Warrior of the Dawn

The warehouse was quiet and dark in the early hours of the morning, industrial dust covering most surfaces along with the plastic wrap covering the pallets of goods waiting for their proper destinations. Among these endless shelves, street merchants would hide their most sensitive of illegal goods and even the military could hide secrets in plain sight. The warehouse workers continued their usual routine this day, doing what they were paid to do best, ignoring the activities inside the warehouse. Inside, a group of shady armed figures were standing at either end of a particularly high set of shelves, blocking even visual access to the isles around it.

Gavin sighed as he waited in those isles for the inevitable and startling appearance of his customer. And as always, a bright flash of purple flames filled the air and the heat and sound made him jump. The client held her head up in a manner designed to make Gavin feel judged, her harsh eyes piercing her mirrored shades. She bore a prominent spiral horn in the middle of her head and her pitch black attire bore unicorns embroidered in silver. Her flowing silver hair only served to make her flames all the more flashy. Gavin hated these flashy sorts. Made it so much harder to operate without drawing attention. Did they ever realize how suspicious it was for him to hire goons off the books just to block the isle? Still, it was what made him the best in the business. He bowed, as he was used to doing for her, and stated, “Welcome, Lady Unicorn. I’ll save you time and my company. Here are the goods you wanted to see.” He pulled the marked cargo from the shelf and removed a small armored case no bigger than a cutting board. Opening it he revealed the assortment of pure white glowing gems.

She nodded in approval at his expedient methods before examining the goods. After a moment she spoke coldly, “I don’t see the rare specimen that you mentioned in our discourse, but I can confirm these are military grade, as promised.”

Gavin nodded, stating clearly, “Yeah, that specimen lit up the boards of every agency everywhere so I had to put that someplace different. But I did find another one like it so I brought that one instead. Lift up the insulation of the case. You’ll see.” Doing as he asked, she eventually lifted out a rough uncut gemstone. It shone with a stable but ambient orange and almost seemed to hum. She turned it over in her gloved hands for a moment before removing one and reaching for the gem with a malicious smile.

“Dark hearts beware the coming dawn.” Gavin turned to face the voice only to see a female silhouette standing in one of the large windows that he didn’t remember opening. The light coming in was too bright to see her clearly, but she continued her speech anyway, “Those who barter in the night for the stars that guide our hope!” The figure pointed directly at Gavin’s client, which caused the woman to recoil somewhat from the gem. “Shall be dragged into the light and awaken to justice!” She brought her arms back to herself and the light shone brighter for a moment. When the light cleared, the figure had leaped down from the window with multiple twists before landing in a place that allowed them to finally see her. Her outfit was bright orange from top to bottom, her head fully enclosed in a helmet that seemed to be of an odd material. It held a visor black as night and a mouth panel that shone silver. The rest of her outfit was just as enclosed, seemingly made of an ever shifting and shining material. Her torso bore gold embroidery and on her back was the likeness of a scorpion. Her boots were pure white with gold accents. Striking a pose and pointing with her white gloved hands. “Behold, hope’s chosen warrior! It is I! Zora, Warrior of the Dawn!”

Gavin was expecting his client to act by now, given how terrifying he knew she could be, but instead she seemed to freeze in place. The mirrored shades hid her expression and so he did what he always did at times like these for his clients. Motioning to his hired goons, he expected them to be able to at least begin the process of stopping this girl. As his hired goons charged her, his client dropped the orange gem and teleported away with the military gems, her purple flames doing nothing to lighten the tension. Still, he felt if he moved now he might be able to get out before this girl got him. He didn’t know what this was, but he figured any answer still ended with him in jail.

She was rather acrobatic in her fighting style, dropping low to do a two legged sweep kick all around her before hitting one of the now falling goons with a rising kick to the chin, lifting herself into a handstand. She quipped, “Excuse me, speed bumps. I need a word with your boss.” She bounced on her palm a few times, lashing out at each thug she could like an upside down ballerina, before pushing herself high into the air and landing in a crane stance on one of her foes heads. Gavin was so caught off by the feat that he actually realized he had stopped running to watch. Realizing his mistake and how quickly she was making a mockery of his security, he ran and grabbed the stone his client had dropped. Maybe he could use it to bargain with her, but as he went to touch it, the reaction was sudden and extreme. His mind was overwhelmed by sights and sounds he had not braced for or expected. What was more, the gem seemed to grow hot in his hand, burning him as he tried to hold it. The resulting burns made it harder for him to release and thus caused more and more images to be pushed through his head. Before he knew it, he heard a voice. It spoke to him at a level deeper than he had ever had someone speak to him. Eventually, despite the pain, his grip went slack, and the stone rolled free from his grasp.

His next memories were blurry, but he did recall seeing Zora grab the gem from next to him. He then remembered her looking towards the flashing sirens of the Cosmic Patrol before running off in what seemed like a panic before a lieutenant leapt from their patrol car, transforming into uniform and chasing after her.

He would later wake up in his cell, pondering the words the gem gave him. A simple question he hadn’t really asked himself before. “Are your sacrifices worth the cost?” As he sat in the cell, pondering that question, he made his mind up on one thing at least. That he had to pay them all back. There was no room for doubt and no price he wouldn’t pay.