PROLOGUE

"Are you sure this is really what you want? Allen?" Miranda looked at him with the wary fear they lived with as each day more and more of their comrades were taken and killed.

"You know this is the only way for us. This is our chance to change the future, our present." Allen replied as he held Miranda in his arms to comfort her if only a little.

"So you're putting your life on the line to save him when we need you as our leader now?! Allen, why must you be the one to go?" Lavi, who had been standing against the wall of the small bunk room, spoke to his best friend and leader. With his arms crossed over his chest Allen could see that he was anxious about the plan.

"Because... because it can be no one else. He would never trust any of the others." Lavi looked at his leader and knew that Allen was thinking back to a time before they had met. Thinking about this person he was so concern with saving. A person Lavi knew nothing about and had never met.

"Then I wish you luck, my friend." Allen watched as Lavi then left the room to finish his duties as sub-leader.

And if Allen were to never return Lavi was the one he trusted most to keep those he could from dying. He would keep their small group moving forward looking for a way to a better future.

Allen finally let go of Miranda as she sniffled quietly to herself. Thinking back on how the young woman was when they'd first met brought a sad smile to his face. Miranda had been but a child of maybe ten years. She had been scraping around in a place known as The Drop.

The Drop was a human camp that sat on the side of a cliff that dropped off for hundreds of miles. No one really knew how far down it went and none dared to try because the territory was inhabited by a creature called Mugen. Such a beast was dangerous as many claimed it looked like a black dragon with four wings that spanned a hundred feet across.

As the world was in a state of ruin no one had decent food or clothes; at least not the human populace.

Well Allen had been about eleven when he found Miranda going through some garbage cans looking for food to fill her empty stomach. Like many she was malnourished and small for her age. Her hair was tied back in a knot.

Allen had been wandering around looking for a place to sleep. It was never safe to fall asleep in a place he'd never been before.

Anyway when Allen ran in Miranda she'd taken him to her little hidey-hole to sleep and when he awoke the next day he helped her in return. Since then she'd become like a little sister to him.

Hearing a knock at the door Allen turned to look at a man called Komui who had the dual roles of being the doctor and being their local scientist. Allen had found him and his sister a month ago.

"Are you ready to go?" Looking Allen up and down Komui gave the young man a brief nod. Allen was wearing a pair of dirty pants several sizes too big that had more holes and patches then the there was the original material. As for his shirt it was just as bad but several sizes too small leaving about three inches of skin showing between his pants and shirt. On his right arm he had a half dozen bomb strapped to the one sleeve of his leather jacket. His left hand was left uncovered showing the damage it had received from years on the run from the ruling class; a species known as Noah.

Allen nodded, "Yes." As the three of them walked out of the room Allen thought about the Noah.

Many of them looked like humans but seemed to have special powers such as being able to transform into other creatures or manipulate a person's mind. Then there were the ones that didn't look so human with a third eye or a body made from smoke. And then creatures such as Mugen started appearing.

The Noah came from deep within the earth, and when they emerged they brought nothing but chaos with them. Cities were destroyed within hours. Within a day the government collapsed, within a week two-thirds of Earth's population had been killed off. The remaining humans were sent to camps such as The Drop where they were given only the left-overs of the left-overs. And if a human caught the fancy of a Noah they were turned into slaves.

Allen came out of his thoughts as they arrived at the center of their Resistance hideout. Allen had not really wished to be the leader of a resistance as he had a hard enough time fending for himself but after years of running he found people who needed him more than anything. They looked to him as a leader even when he had no idea what to do. He was like a boy who ended up picking up stray cats and dogs where he went.

The room they entered was only big enough to hold about a dozen people. It had a table placed in to center with a map on it showing outdated landmarks and names that no one used anymore. Even though they used it to help them plan out their heist, like now where a city name on the upper left side was shown there was a red pin stuck in it. This helped them mark the best place to grab more food supplies was or a blue pin showing that a Noah was known to hang around that area.

On the opposite side of the room from where they entered was a machine. It reminded Allen of a fish tank but for the many wires and tubes sticking out of the sides.

"Now if you'll undress and stand by the cryo-tank we can start." Komui said as he went to check that all the necessary equipment worked. Allen complied with Komui's request not being shy about being nude around a female such as Miranda. In their world there was no such thing as privacy between males and females as they had little place to live. Miranda didn't even turn a slight shade of red as she'd seen Allen's body many times in the past.

She did stare at the scar that his small malnourished form had gain over the years. She remembered that he'd gotten the small scar around his abdomen from saving Lavi from falling from a broken staircase. It had been metal, old, and rusted through in most spots. Lavi had been running from a Vaire, a creature that looked like a mix between a rabid dog and a horse with no eyes. The Vaire had fallen with half the stairs, but Lavi was lucky to be caught by Allen. One of the side railings had broken of leaving a jagged piece of metal sticking out of Allen's side.

As Komui started attaching all the tubes and other medical/scientific stuff to Allen, Miranda slowly folded the clothes he'd left on the table after he'd taken them off.

"Are you ready Miranda?"

Miranda looked up with sadness in her eyes. "Y-yes."