In the storm-lashed skies of Isgard, where the rain fell like blackened glass and the wind whispered warnings, a streak of green light tore through the clouds. It pulsed once—bright, alien—and vanished, leaving behind a trail of fading particles, the only sign that something had passed through the gloom.
A man rode the light.
Wrapped in a shell of shimmering green energy, he tore across the sky like a fallen star, his silhouette cutting through the rain like a blade. Below him stretched devastation: a crater the size of a town, its heart shattered, smoldering, and buried under ash. Rubble lay in heaps, and drifting above it were dark silver particles, floating aimlessly, glinting whenever lightning licked the horizon. They hung in the air like malignant snow, a constant reminder of the battle against the 5th Order Void-born, that ravaged the Town.
The man drifted downward. His boots hovered just above the fractured earth. With a slow, practiced gesture, he reached into the haze—his fingertips brushing the particles. They hissed violently against his shield, arcs of static clawing at the green light as the energy began to corrode.
He frowned.
Then tapped the glowing earbud in his ear.
"Network," he said, voice low and clipped, "you said the life signs were where, exactly?"
The reply was immediate. The voice—neither male nor female, but something else entirely—seeped into his thoughts with mechanical irritation.
"Frank. Near the ruins of the last Fifth Order Void-born. Like I told you five minutes ago. Either you missed one… or one of those glitchy bastards evolved again."
Frank scanned the crater, his gaze sweeping across the molten wreckage. Rain sizzled on his barrier, each drop turning to steam. The energy field around him flickered slightly under the strain.
"Just confirming," he muttered. "I'm not detecting anything."
"You wouldn't. The signal was weak. Third Order at most. Blipped for a second, then nothing."
"Copy that." He landed with a metallic clang that echoed across the lifeless ruins. Even the wind seemed to hesitate. "I'll sweep the area. Commander Frank out."
The comm link dimmed.
He stepped forward, the green light of his shield casting eerie reflections across the twisted remnants of buildings. Collapsed homes leaned against each other like corpses huddled for warmth. Walls still glowed with residual heat, faint red veins pulsing beneath the stone. Traces of blood—dark and dry—smeared the debris in chaotic patterns. Bits of scorched flesh clung to warped metal. Bones cracked under his step.
The silence deepened.
He approached the crater's center slowly, each step sending small echoes into the void. His senses sharpened. His ears strained beyond the rainfall. His eyes flicked between shadows, filtering through the chaos.
Then—
A whisper of movement.
Frank surged forward without hesitation. He blurred, becoming a streak of emerald light as he blasted through the remains of a collapsed building. Debris scattered. Smoke and dust rose in a thick plume.
When the air cleared, Frank stood over a creature.
Tall. Gaunt. Its skin black and slick like oil, limbs needle-thin and too long, bent at the wrong angles. A hollow burned through its chest, the wound sizzling where Frank's blade had pierced it. Yet it still writhed beneath his boot, scratching futilely at his barrier with jagged fingers.
"A newborn," Frank muttered, raising his sword. The weapon glimmered with green arcs, humming with energy. "Third Order. Leaked too much power too soon. Unlucky."
The creature screeched—a sound wet and metallic—but before it could move again, Frank's blade flashed.
A single, silent strike.
The head rolled into a nearby crack. The body convulsed, then collapsed into black mist.
"Tch. Core was in the head," Frank said, exhaling. "Figures."
He looked around the ruins again and shook his head.
"No need to trash this place more than it already is."
With one clean arc of his sword, he cut into the rubble and dropped down into the depths below. Wind howled around him. His descent was silent, shield glowing faintly as it cut through the black.
Halfway down, he vanished—reappearing a second later as he slowed to a gentle landing. His boots touched the cave floor with barely a sound.
The darkness down here was heavier. The air thickened, and his barrier sizzled under the pressure. His eyes glowed faintly as they adjusted.
Void saturation is higher here, he thought. This must be where the Fifth Order evolved… No wonder we couldn't detect it until it was too late.
The green aura around him pulsed softly, illuminating the cave. He advanced deeper, each step deliberate. Around him, burrowed into the stone like parasitic tumors, were clusters of pits. Movement stirred within them.
He paused, then lifted his hand.
"Might as well do the grunts a favor."
With a single pulse of light, dozens of glowing spears formed around him—then fired. Each one struck its target with surgical precision. The Voidlings within the pits shrieked once before being vaporized, their bodies reduced to dust and silence.
He moved forward, following a faint trail of residual energy.
"There you are," he murmured.
Frank vanished again in a flicker of motion—reappearing in a vast underground chamber. The space was circular, ribbed with organic ridges where the Void had reshaped the earth. At the center lay the decayed remains of a massive skull, half-buried in the stone. Next to it glowed a pale crystal—tall, elegant, six feet in height. Veins of white light pulsed through its surface.
Frank descended toward it, but paused mid-air.
A sharp surge of void energy pulsed outward.
He retreated instantly, eyes narrowing. Extending one hand, he projected a retrieval pulse toward the skull. It fizzled out before reaching halfway.
"Tch."
His body flared with energy. The shield thickened, crackling louder now as he dove forward, leaving a trail of afterimages behind. He grabbed the skull and crystal in one fluid motion, retreating again to the entrance of the cave.
He frowned has he saw that his cloak had lost most of its shine.
He examined the skull briefly, then clenched his fist. It shimmered—then folded in on itself, collapsing into a dense black sphere. A second pulse erased it from sight.
Now only the crystal remained.
Six feet tall, its surface semi-translucent, white veins crisscrossed like a beating heart. At its center, a faint eight-petal flower pattern flickered—almost imperceptible.
He placed a hand on it.
The flower glowed.
Light bloomed violently from the crystal, banishing the shadows in all directions. It flared once, then slowly dimmed… revealing what it had hidden.
A child.
A boy—no older than six. Tan-skinned. Naked. Blonde hair clung to his forehead, damp with condensation. He floated in place for a moment, then settled gently onto the stone floor.
Frank stared.
A child?
Here?
But even more shocking—he was breathing normally. The void energy around them unable to harm the boy.
Frank approached cautiously, scanning for anomalies. Then his gaze fell on the boy's chest.
There, etched in black, was an eight-petaled flower similar to the one on the crystal. Dark veins spread outward from its center like a network of roots. It pulsed faintly—absorbing the last threads of light from the crystal—before dimming, becoming inert.
Frank bent down, studying him closely.
What… are you?
He didn't expect an answer.
But the question remained.