
He turned to her, and his eyes faded back to green. "You can't talk to animals?" he asked.
"Of course not," Sasha replied. "Humans can't talk to animals."
Zain blinked. "But I CAN talk to them," he protested. "My PSI lets me do it."
Her eyes widened. "Really? PSI can do that?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Well, mine can, at least. Why don't you try it, too?"
Sasha nodded back, and concentrated. Zain turned back to the dog. "Sorry about the interruption," he said.
(It's no trouble,) the dog replied.
Sasha cried out in surprise. "I can hear him! It's true! You were right, Zain!"
Zain looked at her and smiled, and then looked back to the dog. "So what happened to you?" he asked.
The dog looked at his injured leg. (I got hit by a car.)
"That's terrible!" said Sasha, horrified.
(It's okay,) said the dog. (I wasn't hit very hard, so at least I'm still alive.)
Sasha looked at Zain. "You have the power to heal, don't you, Zain? Can you help him?"
Zain looked back at her and nodded. "I can do it," he said. Then he suddenly got an idea. "But maybe you could, too."
"Heal?" said Sasha. "I can't do anything like that."
Zain grinned. "You thought you couldn't talk to animals, either."
She saw his point. "...Okay, I'll try."
She walked up to the dog and knelt down. "I don't know if I can, but I'll try." She placed her hand on the dog's leg and concentrated. "Lifeup Alpha."
Zain smiled as the dog's leg healed and returned to normal.
The dog looked around in wonderment, able to stand on four legs again. He licked Sasha's face in gratitude. (Thank you.)
"You're welcome," Sasha replied. She looked up at Zain and smiled warmly. "You were right, Zain."
He nodded, and then had an idea. If she could use her PSI to heal, as he could, then why couldn't he use his PSI to freeze, and she could?
Zain crouched in front of a puddle that had accumulated in a hole in the pavement. "Let's see what I can do," he said. "PSI Freeze Alpha."
Nothing happened.
Sasha looked at him. "It didn't work. I didn't even see your eyes change color."
Zain shrugged and stood up. "Oh well. I guess there ARE some powers that are unique to a certain person."
She nodded. "Still, you've taught me more about my powers in one day than I've learned in my whole life. My father never told me very much about my PSI, except for how to freeze things, and about my Premonition."
"I'm glad I was able to," Zain replied. He looked off in the direction of the library. "I guess we should keep going now. We have to find information about Lumina Pillar."
To their surprise, the dog spoke up. (The Pillar of Lumina?) he repeated. (I know where that is!)
Both Zain and Sasha stared at the dog in shock. "You... You do?" Zain asked.
(Yup,) said the dog. (If you leave Primera and head west through the forest, you'll come to a cave. Through the cave is the Pillar of Lumina.)
"How do you know this?" Zain asked.
(My great-granddad was there once,) the dog answered. (He told his pup about it, and then HE told HIS pup, and then THAT one told me. From what I heard, it's a really neat place. You should go see it.)
Sasha smiled. "We will."
Zain nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Thank you."
(It's the least I can do for the way you and your friend helped me,) the dog said. (Anyway, I have to go and chase a few cats. Take care of yourself, nice-eyes. And take care of your friend, too; she's pretty.)
Zain looked at Sasha as the dog left; she blushed and turned away.

As they walked to the western outskirts of Primera, Zain noticed that the sun was starting to go down. He hadn't even realized that a whole day had passed already.
He turned to Sasha. "It's going to get dark soon," he said. "I don't think we should go out into the forest at night. There are too many creatures of the Madness out there."
She nodded in agreement. "I've never seen a creature of the Madness, but they sound frightening."
"Trust me, you don't want to meet one," Zain assured her. "Though if the Madness keeps spreading, we'll be seeing them soon enough, even in this town."
He shook his head, trying not to worry about it. "Anyway, we should find a hotel for the night."
"Why not your house?" Sasha asked. "Couldn't we stay there?"
"We can't," said Zain. "My house is out in the southern outskirts of town, by the edge of the forest. By the time we get there, it will be dark, and we could get attacked by Madness creatures on the way."
"Oh. I guess we WILL have to find a hotel, then."

After a while of searching, during which it began to get dark outside, they found one. Zain looked at the sign in disgust. "40 dollars a night for a single room. That's highway robbery."
He checked his wallet; his money had dwindled even further after he had treated Sasha at the restaurant. "I've got 71 dollars left on me," he said.
"I have 96 dollars left from the money Dad gave me," Sasha replied.
Zain thought. "Together, that makes 167 dollars. If we get 2 rooms for tonight, we'll lose half of that."
Sasha turned to him. "Well, we could just get one," she proposed.
Zain's jaw dropped. "You're okay with that?" he asked incredulously.
"I'm not picky," Sasha said. "A long time ago, my family lived in a smaller house, and I ended up having to share a room with my brother, so he wouldn't bother my sister." She smiled. "So it's okay with me."
"Oh." Zain shrugged. "Well, if you're okay with that, then I guess it's fine. I'll just sleep on the floor."
As they entered the hotel, Zain thought, I sure hope Mom never hears about this...

Meanwhile...

Of all the times for a a Grayhand bus to break down, Guy thought, why did it have to be now?
On the way to Primera, the bus had broken down in the town of Duplora, and so now Guy was stranded. Moreover, he couldn't get to Primera on foot, because it was too far to walk.
He sat, annoyed, at the bus station amidst all of the other disgruntled passengers. He had been sitting here for hours, waiting for the bus to be repaired, and he was getting impatient. How was he supposed to protect Sasha if he couldn't even reach her?
Guy had offered to help with the bus repairs, but they had refused him, because they didn't think he could do anything. Now Guy had to watch while the inept repairman attempted to fix the bus, and usually only ended up breaking it even more.
He took a deep breath. Calm down, he told himself. Don't get yourself worked up like this.
Suddenly two people about his age approached him, and he looked up. It was a girl with black eyes and black neck-length hair, and a boy with grey eyes and brown hair. They both wore the same kind of clothes.
"Excuse me," said the girl. "Do you mind if we sit here?"
"Not at all," Guy replied. He moved over to allow them to sit down, and they did so.
"Thanks," said the girl gratefully. The boy nodded his gratitude also.
Guy smiled. "The pleasure is all mine."
This made her smile. "You're really polite," she said. "Where are you going?"
"I must get to Primera," Guy replied. "It is imperative that I go there. So I am waiting for the bus to be repaired."
"Primera?" asked the boy. "That's where we had been thinking of going, too."
The girl nodded her agreement. "Maybe we could go there together. Neil and I don't know very many people."
"If that is what you wish," said Guy, "then I would enjoy both of your company."
"Great!" said the girl. "I'm Karen."

To be continued...