The forest was unnaturally silent.
Leaves trembled under a breeze that seemed to carry something heavier than wind, something watching. Mai walked in front, her eyes focused and red as embers. Duncan followed close behind, the violet aura pulsing gently from his shoulders. Tiffany, unusually composed, brought up the rear, scanning their surroundings with narrowed golden eyes.
They had left the muddy path behind and stepped into a part of the woods that locals called "The Spine." No one lived here anymore. Not after the disappearances.
"This place feels wrong," Duncan murmured.
"Then we're in the right place," Mai answered.
Suddenly, a sharp noise. Steel against bark.
From the shadows, a figure stepped forward, dressed in white ninja garments, a long white braid cascading down his back. His eyes were blank. Pale. Empty.
"Ran Fuji," Tiffany whispered. "The Thorn Collector."
Ran didn't speak. He raised his hand. From the ground, thorny vines shot up, wrapping around their legs. Duncan slashed them away with a blast of violet energy.
Mai charged forward, unleashing a barrage of punches empowered by blood force. Ran moved like a ghost, dodging effortlessly. He retaliated with a flurry of thin, blade-like petals, slicing the air.
Tiffany leapt into the fray, bouncing between trees with solar leaps, targeting Ran's blind spots. But he was prepared, spinning midair and slamming her into the mud.
"You stole them," he finally spoke, his voice cold. "You carry the flowers that killed my brother."
"We didn't choose this," Mai shouted. "The flowers found us."
Ran's aura flared — dark green and swirling with fragments of wilted petals.
Duncan engaged next, his strikes precise. Each movement from Ran seemed to remember old pain. Duncan blocked a deadly blow and looked into his eyes.
"I was like you once," Duncan said, panting. "Angry. Alone. But there's still a way out."
Ran's eyes flickered. A pause. But it ended fast.
He unleashed his ultimate technique: a storm of ghost thorns — spectral fragments of dead flower bearers he had defeated, now weaponized in a wild tempest.
Mai shouted, activating her Blood Weave.
Tiffany ignited her Sunflare Leap.
Duncan called upon Mercy Pulse.
Together, they shattered the storm.
Ran collapsed, exhausted, his armor of thorns breaking apart.
"Kill me... or I'll keep coming," he hissed.
But Mai stepped forward. She reached out a hand.
"Then come. We're not running. But we're not your enemies."
Ran hesitated. For a second, the wind stopped.
Then he vanished into the trees.
That night, they camped in silence. No one slept easily.
In the morning, Tiffany said quietly, "He was a flowerless one... turned bitter."
Mai nodded. "And if we're not careful, we'll become like him."
Duncan stared into the rising sun.
"Or worse."