Episode One: The Arkfall

Spiritfyt, Season One: Spiritual Connection

Zion Prime.

The birthplace of Spirit Warriors.

Over two hundred years ago, the world had fallen into what was called The Great Collapse. Before the Ark Spheres protected humanity, and before Spirit Warriors existed, the world thrived in an age of unimaginable advancement. Humanity discovered Spirit Energy, a hidden force woven beneath reality itself, and used it to power cities, cure diseases, and transform civilization. People believed suffering had finally been defeated, but Spirit Energy responded not only to hope and faith—it also answered to fear, hatred, grief, and darkness.

Over time, humanity’s pain unknowingly gave birth to something terrible. Shadows moved where they should not, people vanished, entire cities fell silent, and then the truth was discovered too late: humanity had created the evil that was destroying the world. They had become the very portals that demons traveled through.

Darkness awakened, and Earth collapsed beneath what became known as The Great Corruption. Nations burned, billions died, and demons born from humanity’s darkness consumed the world beyond salvation. In humanity’s final hour, scientists, believers, engineers, and the military united to build massive sanctuaries protected by holy energy—The Ark Spheres. Humanity abandoned the Earth it once ruled and survived beneath great domes of light while demons claimed the world outside. Generations passed, the old world became myth, and far into the future, beneath the light of Ark Sphere of Zion prime, the first Spirit Warriors were created to protect the Arks and what remained of civilization.

Following those practices, other Ark Spheres around the world had begun training their military in the way of Spiritfyt. The very framework that developed Spirit Warriors.

But the training was rigorous. To become a Spirit Warrior, one had to have a spiritual connection to the Lord, a progressive mindset, intentionality, righteousness, great integrity, deep faith, fortification in their purpose, patience, and ultimately the ability to transform into leaders that could guide the next generations.

Becoming a Spirit Warrior wasn’t just for fighting demons and protecting the Arks, but to become a symbol of honor and hope. To influence others to change and evolve under God, so that one day there would no longer be a need for the Ark Spheres.

Humanity was what released the darkness onto Earth.

And Spiritfyt was created to overcome it.

Thunder

As usual, the city’s sunrise was as beautiful as ever. It was all I had ever imagined, and even after a full year of staying here, it never failed to amaze me. Zion Prime was the first Ark Sphere created after the great collapse, making it the most advanced of all Arks. The glass dome that protected us from the outside world was lined with metal walls that shielded us from the ground up, extending halfway up the dome while leaving just enough glass to view the sky, the sun, and the tall mountains in the distance. During emergencies, the metal would expand upwards, covering the entire dome, but that was in rare cases when tall Dreadborn demons were passing by.

Standing high on the rooftop of my apartment building, a gust of wind brushed against my skin, and I closed my eyes and took a deep inhale. Even the air was better than the Ark I had come from. It smelled…filtered.

Nothing like the smoke and pollution I was breathing before. This place was truly a blessing.

As I stood over the city of Zion Prime, I was grateful to have been accepted into their dome—although barely—and even more grateful to have finally been accepted into their Spirit Warrior training program.

It wasn’t official though.

As a recruit, I would be given several trials before becoming an actual trainee. If I failed or dropped out, I’d have to wait until the following year to reapply. But I was going to make it on this first try. After everything, there was no way that I would allow myself to fail. I wasn’t the strongest candidate, but I wasn’t weak either, even if the people from my past who, sometimes, still haunted my mind, thought so.

It took some time for me to understand this, but the world had their ideas of strength and weakness distorted. And even after all that’s happened throughout time, that was the one thing that remained consistent. People envied the wicked, even when scripture warned them not to. At one time, they had been hurt, they felt helpless, and so then they believed that the ones who hurt them were the strong ones. Then, they envied them. Being big, bad, and aggressive was what they had come to value, and so, when I stepped into the mix, they were confused. I carried all the attributes of someone with inner strength, but I was in no way what they depicted as strong. Not to mention, I had obvious weaknesses, but that wouldn’t stop me. That was exactly how I made it here. Because I vowed that no obstacle would ever be too big for me to overcome. 

I would become a Spirit Warrior, and I would help others understand what real strength looked like. Especially, in someone like me. I would show them all that so long as they had the Lord, Jesus Christ, our savior, anyone could wield strength. They just had to rely on Him…

I spread my arms wide, the city uncaring and unnoticing of my presence.

“My name is Thunder!” I yelled with a large grin. “And I will become Spiritfyt!”

I added a roar at the end, but that was going to need some work. It was a mix between the sound of a screaming goat and a dying cat, but it was a start. Clearing my throat, I rubbed my neck, checked to make sure no one was around to catch my embarrassment, and headed back down to my small studio apartment to get dressed.

Once inside, I quickly dressed in the clothes I carefully picked out for a good first impression. Training to become a Spirit Warrior was more spiritual than physical, but I made sure that my character matched my physique. After a full year of training myself in physical fitness, I practiced all that I could to train my mind and spirit to match my appearance, and as I stood in the mirror dressed in a black sleeveless dry-fit shirt, fitting black yoga pants, and black running shoes, I knew that my body was a reflection of my inner work. The last piece was a thin royal blue headband that I tied around my forehead, my short copper curls perfectly atop my head and complementing my light golden skin and dark brown eyes. 

I squeezed my fists in front of me, flexing my triceps, and nodded in satisfaction. Through my eyes, I looked completely different compared to the bruised up, malnourished, dead-eyed survivor I arrived as. Even that version of myself would be proud of all the work I put in. “I’m ready.”

With that, I checked the clock on my small coffee table against the wall. “Crap!”

I quickly grabbed my keys and sprinted out of my apartment. Of course, I was running late.

I was quick to make it outside of the building and onto the busy street, sprinting down the sidewalk on my left.

 Although I couldn’t afford to stay with the higher classes, I was still in a decent part of the city. The fourth district wasn’t so bad. It was just the poorest, but nothing like what I had come from. Here, there was transportation like cars and trains, teens riding on hoverboards, booming businesses, filtered air, and the best part…clean running water. Besides, I didn’t need anything more than what I had. I simply needed a place to live while I prepared for the Spiritfyt trials, my reason for choosing Zion Prime after I was released from Sanctora.  

The only things I’d say I didn’t like about this place was all the noise on ground level and massive crowds. There was someone everywhere I turned, and unless I was in my apartment or on the rooftop, it was impossible to be alone, but maybe that was a good thing? I did want to help people after all, and at least the ones here weren’t trying to kill me.

I sprinted through the city streets, dodging the civilians with expertise after so much practice during my jogs, then finally came to a slow when I spotted the bus stop. Someone was exiting the doors, revealing the bus driver from hell. I didn’t understand why, but this specific driver had something against me. She was my driver since I came to Zion Prime, and even then, I could tell that she was judging me, but over time, her looks had shifted to annoyance.

As I power walked towards the bus, the driver smirked, but I gave her no response. Our stare down was always posed as a challenge, but this time, as I was closing in, she closed the doors and slammed on the gas.

My eyes widened. “Seriously!?”

I inhaled a deep breath and burst into a sprint after the bus. In my mind, my legs were powerful enough to catch up with it, but she had already gained some serious distance. I was either going to have to get to the next stop before her, or gun it all the way to the Ascension Grounds.

I still had time, and I still had hope. “But Lord, I could use your help.”

Remember, I thought. If He wants you to get there, you will. Just make sure you give it your best shot.

“Right!” I agreed with myself.

Just as I was about to pick up my speed, another bus was passing beside me. In my peripheral, I spotted a railing and a bumper step at the back of it, then I made the quick decision to jump, grabbing hold of the railing, and landing perfectly on the step. I wasn’t sure where this bus was headed to, but for now, it was going in the right direction.

As if on cue, the bus had taken off at top speed, and from this angle, I could see why they were called the Apex Transit. Well, everything was a blur, so I couldn’t exactly see, but from the inside it didn’t feel anything like this. I screamed the entire ride, considering that if I flew off, I might just die.

Turning my head, a tall dark-skinned girl dressed in pink baggy clothes rode on her hoverboard beside me, her long black locs blowing in the wind behind her. She turned to look at me with a slight smile on her face, and I recognized her from the skatepark in town but didn’t remember ever having any real interaction with her. I was always on the side of the park with the calisthenic equipment, but I would catch her skating gracefully on her own from time to time.

The girl gave me a nod with a chuckle before smoothly gliding higher into the air and riding a few feet above the bus, her arms locked behind her back as she leaned forward.

When the bus finally came to a stop, I was ready to jump off and start sprinting again. I didn’t have that far to go now that I was in the second district. Just a few more miles and I’d be at the Ascension Grounds, the Spiritfyt training facility. 

 Inhaling one more deep breath, I was about to take my first step when the Ark Sphere alarm systems went off. They weren’t so loud that I couldn’t hear anything going on around me, but they were distracting enough.

I was prepared to brush it off and continue moving forward as the metal walls climbed towards the top of the dome. This wasn’t out of the ordinary but also didn’t happen often. Still, we were used to it. Just as I had, the citizens were accustomed to the alarms and went back to business as usual, but I had the slight sense that something was off this time. I felt an eerie sense of darkness surrounding me, but when I looked around, no one else seemed to notice.

When I looked up, I noticed that the girl on the hoverboard had come to a pause as well, and we appeared to be the only ones watching the metal shield climb to the top of dome, nearly closed. The dome only slightly darkened before artificial lighting shined down on us, mimicking the sunlight.

I wanted to start running again but couldn’t help but continue watching. Something was wrong…very wrong. And in a single moment, all hell broke loose.

A dark figure blotted out the sun and stood just above the opening of the dome, the shield only seconds from closing. My eyes widened at the sight of the large shadow, and in a single moment, I was yanked back into the past.

I was just a little girl. My eyes wide. My body frozen. And the sky was falling in shards of glass…  

The dark shadow rammed into the Ark, the energetic light of the glass dome flashing bright in response, rejecting the demon. When the entire dome boomed from the impact, it was as if everything and everyone had frozen. Cars came to a stop, citizens froze in place, and there was utter silence.

My heart had suddenly begun to race, fear creeping up my spine. It was Sanctora all over again. And all before I could become a Spirit Warrior. Before I could gain the power to help fight back. I would be helpless again…

“Snap out of it!” I yelled to myself, startling the people around me. I squeezed my fists shut, forcing myself to believe that the Spirit Warriors would know what to do. The moment may have been terrifying, and it may not have seemed like God was with us in this moment, but He was always nearby. And I knew for a fact that He didn’t have me brought here just to die. Just to feel powerless and afraid again. No, He maneuvered everything to send me here, because He knew that He could use me!

My past suffering wasn’t for nothing. It was for this very moment!

The Ark thundered as the demon rammed at the glass a second time, completely halting the metal climbing up the glass, and knocking out the lights of the entire system. It must’ve malfunctioned, but that didn’t matter, because no matter what, everything would be okay. Even if it didn’t look like it. 

The streetlights quickly flickered on, and the neon lights of the buildings glowed bright, but it still seemed eerily dark. Especially when the Ark’s blue back up lights came on, nowhere near as bright as the original lighting. 

“It won’t get through,” someone said in a shaky voice. “They never get through. Not on Zion Prime.” 

I remembered…that was exactly what I thought about Sanctora.

With a roar, the demon rammed at the Ark one last time, and the impossible happened.

The Ark’s Holy barrier had been broken, and the glass cracked. Then finally…the demon had broken through, and it shattered, creating a hole at the opening.

A moment later, chaos broke loose and the civilians were scattering to get to safety. We’ve had at least two drills over the year to prepare for something like this. We were instructed to get inside, seal our doors with a portable barrier that we kept latched to our keychains, and to go into prayer for our Spirit Warriors and the protection of Zion Prime, but instead, everyone went into a panic.

It seemed like the only ones not freaking out was me and the girl on her hover board above. We both watched together as shards of glass fell from the sky, appearing as neon sparkles, before crashing into the buildings a few miles away. In a loud explosion, dust and smoke puffed into the air, and then there was screaming.

I clenched my teeth, a bead of sweat gliding down the side of my face. My feet wanted to stay in place, and my heart wanted safety, but my spirit was urging me to get to the site of the destruction and help those in need. While the Spirit Warriors were fighting whatever came next, I could still be useful down here. If it was my time, I would use the best of my life to help make as much of a difference as I could. I didn’t know what the Lord had in store for me, but my dream was to become a hero. And so, that’s what I would be. 

I knew the crash wasn’t all there was to be dealt with though. Next came the demons that poured in after, this Dreadborn being made up of hundreds of them. From the look of their small shadowy bodies, and the way they hopped across the ceiling of the dome like small black bunnies, they had to be Devourers, and I considered ourselves lucky for now.

Devourers were soul-consuming monsters. They were small but traveled in packs and had to attack humans three to one to successfully drain their spirit energy. Because Spirit Warriors were the only ones capable of using their spiritual energy as a weapon, the civilians were essentially helpless, but we did have spirit charged crosses to ward them off. The problem was that the people here have felt so safe over the years, I doubted that they kept them on. Luckily, it was mandatory to at least carry our portable barriers. Our best bet for safety was to either get behind doors, find a designated shelter nearby, pray for the best, or all three.  

The girl above glanced down at me, her dark brown eyes filled with fire. I wasn’t sure why, but I could feel her sense of determination to help others, and that was when I noticed it. The pink headband tied around her bicep. That could only mean that she wanted to become a Spirit Warrior herself. All recruits had to wear one, but the Spiritfyt symbol wasn’t embroidered on the center until we were officially made trainees. Until then, our headbands would remain blank.

I pointed ahead towards the crash site, hoping she could read the look in my eyes. If we both really wanted the same thing, then we could help each other. As Spirit Warriors, we’d always have a team to fight with, so why not start now? Besides, I didn’t want to go on my own. Not if I didn’t have to. 

“Reach your hand out to me,” I heard a small, but dominant voice speak in my mind.

In response, I obeyed.

The girl’s eyes first widened, but then she quickly flipped through the air on her hoverboard and curved her way towards me. Reaching out her hand, she clapped her hand over my forearm as she passed by and yanked me onto her hoverboard. I landed on the back with just enough room for my feet, then held tightly onto her shoulders.

“I’m not sure what I’m doing, but I was told to take your hand!” The girl yelled as she sped towards the dust and smoke, gliding a few feet above the streetlights. 

“Did He tell you what He wanted us to do!?” I asked.

“Nope!” She answered. “Just to take the hand of the person who reaches and Ascend! I’m only assuming He means to get to the Ascension Grounds.”

I looked ahead. “That’s towards the crash site!” 

“Hope you weren’t afraid of going there!” She yelled.  

“Not at all! That’s exactly where I was headed!”

Gazing at the crash ahead, I noticed that the Devourers were coming together and forming a Dreadborn from the ground up. It wasn’t as big as the one that had broken through, but it was slowly but surely getting there. The Dreadborn that had broken in had completely dispersed into Devourers, the demons’ plan now apparent beneath the sunlight. It wanted to take us down from the inside as a massive Dreadborn, which were known to be difficult to take down as one giant beast. It was best to kill them off as single devourers.

Dreadborns could take any shape, creating as many legs, arms, heads, and eyes as they wanted. They were usually consistent with their figures but could change depending on their intentions. In this case, the devourers were molding themselves into one large black shadow figure that stood on all fours, shaping into some muscular beast with a long tail, sharp teeth, and massive talons. I even think I noticed horns growing from its head that curled backwards.  

I clenched my teeth, realizing that this was something I’d be up against one day. Heck, it may have been today, but until it came down to that, I was going to focus on helping any survivors from the crash and ward off any devourers with my neon cross. They charged from the spiritual energy within Zion Prime on their own, but I made sure to rub a little anointing oil over it as well. 

“The Spirit Warriors,” the girl said, breathlessly. “They’re here.”

Looking up, my eyes widened in awe. Hight above us, I spotted a unit torpedoing straight for the Dreadborn ahead, a rainbow of spiritual energy trailing behind them like bright fiery flames. Some were on hoverboards, but not all of them needed one. Based on the waves of energy I felt from them, I figured that they must have been the elites. Spread out beneath the dome sky were several other units flying in to annihilate the Devourers that were attacking the citizens.

“So, that’s the Spirit Warriors of Zion Prime,” I said, still amazed by their appearance.

Spirit Warrior’s dressed in uniforms that were pure white—clean, sharp, and unmistakable. The material clung close to the body like a second skin, forged from advanced Spirit-Weave fibers designed to endure brutal combat while channeling spiritual energy from within. Glowing with energy beneath the smooth surface were silver lines that traced along the arms, chest, spine, and legs. Light flowed within the thick fabric like rivers of energy, and sleek armored reinforcement covered the shoulders and forearms without slowing movement, built for the warriors who fought at impossible speeds.

“Yeah…” The girl replied in awe, then snapped back into focus. “We should hurry up and get down there. Looks like a lot of people are in need of helping.”

Closing in on the crash site, I realized that this would be just like the fall of Sanctora all over again, only this time, I would help people survive. The carnage from the dome glass crashing down was horrific, but I wasn’t fazed by that. The past had already prepared me for this, so now, all I was looking for were people I could save, and with the destruction of the buildings in the area, the girl was right, there were a lot of people in need of help. Not to mention they were still trying to escape the devourers that were chasing them around.

“Do you have your neon cross?” I asked.

The girl nodded silently, and I could feel her shoulders growing rigid.

“Hey…just try not to look at the bodies if you can help it. Focus on the goal and be safe,” I said.

“They’re in a better place now.”

“Yeah…sure…” She said, rightfully distracted.

Besides the Spirit Warriors, I may have been one of the only people around who’s seen this kind of darkness and destruction.

As the girl lowered us to the ground, she pulled her pink headband from around her bicep and tied it around her forehead, then she nodded and looked back at me over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about me. I know what I’m signing up for.”

Simultaneously, we grabbed the crosses attached to our necklaces and gave them a squeeze as we yanked them from around our necks. A second later, they instantly transformed into large glowing crosses that emanated with spiritual energy, only mine was all white and hers was pink.

“By the way, my name is Thalira,” she said. “Thalira Vex.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “Oh, uh—you can call me Thunder.”

Thalira nodded. “Walk in light.”

I nodded back. “Right, you too.”

Splitting up, we both went in opposite directions, me on foot and Thalira on her hover board. I didn’t know about her, but the moment that I was alone, devourers began their attack. Luckily, I was familiar with the demon type. They were small shadow figures about the size of an adult bunny, but had sharp teeth and nails, big round red eyes, tall, spiked ears, and short tails with razor sharp ends. They were quick on their feet and hopped around most of the time but could shift into running on their hind legs, which was the creepiest thing about them.

The moment one leaped at me, I blasted my fist through it, my fingers wrapped around the cross. As civilians, we physically weren’t able to fight demons the same way that Spirit Warriors could, but with our crosses in hand, we had a fighting chance. They were usually just meant to ward them off, but I learned another way to use them in Sanctora.

Because demons could use humans as portals, we weren’t entirely protected by the Ark Spheres. It was why we needed our Spirit Warriors, because even with all our protections, there was still the matter of the human condition, and our darkest imperfections could create a portal for monsters to enter our safe haven.

In Sanctora, even after the Ark was sealed back together, the destruction did a number on all its citizens, and so, demon manifestations became more and more common. Especially with the new laws put in place to rebuild the city. That was when I learned how to fight back. With prayer and cross.

 When the devourer burst into black smoke, fading into the wind, I felt adrenaline surge through me. Speaking under my breath, I made sure to remind myself…

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” --2^ND Timothy 1:7

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