The first thing Danny noticed was the smell.
Clean. Too clean.
The second thing was the ceiling—white, cracked in one corner, with a flickering light that buzzed faintly like it was barely hanging on.
Danny groaned.
His whole body felt like it had been run over, backed up on, and then struck by lightning for fun. His arms were heavy, his chest tight, and his head was pounding like someone had taken a hammer to the inside of his skull.
“…Great,” he muttered. “I’m alive.”
He tried to sit up.
Pain flared instantly, sharp and unforgiving, forcing him back down onto the stiff hospital bed. Tubes were attached to his arms, monitors beeping steadily beside him. Gauze wrapped around his hands, faint scorch marks visible beneath.
Then he felt it.
Someone else was in the room.
Danny’s eyes snapped open.
Traveler was sitting in a chair near the wall, arms crossed, head lowered. His yellow skin looked duller than before, shadows barely moving around him now, like exhausted animals finally at rest.
Danny didn’t hesitate.
He ripped the IV from his arm, ignoring the sharp sting, and lunged forward.
“YOU—”
He barely made it halfway off the bed before a voice cut through the room.
“STOP!”
A blur of motion—someone stepping between them.
Danny skidded to a halt, chest heaving, fists clenched and glowing faintly as he stared past the figure now blocking his path.
It was the kid.
The one from the street.
The basketball kid.
White sweater, baggy, hair messy—red with a dark green highlight catching the hospital lights. He looked tired, eyes shadowed, but determined.
Danny blinked. “You?”
The kid held his hands up defensively. “Hey—hey—relax, man. Please.”
Traveler looked up sharply. “Aiden—”
“Aiden?” Danny snapped. “You know his name?!”
“Yes,” the kid—Aiden—said quickly. “Because I’m the one who told him about you.”
That stopped Danny cold.
“…What?”
Aiden turned slightly, glancing back at Traveler before facing Danny again. “This whole thing? The cave? The fight? It was a misunderstanding.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Danny laughed once—short, bitter. “Yeah? Because it really felt like an assassination attempt.”
Traveler stood slowly. “I believed you were something you weren’t.”
Danny’s eyes burned. “You tried to kill me.”
Traveler didn’t argue. “I did.”
The room tensed.
Danny’s power flared instinctively, red lightning crackling faintly along his arms. The monitors beside the bed started beeping faster.
Aiden stepped closer. “Danny—listen. He thought you were tied to the Shadow Clan. Thought you were their successor.”
Danny frowned. “The what?”
Aiden exhaled slowly. “They’re… gone. Mostly. Wiped out decades ago. And when you showed up—when your power activated—Traveler thought history was repeating itself.”
Danny looked between them. “So instead of asking, he jumped me.”
Traveler’s jaw tightened. “Because the last time I asked questions, millions died.”
That… hit different.
Danny hesitated.
Before anyone could say more, the door to the hospital room exploded inward.
“WHERE IS HE.”
The entire room shook.
Sir Dracks filled the doorway, towering, armor dented and scratched, eyes burning like fire trapped behind steel. Fang stood just behind him, wings folded tight, while Shawny and Big B hovered anxiously in the hall.
Sir Dracks’ gaze locked onto Traveler instantly.
“You,” he growled.
Traveler didn’t move fast enough.
Sir Dracks crossed the room in two steps, grabbing Traveler by the collar and lifting him clean off the ground.
“YOU DARE TOUCH HIM?” Sir Dracks roared. “AFTER EVERYTHING HE’S BEEN THROUGH?!”
Shawny rushed in. “Whoa—whoa—Sir Dracks—!”
Big B added, “Man, put him down before you break the hospital!”
Traveler struggled, shadows flaring weakly. “I didn’t know—!”
Sir Dracks slammed him against the wall hard enough to crack tile. “IGNORANCE IS NOT AN EXCUSE.”
“STOP!”
Danny’s voice echoed through the room.
Everything froze.
Sir Dracks turned slowly. “Danny…?”
Danny stepped forward, wincing but standing his ground. “Put him down.”
Silence.
Sir Dracks hesitated, then growled under his breath and released Traveler, who dropped to the floor with a grunt.
Danny took a breath. “This is on me too.”
Shawny stared. “Dude—what?”
Danny turned to them. “He thought I was someone else. Something worse. And yeah, he went about it like an absolute maniac, but—” he looked at Traveler “—he wasn’t wrong to be scared.”
Traveler looked up at Danny, stunned.
Sir Dracks crossed his arms. “Explain.”
So Danny did.
He talked about the cave. The shadows. The power. The way it took over him. The yellow glow. The red lightning. How he lost control.
Aiden added details Danny missed—how the energy spike felt ancient, how it sent ripples through realms that hadn’t stirred in centuries.
By the time Danny finished, the room felt heavier.
“…Rezok felt it,” Fang said quietly.
Danny swallowed. “Didn’t he.”
Sir Dracks sighed, running a hand over his face. “You should not be here,” he muttered—not angry, just tired. “Not like this.”
Traveler stood slowly. “I don’t want to fight you,” he said to Danny. “I never did. I wanted to stop a catastrophe.”
Danny looked at his hands. “Story of my life.”
A nurse peeked nervously through the shattered door. “Uh—please don’t destroy the rest of the hospital.”
Big B winced. “Yeah, that’s fair.”
Later, after apologies, repairs, and a lot of uncomfortable silence, they left the hospital together.
The sun was low, casting long shadows across the broken forest outside. The wreckage from the Heaven Army still scarred the land—burnt trees, shattered stone, lingering energy humming in the air.
Danny walked beside Aiden, Shawny, and Big B, while Traveler lagged behind slightly with Fang. Sir Dracks took the lead, staff tapping against the ground with every step.
“Where are we going?” Danny asked.
Sir Dracks didn’t look back. “Somewhere safe. Somewhere old.”
Aiden glanced at Danny. “There’s a place past the northern ridge. An outpost. Hidden.”
Danny nodded slowly. “Figures.”
As they walked, Danny felt it again—that sensation of being watched. Of something shifting just beyond sight.
