Scene 1: Hallows
Katherine dropped to her knees beside Jeremiah's limp form, her hands trembling. Blood seeped through his shirt, the cursed Obsidian blade still lodged in his side. Caleb stood over them, his chest heaving, tears brimming in his eyes.
"Why, Caleb?" Katherine choked out, her voice breaking.
He looked down at her with bitter grief twisting his features. "Because I loved you, Katherine. I always did. You were the light that gave me hope in the darkness... and yet you chose him. Him. Jeremiah, the quiet healer with no ambition, no fire. You never even looked at me the way you looked at him."
Katherine's lip quivered. "That's not true—"
"Don't lie to me!" Caleb's voice cracked. "If you'd just loved me back… if you had seen me, I wouldn't have fallen into this. I wouldn't have listened to her. I just wanted you to notice me. But now… now I've gone too far. So I'll take you. I'll make you mine."
Jeremiah groaned faintly, trying to lift a hand, but the cursed blade suppressed his healing magic. His body rejected any attempt to mend itself. Katherine's eyes widened in horror as she saw the cursed mark pulsing on his wound.
"Jeremiah—NO!" she screamed.
The world trembled.
A shockwave of golden energy blasted out from her body, cracking the ground beneath her. The invisible barrier Seraphyne had cast shattered like glass. Katherine's wings erupted from her back—feathered, glowing, majestic. Her eyes blazed pure gold, burning with holy fury.
Seraphyne, standing a distance away, only grinned as the light hit her, sending her crashing through debris. Laughing as blood trailed from her lips, she stood. "Magnificent. You're everything the prophecies promised. And just in time. Everything... is going according to plan."
With a flick of her wrist, dozens of Obsidian soldiers emerged from the shadows.
"Deal with her!" Seraphyne ordered.
Katherine didn't hesitate. Her hands ignited with divine fire. In one radiant sweep, she unleashed a beam of golden energy that incinerated the soldiers instantly—no screams, only light and dust.
But Seraphyne was already behind her, conjuring a swirling dark portal.
Katherine lunged, but too late. Seraphyne's mocking eyes met hers as she stepped into the portal. "We'll meet again, Queen of Light."
The portal closed.
Behind it, Caleb collapsed, blood spilling from his mouth. The curse had finally turned on him.
Scene 2: Desperate measures
The battlefield was a mix of dust, ash, and golden embers. Jeremiah lay unconscious, his body convulsing. Garth and Marcus rushed to him, lifting him onto a stretcher as medics arrived. The blade had been lodged deep.
Inside the facility, Jeremiah was rushed to the ICU. Katherine stayed just outside the operating room, trembling.
Doctors flooded the room, shouting orders.
"Heart rate plummeting!"
"Get the cursed blade out—carefully!"
"He's convulsing—get a stabilizer in his IV!"
The cursed Obsidian blade glowed with black energy. One surgeon, wearing anti-magic gloves, carefully extracted it. As soon as it left his body, Jeremiah let out a horrific scream and blood sprayed from his mouth.
"Clamp the artery—NOW!"
An emergency team worked on him for over an hour. A barrier was placed around his body to suppress lingering Obsidian energy. The damage to his organs was immense, and cursed energy had invaded his bloodstream.
They administered a rare magical transfusion using purified Phoenix plasma—a treatment forbidden without Guild permission, but they had no time to wait.
When the surgery ended, he was alive, but unconscious and unstable. One doctor removed his gloves and whispered, "He shouldn't have survived that."
The others exchanged glances.
Scene 3:The confessions
Everyone gathered in the command room, silent. Katherine sat apart, still in shock.
Cecelia finally broke the silence. "How do we get Caleb back? If they can get to us so easily, can we get to them?"
Marcus stood. He seemed calmer now, but there was a heaviness to his steps.
"There's something I haven't told you all," he said quietly. "You know I'm from Mars… but I'm not just some citizen. I'm the Crown Prince of the Obsidian Realm."
Gasps filled the room.
He continued. "My father, King Leonard, sent me here to spy on Earth's Meta-humans. I was supposed to gather information, report back. But… I couldn't. Because here, I found something I never had back home. Friends. Family. Real people who saw me as more than a weapon."
He looked at each of them. "My father never loved me. He called me an outcast. He said I was too emotional, too human. He punished me for showing compassion. So I left. I severed ties with the throne."
Katherine whispered, "You're royalty?"
"I am. But I don't want that title. Not anymore. What I want is to stop my father."
Jax frowned. "So, what are you saying?"
Marcus stepped forward. "I can help you get Caleb back. I know the gate coordinates. I know how to bypass the planetary barriers. But it'll be dangerous. We're talking full infiltration."
Lyra stood up. "Then let's do it."
Katherine clenched her fists. Her eyes still shimmered gold, her body radiating a silent fury.
"No," she said. "This isn't just a rescue mission. This is war. That monster nearly killed Jeremiah. He's corrupted Caleb. And that witch—Seraphyne—played with our lives like we're pawns."
She looked at Marcus. "Take us to your world. Because I'm going to kill King Leonard."
Scene 4: The Calm Before the Storm
The snowstorm raged outside the cabin, the wind howling against the walls like a beast at the gate. Inside, the tension was palpable—thick, heavy, and suffocating. The room was eerily silent except for the sound of Katherine's steady breathing. She stood near the fireplace, the flickering flames casting shadows across her face as her gaze remained fixed on the floor. Her body hummed with an energy that was almost too much to contain, and the gold in her eyes still hadn't faded. Her wings, which had once been an awe-inspiring symbol of power, now drooped behind her like an unwelcome burden.
Marcus stood off to the side, eyes fixed on Katherine. His posture was stiff, as though he too was wrestling with the weight of her words. Guilt and uncertainty gnawed at him, but he knew that now wasn't the time for hesitation. He had to follow through.
After all, she was his friend.
But would he be able to help her become the force she needed to be? Would they be able to defeat the monsters that had controlled their lives for so long? These thoughts spiraled in his mind like a vortex, pulling him deeper into the shadows of his own self-doubt.
He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Cecelia's soft voice interrupted.
"We have to be careful, Katherine," she said quietly, her tone uncertain. "Rushing into this war… it's going to change everything."
Katherine's head snapped up, her eyes meeting Cecelia's. The golden glow that still lingered in her pupils made the room feel suddenly warmer, yet colder at the same time.
"I'm not rushing," Katherine replied, her voice steady despite the fire raging within her. "I've seen what Leonard has done to my people, to Caleb. To Jeremiah. This is not just about saving him. It's about stopping them before they destroy everything we've fought for."
Cecelia took a step forward, her brow furrowing as she tried to reason with Katherine. "I understand your pain. Believe me, I do. But we need a plan. A real one. Charging in headfirst without understanding the full scope of their power, or what they're capable of… it could mean the end of us. The end of everything."
Marcus watched the exchange in silence, torn between his loyalty to Katherine and his knowledge of the consequences of such a hasty decision. His hand clenched at his side, feeling the cool air sting against his skin.
"I don't care," Katherine's voice was sharp now, cutting through the room like a blade. "This has gone on long enough. I'll stop them. We'll stop them."
Lyra, who had been standing by the window, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, turned to face Katherine. Her expression was serious, her usual playful demeanor absent.
"Katherine, listen to me," she said firmly. "We all want this to end. But you have to think about the people you're fighting for. We're not just talking about Caleb anymore. We're talking about Earth, about the Guild, about every single life that's caught in the middle of this. What happens if we fail?"
Katherine's golden eyes flickered for a brief moment, uncertainty creeping into them. For just a second, the weight of the burden she carried seemed to settle in her chest. Her breath hitched, and for a moment, she seemed to be overwhelmed by the enormity of it all.
"I don't know…" she whispered. "I don't know what happens if we fail."
The silence hung heavy in the room as the team exchanged glances, unsure of how to proceed. They had all fought together before, but this felt different. The stakes had never been higher. They had seen their share of danger, but nothing had prepared them for what lay ahead. The enemy wasn't just a force to be reckoned with—they were a force of nature, one that would stop at nothing to break them.
Then, Garth's voice cut through the tension. He had been sitting quietly in the corner, lost in thought. Now, he stood and stepped forward, his expression unreadable.
"I know you're all scared," Garth said, his voice low but resolute. "I know I am. But there's something I learned from the one person who never stopped fighting. Sentinel Vex."
The mention of Vex's name made everyone pause. The room seemed to grow colder, as if his absence left a void in their hearts.
"He taught me that fear doesn't mean you stop moving forward," Garth continued, his voice gaining strength. "It means you keep going even when you're afraid. Because what happens if we don't? What happens if we let them win?"
The room fell silent once more, but this time it wasn't filled with uncertainty. There was something else—something that felt like a spark. A reminder of the fire they had all once shared. Vex had taught them that their strength didn't just come from their powers—it came from their bond, from their unyielding will to protect those they loved.
"We fight," Marcus said softly, his words barely a whisper at first, but gaining volume as he spoke. "We fight, because we are stronger together than apart. And we fight because we have something to protect."
The group nodded in silent agreement, the weight of the decision settling over them. They all knew the risks. But they also knew they couldn't back down. Not now.
Katherine's golden eyes softened, the power within her simmering just below the surface. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, her wings fluttering slightly as she did.
"We'll make them pay for what they've done," she said, her voice firm with determination. "We'll take back what's ours. But this time… we do it together."
---
The conversation shifted, the plan coming together in fragments—small decisions, details, and strategies falling into place. But beneath it all, the urgency remained. They couldn't waste time. They had to act fast.
As the group gathered around the table to finalize their plan, Garth made a quiet promise to himself. He would not let another friend fall. He would not let this war destroy the people he cared about. And as he looked across the room at the team that had become his family, he knew that no matter what came next, they would face it together.