The Fire Shadows

The next morning, no siren was needed.

The boys were already awake.

The experience in the cages had changed them — stripped them raw and left something new behind. No one waited to be ordered. By 3:55 AM, all four were standing outside the main combat hall, uniforms on, eyes cold and focused.

The steel doors creaked open, revealing Karn and Commander Arjun already inside. The hall had changed overnight — matted floors, reinforced walls, and in each corner, training equipment suited to a different martial art.

Karn stood in the center, arms folded.

"Today, you begin learning **all five disciplines**," he announced. “Not one. Not two. All. Together.”

Alpha raised an eyebrow. “All five?”

Karn nodded. “You’re not here to specialize. You’re here to survive — and for that, you must learn to adapt. To blend. To fight in any condition, against any style.”

He turned, gesturing to the corners of the hall as he spoke.

**“Krav Maga. Judo. Boxing. Karate. Taekwondo.”**

"You’ll rotate through each one. Every hour, a new style. No breaks. No water. No complaints."

Arjun stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.

"And if any of you slack off… I’ll personally remind you why I’m the one standing and you’re the one crawling."

A sharp tension filled the air.

Gamma muttered under his breath, "Is this training or a slow death sentence?"

Karn heard him, but only smirked. “If you survive this... you’ll beg for a real death sentence to feel easier.”

The training began.

---

**Hour 1: Krav Maga**

The boys were thrown into the chaos of Krav Maga — eye gouges, throat strikes, groin attacks, brutal disarming techniques. Everything was fast, savage, and meant to end fights in seconds.

Karn demonstrated each move like a predator — clinical, efficient, terrifying.

“Forget beauty,” he growled. “This is not sport. This is war.”

Alpha picked it up quickly, his analytical mind absorbing patterns. He paired moves with strategy, aiming to disable without wasting energy.

Gamma struggled at first — too flashy, too eager. But a harsh sweep from Arjun slammed him onto the mat.

“Control,” Arjun barked. “Your rage is useless if it’s predictable.”

Beta moved with aggression, his strikes fueled by frustration, but Krav Maga began to sharpen his wild energy into precision.

And Delta — small but fast — became dangerous. He didn’t hesitate to go for the throat or eyes in drills. Karn noticed.

“Good,” Karn said flatly. “Fearless doesn’t mean reckless. It means brutal *with purpose*.”

---

**Hour 2: Judo**

Judo humbled them.

It wasn’t about punching — it was about balance, leverage, and being slammed onto your back so many times you stopped fearing the fall.

"Use your opponent’s weight," Arjun taught, throwing Alpha over his shoulder without effort. "Don’t fight force with force. Redirect it."

Beta found this infuriating — every time he tried to overpower Gamma, he ended up on the floor.

“Stop muscling through it!” Arjun barked. “Use your damn brain.”

Gamma caught on quickly, using his flexible body to reverse holds and tosses. For once, his creativity worked in his favor.

Delta, however, found Judo terrifying — the feeling of being lifted off the ground triggered memories of helplessness. But Karn forced him to keep going.

“Face it,” Karn said coldly, watching him tremble after a hard fall. “The ground won’t kill you. But running from it will.”

---

**Hour 3: Boxing**

Now it was about rhythm, power, and endurance.

Arjun tossed gloves at them. “Put these on. If you fall, get up. If you bleed, keep swinging.”

They trained in pairs — jab, cross, hook, uppercut. Footwork drills. Head movement. Shadowboxing until their arms felt like lead.

Alpha excelled in timing — he calculated his opponent’s next move and struck with precision.

Beta unleashed with raw force — too much, too fast — burning out quickly. Karn made him do five extra rounds.

“Your rage is a tool,” he said. “But right now it’s using you.”

Gamma loved it — the rhythm, the dance, the thrill. He even started taunting Arjun during a round. Arjun responded by landing a liver shot that dropped Gamma to his knees.

“Still dancing?” Arjun asked, smiling darkly.

Delta was quiet — but fast. His punches weren’t powerful, but they were relentless. Karn adjusted his stance.

“Speed over strength,” Karn muttered. “You’re not a bulldozer. You’re a bullet.”

---

**Hour 4: Karate**

This hour was about discipline.

Sharp, crisp movements. Perfect form. Breath control. Kata practice.

Arjun’s voice cut through the silence like a whip. “No wasted movement. No emotion. Only focus.”

They trained until their legs shook from stances and their knuckles burned from striking wooden posts.

Alpha loved the structure — the form appealed to his sense of order.

Beta hated it — it felt too rigid. Too quiet. But slowly, his brute strength began to find shape.

Gamma was sloppy at first, treating it like a dance again. Arjun snapped a bamboo stick across his calf.

“No flair,” he barked. “Karate isn’t theater. It’s geometry with blood.”

Delta, tired but determined, kept up, mimicking every move with silent focus.

Karn watched silently, arms crossed.

“They’re beginning to adapt,” he murmured.

---

**Hour 5: Taekwondo**

The final hour was explosive.

Kicks flew high and fast — spinning back kicks, axe kicks, roundhouses.

The room echoed with the *thud* of foot meeting padded shields and occasionally, bodies.

“Speed is everything,” Arjun said, barely dodging Alpha’s rising kick. “And control is king.”

Alpha adjusted quickly, using long legs and precision.

Gamma found his rhythm again — this time, applying it properly. His kicks were sharp, acrobatic, but with purpose.

Beta... kicked like a truck. Raw force behind every strike, but little finesse. Karn stopped him mid-round.

“You’re not a horse,” he snapped. “Stop kicking like one. Learn control, or you’ll break your own damn leg.”

Delta found his stride here. His small frame gave him speed — he darted in, kicked, and retreated before anyone could counter.

Arjun looked mildly impressed.

“They’re not ready yet,” he said to Karn, panting slightly, “but... they will be.”

---

By the end of the day, the boys collapsed to the floor, soaked in sweat, bruised and bloodied.

Karn walked among them, silent.

No praise.

No comfort.

Only a simple command:

“Tomorrow... we do it again.”

Delta groaned. “All five again?”

Karn looked down at him.

“All five. Twice.”

Their eyes widened in disbelief.

But no one protested.

They were exhausted, but they were changing — becoming sharper, stronger, more focused.

Karn saw it.

He turned to Arjun. “They’ll break before they become perfect.”

“And if they don’t?” Arjun asked.

Karn looked back at the boys — lying on the mat, breathing hard, eyes still burning with fight.

“Then we’ll see what monsters we’ve created.”

---

To be Continued...