Before the Gathering

The ambushers who came looking for a fight at the sound of the titan transformations were almost certainly all dead. Those who were not were likely to feign death while nursing their injuries in that practice and escape whenever possible in the midst of the group's recovery.

There would be no attackers for a while.

However, that fact did not mean the difficulties of the immediate past had gone.

No, the more careful ones would surely have watched every bit of what just happened. They would also be the ones with enough wit to comprehend the dangers of engaging this group in the open that, though injured, was strung on high alert. Those would be the ones to be most wary of, Lucius knew.

If trouble would come, it would come at nightfall. Until then, they would only watch.

"First off, we have to get out of the open."

Dan picked up the unconscious Sid and nodded. "We can go to our base. There is enough room for us if it's temporary."

With the mention of this, Boro thought that the man shot him a bitter look, to which he looked away towards the dusty dirt.

"When it comes to that, we also have our base that we can use." Kenton looked straight forward at Dan. He wasn't angry, at least not obviously; instead, he had a certain inscrutable expression on his face that couldn't quite be read.

"No," said Lucius to the two, "we can't go out there." As he said this, he made the slightest indication toward the surrounding woods. Picking up on this hint, the two parties looked at each other and nodded.

Looking at Boro, Lucius said, "we'll have to set up base here."

Without discussion, Boro got it. He stepped toward Kenton. "Give me your knife."

"What?" asked Kenton with a tone dripping in genuine disbelief.

"I need it for the transformation. It requires blood loss as a trigger for the body."

"Blood loss... you mean if I beat the shit out of you like I should, you'll be able to turn into a monster again?"

"That's right. But if we go about it that way, I'll make sure to do it as close to you as possible so that I can slowly burn off the front half of your body. Like I should. Now, the knife." Boro waved his hand inward twice.

Dan gulped while the old man dipped his head with a little grin.

Kenton managed to hold on to his rough demeanor and stand his ground physically, but his voice shook a bit as the rest of him understood the very real possibility of that threat.

"What about that knife..." he indicated to Sid. "you can take that one."

"'I' took that knife in the first place," Boro said, "and I'm asking for 'yours.'"

"Fine!" he yelled angrily, pulling the blade off as it ripped the holster where it was held before throwing it into the ground just an inch or two from Boro's foot.

The man stormed off as Lucius watched him wordlessly before looking back at the boy.

"You're lucky that didn't hit him," said Lucius without looking at his irate companion. "Everyone, get as far away as you can, now!"

"I wouldn't miss at that range," he muttered to no one, his back turned to the scene behind him as he moved to keep his distance. As the light roared and the towering figure rose up and covered him with its shadow, the most awful bit was how Kenton could swear that he was somehow becoming used to the insanity that was this craze of regeneration and colossal monsters.

Behind him, the rest watched on as the ground split under the force of Boro's change, the roar of which was dueted by the thunderous sound of cracking titan-bones.

It was unthinkable to all those but the individuals who reached the "paths" to understand just how long it had been since the Power of the Titans was last active, but what Boro's true active transformation appeared like after the many years of the power's dormancy was much closer to how it was when it first emerged over two thousand years ago. Those who would cross it in the near future would describe it as a reaper, a "face of death."

Once the creation had stopped and the giant was stable, it leaned down and spoke in a heavy voice, "So, what needs to be done?"

Only Lucius remained motionless as the titan leaned its tremendous body toward the ground.

"We simply need cover as we go into the night. If you arrange the wood you had our dearly departed Jon pick up into a sort of shelter, we should be good for a while."

The titan did not move. Instead, two empty gaps in the sharp bone structure— hole-ish black eyes— remained rested on Lucius' body, eclipsing the sun, just meters from touching him. The old man could almost feel the exhaust of the creature's breath.

For a second, Lucius seemed to lose his composure. His confident smile had fled from his face, and a ting of panic infested his aged voice. "Boro?"

A moment of silence. The titan's mouth opened.

"I'll do it. Something about receiving a command... felt unright in this form."

Without waiting for a reply, the skeletal monstrosity left for the pile of ruined trees that he worked in the form of makeshift wooden beams.

What would have taken a united crew of five an entire week, if not more, was accomplished within less than an hour. The sun still barely peeking over the roof of the tall trees, the towering titan crumbled like a faulty construction of flesh next to the building before a young child's hand ripped through the meat and pulled himself out of it. He slid down his greater body's shoulder and dusted off the dirt from the ground before walking through the arch made by balancing two massive tree trunks across an assembly of pliable branches and gnarled vines.

"You all coming?" he asked the rest of the group, who began to make their way to the temporary shelter.

The ground was still dirt, but more than enough leaves and sprigs were scattered all over to make rough seats for everyone.

"Now what?" asked Kenton, who seemed recovered enough to have regained his usual snark. Even then, he would not be ready for Lucius' reply.

"Now, we figure out how we deal with the rest of the island."

The sun was now fully dipped below the greenery, and the entirety of the land few still knew as "Paradis Island" was shrouded in shadow.