Arson woke up being held by the scruff of his neck. He blinked rapidly, feeling drained and exhausted.

Embers… I must have done something wrong, I don’t believe you are supposed to wake up tired after being asleep…

He blinked and looked around, taking in the environment. He somehow knew he’d caused himself more trouble, even before he took in the disappointed faces of his peers… and his mom, who stood dangling him off the ground with one upraised arm, flicking through broadcasts on her flatscreen with the other.

“Hey, mom.”

“Hey, son. You okay?”

Arson thought to himself for a moment, mentally checking over himself. He’d never used his Overlay as a frame of reference for his current status, physical nor mental. He’d always been bothered by how in flux the bars that symbolized his vitality, life-energy, and mana had always been, and hoped one day he’d be able to depend on the information panels permanently affixed within his vision.

“Yeah, I think so,” answered Arson. He looked around, noticing Autumn’s straight faced stare of concern. Her lips pressed together with force until he managed to make eye contact with her.

Then his eyes fell upon Xani’s own; the young woman smiling from ear to ear.

“How bad did I lose,” asked Arson.

“You didn’t do too bad against your cousin. That psycho in your soul, on the other hand, wiped the floor with all of us, so in the end you lost to Moriarty and your inner demon I guess, lost pretty thoroughly to your mother,” said Xani with a laugh. Arson nodded and smirked.

“You win some, you lose some,” laughed Arson. He glanced toward his mom, and a thought struck him, a question he’d been meaning to ask her.

“Thanks for coming to help me mom. I’m actually glad you're here. I’ve been meaning to ask you a question,” started Arson.

“Mmhmm, and what would that be, son?” Arson took a chance, noticing that his mother was distracted by something on her phone, hoping she’d agree to his request if she answered without thought.

“Can you teach me to teleport?” Xani, and Autumn both gasped at what they heard, and Arson glanced at his cousin who cursed softly. Arson only then noticing the handful of empty vitality potions at his cousin's feet; empty and discarded.

“No,” said Jade. Arson’s mouth fell open in shock.

“What? Why not? It would help me with so many things, I could build this sparking coliseum easier, do better in the tournament, and probably even be able to—“

“No, son. I’m sorry, that can’t happen right now. I will teach you eventually, but I’ve been contracted above and below ground back in Maelstrom after the attack earlier.”

“What attack?” asked Arson shocked at what he was being told. Whatever had occurred must have been enough to make his mother grant her work total focus, something Arson had never seen her do since they’d been reunited.

“Maelstrom is being invaded by a foreign realm, far more advanced than the limits of Maelstrom, maybe even my homeland CloudLake.”

“Anastasia,” blurted Arson in a half yell. Arson thanked his mother for setting him down with a single nod as Anastasia spoke up.

“Catching you up now, kiddo!” Holograms grew to consume the immediate area. The entire group now able to see Maelstrom from a bird's eye view before the attack on the realm. Lane’s voice suddenly able to be heard as the event played out in front of their eyes.

Arson crossed his arms, his gaze serious. Holograms of the place he called home being ripped apart played out in a time lapsed speed. The destruction rolling across the face of the realms primary planet and CityNation in a few breaths.

“Today our nation has faced an attack unlike any other in all the history of Maelstrom,” said Lane. The young woman flew above the scar that had been left by the attack. Buildings that once stood in the more refined sections of the areas which had been destroyed or consumed, were shown either far below, lost forever to the depths, or crushed where they once were.

Others shown teetering halfway into the chasms now revealed, or the even more rare few apparently capable of flying above ground; advanced enough to defend against disasters of the magnitude faced, or even slightly more.

Lane landed upon the roof of one of the buildings her broadcast showed had survived the attack and now burned massive amounts of mana to stay adrift through the air well above the city for a period. Some of the structures could stay afloat without end, while Arson could see the already diminishing light stored within the foundations of many of the flying buildings, and knew without a viable place to resettle the bases of the buildings, many would inevitably crash land anyway.

“Who did this…?” the entire tower that surrounded the tree they all stood next to vibrated under the power of Arson’s voice. Though it wasn’t dark and menacing as it had been while Reaper was in control, none there escaped the overwhelming sensation of mana that thrummed through the area when Arson spoke; Moriarty even scrambling backward, pressing his back to the tree positioned there.

“I don’t know,” said Jade as a portal ripped open behind her, patting Arson on the cheek softly, before she started to turn, speaking as she stepped through the gateway.

“But I’m going to find out. I’ll be in touch. Love you, son.”

…

Micro ran down the side of a falling building. A smile stretched across her face. The young woman unaffected by the fact the ground rushed toward her at life ending speeds as she rushed upside down across a skyscraper.

She dove and spun, turning upright as she twirled her arms in a slight circular motion. The sheet tied to her back opening up, just before the building crashed below. The explosion pushing her upward as the concussive force rippled outward.

Glass shards pierced the air like bullets shot from a turret in every direction. A sound of whistling forcing her to look up even before she could manage to summon her fleet of mini shadow dragons.

“Son of a—“

Micro heard her name being yelled, forcing the sound of the ripping sheet to the back of her mind as she looked around.

In the same moment she managed to notice Khalif and Oscar on a nearby roof, the sheet serving as a parachute ripped down the middle, sending Micro into a downward spin, only one side of the sheet large enough to keep her up until even it folded inward on itself.

She screamed,. The ground now far more dangerous than it had been a moment prior. Her shadow usage had grown considerably working with Seneschal, but not to the degree that she could time phrasing through her shadow when she couldn’t even tell what direction was up.

Just as she felt her heart skip a beat at the thought that she was about to face her end, a shadow was cast over her back by one of the flapping sheets still tied to her body, a literal arm reaching out from darkness, before it wrapped around her neck and yanked.

Not knowing what was happening, Micro found herself sliding across the roof of a random building at an incredible speed, she and who she prayed to be Khalif caught in a tumble.

The two finally stopped and Khalif jumped to his feet, and looked all around himself, then off toward a familiar voice that screamed in celebration.

“You did that, dude. You really just sparking did that," yelled Oscar as he ran toward them. Micro lay panting on her back, eyes closed as she caught her breath.

After only a few moments of silence she opened her eyes to see both the young men smiling down at her. Khalif’s arm stretching down to assist her only a blink before Oscar’s was extended in offering as well. They pulled her to her feet and both gave her torn sheet odd glances.

She untied herself, and decided to pull a fresh sheet from her pocket. Her associates even more confused when she retied a new sheet to all of her limbs.

“Should I even ask what the sheet is about or—“

Khalif shook his head and Oscar stopped talking. The young man shrugging before he waited for the two who outranked him to speak up, knowing that they couldn’t stay in one place for very long.

“I don’t think we are going to get a break for quite a while, Cro,” said Khalif with a laugh. Micro scoffed, clenching her fist at the rage that built in her chest over not even being able to relax for an entire day.

“You can let it out,” said Oscar with raised eyebrows. Micro frowning as she digested the words, looking between him and Khalif, who nodded in agreement with Oscar.

She looked away, biting her lip, not the type to show how she felt inside. Yet in that moment all she wanted to do was yell.

The frustration at seeing her former home even more destroyed than the ruined Under-City already had been felt like a knife to the heart.

“Spark it…,” mumbled Micro under her breath as tears filled her eyes and she took a deep breath before she yelled as loud as she possibly could, the sky falling all around her.

“Embers on this day, and any who were at the root of disrupting my sparking time off!”

…

Rob was entirely aware of every moment between him hitting the ground, and the point his body began to pull itself back together.

Drops of water were pulled from literally hundreds of yards away by a magnetic gravitation created once Rob formed his core. Beads of liquid rolled from high and low all into a single direction like rain falling from the tips of leaves into puddles, lines like thin rivers flowing together, moving toward the ocean that was Rob’s soul.

He didn’t know when he begun to breathe naturally or when enough of his body reformed for him to truly think straight, but he didn’t open his eyes even when he knew he could; still unable to feel his legs.

He meditated. New sensations growing familiar as he drew in power from all around himself. Speeding up his recovery with every breath taken. His limbs didn’t regrow in moments, but quickly enough that any who witnessed the feat would be impressed, with the exception being Arson and probably his mother… and Almarine.

It wasn’t until Rob felt he could wiggle his toes that he even attempted to open his eyes. The sight above him was somehow even more discouraging than it had been before he’d fallen.

Rob looked around before he rolled onto his side and slowly got to his feet, testing his body, worried that he wasn’t truly okay.

His shoes were no where to be found, but luckily his bag was still attached to his clothing, and his body regrew within the boundaries of the outfit he’d had on.

He pulled an extra pair of shoes from his bag. Quickly putting them on before he tried to slowly climb down the side of the wrecked building of the nightclub he’d crashed, no… He could still feel what it had been like to be stretched across what felt like an entire field. He hadn’t simply crashed, he’d splattered across the rooftop of the collapsed ManaWell like a popped water balloon.

“You're lucky to be alive, boy,” said a voice near to Rob that made him jump. Rob frantically looked around himself, until his eyes landed on a hooded figure sitting on the roof Rob had just climbed down from. The man’s leg dangling over the side, as he pet two black huskies at his sides.

“Seneschal, right?”

The hooded figure nodded and Rob felt frozen by eyes he couldn’t see. A pressure that Rob felt he could sense originated from the man’s direction.

“What are you doing here?”

“My master sent me to find you all and ensure that you made it either to the orphanage or the dump safely,” responded the demon. Rob looked toward a hole that led into the side of the ManaWell and then back at the demon.

“Thanks, but I must find Brianna. If you find any of the others, let them know where I am,” said Rob, jumping from the elevated section of rubble he stood upon, down into the smoking interior of the nightclub.

“As you wish, young cultivator,” said Seneschal, the words whispered across the distance heard as if he’d spoken to Rob face to face. A shiver running down Rob’s spine as the words struck Rob.

He looked around at the flames, crushed and dismantled bodies of the dead, and was distraught at the seasons of hard work their team, no… their family had worked on together being overcasted by tragedy and loss.

He wanted to turn and run. Call for the demon who’d offered to help him, and run. Yet the words of the demon fueled him to continue on.

You are a Cultivator now, Rob. Fear won’t save the people you love from this, only action and determination will!

Rob gathered his courage, prayed to the Maiden that the love of his life was fine, and pressed forward into the flame-lit darkness before him.

The soft hum from Rob’s forgotten propeller palm drones filled the area as they descended into the hole after him, only a few yards behind. Four drones fanned out behind him defensively as he moved forward, one granting him view of the path in front of him, a light installed into one of the fingers now pointed down the hall.

“Brianna!”

Rob made it to the end of the hall and felt as if his heart was beating out of his chest. He tried to take a moment to concentrate on his breathing, only for a noise that sounded like growling to Rob to steal his breath away. He turned slowly and screamed.

A beast that looked like it was made from rotted flesh, dark and twisted energies, and the malice of the underworld stared back at Rob. His hands beginning to tremble the entire time he slowly reached for the mouth of his bag to pull out a potion.

“Don’t you do it…” The beast crouched slightly in preparation to charge. The sound of claws trotting closer grew louder, until Rob was looking at three beasts. All various sizes, and formed from a multitude of deadly creatures, long dead, considered to be extinct.

“Embers and sparks…”

Rob threw the potion and ran. He was around the corner before he even heard the glass break, but knew that he’d missed completely. The fact confirmed by how close the sounds of charging beasts were on his heels.

“Brianna!”