“Hello? Owen? What happened?!” A councilman named Brayden answers Owen's call, but he receives no response.

“Get me their location NOW!” he yells.

Meanwhile, an ice shield is formed around the Lost Haven squad, preventing the explosion from harming them.

“Thanks, Cora,” Nora says, weakly lying on the ground. Cora stands up, holding his hands up with ice heka circles around everyone.

“No problem,” he smiles. “Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Owen looks around, and the Daunt base is entirely in rumbles. An army of 100 plus monster experiments run wild. A screech-like roar is heard throughout the land. Elliot opens his eyes and sits up quickly.

“WHERE’S RUE!” he yells, looking around frantically.

“Don’t worry. I’m healing her as we speak.” Nash says, using healing heka on Rue. Elliot sighs in relief and then remembers something Shura said.

“Wait! Where’s that BASTARD?!” He turns to Zeke, who’s on the floor, and sprints to him.

“ZEEEKKE!” Elliot yells, going to attack Zeke. Everyone looks baffled. Owen grabs Elliot and pins him to the ground. Elliot continues to yell and struggle to get out of Owen's grip.

“Hold on a second! What are you doing?!” Owen questions.

“IT’S ALL HIS FAULT! HE SOLD RUE OUT TO THE DAUNTS!” Elliot shouts, disturbed.

“What are you talking about? Zeke may be heartless, but he’d never-” Dori says, defending him.

“I HEARD IT FROM THE DAUNTS THEMSELVES!”

Owen looks over at Zeke. Zeke attempts to stay awake but passes out due to using too much heka.

“LOOK AROUND YOU! We don’t have time for this. We will talk about all of this and more LATER!” Owen yells. From the commotion, all monsters turn their focus to Lost Haven.

Elliot is beyond angry but stays composed for everyone else’s sake.

“For now, get ready for battle. There are about 100 of those things out there. We have no idea how powerful they are, so we need to move as a team. Nash, you stay here with the injured. Elliot, I need you to protect Nash and them.” Owen commands.

“Better not loop me in with the injured, Captain,” Kai stands up, ready to fight.

“Are you sure you can fight?” Owen questions.

“AHAHA!” Kai laughs as if Owen is a comedian.

“Count me in too, Captain!” Nora struggles to stand up.

“Ha, don't even know why I was worried.” Owen chuckles. “Alright then, Nora and Kai, you two take the monsters directly behind us. Dori and Cora, I want you to take the monsters on the left side. I’ll take care of the rest.”

He looks at Nash and Elliot. “If any monsters break through our wall Elliot, I’m counting on you. Everyone understands?”

“Yes, Captain!” They respond, pumped for the battle.

“W-wait! What about me?” Amina asks.

Shoot, I forgot Amina’s here, Owen thinks to himself.

“AMINA! You will stay with Elliot and protect the injured.” Owen says nervously.

“He forgot about you!” Dori says, teasing Amina.

“NOO!! You heard him! I get to stay with my Zekey!” She says, running over to Zeke. Cora sighs, and Dori shakes her head in disapproval.

“Cora, take this shield down on my signal and put it over Nash and the injured,” Owen demands. Cora nods his head in agreement. Owen forms a giant storm cloud on the right side of the monsters using his heka. Lightning starts pouring down, hitting a swarm of monsters. “NOW!” He yells as Cora's shield is removed and quickly forms back up for Nash, Rue, and Zeke. Leaving everyone else on the outside.

Everyone runs to their given section of monsters and begins to battle. Behind the injured group are Kai and Nora. They have to defeat 25 of the 100 monsters.

“This should be fun! FIRE SHOWER!” Kai yells as an enormous heka circle is formed over the monsters. Blue fire rains down on them, but unfortunately, little to no damage is done.

“Oh? They’re tough, huh? Flame Clasp!” He uses quick speed and punches one of the monsters with his burning fire heka.

“My turn, Water Shredder!” Nora yells as sharp-edged water shoots from her arms, killing one monster instantly and damaging three more. “Look, Kai, I got one!” She says excitedly.

“Wanna make this a competition?” he says, smirking.

“There is no competition because I’ll win.” She taunts Kai.

“Wanna BET!” He says, jumping high in the air. PHOENIX WINGS!” He throws himself to the ground hitting the monsters with fire heka. Kai burns four monsters to ash and damages the rest. He looks at them with a scary grinning face and laughs.

“So cool,” Nora says, blushing. She runs to Kai and fights alongside him.

On the left side are Cora and Dori, fighting their assigned monsters.

“That’s about half of them,” Cora says, panting. Dori shoots at the monsters using her ice bow.

“Cora, look over there!” She points at a monster Cora defeated.

“That’s impossible,” Cora says as the monster begins to resurrect itself. The twins are stunned and unable to come up with a logical answer.

“How can we defeat them if they can’t die?” Dori asks nervously.

“Let’s try out our new move. Are you ready?” Cora suggests.

“Are you sure we can do it?” She walks to Cora, unsure if their new move will be enough to take down these monsters.

“We have to try at least,” he claims, standing beside Dori. The twins hold hands and combine their ice heka. Heka circles begin to form on their palms.

“ICEFALL!!” They lift up their hands and quickly throw them down to the ground. A huge heka circle is formed, and a wave of ice comes out, directly hitting the swarm of monsters.

Cora and Dori pant as they start to run low on heka.

“Did that do it?” Dori asks, falling to her knees. Cora looks around to see all the monsters resurrect once again.

“What the hell is going on?” Cora questions and continues to hold off the monsters while Dori replenishes her heka.

While everyone is fighting, there’s commotion occurring in Cora's ice shield.

“Nash, stop healing her already! My Zeke needs attention!” Amina commands Nash through the shield.

“Amina, watch out!” Elliot warns her as a monster approaches.

“TOXIC DISPERSION!” Amina yells as a blast of poison surrounds the monster, knocking it to the ground.

“You need to worry more about these things, Amina! Your boy toy is a traitor.” Elliot says, glaring at Zeke.

“Don’t assume so much, ‘Princess,’” she mocks.

“Tsk. Don’t kill those things so close. They resurrect. LIGHTNING SCATTER!” He shoots lightning from all five fingers at the monsters and sends them flying back.

“Well, how are we going to get out of this?” She asks.

Elliot looks over at Owen.

“We just need to follow Captain Owen’s orders,” he responds. Elliot sees Owen running through a swarm of 50 monsters. He slices through them using a heka-infused sword. He slides under the last one and cuts it in half.

“Sigh. I’ve killed these things three times now, and they’re still coming back.” Owen looks over at the others, making sure everyone is okay. He sees Nora and Kai fighting.

“Why are only mine immortal!” Kai yells, frustrated. Nora laughs and teases Kai as she is easily killing them.

“Their weakness must be water. It’ll take about 2 minutes each for them to resurrect. I need to get to Nora.” Owen heads over to Kai and Nora’s position. As he runs, the monsters swarm him. Owen conserves his heka and dodges his way through them all. He continues his way over, meanwhile, inside the ice shield…

“I don’t know how long I can do this. Her wounds are too deep.” Nash says faintly. Zeke wakes up and slowly turns to Nash.

“Here, use this,” Zeke says, handing him a potion.

“Thank’s Zeke. How are you feeling?”

“A lot better now.” Zeke stands up and gets ready to break the ice shield.

“WAIT!” Nash yells. He tries to stand but stumbles.

“What now?” Zeke glares at Nash.

“If you break that, Rue will be exposed, and I won’t be able to treat her.”

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“Sigh,” he walks back. “Move, Dr. Olive.” Zeke pushes Nash out of the way and onto the ground.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Nash yells. His vision begins to blur. Zeke starts to use his heka to heal Rue.

“I didn’t know you could use healing heka,” Nash says, admiring Zeke.

“If that’s what you wanna call it,” Zeke replies. He finishes using his heka to heal Rue. “Ok, let's go now.” He gets impatient. Nash watches as Rue’s wounds continue to bleed.

“Wait, she's not even healed!”

“She’s fine. Just wait,” Zeke says with his arms folded. They watch her intensely. Slowly her wounds close, and she finally wakes up.

“Take it easy, Rue. We’re here with you.” Nash says, comforting her. Rue instantly looks at Zeke and stands up.

“How’re you feeling, Red?” Zeke asks with his hands on the back of his head. Rue tears up as she walks towards Zeke. SLAP! She smacks him in the face leaving a bright red mark on his cheek.

“How could you?! I thought- I really thought I could trust you,” she says as tears fall. Zeke’s hands drop slowly.

“It’s not like that,” he says, turning away from her.

“Then what is it? Did I misunderstand them when they said you offered me up for some information about a dumb forest!!” Rue yells and pushes Zeke multiple times out of anger.

“Listen, Red. We don’t have time for this now. Look around you,” he says, grabbing her wrists. She flinches, and he instantly let's go.

“I- sigh,” he points at the others battling. Rue looks around and sees all the monsters attacking everyone.

“Now, I’m going to break this shield and fight with my squad. If you’re scared, I can always create another shield for you.”

Rue stays silent and thinks of her next move.

“GAS!” Zeke evaporates Cora’s ice to gas. “CRYSTAL WALL!” He puts up a shield for the two. “There’s a door you can push to get out. But, once you’re out, you can't go back in.” Zeke walks out into the battlefield.

“Rue, it’s best to stay here. Let me check your wounds first,” Nash says, walking to her.

“Thank you for healing me. I'm feeling a lot better. Way better than before.” Rue wipes her tears and smiles at Nash.

“No need to thank me. Technically Zeke’s the one who got you back on your feet with his potion and healing heka.”

Rue is even more conflicted and doesn’t know the right decision.

“I’m sorry, Nash,” Rue says, pushing the door.

“Wait, don't!” Nash rushes to her, but he’s too late.

Simultaneously, Owen catches up with Nora and Kai.

“NORA!!” he yells.

“Captain? What are you doing here?” Nora looks at him, confused.

“I need you to confirm something. Have every monster you have taken out stayed dead?”

“Yea, Kai and I were thinking water is their weakness, but it makes no sense. Like why water?” she says, composed.

“Doesn’t matter why. Can you use your tsunami technique and immediately kill all these things?” Owen asks.

“Technically, yes, I can, but I’m unsure if it’ll work, sir.” Nora isn’t confident in her abilities. She’s still an in-between rank of 3-4 stars.

“We have to try.” Owen picks up his radio and contacts the rest of the team. “Lost Haven, can you read me?”

“Copy, sir.” they all respond with their headpieces.

“Listen well. Water seems to be these things' weaknesses. Nora is gonna use her tsunami and whip them out. She’ll temporarily give us air to breathe but remember it only lasts 5 minutes since her heka will be depleted.” Owen explains to them, and everyone seems to be on board.

“You ready, kid?”

“GILLS!” Little air bubbles appear on all the Lost Haven squad’s necks. “TSUNAMI CRUSH!!” A colossal heka circle forms around the entire battlefield. Nora’s massive tsunami wave flows out. CRAASHHH! It hits everyone, and everything is dragged underwater.

“PHOENIX WINGS!” Kai shoots from the water and grabs Nora. He finds a safe place to land. “Nora! Are you okay?” he asks worriedly.

“I’ll be fine. Go find the others and bring them here, please,” Nora says, very weak from heka depletion.

“I won’t let ya down!” He flies in the air, searching for the rest of his team. As the minutes go by, Kai drops off Nash and Amina. “There ya go.”

“I couldn’t breathe. I almost died!” Amina wines.

“Thank you, Kai!” Nash says gratefully.

“Kai! You’re not done yet. Where’s Zeke and Rue?” Owen questions. The 5 minutes pass, and no sign from Zeke or Rue. Everyone begins to worry if they’re safe.

“Um, I couldn’t find them?” Kai says, tired from using his heka.

“Fly around again. I’ll give you a boost.” Owen says, creating a cloud for Kai. “Jump off this cloud, and you’ll go flying.”

“Sounds fun!” Kai runs and jumps onto the cloud. It sends him flying high in the sky, and with the boost, he continues his search. Out of sight, Zeke is swimming underwater as the gills wear off his neck.

“That bitch Mermaid,” he says as he swims to the surface. He takes a deep breath and looks around. There are no more monsters, and the base is washed away. He suddenly hears someone in the distance.

“HELP!” SPLASH! “I CAN'T SWIM!” Rue screams with her hand up in the air. The water is too intense and drags her under. Zeke witnesses Rue getting dragged under and is reminded of his little brother. He hears Rue and his little brother's voices simultaneously.

“HELP!!” Zeke freezes and is unable to move. He suddenly hears his mom in his mind,

“How dare you! YOU SHOULD'VE DIED INSTEAD!”

Rue sinks in the water entirely. Zeke thinks about Rue and how she thanked him for saving her life. He breaks from being frozen and dives under to find Rue. He grabs her arm and pulls her close. He swims to land and lays Rue on her back.

“RED! Hey, RED!” He panics. “She’s not waking up….” Zeke hears his mom shouting again,

“ALL YOUR FAULT!”

Zeke begins to give Rue CPR for a minute; that feels like an eternity. She finally wakes up and coughs up water. Rue pants and Zeke lies on his back. She looks over at him.

He saved me again. She thinks to herself.

“Hey, Zeke?”

“It’s true,” he says, cutting her off. Rue's eyes widened.

“Every word he said was true. I made a deal with him that if he gave me info about the Raca Forest, I would bring you to him here… at this base.”

Rue covers her mouth in disbelief as tears run down her face.

“I was gonna tell Owen so he could devise a plan to catch Shura, but….” Zeke punches the ground. “I’m so stupid! This is all my fault!” He punches the ground harder until he bleeds. “I always mess up!! I’m such a failure!!!”

Rue continues to cry, watching Zeke. Not because he betrayed her but because he’s breaking out of character in front of her.

“Zeke…” She wants to comfort him.

“Red! Don’t…I’m sorry-”

Rue can’t hold back and hugs him. Zeke is surprised and sits still for a moment. Blood drips from his fist, but the wounds heal almost instantly.

I don’t deserve this, he thinks to himself. Zeke feels weak and falls. Rue catches him. His eyes close, and she lays him down in her lap. Just then, Kai appears.

“There ya are!” Kai smiles and flies down to pick them both up. Kai regroups with the two missing members, and the team leaves the site to search for their vehicles. Owen carries Zeke on his back as he leads the team back. Elliot does the same with Rue.

“Thank you for making that bridge Cora. It saved us a lot of time.” Owen says.

“It was my pleasure,” Cora says, bowing playfully.

“Well, Lost Haven squad, I’d say mission success!” Owen smiles. He attempts to comfort his squad, except everyone is tired and depleted of heka. As they find their vehicles and start loading up, a council vehicle approaches the destroyed Shadow Daunt base.

“We’re here, sir.” says the driver.

“Thank you,” Brayden says, getting out of the vehicle. “Everything is underwater?” He questions. Brayden hears laughter and walks to the suspicious voices.

“C’mon! It’ll be fun this way! Hehe!” Kai says, chasing Nash in a circle.

“I have work to do. Leave me be!” Nash cries out, running away from Kai. Owen jumps from the ground as he sees Brayden.

“Brayd- I mean Mr. Councilman. How did you find us?” Owen asks nervously.

“I traced your location from your communication device,” Brayden answers, looking around at the Lost Haven squad.

“Ohh. Well, as you can see, there’s nothing to worry about here,” Owen tries to convince him. Brayden spots Rue and walks to her.

“So this is the famous Ms. Elinora? She’s so skinny! And those bruises! Are you even taking care of this girl!” Brayden turns to Owen and wacks him on the back of his head.

“Ouch! Yes, we are taking care of her. No need to worry,” he answers, rubbing his head. Brayden shakes his head and turns to Zeke.

That must be Zeke Herlana. He uses black heka, too. He thinks to himself.

“This Daunt base, you all destroyed it?” Brayden asks.

“It was ME!” Kai yells, taking all the credit.

“You wish it was!” Nora says, pinching Kai's cheeks.

“Let’s just say we had to,” Owen laughs anxiously.

“I see. In that case, I'll be more than happy to bring you back to Ovidinia and discuss what occurred here, kid,” Brayden says, smirking menacingly.

“That would be lovely,” Owen responds. “Also, Mr. Councilman, have you discussed what will happen to Ms. Elinora?” Owen asks, hoping he’s off the hook.

“Let’s just say I got you covered this once, kid.” Brayden answers, directing the Lost Haven team to his vehicles. Owen is relieved and opens the passenger door. Everyone hops in, and the long drive back to Ovidinia awaits.

“Hey, we need to talk privately about what went down tonight. Understand?” Braydon says firmly to Owen.

“Haha… yes, sir.” Owen laughs nervously and nods his head in agreement.

Later that night, as the team arrives back to Lost Haven, Nash brings Rue into the medical center. On their way, Rue sees Owen lecturing Zeke.

“What am I going to do with you?” Owen says, pacing around Zeke.

“You could try lecturing me more?” Zeke says being a smartass to Owen. Owen throws a lightning bolt at Zeke’s face, barely missing and cutting his cheek.

“You will tell me what information Shura gave you about the Forbidden Forest,” Owen demands. Zeke is on edge and looks away from Owen, not wanting to share. Owen slams his hands on the table and stares intensely into Zeke's eyes.

“Ugh! Fine. He told me many people had entered the forest seeking the Angel’s Trumpet herb. This is no surprise, but apparently, it’s not only thugs and lawless Daunts looking for it. The Council itself has been doing its own testing. But the forest apparently got too dangerous, and it kicked them out.” Zeke shares, not giving the whole story.

“It sounds like you’re leaving something out,” Owen gets closer to Zeke's face.

“He also gave me a map of the Raca Forest,” he says quietly. Owen's eyes widened.

“Have you located where it is?” He asks desperately.

“Not yet, but I will find it, Owen,” Zeke says seriously.

“Ok, that’s enough work for one day. Go get some sleep, kid.” Owen yawns and pats Zeke’s head as he leaves.

Zeke gets up and heads to the medical center. He finds Rue sleeping and leaves a potion on her desk for Nash to give her later. Zeke then heads upstairs to his room. He puts his bag down and unpacks everything. He takes out a key that was given to him by Shura.

“Dimensional Storage!” Zeke’s heka forms a small black hole on the floor. He hides the key inside it, then closes the hole.

Joker better not be lying about this key. He thinks as he strips to his boxers and lays on the bed. He turns on his side and looks at a photo on his nightstand.

“Almost there, Max. I’m finally close to finding you. Wait for me a little longer.”

Meanwhile, a mysterious man appears in the Great Council chamber, watching Zeke fight at the Shadow Daunt base. He sees Zeke’s black heka and takes more of an interest in him.

“Some things never change, Zeke Herlana. Not even time can heal your loss. No person can handle what’s coming to you.” he chuckles.

FIN.