- Oliver -

  "Close your eyes and cover your ears!" Katherine shouted to the others.

  Before they could prehend what was happening, an intensely bright light flooded the room, instantly blinding everyone. Seds ter, a deafening boom echoed, like the roar of a thousand storms verging at a single point.

  [Zeus Punishment]

  They could hear John's strike through the unicator. However, no one could uand what had happened.

  The air was charged with static electricity, making the hairs on their arms stand on end, and tiny sparks danced on the Ranger’s armor. The ground trembled slightly beh their feet, and the smell of ozone filled their nostrils.

  Oliver regained his vision, blinkiedly. "What—what happened?" he asked, evident in his voice.

  "It's John’s Boon. He’s quite ‘unique’. He was not born with the house's natural boon; instead of trolling blood, he trol electricity," Katherine expined.

  Oliver could finally see again; he looked at his hands while tinuing to blink his eyes. The Rangers, who had helmets shielding their eyes, mao lessen the effect of the fsh but were still stunned by the massive flow of energy the Golden Ranger had emitted.

  When the group recovered, they could see through the window that the Titan had been bloart. The entire upper body, arms, and head had been thrown in all dires. It was as if John's strike had torn off the creature's upper half.

  "Don't stop!" They could hear Quinn's warning over the unicator.

  Bringing them back to reality, the group resumed running, leaving the house aurning to the alleys. They advanced quickly toward the ter of the fortress.

  In a few seds, they reached the ship's location. Quinn quickly pointed for them to ehe cargo bay.

  "Alright. We have everyone here; only John is missing," she ented, speaking into the unicatain. "Hurry up, John, we o get out!"

  Oliver looked in the dire of the Golden Ranger. He could see him running over the rooftops, jumping and perf acrobatics as he quickly advaoward the ship.

  "I'm on my way," they heard him over the unicator.

  John paused momentarily to shoot a few more arrows to dey the Titan.

  Oliver, Katherine, and Isabe were already ihe ship, holding onto the side of the cargo bay along with the other Rangers, when Quinn and John finally entered via the ramp.

  "We are ready to depart!" the General informed the pilot.

  They could hear the engines' growing roar as the ship reheated its thrusters to leave the fortress.

  "Ladies alemen, hold onto your seats," the pilot said over the ship's internal unication system. "Don't fet to rate this trip after reag your destination."

  "Damn it, if you make one more joke before we get out of here, I'll e up there and stick my foot so far up your ass that you'll have to call a mining corp to remove it," Quinn shouted into the unicator.

  The moment she finished shouting, they could feel the aircraft detag from the rubble and debris surrounding it, accelerating skyward.

  Through some of the few windows in the cargo bay, some could still see the Titan trying to run toward the ship. But it was already too te. The ship, designed explicitly for quick extras, gained speed in a matter of seds, leaving behind the colossal silhouette of the monster.

  As they broke through the atmospheric barrier, the front of the ship began to heat up, glowing in reddish tones due to fri with the upper yers of the stratosphere. With a fixed gaze and firm hands on the trols, the pilot maintaihe course without hesitation. On the way to space, three Ork ships appeared on the radar, strategically positioned as an ambush.

  "We have pany. Don't worry; I'll shake them off," the pilot ented calmly.

  The pilot seemed to have anticipated this trap. Without redug speed for a single moment, he directed the ship precisely betweehree, exeg evasive maneuvers with millimetric precision. Enemy shots crossed the space around them, but none found their target. He dodged the attacks with superhumaerity, waiting for the exaent to act.

  Then, at the perfestant, he activated the jump thrusters. The ship accelerated abruptly, approag the speed of light. The stars around them transformed into tinuous lines of luminosity.

  Ihe , a silence of apprehension took over. The passengers exged relieved gnces but remained aware that the pursuit might not be over. The pilot's calm voice souhrough the unicator: "We are out of immediate danger. However, please remaied with your seat belts fastened. We haven't reached our destinatiohank you on behalf of NEA Airways."

  --

  --

  As soon as they passed the most dangerous part, John embraced Katheri was almost impossible to separate the brother from his sister. They talked for a few hours before he finally o return to his duties.

  When the operation was successfully pleted, the NEA Rangers returo the main base, while John, Oliver, Katherine, Isabe, and the Yers returo their and ship.

  The group would return to Mars before Oliver and Isabe could be released; they o go to the infirmary and, finally, duct a debriefing about their experienside an Ork fortress.

  A few more hours were necessary until the York and ship approached Mars. Katherine and Isabe were seated in two armchairs, sleeping all the hours they couldn't ihe prison.

  However, Oliver was still too full of adrenalio rest. Every now and theill felt his back burning from the shes he had received.

  ‘I'd like to see Mars befetting some sleep,’ the boy thought as he looked out the window of his ihe ship. He had seen what Selene was like and wao have a simir experieh Arcadia.

  As the ship began to approach Arcadia, Oliver could finally glimpse the majestic capital of Mars. Through the window, his eyes marveled at the sight of a city that seemed to have been sculpted directly into the Martian soil.

  The upper surface emerged like a huge translut dome. However, he was told that much of Arcadia remained hidden below the surface, extending into subterranean levels that housed millions of inhabitants.

  The city's grandeur was not only in its colossal size but also in its vast work of industries. Factories and teological instaltions spread across the red soil inside and outside the dome, ected by an intricate web of tunnels and magic pathways.

  Metallic towers emerged from the ground like silver needles, emitting vapors and lights trasting with the e sky. Autonomous vehicles zigzagged between the instaltions while drones flew over in coordinated routes, maintaining order in that chaos. The lights of the factories created a hypnotic spectacle, highlighting the ongoing activity that kept Arcadia alive.

  As the ship prepared to nd, he couldn't help but think about how humanity had transformed Mars into something so familiar a so alien. Arcadia was a testament to human tenacity and iy.

  ‘It's no wonder we've survived until now, even with all the problems we have,’ Oliver thought.

  Several medical teams ehe rooms as soon as the ship touched down, prepared to take the triht to the emergenfirmary. Because of their time on Ork soil, they didn't know what they might be carrying.

  A battery of exams erformed ohree—from on diseases to new pathogens. However, it seemed that the three, besides being dehydrated, tortured, and starving, were also suffering from slight radioactive poisoning.

  "That prison didn't have any kind of prote for you," one of the doctors expined. "Orks are naturally resistant to radiation and therefore don't usually worry about that for their captives."

  The three were immediately immersed in VAT tanks—a viscous and translut fluid known for its accelerated regeive properties. Behind the thick gss of the tanks, they received additional information about their ditions.

  "Oliver, you'll o be mindful of muscle atrophy," said another doctor, his voice eg slightly ierilized enviro. "You lost a lot during your time in prison. The VAT will help recover some of that, but we'll prescribe medications to help you return to peak performance."

  ‘No-not again,’ Oliver thought, feeling a chill run down his spine. He could hear the doctor speaking, but his mind was elsewhere. He was much more worried about being immersed in VAT again. ‘I have a life; don't make me wake up a hundred years iure again,’ he silently pleaded.

  The boy feared closing his eyes and being thrown bato a new reality. Slowly, the VAT's sedative effect began to overtake him, and sleep approached like aable tide.

  Uhe st time, he woke up once a day, tinuously monitored by the doctors. He had a few minutes of crity to look around before his miuro the induced void.

  his arm, he saw it regeed a little more each day. On the first day, there was only exposed bohe day, muscles began to form, enveloping the bone in a tangle of fibers; ohird day, there were already signs of skin c the new flesh. As grotesque and disturbing as witnessing that process was, he felt no pain; his body was pletely numb.

  It took almost seven days before they were removed from the VAT tanks. The girls had healed practically all of their injuries, while Oliver mao recover his lost arm, leaving only a thin scar as a reminder.

  After being released from immersion, the three underwent psychological evaluations. Incredibly, none of them were in crisis at the time. However, knowing which scar would remain on each of their souls was tricky.

  'Maybe Athena really isn't a sign that I'm going insane.' Oliver thought as he was dismissed from the psychological evaluation.

  Athena replied promptly. 'I told you so.'

  The first days in the medical ward were the most terrible. Although the physical pains no loormehem, now it was their minds that pyed cruel tricks. Nightmares iheir nights like relentless storms, plunging them into abysses of memory and fear. More than once, Oliver woke up drenched i, clutg a pieetal he had fouhe bed. His wide eyes sed the darkened room as he listeo imaginary footsteps in the corridor, sure that the Orks were ing to take him again. The halluations slowly dissipated, leaving only the echo of his rag heart.

  With each passing day, Oliver and Isabe longed more inteo be released from the infirmary. They wished to see the world outside, feel the fresh air in their lungs, and remind themselves that they were still alive. That was not just fi.

  Katherine, oher hand, did not share the same anguish. She seemed genuinely happy not to be alone, finding fort in Oliver and Isabe's pany.

  From time to time, they received visits from John, who usually appeared at the end of the day, mostly to talk with Katherine. All that was left for them was to use a few local puters while waiting to receive their gaus.

  Unfortunately, their inal gaus were lost when the Orks captured them, and they had to craft new ones as soon as they returo civilization.

  "Hello!" John said as he ehe room, catg everyone's attention. "How are you?"

  "Bored," Oliver ented, not realizing he was being too blunt.

  John didn't know how to respond to the boy's siy. Seeing her brother in a pinch, Katheriried to jump into the versation to help.

  "Any news about aus?" she asked.

  "Oh! Great, I brought them," John said, handing oo each of them. "Acc to the doctors, you should be discharged tomorrow. I don't know what your pns are, but I imagine you just want to go bae."

  Isabe nodded in agreement. Oliver remaihoughtful, not knowing what he would do.

  "Before you go, I o talk to you about the fortress, your experiehere, and what we found."

  GCLopes