Arcbound: Tale of The Guardians

---

Mistvale Forest lay quiet again.

Burnt leaves fluttered through the air. Cracked earth still steamed from lightning strikes. In the center of a scorched crater, the ashes of the Nether Fiend of Lies began to stir.

They hadn't killed it.

Not completely.

Not enough.

Smoke drifted upward—but it didn't vanish.

It coiled.

It shuddered.

And then it began to crawl.

Like a dying thing refusing to die, it dragged itself toward the edge of the forest—no longer a towering monster, but a hunched shadow crawling low and silent. Its form flickered in and out, whispering to the wind.

> "They lied too…"

> "So many… lies…"

The farther it moved, the more it fed.

The more it fed, the more it healed.

And ahead of it, nestled proudly on the hill…

was Hillstead University.

---

That Same Afternoon…

The bell rang lazily through the halls of Hillstead.

Students spilled into courtyards and corridors, books under arms, voices raised in weekend plans and half-finished gossip.

"—I totally passed the test. Top five percent. Swear."

"Wait, I thought you said you didn't even study?"

"…well, technically I did. In my head."

"Oh my gosh, you told Lisa you weren't talking to Jason—now you're going with him to the club?"

"I didn't say I wasn't—I said maybe. There's a difference!"

The Fiend drifted unseen between them.

Their voices layered like threads. Tiny lies, petty twists. Half-truths spun as jokes. Excuses and exaggerations. Not evil—but dishonest.

And it fed.

Its limbs reformed in shadows behind vending machines. Its horns curled under staircases. Its smile widened behind forgotten doors.

> "Lie again," it whispered.

> "Say it."

> "Say it."

The whispers drifted across dorm walls, clung to ceiling corners. Barely noticed. Barely heard.

But it was there.

---

The Guardians' Common Room

The Guardians sat around the wide circular couch in their hidden lounge behind the Arc chamber. Nora was flipping through a combat journal, Kai sharpening his gauntlet edge on a grindstone.

Carl had just finished sketching yet another team logo—this one involving wings, swords, and a suspiciously long cape.

"I'm just saying," Carl insisted, holding it up, "we need branding. Something that says: We fight darkness and look fabulous doing it."

"Something that says you want a cape bill," Natasha muttered.

Nora chuckled, then turned to Kai. Her voice was soft—too soft for a joke.

"Kai… can I ask you something?"

His sharpening slowed.

She continued gently, "Back at the Arc… one of the visions mentioned father. But… you've never talked about how he died."

Silence spread across the room.

Even Carl looked up.

Kai didn't meet her eyes.

"It was… an accident," he said quietly. "He worked on an energy project that went wrong. Wrong time. Wrong place. That's all."

Nora studied him—not harshly, but with a quiet tension. She didn't believe him. Not completely

"Oh," she said. "I didn't know."

Kai gave a thin smile. "Now you do."

But he didn't look at her again.

---

Elsewhere…

The Fiend twitched in the shadows of the south wing storage hall.

It had felt it.

> A lie.

Not massive.

But personal.

A secret.

A thread pulled tight.

It smiled wider.

> "Even they…"

> "Even the Guardians lie."

And it began to move again.

Not as a monster.

Not as a shadow.

But something in-between.

Something new.

---

Later That Night

A student passing through the dim hallway near the south stairwell paused.

He thought he heard someone breathing just behind him—but when he turned, the hallway was empty.

He shrugged.

"I'll be back in five," he muttered, pulling out his phone. "Just told them I had a project emergency."

He laughed quietly to himself.

He didn't see the flicker of green light behind his reflection in the window.

He didn't notice his shadow move before he did.

He didn't hear the voice whisper right behind his ear:

> "You lie too."

---

The sun had dipped below the university's rooftops, casting Hillstead in a dusky gold.

Inside the campus lounge, students gathered around the wall-mounted screen. The TV news crackled with urgency.

> "—rescue efforts continue after what hikers are calling a 'black beast' attacked near Mistvale Forest. Officials claim it may be a mutated animal—but eyewitnesses describe glowing markings, unnatural strength, and winds 'moving on their own.'"

---

Leo sat near the back of the crowd, arms crossed, hood drawn low over his eyes.

But he was watching.

Closely.

The screen shifted to a shaky phone video: a flicker of blue lightning. A tornado swirling leaves. A voice shouting something garbled in the distance.

> "Merge!"

Leo's eyes narrowed.

He didn't blink.

---

Later That Night

The Guardians gathered near the old statue behind the east dorms, where the light didn't quite reach. They were still in their school clothes, eyes heavy from the fight earlier.

Carl leaned against the base of the statue, brushing twigs from his jacket. "You know we're going to end up on a 'top ten mysterious superhumans caught on camera' video, right?"

"We were careful," Henry said.

"You got flung into a tree," Natasha countered.

"I was strategic about it," he shot back.

Kai sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Point is, we ended it fast. The Fiend's gone."

But Nora frowned. "Not gone. It didn't shatter like the others. It slipped away. We all saw it."

"I didn't see anything after I threw my back out saving your life," Carl said, grinning.

Nora raised a brow. "I launched you."

Jay stepped from the shadows then. "He's right about one thing."

They turned.

Jay's expression was grim.

"You didn't destroy it. You delayed it."

A beat of silence passed.

Then—

"Yo."

The voice startled all of them.

Leo stood just a few steps away. Hoodie still up. Eyes sharp. Calm, too calm.

"I thought I'd find you all together," he said.

The Guardians froze.

Kai took a step forward. "What are you doing out here?"

Leo shrugged. "Could ask you the same. Bunch of students sneaking into the woods. Power surges. Disappearing mid-class. A fireball caught on video. And then—your names show up on a ranger's evac list."

They said nothing.

He smiled faintly.

"Let me guess. Group project?"

Carl laughed nervously. "Mythic… survival studies?"

Leo walked in a slow circle around them.

"Or maybe something deeper. Like… those tunnels you once said didn't exist."

He looked at Nora.

"You said the myths about Hillstead's underbelly were just stories."

Then at Kai.

"You said spirit gates were fiction. Now I'm not so sure."

And finally at Natasha.

"You said you barely passed your elemental theory exam. But I've seen you break concrete."

She stiffened.

Leo crossed his arms. "So tell me again. What exactly are you?"

The silence hung like iron.

Jay stepped forward.

"Just students," he said flatly. "Trying to stay alive in a weird world."

Leo held his gaze.

Then turned.

"Sure," he said simply. "Just students."

He walked away.

But he didn't stop listening.

Or watching.

---

Meanwhile…

The Nether Fiend of Lies lingered in the boiler tunnels beneath Hillstead. Its body was still cracked, oozing slow trails of green energy. But it had shape now. Limbs again. A half-face.

The whispers had fed it.

But now—Kai's lie had sparked a surge.

A family secret.

A broken truth.

And Leo's suspicion?

Even better.

> "Lies… lies wrapped in silence…"

> "Even they are hollow…"

The Fiend twitched, tendrils snaking into the pipes, the stone, the walls.

> "Soon…"

> "They will lie to each other…"

> "And then…"

It opened its jagged grin.

> "They will break."

---