Zorn burst from the tree line, his soles pounding against the shifting sand. His lungs burned with every ragged breath, but he refused to slow down.
The roar of the crashing waves grew deafening, carried by the salt-heavy sea breeze.
He stumbled down the final slope and hit the shore, sand kicking up in white plumes beneath his boots.
Panting, he scanned the horizon. Left. Right. Nothing.
The ocean shimmered with an indifferent brilliance. The beach stretched out in an empty expanse of jagged rocks, sun-bleached boulders, and the rhythmic shifting of the tide.
No monsters. No people. Just a haunting silence.
He crouched, hands pressing into his knees as he forced air into his lungs. The sharp ache in his ribs throbbed in perfect sync with his racing heart. And then...
"AAAAAAH!"
A scream. It was distant and muffled by the wind, but it was unmistakably real.
A girl's voice. Zorn spun around, eyes frantically searching the coast. The sound of splashing gave the position away.
He scrambled up a massive boulder, his fingernails scraping against the rough, sun-baked surface.
His boots slipped on a patch of dried salt, nearly sending him tumbling, but he clawed his way to the crest.
Then, he saw it.
In the surf stood a young woman. Her long white hair was tangled with seawater and foam, her arms thrashing wildly as a man ruthlessly shoved her beneath the waves.
"Someone! Please help...!"
Her plea was cut short as he forced her head under again. Her legs kicked desperately, sending white spray flying into the air.
Zorn's blood turned to ice.
Is he trying to drown her?!
The man was a titan. He had shoulders like iron and stood at least seven feet tall. Dark armor encased him from head to toe, with jagged spikes jutting from his pauldrons like the teeth of a beast.
A spiked helmet concealed his face, leaving only the faint, ominous glow of crimson eyes visible through the narrow slit.
He was a nightmare given form in iron and shadow.
Zorn felt pathetic beside him: a thin figure in a red jacket, utterly dwarfed by the man's sheer presence. His hands quivered, but his feet moved before his fear could stop them.
He leaped from the boulder and sprinted across the wet sand.
Run! Faster!
The girl's muffled screams shattered the last of his hesitation.
"Get off her!" Zorn bellowed.
The iron-clad monster turned. He wasn't surprised. He wasn't even in a hurry. He lifted one hand casually toward the sky.
Darkness swirled, coalescing into a sphere of black and violet energy. The orb pulsed once, then exploded into a violent gale.
The wind howled across the beach, a physical wall of pressure. Sand whipped into Zorn's face, stinging his skin like needles.
The man's tattered black-and-purple cape flared behind him like the wings of a predatory beast.
Zorn threw his arms over his eyes, teeth gritted as he forced himself into the heart of the storm. Fine purple dust clung to his hair. His boots bit deep into the sand with every grueling step.
The armored man brought a heavy foot down, and the earth itself seemed to split beneath the weight.
"You have no idea what you are interfering with, boy," the man rumbled. His voice was cold, ancient, and as heavy as the crushing wind.
Zorn lowered his arms, shouting through his teeth. "I don't care!"
He pushed forward, his leg muscles straining as if sheer will could shatter the magical gale. He wouldn't run. Not while she was suffering.
A sharp pulse shot through his arm. Red and black light cracked across his skin like molten lightning, crawling toward his fingertips. His glyph flared to life, responding to the heat of his resolve.
The air shifted. The wind faltered for a fraction of a second. The iron monster remained motionless. He was expectant, eyeing the Scorpio Glyph.
Gradivus, the monster noted.
Zorn raised his glowing hand. Rage and desperation poured into his palm. The sand beneath his feet began to tremble.
Suddenly, the sea pulled back, receding unnaturally fast. It was as if the world itself feared the power surging from his arm.
Stronger! Just enough to take out this freak ripped from a bad dream!
His eyes shifted to the damsel.
For her sake!
The girl sat paralyzed in the shallows, trembling as the wind whipped wet strands of hair across her face. Curled on her knees, she watched the impossible battle unfold with wide, glassy eyes.
"Incredible..." she breathed.
Her pulse ran hot and fast. Saltwater trickled from her bangs, stinging her eyes and blurring the world into a smear.
She tried to scramble backward, her hands scraping against the wet stone. Her nerves screamed at her to run, but her body felt heavy and clumsy, weighed down by the terror.
Then she froze. She noticed the water was vanishing. It hissed as it receded into the horizon, leaving behind shallow pools that mirrored the sky.
Her drenched white dress clung to her skin, and her hair felt like heavy ropes dragging at her shoulders.
"That boy... his fury... that strength... is he...?"
Her chest tightened when she got a glimpse of his wrist glowing red.
What is that?!
She shook the thought away.
"No. Survival first!"
Taking advantage of the chaos, she sprinted. She clutched the pocket of her dress as if she was trying to not drop something.
Her bare feet dragged through the wet sand as she fled toward the safety of the forest, praying she wouldn't have the courage to look back.
Zorn lunged, his fist trailing arcs of red and black lightning. The monster caught the strike in his open palm.
CLANG!
The impact rang out like a hammer on an anvil.
Wind exploded outward, carving a crater in the beach beneath them. But the man didn't budge an inch.
"You are unsteady. Impulsive," he rumbled, his grip tightening on Zorn's fist like a vice. "You cannot win like this."
Before Zorn could blink, he was yanked forward. A massive fist drove into his stomach. Air tore from his lungs.
The world tilted on its axis. Zorn’s knees hit the sand, and he collapsed, wheezing for air that wouldn't come.
The monster released him with a flick of his wrist. Zorn crumpled at his feet.
"You try to fight like a man, yet you still react like a mere child," the man said, his voice like grinding tectonic plates.
He stepped forward, pointing a gauntleted finger.
"You would save one life at the cost of countless others? You nearly summoned a tsunami with that outburst. Then what, child?"
Zorn coughed, clutching his midsection. The man's stare was cold and unyielding.
"If I hadn't stopped you, your recklessness would have drowned everyone on this coast... all for the sake of one treacherous girl."
"How... how did you stop it?" Zorn gasped. "That was my strongest ability..."
"Lunaclast."
"L-Luna... what?"
"Lunaclast. A Cancri spell. The breaker of hidden, destructive tides. I seeded a fragment of it into my sphere before you struck. You are inferior to it... especially knowing what you are."
Inferior to it? “What you are”?
Zorn’s mind raced. Does he know me?
"Why were you trying to drown her?!”
"Using magic would risk catastrophe with what she holds. Drowning her was my safest option.”
The waves calmed. The spot where she had been struggling was now empty. The monster tilted his head, a low growl rumbling deep in his chest.
"She escaped..." His spiked gauntlet clenched into a fist. He pointed once more at Zorn. "You foolish boy. You may be a child of the Mars Mage... but you lack his intellect. His intuition. May whatever falls upon you next wake you to your mistakes."
The words struck deeper than the physical blow.
The man's body began to break apart into black and purple dust. It swirled like ash in the breeze before vanishing into the spray of the sea. Zorn lay there, his breath shallow, sand sticking to his sweat-soaked skin.
His eyes dropped to his wrist. The glyph glowed faintly, a dark light pulsing once before fading into dormancy. His hand wouldn't stop trembling.
His mind was full of questions.
What she holds?
Who was that monster?
And what did he mean by "Child of the Mars Mage"?
The waves rolled back in gently, almost mockingly.
Zorn clenched his fist, gripping the sand until the grains slipped through his fingers. They were carried off by the tide, just like his strength.
Zorn’s grip loosened as the tide reclaimed the sand, thinking about what that monster called the girl.
Treacherous…
His eyes drifted toward the forest where she had fled.
“…What did I just save?”
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