Episode 7: Fractured Seal
The warehouse was still dripping with fruit pulp and blood when the air tore open.
A jagged violet rift split the space near Applehead's scattered remains. Golden light poured through, and a tall, imposing figure stepped out. He wore flowing silver robes etched with glowing runes, a featureless helmet that pulsed with ethereal energy, and carried a long staff crowned with a half-shattered seal. This was the Aether Guard — warden of the unstable realities.
Without a word, he raised his staff. Applehead's pulp twitched, then violently reassembled into her battered, limbless form. She screamed as invisible chains of light wrapped around her.
Kevin and Wyatt froze in pure shock, eyes wide.
"What the hell is that?!" Wyatt whispered.
The Aether Guard turned toward the crew, his voice calm and resonant, echoing from within the helmet. "I am Aether Guard, keeper of the Half-Seal. A prison between worlds for the mad and the monstrous Wrathborn who cannot be allowed to roam free. You have my thanks for neutralizing this one. Applehead has escaped the Half too many times."
He glanced at the stunned Kevin and Wyatt. "The Rampager and his companion… your fear is understandable. Few mortals witness a seal tear."
Applehead thrashed wildly. "Let me go! I just wanted to play!"
The Aether Guard ignored her pleas and dragged her struggling form back toward the glowing portal. "She will be secured once more."
Before he could fully vanish into the rift, alarms seemed to blare from the other side. The portal flickered violently.
Inside the Half-Seal Prison — Moments Earlier
Deep within the fractured dimension known as the Half — a nightmarish maze of floating cells and broken timelines — chaos erupted.
Khaos Hyde, an eight-foot-tall monstrosity with jet-black and dark-gold marbled skin, glowing red eyes, and short, wild dreadlocks, laughed maniacally. Pure chaos energy crackled around his massive fists as he smashed through reinforced reality-barriers.
"Finally… a tear!" he roared, voice layered with overlapping screams.
Beside him moved his ruthless best friend — Poison — a seven-foot-tall figure with smooth gray and royal-blue skin, completely faceless except for two glowing white slits for eyes. Toxic green mist leaked from his pores as he dissolved the locks on their cell with a touch.
"Time to stretch our legs," Poison hissed, voice smooth and venomous. "The Half-Seal grows boring."
The two mad Wrathborn tore through the prison corridors, leaving trails of chaotic explosions and melting reality in their wake. They found the exact tear the Aether Guard had opened — a weak point caused by pulling Applehead back in.
Khaos Hyde punched the rift wider with a blast of raw chaos energy. Poison slipped through first, followed by his towering partner.
Back in the Warehouse
The Aether Guard cursed under his breath as he sensed the breach. He shoved Applehead's chained form fully into the portal and turned to the crew.
"Stay vigilant. The Half is leaking—"
He never finished.
A barrage of small, silent darts whistled through the air from the shadows outside the warehouse. One hit Kevin in the neck. Another caught Wyatt. Peter, Nathan, Derek (Volt), and Ferrum (who the group sometimes called Zach in quieter moments) were all struck in rapid succession.
Peter growled, trying to activate his super durability, but the sedative was potent — Glimmer-engineered. "Ambush…!"
One by one they dropped.
Kevin's vision blurred as he collapsed to his knees, the Mythical Matrix flickering weakly. The last thing he saw was the Aether Guard stepping back into the unstable portal, Applehead in tow, while two massive silhouettes — one chaotic and towering, the other faceless and poisonous — emerged from the rift behind him.
Then darkness took him.
The crew lay unconscious on the pulp-covered floor as the portal snapped shut, leaving only an eerie silence… and the distant sound of mad laughter echoing from somewhere beyond reality.
End of Episode 7