Chapter 2 – Trial by Flame
The road north was nothing but bones.
Burned trees lined the broken path. Craters dotted the hillsides, half-filled with stagnant rainwater. They passed through two ghost towns—one hollowed out by fire, the other by something worse. No signs of life. Just walls blackened by power discharge, dried blood near abandoned crates, and silence that screamed louder than any siren.
Mason Kane moved with a slight limp, his coat singed, boots caked in ash. Arc trailed behind, his face bruised, sparks crackling down one arm from overuse. Crystal walked ahead but slower than usual—her teleportation limited to short, careful bursts. Her right sleeve was torn, exposing the gash beneath.
They didn't talk.
They hadn't for hours.
They crossed a collapsed rail bridge by twilight, stepping through the cracked skeleton of the King's Line, once a proud transport route. Now it was rust, ghosts, and the echo of boots trying not to stumble.
At the edge of a cratered road, a scavenger watched them pass. Lean, bent, a plasma rifle slung across his lap. He said nothing. Just spit and pointed west.
"You'll die like the rest," he muttered.
They didn't slow.
---
They reached the burn line by moonrise.
It hadn't been there last time.
The forest here was still smoking. Trees sheared at the roots. A field torn open like something had detonated from the inside out.
Arc knelt beside the blast crater. "This wasn't lightning."
"No," Mason agreed. "This was planted."
Crystal narrowed her eyes. "Trap."
She was right.
---
The first explosion was a whisper compared to what followed.
The world lit up orange. Heat came first. Then the blast. It ripped through the treeline behind them and sent all three scattering. Mason slammed into a half-buried pipe. Arc flipped twice, landing hard with a grunt. Crystal blinked mid-air, barely avoiding a burning branch.
From the fire walked a man.
Armored in scorched plating. Eyes lit with focus, not rage. His gauntlets shimmered with activation glyphs, glowing red-orange. Twin thrusters hissed at his back.
He smiled like this was a game.
"Found you."
Mason coughed, standing slowly. "Let me guess. Richard sent you."
"He doesn't like loose ends."
He stepped forward. Each step was deliberate, but weightless. A subtle glow pulsed under his feet—controlled detonations giving him lift and propulsion.
"They call me the Arsonist."
Arc groaned. "Wow. Subtle."
The Arsonist didn't wait for the punchline.
He launched a grenade-sized detonation under his foot and shot forward. Mason raised a wall—too slow. The shockwave tore through it like tissue. Arc dodged left and was nearly caught by a follow-up mine. Crystal blinked into cover behind a crumbling outpost marker.
He landed in their midst and triggered a microburst—a sphere of compressed kinetic force. It knocked all three back.
Mason rolled to his feet, raised his arms, and sent a wave of rock spears forward. The Arsonist flipped over them and retaliated with a twin-blast from his palms. Arc countered mid-air, using his own momentum to ride the blast and redirect it into a rolling thunderbolt.
It slammed the Arsonist into the dirt.
Crystal reappeared above and rained down two arrows. One missed. The other hit his shoulder, exploding with concussive force.
He stood.
Bleeding. Grinning.
"Not bad."
---
But then he got serious.
He clapped his hands, and the air ignited.
An expanding dome of flame forced them to retreat. Arc tried to get close again, but the heat bent his lightning off-course. Mason raised a stone barrier that instantly began to melt. Crystal blinked behind cover, but smoke followed her everywhere.
"He's pressurizing the oxygen," she choked. "That's not just combustion—that's engineered."
Arc regrouped behind Mason. "We need to stagger him. He's using heat zones to block paths."
"Then let's take away the field."
Crystal blinked into the air and fired a flare arrow straight upward. The sky lit. Arc used the burst of light as cover and charged.
He struck three times: knees, side, temple.
Each hit landed.
Then Mason erupted from underground with a stone gauntlet the size of a car hood, slamming into the Arsonist's chest.
He flew.
And Crystal was already there.
Her arrow struck mid-air.
Boom.
He hit the ground and didn't get up.
For a moment, they waited.
Then he stirred.
One hand raised. A mine blinked on his chest. His last blast.
Mason didn't hesitate. He summoned a spike of obsidian and drove it through the gauntlet.
It detonated—but collapsed inward.
The blast caved around itself.
The Arsonist exhaled one last time.
And burned.
---
They watched the body for five full minutes.
Arc finally said, "Think he was the only one?"
"No," Mason answered. "But he was the first to die."
Crystal stood quiet.
Then pointed east.
"Kingtolio's that way."
---
They arrived by sunrise.
Kingtolio's towers cut through the mist like black knives. The city shimmered with electric life—metal walkways, smart-glass towers, patrol drones. Everything moved like it was meant to be there. Functional. Sharp.
Sarah met them at the south gate. Tall. Silver-haired. Surgical in posture.
"You're late."
Arc looked down at his bruised chest. "Blame the fire guy."
She didn't smile.
"Phoenix Squad. Trial begins in ten minutes. Try not to make a scene."
---
The Trial Arena was vast.
Urban ruin. High-rises like broken fingers. Streets pitted with shell scars. The lights were artificial, but the fear was real.
Nicole and Joe stood waiting.
Nicole crossed her arms. "You three look like hell."
Crystal grunted. "We earned it."
Joe nodded toward the central crater. "Undead's regenerating. The longer we wait, the worse it gets."
Arc stretched. "Nice to meet you too."
> PHOENIX SQUAD TRIAL Objective: Eliminate Class-E Regenerating Undead and Adaptive Horde
The zombie emerged.
Fifty feet tall. Veins glowing red. Bone and muscle knit together like corded wire. It turned, and the world turned with it.
Minions rushed from sewer gates and broken doors—screeching, crawling, dozens at a time.
Mason acted first.
He raised a wall to split the field. Nicole blurred forward, shadows erupting into spiked traps. Joe froze a waterline and redirected the burst across the mob, halting fifteen minions.
Arc blitzed a runner, blasting its skull. Crystal sniped three behind him.
But the zombie adapted.
Its arm regenerated twice as fast.
Minions began flanking.
Joe locked down a perimeter with expanding ice. Nicole struck surgical shadow lines, executing near-silent takedowns. Mason battered the field with stone. Arc zipped through the maze. Crystal teleported to sniper vantage points.
Still, the minions came.
The zombie roared.
Joe and Nicole took the lead—freezing the zombie's legs while shadow spears pinned its core. Crystal struck its eye. Arc overloaded its nerves. Mason raised a ramp and hurled Arc like a bolt.
The final blow cracked the spine.
They stood as it fell.
The light turned green.
> Trial Complete. Grade: A.
Nicole nodded. "You're not as useless as you look."
Joe smirked. "That was fun."
Arc collapsed onto a slab. "Can we do it again never?"
Crystal smiled faintly.
Mason looked toward the dark glass above them.
Somewhere behind it, Mr. King watched.
Silent.
And smiling.