Dusk did not fall gently over the forest. It bled.
The sky above the treeline burned a deep, violent red, as if the sun itself had been wounded and was leaking its final light across the horizon. Clouds stood frozen in place, stretched thin like scars across the heavens. The wind—once alive with whispers—had stopped completely, leaving the air heavy, metallic, and suffocating.
Birdsong vanished. Insects fell silent. Even the leaves refused to rustle. It was the kind of silence that did not feel empty, but watched.
At the edge of the woods stood Mokshit. His new armor glowed faintly, white-green energy flowing through its living bark plates like breath through lungs. Every inhale he took synchronized with the pulse of the roots beneath his feet.
Behind him, Meera, Rohan, and Nikhil hovered close. Meera's fingers trembled. "Mokshit…" she whispered. "Something's wrong. The forest feels… sick."
Mokshit didn't answer. He was listening to the sensations beneath the soil: tightening roots, aching bark, the earth trembling in fear. Then he heard the fractured, terrified whisper of the forest itself: "...He awakens... He awakens..."
BOOM—!!
An explosion tore through the silence. A massive tree to their left ruptured, its trunk bursting as black-red vines erupted into the sky, spraying corrupted sap that hissed like acid.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Rohan shouted, stumbling back.
The vines didn't fall; they slithered through the air like living serpents, dripping thick, poisonous venom that burned small craters into the ground. Around them, more trees began to warp. Trunks twisted into clawed shapes; roots tore free from the soil like fangs.
The forest was no longer a sanctuary. It was a predator.
"It's not the forest," Mokshit said, his voice heavy with grief. "It's the corruption forcing it to hurt itself."
A cluster of vines lashed out. Mokshit raised his hand, and a massive barrier of white-green energy surged into existence. CLANG! The impact sent sparks of red sap sizzling against the shield.
A corrupted tree-creature, its core a hollow, screaming void, lunged from the shadows. Mokshit summoned two glowing vine-blades from his wrists. "Forgive me," he murmured.
SWOOOOSH—!!
He sliced through the creature in one fluid motion. It collapsed into ash, but there was no triumph in Mokshit's eyes. Only sorrow. He moved like a whirlwind—fluid, precise, dodging every strike with the grace of the Spirit Grove's training.
"Bro is moving like an anime protagonist!" Rohan breathed.
But the forest trembled again. A figure emerged from the heart of the darkness.
Tall. Massive. Veins glowing red beneath skin that looked like cracked stone. Eyes burning like molten lava.
Nirmul.
He was no longer human. His body was a horrifying fusion of stone plating and corrupted bark. A crown of dead roots twisted behind his head like jagged horns. When he spoke, two voices overlapped—his own, and a hollow, ancient rasp.
"Did you miss me… Guardian?"
"What have you become, Nirmul?" Mokshit asked, his heart heavy.
"Evolution," Nirmul sneered. "Power."
His aura exploded. BOOOOM—!!! The shockwave uprooted trees and sent Rohan and Nikhil skidding across the dirt. Nirmul charged. The impact of his punch was catastrophic. Mokshit blocked, but the force launched him backward, his armor fracturing.
"And you're still weak," Nirmul hissed. He snapped his fingers, and a corrupted root shot out, wrapping around Meera's waist and lifting her into the air.
"Aah—!! Let me go!" she screamed.
"MEERA!" Mokshit lunged, but Nirmul was faster. He caught Mokshit by the throat, lifting him effortlessly.
"You want to protect everyone?" Nirmul smiled darkly. "Let's see how well you FAIL."
He squeezed. Mokshit choked, his vision blurring. Through the pain, he looked into Nirmul's glowing eyes. "Nirmul… you were hurting… you were alone… I saw it…"
For one micro-second, Nirmul's eyes flickered with a fragment of the boy he used to be. Then, rage consumed him. "DON'T YOU DARE PITY ME—!!!"
BOOOOOM—!!!!
Mokshit was thrown across the field. As he hit the ground, gasping for air, Meera's voice pierced the chaos: "MOKSHIT—BEHIND YOU!"
A human figure stepped out from the shadows of the trees. He was holding a high-tech tranquilizer gun.
"Dad…?" Mokshit whispered, his eyes wide with shock.
THUP—!!
The dart struck Mokshit's chest. The world began to tilt. The green glow in his veins flickered and died. Rakshit collapsed to his knees, sobbing into his hands. "I'm sorry… Mokshit, forgive me… he said he'd kill your mother…"
Nirmul laughed—a broken, chilling sound—as he walked over to Mokshit's unconscious form. He lifted the boy like a trophy.
"The Guardian is fallen," Nirmul declared to the dying forest.
Then, they vanished into the darkness. The war for the earth had truly begun, and the Guardian was now a prisoner of the shadow.