The last guardian: Rise of Ethan Wilson

Ethan stood at the gates of Crossfield High, the cool morning breeze brushing against his skin, but it did little to wash away the storm inside.

The world he once knew had shattered. He had faced gods, wept over burning ruins, witnessed the death of people he couldn't save, and awakened celestial energy deep in his soul. But here? Here the lockers still squeaked. Bells still rang. Students still gossiped. As if none of it had happened.

But Ethan had changed.

This place felt like a fragile dream trying to hold onto him. Like it couldn't keep up.

Natalie walked quietly beside him, her fingers brushing against his. Neither of them had spoken since they turned the corner onto campus.

She finally broke the silence. "You don't have to do this, you know. Not after what you've seen. Not after what you've become."

Ethan's lips curled into a weary half-smile.

"If I don't face this... if I stop showing up, then the fear wins."

Natalie didn't argue. But she reached down, entwined her fingers with his, and gave a quiet squeeze. A small act, yet grounding. Human.

The inside of the school felt haunted. Not by ghosts, but by silence.

Whispers danced like shadows against the lockers. Students eyed him like he was a ticking bomb.

Since Serena's firestorm that nearly torched half the city, rumors had erupted. Of an angel with golden wings emerging from the flames. Of a force not human. Something divine.

No one had seen Ethan clearly. Not yet. But suspicion clung to the walls.

He kept his head down. But he felt the stares. The awe. The fear.

And then there were the four. The bullies. Once his tormentors, now just... quiet. Still.

Jordan Slate—the worst of them—wasn't among them.

He hadn't returned since that day in the alley. Since Ethan had risen with glowing eyes and broken the sky open with his voice.

The memory felt like a knife Ethan kept hidden beneath his ribs.

Far away from school, far from anything sane, Jordan Slate knelt in a dimension that whispered in screams.

The sky twisted in reverse. Stars bled. Ground pulsed like a living scar.

Before him stood Pain.

Once a celestial lord. Now a deity of decay, cloaked in the fractured light of fallen realms.

"You want power?" Pain's voice echoed like distant thunder and intimate grief all at once.

Jordan didn't hesitate.

His fists clenched. His pride had been shattered by Ethan. Humiliated. Reduced. But the rage? The rage lived.

"I want to crush him."

Pain extended a single hand.

"Then become what they already see you as. A monster. My monster."

Darkness surged like a living tide. It wrapped around Jordan, sinking into his bones, his memories, his hatred.

His skin turned ashen. His eyes became endless voids.

He was no longer Jordan Slate.

Name: Shadow SavageAbilities: Shadow Morphing, Enhanced Strength, Shadow Blasts, Aerial CombatObjective: Hunt Ethan Wilson. Break the light. Make the world tremble.

The cafeteria buzzed with tension. Conversations stopped the moment Ethan walked in. Plates clinked nervously. Phones clicked off.

He sat at a table with Natalie. But the food in front of him might as well have been ash.

Natalie kept her voice low. "Half the school thinks you're a god. The other half thinks you're a ticking apocalypse."

He didn't reply.

She watched him a moment. "You okay?"

Ethan stared at his untouched meal. His throat was dry.

"I didn't save everyone," he murmured.

Natalie's heart clenched.

"Ethan, no one can."

"I should've. If I were stronger... if I was more than just some orphan from nowhere—"

"Don't," she cut in, grabbing his hand again. "You're not just anything. You're you. And that saved lives."

His eyes met hers.

And then the roof exploded.

It wasn't an attack. It was a declaration.

Shadow Savage descended like a meteor.

Dark wings spread, muscles like coiled stone, and a grin carved in shadow. His form was twisted, but unmistakably human once. A boy who had been broken and remade in hate.

Screams erupted.

Students scrambled. Teachers dove beneath tables. Fire alarms cried.

"ETHAN WILSON!" Shadow Savage roared, voice thick with venom. "COME OUT, YOU FRAUD!"

Natalie stood in front of Ethan without hesitation.

Ethan gently stepped around her.

His voice was steady. "This is my fight."

The clash was instant.

Shadow Savage charged, fists cloaked in black flame. Ethan met him head-on. The impact shattered windows. Lockers flew. Dust choked the air.

They moved like war gods.

Every punch carried history. Every dodge, resentment.

"You think you're a god now?! You're the same pathetic loser we used to crush under our boots!"

Blood trickled from Ethan's lip. He smiled.

"And now I'm the one who stood back up."

Shadow Savage roared and smashed Ethan through the floor.

Screams echoed from above. Debris rained. Ethan hit the next level with a sickening crunch.

A portal snapped open.

Rick stepped through, shotgun in one hand, flask in the other.

"Goddammit! I leave for ten f*cking minutes and suddenly we're having a kaiju fight in Algebra class?!"

Morty followed, ducking debris. "This is worse than the time you turned Principal Garcia into a time-bending jellyfish!"

Rick fired a quantum blast. Shadow Savage barely dodged it, snarling.

"Don't kill him!" Ethan called. "He's still human underneath!"

Rick growled. "You and your moral compasses... ruining perfectly good executions."

Ethan drew from within. Not his full strength. Not the celestial rage.

Just enough.

A sliver of Divine Blast burst from his palms.

Shadow Savage was engulfed in golden light and hurled back into the cafeteria.

His form flickered. Shadow peeled away. A boy collapsed in its place.

Jordan Slate.

Bleeding. Breathing. Barely.

Ethan limped over and knelt.

Jordan looked up, eyes wet. "Why... didn't you kill me?"

Ethan lowered his head.

"Because I was broken once too. I know what it's like to think hate is all you have left."

[Shadow Savage Defeated – Phase 1 Miniboss Cleared][XP Gained: 5,000][Bond Update: Natalie – 64%]

The school was in ruins.

Emergency portals opened. Authorities swarmed. Drones buzzed overhead.

Someone had recorded it all.

By sunset, the footage had gone viral.

Ethan Wilson. The golden-winged warrior. The boy who stood against shadows.

His name was no longer secret.

And in a far-off dimension stitched with suffering...

Pain watched the video. A cruel smile stretched across his face.

"Let them see their savior," he murmured. "Then let them watch him fall."