GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!

  “I am the Sword Master of Rowen, and I call upon one of the Five Swords of Power," Kevin said, raising his hand in the air.

  "Kevin, do not do this," Carl pleaded.

  "ANGER SWORD!”

  The young Kevin roared, the sound not of anger but of pure anguish, as he yanked the Red Scimitar from his palm. Blood and energy intertwined, the blade forged from a child's desperate need for control in a world that had taken everything from him.

  The sword wasn't a weapon, it was a promise Kevin had made to himself that day in the rain. A vow that he would never be powerless again, never watch what he loved to be taken away. Carl finally understood why his friend had always fought so fiercely to protect others, because no one had been there to protect him when it mattered most.

  The blade pulsed in perfect rhythm with his crimson aura, while his eyes flashed a sickly yellow, the same color that quickly engulfed his entire small frame like wildfire consuming paper.

  The kid, eyes blazing with that unnatural yellow light, swung the glowing sword at them. The fiery weapon throbbed, throwing weird shadows across the rain-soaked school steps.

  Paz gasped, her staff pulsing with a bright light. "Primal…. what is happening!"

  The drumming of a song filled the Mind Space that transcended anything in his experience. It began with a rising orchestral swell, reminiscent of a gathering storm.

  "Carl, Paz, prepare for battle. FireJack, let's do this!"

  "I got ya, sister, let's go!" FireJack replied, disappearing.

  Midge yelled, pulling out her pendant, she grasped it tightly. "FOR THE LOVE OF FAMILY AND OF THE RETSAM… THE PRIMAL CHAMPION… FYREBURN!"

  Percussions thundered in - tribal drums and modern beats intertwining, each measure building to the next. Something magnificent, something greater. Above it all, strings and brass carried a melody both heroic and defiant.

  Flames consumed Midge, and when she stepped forward, she had transformed. This wasn't just Midge anymore, this was FyreBurn, a flaming incarnation of her true power. Fire danced from her fingertips, and her tail blazed with intense heat, casting wild shadows across the rain-soaked schoolyard.

  Yet even as power surged through her, Carl saw Midge's eyes fill with something unexpected, not battle rage, but profound sadness. She saw what Carl saw: not an enemy to defeat, but a child to save.

  An ethereal chorus joined in, voices lifting in what seemed an antique tongue he couldn't understand, yet its power resonated in his bones. The symphony pulsed with raw energy that set his heart racing and lifted his spirit skyward.

  Carl's visor beeped with an unfamiliar alert pattern. He pulled it over his eyes and saw the display had activated, showing three portraits, his own, plus Midge and Paz as added party members. An energy bar filled up beside his portrait, confirming what he already knew in his gut: this was happening for real. In the corner of his screen was a music bar, and it pulsed with the sync of what he was hearing in his head.

  "Kev," Carl whispered, his voice breaking. "I understand now. All these years, and I never knew. I swear I'll find a way to help you carry this, you don't have to hold it alone anymore."

  The young boy swung the sword unleashing a wave of unholy red energy waves.

  He kicked and punched at him, but an impenetrable dark aura deflected every strike. Carl flipped over, trying to attack from behind. Again, his skills couldn't connect.

  "Kevin, listen to me, you have to calm down!" he screamed.

  He had no idea if his friend was even hearing him. The results made that painfully obvious.

  The young boy took another step.

  Midge sprang backward with crazy speed, her body tensing like she was about to explode. Her flames pulsed brighter, charging up as her claws glowed and hum in the darkness. Then she let out this wild battle cry and shot forward.

  She became this streak of light, cutting through four different angles in rapid succession: once high, once low, then left and right. Each strike looked like it could slice through steel, and she wasn't missing by accident.

  But her efforts were in vain. The dark aura surrounding Kevin pulsed and rippled, absorbing each of Midge's strikes like they were nothing but gentle breezes. Her attacks hit an invisible barrier, harmless against whatever was protecting him. Frustration flashed across her face as she realized she wasn't making a dent.

  Kevin retaliated. His sword crackled with energy as he swept it through the air in a wide arc. Two brilliant yellow crescents of pure force materialized, hurtling toward Midge with terrifying speed. They slammed into her chest with bone-jarring force, knocking her off her feet. At the last possible moment, she brought her knees up in a desperate block, deflecting the worst of the attack. Even so, the impact sent shockwaves through her body, leaving her gasping for breath.

  Each strike contained years of bottled pain, the force of a child's rage against an unfair world that had stolen his childhood and forced him to be an adult when he was just a boy.

  Paz chanted in the background.

  She thrusted her staff forward with a sharp motion letting loose a charge of power. Two crimson bolts shot out, hitting the wet pavement with an angry hiss before snaking toward Kevin.

  The magical streams split apart, curving wide around him like they had minds of their own. When they reconnected, completing the circle, a massive wall of flames exploded upward from the ground. The fire roared to life, creating a swirling vortex that trapped Kevin inside its burning embrace. He staggered back, momentarily stunned.

  "Carl, now's your chance!" Paz yelled over the intense roaring flames, The trap was working, Kevin was finally off-balance.

  Carl's lightning bolt crashed, encircling the boy in a web of electricity. He launched himself through the wall of fire, claws flying in a blur of motion. Each strike discharged energy lighting up the night with sharp blue-white flashes.

  The shadows around them jumped and twisted with every explosive impact, casting wild patterns across the rainy pavement.

  LEAVE ME ALONE!

  Kevin’s voice.

  Carl knew it had to be. “No, you must snap out of this. You will never be alone again!”

  LIES!

  Kevin's aura surged with explosive force, expanding beyond Carl's feet and engulfing the area.

  Carl's instincts kicked in, and he leaped clear of the pulsating energy. However, an invisible, inexorable force seized him mid-jump, leaving him suspended and helpless in the sky.

  "Kevin, let me go!" Carl yelled. With an uncontrolled trajectory he hurtled in Midge's direction. Unable to alter his course, he whooshed past her as she dodged out of the way and skidded across the pavement.

  Without hesitation, Midge charged headlong into the roaring inferno, her determination resolute. "Sword Master, you have to calm down and look at your situation. Take control of this emotion!"

  She lunged forward, parting the burning waves like a curtain.

  "Back away Midge, this is not your fight!" Kevin yelled. There, amidst the hellish blaze, stood the young boy, his bare hand effortlessly catching the tip of her claws. In a heartbeat, he brought his Anger Sword crashing against her.

  Carl intercepted the blow with his left hand and if he was a second slower, Midge would have been missing one of her own. Still, the impact reverberated through her arms, but Carl took the brunt of that pain as the blade cutted through.

  Kevin's eyes burned with an inferno of emotions – rage so potent it scorched the air, anger that threatened to consume everything in its path, and beneath it all, a bottomless well of despair that threatened to swallow the world whole.

  In that moment, as if struck by his own bolt of lightning, Carl comprehended the depth of pain that fueled friend's actions. He was in a messed up situation back then, and he couldn't help but to feel that this was one of the reasons he did not want to return home the first time.

  Paz sprang into action, her staff weaving intricate patterns as she hurled crackling yellow bolts of energy at the young boy.

  He looked undeterred by the energy bolts that licked at his clothes, and he finally broke through the fiery barrier with a snarl, his eyes locked on his target.

  The staff responded to her call, its energy surging through her body as it propelled her away from Kevin with explosive force. She felt the rush of displaced air as the boy's blade swung behind her, missing her by a hair's breadth. The sword struck the sodden earth with a sickening crunch, embedding itself deep into the spot where her head had lain mere heartbeats before.

  Carl suddenly understood with heart-wrenching clarity: Their attacks weren't working because this wasn't about combat or power. This was about a hurt so deep that no physical force could touch it. Kevin's anger wasn't his enemy, it had been his only friend when the world abandoned him.

  "This isn't working. What are we missing?" Paz exclaimed, her frustration clear in her voice.

  "I don't know, but I have this nagging feeling that this isn't really Kevin," Carl replied. He sprinted forward to launch another attack, but once again, the results remained frustratingly unchanged. No matter how much force he put behind his strikes, nothing penetrated Kevin's defenses.

  Fighting his friend felt wrong, but not fighting for him was unthinkable. Every failed strike reminded Carl of all the signs he'd missed over the years, Kevin's reluctance to discuss his past, his fierce protectiveness, his occasional unexplained rage. All pieces of a puzzle Carl had never fully assembled until now, standing in the rain of a memory that had shaped the man he called brother.

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  Paz summoned her strength and hurled another Flame Aura. For a brief, hopeful moment, the fiery barrier clung to the boy's form, but the effect quickly dissipated, leaving him to continue his relentless advance. "Explain!" she said.

  Carl stepped back, his mind racing as he carefully examined the situation unfolding before him. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was overlooking a crucial detail. Suddenly, fragments of memory coalesced in his mind: the school, the police car, the ominous ticking of a clock. This wasn't any memory – this was the pivotal moment when Kevin was taken to Mary Graham Hall.

  A grim realization dawned on Carl. The only reason a child would be sent to that place at this time was due to the rampant drug epidemic that plagued the city, with social workers intervening to remove children from dangerous situations.

  Kevin, being the oldest child in his family, would naturally have felt an overwhelming responsibility to protect his loved ones. The weight of that failure…

  Carl's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place.

  Kevin's anger wasn't directed at himself – it was a seething, all-encompassing rage that lashed out at everyone around him. The depth of his friend's pain and self-loathing suddenly became painfully clear, manifesting in this nightmarish incarnation before them.

  "Paz! It's his family. He's trying to protect them in the police car!" Carl yelled.

  "How did this memory end? What happened here?" Paz demanded, her eyes never leaving Kevin's form. "And give me the short version. We're running out of time." She hurled more energy bolts, in which Kevin quickened his steps in response, his movements becoming increasingly unstable.

  Carl's voice cracked as the truth crystallized. 'Don't you see? He was just a kid himself, thirteen years old, but he thought it was his job to be their father, their mother, everything they needed. He cooked their meals, got them dressed, made sure they had something resembling a childhood. And then they were just... taken. And all his efforts meant nothing.

  "This is the memory of him failing to protect his family. And why is this emotion so strong," FireJack added.

  Midge replied, as if she remembered her own memories. "I couldn't imagine what it would feel like to lose your family because no one else wanted to help protect them."

  "I know what we have to do. It's not the anger that's killing him, it's the guilt. The belief that he failed them. That he should have been more, done more, been better somehow."

  "What are you talking about?" Paz asked, her brow furrowing in confusion and concern.

  "He did not have to protect his family. It was not his job," he explained, her words heavy with meaning. "We have to help him with what he protected. If he doesn't have to do this by himself..."

  "Then he doesn't have a reason to be angry," Midge said

  The rain mingled with tears on Carl's face as he looked at the boy who would become his best friend, standing alone on those steps, shoulders slumped with a weight no child should bear. 'You didn't fail them, Kev,' he whispered. 'The adults failed you. All of you.'

  Without hesitation, Carl sprinted towards the police car, his feet barely touching the ground as he leaped into the air. A web of crackling lightning erupted from his fingertips, enveloping the police cars in a dazzling electric cocoon.

  Paz raised her staff, and a hundred wind shards penetrated the cars, causing them to disperse like a mirage before vanishing into nothingness, taking the painful memory with it.

  As the image of his siblings vanished, young Kevin's face transformed, confusion giving way to something like relief, as if a burden he'd carried for twenty years suddenly lightened. The rain slowed, no longer hammering with vengeful force.

  Something small and shining fell from the boy's hand, a cheap plastic bear keychain, the kind from a quarter machine. It had been clutched so tightly in his palm that it left a perfect impression on his skin. Carl recognized it immediately, the same keychain Kevin kept on his keys even now, worn smoothly from years of being held as a talisman.

  The young boy, who had been advancing relentlessly, suddenly stopped in his tracks. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, hot tears spilling from his eyes to mingle with the cold rain pelting the earth. The dark aura surrounding him pulsed violently, then exploded outward in a wave of raw emotion, tearing the Anger Sword from his grasp.

  The blade landed several feet away with a sound like breaking glass, and the aura, that toxic crimson energy, slithered away from Kevin toward the sword. It coalesced around the weapon, taking shape not as rage itself but as the thing that had been feeding on his rage for years.

  Carl ignored the threat and ran to Kevin. He dropped to his knees in the mud and wrapped his arms around the boy's thin shoulders, feeling him trembling like a sparrow in winter.

  “Listen to me,” he said, his voice steady despite the tears streaming his face. “What happened that day, it shaped you, but it doesn't define you. You did everything a child could do. More than any child should have had to do."

  "Kevin, you do not have to protect them anymore. It is no longer your job to protect anybody. And if you do have to protect someone, I swear to you, I will be there to shoulder that burden with you. You're not alone in this, not anymore."

  The dark aura brandished the sword, its ethereal form pointing the blade directly at Carl.

  HOWEVER, THAT WAS A LIE, WASN'T IT CARL? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN HE STOOD ALONE IN THE RAIN? WHERE WERE WHEN HE CRIED HIMSELF TO SLEEP FOR YEARS, WONDERING IF HIS SIBLINGS WERE SAFE? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN HE HAD TO BECOME A MAN BEFORE HE'D EVEN HAD THE CHANCE TO BE A CHILD? YOU WEREN'T THERE THEN, AND DEEP DOWN, HE KNOWS YOU'LL FAIL HIM AGAIN.

  Carl's jaw clenched, but his voice remained steady as he replied, "No, I wasn't there in his past, but I've chosen to leave the past where it belongs. It's what he does in the future that makes him my best friend. That's what matters now."

  LIES! YOU CANNOT DECEIVE ME, CARL JACKSON! I HAVE WAITED AN EXTREMELY LONG TIME TO FIND HIM. AND NOW. NOW THAT I'VE TOUCHED HIS SOUL, EVEN YOU WILL NOT STOP ME A SECOND TIME, CARL!

  Paz cautiously approached Carl, her eyes darting between him and the menacing aura. "What is it talking about? Has this happened before?" she asked.

  "Not to my knowledge," Carl replied. "This is my first time witnessing anything like this."

  LIES AGAIN!! YOU DO RELISH YOUR DECEPTIONS, DON'T YOU CARL? BUT THIS TIME, I AM IN CONTROL OF THE RULES OF THIS GAME. YOU WILL NOT THWART ME. I WILL DEVOUR HIS SOUL, AND NEITHER YOU NOR THE RETSAM WILL PREVENT MY GLORIOUS REBIRTH. THE GREAT DARKNESS SHALL RISE AGAIN AND YOU WILL BE MY WITNESS TO A NEW ERA OF SHADOW.

  "Carl felt Kevin stiffen in his arms. 'It's been whispering to me,' Kevin said, his voice suddenly sounding like both the child and the man he would become. 'For years. Telling me it was my fault. That if I'd been stronger, smarter, better...'"

  Carl's eyes narrowed as he faced the dark entity. "Malikhil. You should have stayed in your prison. You messed up again and this time, I intend on bringing my friend home!”

  YOU HYPOCRITE!! YOU DARE TO CALL HIM YOUR FRIEND!! I AM HIS ONE TRUE COMPANION. I HAVE BEEN WITH HIM FOR THREE LONG DECADES, WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY. AND NOW HE HAS GIVEN IT TO ME!! HE ACCEPTED MY PROPOSAL. HE WANTS ME TO LIVE WITH HIM. HE LOVES ME AND I WANT TO LIVE THROUGH HIM, TO BECOME ONE WITH HIS VERY ESSENCE.

  The ground beneath them trembled violently, the earth itself seeming to respond to the dark entity's rage.

  "Carl, the memory fragment is fading fast," FireJack called out urgently. "The Resonance can't sustain the image much longer. We've accomplished what we set out to do. We need to leave, now!"

  Though Carl heard her warning, he chose to ignore it, his focus on the malevolent presence before them. He left Midge to tend to his friend.

  His eyes crackled with intense blue electricity, sparks dancing across his irises like miniature lightning storms.

  Carl instinctively floated in the air. He felt his full powers returning to him, and the lightning struck the ground underneath him.

  "I swear to you," Carl shouted defiantly, his voice resonating. "You come for him, and I will come at you with everything I've got. I am not the same kid way back when. You have now been marked as an enemy of the J-Clan."

  He unleashed a lightning storm around the dark aura causing smoke and sparks to meet and explode in essence.

  "You preyed on a child's pain," Carl said, his voice vibrating with fury and determination. "You twisted his need to protect into a weapon. I don't care what darkness you claim to be, you're another bully picking on someone who couldn't fight back. But Kevin isn't that defenseless kid anymore, and he sure hell isn't alone.

  He was lenient on you by letting you live. I will not make that same mistake. I will be there to stop you when you try to take his soul! I will end you, and your days of preying on the vulnerable will be over, you malevolent parasite!"

  The dark aura let out a bone-chilling screech of fury. In one fluid motion, it hurled the Anger Sword directly at Carl. With lightning-fast reflexes, Carl's hand shot out, catching the blade mid-air by its hilt. The sword's weight settled into his palm, its energy pulsing angrily against his skin.

  DO YOU THINK I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU, CARL? I AM THE SHADOW THAT HAUNTS YOUR EVERY WAKING MOMENT, THE WHISPER THAT ECHOES IN THE DEPTHS OF YOUR SOUL.

  I AM THE ETERNAL HUNGER THAT CAN NEVER BE SATED, THE VOID THAT CONSUMES ALL LIGHT AND HOPE.

  MY PRESENCE ALONE WILL SHATTER YOUR REALITY AND LEAVE YOU TREMBLING IN THE FACE OF TRUE DARKNESS.

  FOR I AM THE DEVOURER.

  I AM THE FORSAKEN.

  I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES.

  I AM MALIKHIL! THE GREAT DARKNESS!

  Carl stood Kevin up, who now looks like his appearance outside of the mindscape.

  Kevin stood straighter, and Carl saw something shift in his eyes. A shadow lifting, a burden set down after being carried too long. 'I understand now,' he said, his voice stronger. “Anger was never the problem. It was thinking I could have changed what happened. I was a kid trying to hold back a flood with my bare hands. It wasn't my fault. It was never my fault."

  The words physically transform him, shoulders straightening as if setting a weight he'd carried for two decades. For the first time, Carl caught a glimpse of the carefree boy Kevin might have been in another life, one where he'd been allowed to simply be a child.

  "Bud," Carl said. "I have your back, like I always do."

  Kevin smiled and placed a hand on Carl's shoulder.

  He reached out his hand, and the Power Sword trembled before flying to his palm. The red energy swirled differently now, not a chaotic storm but in a controlled flame. In his eyes, Carl saw not blind rage but focused determination, a warrior who understood his weapon instead of being consumed by it.

  Kevin stood in front of the dark entity. "I am the Sword Master. Defender of Rowan. And brother to Carl Jackson. Malikhil, you heard him. Bring everything you got. We will once again meet you on the field of battle.

  Now get the fuck out of my head!"

  For a brief moment, Carl saw not the warrior Kevin had become, but a glimpse of the boy he had been, the child who had stood alone in the rain, trying to be brave when his world fell apart. But this time, that boy wasn't alone. This time, he had someone standing beside him.

  Kevin raised the sword in the sky as it pulsed with fire and he slashed down, ripping the mind scape at the seams.

  Reality warped once again around them, and when Carl opened his eyes again, he saw Paz and Midge around Kevin who lay on the ground asleep.

  The pendant's glow reflected on Kevin's sleeping face, highlighting the subtle changes, the hard line of his jaw softened. For the first time since the corruption began, he looked at peace. Not healed, not yet, but beginning to mend.

  Giving an initial worry, he realized that there was no malevolent energy as the pendant glowed red around him.

  Midge removed the Soul Siphon Matrix, "The corruption is clear and contained, but Kevin needs time to recover. But the battle is far from over Carl. There are five other swords out there, and I will guarantee you that all of them are experiencing corruption. Find them all…

  This isn't over."

  Carl looked at his sleeping friend, noticing how the lines of tension around Kevin's eyes had softened. There was peace there, however temporary. One fragment healed, but many more to go. He gently placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder, a silent promise that whatever came next, whatever darkness lurked in those remaining sword fragments, Kevin wouldn't face it alone.

  The rain had stopped in the mindscape, but in the real world, Carl felt something wet on his cheek. He reached up, surprised to find tears there. The memory wasn't his, but he felt its weight all the same, the burden his friend had carried silently for many years while Carl had known nothing of it.

  As Carl watched his friend, he noticed the smallest of changes, Kevin's fingers, which had been constantly clenched into fists since the corruption began, finally relaxed. One fragment of his soul restored, one piece of anger transformed back into the protective force it was meant to be.

  Outside, dawn was breaking over Rowen Commons. A new day, and with it, the knowledge that there were more battles to come. More fragments to reclaim. But for now, in this moment of hard-won peace, Carl allowed himself a small measure of hope.

  This moment, this memory, was the missing piece that explained so much about his friend. The fierce protectiveness, the occasional bursts of rage, the way Kevin would sometimes stare into the distance when it rained. Carl had known the symptoms but never understood the cause. Until now.

  He wondered how different things might have been if they'd met earlier, if he could have been there that day in the rain. But that was the past. What mattered was being here now, and every day forward. Standing beside the friend who had become his brother, ready to face whatever darkness lurked in the fragments of his soul.

  Outside, the first rays of sun broke through the window, casting a golden light across Kevin's sleeping form. One fragment healed, five more to go. But for the first time since this journey began, Carl allowed himself to feel something that had been in short supply.

  Hope.

  "I've got you now, Kev," he whispered. "We're going to get through this…

  …all of it."