They were on her again.
Dozens of spiders swarmed over Zora, their fangs crashing down—snapping at her flesh, trying to pierce her skin. The kinetic energy was building again, faster this time. But something was different.
She didn't feel pain.
She felt… hot.
PUNCH ONE!
The voice in her head roared with glee.
Zora gritted her teeth. Screw it.
She drove her fist into the closest spider.
BOOM.
A burst of flame erupted from the impact point, scorching the earth and vaporizing everything around her.
"Holy sh—"
She didn't even get to finish. More were on her. More energy surged.
Then—suddenly—the world went silent.
And music started playing.
The hell is that...?
Another punch.
Another explosion.
The music grew louder. Stronger. Zora could feel it. It wasn't in her ears—it was in her bones. The rhythm pulsed with her heartbeat, syncing to her power. The spiders began vibrating, missing their strikes entirely.
Then… they stopped.
Suspended.
Thousands of them—frozen in midair. Their limbs twitched helplessly like tangled flies caught in invisible threads.
Zora blinked. "What the hell—?"
"Haha, YEAH!"
Lena's voice rang out.
Zora snapped her head to the left.
Lena was dancing—surrounded by levitating speakers, each blaring a different song in perfect sync. A radiant aura pulsed from her like a heartbeat.
And beside her… Ivory.
Her eyes now glowed a deep, eerie purple. She smiled knowingly, tugging a string that seemed to materialize from thin air.
Zora's feet lifted from the ground like a marionette.
Behind Ivory, for the briefest moment—a ghostly female puppet master appeared before vanishing in a shimmer of light.
Tori just sat on the ground, staring, stunned. "What the f*** is going on…"
The earth shifted behind Zora.
She turned.
A slab of rock jutted from the ground, taking form, shaping into a figure—until it was Paul standing tall in front of her.
Her jaw dropped.
He shrugged.
"What? My actual body died just now."
Ivory ran to him, tears already streaming down her face. She hugged him like she'd never let go again.
Then—BOOM.
Archie landed next to them in a crater, his bottle of liquor sloshing as he took a drink.
"Sorry about that! I fell asleep!"
"H-HUH!?"
Tori stared at Archie like he'd just lost his mind.
"You said ten minutes… how much time passed!?"
Archie scratched his beard. "I don't know. Maybe twenty?"
Tori looked like she was about to explode. Zora gave him a death glare, and she had to admit—yeah, she was a little mad too.
"Let's get rid of the rest of these bugs first before we get mad, yeah?" Archie said, grinning.
Tori huffed. Zora nodded.
Oh, let me try! But you'll need energy first!
The new voice was eager.
Zora turned to the others. "Gather around, all of you."
Then she looked at Archie.
"Can you punch me?"
Archie raised an eyebrow. "You want me to what?"
"Don't kill me though."
He took a swig of his bottle. "No promises."
Then, casually—he flicked her forehead.
BOOM.
Zora stumbled back. Heat surged through her body.
This much from just a flick?!
She took a shaky breath and stepped forward, throwing up a shimmering barrier around the others.
"What's your name?" she asked aloud, the flame already crackling at her fingertips.
You can call me Warden. Now extend your hand, palm up. Push all the energy into the flame.
She obeyed, the heat building with each passing second. The flame ballooned, quickly growing to the size of at least a ten-story building, its searing presence incinerating nearby spiders before she even touched them.
She heard Archie whistle.
Now form it into a ball. And shrink it as small as you can.
Zora focused, imagining the inferno pulling in on itself. The flame condensed, thickened—rounded into a perfect sphere.
"How do I shrink it further?" she asked.
The same way you do everything else. Just think about it.
She imagined the massive sphere getting smaller… and smaller… and smaller. Until it was the size of a golf ball.
Any smaller and her head felt like it'd split open.
That's good enough. Now… just drop it.
Zora blinked. "Drop it?"
She dropped it.
Silence.
The glowing orb floated gently to the ground.
Ivory chuckled. "Well that was anticlimactic."
Archie raised a finger. "Just wait…"
The ball touched the dirt.
And then—
KA-BOOOOOM.
A blinding flash. A deafening roar. The ground convulsed beneath them like it had been ripped in half. Zora shielded her eyes, but the heat and sound hit her like a truck.
It felt like the world was ending.
Then, finally… it faded.
Zora opened her eyes.
There was no forest.
No spiders.
No anything.
Just scorched black earth stretching for miles.
Even the strings that had suspended the horde were gone—vaporized.
She turned around slowly. The others were just as stunned. Even Archie had an eyebrow raised.
The barrier flickered and vanished.
He clapped a hand on her shoulder.
"Now that's what I call growth!"
Archie turned toward them.
"Glad to see you all grew."
His eyes flicked toward Tori briefly before he started walking again.
"Come on, we've got about eight miles left. I can now leave you at ten miles without having to worry about you now."
Zora looked at the others—Ivory, Lena, Paul, even Tori—each of them still processing what had just happened. Then she turned and followed after Archie, her feet heavy on the scorched earth.
So… where are Ricochet and Nexus?
She asked the question in her mind, hoping for a response. There was only silence for a long moment.
Then finally—
They're gone, Warden answered softly. They've merged into… well… me.
Aegis floated down, eyes dim. "They've merged, Zora… and once it happens, they can't unmerge."
He hovered for a moment before continuing.
"Nexus and Ricochet don't exist anymore."
Then he zipped back up into the air, joining Siri and Spark.
Zora's breath caught. She stared at the sky, the vast expanse now feeling… hollow.
Can you come out, Warden? So I can look at you?
I can't, Warden replied. We can only leave once all of us have merged.
She stopped walking.
A punch to the gut.
No more Ricochet yelling in her head.
No more Nexus's sharp wit or fierce excitement.
She chuckled sadly, the world around her starting to blur.
Images swam behind her eyes—Ricochet's over-the-top dramatics. Nexus constantly begging to fight something.
She wiped a tear from her cheek.
You know they're still here, right? Warden said gently. They're just… me.
Zora rolled her eyes.
"It's not the same," she whispered.