The olive brush choked the sunlight as it shaded their heads. The earthy sounds of flora and fauna were incredibly tranquil, though it wasn't enough to calm the poor soul down. Geoffren led the way for his comrade as they persisted through the quiet forest. The loudest noises came from their feet crushing dead leaves and sticks. Geoffren only ever opened his mouth to stick his cigar in it, the other did just because he wanted to chat. Raygal could sense he was maybe saying too much yet still felt like speaking. The lack of responses did not seem to bother him apparently. Geoffren walked in silence trapped in his own head, thinking of all the possibilities. What waited for them in South Carolina that had to be met immediately? He fell deep into thought accompanied by dissociation.

         “Who the hell is stopping them from leaving South Carolina?”

         “What if they’re already dead?”

         “Maybe one of them saw me murder those men.”

         “Wait, what if there are other manipulators there waiting for us.”

The thoughts held him in a trance until his lungs snapped him out of it. He wretched and coughed from the cigar, he was so distracted he was inhaling that entire time.

          “General! Are you alright?’’

          “Yes I’m fine *cough* let’s just *cough* take a quick break.” His raspy voice relayed. The two sat on logs and admired the environment. The beautiful birds raced through the sky after one another as Raygal watched. Geoffren felt a presence watching him, he looked to see it was a deer. They held eye contact as it walked towards them. He grabbed some berries and began feeding it. He rubbed it’s head as it grew comfortable. 

          “General, do we got any food?” Raygal said from afar. The two sat around the cooked venison Raygal heated up with his ability. 

          “Mm, we’re almost there. About another hour of walking ?” Raygal said, munching.

          “Yes.”

          “Maybe we should fly the last bit of the way.”

          “They’ll see us.”

          “Good point. You’re still first rate on energy though, no?”

        “With the life of my whole bloodline, general.”

         “Then do good by a poor soul and tell him some names.”

         “It’s just I–”

         “Is it because you know?” Geoffren sighed, finally giving in. Raygal’s curiosity filled him with dread.

         “Know what?” Raygal said nervously.

         “What I did.” Geoffren said. Raygal’s eyes slowly paced around as he seemed to be thinking.

         “General…I'm sorry…I have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about. You’re scaring me. What did–”

         “Raygal! Did you see me?” Geoffren said, raising his voice. Raygal leaned back in fear without breaking eye contact. He had a terrible poker face.

         “General…ah…we–” Raygal was interrupted as Geoffren leaped across the venison, grabbing him. Raygal’s eyes scaredly widened as Geoffren threw them both into a bush. Raygal couldn’t bring himself to fight back as he tucked them both into the foliage. Raygal stared as Geoffren peaked his head from out of the bush. 

         “Wha–” Geoffren motioned for Raygal to be quiet as footsteps grew near.  The two stared as a young man ran past them from the opposite direction. He was dressed in a tattered union uniform. The two were relieved to see it was an ally and snatched him into the bush. 

        “Oh…I should have known he meant me no harm. He would never.” Raygal thought to himself. 

         “Are you coming from town?” Geoffren asked.

         “General? Y-yes I am. I was ordered to run and get help. They destroyed our telegraph, we have no contact outside of the town.” He responded.

         “Who sent you to get help? And how many of you are left?”

         “Corporal Evanglow did, and there are only 4 of us left. We originally came with 15.”

        “We were sent here by Zultor 3 days ago. We were told this was an entire rebel town, so we tried to be quiet. That didn’t last long though as most of the townspeople here are rebels, and the rebel army uses this town as a bypass.” Evanglow stated. 

 “We were found out once one of our soldiers was caught sneaking out at night to do some reconnaissance. Once they found him, the rebel manipulators went wild. They were willing to destroy the town to find us.” He continued. 

       “Reconnaissance for what? You’re already in a rebel town.” Raygal asked. The group went silent as they all looked away. They couldn’t answer either. Geoffren stared down at his hand and clenched it, he was very low on energy. With how things were going he’d have to fight right this second, maybe there was a way though.

       “I say we camp out here till morning, then we strike.” He said.

       “We can’t, they’re searching each building high and low. They’ll get us” The woman said.

       “We should listen to the general, Latrey.” Severtodd interjected. Latrey looked at him sternly, making him shiver.

       “Lt. Latrey.” He said quietly. 

       “Those giant spiked rocks, a manipulator made those?” Geoffren asked.

       “Yes, one from earlier. He’s still around here somewhere. Not very long before he gets tired and wrecks the whole town. I doubt they’ll let us just leave either.’’ Kelnick said in a low tone.

       “And from what we’ve gathered, we know they arrived on a boat and the Captain’s name is Hastard. If he’s the man in charge, he has to be a manipulator as well.” Latrey said. Geoffren’s memories flooded in upon hearing the name.

      “ Hastard?” He thought. Geoffren thought back to his early time in the military with Zultor and Hastard. The three of them fought in three wars together by the time they were 19. Hastard was considered the runt of the litter. The smallest, weakest, and thought to die first in every situation.

     “Hastard the weak Bastard??” He thought. Geoffren thought back to how weak he was, how much of a loser he was, he wouldn't win any fight if he didn't have help. Geoffren weighed his options as the thoughts shimmered. 

at the enemy in front, once it landed near them he caused it to explode, sending pieces of it everywhere. 

        “Go!” Latrey screamed as the others ran forward. Their footsteps grew even shakier as the ground began to shake. The brick road cracked and fell apart as the buildings around them crumbled with it. The group ran as debris smashed against the ground and their bodies. Latrey and Evanglow struggled to keep up with the others and were cut off by falling rubble. The sounds of the falling rubble created a tunnel effect around them as their desperate pants echoed. Raygal caused the falling building in front of them to explode to create a passageway for them to escape. They dove out as the ground under them began to cave in. Spiked rocks bursted from it, piercing at the group. Severtodd shrieked as his leg was run through by a rock. Geoffren pulled his leg off of it and got him to his feet before running himself. Severtodd’s one leg did its best to keep up but he ultimately began to fail.

        “GENERAL!!” He screamed as the others continued to flee.

        “WAIT!! STOP!” He continued.

        “GENERAL! WAIT! PLEEEEAASE! HEL–” He screamed. As Geoffren looked back, Severtodd’s screams were drowned out by the sound of a roaring explosion. His body and noise were swallowed by the flames of cannon fire.

        “Severtodd!” Raygal shouted. They focused their eyes towards the port and tried to think of what to do. 

        “They’re firing from the port now! They’re monsters!” Raygal yelled.

        “They weren’t doing this earlier. I wonder why they’re starting just now.” Kelnick added. Geoffren stared at the boats as he pieced it together.

        “It’s because of me. I’m very well acquainted with the captain of that regime. He may have seen me and fired.” Geoffren said.  Geoffren fixed his tilted hat and handed Raygal his cloak. 

       “Once I get over there and kill him, the cannonfire will stop.” He said.

       “Ok, so then go.” Kelnick said as Raygal lightly nudged him. 

       “You guys regroup with Latrey and Evanglow. I’ll fix the boat problem.” Geoffren said as he began to run towards the port. He ran as gunfire barely missed him and enemies cursed him. Another cannonball barely missed him and smashed into a building behind him, sending him flying. He slid across the ground and spat blood out of his mouth. He made his way back up as 

      “See…you just don’t wanna eat your words. I have known for years you ain’t as bully as you thought. I’ll tell you what. You and your allies can leave. Only if you can stop me before I stop you.” Hastard said as his eyes carried a deep blue hue. Geoffren silently gritted his teeth while he prepared to fight. He noticed Hastard’s healthy veins surging throughout his figure, he looked down to see his veins were there from just being old and weak. He began reconsidering his decision. Maybe he could turn back now or maybe one of them would notice and help him. Geoffren looked back down at his veins as they grew cold. He noticed his hands were even more wrinkly and old, Hastard was using his ability on him. His eyes and mouth were dry and he coughed rapidly.

       “Come on…fight me…” Hastard whispered. Geoffren realized he had to act fast and gathered air at his feet. The sails waved rapidly as he powered up, Hastard’s hat flew towards him with the rest of the air. Geoffren shot the air from under him and took off towards Hastard. He tackled him through the boat cabin door and launched him to the end of the room. He slammed the door with the air behind him and locked it. The boat rocked as Hastard stood up and rushed toward Geoffren. He swung heavy punches as Geoffren dodged them. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Geoffren countered and punched him in the face, it did nothing. Hastard answered back by grabbing him and repeatedly slammed his head into the wall. Geoffren grunted in pain before kicking Hastard’s family jewels and escaping. As he turned away to wipe the blood from his head, Hastard grabbed him by the neck and threw him at the other wall. The room shook as Hastard aggressively walked towards him. Geoffren created a miniature vacuum on his palm and stuck to the wall to evade Hastard. He climbed up the wall and grabbed one of the framed swords and swung at Hastard, cutting his face. He jumped down and stuck the vacuum to Hastard’s side and attempted to strike. Hastard quickly shook and flung Geoffren around. He began to back up and crush Geoffren against the wall. Geoffren squeaked and stabbed Hastard in the foot. Hastard winced and pulled him off. Geoffren felt the giant hands constrict his neck. He stuck the vacuum to his face instead, thus began the war of wills.  They strangled each other, refusing to give up. Geoffren turned blue while Hastard stared confidently.

      “Come…on.” Geoffren squeaked. Geoffren kicked Hastard in the same spot again to get loose. Geoffren crawled to the desk as he tried to breathe. Hastard ran over and punched at Geoffren only for him to dodge and smash an ashtray against his face. Hastard yelled trying to clean the ashes from his eyes. While he was occupied, Geoffren used the vacuum in his hand to gather the shards of glass in it. The shards balanced on the air and he swung them in a cyclone of air. Hastard noticed in time and dodged each swing as the cyclone sliced the room apart. Giant slashes appeared on the walls as Geoffren wildly swung.

      “He’s such a big target, how am I missing!” He thought. Hastard spun behind Geoffren and kicked the back of his knee to make him fall and caught Geoffren’s arm on his last swing and broke his wrist, Geoffren’s reaction was interrupted by Hastard kicking the air out of him. He sent Geoffren flying into the desk as the boat rocked. Hastard angrily looked around the destroyed room and began yelling.