LAND OF FLAMES
Far from the prison camp, the ground shook with heavy impacts, each one closer than the last. A malicious presence spread across the wasteland, thick enough to crush the air from their lungs. Everyone in the camp felt it instantly, their stomachs twisted, and their bodies locked.
Tucker turned sharply. In the distance, plumes of sand burst into the sky with every step, like explosions ripping through the earth. He didn't need to wonder who it was. He already knew Asura was coming.
For a moment, Tucker stood rooted in place, transfixed by the approaching figure. The woman who had helped him before seized his arm, pulling hard. "Move!" she hissed, breaking him from his daze. Together with the other prisoners, they sprinted into the wasteland.
But then a surge of Presence swept over them, invisible yet crushing. Tucker's body seized. Every prisoner froze mid-step, trapped beneath the weight of it.
From above, a shadow cut through the smoke. Asura leapt high, then came crashing down before Tucker, the ground buckling beneath his landing. Cold eyes locked onto him.
"Bingo," Asura said coldly.
Tucker stared boldly his face blank but his knees locked. He couldn't bring himself to do anything. 'Is this the end?' He thought to himself.
Tuckers mind then drifted to past memories.
FLASHBACK – THE OPEN SEA
The night had passed quick, the sea breeze whispering through the ship. Tucker had been the first awake, bursting with chaotic energy. He stomped across the wooden floors, banging on doors, dragging everyone into his storm. By morning, the group gathered on deck.
Micheal nursed a mug of coffee, Madison and Doug quietly ate scraps, Shirley and Tucker were laughing like maniacs, finding endless ways to amuse themselves on the endless waves.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Shirley howled, doubling over.
Tucker grinned wide, proud of his antics, until the sea itself rebelled. A whale, massive as the ship itself, rose from the sea. Its body smashed against the railing with earth-shaking force.
Madison shrieked, Doug reached for a pistol, Micheal yelled to hold fire.
And then Shirley moved, cleavers flashing in hand. Tucker followed without hesitation, straight instinct pulling him forward.
Steel and flesh, blade and fist. Together, they struck the beast, and in that instant, Tucker knew, he wasn't just some kid caught in a nightmare. He could fight, and he could fight good.
"YEAHHHHHHH!" he and Shirley roared in unison as the sea went still.
FLASHBACK – THE SLAB
Then, he remembered the pod, the slab, and the strange letters: CORE.
The pod that smelled faintly of cinnamon.
The words inside that rattled him to the bone: Project UJO, names lost meaning, history erased, humanity rewritten.
And he remembered what it felt like to hold knowledge for the first time, not just jokes, but real knowledge. He had thought Shirley was a lunatic, but they were similar.
Knowledge is brain fuel.
FLASHBACK – THE WHITE HOUSE
Then came the worst of it. Outside the White House, the alarms, the woman in purple screaming, then the man in black raising his weapon, and her body collapsing as life left her.
Tucker saw it. The blood pooling, the crowd ignoring it, the silence of a world glued to screens.
"WHY AREN'T YOU DOING ANYTHING?!" Shirley had screamed at them, throat raw. But no one looked. As if they didn't care.
That was the first time he understood.
The world was cruel. The world would keep walking even if he fell.
BACK TO THE LAND OF FLAMES
The memories tore past him in a flash. The laughter, the discovery, the death. Shirley's voice, Micheal and the others.
And Tucker snapped back into the present.
His knees unlocked. His chest filled with air. He clenched his fist.
Asura loomed over him, cold eyes locked on his prey.
Tucker swung. The punch ripped through the air, every ounce of memory, rage, and stubborn life he had left surging into the strike.
Asura stumbled back holding his face. His hands trembled as blood from his cheek trickled down his hand.
"Ah…." Asura said, his gaze looked up to Tucker in pure rage. Asura spit the blood out and from here the fight began.
Tucker blinked, half in shock, half in pride. "Yeah! You feel that? That's what happens when you mess with me!"
Asura slowly turned back toward him. His expression hadn't changed. Still that cold, empty stare.
"…cute."
The word chilled Tucker's spine.
Then Asura moved.
A blur of Strength Presence surged, and before Tucker could blink, a hand clamped around his throat and hurled him across the blackened ground. His back slammed against a jagged rock, coughing the air out of his lungs.
"Ow—ow—okay, okay," Tucker wheezed, rolling to his feet. "You hit harder than my grandma. And she's dead, so, like… respect, I guess?"
Asura didn't answer. His hand lifted, and crimson tendrils of energy uncoiled from his body, snaking forward. They lashed the earth like whips, tearing molten grooves into the soil as they chased Tucker.
"GAH!" Tucker yelped, diving behind a boulder. The tendrils sliced it in half like butter. He peeked out just in time to see another one coming straight for his face. He ducked, only for it to clip his hair. "HEY! Watch the hair, dude!"
He bolted forward, charging at Asura. Every instinct screamed at him to run the other way, but Tucker clenched his teeth and pressed on.
He threw a left jab, then a right hook, Swing, swing, swing.
Asura deflected each strike with minimal effort, his arms moving like blades themselves. But Tucker didn't stop, he pressed harder, shouting with every punch.
"For Shirley!"
"—and Micheal!"
"—and Madison too, even though she kinda annoys me sometimes! … wait this lowkey corny. The hell am I saying?!"
His fists blurred, sloppy but relentless, until one actually slipped through. His knuckles crashed against Asura's chestplate with a clang.
The Crimson Warden looked down at the mark it left, then back at Tucker.
"You're persistent."
"I'm also hungry," Tucker shot back. "So if we could wrap this up before dinner, that'd be great. I wonder if the resistance has good food."
Asura tilted his head. "…pathetic."
He swatted Tucker with one arm like he was brushing dust. The force sent Tucker tumbling across the dirt, skidding to a stop near the edge of a molten pit. He groaned, pushing himself up on shaky arms.
And then he grinned.
"Still standing, though. Guess you'll have to try harder, scary-face."
Asura's Presence flared, crimson light flooding the battlefield as if the flames themselves bowed to him.
Tucker cracked his neck, fists up again. "Round two, ugly. Let's dance."