The sun had barely risen, yet the tower’s training ground was alive. Soldiers lined the edges, their movements precise, silent, deadly. Wooden dummies, targets, and training apparatus dotted the courtyard. Banners fluttered in the morning wind.

  Arie stood at the center, staff in hand, his posture calm yet commanding.

  “Open your eyes!” he barked.

  Matt, Tavari, Raphael, Joseph — all four obeyed. Each tightened their muscles, each ready.

  Arie moved first. Every strike was Still Form Discipline — a martial art that demanded balance, awareness, and perfect control. He didn’t swing wildly. Every blow dissected, every movement precise. Power flowed from the ground, through the body, and into the strike.

  Matt barely dodged a sweep aimed at his side. The air around it cracked with energy.

  “Why do you hesitate?” Arie asked calmly. “You fight with guilt, not purpose!”

  Matt froze. Stephen’s face flashed before him. Accusing eyes. Silent voice. The weight of unfinished words pressed on his chest.

  Another strike knocked him down hard. Pain shot through his ribs.

  “You cannot carry the dead like a shield!” Arie said sharply.

  Tavari’s eyes narrowed. Even he felt the tension of the space. Raphael and Joseph were tense, alert, ready to react.

  Then Matt’s anger, grief, and instinctive fire collided. Flames erupted from him, bright and scorching, bursting like a volcanic surge. Heat flared across the training ground. Smoke swirled. Wooden dummies splintered and scorched under the fire’s intensity.

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  He roared, leaping forward, fire blazing from his fists. Soldiers leapt aside. Arie moved faster, trying to counter the flame assault with precision strikes.

  Stephen appeared once more in Matt’s mind — but this time, different. Not accusing. Not blaming. Peaceful.

  “I… I couldn’t save you,” Matt whispered, “but I won’t waste what’s left!”

  With that acknowledgment, his flames roared higher, uncontrolled yet pure. The ground beneath him seemed to tremble as if responding to the firestorm of his release.

  Before Arie could react further, the air shimmered.

  A voice — calm, chilling, familiar — echoed: “Enough of this.”

  The soldiers and students froze.

  Nuru had teleported onto the training ground.

  Arie’s eyes widened, but he immediately took a stance. “You wish to spar?” he asked.

  “Show me combat,” Nuru replied.

  The soldiers whispered among themselves. Tavari’s threads twitched. Matt and the others instinctively fell back, aware of something overwhelming.

  Arie reached for two of the tower’s finest swords, passing them to Nuru.

  “No,” Nuru said softly. “Give me a kitchen knife.”

  A stunned silence fell. Soldiers froze mid-step. Students’ jaws dropped. Tavari blinked. Matt’s flames flickered nervously.

  Arie raised an eyebrow but complied, handing Nuru the small, simple blade.

  What followed was chaos disguised as calm. Arie moved with precision and power, combining all his training, every strike and counter he had ever mastered. Yet Nuru danced around him, effortless, unshakable, breaking every blow. A kitchen knife in hand — enough to humiliate any ordinary opponent, but not Nuru.

  Every soldier and student held their breath. Tavari’s threads vibrated violently. Matt’s fire reacted to the tension, flickering wildly as if sensing the overwhelming mastery before him. Raphael and Joseph’s eyes were wide as saucers.

  Finally, Nuru stepped back, eyes calm.

  “Good fighter,” he said quietly, voice carrying across the courtyard, “doesn’t need good steel.”

  The ground seemed to hum with his presence. Arie lowered his eyes slightly, acknowledging mastery he could not match.

  Matt’s fire pulsed, responding to something beyond him — awe, fear, inspiration. Tavari felt it too, a subtle vibration that reminded him: the Watcher was always above them, watching, testing, teaching without words.

  The students sat in stunned silence, realizing the truth of the lesson: skill, will, and understanding always trump weaponry.

  The morning sun shone brightly, but the shadow of Nuru’s presence lingered long after.