APRIL
A beast, at least 16 feet tall, staggered into view. Its body was monstrous, grotesque, and unnervingly powerful. Its skin was a sickly combination of dark, mottled grey and green, like a decayed corpse fused with stone. Muscles bulged beneath the skin, and its long, clawed limbs dragged along the ground with each step. Its head was crowned with jagged bone-like protrusions, and its eyes, glowing a fiery orange, burned with hunger.
Its mouth stretched open in a grotesque snarl, revealing rows of serrated teeth that looked more like daggers than anything natural. The air around it reeked of rot, and each breath it took sounded like a growl deep from within its chest. It staggered closer, its eyes never leaving us.
I stood frozen, unable to move.
"It's… it's mutated," Goh muttered beside me. "This isn't just a monster, seems it used to be human."
"Where's the core!?" Vael's voice cracked like lightning as he stumbled back, his eyes wide in fear.
"It's gone," Leah said sharply, slipping into a fighting stance, her body already tensed like a drawn bow.
"What do you mean it's gone?!"
"I don't have time to explain, Vael. Focus. We need to bring this thing down now."
"It's too powerful…" Vael's voice trembled with doubt. Then, his gaze turned to me. "And the human?" he asked Goh.
Goh shrugged casually, as if he had no clue who I was.
Suddenly, energy blasts erupted—bright, volatile orbs of raw force hurled toward the monster. Glowing plasma, crackling lightning arcs, and fire swirling with compressed pressure exploded outward from the Xenotypes, Goh, Leah, and Vael standing in front of me.
But none of it worked. The blasts dissipated on contact, scattering like raindrops on armor.
Leah screamed, leaping high into the air, sword drawn and energy flaring purple along its edge. With all the strength she could muster, she aimed straight for the creature's arm.
SHRRKKKK!
(The sound of steel tearing through flesh.)
The blade struck—but barely. The creature's arm peeled open under the impact, revealing twisted black muscle and ichor-dark blood… then it began to close, regenerating in seconds.
We didn't even get time to recover. The beast roared in fury and backhanded Leah with terrifying force. She vanished from sight, crashing somewhere deep in the trees. I heard the brutal CRACK of impact and my heart stopped.
The monster surged forward, swiping its claws through the remaining Xenotype warriors. Flesh split. Bones shattered. Blood sprayed across the forest floor and just like that, the xenotypes warriors were gone.
It was just me, Goh, and Vael now.
I was frozen. I didn't know what to do, and it made me angry. Goh roared as he kept launching powerful strikes. Electric blue arcs of power lit up the clearing as he slammed core after core of raw energy into the monster. It staggered back slightly but then took another step forward, even stronger.
"Step back!" Vael barked, and his body exploded in blue light. A translucent barrier formed around him, thick, glowing, and expanding rapidly. His eyes blazed with energy, and he released it all at once in a massive wave.
The monster reeled, stumbling backward from the sheer pressure.
"Goh! Now!"
Goh jumped, his blade charged with concentrated light, aiming straight for the creature's throat—
But the beast was faster. It caught him mid-air, slammed him to the ground with a BOOM that cracked the earth. Goh didn't get back up.
"RUN!" Vael's voice broke. He turned to flee, but before he could take two steps, the monster struck first. Its cores shot forward, piercing straight through him.
I saw his eyes, wide and terrified as the life drained from them. He coughed up thick, purple blood. The creature pulled its claw free, and Vael collapsed.
I couldn't even scream. I'd learned to control my emotions, like Leah, but maybe freezing like that... maybe that's just another kind of fear.
Everyone had fallen… and I hadn't thrown a single strike.
"Run, April…" Goh's voice was barely audible as he tried to crawl to his knees.
The monster approached me with slow, heavy steps that shook the earth but I didn't move. I stood there, frozen, bracing for impact… ready to do nothing.
Then, shockingly, it walked right past me.
"What?!" I spun around, completely stunned. Why didn't it attack me? Was I invisible? Or did it see me as weak… not even worth fighting with?
"Hey!" I shouted, furious at the thought, but it didn't even flinch.
I thought back, to when Leah approached it, it didn't react to her charge. And when Goh screamed at me to run. It didn't react to any of it. Could it be deaf?
I clenched my fists, fury burning inside me. I didn't even get the chance to fight.
"April…" Leah's voice was weak, barely above a whisper. I turned and saw her staggering in the distance, leaning against a tree for support, blood trailing down her arm and head.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice so soft it almost broke me.
I rushed to her side. The monster had walked away—and I let it. After everything... after it killed the others, after it hurt Leah and Goh—I let it go. A low and angry growl escaped my throat. I clenched my fists again, trying not to cry at the sight of Leah so broken.
I lowered her gently to the ground and hovered beside her, panicked. "What should I do?"
Goh stumbled over, dragging his bruised body toward us.
"This is my fault," Leah said through ragged breaths. "I killed them... I killed them!" Her voice cracked as she let out a scream of agony
"I warned you" Goh said quietly. "But let's not dwell on that. What matters now is April. Everything the core held is inside her now. The healing powers, the protective energy, all of it. She has to be trained to protect us, especially in moments like this."
It was the first time I'd seen him speak with such clarity. Maybe he was different on the battlefield—serious, grounded. He looked beaten, bruised, but stronger than I'd ever seen him.
"Channel your energy, April," Leah urged, trying to lift her head. I gently pressed her back down and leaned closer so she wouldn't strain herself.
I closed my eyes, breathing deep, letting the healing aura rise—just like she'd taught me. And I let the healing begin. A soft purple glow surrounded my palms as I placed them on Leah's wounds and let the warmth spread through her body.
Goh gently watched, breathing hard.
"We're dead," Goh muttered under his breath. "We're dead if Carlos ever sets foot on Earth."