For several seconds after the Vanguard disappeared into the forest, nobody moved.
The clearing remained silent.
The trees swayed gently in the wind.
Birds sang somewhere in the distance.
Everything looked normal.
Yet nothing felt normal anymore.
Two months.
The words echoed inside each of their minds.
Two months until Nythara.
Two months until the Eclipsera Conclave.
Two months until they left Earth behind.
Dak was the first to speak.
As usual.
"I'm either excited or terrified."
Matthew looked at him.
"Probably both."
"Definitely both."
Nobody disagreed.
The Vanguard had just told them that another dimension existed.
A world called Nythara.
A world filled with millions of Nexaris.
And somehow...
He intended to take them there.
The thought felt impossible.
Yet impossible things had become surprisingly common lately.
For a while, nobody spoke.
Eventually Matthew broke the silence.
"We have two months."
The others looked at him.
"We're Sparks."
Nobody liked hearing that.
Especially because it was true.
"We need to get stronger."
Dak sighed.
"There it is."
"There what is?"
"The responsible speech."
Matthew ignored him.
"If we're really going to Nythara, we can't waste time."
For once...
Nobody argued.
Because deep down, they all knew he was right.
The training began the next morning.
And immediately went horribly.
The sun hadn't even risen yet when Matthew dragged everyone out of bed.
Dak looked half dead.
"I hate mornings."
"You hate everything."
Ozias replied.
"Correct."
The first exercise was running.
Simple.
Brutal.
Effective.
Five kilometers through the forest.
No stopping.
No excuses.
The first day nearly killed them.
The second day wasn't much better.
By the end of the week they were running fifteen kilometers through hills, rivers, mud, and uneven terrain.
Dak complained every step of the way.
"I can't feel my legs."
"You said that yesterday."
"I couldn't feel them yesterday either."
Nobody felt sorry for him.
Especially after he tripped over a root and dragged Kael into a bush.
The mornings continued.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Slowly their endurance improved.
Their lungs adapted.
Their bodies became stronger.
But physical conditioning was only the beginning.
Combat training came next.
At first they relied too much on their powers.
Gravity.
Force Manipulation.
Future Sight.
Hypercognition.
Black Lightning.
Every problem had the same solution.
Use Nexis.
Kael quickly fixed that.
"No powers."
Dak immediately frowned.
"Why?"
"Because if your power fails, you're dead."
Nobody argued after that.
The first fight was Dak versus Kael.
It lasted less than thirty seconds.
Dak charged.
Kael stepped aside.
A punch slammed into Dak's stomach.
The air exploded from his lungs.
A second hit knocked him sideways.
A third put him on the ground.
Dak stared at the sky.
"I've been murdered."
"You've been trained."
Kael replied.
Dak pointed dramatically.
"See? That's exactly the attitude murderers have."
The others laughed.
The training continued.
Every day.
Bruises became normal.
Scratches became normal.
Pain became normal.
The boys slowly learned something uncomfortable.
Without their powers...
They weren't nearly as impressive as they thought.
Zeven especially hated that lesson.
Most of his time was spent sparring against Kael.
And most of the time...
Kael won.
Again.
And again.
And again.
One afternoon the fight lasted nearly ten minutes.
Both were exhausted.
Covered in dust.
Sweat dripping from their faces.
Kael attacked first.
A jab.
Zeven blocked.
A kick followed.
Then another.
The impact rattled his bones.
Pain shot through his ribs.
Still he remained standing.
Kael pressed forward relentlessly.
Punches.
Kicks.
Elbows.
Every strike forced Zeven backward.
Then finally...
Zeven spotted an opening.
A tiny mistake.
His fist shot forward.
The punch landed cleanly.
Kael's head snapped sideways.
Silence.
Nobody hit Kael often.
Dak looked shocked.
"OHHHH."
Kael slowly looked back at Zeven.
Then smiled.
A very dangerous smile.
"Oh."
The next few minutes were extremely painful.
For Zeven.
Yet by the end of the fight...
Neither could stand.
The draw felt like a victory.
The others improved too.
Ozias focused heavily on reflexes.
Matthew turned it into torture.
One afternoon the boys stood inside a circle while Ozias launched tennis balls from every direction.
Dak was hit immediately.
Directly in the forehead.
The others burst out laughing.
A second ball hit him.
Then a third.
"I hate this exercise."
Nobody cared.
Eventually the training became harder.
Much harder.
The river became their next challenge.
Crossing it underwater.
No surfacing.
No panic.
No excuses.
The freezing water stole their breath instantly.
The current fought them every second.
Thirty seconds passed.
Then forty.
Then fifty.
Their lungs burned.
Their muscles screamed.
Ozias nearly surfaced twice.
Kael physically dragged him back underwater.
When they finally reached the opposite shore, several of them collapsed.
Coughing.
Shaking.
Gasping for air.
Dak kissed the ground.
"I love land."
For once...
Nobody laughed.
Because they felt exactly the same.
The weeks passed.
The exercises became increasingly dangerous.
The abandoned quarry became their second home.
Massive cliffs surrounded the area.
Deep drops waited below.
Broken stone covered the ground.
One mistake could easily become a disaster.
Naturally...
The boys loved it.
The first quarry exercise involved crossing enormous gaps between stone pillars.
No powers.
No safety ropes.
Just movement.
Balance.
Trust.
Dak stared at the first jump.
"No."
"Jump."
Kael replied.
"No."
"Jump."
"No."
Kael stepped forward.
Dak immediately jumped.
His scream echoed across the valley.
The others nearly died laughing.
Several hours later nobody was laughing anymore.
The jumps became longer.
Harder.
More dangerous.
At one point Ozias landed badly.
The stone beneath him cracked.
His body tilted forward.
The drop waited below.
For one horrifying second...
He thought he was dead.
Then Zeven grabbed his wrist.
Pain shot through both of their arms.
Slowly...
Ozias climbed back up.
Nobody spoke afterward.
Because that had been too close.
The second month arrived.
And with it came a different kind of training.
Blindfold navigation.
Cave exploration.
Mountain climbs during thunderstorms.
Learning to read the environment.
Learning to feel Nexis in the world around them.
Not just within themselves.
One stormy afternoon they stood halfway up a mountain while rain hammered against them.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
Thunder shook the valley.
Matthew simply stood there.
Listening.
"What are we doing?"
Dak shouted.
"Listening."
"To what?"
"The storm."
At first nobody understood.
Then they did.
The wind had patterns.
The rain had rhythm.
The storm wasn't random.
Everything carried Nexis.
Everything.
The realization changed how they viewed their powers.
Changed how they viewed the world itself.
Yet despite all the training...
The most dangerous lessons belonged to Zeven.
Black Lightning continued growing stronger.
Faster.
More violent.
More unstable.
One evening he stood alone in the quarry.
Dark sparks crawled across his skin.
The air vibrated around him.
Small stones rose from the ground.
Not because of gravity.
Because the energy itself disturbed the environment.
More Nexis.
More power.
More control.
That was the goal.
Pain arrived almost immediately.
Burning.
His arm felt like it had been thrown into a furnace.
The warning signs.
The beginning of overload.
Stop.
The Vanguard's warning echoed inside his mind.
Instead...
He pushed harder.
The lightning exploded.
Black energy erupted across the quarry.
The cliff behind him vanished beneath an explosion of stone and darkness.
A shockwave tore across the valley.
Dust filled the air.
Silence followed.
Zeven dropped to one knee.
Blood dripped from his fingertips.
His vision blurred.
For a brief moment...
His eyes darkened.
Almost black.
Then the feeling disappeared.
Leaving only fear behind.
And something else.
The whisper.
Again.
Soft.
Distant.
Hidden within the lightning.
Not a voice.
Not exactly.
More like an echo.
A fragment.
A memory that wasn't his.
This time he heard a single word.
"Nythara."
The whisper vanished.
Leaving only silence.
And questions.
Questions he couldn't answer.
Questions he didn't tell the others about.
The days continued passing.
Thirty days became twenty.
Twenty became fifteen.
Then ten.
The boys sat together atop a quarry cliff one evening.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Covered in cuts and dirt.
The sunset painted the valley gold.
Dak stared at the horizon.
"We've become insane."
"Probably."
Matthew answered.
"Definitely."
Ozias added.
Kael nodded.
Even Zeven laughed.
For a few moments nobody spoke.
The silence felt earned.
Every bruise.
Every scar.
Every drop of sweat.
Every drop of blood.
Earned.
And as the sun disappeared behind the mountains, one truth remained.
They were stronger.
Not strong.
Stronger.
There was still a difference.
But for the first time...
The gap didn't seem impossible.
And somewhere beyond reality itself...
Nythara waited.