The clearing remained silent.
The stranger's words lingered in the air.
"One of you will eventually get someone killed."
Nobody liked hearing that.
Especially Dak.
"That's a pretty terrible introduction."
The stranger looked at him.
"Does that make it false?"
Dak opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
For once...
He didn't have an answer.
The wind moved through the trees.
Dead leaves rolled across the clearing.
Matthew stepped forward.
"You still haven't explained anything."
The stranger's eyes shifted toward him.
"What exactly do you want explained?"
"Everything."
That earned the faintest reaction.
Not a smile.
Not amusement.
Just acknowledgment.
The stranger looked toward the horizon.
"Power."
He said quietly.
"Everyone wants power."
His gaze returned to the boys.
"Very few understand the price."
Something about the way he said it felt wrong.
Not dramatic.
Personal.
As if he wasn't speaking from theory.
As if he had lived it.
Zeven noticed it immediately.
This man wasn't pretending.
He had seen things.
Too many things.
The stranger was about to speak again when suddenly...
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Zeven saw it.
Immediately.
The stranger turned toward the deeper forest.
Listening.
The birds had stopped singing.
The wind had stopped moving.
The entire forest had become silent.
Completely silent.
A chill crawled down Zeven's spine.
"What is it?"
Matthew asked.
No answer.
The stranger's eyes narrowed.
Then...
A scream echoed through the trees.
A human scream.
Far away.
Yet filled with absolute terror.
Everyone froze.
Dak looked around.
"What the hell was that?"
Another scream followed.
Closer this time.
Much closer.
The stranger's expression hardened.
For the first time since meeting him.
The relaxed posture vanished.
The calm attitude disappeared.
The boys suddenly realized something.
This man was taking something seriously.
Very seriously.
The stranger took a step forward.
Then another.
His eyes never left the forest.
"What is it?"
Zeven asked.
The stranger remained silent for several seconds.
Then finally spoke.
"You stay here."
Dak frowned.
"That's not an answer."
"No."
The stranger replied.
"It isn't."
The atmosphere grew heavier.
Then...
The stranger vanished.
Not ran.
Not jumped.
Not moved.
Vanished.
Space twisted for a fraction of a second.
Then he was gone.
Silence.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Dak blinked.
"Okay."
Another blink.
"That was cheating."
No one laughed.
Because the scream echoed again.
Then suddenly...
BOOOOOM.
The ground shook beneath their feet.
Trees trembled.
Birds exploded into the sky.
Far away.
Deep inside the forest.
A distant flash of crimson light illuminated the horizon.
Then darkness returned.
Matthew stared.
"What was that?"
Nobody knew.
And for the first time since awakening...
The boys felt something they hadn't felt before.
Fear
Not fear of their powers.
Fear of something stronger.
Much stronger.
Far away.
Deep inside the forest.
The Vanguard stepped into a ruined clearing.
Trees had been torn apart.
The ground was scorched.
Dead animals lay scattered across the area.
The smell of blood filled the air.
And standing near the center of the destruction...
Were four figures.
Tall.
Armored.
Silent.
Not human.
One of them slowly turned.
Its eyes settled on the Vanguard.
Then a smile appeared.
"A Vanguard."
The others looked up.
"Interesting."
The Vanguard's expression remained unreadable.
"Noxari."
The smile widened.
The forest suddenly felt much colder.
The ruined clearing remained silent.
The Noxari watched.
The Vanguard watched.
Nobody moved.
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then one of the Noxari laughed.
"Earth."
His voice carried amusement.
"Of all places."
The Vanguard remained calm.
"You shouldn't be here."
Another Noxari shrugged.
"And yet we are."
The silence returned.
Dangerous.
Heavy.
The kind of silence that existed right before violence.
The Vanguard glanced toward the unstable rift behind them.
A crack in reality.
Small.
But growing.
That alone was bad enough.
The presence of Noxari made it worse.
Much worse.
"You found something."
The Vanguard said.
The Noxari leader smiled.
"Maybe."
The answer confirmed everything.
The Vanguard sighed.
Then space twisted around him.
The Noxari moved instantly.
BOOOOM.
The clearing exploded.
Trees shattered.
Shockwaves ripped through the forest.
The battle lasted seconds.
Only seconds.
Yet hundreds of meters of forest were destroyed.
One Noxari crashed through several trees.
Another narrowly avoided a spatial distortion that cut through the air.
The ground cracked.
The sky shook.
Then...
Silence.
The remaining Noxari retreated toward the rift.
Not defeated.
Not victorious.
Simply leaving.
The leader stopped before disappearing.
His eyes settled on the Vanguard.
Then toward the distant direction of the boys.
A faint smile appeared.
"So they're here."
The Vanguard's expression darkened.
The Noxari noticed.
And laughed.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Then they vanished into the rift.
The forest became silent once more.
The Vanguard stood alone.
His breathing remained steady.
Yet a thin line of blood slowly appeared on his cheek.
A scratch.
Small.
But real.
For several moments he stared at the place where the Noxari had disappeared.
Then he turned.
And walked back.
An hour later...
The boys were still waiting.
Nobody had left.
Nobody felt comfortable leaving.
Dak paced back and forth.
"What if he's dead?"
"He's not dead."
Matthew replied.
"You don't know that."
"No."
Matthew sighed.
"I don't."
Then suddenly...
A figure emerged from the darkness.
The Vanguard.
Walking calmly.
Just like before.
Relief spread across the group.
Then Zeven noticed something.
Blood.
A thin line running down the Vanguard's cheek.
Dak noticed too.
"You're bleeding."
The Vanguard wiped the blood away.
Looked at it.
Almost annoyed.
"A scratch."
Nobody believed him.
Because something had managed to wound him.
And that realization was unsettling.
Matthew stepped forward.
"What was out there?"
The Vanguard looked toward the forest.
His eyes remained fixed there for several seconds.
Then he answered.
"You're lucky."
Silence.
Dak frowned.
"Lucky?"
The Vanguard nodded.
"They weren't looking for you."
The boys exchanged confused glances.
Nobody understood.
The Vanguard looked at each of them.
One by one.
His gaze lingered on Zeven for a moment longer.
Then he spoke.
"Go home."
The tone left no room for argument.
"And if you ever hear screams from that forest again..."
A pause.
"...run the other way."
Nobody laughed.
Nobody questioned him.
Because for the first time since all of this began...
They had seen genuine danger.
Not powers.
Not training.
Not awakenings.
Danger.
The kind that could make even a Vanguard bleed.
And somewhere far away...
Beyond Earth.
Beyond the stars.
Something had just learned of the Black Lightning.