18 years ago, Daren was living in the city of Mellvore. When it was destroyed in an explosion, he was assumed to be dead. In fact, he had been kidnapped by the Endrum Collective. They injected nanobots into his bloodstream and forced him to work for them under threat of death. During this time, he introduced a new energy source into society called A-Photons. Although the new power source was unrivaled by anything in Gurhal, Daren suspected that something wasn't right about it. He was also worried about the motives of the Collective.