Damian's team charged.
Damian and Leo rushed straight toward each other-
But before they could collide-
A stump of earth burst from the ground beneath Damian, launching him upward.
Leo watched, eyes wide, as Damian soared overhead.
He landed behind Leo-right in front of Thomas.
In an instant, he struck.
His gigantic, earth-crusted fist slammed into Thomas.
"ACK!"
It was fast.
Even though he blocked it, Thomas was sent crashing through the trees.
Autumn reacted immediately.
She took flight-
But something grabbed her legs.
It wrapped around her and yanked her back.
"Where you going, girlie?" Lydia whispered.
She coiled around Autumn, twisting and tightening like a snake.
"Ugh-let me go!" Autumn shouted.
She struggled, twisting midair before crashing down and rolling across the ground.
Damian glanced at them-
Then paused.
He sniffed.
Smoke?
He turned.
Thomas was getting up slowly.
Head down.
One hand pressed against a tree to steady himself.
The tree... was smoking.
Damian smirked.
The earth coating his right arm crumbled off-
But before it hit the ground, it shifted.
Compacting.
Hardening..
Forming into a long, heavy hammer.
It dropped with a heavy thud.
Thomas finally stood.
Head still low.
Damian raised the hammer, aiming it at him.
...
Thomas lifted his head-eyes burning.
"RAAAH!"
Flames exploded from his mouth in a violent burst.
At the same moment-
Damian shot forward, hammer swinging.
They collided within the collapsed trees.
An explosion erupted.
Flames burst outward-mixed with dust and shattered earth.
Below-
Autumn and Lydia wrestled.
Suddenly, they lifted off the ground-
Still locked together.
Then Autumn shot straight into the sky-
With Lydia clinging to her back.
"Autumn!" Leo shouted as she vanished into the moonlight-
Just a flicker.
Leo barely caught the movement.
A streak of blue-
Then-
WHAM.
Something slammed into him and drove him into the ground.
The earth cracked beneath his back.
Leo shot to his feet instantly, twisting around-
Nothing.
Gone.
Only the aftermath remained.
Broken trees-splintered and crushed where Thomas had been thrown.
Ruptured vegetation.
The campfire-scattered, embers faintly smoking.
Then-
A blue blur tore past him.
A right hook smashed into Leo's jaw.
He staggered, head snapping to the side.
He turned-
Gone.
A punch buried itself in his gut.
Leo dropped to one knee, breath forced from his lungs.
A strike to the side of his head-
Gone.
Another hook-
Gone.
Blows rained in from every direction.
Gone.
Gone.
Gone.
Leo's face twisted, anger boiling over.
He roared and launched himself at the blur-
Scott sidestepped effortlessly, hands still clasped behind his back.
Leo slammed into the ground, cracking it on impact.
He swung again, grabbing-
Air.
Scott slipped left, untouched. Calm. Untouchable.
Leo surged forward, both hands reaching-
Scott ducked under his arms in a blur, passing behind him.
Leo spun to follow-
Scott was already moving.
A spin.
A pause.
Momentum carried through-
CRACK.
A hand-sized metal rod slammed into Leo's face.
The metal bent on impact.
Leo's head snapped back. Blood trickled from his forehead, running down over his right eye.
He lunged, trying to clamp down-one clean grab would crush him-
But Scott was already gone.
At the far edge of the clearing.
Watching.
The moon dipped low behind Leo, light spilling past him.
It caught Scott's goggles-
A sharp reflection in the dark.
"So... metal doesn't work?" he muttered.
A slight tilt of his head.
"Is he unlocked?"
A pause.
Scott's voice answered itself, calm and certain-
"No... he's clueless."
"Oi! Have you ever awakened before?" Scott shouted.
Leo stood there, clutching his forehead.
He didn't answer.
He started walking closer, teeth clenched.
"Let me show you then," Scott said.
He stretched, doing a few light jumps.
Leo kept approaching.
Scott rolled one arm over his neck... then the other.
Then he went still.
Eyes locked onto Leo.
Leo, completely focused on him, suddenly gasped-his eyes widening.
The atmosphere shifted.
The cool air vanished.
It wasn't hot... it wasn't cold...
It was as if the air itself had disappeared.
Even the world seemed to pause.
Leo could hear Scott sigh-a low, controlled sound.
His chest tightened unnaturally.
Something pulled at him... dragging his attention toward Scott.
Like a massive force, compressed into one point.
Scott's eyes glowed cyan blue.
They stared straight through him.
A faint ripple of cyan aura drifted off his body.
"Don't do it."
The voice came from the bushes behind Scott.
"Huh?"
Scott turned—
—but suddenly—
BOOM.
Something crashed into the ground.
Both of them snapped toward the impact.
Smoke and dust rose, swirling through the clearing.
As it slowly cleared—
Two figures emerged.
Autumn.
Lydia.
Lydia lay flat on her back, completely still.
Unconscious.
Autumn was on top of her.
Punching.
Over and over—
Each strike snapping Lydia's head against the dirt.
Her face already bloodied.
Autumn's short blonde hair was wild, uneven—strands clinging to her face, others sticking out at sharp angles.
She didn't stop.
Didn't slow
Until
Her fist halted midair.
Her breathing was heavy. Ragged.
Then she slowly lifted off Lydia's body, floating upward.
Panting.
Her eyes locked onto Scott.
Sharp.
She vanished forward
A blur tearing across the clearing
—but stopped.
Midair.
Her leg jerked tight.
Caught.
A split second of silence
Then—
SLAM.
Her body was driven into the ground.
The earth cracked beneath her.
She bounced—
SLAM.
Again.
Harder.
Autumn coughed, blood spilling from her mouth
Her eyes rolled back.
Gone.
Unconscious.
A figure stood over her.
Damian.
One hand gripping Thomas by the hair, his body limp.
In the other—
A hammer.
He lowered it toward Autumn's head, calm and precise.
"Give us the key," Damian said flatly.
"And it won't go further."
"We don't have it!" Leo shouted.
A sharp click.
Spikes slid out from the hammer's head.
Damian raised it higher.
Ready to bring it down.
"That damn thing disappeared when we got it!" Leo added, desperation creeping in.
"Bullshit."
The hammer rose higher—
Then came down.
Leo's eyes widened.
"No—!"
CRACK.
Leo lunged forward, heart slamming against his ribs—
But—
Something was wrong.
Autumn… was fine.
The hammer had crushed into the ground
Just inches from her head.
Scott stood there.
His hand gripping the hammer.
Stopping it.
"What—?!" Damian's voice snapped.
Scott slowly raised his head.
Calm.
Unreadable.
Then he motioned past them.
"Look."
All three turned.
There—
Floating in the air—
The staff.
A soft hum filled the clearing.
It hovered, steady… waiting.
Leo stared.
And in that moment—
Everything came rushing back.
Every memory.
Every moment tied to it.
Frederic.
The staff.
End