BACK IN SPACE
MORINJO
A quiet hum fills the cockpit. The stars ahead slowly fade into the glow of something far greater—something alive. The wind howls faintly across the ship's exterior, vibrating through the glass like the breath of a sleeping giant. We stand near the viewport, shoulder to shoulder, eyes locked on the world below.
"Ermm, what's going on?" John mutters, squinting through the glass.
"I think… we're here," Shang Lei replies, his voice calm but tense.
John leans in closer, eyes wide. "Whoa… First time landing on an alien planet. I'll never forget this day."
Gavaria.
It burns—not with fire, but with golden brilliance.
Below us, the kingdom sprawls like a vision from a forgotten myth. The entire city looks like it was carved from living gold. Massive palace-like structures rise like mountains of flame, their rooftops shaped with sharp towers and glowing tips. Every corner of this kingdom shines with a warm, golden color, lighting up the streets and buildings like it's forever evening.
The sky above is something else. It glows deep violet, fading into dark purple, then indigo toward the stars. Bright streaks of fiery orange comets cut through the sky like sharp arrows, casting trails of light behind them. The clouds are thick and soft, colored with soft pink and lavender edges. It looks like heaven's ceiling is alive, slowly shifting above us.
Out in the distance, a wide silver lake stretches across the land, splitting the city in two. Ships float on its surface, glowing gently under the purple sky. Beyond the water, I see more towers—slimmer and glassier—rising into the distance like quiet.
I press my palm to the glass. This place feels ancient... not built, but remembered. Gavaria isn't just a city—it's a monument.
I pull my gaze back to the control panel. "And… I don't think this ship has a self-park function."
Trivium chuckles dryly. "You think?"
I slide my left arm into the steering gimbal, gripping its cold frame with my right. "John, get ready. Hand in. Wrap the other around the support. Like this. You copy?"
"Yes, sir," John nods quickly and mirrors my motion. His hands tremble slightly, but he locks in.
Trivium crosses his arms. "That thing was built for a giant Gavarian pilot. You'll both need to steer at the same time."
"Got it," John and I say in unison.
The ship begins to descend fast—too fast. Outside, the gold city draws closer by the second.
The interior rattles violently.
"We need to turn now!" Trivium barks. "Three! Two! One!"
John and I twist the gimbal hard to the right. At the same time, our masks slide over our faces in one smooth motion, nanotech-style, sealing us in.
The ship jerks violently. A guttural screech of metal against metal fills the cockpit.
Buildings rush up to meet us.
"Steady!" I shout.
We try to level it, but the momentum's too strong. A loud crash shakes the entire ship as the vessel tears through the tops of skyscrapers—shattering towers, crumpling walls. Debris rains past the viewports.
Shang Lei shouts in his language and raises both arms. Instantly, a glowing shield forms around the ship's exterior, invisible but powerful—his protective spell snapping into place just in time.
The ship slams into the ground.
Impact.
The crash punches the breath from my lungs. Sparks burst across the cockpit. Everything inside quakes violently.
Half the ship crumples. And worse—far worse—an entire district of Gavaria vanishes beneath our crash.
Smoke rises. The golden streets are gone. The damage… unthinkable.
I slowly lift my head. My mask slides open, nanotech peeling away like mist. I choke back the bile in my throat.
Trivium leans down and grabs my arm. "You alright?"
I grunt, nod once. "Yeah… barely. I owe Shang one."
Shang Lei's costume is tattered, but he's already helping John up. John's mask dissolves back too, revealing a shaken but conscious face.
And then, silence.
"Did someone… feel that?" Shang Lei whispers, his brows furrowed.
Trivium turns. "Feel what?"
"I think—" I pause. There's a chill crawling up my spine, as if the air itself just pulled away.
"No," I say, low. "We're not alone. We're surrounded."
I turn toward the broken hull. As my gaze meets the gaping breach, my mask snaps back over my face in an instant.
The others follow my line of sight. Trivium's eyes flash white-blue, lightning beginning to crackle through his fingers. He lifts his right arm—and with a sharp motion, summons his mighty axe. It spins toward him through the air, humming with power. He catches it with ease and lowers into a battle stance.
Shang Lei lifts his hands, spells already forming at his fingertips. John's mask re-forms over his face, his fingers flexing, ready.
I lower my stance, slow and steady.
The golden kingdom goes quiet—like it's holding its breath.
Smoke coils through the air, thick and heavy. Something moves in it.
Then—
Snap.
Crack.
A spear of red lightning screams through the fog and blasts into John's chest, lifting him off the ground like he weighs nothing. He crashes into a collapsed thruster hard enough to dent the metal.
"Didn't even get to say anything sarcastic," he groans from the wreckage.
I rise slowly.
Three figures emerge through the smoke—calm, deadly, and crackling with raw energy.
The first is a woman, her body wrapped in red lightning like living armor. Her glare is razor-sharp.
"Drop the Fortune Helmet," she orders, her voice cold and commanding.
The second is a dark red-haired guy next to her flexes his arms—flames swirl around them, licking his skin without burning. His glare could melt steel.
"You stink like Erebus," he spits.
The third—an average woman, eyes sharp, fingers twitching—moves like she's already in a fight. Her body vibrates with restless speed.
We don't have the helmet. We don't smell like Erebus.
But none of that matters.
Trivium drags his Mighty Axe across the golden stone. Sparks hiss behind the double bit axe head like warning growls.
"We're not your enemy," I say calmly. "We're here to stop Erebus. Just like you."
The red lightning woman narrows her eyes. "Lies."
She raises her hand.
BOOM!
Red lightning shoots out from her hands. Trivium catches it mid-air with Mighty Axe. The double bit axe head explodes with thunder, throwing dust and wind across the plaza.
No more talking.
Shang Lei whips his hands through the air, golden symbols circling his wrists. "I'll open a portal," he says fast. "Maybe we can still—"
CRACK.
The average woman appears in a blur and punches the ground under Shang's feet. A quake rips the plaza apart—stone splits, and Shang is launched backward.
I slam both palms down, raising a wall of rock to block flying debris. Shards scream past me. One slices across my mask.
The average woman vanishes—gone in a blur of motion. A gust brushes my face, then the sound cracks behind Trivium.
He spins—Mighty Axe arcing wide—but hits nothing but wind.
She's already behind him. I catch a flash of her elbow—THUMP!—right into his ribs.
Trivium grunts, staggering.
She's gone again.
"You weren't ready," she mutters from behind him. Calm. Ruthless.
He roars and lightning courses through his arms. Mighty Axe hums with raw power.
Then she's everywhere.
CRACK!
Her fist smashes into his jaw. His head jerks sideways.
WHAM!
A kick to his ribs folds him slightly—but he doesn't drop.
She blurs left—appears at his flank—punches him again in the chest. It sounds like a drum exploding.
He swings, wild and fast, Mighty Axe slashing toward her skull—but she's not there anymore.
Then I feel it—the ground trembles.
Her palm hits his chest and she quakes him.
A shockwave ripples from her touch, blasting Trivium back fifteen feet. He slams into a rock wall and drops to one knee, coughing blood, the storm swirling harder around him.
He wipes his mouth, furious.
Lightning erupts from the sky and hits him directly. He absorbs it, rising with rage in his eyes.
Then he lunges—fast.
BOOM!
He throws his fist. It lands. Right into the woman's shoulder mid-blink. She grunts, spinning from the force, and crashes into the ground.
Before she can vanish, he slams Mighty Axe downward.
She just rolls aside—dirt explodes where she was.
She vibrates herself upright—limbs twitching, furious.
"Nice hit," she spits. Then vanishes again.
CRACK—CRACK—THUMP—THUMP!
She unloads a flurry of punches—face, ribs, gut—one after another. Trivium tries to guard, his forearms glowing with divine sparks, but her speed overwhelms him. Every blow lands like a war drum.
He raises his axe to strike—
She grabs his wrist and quakes again.
The tremor shoots up his arm and into his shoulder. He yells in pain, muscles twitching, bones rattling.
He stumbles back.
She doesn't stop.
She flips, spins mid-air, and kicks him under the chin—his head jerks upward.
Then she lands with both fists to the ground.
This time, the seismic vibrations knocks Trivium off his feet completely. Rocks explode outward. Mighty Axe flies from his hand and skids across the battlefield.
He lands hard.
Still.
Breathing.
But slower now.
She walks gradually toward him, blood trailing from her lip, but her eyes fierce, hands trembling with power.
"She's not average," I whisper to myself, stunned. "She's war in motion."
But war needs stamina.
Trivium's fingers twitch.
The storm answers.
Lightning pours from the clouds—not just into him, but around him.
The air thickens—charged.
The average woman pauses. Her pupils flick, calculating.
Too late.
Trivium rises in one explosive surge—lightning wrapping around his frame like armor.
Mighty Axe spins back into his hand—metal screaming through the wind.
"Hey, buddy!" A voice yells "Eyes up here!"
I look upward and notice dark red-haired guy soars above the battlefield, a trail of fire following his flight. His chest glows white-hot. His arms stretch wide.
"You're fighting for the wrong side." I utter
He hurls a towering column of flame at me.
I twist, absorb the heat into my arm, then mold it into a glowing chain of lava. I hurl it back—he tears through it in mid-air and dives like a meteor.
Flames spiral around him, arms tucked tight, eyes locked onto mine like a predator zeroing in on prey. The heat presses in before he even lands. I brace myself, digging my heel into the cracked stone beneath me.
Boom!
He crashes into the ground, a shockwave of flame erupting outward. I leap backward, the fire licking at my legs as I summon water mid-air to shield myself—a dome that hisses and steams the moment his fire touches it.
He bursts through the smoke, fast—blazing fists swinging. I duck his right hook, slide under the left, and twist my body low, slamming my palm into the ground. A spike of earth erupts between us.
But he doesn't flinch.
He spins sideways, runs up the jagged rock like it's a wall, flips over me, and hurls a torrent of fire at my back mid-air.
I roll forward, the heat singing my mask.
He's good. Sharp. Precise. Deadly calm.
I swing my arm wide, summoning a flaming chain from the fire around us. It wraps around my arm, the links glowing molten-orange. I lash it at him with a snap.
He blocks it with a quick, reinforced fire shield—but the moment he does, I pull hard. The chain wraps around his forearm, tightening with a hiss of burning metal.
I yank him forward. He flies toward me—and I meet him with a knee to the gut.
His breath bursts out, but his eyes flash.
He grabs my wrist, spins, and throws me over his shoulder.
I crash into the dirt. Pain ripples through my ribs.
Before I can get up, he's already above me, arm cocked back, flame building in his palm. But I slam both hands together, summoning a gust of air that knocks him off balance.
I rise fast. My chain coils around my shoulders like a serpent.
He circles now, breathing steady, his fists pulsing with heat.
We clash again.
He sweeps low—I jump. He punches upward—I block with a slab of ice on my forearm that melts instantly from the heat. I punch through the steam, catching him across the jaw with my burning chain-wrapped fist.
He stumbles.
I press forward, each strike a mix of fire and air, the chain extending, snapping, dancing. He blocks, deflects, dodges, fire streaking from his feet as he slides across the broken battlefield.
Then I feint.
He bites.
I disappear into a column of smoke—and reappear behind him.
But this time—he's ready.
He spins and catches me by the throat, lifting me off the ground with one flaming hand.
"Got you now," he growls.
The fire burns hot against my skin, even through the armor. I choke—but keep my eyes locked on his.
A rumble builds behind us.
"NO—"
KA-BOOOOOOM!!!
The heavens rip open with a blinding flash—lightning splitting the sky like the wrath of the gods.
And then—he drops.
Trivium slams into the ground like a meteor, knees bent, one fist buried in the cracked earth. Thunder rolls through the battlefield. Sparks crawl across his shoulders, dancing over his armor as if the storm itself bows to him.
His head rises—slowly. Eyes glowing. Fury caged behind them.
Then he stands.
Without hesitation, Trivium hurls the Mighty Axe.
CRACK!!!
The weapon hurls past me, cleaving through space like a thunderbolt and slamming into the dark red-haired man, launching him across the battlefield in a burst of lightning and fury.
He slams into the ground, rolls, and crashes through a stone wall, smoke curling off his body.
I fall to one knee, coughing. Then I see Trivium standing there, lightning dancing across his arms, cloak shredded, Mighty Axe steaming in his grip.
"You took too long," he says without looking at me.
I rise slowly, nodding. "Nice entrance."
The rubble shifts.
Dark red-haired guy stands again—blood at his lip, hair scorched but eyes burning hotter.
"You brought thunder," he spits. "Let's see if it can drown fire."
He launches himself forward, both fists blazing. Trivium hurls Mighty Axe again—but this time, dark red-haired guy twists mid-air, dodging, and punches it aside with a fire-coated fist.
The axe slams into the earth, splitting it. Lightning bursts upward in jagged waves.
I leap in from the side, my chain flaring with elemental power, lashing toward dark red-haired guy's legs. Trivium meets him head-on, fists crackling with electric fury.
We fight together.
Every hit from Trivium is thunder—raw and crushing.
Every strike I land is sharp—controlled chaos of flame, wind, and steel.
Dark red-haired guy adapts, twisting between us, fire bursting from his hands, his back, his feet—sliding, flying, punching. He lands a kick on Trivium's chest that knocks him back. Then turns—only to meet my chain, which wraps around his waist like a snake.
I yank.
Trivium crashes in from above, smashing dark red-haired guy into the dirt with a hammering strike.
Still—not enough.
He roars, erupting in a cyclone of fire that blasts us both back. I hit a stone pillar. Trivium skids across the ground, tearing a trench.
I stand first.
I press forward through the heat—chain burning at my side, fists clenched.
"You burn bright," I tell him. "But light doesn't mean right."
He hurls a wall of fire at me. I summon a dome of water, charge through it, and appear inside the inferno. My chain wraps around his torso. This time—I don't hold back.
I slam my palm into his chest.
BOOOOM!!
A surge of all four elements explodes into him.
Not to kill—just enough to stop the storm inside him.
He convulses. The fire dies down. His eyes widen—and dim.
He drops to his knees, coughing steam.
I catch him before he hits the ground.
"You fight with skill," I whisper. "But not for peace."
He doesn't answer. Just breathes—exhausted, spent.
Trivium stands beside me, watching.
I let the chain fade from my arm, flames flickering quietly around us.
---
John rises—giant-sized now, dragging a steel wing like a club. He swings it at Charlotte.
She doesn't even blink.
Her eyes flash red.
BOOOOM!!
Lightning explodes around her. John is blasted through a wall, smoke trailing his body like a burning kite.
"Still not the helmet lady I was expecting!" he yells mid-flight.
CRASH.
Again.
"That's twice, John!" I shout, barely blocking another quake punch from the average woman.
"Appreciate the count, fearless leader!"
I slam my foot down.
And, the elements answer with fury.
A savage gust of wind hurls the red-haired man back, spine-first into a shattered support beam. Fire lashes out—hot, wild—forcing the red lightning woman to retreat, shielding her face as it scorches the floor between her and Shang Lei.
Water bursts from the cracked tiles, crashing into the average woman like a wrecking wave, dragging her into the wreckage. The ground groans, then splits—stone and steel rising like jagged teeth—separating Moth and Trivium in a wall of debris.
The ship can't hold.
Ceilings crack. Pipes scream. A flaming beam slams down, dividing the room. Sparks rain. Metal bends. The ship tilts violently beneath our feet.
The elements do exactly what I wanted. To split them apart. Wreck everything.
I lift both arms, and a tidal wall of jagged ice erupts between us and them, splitting the field in half. The wind howls. Frost races across the ground.
Silence.
Only the crackle of fire, the hiss of steam, and the sound of our heavy breathing remains.
Trivium's shoulders steam from blocked hits. His armor is scorched.
Shang wipes blood from his mouth, sigils still hovering at his back.
Red lightning woman lowers her hand. The lightning fades—but her glare stays sharp.
Dark red-haired guy wipes his chin. "You're not working with Erebus?"
The jagged wall of ice still stands between us—tall, sharp, and cracking from the heat. I raise my hand slowly, fingers glowing with orange light. Fire coils around my arm like a living serpent, hissing and writhing with purpose.
With a single flick, the blaze surges forward, spiraling like a whip. It strikes the tidal wall with a deep roar, melting through the thick ice in seconds. Steam explodes into the air, clouding the space with a rising fog, and the wall collapses in a rush of boiling water and shattered frost.
Now face to face, nothing between us.
My mask slides open, peeling back with a soft metallic hiss like unfolding nanotech.
I meet his eyes. Calm. Steady.
"No, I'm not. I'm Morinjo. Path Finder. These are my friends. We're the Ultimate Ventures. We came here to end him."
A sharp shift.
The red lightning woman narrows her eyes, her lips curling. "Did you say… Ultimate Ventures?" she asks, voice raised and edged. "You're the ones Belteshazzar told us about."
I blink, caught off guard. "You know Belteshazzar?"
Dark red-haired guy—shrugs, unfazed. "Yeah. Average guy. Naked half the time. Not exactly a model. Needed saving." His tone is casual, but there's something knowing beneath it.
Trivium steps forward, curiosity cracking through his usual stoicism. "Do you have any idea where he is now?"
The average woman—says nothing. But her expression softens. A flicker of something personal.
Dark red-haired guy speaks again, calm, collected. "Not exactly. Last we spoke, he said he needed to recharge. Said he'd be back… stronger. Said he's going to avenge his family. His home."
Red Lightning woman—cuts in.
"Which means, your boy's planning to kill Erebus."
John's mask dissolves back and he raises an eyebrow. "So… who exactly are you guys?"
Red lightning woman answers "I'm Charlotte. That's Michael, the red-haired guy. And the fastest woman alive?" She points with her thumb. "That's Emma. We're Marvel 5."
Trivium gives a small nod "Trivium, god of Lightning."
Shang gives a respectful bow, wincing slightly "Shang Lei. Epic Sorcerer. Still sore."
John limps out from the debris, holding his side "John Kingsley. Call me Moth. Or Roadkill, apparently."
Michael chuckles, flicking a charred feather off his shoulder "You've got a mouth."
"You've got lava fists. Everyone's got problems," John fires back.
I step forward again, tone serious "We need help," I say plainly. "Erebus is rising. Gavaria won't survive him alone."
Charlotte glances at Michael. He gives a subtle nod.
Emma folds her arms, expression unreadable "Then let's finish this. Together."
And just like that… we're not enemies anymore.
We're something worse.
We're allies.
To be continued....