Once upon a time, at night in a deep dark green lush forest called the "Grolian Forest," peaceful Forestinites were blending in with the habitat and sleeping. Fireflies were flying around with their glowing butts hanging out, snakes were slithering through the moonlight, everyone inside of a small cave lit up by a fire was already knocked out, and a Crystallized Celestianite was roaring wildly and banging his head against the ground.
That's me.
I had nightmares that caused me to act like this, I was moving around roaring wildly like a feral animal, and I banged my head against the floor once again. I sounded like a complete maniac while moving around because the nightmares were hitting me. More images of the same embarrassing moments, and some that were TOO personal that I cringed the entire time. I slashed myself against the walls of the cave, roaring louder than ever, and I think I woke up some of the Forestinites sleeping from outside.
I turned around to whack something with my tail, and the thing I whacked was Demaurion. I yelped back away from him as he growled in anger. He was in his Leviathan form, so he was like a blue dragon-like snake on the ground that had sharp teeth and light blue patterns across his body. Demaurion cocked his head towards me, and he hissed furiously, then he went back to sleep.
I stopped my tantrum and laid back down. I curled up with my wings wrapped around me, and I closed my eyes to try and go to sleep. But as soon as I closed them, an image of Incarceration in monster form and an image of another embarrassing moment popped up. I instantly opened my eyes with a roar, and I moved to the back of the cave, crashing onto the dead end. And I just thought I was hopeless.
Then morning came after the next few hours, my eyes were wide awake with purple cracks around them. I shook my head to get them off, and I was already tired. Birds started chirping and Hrics were hopping around, I got out of my dragon form and I just sat there on the ground with my tongue out. Kai hopped towards me and sat on my lap, then he looked at me with a curious chitter.
I smiled, still looking tired, "I'm alright Kai, just lost a few hours of sleep.... Doesn't bother me though!"
I walked out of the cave after noticing that everyone else had left as well. The trees were a vibrant green and the forest was packed with different plants and leaves. There were some vines and lots of flowers sitting around, and the sky was a deep blue while the sun radiated across the sky. Everyone was gathered around the campfire sitting on logs, and I sighed as I walked towards them.w
How are we at the Grolian Forest, you ask? Well, we got here by using the thing that one Celestianite gave us back then. We just teleported here through the portal, and we just got here. We did not meet anyone new and we were not able to find the next beast, so we just made a campfire and slept here.
Ryan was already recording while Olsen had a large rock meal with Kayson. Ella was in her cat form resting on the grass while Prince was flying around as a Lightning Bird trying to hunt for food. Power was training, and Archie was sitting down making sure he did not set the entire forest on fire.
"Morning guys," I said as my voice was quieter than a mouse. "How was everyone last night?"
"Oh, well, it could've been better without all of the roaring, thank you very much," Sophia said, brushing her hair.
Demaurion yelled, "EXACTLY! WHAT'S ALL THE ROARING ABOUT, MAN?! YOU LOST YOUR SCALES?!"
"Guys, guys, everyone calm down. He's just having a bit of a problem with himself, I guess," Ella reassured the group.
Prince caught a Hric at lightning speed in his form, then he landed back down to the ground to eat it. His talons touched the ground as he pecked the prey. "Seriously though, what was all that about?"
I waved my arms frantically, "I-I'm sorry guys! Ella's right, I was just having a problem—that's all...."
"WELL, YOU BETTER FIX THAT PROBLEM OR YOU'LL DIE IN MY HANDS!" Demaurion snarled in his Leviathan form.
I transformed into a Celestianite Dragon and looked down at Demaurion while my tail turned red. "Woah man! You do know you're playing with FIRE. RIGHT?!"
I stared down at him with celestial energy running through my scales, ready to blast this guy out of here. Demaurion instantly grew talons, and he walked up to me even though he was shorter in size. He looked up at me snarling.
"AND YOU'RE PLAYING WITH SOMETHING MORE DANGEROUS THAN FIRE!"
"LET'S SEE ABOUT THAT, NEPTUNE!" I shot back furiously.
We both glared at each other, but then Ella stopped us by going in between. "Please don't fight! It was only one night! Now act like mature heroes and calm down!"
"Alright, then we'll settle this like men," I said as I narrowed my eyes at Demaurion.
We both started the match. "ROCK PAPER SCISSORS SHOOT!"
I pulled out scissors while he pulled out paper, and then he SWITCHED IT TO A ROCK!
"HEY, THAT'S NOT FAIR! YOU SWITCHED RIGHT WHEN I WON!" I shouted in betrayal.
Demaurion grinned like an evil mastermind. "NUH-UH!"
"YES, YOU DID!" I fired.
"NO, I DIDN'T!" he shot back.
Olsen then WHACKED Demaurion's face so hard with his tail club, yelling, "STOP ACTING LIKE CHILDREN!"
I looked down at the Leviathan, and he was already down.
"He'll wake up in a few minutes," Olsen said, grinning.
I transformed into my human form as the red tail started to fade away. I turned around and crossed my arms while puffing a bit of smoke. "Hmph! At least that's over."
We all sat back down at the campfire and we enjoyed the taste of marshmallows. Prince was enjoying the Hric that he just caught, and I made sure Kai did not look at one of my crew members eating his race. He wanted a marshmallow, so I gave him one, and he enjoyed it.
As we camped right next to the fire for a few hours, Demaurion finally woke up. He forgot about what happened after the attack, so he just sat down with us. Then Emely's voice broke the silence, "How about we get hero names?"
Power smiled with interest, "That should be fun, and they can probably be your names once the prophecy is fulfilled."
"Alright, let's start with me first," Angel said as he got up from the log. "I'll be called Trix."
It was so silent that the only thing we could hear right now were the sounds of a cricket that was about to admit that he was gay to his parents.
Sophia raised her eyebrow in confusion, "Trix? What does that even mean?"
"Well, first of all, since my Portal abilities aren't exactly a fighting type Element, I could use Portals to trick others into going somewhere they don't wanna be," Angel said. "Say that an opponent wanted to come fight me, all I have to do is teleport them to some dangerous environment, and they're defeated," he explained.
Olsen called himself Rockslide while Prince called himself Voltron. Ella is Dune, Emely is Froza, Jocabed is Blizz, Demaurion is Levi, Power is Power, Sophia is called Soundwave, Javier is Operate, and mine—I haven't even thought of mine yet.
I started to think and think of my hero's name as everybody else started talking about their names. I scratched my head and I started muttering, "What should I be called? There's got to be a name that I could use for when I become Avangard's next Power."
I snapped back to reality as I heard Ella's voice, "So Don, what's your name?"
I started to think once again, and then I found the perfect name.
"KX."
The crew blankly stared at me like I had four eyes.
"What? I only chose it because every time I use 100% or only 5% of my Elemental Form, those two letters appear right behind me!" I explained.
Power peered at me, and he chuckled softly. "Don, KX is a good name. Perfect to be honest," he said, smiling. "Let me tell you guys a story real quick, then we'll get on with the night."
"So back when Avangard was still forming, the Grolian Forest was created. There were Celestianites that guarded each place in Avangard, and one of them was the famous founding father, KX. The name KX stands for Kai Xii. It means guardian or protector, and ruler of the universe. Though KX wasn't all those things, he just moved on with life and lived very normally.
"Then a few years later, when he died, he said that he wished to meet a Celestial User or at least have one touch his grave. Because he's never experienced a Celestial User before. Now KX had this element where if someone with a certain element touches him, that would be their hero name for their entire life. Now since KX was a strange name and nobody knew the name of it, they never touched him, ever.
"But then when Don was born, his parents brought him to Kai's grave at only two years old. Don touched the grave, and that was it. Now when Don uses his Elemental Form, his celestial energy signs KX on his back before he unleashes full power. When he uses more celestial energy, like 120%, his eye pupils might turn into letters. One eye will be K, and the other will be X. It also makes Don more intelligent in a sense, because KX was intelligent back then."
"That sounds pretty cool," Olsen said as he morphed into his beast form and rested on the soft grass.
I smiled, "I know, it might sound a little whack, but it's still a pretty good name."
As the blue sky drifted away to transition to a red and pink sky, we started to have fun with each other. Demaurion tried to prank Olsen by blasting water from his mouth in Leviathan form, but Olsen just whacked him in the face again, so he was out for a few hours. Prince went back to hunting while I played with Kai.
I got a marshmallow from a bag and then I threw it towards Kai, who was far away from me. The marshmallow passed Kai, and it rolled into the trees. Kai started to hop around, then he ran into the dark forest.
"Hey! Wait up!" I said as I got up from the log and ran into the trees with him. As we entered, it was already dark, and we were surrounded by trees. I looked around for Kai, but he wasn't somewhere in the dark green ferns or bushes. The grass was soaking wet, and the trees had large leaves that were also wet as well. That was until I noticed something off.
Kai was gone, and the forest was already wet even though there was no rain. I started to get curious and a little suspicious about this place, and then Kai hopped onto my shoulder with the marshmallow stabbed through his sharp teeth. I held him as he ate the marshmallow.
"Woah there, buddy! Nice job! I wasn't able to find you here."
I heard the crickets chirping once again and owls hooting, which was probably Angel. Then I heard a rustle in the trees. I jumped back with my wings flared out wide open. My ears twitched as another sound was heard. I turned around to look up at the trees, and I saw something move—then it disappeared. I started to hear crawling and the sounds of hooves. The creature was crawling rapidly, but I wasn't able to see it through the darkness.
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" I asked, my voice dripping with cold fear. My tail turned purple. "Whatever you are, this is not funny!"
I heard a stick snap and got spooked, backing away. I backed away even more and more.
"Yeah, let's not waste our time here. Time to go!"
Then I heard something running towards me and something else crawling around the trees. I heard the roar of a wild bear and the sounds of a ghost. I was about to leave until something sticky and sweet caught me and tied me up.
I wiggled and tried to move out of it.
"HEY! WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?!"
I groaned as I tried to escape, and then it pulled me across the forest. I got hit by bushes, thorns, leaves, and some trees—I was eating them like dinner. Then I got slammed onto the ground, rolling back violently. I stopped myself by hitting a rock, and then I got up to look around.
"Who's doing this?!"
"WE ARE!" I heard people shout in sync.
Lonnie Mae dropped down from the trees with Mason and Kwa'asja (an 11-year-old girl who has the Barrier Element and Protective Armadillo characteristics. She's Black and wears a multi-colored jacket and blue jeans. She has braids too and is the most normal and calmest person in the group. She has a shell on her back, which is covered by her jacket).
Then Daysni (a 12-year-old girl who has Ghost Horse characteristics and uses the Ghost Element. Loves to annoy Don so very much—does it as a personal hobby. She's Black and wears a black jacket and black pants. She has two buns as her hair. Ghost Horse hooves as feet) appeared out of nowhere, while Anhia (an 11-year-old girl who has the Diamond Element and Diamond Horse characteristics. Loves to taunt Don as if it were bullying, even though it isn't, and Don doesn't fear her at all. She's pretty much not scary if you think about it. She wears a sparkling blue jacket and blue jeans. Her skin is Black and she has a ponytail. Has diamond hooves as feet) just walked out of a tree completely covered in encrust.
Keyler, who wears a red jacket and blue jeans, crawled out of a tall tree in Spider Form using his Spider Element. He transformed back into a human, doing a pose with the others. Then, to top it off, Drake slid right in front of the crew as they posed—throwing a mud ball at me.
When the mud ball hit, I wiped the mud off of my face and groaned. They all pointed at me seriously like they were cops catching a criminal.
"YOU'VE BEEN SERVED!"
"Okay, look, seriously—WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" I snapped.
Lonnie Mae (wears a green shirt and green pants. She's white and has long hair. She's also really short and skinny and has a Forest Fawn tail) put on her glasses and took out a piece of paper, reciting:
"You—you have broken the—the number one rule of the—uh, forest."
Then they all went back to pointing at me again.
"DON'T ENTER THE FOREST!"
My jaw dropped.
"WE PUT IN A CAMPSITE, AND YOU GUYS DID NOTHI—you know what, never mind."
Then I felt something tap my shoulder. I turned around and yelped as my tail instantly turned purple when Daysni jumped and scared me in her ghost form. She laughed with her voice full of trickery, and I sighed, walking back to the campsite with Kai in my hands.
As I walked out of the "Forest of Doom," I looked at everyone and said, "Guys, we've got company."
Ryan held up the camera in front of his face.
"Alright! Make sure you guys leave a like and sub! I'll be back with another livestream that's gonna be crazier than this one, dude!"
"Who is it?"
The forest crew instantly leaped out of the trees, then they saw everybody else.
"You guys are here too?!" Olsen said in surprise.
"That's not all of them!" a voice said from above.
What swooped down to the ground and landed on top of the cave was Fedjina (an 11-year-old girl who's the tallest of the crew and uses the Falcon Element with Falcon Characteristics. She has long braided hair and is Black. She wears a pink shirt and black pants. She loves to be sassy and social around her friends).
Sophia's eyes widened in surprise.
"Please tell me that's it."
And it wasn't it, as another voice was heard saying, "You got me too!"
A pterodactyl from the air flew to the ground, and it was none other than William (an 11-year-old Wind Elemental user who has Pterodactyl characteristics. He has ADHD and is white with brown hair. He wears a gray shirt and blue jeans, and he also has Pterodactyl wings and a long crest).
Ella got up in excitement.
"So you all came to join us? How sweet!"
Mason turned his arms into dough and ate some of it.
"I'm here with the others, protecting the Grolian Forest."
William transformed into his base form.
"And we're all here to see you guys, help you with the prophecy and stuff!"
"Well, since we're all here, why don't we just hang out already?" Prince suggested as electricity sparked around his wings.
Everyone agreed by shouting "yeah" in sync.
I looked at them, then turned to the cave. Then something struck my mind once again like lightning, and it was Incarceration shouting violently.
"JOIN ME!!!!!"
"ACK!" I screamed, grabbing my forehead.
I shook my head and turned to everyone, then back to the cave.
"I'll just go into the cave. You guys have fun."
I slowly trudged into the cave and sat on one of its hard walls.
Now, here's what I want to talk to myself about: Should I do it? I mean, it's been going through my mind all day. What is Incarceration trying to make me do? Join him? For what exactly? Is he trying to mess up the prophecy or something? I don't know, man... But he wants me to kill my friends—kill the ones that I love and would never kill. Kill the ones that I'd love more than anything...
"I don't understand!" I yelled internally as I slammed my face onto the wall.
My friends are just being my friends. There were moments when they reached out for me, helped me, and cared about me. And there were moments like that! The embarrassing and bad stuff was in the past! I should just ignore it already!
I was just sounding like a crybaby back in fifth grade. They are my friends. They care, they love me the same way I love them.
What does Incarceration want me to do about this?!
"Don..."
I heard a quiet voice from behind.
I slowly turned, realizing it was Ella. Then, just as quickly, I turned back, acting like she wasn't there.
"Look, we need to talk."
"Talk about what?" I asked, my voice full of frustration.
Ella sat down beside me, her gaze meeting mine. "We gotta talk about you. What's been happening to you ever since we got to Eclitsic? You've had less sleep every night, sometimes even avoiding sleep altogether. You've been quieter, more serious, but less like yourself. What happened to the Don that used to dance around after killing a beast?"
Now here's the ultimate question. What should I do?
You choose, readers. You choose.
A = I tell her my internal crisis and the truth.
B = I keep this a secret and lie, so I can keep struggling.
And I know most of you chose A.
I know she might go crazy, but I guess it's time to reveal the truth.
I took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly, then sighed. "Something's telling me to kill you guys."
Ella tilted her head. "Intrusive thoughts?"
I shook my head. "No, not intrusive thoughts. It's been pestering me this entire time..."
"Look, I wasn't trying to think about it! It just popped up out of nowhere, again and again, and I keep having nightmares—nightmares of the worst and most embarrassing moments of my past. And I just... I couldn't stop, okay? It isn't my fault! I'm trying again and again and again, but it just won't leave my mind! Just please—don't think of me as an enemy because of this."
I shied away, wrapping myself in my wings, ashamed. "I didn't want to tell you guys because I didn't want to be seen as the enemy. I didn't want to be the bad guy. But something's urging me to be one...."
I clenched my fists, my voice breaking. "Look, Ella—I'm scared, okay? I don't wanna deal with this prophecy stuff! I'm not cut out for this! If I'm gonna keep having these nightmares, I might as well just give up already!"
I snapped.
I got up and stormed out of the cave, my tail swirling with a mix of purple and blue.
"DON, WAIT!" Ella shouted.
But I ignored her.
Everyone saw me run into the dark, sinister forest. Then, I heard it—the distant sound of roaring.
I was already lost, but that didn't matter.
I was quitting anyway.
I stopped in my tracks. The roaring grew closer. Trees snapped and crashed to the ground. I turned in all directions, celestial energy crackling around me.
Then, I heard Javier's desperate shout.
"DON, WATCH OUT!"
I barely had time to react before a massive, indescribable tree-like monster burst through the forest. It had four legs, gnarled bark for skin, and thick green bushes running down its back.
It charged.
I ran toward it, fists clenched, ready to fight—but before I could land a hit, the beast swiped me aside with its massive claws.
The impact sent me flying.
The creature crashed through trees and stormed into the campsite. A tree fell onto the fire, sending sparks flying.
Screams rang out.
Everyone grabbed their weapons.
Sophia fired a sonic beam at the monster's back. It roared in pain, whipping its tail and smacking her into a tree.
Prince unleashed a barrage of lightning strikes, but the beast dodged with unnatural speed. Then, with a single, devastating punch, it sent Prince crashing through several trees.
Olsen and Ryan charged in, but the beast knocked them aside like they were nothing. The forest blazed with energy as Archie launched an explosion at it—
—but the monster took it like a goddamn champion and retaliated with a roar so powerful it created a shockwave.
Everyone went flying.
Weapons scattered. Blood hit the ground. My classmates—my friends—lay motionless, battered and broken.
But one of us still stood.
Olsen.
He staggered forward, gripping his hammer, his body bloodied but unyielding.
He leaped.
He swung.
And then—
The monster struck first.
Its claws pierced through Olsen's chest.
Blood poured. His scream tore through the air.
Then, with a vicious snarl, the beast threw him into the cave.
The rocks crumbled. The entrance collapsed.
"OLSEN!!!" I screamed, reaching out, desperate.
Tears burned down my face.
Celestial energy surged around me, crackling and raging. My tail glowed a furious blue.
The monster roared one last time and ran off into the night.
And then—
The last thing I ever heard from Olsen:
"Don... come back...."