After the incident, Dye rushed Jenny home. Dye could see she was shaken up even though she tried to hide her fear.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked her on her porch.

She looked at him, her eyes worried. “I’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t a time for a joke.

It wasn’t the time.

The time wasn’t perfect.

“I hope this doesn’t put you off from going out with me again.” she looked at him blankly.

He was immediately beginning to regret his words.

Then she smiled, easing his nerves.

“Not at all,” she said. She grabbed her key and opened the door. “Call me later?”

“Um, yeah!” he said. “No worries”

She gave him one last grin as she closed the door. The moment he heard the door beginning to lock, he took off.

He ran home as fast as he could.

Dye burst through the doors of his home. On the couch was Sam and Jason watching the news coverage of the attack. They looked worried and afraid.

“Wh…what happened?” he stuttered. “What was that thing?”

Sam turned to Dye. “You think we know?” he said with a mild irritated tone.

“It looked like an evil Xenton or something,” Dye replied.

“Witnesses say that they saw the attacker as one of the armored people who saved the monorail earlier this week. Still no update on who these people are and where they have come from.” said the news.

“We need to tread carefully,” said Sam, staring blankly at the news, seeing footage of the destruction that just happened. “This can get political really fast.”

“Forget about politics,” said Dye, unsure of what Sam meant. “What are we going to do about the purple Xenton?”

“WE aren’t going to do anything, bro,” said Jason. “This ain’t your fight anymore.”

Dye was silent. It was like being stabbed in the gut. He had no part in this anymore. Jason was right, but something was urging him to try and do something. Something to try and help his brothers. So he did.

“I had a dream about that Xenton before,” he said.

Sam and Jason looked at him, bemused.

“You’re just saying that,” Jason said skeptically.

“No, I’m serious! Back when I had my spirit, or Ka, or whatever it is.”

Sam began his calculating thoughting process and Dye immediately saw his mind leave the present.

“What did you see?”

“A bunch of monsters, a red moon, the city on fire and that purple armored Xenton taking over the world…” Dye recalled.

Sam, with the new information, began again with his thought process. “Before it left, it said it had to accomplish its task,” Sam looked off into space.

“I mean, I think it's pretty obvious. It’s here to take over the world. Just like every other crazy villain any superhero has to come up against.”

Sam pondered. “I think it’s much deeper than that. There are so many questions.”

“Like?” asked Jason.

“Well, for starters, what is this thing? I saw the symbol representing Griflore on its face, but Arayan never mentioned Griflore ever being a Xenton.”

“Maybe it’s a disciple or something,” said Jason.

Sam made a maybe-face and considered that possibility.

“Second, the monsters, where did they come from? The red moon, how did that happen? Dye, you just might’ve seen what happened, but we don’t have any information on how it happened. We can’t just come to conclusions until we have all the facts or we could make things worse.”

“And what if that thing attacks again?” He asked with urgency.

“Then we’ll do what we can.” Sam replied.

“Bro, what are the odds you were there the moment that thing arrived?” Jason said jokingly. “Smack dab in the middle of everything, as always.”

Dye rolled his eyes. Jason’s words bringing back to mind how afraid Jenny was. First the train incident and now this. He would call her later just to check up on her.

A white light filled the room, blinding Sam, Jason and Dye. Just as fast as it arrived, the light vanished. They all groaned as they tried to regain their eyesight.

“What the hell was that?” asked Jason.

“I apologize for my abrupt entrance,” the voice, polite but empty of any emotion, was familiar.

Sam peeked through one eye and saw a mass of black. As his eyes started to focus, the mass of black turned out to be a cloak. “Arayan?” he asked.

“Yes?”

Dye rubbed his eyes and standing in their living room was Arayan, as mysterious and blank as ever. “What are you doing here?” he said with almost a growl of contempt.

“I do not mean to intrude but we must speak,” he said.

“I should kick your ass for bailing on us today,” said Jason, with one eye open, trying to regain his sight. “Among other things.”

“I imagine you must have a bevy of emotions stirring within you right now, but the taking of your brother’s spirit wasn’t of my choosing. I do apologize if it seemed that way.” he turned to look at Dye. They stared at each other for a quick second, then Arayan looked at Sam and Jason. “That aside, we must act swiftly.”

Arayan pulled out his crystal medallion, it was flashing, blinking with a strange violet aura. “I wasn’t sure if this was a mistake or not, but now it confirms my suspicion.”

Dye looked confused. “So, your crystal thing is flashing. What does that mean?”

“Along with detecting Ka, it also has the ability to detect other forms of energy, but it has never acted this way before. It is as though the energy it is detecting is foriegn to it.”

Dye was lost.

Jason was lost.

“You’re saying there might be a different kind of Ka out there?” asked Sam.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

“Precisely. My medallion started reacting this way a few days ago, the same night we met.” Arayan replied ominously.

“That night we saw that Xenton on top of the monorail.” said Dye, “And then it vanished.”

Arayan looked at him. “You are certain?”

Dye nodded at Sam. Sam looked at Arayan. “Yeah!” Sam replied.

“Then we must be prepared.”

“Arayan,” Sam paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “You don’t think this could be Grilfore, do you? We saw the symbol on its face.”

“I am not sure. I wasn’t aware that Griflore was even a Xenton. I am sorry that I am not much help in this case.” he replied disappointedly.

“So what do we do?” Jason asked.

“I have attempted to follow the signal but every time I’ve tried my medallion has led to different places. It is like it doesn’t know where to go.” he replied. “Our only option is to wait and see if it shows up again. If it does, we must confront it.”

“Whoa, bro, you’re asking us to just throw ourselves at whatever this is, just like that?”

“We must! If Griflore has returned, we must stop him at all costs.” Arayan spoke with urgency.

Sam was silent. He was still going through all the information in his head. “What do you think he wants?” he asked.

“I am not sure. If Griflore has indeed returned then his intentions are not clear. We must be ready for anything. I will do what I can to learn more, until then be on your guard.” Arayan seized his medallion and a quick flash took him away. Dye and his brothers covered their eyes as he left.

The three of them look at each other.

“So that’s it then?” asked Dye.

“What did you expect?” asked Jason.

“I don’t know, a bit more than that, I guess.”

Sam was still quiet. He looked up at his brothers, his eyes fixed on the both of them.

“What are you thinking?”

“Well, based on all the information, if this is Griflore, then I think he’s looking for something.” Sam pondered.

“How do you know?” asked Dye.

“Think about it, if he wanted to do more then he would’ve based on what Arayan told us. So far he just sabotaged a monorail and caused a bit of damage.”

“You call that a bit?” asked Jason, pointing to the TV, the footage still showing the devastation.

“Yes, considering he was able to break apart a super continent, this is just a bit of damage.” Sam continued. “All I’m saying is he has a chance to do much more than that, instead all he does is get our attention and tell us to stay out of his way. Then leaves.”

Dye thought about it. “Makes sense, I guess, but what could he be looking for?”

“Don’t know,” said Sam.

Though he was powerless to do anything, Dye wanted to help more, but felt as though in this instance there was nothing more he could contribute. He began up the stairs. “Well, if you need me I’ll be my room.” Dye climbed the stairs, leaving his brothers alone.

Later that evening Dye called Jenny. Her voice was still shaky on the other end. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” he replied. “You okay?”

“Better now that you called.” that made Dye all giggly. He didn’t know how to respond.

“Oh…well I hope you had fun today. Despite the — well, you know.”

“I did, but you need to work on your putting skills,” she teased.

“Noted,” he giggled.

“What do you think that was?” she asked suddenly and seriously.

Dye had several theories, but he knew he couldn’t tell her.

“I don’t know. The Xen-” he caught himself, “I mean, those armored guys, there’s a lot we don’t know about them.”

“You think they could be bad guys?”

“No, not at all. There’s just a lot we don’t know. Hopefully they can stop whatever this is.”

“Hopefully,” she replied unsurely. “Well, I gotta go, Dad is yelling for me to come down for dinner.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay, Bye,” she hung up the phone.

The next morning, Dye awoke around seven thirty. He barely got any sleep that night. His mind was all over the place on the purple, armored Xenton.

Where did it come from?

Was it really Grilfore?

If Sam was right, what was it looking for?

Dye was restless. He kept on getting the urge to do something. He wanted to figure out a way to help his brothers, but without his Ka he was pretty much useless. He threw his covers off and got up. Sam was fast asleep so he tip-toed quietly around the room, putting on anything he could find, his shoes, and left the room. He made it down to the kitchen where his father was enjoying a cup of coffee, reading the day’s paper.

“Morning,” said Dye.

His father poked his head from behind the paper and saw his son. “Morning,” he said. “You’re up early.”

“Yeah,” Dye opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice. “Thought I’d go for a walk.” he said, pouring him a glass.

“Is everything okay?” his father inquired. Remembering their conversation the night he and his brothers came home late, Dye made an effort to not make it seem too obvious. Of course everything wasn't okay, but he couldn’t explain what was going on to his dad. Having to talk about Xenton, Ka, and the possibility of an ancient, evil warlord, couldn’t possibly warrant a productive conversation with his father.

“Everything is fine,” he said, hiding his brooding.

His father folded down his paper and reached for his coffee.

“Heard you had a date yesterday.” Dye choked on his juice. His Dad chuckled. Dye wiped his mouth, looking at his Dad, who grinned back. “So who is she?”

“Just a friend from school.” he replied, trying to sop up the juice that fell on his shirt.

“What’s her name?”

“Jenny.”

“And how did it go?”

“It went fine. We went mini golfing and then got some food and that was it.” He didn’t dare mention that he was caught in the middle of yesterday’s attack. That’s assuming he had heard about it.

“Now, Son, you’re starting to get to that age where-”

Dye groaned. “Not the sex talk again. Come on, Dad!”

“I’m just making sure you remember and exercise restraint.”

He groaned again. “I knoooow. If I’m not responsible enough to pay my own phone bill then I’m not responsible enough to have sex. I got it!”

“Make sure you do!” His father unfolded his paper and resumed his reading.

Dye finished his juice and placed his glass on the counter. “I’ll be back later.” he said as he left through the back door.

The weather was humid, muggy. As Dye walked the street he could see dark clouds coming over the land. The smell of wet asphalt traveled up his nose telling him it had already rained and more was on the way. Good thing he made the choice to wear sweats and a hoodie. He strolled through the neighborhood, his mind wrapped up in everything. It was impossible to sort out and part of him didn’t want to try. The other part wanted to feel a part of something again.

A part of something important.

With the arrival of this new enemy, he wanted to be the one fighting next to his brothers. Not Arayan.

Before, he was okay with being normal again. Sure it took some adjusting and after a while it didn’t feel so bad because it was for the best.

Then he saw the purple Xenton attacking. He saw it aim its hand and in an instant, his instincts kicked in but nothing happened. He was helpless and to make matters worse, he couldn’t protect Jenny. Had it not been for Arayan, they both would've been vaporized on the spot, but if he had his powers, he could've saved her instantly. Maybe even reveal to her who he was. What he was.

Rain started to fall

As he was making his way, he saw something peculiar. As he crossed the street, over in the park he saw a girl. She looked older. Older even than Mack. She sat on the swing set as the rain continued to fall. She didn’t look very well dressed and looked as if she had been living on the streets for some time now. As Dye drew closer, he noticed her melancholy face. Before he could say anything, a flash of lighting struck and not long after a loud crash of thunder scared the both of them. The girl jumped which brought her eyes up.

Dye’s heart stopped with the immediate eye contact he made with her. He could somehow sense her sadness and felt empathy.

“Are you okay?” He said.

The girl gave no reply. Instead, she looked at him with a very perplexed look, as though she might’ve seen him before.

She looked away and continued to sway back and forth, ignoring Dye as if he wasn’t there, her unruly black hair covering her left eye.

“I hate rainy days,” she replied in a small, soft voice.

Dye found it odd she would say such a thing. She glared up, and her expression turned hateful.

“Why don’t you go home to your family, kid, I don’t have time for people worrying about me.”

“Well, why don’t you go home to yours?”

She glared at him. For a second it felt disdainful. Then her eyes relaxed.

The girl got up from the swing and began walking away. The rain started to fall even more. The girl stopped and turned her head a fraction.

“Leave me alone, kid,” she said, walking away.

Dye watched her go when she suddenly fell to her knees. It appeared like she was in pain. She grabbed her head, grunting and moaning.

“Hey…are you-”

“I SAID, LEAVE ME ALONE!” She exclaimed, turning around. Dye felt utterly horrified at her face. Her eyes turned yellow, almost cat-like in appearance, and purple veins started to creep up her face. Dye stumbled to the ground but couldn’t take his eyes off of what he was seeing. She held her head in her hands and yelled painfully.

She ran from the park and up the street. Dye watched the girl flee as though she was being chased.