The first Council member lunged at Josh with blades made of solidified shadow. Josh barely dodged, the dark weapons slicing through where his head had been a second before. He countered with ice spikes, but the attacker dissolved into smoke and reformed behind Kyla.
"Behind you!" Josh shouted.
Kyla spun, her weapon firing point-blank. The rounds passed harmlessly through the shadow-user's immaterial form. The Council member smiled and raised his blade for a killing strike.
Then Rodriguez was there, tackling Kyla out of the way. The blade hit Rodriguez's tactical vest instead, shredding the armor but missing flesh. She rolled, came up firing, and the shadow-user finally turned solid to dodge—straight into a wall of fire Josh had created.
The shadow-user screamed and retreated, his form flickering between solid and smoke.
"Thanks!" Kyla called to Rodriguez.
"Don't mention it! Just keep shooting!"
The temple chamber erupted into chaos. Dr. Walsh and Dr. El-Sayed scrambled for cover behind the Prime Shard's pedestal while the tactical operators formed a defensive line. But they were severely outnumbered—four fighters and two scientists against thirteen Council Shard-users.
Yuki hovered above the battle on currents of wind, directing her forces with sharp hand gestures. "Take them alive if possible! The Council wants them for questioning! But if they resist too much—eliminate them!"
Ezra advanced on Josh, his void powers already draining the dimensional energy from the air. Josh felt his ice and fire weakening, being absorbed before he could even manifest them.
"Your trick won't work twice," Ezra said, his voice that same deep rumble. "I've learned to counter your dual nature. You're just a human now. Powerless."
Josh gritted his teeth, trying to summon his abilities. Nothing. Ezra was pulling them away as fast as Josh could generate them. He'd have to fight hand-to-hand.
Not great odds against someone with supernatural powers.
Josh dodged as Ezra's fist came down, the void-user's strength enhanced beyond human limits. The stone floor cracked where the punch landed. Josh rolled, grabbed a piece of broken stone, and threw it at Ezra's face.
Ezra caught it easily and crushed it to dust. "Pathetic. The Council was right to fear you, but you're not nearly as dangerous as they thought."
"Yeah, well, I've got other talents." Josh feinted left, then dove right, going for Ezra's legs. It was a move Stevens had taught him—when you're outmatched in power, go for the knees.
He connected, and Ezra stumbled. Josh pressed the advantage, landing three quick hits to the void-user's ribs. It was like punching a brick wall, but Ezra definitely felt it.
"You'll pay for that," Ezra snarled, and the void around him intensified. Josh felt it pulling at him, trying to drain not just his powers but his life force. His vision started to blur, his movements slowing.
Then a beam of pure light cut through the chamber, hitting Ezra square in the chest. The void-user flew backward, his concentration broken. Josh's powers came flooding back.
He looked up to see Emma—the light manipulator from his team—standing at the chamber entrance with Kenji and Min-Ji. The Vanguard had arrived. Somehow.
"Thought you could use backup!" Kenji shouted, flames already blazing around his hands. "Hope you don't mind we borrowed a fast plane!"
"Mind? You're the best!" Josh felt hope surge through him. Three more Shard-users made this a much more even fight.
The battle intensified. Kenji engaged two fire-users from the Council, his flames burning brighter and hotter than theirs through sheer determination. Min-Ji caused the stone floor to buckle and shift under the Council's feet, disrupting their formations. Emma's light beams kept Ezra at bay, the void-user unable to absorb pure photons as easily as dimensional energy.
Josh focused on Yuki, launching himself at her position using ice platforms. The wind-user smiled and sent a gust that should have thrown him back, but Josh created fire to counter it—hot air rising against her winds, creating turbulence that disrupted her control.
"Clever," Yuki admitted. "But not clever enough!"
She gestured, and the wind in the chamber became a localized tornado, picking up loose stones and debris. Josh had to create a barrier of ice to protect himself from the projectiles. Through the swirling wind, he saw Kyla and Rodriguez fighting back-to-back against three Council members, barely holding their ground.
"We can't keep this up!" Rodriguez shouted. "There's too many of them!"
She was right. For every Council member they drove back, another pressed forward. The tactical operators were running low on ammunition. Dr. Walsh and Dr. El-Sayed were trapped behind the pedestal with no way out. And more Council reinforcements could arrive at any moment.
Josh needed to change the equation. Do something unexpected. Something desperate.
His eyes fell on the Prime Shard, pulsing with dark energy at the center of the chamber. It was still calling to him, promising power. Promising the ability to control all Shard-users. Including the ones currently trying to kill his team.
One touch. That's all it would take. Touch the Prime, gain control, order the Council members to stop fighting.
But the murals had shown what happened to those who claimed it. Consumption. Transformation. Loss of self.
Could he risk it? Could he sacrifice his humanity to save his team?
"Josh, don't even think about it!" Kyla's voice cut through his thoughts. She'd seen where he was looking. "We'll find another way!"
"There is no other way!" Josh created ice barriers to protect his team while he made his decision. "If we lose here, the Council gets the Prime anyway. At least if I claim it, I can—"
"You can become exactly what we're fighting against!" Kyla fought her way toward him, desperate. "Josh, please! Don't do this!"
A Council member—a woman wielding electricity—fired a bolt at Kyla's back. Josh saw it happening in slow motion. Kyla wouldn't see it in time. Wouldn't be able to dodge.
Josh moved on pure instinct. He threw himself between Kyla and the lightning bolt, taking the hit full in the chest. The electricity coursed through his body, every nerve screaming in agony. He collapsed, smoke rising from his scorched uniform.
"JOSH!" Kyla's scream echoed through the chamber.
The world was spinning. Josh could smell his own burned flesh, could feel his heart beating irregularly from the electrical shock. He was dying. He knew it. Could feel himself slipping away.
The Prime Shard pulsed brighter, sensing his weakness. Offering salvation. Power. Life.
All he had to do was reach out. Touch it. Accept what it offered.
Josh's hand moved toward the Shard, almost of its own accord. Inches away. Then centimeters. His fingers brushed against the dark surface—
"NO!"
Someone tackled him away from the Prime Shard. Josh hit the ground hard, the impact jarring. He looked up to see Kenji standing between him and the Shard, flames blazing around the fire-user's body like a protective shield.
"I know what you were thinking," Kenji said. "Sacrifice yourself to save us. But I'm not letting you do that. You saved me, Josh. Gave me hope. Now it's my turn."
"Kenji, don't—"
But Kenji was already moving. He grabbed the Prime Shard with both hands.
The effect was immediate and catastrophic. Dark energy exploded from the Shard, wrapping around Kenji like living shadows. He screamed—a sound of pure agony that made everyone in the chamber stop fighting and stare in horror.
"KENJI!" Josh tried to stand, to help, but his legs wouldn't support him.
The dark energy consumed Kenji's form, pulling him into the Shard itself. His body dissolved, becoming one with the dark crystal. For a moment, there was silence.
Then the Prime Shard spoke, using Kenji's voice but distorted, echoing with ancient power: "FREEDOM. AFTER SO LONG. FREEDOM."
The Shard lifted from its pedestal, hovering in the air. The form shifted, changing, becoming humanoid. Kenji's shape, but made of dark crystal, eyes glowing with terrible power.
"Oh no," Dr. Walsh breathed. "It's not consuming him. It's using him as an anchor. A way to manifest physically."
The Prime-Kenji turned its gaze on the Council members. "YOU. YOU SOUGHT TO CONTROL ME. TO USE ME AS A WEAPON ONCE MORE."
Yuki actually looked frightened. "The Prime has awakened. We must retreat—"
"NO RETREAT." The Prime-Kenji raised one crystalline hand, and every Council member in the chamber froze in place, held by invisible force. "YOU WILL SERVE. ALL SHARD-USERS WILL SERVE. I AM THE SOURCE. I AM THE MASTER."
Josh felt it then—a pull on his own Shard energy. The Prime trying to take control of him, to make him a puppet like it was doing to the Council members. He resisted with everything he had, ice and fire fighting against the invasive presence in his mind.
"Josh!" Kyla was at his side, helping him up. "What's happening?"
"It's taking control. Of everyone with Shard powers. I can feel it trying to override my will." Josh's eyes blazed as he fought the mental invasion. "We have to stop it. Have to free Kenji before it's too late."
"How? We can't even touch it!"
Dr. El-Sayed emerged from behind the pedestal, his face pale but determined. "The murals! There was a symbol—a counter-sequence! If we can activate it, it might force the Prime back into dormancy!"
"Where?" Josh demanded.
"On the ceiling! Directly above where the pedestal was!" El-Sayed pointed up. "But it requires simultaneous activation from four points around the chamber. Four people channeling dimensional energy in perfect synchronization."
Josh looked around the chamber. Him, Emma, and Min-Ji were the only Shard-users not under the Prime's control. That was only three.
"I'll be the fourth," Kyla said firmly.
"You don't have Shard powers," Josh protested.
"No, but I've got this." Kyla pulled out a small device that Dr. Walsh had given her weeks ago—a dimensional energy amplifier, designed for emergencies. "It'll let me channel energy for maybe thirty seconds before burning out. That enough?"
"It'll have to be." Josh turned to Emma and Min-Ji. "Can you two hold it together for thirty seconds? Even while that thing is trying to control you?"
Emma's face was already showing strain from resisting the Prime's influence. "I... I think so. Maybe."
"We don't have maybe. We need yes." Josh grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "You are stronger than this thing. You are in control. Say it."
"I... I am in control," Emma whispered.
"Say it like you mean it!"
"I AM IN CONTROL!" Emma's eyes blazed with light, pushing back against the dark influence.
"Good! Min-Ji?"
The teenager nodded, tears streaming down her face but determination in her eyes. "I can do this. For Kenji. For all of us."
They took their positions at four points around the chamber. The Prime-Kenji noticed what they were doing and turned its terrible gaze on them.
"FUTILE. I AM BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION. BEYOND YOUR POWER."
"Yeah, well, you're not beyond my stubbornness," Josh shot back. "And you made a big mistake taking Kenji. He's one of us. He's family. And we don't leave family behind."
Josh reached for his powers, but not for ice or fire this time. He reached for that neutral energy—the Earth's dimensional force, the life around them, the power that wasn't tainted by the Shard's corruption. The power he'd used to open the temple doors.
"Now!" he shouted.
All four of them channeled energy at once, sending it up toward the symbols on the ceiling. Josh's clean dimensional energy, Emma's light, Min-Ji's earth force, and Kyla's amplified surge—they hit the symbols simultaneously.
The ceiling blazed to life, ancient mathematics activating after millennia of dormancy. The symbols formed a pattern, a counter-sequence that the temple's builders had designed for exactly this purpose.
The Prime-Kenji screamed—a sound of rage and denial that shook the entire chamber. The dark energy began pulling back, being forced into the crystal form against its will.
"NO! I WILL NOT BE IMPRISONED AGAIN! I WILL NOT—"
The symbols completed their pattern. A cage of pure light formed around the Prime-Kenji, compressing it, forcing it back down toward the pedestal. The dark energy fought against the containment, but the ancient wards were stronger.
With a final, ear-splitting shriek, the Prime Shard collapsed back onto its pedestal, the dark energy dissipating. Kenji's form separated from the crystal, his body tumbling to the floor, smoking and unconscious but alive.
The Council members, released from the Prime's control, immediately began retreating. Yuki and Ezra grabbed their wounded and vanished through dimensional rifts before Josh's team could stop them.
In seconds, the chamber was empty except for Josh's team, the unconscious Kenji, and the Prime Shard—once again dormant on its pedestal, but now everyone knew the truth of what it was.
Josh collapsed to his knees beside Kenji, checking for a pulse. It was there—weak but steady. "He's alive. Barely."
Dr. Walsh rushed over with medical supplies. "We need to get him to a hospital immediately. That kind of exposure to pure dimensional energy—the damage could be catastrophic."
As they prepared to evacuate, Josh stared at the Prime Shard. They'd stopped it this time. Forced it back into dormancy. But it was still here, still dangerous, still calling to anyone desperate or foolish enough to claim it.
"We can't leave it here," he said to Admiral Russo, who'd been watching the whole battle through Dr. Walsh's body camera. "The Council knows where it is now. They'll come back with more forces."
"And we can't move it without risking breaking the containment," Russo replied. "I'm sending a full military garrison to secure the temple. Round-the-clock guard. If anyone tries to access the Prime, they'll have to go through an army."
"That won't stop them," Josh said quietly. "Not if they want it badly enough."
"No. But it'll slow them down. Buy us time to figure out a permanent solution." Russo's expression was grave. "Good work today, Reeves. You saved your team and kept the Prime out of Council hands. But this fight is far from over."
Josh knew she was right. This was just one battle in a much longer war.
They evacuated Kenji to a medical transport helicopter, Emma and Min-Ji staying close to their fallen teammate. The tactical operators secured the temple entrance while Dr. El-Sayed documented the ceiling symbols—the key to imprisoning the Prime if it ever awakened again.
As they lifted off, Josh took one last look at the temple disappearing into the jungle below. The Prime Shard was still down there, waiting. Patient. It had waited thousands of years already. It could wait a little longer.
But the question remained: how long until someone desperate enough, power-hungry enough, or suicidal enough tried to claim it again?
And what would happen to the world when they did?
Back at DDI headquarters, three days later, Josh sat in Kenji's hospital room, watching his friend sleep. The doctors said he'd survive, but the exposure to the Prime had changed him. His Shard energy was gone—completely burned out. Kenji was normal again. Powerless.
He should have been relieved. Instead, when Kenji finally woke up, the first thing he said was: "I can't feel it anymore. The fire. It's gone."
"I know," Josh said gently. "The Prime burned it out of you. You're free from it now."
Kenji's eyes filled with tears. "Free? I feel empty. Like part of me is missing. The fire was terrible but it was also... mine. And now I'm just... nothing."
Josh didn't know what to say to that. How did you comfort someone who'd lost power they simultaneously feared and needed?
Before he could respond, alarms blared through the facility. Dr. Walsh's voice came over the intercom: "All personnel, we have a situation. Multiple dimensional signatures detected worldwide. It's not the Council. It's something else. Something new."
Josh ran to the command center, where screens showed satellite imagery of dozens of new weak points opening simultaneously. But these weren't like the Council's gateways. These were different. Darker. More violent.
"What are we looking at?" Admiral Russo demanded.
Dr. Walsh's hands flew across her keyboard. "I don't know. The energy signature is unlike anything we've encountered. It's not from the Frozen Realm. It's not the Council. It's..." She looked up, her face pale. "It's like someone punched holes through reality itself. And something is coming through. Something big."
On the screens, shapes began emerging from the weak points. Not ice creatures. Not Council members. Something else entirely—massive forms wreathed in shadow and flame, with too many limbs and eyes that glowed with colors that shouldn't exist.
"Oh God," Rodriguez breathed. "What are those things?"
The answer came from an unexpected source. Azazel appeared on every screen simultaneously, his image broadcasting across all DDI frequencies.
"Humans. Shard-users. Council members. Cease your petty conflicts." His voice was urgent, almost frightened—an emotion Josh had never heard from the King before. "What's coming through those rifts are the First Ones. The beings who created the Shards as weapons. And they've returned to reclaim them."
The screens showed more of the massive creatures emerging, destroying everything in their path with casual ease. Cities burning. Armies falling. Civilization crumbling in minutes.
"The Prime has been disturbed," Azazel continued. "And its activation has called them back across the dimensions. They're coming for all Shards. All users. All power. And unless we stand together—all of us, every faction, every force—they will destroy your world and everyone in it."
The transmission ended, leaving the command center in shocked silence.
Josh stared at the screens showing the destruction spreading across the globe. The First Ones. The beings who'd created the Shards. Who'd fought the original dimensional war.
And they'd just declared war on Earth.
"Sir," Josh said to Russo, his voice steady despite his racing heart. "Permission to recall all Vanguard members immediately. We're going to need everyone for this."
"Granted. And Reeves?" Russo looked older suddenly, worn down by impossible decisions. "You were right. The fight with the Council was just the beginning. This... this is something else entirely."
Through the window, Josh could see smoke rising from somewhere in the city. The First Ones had already reached DC.
The real war had just begun.
And humanity had never faced anything like this before.
End of Chapter 40