The sun had only just begun to crawl across the broken sky, painting the clouds in streaks of faded orange and ash grey. The air was cold, not just from the chill of early morning, but from something deeper. Older. A weight that settled on his chest before he even opened his eyes.
A sound lingered in the back of his mind — a cry, faint and distant, carried by the wind like a ghost.
Zeke sat up slowly. The fire beside him had burned low, only embers now. They flickered against the rocks like dying stars. The others were still asleep — Kaito snoring softly with his hood half over his face, Rian sprawled out like he'd fought gravity and lost.
Zeke's hand drifted to his chest, as if he could quiet the echo inside it. That cry wouldn't leave him.
He stood.
The morning wind brushed against his skin, carrying the scent of ash, cold bark, and old blood.
Footsteps crunched behind him.
"You're up early," Kaito said, voice groggy. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. "That's not like you. You usually sleep like the dead."
Zeke didn't answer immediately. He stared into the horizon, where mist still clung to the trees like a shroud.
"Heard something in the wind," Zeke said eventually. "Didn't feel like sleeping anymore."
Kaito nodded, sensing something deeper and not prying. He stood beside him, quiet.
A few moments later, Rian emerged from the trees, shirt half on, hair a mess. "You two are up? Don't tell me we're doing another spar this early. My bones are still aching from yesterday."
Zeke smirked, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Didn't realize you had bones, you fought like a soggy towel."
"Wow," Rian said, mock-offended. "You come at me like that and I haven't even had breakfast."
"Cry more," Kaito added, and Rian flipped him off with a grin.
The three stood there for a while, letting the cold wind pass between them. The silence wasn't awkward. It felt... earned. Like battle-scarred brothers learning to breathe in peacetime.
Later that morning, after a quick meal and a short sparring match — where Zeke and Kaito managed to disarm Rian with one coordinated move that left him sulking for twenty minutes
Students began waking up and the sound of talking and laughter began growing louader.
When the sun was fully visible on the horizon the group of nearly a hundred students gathered near the central clearing.
Zeke stepped forward. Slowly.
There was a murmur. A ripple.
He didn't usually speak like this. Not to everyone. Not with all eyes on him. He hated this kind of attention. But something had changed in him. Something had changed. And in that space where fear used to live... there was only fire now.
He raised his voice.
"The crazy old man pushed his rules on us," Zeke said. "And now? Now he's closed the barrier around us. He's trying to kill us."
A few people gasped. Others looked around, uncertain.
Zeke kept going.
"You know what I think?" He paused. Smirked. "Fuck him. Fuck the rules."
A few chuckles scattered across the crowd.
Zeke's face sobered.
"Look around you. Look how many we are. They didn't expect this. They didn't expect a group to get this big. This strong. We're not just surviving — we're organizing."
He looked out across the crowd. Students in torn cloaks. Dirt-smeared faces. Some wide-eyed, some steeled. But all of them listening now.
"The whole barrier thing? It might be because of us. Because we're not dying like we're supposed to."
Silence fell.
"But guess what... Fuck the barrier too."
More laughs now. Nervous, but growing stronger.
Zeke's voice rose.
"We'll find more students. We'll make this group bigger. Stronger. We'll ruin whatever plans they had. We'll gather the students all over the forest and burn it, burn it all, the rules the forest, Fuck if the old man comes down again lets burn him too."
The Students laughed now.
Rian leaned toward Kaito and whispered, just loud enough for a few people to hear. "Dude hates public speaking. Now he's out here sounding like he's Superman."
Zeke turned, deadpan. "Someone beat him up."
Immediately, Darius and Bronn moved, grinning as they chased Rian across the clearing. Rian yelled something about unjust violence, but everyone was laughing now. The tension broke like a storm had passed.
Zeke waited. Then raised a hand.
Silence returned.
"Let's move," he said. "Groups of twenty. Fan out, but stay close enough to regroup if you find trouble. We help survivors. We don't leave anyone behind."
His eyes scanned the crowd. "There is no leader here. I'm not your commander. We're just people. Surviving. Together."
The students cheered letting out a warcry as if announcing themselves on a battlefield. Some nodded. Even the professors gave small nods in respect.
But then —
Professor Aelius squinted. "Wait a moment... isn't that speech just a reworded monologue from that new super-powered movie?"
A look of realisation flashed on their faces, a chuckle rippled through the adults.
The headmaster, watching with a dark expression sighed. "This kid is clever... but did he have to swear at me like that?"
Back on the ground, as the students began organizing into their groups of 20, Zeke exhaled slowly — the weight of talking infront of that many people making him shiver.
Laughter mixing with cautious excitement. Students helping others to their feet, checking gear, offering quiet encouragement. It wasn't perfect but it was alive. Moving. Breathing. Unified.
A few days ago, they'd been scattered, terrified, lost in the dark. Now… they stood side by side, a campfire army born from the ashes of fear.
Zeke glanced around as Darius slapped Bronn on the back, both of them laughing at something Rian had said. Kaito walked by handing out spare rations, Tala's absence lingered like a shadow on their hearts. One that refused to go out.
They were broken pieces.
But even broken pieces could be sharpened into blades.
Zeke stepped forward, boots crunching faintly over loose stone and frost-dusted grass. He looked over the ragtag battalion of teens, survivors who had, against all odds, chosen not to lie down and die.
A breath filled his lungs — cold, stinging, full of purpose.
He let out a chuckle "Operation: Build an Army had officially begun."
And for the first time in days, Zeke believed they had a real chance. Not just to survive.
But to fight back.