The slums of Neoterra Prime hadn't felt this alive in years.
Paper lanterns swayed between cracked buildings; the air filled with music from a busted speaker someone had dragged into the street.
With the Vultures gone, doors that had stayed shut for months finally creaked open. People stepped out, testing the night like it was a dream that could vanish at any moment.
Elion and Elara walked side by side, a loaf of bread clutched in his arm, her small hand gripping the hem of his shirt. She had never seen so many people smiling.
Elion: "Let's get some drinks."
Hand in hand they ran to the next corner shop. They heard that he is giving out free drinks for the celebration.
Just when they entered the alley, the celebration dimmed for them when three older boys blocked their path. The same bullies as always—faces twisted with the same mean grin.
Bully 1: "Well, well. If it isn't the bread thief."
Elion: "Move."
Bully 3: "Or what?"
Elion: "I said move."
Elion pushed one of the bullies to the side.
He tries to run, but the first shove came fast, knocking Elion back a step. The bread tumbled to the ground. Elara clutched his sleeve tighter.
Bully 2 (mocking): "What's wrong? Afraid to fight with your little sister watching?"
The punch landed across Elion's cheek, sending him to the pavement. Elara cried out, trying to pull him back up—but another kick slammed into his ribs.
Bully 1: "Come on, bread thief, where's your toughness?"
Another kick hits his face.
Elion's face became bloody red.
But once he saw that one of the bullies shoved Elara to the ground, something in Elion snapped. Not just anger—something deeper, like a furnace roaring to life inside his chest.
The bullies laughed, closing in for another blow—but the air around Elion shimmered. Heat waves rippled off his skin, his breath coming out in small bursts of steam.
His eyes glowed faintly red.
The Bully noticed the quick temperature change around them.
Bully 1 (hesitating): "What the—"
Flames erupted from Elion's fists, spiraling upward in a sudden, violent plume. The fire roared like a living thing, lashing out toward the bullies before they could move.
Their screams cut through the music of the street as the fire engulfed them, the light casting long, hellish shadows across the walls. When the flames faded, they lay still—bodies charred beyond recognition.
Elara stopped crying. The tears on her face instantly dried, but the heat did not harm her.
At the far end of the street, Ronnie stepped out of a patrol vehicle, drawn by the commotion. The crowd parted instinctively, letting him through.
His eyes locked on the scene:
Elion stood over the scorched bodies, chest heaving, smoke curling from his hands.
Elara, small and trembling, clutching his arm, taking bites of her bread.
Ronnie didn't see a monster.
He saw a terrified boy who had just crossed a line he could never step back from.
But he has also seen something he hasn't seen in person before.
The awakening of an Awakening.
The fluorescent lights in the small station room buzzed faintly. Elion sat at the metal table, a bandage across his cheek where a bully's kick had split the skin. His fists were still faintly red from the heat earlier.
Ronnie leaned against the wall, arms crossed, eyes sharp.
Ronnie: "You burned three boys alive, kid. I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
Elion's jaw tightened.
Elion: "They came after me. And her. I… didn't mean to—"
Ronnie (cutting in): "Didn't mean to set them on fire?"
Elion glared at the table.
Elion: "It just… happened."
Ronnie: "Just happened? How can an accident like that even happen?"
Elion: "I don't know. But they did get what they deserve after all these times of giving me horrors."
Ronnie stepped out of the room and exhaled slowly. He'd heard of Awakenings manifesting under stress, but this was raw, uncontrolled, and dangerous, and at this age.
The door opened, and an officer stepped in, guiding Elara into another room. She looked even smaller under the harsh light, her bare feet silent against the floor.
Ronnie: "You were there, right? What did you see?"
Elara's lips stayed shut. Her eyes locked on the floor. No answer.
Ronnie's voice softened slightly.
Ronnie: "We need to know what happened; this won't help your brother's case, you know?"
Still no answer at all.
Ronnie: "No one's going to hurt you, kid. But I need to know what happened."
Still nothing.
After an hour of circling questions, there was nothing concrete Ronnie could hold them on. The bullies had a history of violence, no witnesses besides Elara, and no family stepping forward to press charges.
Both stood in front of the patrol station with Ronnie.
They both looked up to Ronnie, waiting for a signal from him.
But he just stared at them. Knowing exactly the danger and what could happen to a kid who awakened his Awakening at such a young age.
Ronnie: "You can go."
Elion took Elara's hand immediately, leading her out into the night without a glance back.
Ronnie didn't get in his car. Instead, he followed at a distance, staying in the dark edges of the streets as the two children made their way through the slums.
He saw everything:
The cramped, peeling apartment.
The mother, with a frail smile, trying to hide her impairment from the kids.
Elion gave Elara the blanket while he slept on the floor.
Elara was eating slowly, like she wasn't sure when her next meal would come.
Ronnie leaned against the brick wall across the street, rain dripping from his coat.
He knew exactly what he had to do. Especially for someone who had gained that much uncontrolled power at such a young age.
Ronnie (to himself): "…They won't last like this."
That night, for the first time since taking down the Vultures, Ronnie wasn't thinking about crime statistics or tactical reports. He was thinking about two kids who didn't belong in the streets he'd sworn to protect.