As the ragtag group of mutants emerged from the shadow-cloaked Wolfsgrave Woods, leaving the destruction behind, the ruined town they had fought so hard to save was already beginning to stir with new life.

Flashing lights broke through the lingering smoke. Sirens wailed softly in the background, barely audible over the crackle of burning rubble and the moans of the wounded.

Authority vehicles had arrived, marked with the insignias of local Russian enforcement. They weren't elite mutant-handling units, just standard police - under-funded, overworked, and completely unequipped to deal with anything beyond D-Rank threats.

In most cases, with Stirring Threats or Low-Tier Mutants, a few shotguns and ageing rifles were enough.

This wasn't one of those cases.

Still, they got to work. Emergency medical teams rushed to stabilise the wounded. Blankets were handed out. Bloodied civilians were stretchered away. Children cried. Mothers screamed. And amidst it all, officers tried to make sense of what had happened.

At first, the prevailing theory was the start of a war.

A bomb, maybe. Some military-grade weapon dropped from a neighbouring country. The cratered streets, the scorched buildings, the sheer level of destruction - it looked like the aftermath of an airstrike.

In times like these, nothing was out of the question. The world was volatile. Mutant skirmishes were common. Border tensions flared up without warning. But even then… it just didn't make sense.

This town was in a lawless zone, half-abandoned and neglected by both national governments and the Association. There were no strategic resources, bases, or active conflict zones nearby.

So why target it?

Why flatten it?

The only thing they could do was ask the remaining survivors, who spoke with fury and fear in their eyes. Their words spilt out like venom.

"It was them," one woman spat. "The mutants. They caused this."

"They're the reason it all went to hell!"

"They turned people into monsters!"

The officers listened, bewildered. There was no mention of enemy soldiers. No bombs. No warnings. Just chaos. Madness. Monsters... And mutants.

What the survivors described bore little resemblance to what had truly happened.

They didn't talk about the effort it had taken to stop the monsters.

They didn't mention how the mutants had fought tooth and nail to save them.

All they saw… was destruction. And the mutants were caught in the middle of it.

And out of all of them, one name came up more than any other.

Not even a name, really.

Just a description.

A moniker.

A whisper of fear wrapped in hatred.

"Red Eyes," one man muttered, gripping his bloodied arm. "He can control blood. It's all his fault."

"He turned people into monsters," another insisted. "I saw it. I saw it!"

"He was smiling," a woman sobbed. "He was smiling while doing it."

Whether it was exaggeration, trauma, or just the need to find someone to blame… didn't matter.

A narrative was already forming.

One that painted the very people who had saved their lives… as villains.

The real monsters.

And "Red Eyes" had already become the face of it all.

-

Elsewhere, Kai couldn't have cared less about what the townsfolk were saying about him or about what narratives were being spun in the ashes of Volkroye.

'Let them talk.'

Whatever nonsense they came up with, whatever that spiralled into, he'd deal with it if and when it ever became a problem. Right now? He was like a bird in the wind. Unbound. Unburdened. No home. No legacy. He had only just remembered his full name, and that alone felt like a win.

The future could wait.

His goals, however, were set in stone.

He wanted to recover the rest of his memories. They were hazy and fragmented, but familiar places, faces, and experiences seemed to help piece them back together. Alongside that, Kai still wanted revenge.

Nyx.

That bastard had tormented him. Twisted him. And continued to toy with him. One day, Kai would return the favour with interest.

But beyond revenge… he wanted power.

Real power.

It was the age of mutants now, and he had no intention of being another name lost to the chaos. He'd stand at the peak or die trying.

'But that's for future Kai to worry about,' he thought dully, dragging one heavy foot in front of the other. 'Right now, I just want to pass out and sleep for a week.'

Unfortunately, Takeshi showed no signs of slowing.

The sword-wielding stoic marched forward like a machine, leading the way through the ever-thickening woods. They hadn't rested once. No water breaks. No sitting down. No catching their breath. They kept moving, knowing damn well that if they stopped now, none of them would get back up again.

Eventually, after what felt like another full day's trek, they finally arrived.

The group stumbled into a serene opening nestled between the edge of a smaller mountain range and a thick band of forest. A calm lake rested at the centre, its crystal waters reflecting the pale light of the moon above. A small waterfall trickled down the mountain face nearby, its soft murmuring a lullaby compared to the chaos they'd just escaped.

The air here was cleaner, colder, too, biting even through their enhanced bodies. Snow still clung to the rocks, and mist curled across the lake's surface like ghostly silk.

And standing quietly near the water's edge, half-covered in vines and moss, was a humble wooden cabin. Weather-worn but sturdy. A single window flickered with dull candlelight, probably lit by Takeshi on one of his prior visits.

'To think a place like this exists so close to those cursed woods…' Kai blinked slowly, half-awake. 'Of course, Takeshi would live out here.'

Only someone like Takeshi, insanely strong, pathologically calm, and borderline crazy, would choose to live so far from civilisation, surrounded by who-knew-what. The Wolfsgrave Woods were terrifying enough, but Kai noticed a shadowed cave nearby, too. God only knew what horrors crawled out of there at night.

And despite their mutant-enhanced lungs, the altitude still made every breath feel slightly thinner, more laboured. The cold pressed in, numb but ever-present.

Even so, it was peaceful.

Distant, isolated, and far from the destruction of Volkroye.

What had felt like an endless journey through hell was something Takeshi casually completed daily, sometimes multiple times a day. But for the rest of them, it felt like they'd just crossed an entire continent. Their legs barely worked anymore, every step a test of willpower.

They stumbled toward the cabin like walking corpses.

Inside was simple, almost primitive. A pile of spare clothes sat dumped in one corner. A roll-out mat on the wooden floor served as both bed and couch. There were no luxuries. No furniture. Just shelter and silence.

It was perfect.

No words were exchanged.

One by one, they collapsed.

Kai didn't even lie down properly. He just fell, as if the last ounce of consciousness slipped from his grasp the moment he felt even a sliver of safety.

Amina, quiet and considerate as always, wordlessly pulled a blanket over him. Her movements were shaky but gentle.

She didn't say anything either.

Soon, she too drifted off into much-needed rest alongside Isaac, who was desperate to recover from the extreme nausea he was still experiencing.

But the others couldn't sleep nearly as easily.

Takeshi sat in a crouch on the roof for a while, unmoving, watching the edge of the forest like a silent sentinel. Sven perched beside him, arms crossed, his breathing steady but shallow.

Both watched Nadya from a distance.

She stood by the edge of the lake, arms wrapped around herself, staring into the water with an unreadable expression. The moonlight caught in her hair. Ripples danced across her reflection.

She didn't speak. Didn't cry. Just stood there, quietly, processing it all.

Sven was still, and Takeshi was expressionless as always.

Neither said a word, but eventually, even they gave in. The exhaustion was simply too much.

Sven slid down and curled up against the cabin wall.

Takeshi gracefully descended and headed inside.

The sound of gentle breathing and snoring quickly filled the little cabin in the wilderness.

And thus began the first step of their recovery.

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