CALAMITY : Legends Of The Chosen

Scene: Misty Forest – Twilight

The group was moving cautiously through a stretch of whispering woods, the treetops breathing gently above their heads. Mist coiled around their ankles like curious serpents. It felt too quiet.

Then, they heard it.

A child's sobbing.

A girl—barefoot, covered in dirt, curled up beneath the crooked roots of a tree. She looked no older than ten. Her face was streaked with tears, her voice broken between gasps.

Morgz immediately stepped forward. "Hey, hey—it's okay! We're not gonna hurt you."

Enme added, gently, "Where are your parents?"

The girl sniffled, trembling, and reached out with one hand. Shojiro crouched beside her, offering a hand.

But before they could touch—

WHAM.

Shojiro spun as a massive psychic hand, glowing with pale blue VYTHRA, squashed the girl's head like a grape.

Bloodless. Hollow.

The corpse crumpled like a doll, twitching once—before a starfish-like parasite slithered out of the skull, twitching with tendrils. A Namsari, a demon of mental infestation.

Everyone recoiled, drawing stances.

But standing behind them, on a broken tree branch ten feet off the ground, was a young woman with glowing eyes, green-black hair flowing unnaturally despite the still air. Her arms were folded, and the psychic hand that had delivered the blow dissolved back into light.

"Took you long enough, Karl."

Karl's visor lit up in surprise. "...Alex?"

The rest of the team turned, stunned.

Alex floated down, weightless, not even bending the grass beneath her.

"That thing was about to hijack your cortexes. You're welcome."

She gave a faint smile—not kind, but possessive. Her eyes zeroed in on Karl like he was prey and prize at once.

Morgz blinked. "Wait—Karl, who is this chick?"

Leone narrowed her eyes. "She just killed a little girl."

Alex rolled her eyes and pointed at the twitching Namsari parasite. "No, sweetie. I killed a parasite wearing a little girl. Big difference."

Shojiro stepped forward. "And how do we know you aren't one of them?"

Suddenly, the forest began to shift.

A crack tore open in the sky above them—the trees bent inward like reality was being vacuumed. Demons rained down from the rift—misshapen, writhing horrors, some airborne, some slithering.

The team drew their stances—but Alex didn't move.

Instead, she sighed.

Then raised her hand.

An invisible wave erupted outward. With a whump of compressed pressure, demons began to crumple mid-air, their bodies folding like broken toys. One got too close—Alex flicked a finger, and it imploded, leaving nothing but dust. Another demon lunged—

—and was flung sideways into a tree, snapping through five trunks before disintegrating.

Zans muttered, "What the hell is she—?"

Max just whistled, "Dibs on not fighting her."

When the final demon was reduced to paste or powder, silence returned.

Alex dusted off her skirt, floating a few inches above the ground. She turned to the stunned group and gave a mock curtsey.

"My name is Alex."

"Class: Aetherial."

"Primordial: Artemis — the one and only."

"Cause of death: Suicide—before a Namsari took over. I figured death was a better ending than being a meat puppet."

She leaned in close to Karl, hovering behind him now. Her voice dropped to a seductive whisper.

"And I'm also... Karl's girlfriend. Just so we're clear."

Karl didn't speak.

Max blinked. "Wait… what?"

Enme narrowed her eyes. "You're kidding."

Alex turned, finally acknowledging her with a small smirk. "You were a boy last time I saw you. Oh wait... tomboy. K-pop energy. Makes sense now."

Zans and Leone exchanged glances—suddenly remembering who Enme used to be before the Chosen's rebirth.

Shojiro, still processing everything, muttered, "Is this girl for real…?"

Alex answered without being asked—telepathically.

"Yes. And I can hear all your thoughts. Especially yours, Max. You're disgusting."

Morgz tilted his head. "What the hell kind of power is this...?"

Karl finally exhaled. "You don't want to know."

Alex smiled sweetly.

"Telekinesis, Telepathy, Trance Induction, and Flight."

She ticked the powers off her fingers one by one.

"I can crush minds, calm rage, twist your bones into meat ribbons—and levitate while doing it. And again—Karl is mine. Got it?"

The team didn't know whether to laugh, panic, or run.

But they all agreed on one thing.

She was dangerous.

And somehow, she was now on their side.

Probably.

Scene: Nightfall in the Forest — Makeshift Campfire

The crack had sealed.

The rift was gone.

And night had settled in, blanketing the forest with a velvet darkness laced with cool wind and the scent of pine. A small campfire crackled in the middle of the clearing, casting dancing shadows on their faces.

Shojiro stacked a few logs beside the fire and slumped down, exhaling.

"Still can't believe I almost adopted a demon."

Leone, now dressed in Karl's oversized hoodie for modesty, grumbled, "Still can't believe she vaporized a whole swarm of demons like they were dust bunnies."

Max, lying on his back with arms folded behind his head, grinned lazily.

Morgz stirred the fire with a stick. "I still say she's hot. Psycho, but hot."

Enme looked across the flames at Karl, who was sitting a bit apart from everyone else—Alex beside him, leaning into his side like she'd always belonged there.

Karl hadn't said much since they made camp.

Zans sat sharpening a small dagger nearby. Kuro, now curled up beside him, gave Alex wary side-eyes every few seconds.

"So," Enme began, "Are we just… gonna ignore that she's basically the psychic version of a nuke with jealousy issues?"

"Nope," Max said, "We're embracing it. If she flips out, we throw Karl at her and run."

Shojiro snorted. "Not it."

Alex finally spoke up, her voice calm, syrupy-smooth.

"I can hear you all. You know that, right?"

The group fell silent for a beat.

Max coughed. "Yeah, we know. It's part of your… charm."

Karl muttered, "You're not helping."

Alex smiled, then gently traced a finger along Karl's arm.

"I'm not here to hurt you. Any of you. But if someone tries to hurt Karl…" Her voice dropped an octave. "I'll turn their bones into origami."

The flames crackled louder in the silence that followed.

Morgz leaned over to Max. "Hey… you think we can trust her?"

Max shrugged. "Doesn't matter. She's with Karl. If she snaps, he's the only one who'll survive it anyway."

Zans finally stood and walked toward the fire. "Trust or not… we're running low on supplies, VYTHRA's thinning in this area, and we're still hundreds of miles from the next beacon. We should rest. Watch shifts. Karl and Crazy can take first."

"Name's Alex," she said, smiling too sweetly.

"Sure, Crazy," Zans said flatly.

Karl groaned. "This is gonna be a long night."

Shojiro dropped into the dirt. "Better than being turned into a gold statue by a sand mummy."

Leone shivered. "Don't remind me…"

The camera pans upward to the starry sky. The campfire glows warmly as the wind whispers through the trees.

Somewhere deep in the forest… a shadow twitches.

And the world moves closer to war.