Morning arrived just like any other day, with a big bright greeting from the familiar warm sun. The cool morning wind gave the warehouse a much needed breath of fresh air. Bootstrap woke up early this morning just as the sun showed itself on the horizon. The weight of some unfinished business lingered in his mind. Though his body was still sore from yesterday’s battle at Am-Heh’s tomb, he could not sit still while there were still some business he must attend to. While his mind was still sharp, he needed to talk to Xaden about the gemstone. Bootstrap quietly slipped out of his makeshift bed and slowly walked to where Xaden was sitting. Xaden was awake and tending to his leg in the dark with only a battery powered lantern to see what he was doing.

  As Bootstrap approached Xaden, he saw Xaden’s expression turned guarded like he can predict what this conversation was about.

  “How’s the leg treating you?” Bootstrap began, keeping his tone light, but purposeful.

  “It’s not doing that great,” he admitted, his voice unusually subdued. “The pain’s starting to get unbearable. I’ve been using whatever mana I can scrape together all night just to deaden the nerves and keep the damage from spreading. Strengthened the carbon bonds in my skin to stop water loss too. The ointment’s helping, but not enough. I just can’t produce enough magic to really fix it right now.”

  He gave a tired shrug and managed a crooked grin. “But I’m guessing you’re not here to talk about me and my little struggles, are you?” His tone turned back to his usual sardonic edge, though the exhaustion was evident.

  “It’s about the gemstone, as you can probably guess.” Bootstrap gave a tired exhale. His eyes met Xaden’s.

  Xaden’s shoulders tensed. He didn't respond immediately. Instead, he focused on tying a strip of cloth around his leg tighter than necessary.

  Xaden sighed and closed his eyes. “I can’t give it to you.”

  “We need it to save this world,” Bootstrap pressed, stepping closer. His voice remained steady, but the weariness in his eyes betrayed his urgency. “You don’t have to trust me, but without it, there won’t be a future for anyone.”

  Xaden leaned back, crossing his arms as he let out a slow, frustrated sigh. “I can guess as much. I know you’re a stand-up guy, Wanderer. I’ve got a pretty good read on people, and you’re not lying. But nothing about this decision is easy for me either.” He wrung his hands together trying to hold in his frustration. “The Father trusted me with this gemstone, and I can’t let him down. Losing it doesn’t just mean I lose my life, it means everyone around me does too. Do you guys even realize who you’re up against?”

  Bootstrap’s jaw tightened, and his frustration bled into his words. “How can you say he trusts you and then turn around and admit he’ll kill you if you lose it? Do you even hear yourself? That’s not trust, Xaden. That’s manipulation. You’re loyal to someone who would kill you without hesitation.”

  Xaden’s eyes darkened, and his voice dropped. “It’s not that simple, Wanderer. You don’t know what it’s like being part of Shadow Garden. You don’t just walk away. I know how this looks to you, but trust me, I’ve been juggling survival and loyalty for as long as I can remember. If you think I’m just afraid, you’re missing the bigger picture.”

  Bootstrap’s frustration didn’t fade, but his tone softened, just slightly. “Maybe I don’t get it, Xaden, but I do know that survival built on fear is no survival at all. We’re offering a way to fix this mess without sacrificing what’s left of your humanity. Isn’t that worth considering?”

  Xaden remained silent for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then, with deliberate care, he spoke. “I see him like a father, you know? And because of that, there’s this… respect, this loyalty I feel like I have to give, even when I don’t always agree with him. The Father gave us a home when we didn’t have one. Back then, we were just trying to survive, and he gave us that chance. It’s not just about fear. It’s honor. I’m bound to him by more than just words. So, no, I can’t give you the gemstone.” He paused, his voice softening. “But I can help you in another way. If there’s somewhere you need to go, I’ll get you there. That’s the best I can offer.”

  Bootstrap’s brows furrowed, his worry seeping through his usually calm demeanor. He shook his head, his tone firm but regretful. “Sadly, where I’m going, you can’t follow. I need the gemstone for this, Xaden. It’s not just a matter of choice. It’s necessity.”

  Xaden clenched his fists with his struggle written across his face. For a moment, it seemed like he might push back, but instead, he just sighed deeply. “Then I guess we’re both stuck, aren’t we?”

  Just when Xaden was opening his mouth to respond again, a strange sound sliced through the quiet warehouse. Distant voices seemed to grow louder until the unmistakable sound of glass shattering alerted both of them.

  Bootstrap’s instinct screamed. There were multiple disturbance entering his mana field.

  Immediately the instinct of both of them kicked in, and they stood up. In the next instance, several smoke bombs burst through the shattered windows down stairs, filling the room with a thick invasive smoke that choked them as they breathe. The loud sound of glass shattering also woke everyone else up just in time to smell all the smoke. The sounds of conversation were now louder, and the thunderous sound of boots on concrete were everywhere.

  “Everyone up! Move! Be ready!” Bootstrap’s voice cut through the haze like a blade as he scanned the room. Before everyone can react and get to a safer position, a salvo of darts zipped through the smoke and headed right for everyone. Without hesitation, Xander and Xavier lunged forward, shielding Xaden with their bodies knowing Xaden’s leg was not healed enough to run. Xavier’s panicked breath hitched audibly, even over the chaos, just before the darts found them.

  They went down almost immediately. The tranquilizer darts worked fast.

  ***

  “Whoa, what’s going on?! Who’s here? Is this some kind of ambush?” Astra blurted, eyes darting around in confusion. His heart thumped in his ears.

  Come on, Astra, focus… Don’t mess this up, everyone’s counting on you. Astra thought as he quickly pieced together what was happening.

  In that same moment, Eadrich and Bootstrap both got into a defense position due to their experience and battle prowess. Eadrich used his magic to bend some of the rusty metal in the room to create a makeshift barrier to block for Astra and himself. Meanwhile, Bootstrap had no problem dodging the volley of darts with practiced ease.

  Astra tried to remain calm and ready. He did what Bootstrap taught him and started to mold his mana to extend it as far as he can to feel the battlefield. As he expanded his mana field, he felt that Bootstrap, Eadrich and even Xaden had already done so, and he was the slowest one to the party. Bootstrap sprinted to retrieve his sword, tossing Eadrich and Astra their cloaks in the same fluid motion.

  At that moment, stun grenades clattered to the floor beside them. The devices erupted with an otherworldly flash and a piercing shriek that left everyone reeling for five endlessly long seconds.

  By this time, there were already three soldiers in full riot gear equipped with a riot shield and a taser baton at the staircase. Bootstrap, who was only partially disoriented due to using his magic to block out the light from his eyes, did his best to kick and slash at the riot squad while everyone was recovering. Across the room, Xaden grappled with another soldier who had breached through the window.

  Xaden didn’t stand a chance. The soldier had already zapped him with a taser, and he crumpled to the ground, stunned and disoriented. Astra’s heart skipped a beat as he saw Xaden, in his haze, reach for something. His hands clutched a bent piece of rusty iron Eadrich had discarded earlier, along with some aluminum foil scraps left from the food they had eaten the night before.

  Even while being taken down, Xaden’s mind worked in ways Astra couldn’t comprehend. His magic sparked, pulling apart and reassembling the materials. Astra recognized that familiar focused look. Xaden was improvising again.

  But knowing Xaden, Astra also knew that what he was about to do might lack a certain…restraint.

  “Xaden, wait!” Astra shouted, but it was too late. Xaden, with an almost manic grin despite his situation, threw the concoction at the soldiers.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  For a second, the world seemed to hold its breath. The room froze, everyone watching the odd metallic lump mid-air as if suspended in time. And then-

  Boom.

  A flash of light seared the air, hotter than anything Astra had ever felt. His vision blurred as white-hot brightness consumed everything, leaving spots dancing in his eyes. The sound slammed into them like a tidal wave, making Astra’s ears ring as he scrambled for cover.

  “Xaden,” Astra thought, coughing through the smoke. “Always the genius, always the chaos.”

  Unfortunately, the amount of magical thermite used and the strong taser batons that they were all waving at Xaden together created a huge firestorm that made the whole situation much much worse.

  The acrid scent hit their noses. It was metallic and acidic like scorched iron mixed with sulfur. It was nearly suffocating coating their tongues with a taste like burnt copper. The heat was overwhelming, radiating from the blast zone in waves, prickling their skin and making it hard to breathe. Even several feet away, Astra felt the hot sting on his cheeks and arms as if the flames were reaching out to grab hold. Even the soldiers were holding back due to the chaos of the firestorm all around them.

  Eadrich glanced around the chaos, his sharp eyes darting toward Astra and Bootstrap. His voice carried the steady, no-nonsense tone they had come to expect from him. “Hey, I need to get out of here and see if I can locate the leader of this raid or reposition myself. This situation is spiraling out of control, and we cannot afford to fight blind anymore. We need a better strategy.”

  Eadrich took this chance to teleport to the card that he left outside of the door to escape from what was rapidly becoming a fiery tomb all over again. As Eadrich leaves, Astra heard the unmistakable sounds of shouting and dart guns firing. With a round of darts Eadrich was knocked out next to the front door. No chance to even surrender.

  Back in the fiery inferno, the rest of the party had retreated to the middle of the room behind the barricade to wait and see if the riot squad was willing to walk through the fire surrounding the room. To make matters worse, everyone could hear the sounds of helicopters and more large vehicles outside the warehouse now too. Within minutes, the reinforcements came in with fire hoses to wash them out. This riot squad raid was ruthless and methodical. They meant business and was well prepared for anything that could happen. The soldiers moved with cold, calculated precision, cutting off every escape route with a torrent of pressurized water.

  Once the soldiers had everyone pinned down with the hose the soldiers surrounded them and fired off a round of tranquilizer darts with no mercy. The soldiers fitted anti-magic cuffs on everyone with practiced efficiency each movement perfectly synchronized leaving no room for resistance. The operation was flawless as if they’d rehearsed it a hundred times, and no one here stood a chance. As Astra was blacking out, he saw them dragging everyone to a police van except Xaden who was being dragged into an armored vehicle, his limp body disappearing behind its metal doors before everything went black.

  When they woke up again, the air was much colder and the floor was hard and dreary. Astra blinked as he woke up. His vision was slowly clearing up, and he noticed that he was in a jail cell. The walls were various colors of gray and white as there were some patched work done on the walls over the year. The room was dimly lit most likely to cover up the dirtiness of the room. The strong smell of urine permeated the room which along with the patched work on the wall was a fitting ensemble for such a place.

  Astra got up slowly and looked all around to see if everyone ended up in the same place or not. He rubbed his head to distract from the headache that he had. He saw Eadrich talking to the guard up front, Bootstrap sitting quietly on the side watching everyone and Xander and Xavier whispering to each other.

  Astra blinked, his head still pounding from the chaos earlier. “Where’s Xaden?” he asked, his voice hoarse but firm. The room fell quiet as all eyes turned to him.

  Bootstrap, leaning against the wall with an exasperated expression, quipped, “Welcome back to the land of the living. And the free… but only in spirit.” His sarcasm cut through the heavy air, though it did little to lighten Astra’s growing anxiety.

  Before Astra could retort, one of the guards who had been speaking with Eadrich earlier stepped forward, a grim look on his face. “Your friend is under arrest,” the guard said flatly. “He’s being charged with terrorism, destruction of public property, and attempted murder, among other things.”

  The words hit Astra like a hammer, his stomach sinking. “What? Xaden wouldn’t…” he started, but the guard raised a hand to cut him off.

  “It doesn’t look good for him,” the guard added bluntly, his tone carrying both disdain and a hint of pity.

  “Terrorism? That can’t be true.” Astra said as his heart sunk. He then remembered the sequence of events yesterday that started with a destructive grand entrance from Xaden. Astra thought, Okay, maybe some of it is true. Most of it…

  Another guard with a different badge on his shirt walked in and said to the previous guard, “Well, he just pleaded guilty and confessed to it all. He said he planned everything from the destruction of the University’s research center to all the chaos caused by the black outs.”

  Turning to look at everyone, he said sternly, “Once the full interrogations are finished you guys may leave. However, do not leave town until the trial and full investigate is over. We will be watching.” Once he finished, he left without another glance.

  Silence fell over the cell as the weight of the guard’s words sank in. Xaden had taken the blame for all of them.

  “Wait. No way. There’s no way Xaden did that. We have to help him.” Astra said quietly. “He’s just doing this out of guilt. Like, he’s trying to fix everything in his own messed-up way. You know that! We don’t even know what they’re going to do to him for this.”

  “I am already on it. I will do what I can using my connections, but you must trust me on this.” He stepped closer, his voice firm but with a hint of concern. “For now, do not do anything stupid. Charging in without a plan will only make things worse for everyone.”

  Over the next three hours, they each got called on to talk to the investigators individually. The interrogations went by relatively quickly, almost like they weren’t even trying and is just going through the motions.

  The room they put Astra in was cold and sparse, the kind of place that seemed designed to make people feel small. His wrists were sore from the cuffs, and the dull hum of the overhead lights grated on his nerves. When the officers came in, they were all fake smiles and sugary politeness.

  “So, can we get you anything? Water? Something to eat?” they asked, sliding a tray of snacks and a bottle of water toward him.

  Astra didn’t trust the niceties for a second. He’d seen enough holovids to know how interrogations worked. Butter someone up, make them feel safe, then strike. Instead of falling for it, Astra decided to play the part. He fidgeted with the bottle cap and spun it between his fingers as if he were too nervous to focus.

  When they started asking questions, he kept his answers vague and distracted. “We were there to save Xavier. That’s all,” he’d say before trailing off into nonsense about unrelated topics. Occasionally, he’d stop mid-sentence and pick at the edges of the paper label on the water bottle.

  The officers tried to press him. “What about the explosion? What about Xaden’s involvement?”

  “Oh, yeah, that was… um…” Astra would start before veering off into some rambling tangent about completely unrelated details. It was almost fun, watching their patience wear thin. He wasn’t going to give them anything useful, and he knew it. They didn’t.

  Wow, like, officers everywhere in the world are the same kind of lame. Heh, I’ll take the easy meal, thank you. Astra happily thought as he finished up his interrogation.

  When they finally let him out, he was met with a flurry of irritated faces.

  What happened to you guys in there?” Astra asked, looking at everyone in turn as they walked down the hallway toward the collection counter.

  Bootstrap spoke first. He adjusted his bag and spoke with his usual measured calm. “I kept it simple. Told them the truth. Our goal was to save Xavier. Didn’t let them drag me into their little games or twist my words. No point in saying more than what’s necessary.”

  “Classic Bootstrap,” Astra muttered as he smirked.

  Xander’s voice was clipped as he adjusted his coat. “I told them nothing. Didn’t say a word without a lawyer. Waste of time.”

  Xavier added quietly, “Same here. They got frustrated, but I wasn’t about to give them anything to use against us.” His face was calm, but Astra caught the lingering tension in his eyes.

  Eadrich let out a frustrated sigh. “I attempted to challenge their narrative. Explained the events in a better light, but they refused to listen. They dismissed everything. Ignorance is their strongest weapon.”

  The guards interrupted their reunion, calling out their names to return their belongings. “Xander NA, here are your things. Xavier NA, here are your things. Eadrich Yahari, take these back, please. Astra Astra… interesting name… here are your things. Bootstrap Lace, why does your bag weigh so much? What is in here?”

  Bootstrap took his bag with a faint smile. “Essentials.”

  As they walked down the busy hallway, Astra glanced at each of his companions. Tired, irritated, but somehow still standing. The weight of the day pressed down on them.

  There were a lot of conversations going on at once in the hallway. Astra did his best to widen his attention to capture every conversation just in case it is important. “So, yeah. Why did he want to snap half of the living creatures away? Can’t he just create twice the amount of resources using the same power? What a jerk.” An officer asked. “No, that defeats the point. How will the world understand its core problem if it is bailed out like that? They will just continue to consume more and more. With more people there is exponentially more consumption…” The other person trailed off.

  Refocusing on what they needed to hear, Astra overheard a couple of officers saying Xaden is going on death row. The news had a chilling effect on everyone. Eadrich started to think of contacts he will have to talk to soon while Xander and Xavier started whisper between each other about a secret plan. They all had there own opinion on how they must save Xaden. Astra and Bootstrap did not know what to do, but was both devastated to hear their new friend being sentenced to death.

  “Look, there must be something we can do.” Said Astra to the group. Everyone was busy so no one paid him any mind. “Hey, we need to work together here if this is going to work out. Got it?” After a moment Astra said, “Please. I mean, lets get everyone on the same boat, please.”

  Eadrich folded his hands together, his voice calm and steady, “It will be all right. I have a contact situated in the northern district of this city. Allow me to make use of the officer’s phone and request her assistance. Once I have established contact, I shall inform all of you of our rendezvous point.”