“In her hands she had absolute power to create a world anew, or cleanse it all through fire.”

The fire burned bright and hot, tearing flesh from his body. It was agonizing, a pain that no man should suffer. “Is this how I die?” Tyse thought to himself, slowly losing the senses of his nerves.

He reached out into the air around him, clamoring for help, but all just stood watch in horror or this sight they were seeing. Nova and Finn couldn’t even usher a word out to him, and didn’t lift a finger to help. They knew that it was already too late for him.

A voice in the back of Tyse’s head spoke to him. It was the voice of Pyrium, “Your foolishness has led you to burn… however… given the circumstances I will give an exception.”

Tyse continued screaming in agony, but now the pain was different. Instead of the searing heat of the fire, he felt as if a tremendous amount of energy was being shoved into his being. His flesh no longer burned and the heat soon didn’t bother him no more. Gradually he grew quiet, soon able to withstand the pain. Now it felt as if he was going through violent growing pains. His muscles ached and his bones felt like they were being stretched out. He felt like he was going to die from this too.

The fires that had surrounded him ceased and Tyse stood in a circle of shoot and char blanketing the ground around him. The pains he felt were faint and now he felt lighter. Nova, Finn, and even the legionnaires stood in awe as they witness him unscathed. He took a moment to process everything and looked at his body, unbelieving that no damage has been done to his body after burning. He glowed a faint orange and embers formed around him like he was going to burst into flames again. He looked at his arms and was surprised at what he saw. Attached to his arms were two kite shields, running along his forearm. They were bigger than his entire arm yet they felt almost weightless to him. He examined the decorated metal on the shields, seeing how the edges were gilded bronze and curving designs were placed on the shields.

He overheard the chatter of legionnaires in front of them. They were lined up in a formation, ready to fire on him, completely forgetting Nova and Finn. Commands were given to the men to open fire, and then the machine guns began spitting volley of bullets at Tyse. He brought the shields in front of him to shield his front entirely from the attack. He then began to dash right into the formation with shields still up. He didn’t do that on purpose, it was as if his body moved on its own.

He charged through the center of the firing formation and then began attacking legionnaires where ever he could see. He spun in a cyclone, picking off groups at a time. Riflemen scrambled away, but didn’t get far as Tyse took them down with his shields. The swordsmen among the legionnaires then advanced, but only managed to stay up a little bit longer than the riflemen.

Nova and Finn were in awe of what they were witnessing. Before they saw Tyse as a hopeful cowards and a moment ago they were witnessing him being burned alive. They didn’t believe that this was the same Tyse that they knew. He moved and fought in such a manner that would have never belonged to a coward. Even Tyse didn’t recognize himself in all the fighting, he was fighting as if his instincts were telling him to, as if he was only watching through the eyes of someone other than him. Nova carried Finn to shelter away from the fighting. They had done all they could for the day and now they can only watch Tyse fight off the entire base.

Tanks began rolling out and other vehicles arrived to try and stop Tyse. Tanks open fired at Tyse and so he blocked. The shells came in contact with his shield, but he held his guard even as he was pushed back a few feet. Three tanks were facing him, taking turns shooting their cannons at him. Even the mini cannon legionnaires appeared to help the tanks volley. Tyse tried to hold his guard, but the shots kept hitting hard pushing him back. He lost patience for the guarding so he lashed open his guard in an outward swing. Fire protruded from the swing in a monstrous gust towards the tanks and cannon units. The tanks were pushed back a little, while the cannon units were cut down and scattered. A tank shot at Tyse, but in quick thinking, he twirled to follow the motion of the cannon shell and grabbed it. He held tight, feeling the sudden weight of carrying the shell, but he continued to twirl, building momentum and regaining balance. At the end of his twirl he chucked the shell back at the tank, destroying it and legionnaires nearby the blast. The two other tanks realigned their shots on Tyse. One tank shot at him, but he punched it, taking the explosion to his fist. He charged the tanks, dodging a shot and deflecting another, when he reached the tanks he began to punch them out of commission. For his size he was punching large craters into the hull of the tanks.

Right as he finished the tanks, he began to get shot at from the sky. The bullets hit his back, but they only manage to sting Tyse as they are turned into ember and flames when they come in contact. The spirit surrounding him was incredible and as Nova watched, she was sure that any normal person would have had a serious wound after that.

Nova and Finn looked at the chaos from the sidelines, in absolute awe from the destructive force they were seeing. The heat of the fires burned strong, lighting the night sky and warding off the cold. Tyse was destroying all that the Legion threw at him, no matter how big it was. He took down carriers and airships in seconds. It seemed that nothing would be able to stop him. The final gunship in the air shot out a flurry of cannon shells and bullets in a desperate attempt to put Tyse down, but he leaped towards the gunship, high in the air, blocking the shots with his shield. He struck at the gunship with a burst of punches and fire. Dents could be seen from the ground and the ship was devastated, burning as it fell to the ground. This was the power of a God.

Tyse fell to the ground and landed gently, as if weightless. He looked at the devastation he had just caused and couldn’t believe that he did all of that. He looked to his hands and the glow that was once there was dim and slowly faded. The shields too faded away as they disintegrated into embers, drifting off into the sky. The strength he had once felt was gone and he found himself on the ground, totally exhausted. Nova ran to his side and helped him up. He could barely make eye contact with her and had an incredible urge to sleep, but Nova didn’t let him as he was dragged away from the scene.

It wasn’t safe for them in the town anymore, so they had to make preparations to leave immediately. Tyse was fading in and out of consciousness. He looked to see that they were moving inside the mall with Nova giving him a shoulder and Finn was running with a limp ahead of them. Then he realized that they were in the sewers and then the alleyways. He finally woke up inside a room on a couch. Looking around, he couldn’t see any doors, only windows and a ladder leading to a hatch at the end of the room. TV on the floor playing the news, showing footage of the Legion base in flames. He couldn’t hear what the TV was saying though. The couch was comfortable, red, made of polyester, he was about to fade into sleep once more, but was more alarmed that he didn’t know where he was.

Slowly his vision sharpened and his hearing returned. He could sense the world in more detail now. He slowly pulled himself up to look around the room some more. He looked over the couch and saw Nova gathering her gear as Finn rummaged through a closet for some things. He seemed to have found all of the gear that he looked for and put on a brown leather jacket with a black belt across the body. He then attached his quiver to a shoulder piece on the jacket and a knife on the belt. Finally he strapped a waist pack onto his right side, placing various tools and other supplies in it.

“Take a change of clothes here.” Finn said, looking at Nova, “Those rags of yours might not cut it while on the run.”

He opened the sliding closet wider to reveal a selection of clothing to the side for her to choose. This entire time Nova hadn’t realized that she had been fighting in only rags and a cloak. Quickly, she picked out whatever seemed suitable and caught her eye. She took the clothes into the nearby bathroom to change.

Finn looked over and saw Tyse sitting up on the coach, “Good you’re awake.” He says, “How are you feeling?”

Tyse took a moment to usher out his words, “I feel… tired.”

“Well I would expect that after what you did. I’ll spare the questions for now, we just need to focus on getting out of town as soon as possible.”

After he finished his sentence, the bathroom door opened and Nova stepped out. She looked different with her new clothes on. She wore plated black leather boots, sleek black pants, dark grey shirt with a white sleeve less jacket on top, and a strange white hood worn by sleeves and mounted on the shoulders. She wore her rucksack across her body like a messenger bag and also carried a black side pouch which came with the jacket. She looked and noticed that Tyse was up, “Can you walk?” She asked.

Tyse wasn’t really sure about that. He moved his legs off the couch and took a breath in. He slowly got up on his feet, still feeling exhausted, and maintained his balance. He then proceeded to move forward, with shaking legs, still keeping himself from collapsing. “I might need help when we’re moving.”

Nova nodded and looked to Finn, “Got everything ready?”

He looked over to Tyse, “You need a change of clothes before we hit the road?”

Tyse hesitated to answer. He looked to his uniform, specifically looking at the school insignia on his chest. The rose with a flame inside. There was no way he would give up his jacket, too many memories with it. He shook his head, “I’m good, let’s just get going.” Without saying much else, everyone gathered all the things that they needed and departed through the roof hatch.

As they made their way towards the town edge they noticed how there was police everywhere and legionnaires roaming the streets. People were randomly stopped and questioned in the late night, asked about the three assailants of the base. Of course no one had a clue when asked so the legionnaires continued their patrols. Tyse stopped for a moment and thought about the school and everyone there. He thought about how they would surely be questioned for his actions. He then had an image in his mind, showing the school burned to ashes. He flinched at the thought of it, but he shook it off, ignoring it until he got away safely from the Legion. With the alarming size of the patrols, the group decided to hurry out of town. In the distance they saw lights in the sky, meaning that sky patrols will be arriving shortly. They managed to get down to ground level through a fire escape and weren’t too far from the edge of town. Upon reaching the edge there were heavy patrols and guards on and along the roads. They hid from the guards as they were stopping and searching vehicles that passed. Nova looked at how heavily guarded the area was and thought it impossible to escape at this point.

There wasn’t much in their way at this point except for the guards on the makeshift checkpoint. They were hiding behind the fences and shrubbery of an old building, with only trees and open space on the other side of the fence. They waited, for what felt like hours, for an opening big enough for the three of them to slip by the patrols besides the checkpoint. Suddenly the guards were yelling at the occupant of a vehicle to get out to search his vehicle. The man owning the car must have been noncompliant to their orders because the legionnaires had their guns pointed at him, demanding the search the vehicle. The patrols nearby noticed the commotion and came to assist the checkpoint guards. Nova and the others took this opportunity to hop the fence and run for the open plains before anyone else could notice them.

They ran as fast as they could, with Finn leading with a slight limp and Nova helping Tyse as she gave him her shoulder. They all kept moving, with lungs burning and legs weakening, until they couldn’t run any longer. The whole group was exhausted from the whole day, not even the adrenaline pumping in them can help give an energy boost. The darkness grew denser as they continued to run farther away from the lights of civilization. In the distance they can still see search lights of Legion patrols and the lights of airships, in a mad attempt to find the three. No doubt they were outraged by losing the Glaive to a mere group of three. It wasn’t long until they were able to find a dense forest to take shelter in, and once they went deep in the dense trees, they were relived to feel a sense of security for a while.

It was nearly pitch dark out with nothing to light their way except for the stars that were out and unshrouded by the clouds. Nova got together whatever fire wood she could find in the dark and tried her best piling them up in one spot. She pulled out a tinderbox from her bag and tried getting a fire lit. It took many attempts and strained eyes until she finally was able to start a small flame. She carefully gathered sticks and dry vegetation around to gently place them over the flame. Soon the candle light grew into a good enough fire to start piling wood on. Nova finished making a nice campfire and relaxed on the ground as she felt the warmth of the fire and accomplishment from making the fire in the darkness. The group hadn’t had the gear nor thought about packing camping gear, except for Nova who was now laying on her sleeping bag. Tyse and Finn sat close to the fire, constantly scanning their surroundings to make sure no one was near. They were more paranoid about wild animals around than the Legion at the moment. Nova seemed to notice this so she commented on their behavior, “We’re in a thick forest with only a small fire. The only way legionnaires will find us if they searched through the forests or an airship was right on top of us. Both ways we’ll know they’ll come from a mile away.”

The two of them relaxed a bit, their eyes clearly wanting to rest. There was some rustling in the trees and foliage around which caused Finn and Tyse to tense up again, but Nova reassured them that predators won’t come too close to the fire, especially if there were people around. They fell quiet, nothing can be heard but the crickets chirping, the fire’s crackles, and the leaves being moved by the gentle breeze of the night. No one wanted to talk, they just wanted to rest in the moment they had. However, the longer they stayed silent, the need to talk began eating away at their thoughts. Finn was the first one to talk, “That was… today was intense.”

“Yeah…” Tyse said.