Kelvin stood at the edge of a jungle that looked like someone had forgotten to tell the vegetation about moderation. Trees rose easily sixty feet, their trunks thick enough that three people linking hands couldn't encircle them. Vines hung in curtains dense enough to block sightlines. The canopy overhead filtered sunlight into green-tinted illumination that made everything feel underwater.

Behind him, five Eclipse recruits were doing final equipment checks before they headed in. Kelvin recognized most of them from training sessions—Marcus, whose chi control had improved significantly in recent weeks. Reyna, who'd shown natural talent with projectile weapons. Three others whose names Kelvin knew but couldn't quite remember in the moment. All of them looked nervous, which was reasonable given what they were about to do.

"Alright," Kelvin said, turning to face them. "Final briefing before we head in. Who can tell me what our primary objective is?"

Marcus spoke up. "Cat three or four beasts in the area. Private contractor hired us to clear them out so they can use the land for organic farming."

"Correct. And what's the most efficient way to handle a beast infestation?"

Reyna answered this time. "Find the nest. Take out the alpha or the breeding pair. The rest will scatter or leave the area naturally."

"Exactly right." Kelvin gestured at the jungle. "So we're not just wandering around hoping to stumble into something dangerous. We're tracking. Looking for signs of habitation. Following the clues to wherever these things are actually living."

One of the other recruits—young guy, maybe eighteen—raised his hand tentatively. "How do we know what to look for?"

"Great question. You look for damage patterns that suggest large predators. Trees with claw marks at heights normal animals can't reach. Cleared areas where something big has been moving through regularly. Scat, if we're lucky enough to find it, though beast scat tends to dissolve pretty quickly. And most importantly—" Kelvin tapped the side of his head, "—you pay attention to the small stuff. Where are the cat one beasts? What's their behavior telling us about local apex predators?"

He started walking, and the recruits fell in behind him. "Also, I know you're all nervous because this is real combat and not training. That's normal. That's healthy. The day you stop being nervous before heading into dangerous situations is the day you need to retire, because your risk assessment is broken."

They entered the jungle proper, and the temperature immediately shifted. It was humid and Heavy. The kind of air that made breathing feel like work. Kelvin's handled it fine, but he could hear the recruits adjusting behind him.

"So," Kelvin continued, keeping his voice conversational as they navigated through undergrowth, "while we're walking, let's talk about why Eclipse is the best faction you could possibly have joined."

"Here we go," Marcus muttered, but he was smiling.

"First off, KROME." Kelvin gestured at the small case attached to his chest—maybe six inches square, looking far too small to contain anything useful. "This entire mech, which you all saw wreck a three-horn Harbinger last week, fits inside this case. The whole ten-ton war machine compresses down to something I can carry around like jewelry."

Reyna was staring at the case. "How?"

"Nanotech principles borrowed from my old armor, except scaled up and way more complicated." Kelvin's voice carried genuine pride. "My first suit was actual nanotech—billions of microscopic machines that could form armor on command. That whole thing compressed down to something that looked like a button. When I built KROME, I wanted that same portability but for something substantially larger and more mechanically complex. Took me eight months to figure out the spatial compression matrices, and I'm still not entirely sure it's safe, but it works."

"Is it dangerous?" one of the recruits asked.

"Define dangerous," Kelvin replied cheerfully. "It won't explode randomly, if that's what you're asking. Probably. Ninety percent sure."

They walked for another few minutes, and Kelvin noticed what he'd been looking for—cat one beasts. Tiny things, no bigger than housecats, with six legs and fur that changed colors to match their surroundings. They were everywhere in the undergrowth, moving in small groups, foraging for whatever they ate.

"See those?" Kelvin pointed at the nearest cluster. "Cat ones. Basically harmless. But notice how they're moving? Staying in groups, keeping to cover, checking their surroundings constantly. That's prey behavior. Which means there's predators around worth being scared of."

Marcus was scanning the trees overhead. "Should we be worried?"

"Not yet. Most Cat ones are scared of everything, so their behavior doesn't tell us much about immediate threats. But if they suddenly vanish completely? That's when we worry."

They continued deeper into the jungle, and Kelvin found himself settling into the rhythm of it. Walking, watching, teaching. It was different from his usual role—normally he was support, technical expertise, the guy in the workshop making sure everyone else's equipment worked. But Sam had offered him this contract, and Kelvin had jumped at it. Partly because the money was good.

'You just can't take somethings out of a Pithon's DNA, can you?'

But it was mostly because he wanted to prove he could lead in the field, not just behind a workbench.

"So," Kelvin continued, "let me tell you about my best friend and your faction leader, because Noah Eclipse is genuinely the most protagonist-energy person I've ever met."

Several recruits laughed. Reyna spoke up: "We've heard the stories. Void manipulation, dragons, killed the Widow—"

"Oh, those stories are all true," Kelvin interrupted. "But let me tell you about the stuff that doesn't make it into official reports. Like, did you know Noah is the reason I'm alive? Not metaphorically. Literally. Our first off-world expedition at the academy, to planet Cannadah. Beautiful place, if you ignore the Harbingers."

He ducked under a low-hanging vine, helping Reyna navigate around the same obstacle. "We were supposed to be doing basic planetary survey work. Learning about alien ecosystems, cataloging flora and fauna, safe academy-approved activities. Then Harbingers showed up because the universe hates careful planning. Did I also mention I lost both my hands in a fight with those bastards as well—well, technically I sacrificed my nanotech armor to take down a facility, but the hands were part of the deal."

"That's when you got the prosthetics?" Marcus asked.

"Yep. These beauties—" Kelvin held up his cybernetic hands, "—are Pithon industries nanotech prototypes. My father's work, ironically, though we weren't speaking at the time so I had to acquire them through technically-legal channels that I will not elaborate on."

"Was that when Noah summoned Nyx for the first time?" Reyna asked.

Kelvin's expression shifted to genuine awe. "Cannadah? Yeah. We were getting destroyed. Like, genuinely about to die. Harbingers everywhere, our forces scattered, everything going wrong. And Noah just... summoned a dragon. First time. No practice, no preparation, just desperation and sheer doggedness and apparently that's all you need if you're the protagonist."

He stepped over a fallen log, checking for threats before gesturing for the recruits to follow. "But here's the thing about Noah—he doesn't just have ridiculous powers. He uses them smart. You know who taught me that? Lucas Grey. Another absolute monster of a human being. S-ranked. Lightning manipulation. The first time I saw him fight, I thought I was watching special effects. Nobody should move that fast. Nobody should hit that hard. But Lucas does, because he's built different."

"Is he really Arthur's prisoner?" one of the younger recruits asked.

"Yeah," Kelvin's voice lost some of its humor. "Lucas got caught in Arthur's shadow dimension months ago. We've been trying to figure out how to get him out ever since. But we will. Eventually. And when we do, you guys are gonna love him. He's like Noah but more... explosive? Is that the right word? Noah's all tactics and planning. Lucas just goes full send and makes it work through raw power and stubbornness."

They walked for another twenty minutes, and Kelvin kept up the running commentary. Partly because it kept everyone's nerves manageable, partly because he genuinely enjoyed talking.

"Diana's another one you should know about," Kelvin continued. "Ice-cold tactical genius, right? Dead zones that stop momentum, perfect combat awareness, scary levels of competence. But also—and don't tell her I told you this—she's actually a massive softie under all that professionalism. She helps me with KROME maintenance just because she likes the mechanical work. That's adorable. Terrifying, but adorable."

"Are you two together?" Reyna asked with a grin.

Kelvin sputtered. "What? No! I mean—we're friends. Good friends. She helps me with technical stuff and I make her laugh occasionally and that's—it's friendship! Normal friendship that happens to involve a lot of time alone in my workshop but that's just because the work requires—why am I defending this?"

Marcus was laughing now. "You're totally into her."

"Moving on!" Kelvin said loudly. "Sophie! Best friend material except she acts like my boss sometimes, which is fair because she kind of is. Faction coordinator, tactical planning, keeps everyone organized. Without Sophie, Eclipse would be six people with good intentions and no idea what they're doing. She's the reason we function as an actual organization."

He navigated around a particularly dense section of undergrowth, then continued. "Seraleth is newer to the team, but she's great. Space elf, incredibly tall, has this whole serene warrior thing going on. We're still getting to know her, but I love her vibe. Very calming presence, which is useful when you're surrounded by chaos constantly."

"What about Lila?" Marcus asked carefully.

"Ah, Lila." Kelvin's tone was complicated. "Lila is a ticking time bomb whose parents are literal terrorists working for the big bad. Which is rough, obviously. But she's genuinely skilled—time manipulation, tactical awareness, combat training that puts most professionals to shame. Also, she's hot, so I can't entirely blame Noah for keeping her around."

"Kelvin!" Reyna sounded scandalized.

"What? I'm just being honest! But seriously—" his tone shifted to something more genuine, "—Lila's a good person dealing with horrific circumstances. Her parents made clones of her, worked with the Purge, chose Arthur over their own daughter. That would break most people. The fact that she's still functional and fighting alongside us says everything about her character. So give her time. Be patient. She'll get there."

They continued walking, and Kelvin found himself settling into more stories. About being promoted to Vanguard force after the school tournament, about the Purge attack on the eastern sector where they'd saved thousands of lives, about space being simultaneously awesome and the place where Harbingers tried to kill him daily.

"Kruel," Kelvin said, his voice darkening. "Three hundred thousand EDF soldiers. Trained professionals, not academy recruits. Dead in one battle because Kruel decided they were in his way. That's the kind of threat we're dealing with at the top tier. Not just strong—overwhelmingly, impossibly, unfairly strong."

"That's terrifying," one recruit said quietly.

"Yeah, it is. But we keep fighting anyway because someone has to." Kelvin checked his scanner—still no signs of the target beasts, but they were getting deeper into the jungle where larger predators would make their homes. "Oh, and we had this teammate named Lyra. You should all hate her."

"Why?" Marcus asked.

"Because she abandoned us right before we had to face the EDF tribunal alone, which is why we quit the military and started Eclipse. Also, turns out she was working for Arthur the whole time, which makes the betrayal extra fun. So yeah—team consensus is that Lyra sucks and we all collectively hate her."

The jungle around them had been gradually changing. The cat one beasts were appearing less frequently. The vegetation was showing damage—branches broken at heights that suggested something large moving through, claw marks on tree trunks that looked fresh.

Kelvin held up a hand, signaling everyone to stop. He checked his scanner more carefully, then looked around at the environment with tactical assessment replacing his casual demeanor.

"Okay," he said quietly. "We're in the right area. Everyone stay alert. Weapons ready. Marcus, you're on point with me. Reyna, cover our rear. Everyone else, maintain formation and watch the canopy. Cat threes can be arboreal."

They continued more carefully now. The atmosphere had shifted—less casual expedition, more actual hunt. Kelvin's hand moved to the activation case on his chest, ready to deploy KROME if things went sideways fast.

Then they entered a clearing, and Kelvin's blood went cold.

The thing standing in the center was massive. Easily twenty feet tall, with a body that looked like someone had taken a tree, given it limbs, and animated it with pure malevolence. Vegetation grew from its surface—moss, vines, small plants that had taken root in the crevices of its bark-like skin. Its head was vaguely feline, with whiskers that twitched as it turned to look at them. Around its waist, a green glow pulsed like a belt, radiating energy that made Kelvin's technical sense scream warnings.

A forest golem. Cat four, maybe pushing into cat five territory based on size alone.

And they'd just walked directly into its territory.

The golem snorted, the sound somewhere between a cat's rumble and breaking timber. It took a step toward them, and the ground shook.

Kelvin looked at his five recruits, at their wide eyes and pale faces, at the equipment they carried that suddenly seemed woefully inadequate.

He chuckled nervously, the sound slightly unhinged. "So, uh, in hindsight? We maybe should have brought more backup for this one."

The golem took another step forward.

Behind Kelvin, someone whispered, "Oh, we're so fucked."

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