The afternoon sun is casting a golden hue over the glass-paneled buildings. Danny flew into the driveway, heart still racing from the day's chaos. He then got out of the mechanized suit, as he left it at the main entrance of prison HQ—a choice he still hadn't fully processed. He didn't greet anyone this time. He just bolted straight to his room, locking the door behind him with a nervous flick of his wrist.
With the rings still firmly latched to his wrists, he then sat down at his desk. The symbols carved into the bands glowed faintly, pulsing like a heartbeat. For hours, he scrolled through ancient databases, cracked old codebases, even skimmed conspiracy forums—anything that might offer some insight.
Nothing worked. Not even brute force. The rings wouldn't budge. He tried heat, cold, even asking them politely. Still nothing.
Frustrated and exhausted, Danny leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling. Should I tell Marvel? Michelle? The thought crossed his mind more than once. But something about these rings... they didn't feel ordinary. They felt alien. Dangerous. Maybe even a curse. No, he couldn't drag them into this—not yet.
He slumped onto his bed and grabbed the remote. The news was on. Footage filled the screen—Astrea standing tall with her Wing fluttering, giving a statement to the press while the Protectors of the Planet worked behind her: Volt is rescuing survivors by phasing through concrete and debris in his path, Lucid attending to the wounded, Aftershock lifting rubble like paper, Droid scanning for survivors, and Aetherion controlling the elements to stabilize the area.
Danny sat up. His eyes locked on Astrea. She looked... safe. Alive. He needed to see her.
He threw on a long-sleeve hoodie to hide the rings and stepped out of his room. In the surveillance room, Marvel and Michelle were deep in conversation. He gave them both a casual smile.
"Hey, Mom. Think I could borrow the car for a bit?"
Marvel raised a brow. "You don't even have a license."
Danny tilted his head, eyes wide, lips quivering—his go-to puppy-dog face.
Marvel sighed, defeated. "Ugh, fine. But if you wreck it, I'm grounding you for life."
Danny grinned, snatched the keys, and hugged her tightly. "You're the best."
He then went to the driveway in PRISM HQ as he got into marvels car and headed out the main entrance.
He drove carefully, keeping to the speed limit, trying not to give his mom any reason to worry. The highway was smooth, and the wind blew gently through the window and onto Danny's face with his hair swaying. But peace doesn't last forever.
From the opposite lane, a semi-truck veered off course. The massive vehicle screeched, skidding uncontrollably. Danny's eyes widened.
"Oh, come on—"
The truck tipped.
Without thinking, Danny swerved hard. His tires shrieked against the asphalt as the car crashed through the guardrail and tumbled down into the thick forest.
Branches shattered. The world flipped. Danny gripped the steering wheel, heart thundering. This is it, "Danny said".
Suddenly, the rings on his wrists lit up violently.
"Host in danger. Threat level: High."
His eyes snapped open. The voice echoed—not from the car speakers, but from the rings themselves.
The car slammed into a thick tree with a deafening crunch and Danny snapped his eyes closed. But Danny didn't feel it. No pain. No impact. Just... weightlessness.
He slowly opened his eyes and found himself hovering a few meters above the ground. A glowing, purple energy sphere surrounded him, absorbing the shock.
"What the hell...?"
The car lay crumpled against the tree, smoke and flames rising into the air.
"Mom is not gonna like that," he muttered.
Trying to orient himself mid-air, Danny awkwardly floated back up toward the broken railing. Controlling his flight was harder than expected—he zig-zagged like a malfunctioning drone—but eventually reached the roadside.
Then he heard it.
The groan of metal. The hiss of escaping gas. The truck.
He turned and flew to it—hovering shakily. The driver was still inside, unconscious. Smoke curled from the hood, and fire crept closer to the cabin.
Danny landed with a stumble and grabbed the door.
It wouldn't budge.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled harder.
Still nothing.
Anger bubbled in his chest, and then he raised is hands in the hair with a scream and then—boom!!.
Purple plasma burst from his palms, raising through the air. The rings flared in response. The heat was intense, even to him. He stepped back, panicking, unsure what he had just done.
He took a breath, tried to center himself, and focused that same energy—this time with control as he placed his hands at the door hinges.
With melted hinges due to the heat from his palms, the door dropped off. But as he reached for the driver, he winced. His hands were still radiating heat.
Behind the truck, a puddle of fuel leaked rapidly. Flames were inching closer.
"I don't have time for this," Danny growled.
His frustration peaked. His eyes turned solid purple, pulsing with alien power.
He reached out instinctively—and the unconscious driver began to float toward him.
Danny blinked. "No way..."
With shaky control, he flew backward, dragging the driver with him, rising just as the truck exploded. A fireball burst below, but they were high enough now—safe, for the moment.
With a flick of his wrist, a glowing purple bubble wrapped around the driver. Danny descended, carefully lowering him in front of the emergency wing of a nearby hospital. Nurses and guards scrambled to the scene, but by then, Danny was fading.
His body felt heavy. The rings dimmed. His vision blurred. His concentration slipped.
As he fell, layer after layer of soft purple energy pads formed beneath him, cushioning the drop. Each one shattered on impact, slowing him just enough.
Finally, he collapsed onto the grass, panting, drained—but alive.
Somewhere deep in the forest, the night seemed still—eerily quiet, as if the woods themselves were holding their breath.
From the mouth of a jagged cave, something stirred.
The creature burst forth with a snarl, its form blurring as it sprinted with impossible speed through the underbrush. Each stride covered immense ground. Its eyes glowed green, slicing through the shadows as it moved like a phantom through the trees. Twigs snapped, the air trembled.
The creature had gone out of the cave in the hope of finding something more fancy to eat.
I swear if I eat another goddam rodent, "the creature said to himself".
Soon, the forest gave way to a narrow road. The creature skidded to a stop and sniffed the air, his head twitching slightly. His eyes fell upon the twisted remains of a burnt-out truck, charred metal still smoldering. A shattered guardrail lay mangled nearby, as if something had gone off-road... violently.
It bolted forward again, this time along the road, faster now—fueled by something deeper than instinct. Moments later, it reached the outskirts of a hospital. Skulking in the shadows behind a row of tall bushes, it crouched low, green eyes scanning.
And there he was.
Danny.
Collapsed just outside the hospital entrance, breathless, chest rising and falling in rhythmic motion.
The creature moved.
In a flash—a blink—Danny was gone from the hospital lawn.
They arrived back in the cave mere seconds later, the journey too fast for Danny to even process. He tried to scream, but the wind had been stolen from his lungs.
By the time he found his voice, he was already tied down, his wrists and ankles bound tightly with vines twisted like rope.
The creature loomed over him now, towering, breathing hard through flared nostrils.
"I remember you," it growled, voice deep and raw. "I saw you... in my cell. PRISM HQ."
Danny's head throbbed. His voice trembled. "I don't know what you're talking about."
But the creature wasn't listening. Its gaze had dropped to Danny's hand.
To the rings.
That green glow returned in its eyes—stronger this time, wild and pulsing.
"They chose you..." it hissed. "Of all the souls in this cursed universe.. they made you the host."
Danny instinctively tried to cover the rings, but his wrists couldn't move. "Host? What are you—"
"You don't know what you carry, do you?" the creature's voice shook with disgust. "You're not chosen. You're cursed. That thing on your hand... it doesn't make you powerful. It makes you a threat. A vessel of destruction."
The creature then clenched is fist.
"I escaped from my home world because it got destroyed by those monsters, all of my kind, wiped out but I escaped to this damned planet. As the creature said with is voice cracking.
Danny's eyes widened. "Look I understand you, I really do but what those that have to do with---"
BAM.
A quick right hook by the creature took Danny out cold.
The cave then fell silent.
The creature stood over him, staring, chest heaving.