Jordan's thoughts screamed before his body could even react.
Move
The massive yellow bird stood only a few meters away, its shadow swallowing the forest floor. Its talons dug into the dirt, carving trenches with casual strength. Jordan's legs trembled so badly he thought they might buckle at any second.
Nico didn't even dare look up.
What is this… she thought, staring at the ground. If she met its eyes, she was sure her head would roll across the dirt the next second.
⸻
Inside the monitoring base, alarms blared.
"Sir!" a man shouted, staring at the screen. "The beast has cornered three students. It isn't attacking yet, but we can't extract them. It's too close."
"Damnit," the field commander snapped. "Get me in contact with Darius now. The beast knows most of its food is disappearing. It's changing tactics, going slow. It's going to kill them one by one, and if we rush in, it'll kill my men too. I'm sorry for those kids, but I won't sacrifice soldiers blindly."
A woman hurried over and handed him a phone.
A calm voice came through the speaker. "Who are they?"
"What?"
"Who are the children in danger?"
A tablet was shoved into the commander's hands. Profiles flashed across the screen. He already knew what he was going to see, and he hated it.
"Jordan Harlow. Joey Cross. Nico Fisher."
"And?" Darius asked lightly, almost amused.
The commander clenched his jaw. "All Wallborn."
There was a faint ding. The call ended.
The commander exhaled slowly. "If one of them creates distance from the beast, I'll pull them out. That's the best I can do."
He stared at the screen, guilt heavy in his chest.
⸻
The beast moved.
Its wings snapped outward, sending a violent gust through the trees. In a blink, it charged at Jordan. None of them could react. The ground cracked beneath its speed.
Then—
A brilliant golden bloom exploded in front of it.
A massive sphere of light shot forward like a miniature sun, slamming into the beast head-on. The impact blasted apart trees, uprooting trunks and shredding branches into splinters. The shockwave rippled through the forest like a storm.
When the dust cleared, the beast stood with one wing raised defensively. The feathers were scorched, faint burn marks staining the yellow, but there was no blood.
It had taken almost no damage.
A boy with golden hair stepped forward, light swirling around him like a living aura.
"I won't let you hurt my family!" Joey shouted, fists clenched, eyes glowing bright gold.
⸻
Miles away—
"What was that?" Harkel asked, staring at the streak of light that had just torn across the sky.
"What the heck is going on?" Leo muttered as he and Luka stepped out of the cave. Even from this distance, the golden aura lingered in the air like sunlight refusing to fade.
Luka's lips slowly curled.
Riven's smile was even sharper, almost wild.
"We need to go," Riven said instantly.
Instead of following the system's arrow, he sprinted toward the blast.
Harkel hesitated for a split second, then ran after him. "Wait up!"
On the other side, Luka was already moving.
Leo groaned. "Damn it. I'm too nice for this."
He chased after him anyway.
⸻
Back at the clearing—
Joey stood tall, light pulsing around him. Nico swallowed hard.
"This is bad," she whispered to Jordan. "Not only do we have a giant bird ready to rip us apart, but now we have Joey going full sun mode."
Jordan forced a shaky smile, sweat sliding down his chin. "It's fine. He's gotten better. Maybe he can control it now."
Joey had always been the kind of kid any family would want. Polite. Gentle. Smiling.
The only problem was his power.
Most kids felt their abilities awaken slowly, starting weak and unstable. Joey had been the opposite. His power erupted at full force. The first time it surfaced, it tore through his house like a cannon of light. His parents didn't survive.
After that, no one wanted to adopt him. Not because he was bad, but because he was dangerous. And inside the Walls, adopting another child meant more taxes, more food, more risk of getting expelled.
So Joey stayed an orphan.
And he stayed afraid of his own light.
⸻
Now he stood face to face with the beast.
Neither of them blinked.
Sweat slid down Joey's temple. He wiped it away, jaw tight. During the first week at the academy, his friends had pushed him to practice again. He had improved, but the truth was simple.
He hadn't used his ability in years.
Small light orbs were easy. Simple. Harmless.
That last attack?
It drained him.
His legs already felt heavy.
The beast tilted its head slightly, studying him.
"Come on," Joey muttered under his breath, forcing a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Come on."
The beast charged in trying to take the boys head off With its incredible speed, it was hard to react, but almost as if Joey could see the future itself the boy already ducked down from the beast claws Putting his hand to its chest With a ball light glowing in his hand
Joey grinned as the ball of light burned in his hands.
"Suck it," he chuckled.
The glowing sphere shot forward, blazing through the air toward the giant yellow bird.
For a moment it looked like the attack would land.
Then the beast moved.
With terrifying speed the massive bird leapt straight over Joey, its wings beating once as the ball of light continued past him and slammed into the trees behind. Wood exploded as trunks shattered and collapsed.
"Crap—"
Joey spun around.
Too late.
A claw was already inches from his face.
Before it could reach him, a black inky wall suddenly rose from the ground.
The claw slammed into it.
The barrier held for a split second but the force behind the strike was monstrous. The impact blasted Joey backward, sending him flying into a tree.
His head struck the trunk with a dull crack.
Joey's body slid to the ground.
Unconscious.
⸻
Inside the observation room the scientists all turned toward Darius.
The looks on their faces asked the same silent question.
Are you going to interfere?
Darius said nothing.
His expression didn't change.
That was answer enough.
Some of the scientists slowly looked away from the monitors. None of them wanted to watch a child die.
⸻
Jordan's hands trembled slightly.
The ink wall had worked.
Barely.
He had managed to stop the claw from cutting Joey in half, but now the beast's red eyes shifted toward him instead.
And—
"Nico?" Jordan muttered.
The girl was gone.
She had already run.
Jordan clenched his fists.
But he wasn't angry.
He understood.
She was trying to survive. No one could blame her for that.
Still… the realization made his chest feel heavy.
Jordan inhaled slowly and pulled the black ink back into his palms. The liquid darkness gathered between his hands as he pressed them together, shaping it into a dense sphere.
"Let's try something Luka does," Jordan thought.
He thrust his hands forward.
A thin spear of ink shot out between his palms like a compressed beam.
It struck the beast directly in the chest.
The bird didn't dodge.
It didn't block.
It didn't even react.
The ink splashed across its feathers and slowly dissolved, leaving no mark behind.
Jordan stared.
"Well… worth a shot," he said with a quiet chuckle.
He never joked in situations like this.
Maybe it was the feeling of knowing how this would end.
The giant bird began walking toward him.
Slowly.
Too slowly.
Jordan frowned slightly.
Why is it taking its time?
It was almost like the creature was waiting for something else to appear.
But it didn't matter.
Jordan knew he couldn't beat it.
The beast lowered its head, preparing to charge.
Then suddenly—
A wall of ice erupted from the ground in front of it.
The bird stopped.
It tilted its head slightly, staring at the frozen barrier in confusion.
It didn't attack immediately.
And that hesitation was all the time someone needed.
A small hand grabbed Jordan's wrist.
"Come on!"
Jordan stumbled as he was suddenly yanked into the bushes.
A short black-haired girl pulled him along as they ran through the forest.
"Wait!" Jordan shouted, trying to pull free. "We can't leave Joey! I have to go back!"
The girl didn't stop.
"That thing is going to break through the ice in two seconds," she snapped. "Either you come with me and hide or you go back and die. Your choice."
She didn't wait for his answer.
She was already running deeper into the forest.
Jordan looked back.
Behind them he could already hear the cracking of ice.
His jaw tightened.
Then he turned and ran after her.
⸻
The ice wall shattered.
Chunks exploded across the ground as the massive bird stepped through.
Its crimson eyes scanned the forest.
Jordan was gone.
The beast screeched in irritation.
Then—
Zmp.
A strange distortion sound echoed behind it.
The bird instantly spun around.
A man stood there with glowing markings across his body, preparing another teleport.
His eyes widened.
Too late.
The beast lunged forward.
Its beak snapped down and tore his head clean off.
The man's body collapsed before he could escape.
The giant bird immediately began devouring the corpse.
⸻
"Dammit!" the Commander of the Teleporter Division shouted.
The entire unit specialized in teleportation abilities. It wasn't uncommon for multiple people to share the same power, but teleporters had one massive weakness.
They had almost no combat ability.
Their strength was movement, not fighting.
Against a monster like that, they were helpless.
Which meant there was only one person who could step in and end this.
Darius.
But judging by the man's face on the monitor, he wasn't going to move.
The beast slowly crept toward Joey. Fresh blood dripped from its mouth after devouring the teleporter, thick drops splattering onto the dirt below. Everyone watching could already guess what would happen next. Someone with a teleportation ability might try to rush in and save the boy the same way the last one had tried.
But no one moved.
Fear glued their feet to the ground.
The beast lowered its head slightly, sniffing the air as it approached Joey's unconscious body. After consuming so much blood its senses were sharper now, its nose picking apart every scent in the forest.
Blood.
Beast blood.
Human blood.
But then something else reached it.
The beast suddenly froze.
A strange scent drifted from the woods behind it. Blood… but not like anything it had smelled before. It wasn't fresh, yet it wasn't rotten either. The scent felt wrong, almost spoiled, like something that shouldn't exist.
The beast slowly backed away, confusion flickering in its crimson eyes. A faint hint of fear crept into its movements as the scent grew stronger.
Something was coming.
"We shouldn't rush out there like that we don't even know if that's really your friend."
A voice came from the bushes.
Branches rustled as a boy stepped out. A patch of blood red hair cut through the black strands on his head like a wound that refused to heal.
Luka.
He froze the moment he saw the beast.
The creature stared back at him with the same shock. Whatever Luka was… the beast had never smelled anything like it before.
"Hey I told you—"
Leo stepped out from the bushes behind him but stopped the moment his eyes landed on the monster standing in front of them.
Both boys went silent.
Then Luka heard something behind Leo.
His eyes widened.
A golden haired boy lay slumped behind him, blood running down the side of his head.
"Joey!"
Luka rushed forward instantly, dropping to his knees beside him without even acknowledging the beast standing just a few feet away.
The beast's attention snapped fully onto Luka now.
Curiosity flickered across its face.
Leo didn't take his eyes off the creature for even a second. His muscles stayed tight, every instinct screaming at him that one wrong movement could get them all killed.
"We need to get out of here. Now," Leo said quietly, slowly backing toward Luka and Joey while keeping his gaze locked on the beast.
Luka didn't answer at first.
His hands trembled as he looked at Joey's unconscious body.
Then his fists slowly clenched.
"What did you do…" Luka muttered under his breath.
His voice was low, shaking with rage.
"What did you do to my brother?"
The blood red patch in Luka's hair suddenly began spreading further up his head like ink bleeding through water. The color crawled through the black strands as if something inside him had finally broken loose.
Then something even stranger happened.
Red liquid began dripping from Luka's eyes.
Like tears.
Blood tears.
The beast immediately took another step back.
Even it could feel something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Luka slowly stood up.
Leo turned toward him, ready to grab Joey and run while the beast was distracted, but the moment he looked at Luka his body froze.
Their eyes met.
Luka's pupils were no longer normal.
Thin blood red markings crawled from the edges of his iris toward the center like cracks spreading across glass. The pattern twisted unnaturally, something ancient and violent hidden inside them.
Leo felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Those eyes were terrifying.
Then Luka lifted his head and looked at the beast.
Not with fear.
Not with caution.
But with a stare that looked like it could kill.