Prologue-Pilot
Birds chirped softly outside the thin paper windows of the mountain dojo, a peaceful sound that always marked the beginning of training. Calúm lay curled under his blanket until a voice shattered the calm.
“CALUM! WAKE UP! TRAINING STARTS NOW!”
Calum shot upright, hair a mess, and scrambled to his feet.
“Y-Yes, Master!”
The dojo master, a tall man with streaks of gray hair and sharp eyes, stood by the door with his arms crossed. His stare was stern, but Calum had known him long enough to see the warmth beneath it. The master had raised him like a son ever since Calum arrived as an abandoned toddler. His discipline was harsh, but his care was real.
Calum rushed outside where the rest of the students were already lined up on the polished wooden floor. Among them was Xia, a girl a bit older than him, calm and focused, her Pink loose hair with a cute in hairband. She waved him over with a smile.
“About time, sleepyhead,” Xia teased softly.
Calum rolled his eyes but smiled back.
“I got yelled at, so we’re even.”
Behind her stood Lek, the loudest and most stubborn student in the dojo. Lek nudged Calum’s shoulder with a smirk.
“Try not to embarrass yourself today, runt.”
“Says the one who lost to Xia three times last week,” Calum shot back.
Xia snickered, and Lek puts his down embarrassed.
Before Lek could respond, the master clapped his hands once loud like a thunderclap.
“Enough chatter. Today, you all strengthen your footing and reaction speed. Line up.”
Training began.
They sprinted across the courtyard, leaped over stone blocks, practiced stances under waterfalls, and balanced on thin wooden beams. The master moved among them correcting every detail:
“Xia, lower your center!”
“Calum, focus your breathing not your muscles.”
“Lek, again. Do it right this time.”
Despite his harsh tone, he taught each of them with steady patience. Calum admired him for that. Even though Lek was always boasting and Xia was effortlessly skilled, the master treated them the same: with care, discipline, and expectations higher than the sky.
After lunch, they practiced sparring.
Calum fought two students at a time, dodging, ducking, and rolling just as the master had drilled into him. Xia was graceful her movements clean and strategic. Lek was powerful but wild, relying on brute force and determination rather than technique.
Calum had grown with both of them. Xia was like the sister he never had. Lek was… the annoying brother he never asked for competitive, loud, but loyal in his own way.
When the master called them together at sunset, his voice held a challenge.
“Tomorrow, you will spar as a group. Calum, you will fight all your classmates at once. Consider it your final test before the black tie trials.”
Gasps and murmurs spread through the group.
Calum swallowed but nodded.
“I won’t disappoint you, Master.”
The master’s eyes softened for a moment.
“I know you won’t.”
The Next Morning
Birds chirped again then the master’s yelling, followed.
“WAKE UP, CALUM! TRAINING NOW!”
Calum jumped up and stood.
“Yes, sir!”
The master smirked slightly.
“Alright, kiddo. Today you’ll be doing your usual dojo practice, but with a twist. You’re fighting all your classmates.”
Calum grinned.
“Bring them on.”
The spar began. Students rushed him from all sides. Calum dodged Xia’s kick, rolled past two boys, disarmed another, and pushed through wave after wave. Sweat dripped down his face as he fought with everything the master had taught him.
Finally, only Lek stepped forward.
He cracked his neck and grinned smugly.
“You’re not going to win, little idiot.”
Calum met his glare.
“Try me.”
They clashed Calum kicked him back, Lek retaliated with a heavy punch, Xia cheered faintly from the sidelines despite herself. It was the kind of rivalry built over years frustrating, competitive, but real.
“You think I’m gonna let you win? I’m getting the black tie!” Lek shouted.
“So am I! I’m not giving up that easily!” Calum shot back.
But before either could take another step
BOOM.
A blinding laser tore straight through the dojo wall.
Screams. Smoke. Splintering wood.
The beam hit Lek and several students in an instant. Xia was thrown back but survived, landing hard on the floor. Calum froze, horror gripping him as more lasers cut through the ceiling.
Through the destruction stepped a cold, expressionless man.
He raised a metallic ball with glowing lights and pointed at Calum.
“I want that boy. Hand him over. He will make an excellent subject.”
The dojo master stepped forward, fury radiating from him.
“You’re not getting him!”
He turned just enough to shout:
“CALUM RUN! NOW!”
Earth cracked beneath him as he unleashed the full strength of his elemental powers. Stone erupted, forming barriers and shields. Xia crawled toward Calum, eyes wide.
“Go! Don’t let him catch you!” she yelled.
Calum hesitated tears burning but the master roared again, voice shaking the air.
“RUN!”
And so Calum ran.
He sprinted out of the collapsing dojo, down the forest path, legs trembling, heart beating. He didn’t stop until he reached a dark cave where he collapsed and cried, haunted by the screams and the memories of the only family he had ever known.
A week later, Calum awoke in the warm wooden house of a kind grandmother who had found him near the forest. She fed him, cared for him, and gave him a place to regain his strength. When he finally left, he bowed deeply in gratitude.
With the dojo gone and his world destroyed, Calum set out on a new journey to uncover who his real parents were, and why The Mysterios man had come for him.
