Gareth walked through his home in the Scarlet Forest. A large expanse of trees with scarlet red trees with mighty trunks and where all the leaves were a mix of reds, yellows, and oranges.

It was a beautiful place of natural wonder and extreme dangers. Monsters of all sorts also called the place their home.

Freja and Forge had told Gareth from a young age that he was from a different planet. Growing up, everyone had done their best to make Gareth feel included in everything, and for the most part, Gareth felt like he belonged.

It was in the silent moments of solitude when the feelings of loneliness crashed into Gareth like violent waves of volatile emotion.

Some time had passed since Gareth’s father, the legendary hero Forge, had been brutally murdered by Circe and Lord Husk.

During that time, Gareth had been living each day as though everything no longer mattered. His mother, Freja, had done everything she could to pull him out of the dark rut. Gareth always met her with an empty stare, and she often felt, in those moments, he couldn’t really see her.

Princess Adamantia, his childhood friend, had paid him many visits. Sometimes alone, and other times with the rest of Fighting Force, but it always ended with awkward silence and with the visitors leaving feeling down.

Gareth now sat in his father’s secret lab. It was a place he visited his father many times through the years. Forge had spent countless hours building, tinkering, and teaching Gareth.

A place full of memories and disorganised chaos. One was just as likely to trip over a spare part as they were to step on a rusty nail. Most visitors here felt overwhelmed and would quickly leave. But it was somewhere Gareth could be and feel as though he truly belonged on Etherum.

Old notebooks of Forge’s were scattered throughout the lab, full of chicken-scratch sketches and rough notes, Gareth hadn’t been able to look at them since his father’s passing.

“Will I ever be worthy?” Gareth asked. His words rang through the room.

“You know you already are.” Freja’s soft voice brought him a small comfort. She put a hand on Gareth’s shoulder, and he leaned into a warm hug.

Freja and Gareth sat in silence for a while in Forge’s lab, but Freja eventually retired and went to bed. Gareth sat there, awake all night, like he had done many times.

The next day, Freja awoke to the deafening roar of one of Forge’s old inventions. She stumbled out of the cottage and managed to catch Gareth flying into the horizon in the direction of The Scorched Wastes.

“What are you doing my son?” Freja ran back inside and contacted King Balor from the screen that Forge had put into their quaint cottage. King Balor’s face appeared on the screen.

“What’s wrong Freja?”

“Its Gareth. He’s taken one of Forge’s flying contraptions and is heading toward The Scorched Wastes. Oh Balor, I fear that boy may be doing something stupid.” Tears had started to well up in Freja’s eyes.

“Its okay, the Fighting Force will go and stop him.” With that, the screen faded to black.

Gareth stood on a cliff that stuck out like a jagged tongue into The Scorched Wastes. He scanned the land through the scope of his rifle and was amazed at what he saw.

Monstrous creatures prowled the lands. He watched as a cyclops with a great club in one hand and a horn on its head lumbered after a seemingly smaller creature. The cyclops’s blistered and veiny skin seemed to barely hold the grotesquely bulging muscles underneath, it wore fur boots and pants. After a few misses with the club, the cyclops had finally caught up to the creature and picked it up with one giant hand.

The cyclops then tilted its head back, its mouth gaping wide. It slammed its jaws shut as the creature was halfway through its mouth. Gareth watched on in disgust as blood and guts sprayed out everywhere. The cyclops licked its lips and wiped its chin and continued to run through the wasteland.

“Gross.” Unsure of what he intended to do, Gareth brought the scope back up and looked out into the wastes once again.

“He’s going to get himself killed!” Adamantia had just been told by her father what Gareth was doing.

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“He’s dealing with a lot of grief right now; his father was murdered. That takes a toll on someone.” Balor was firm in his tone.

“At least he got to grow up with both of his.” Balor was taken aback by this. He had always figured his daughter had felt this way, but the ever stoic, she had never said anything to him before.

“Adamantia, she sacrificed h-”

“For the greater good of Etherum, I know. But what about for me? Why did it have to be her?” Adamantia turned from her father. He put a hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away.

“I’ll get the others of Fighting Force and we’ll go pull his head back in.” Adamantia ran out of the room; nobody could see the tears that burned in her eyes.

Gareth had been so engrossed in surveying the wastelands ahead of him, he never noticed the violent storm that had crackled to life above him.

Thunder snapped, followed by a loud crack as the edge of the cliff that Gareth was standing on broke away from the rest of the rock. He came to, but it was too late. The rocks and Gareth plummeted to the grounds below.

With no idea of knowing how much time had passed, Gareth came to in immense pain. He went to move but had to stop, aches all over burst to life.

“Am I going to die here?”

The ground beneath Gareth quaked, and with all of his straining might, Gareth twisted his neck enough to see an approaching cyclops. It swung its great club above its head and saliva sprayed everywhere.

“Sorry father.” Gareth closed his eyes and waited for the end.

But it never came. A mighty roar made Gareth open his eyes and he watched as Rictor came plummeting down from above. Rictor crashed next to him and leapt off the ground again.

“You’re being an idiot.” Gareth saw Adamantia, Needle and Claw were with him now. The three of them helped him out of the rubble and sat him up to watch the fight.

Before the cyclops had a chance to react, Rictor had closed the gap and rammed the giant’s chest with his shoulder.

The ground shook as the cyclops landed square on its back. It growled and grabbed its club. It pulled itself back to its feet and charged at the new target.

“I’m sorry.” Gareth hung his head.

“Feeling sorry for yourself isn’t what Forge would have wanted,” snapped Adamantia. Gareth brought his head back up.

Rictor went flying above the group and crashed into the cliff. The cyclops roared in triumph and made to close the gap.

Adamantia readied her weapon and ran at the cyclops. Claw transformed herself into her panther form and leapt up at the head of the cyclops. She ripped at its face with her claws and teeth before it managed to grab her and tear her away. It threw Claw at the incoming Rictor and the two fell to the ground.

The cyclops swung the club down at Adamantia who rolled to the side. She leapt back and ran up the arm of the cyclops.

“Aren’t you going to help?” Gareth asked Needle.

“I’m afraid I can’t do much against that thing. Besides, who’ll look after you?” Needle gave a wink to Gareth.

Adamantia was about to thrust her sword into the neck of the cyclops when it snapped its neck to face her and caught her sword with its teeth.

“Shit.” She brought in her shield to slice at its eye. Here, the cyclops dipped its body and Adamantia fell from its shoulder.

Before the cyclops had a chance to make a move, Rictor had come back and slammed his weight onto one of the toes of the monster. It fell to its knees in pain.

A glow of green sparked to life and a hole appeared in the head of the cyclops where its eye was. Grey and pink viscera slopped out as the grotesque body hit the ground with a thud.

“Oh, that’s nasty,” commented Needle. Gareth smiled.

Gareth and Adamantia sat on the roof of his small cottage home and looked up at the stars together. It was the kind of thing they used to always do growing up.

“I know what happened is hard. It sucks. But, you can’t put yourself and others in danger because of you’re upset. Yeah, you can grieve, but you’ll have to pick yourself up and keep going. Etherum keeps ticking and the threat of evil is always there.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. And thanks.”

“I’m here whenever you need to talk. As are the rest of Fighting Force. And your mum and my dad.” Adamantia leaned in and bumped her shoulder with Gareth’s. He bumped his back.

“Thanks, again.”

“See you back at Everlight tomorrow?” Adamantia asked as she launched herself from the roof, did a somersault and landed on her feet.

“Yeah.”

“Good.” Adamantia took off on her hovercycle and raced back to the shining citadel.

Gareth went inside and ate heartily the meal his mother had prepared, for the first time since Forge’s death. Freja looked at him with loving eyes and the biggest smile she’d ever had.

“Hey mum, I’ve got an idea to build something. I’m gonna build it tonight.” A goofy smile had spread across his face.

“Oh that’s great dear, glad to hear it. Don’t burn yourself out with it though.”

“I won’t.” Gareth jumped up, pecked his mother on the cheek and ran into his father’s workshop.

The members of Fighting Force had just walked out of Everlight to greet the day. They’d shared breakfast together, but concern had grown when Gareth had never showed up.

“You go on ahead with training, I’ll go find Gareth.” Adamantia was already on her hovercycle.

“No need, there he is now.” Claw pointed and the others followed to see Gareth was approaching them a little too erratically on his hovercycle.

“Sorry for being late. Been up all night.” His hovercycle stopped with a sudden jerk and he was almost flung from his transport.

He opened a satchel and showed them all a small, metallic orb that was a little bigger than his hand.

“What is it?” Rictor asked.

“I call it Recon.” Gareth put his other hand over the top and twisted it and pushed a button. The others watched in amazement as the orb slowly unfolded into a small and janky looking bird. There was a jerky life to its small movements.

“That’s pretty cool, but what does it do?” Needle asked.

“Its able to record basic data, like what it sees and hears, and can report it to me as its happening. I just need to wear this.” Gareth showed a small piece of blue metal and sat it over his ear.

“Safe intel gathering. Hopefully keep us out of danger unless it’s really needed.”