The jungle canopy rustled like a living beast, thick leaves overlapping one another and blotting out the sunlight above. Flickers of light filtered through, revealing swaying vines, scattered stone totems, and the chaotic scene unfolding beneath. Heim's boots dug into the damp soil as he sidestepped a thrusting spear, the wooden tip grazing his shoulder armor with a harsh scrape.
To his right, Flora darted nimbly between two muscular barbarians, her long green hair streaming like a forest banner. Her hands glowed a gentle emerald hue; vines erupted from the ground in twisting spirals, ensnaring one of the attackers by the ankles. With a sharp yank of her wrist, the vines tightened, dragging the man to the ground.
"Left side, Heim!" Flora shouted, her voice cutting through the cacophony.
Heim spun just in time to catch the downward swing of a stone axe with the shaft of spear he took from the fallen barbarian. The impact shuddered through his arms, almost numbing his grip, but he grit his teeth and pushed back, forcing his opponent a step away. He quickly followed with a shoulder bash, sending the barbarian stumbling.
For a brief moment, they regained ground. A dozen barbarians lay tangled in vines or sprawled unconscious around them. But for every one they brought down, two more seemed to emerge from the foliage.
"These guys just keep coming!" Heim muttered, panting as he swept his spear in a defensive arc.
Flora landed beside him, breathing heavily. "They're protecting something… or someone," she replied, eyes narrowing toward the deeper, darker parts of the forest.
Heim glanced at the canopy again. The air here was heavy with moisture, dense enough that their breath almost seemed to hang in midair. He could smell earth, sweat, and the smoky scent of the barbarians' torches. It wasn't just a fight — it was a siege, and they were slowly being surrounded.
The next wave came fast. A chorus of guttural cries echoed through the trees, followed by a barrage of thrown spears. Heim immediately raised his spear horizontally as a shield. Thud, thud, thud — the wooden shafts clattered and lodged into the surrounding tree trunks, barely missing their targets. Flora waved her hand, and thick vines sprung up like a wall, intercepting several more spears in midair.
"They don't understand us," Flora said between breaths, "but maybe—"
She stepped forward, raising her hands, trying to project calm. "We're not enemies!" she called out slowly, hoping tone could bridge what words could not.
The barbarians stared blankly for a heartbeat, their rough features unreadable. They wore minimal clothing made of animal hides, their bodies painted with tribal markings, and their eyes burned with suspicion and rage. A tall barbarian at the front barked something in a harsh language, and the crowd responded with a roar.
Heim cursed under his breath. "Yeah, that's not working."
"I had to try," Flora sighed.
Before they could reposition, movement rustled in the thick underbrush behind them. Heim turned, too late — two ropes flew out like coiled snakes, looping tightly around his wrists.
"What the—!"
The ropes were pulled taut, dragging his arms apart. Hidden barbarians, camouflaged among the shrubs, were pulling in opposite directions to immobilize him. Heim struggled, muscles flexing against the bindings, but the pull was relentless.
"Heim!" Flora cried out, launching a barrage of thorny vines toward the hidden attackers. A few of them fell back, but others held their ground. They had numbers — dozens, maybe more.
Another rope lashed around Heim's waist, yanking him backward. His spear fell from his grasp, clattering against the dirt. For the first time in the fight, panic flashed across his face.
"Let go of him!" Flora shouted angrily. Her eyes flared green, and vines erupted in a wild frenzy, thrashing like serpents. Several barbarians were struck and knocked aside, but the vines could not reach every direction at once. The rope pull tightened. Heim felt the fibers digging into his skin, the sharp sting of friction burns.
The barbarians grunted and shouted in their tongue, coordinating the pull with frightening efficiency. Heim was being dragged into the bushes, away from the clearing, away from Flora's support.
"No!" Flora dashed toward him, but several spear-wielding warriors intercepted her path. She blocked one spear with her forearm bracer and kicked another opponent away, but she couldn't reach Heim fast enough.
Heim ground his boots into the mud, straining with all his strength. His mind raced for a solution. He could break free — maybe — if he unleashed his Jungle power recklessly, but doing that in a dense jungle risked hurting Flora too.
The ropes bit deeper. He clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing. This wasn't the first time he had been pulled apart like this — surrounded, restrained, forced to fight back against overwhelming odds.
"Think, Heim… think!" he growled to himself.
The world seemed to blur for a moment. The shouts of the barbarians, the clash of vines, the smell of moss — all of it dimmed as his mind was dragged backward, toward a moment long buried but never forgotten.
The heat of sunlight.The smell of scorched earth.The pulse of two elements intertwining for the first time.
Heim's breath caught in his throat. That day.
The day when he was still Thorn.The day when he and Solar stood side by side.The day of their first Elemental Fusion.
The ropes around his arms burned, and his knees began to buckle from the strain, but Heim no longer noticed the jungle. His gaze turned distant, pupils dilating as the past clawed its way into his present.
Around him, the battle still raged — Flora fighting desperately, barbarians yelling, vines cracking like whips — but inside Heim's mind, time slowed to a crawl.
He remembered the light, sharp and golden, cutting through the canopy like a divine spear. He remembered Solar's fierce grin, challenging yet reassuring. He remembered the exact instant when Thorn's vines and Solar's blazing energy collided… and became something more.
That first fusion had changed everything.
He closed his eyes. The jungle vanished.
And in its place, the past began to surface.