Two Earths have existed separately since the beginning of time. One Earth was a world of living beings, where humans and various creatures coexisted. On the other Earth, spirit animals with elemental powers lived. These spirit animals were known as xtros and possessed emyiko energy.
Emyiko energy was the energy that measured an xtro's power. The higher the emyiko energy, the stronger the xtro.
Most xtros were born or created with one element, but one xtro existed with thirteen elements. His name was Heat. A red eagle, he was under the command of his creator, Yugitiwa Sakukua.
Yugitiwa created four eagles. These eagles were brothers, and their names were Heat, Blue, Psyckit, and Steelio. Yugitiwa was a black cobra with a tail as sharp as a sword. He was also feared as the most powerful xtro that existed, known as Evil Snake—the last existing snake in the world of the xtros and the only xtro of venom.
The eagles made their way into Yugitiwa's hideout. Heat carelessly said, "This is the worst! This place is not my style. It's just a rocky, disappointing place."
Psyckit snapped harshly, "You really are a fool! This place is an abandoned land. It's dark and silent, which makes it perfect."
Heat's brothers laughed and said, "This bird."
"Don't laugh at me!" Psyckit shot back.
The room was filled with laughter as Psyckit's face turned a deep shade of red.
Yugitiwa hissed as he entered the room, "What's wrong with you? Why are you making all this noise!"
The room went silent after his entrance. The eagles assembled before him.
"Have you completed your training?" Yugitiwa asked.
The eagles said with a single voice, "Yes, Master Yugitiwa."
"Good. I'm ready to continue with my plans, and I only need one bird by my side," Yugitiwa said with a serious tone.
The words brought confusion to the eagles.
Blue asked, "Master, can you try to explain?"
Yugitiwa stated, "All of you are strong. Now I've declared that your training is completed. Even though you're brothers, I'll only need one eagle to be my permanent soldier."
Heat barked, "What about the rest of the eagles? What will happen to them? How will you choose your permanent soldier?"
"Don't you dare shout at me!" Yugitiwa snapped.
"I've made my decision! My choice will be made after your battle."
Steelio asked, "Battle? You're making us fight!"
Yugitiwa responded, "Yes. Tomorrow morning. I want you to be ready. And if any of you refuse, I'll kill you without mercy."
Yugitiwa stepped out and left the eagles speechless.
"I can't believe this!" Heat shouted with anger.
Blue said with a calm voice, "Try to calm yourself. Master Yugitiwa is probably joking."
Psyckit said while panicking, "Joking! Have you met the guy? He never makes jokes."
Blue said, "I know that, but still…"
Steelio sighed and said, "Brothers, as much as it pains me to say this, we have to prepare ourselves for the worst."
"What are you saying?" Heat asked with a lower tone.
"I'm saying that we need you all to prepare for Yugitiwa's decision in choosing one of us. We still don't know what will happen to the rest of the unchosen eagles," Steelio said.
Silence surrounded them as the eagles processed Steelio's statement.
They went their separate ways to train for tomorrow's fight.
While Heat was training, deep thoughts entered his mind.
"I can't believe that snake! As evil as he was, I never thought that he could do this. He created all of us, and yet it seems like our lives mean nothing to him."
Memories of his brothers came without warning. The memories showed him the times when they laughed together. Tears ran down his face. Drops turned into floods. His crest became heavier. His wings covered his eyes as he tried to stop his tears.
"Why can't I stop crying?" Heat asked with a voice lower than a breath.
His training continued with tears in his eyes.
A day passed, and the eagles were with Yugitiwa. They were at the training ground—a terrain of twisted rock and boulders.
"Today is the day when you fight until one of you can continue," Yugitiwa said. "Don't worry, you don't have to kill each other."
Sighs of relief were released when the eagles heard Yugitiwa's instructions.
Yugitiwa continued explaining, "There is no time limit for you. You'll make sure that you fight with every power and trick you have, or else I will make sure that you regret every second of your existence."
Blue asked, "Master, when are we supposed to start?"
Yugitiwa replied, "You can start right now."
Moments after he said that, the eagles charged towards each other.
Psyckit used his psychic element to try to strike Heat with psychic beams. Heat used his element of speed to avoid his brother's attacks. Psyckit reached his boiling point. He kept trying to damage Heat, but his attacks were useless.
"I'm not gonna lose. You barely landed a blow on me," Heat taunted Psyckit.
Psyckit responded, "I'm gonna make sure that you swallow those words. I will use my ebatix to defeat you."
The ebatix was a technique that xtros used to battle. It required emyiko energy and the elemental capability of an xtro. The strength of an ebatix depended on the amount of emyiko energy required.
He launched his ebatix called the Elemental Talons, an ebatix that concentrated all of his elemental power toward his claws. But he still received critical damage from Heat's ebatix. Psyckit created a barrier around him that shielded him from Heat's ebatix.
As Heat struggled with the barrier, Psyckit took the chance to recover using his healing abilities. He started to study what he learned about Heat's speed and ebatix.
Psyckit carefully thought to himself, "I've underestimated him. We all possess equal energy, but our skills vary significantly. But I think I have figured out Yugitiwa's plan. He knew that I needed to focus on my mental limits. If Heat can surpass his limits of controlling thirteen elements, then I will surpass the speed of my psychic reach. I must say, Master Yugitiwa is smarter than I expected. No wonder he is the strongest xtro."
His wounds healed because of his healing ebatix.
The psychic barrier was deactivated, and he was ready to face Heat.
He fused his emyiko energy with his psychic energy. The fused energies were concentrated toward his feathers. This enabled him to use his most powerful ebatix, a technique called the Psyfeather Formation.
Their battle became more destructive. Heat's speed was no longer a problem. The Psyfeather Formation slowed him down.
Yugitiwa smiled and said to himself, "I've waited enough. You're going to show me your strength."
Yugitiwa turned his attention and started focusing on Blue and Steelio.
"I wonder how that blue fire eagle and green iron eagle are doing," Yugitiwa said.
Blue had his own ebatix called the Direct Pyro Strike, an ebatix that had a side effect when it came into contact with an xtro's body. The side effect was a five-minute burning that dealt damage to his opponent.
Steelio was having trouble with his brother's ebatix. The side effects damaged him, giving him a disadvantage. Flames surrounded Blue, which protected him from contact attacks.
"I can't get close to him. This is really going to give me a headache," Steelio said.
His only option was to stall for time. He created heavy chains and bound Blue with them. Blue raised his fire temperature. He was trying to reach the chains' melting point.
As Blue tried melting the chains, Steelio thought to himself, "Magnetic fields will help me out. Just preparing this ebatix is enough to give me a headache. But I don't have a choice."
Steelio's ironic particles were fused with his green body, which enabled him to create any weapon instantly. He could even control every weapon he created simultaneously using magnetic forces.
He named this ebatix the Green Magnetic Steel.
Blue melted the heavy chains. He tried using his Direct Pyro Strike, but Steelio created a shield to defend himself against Blue's attack. Blue continued attacking, but his attacks were blocked.
"This is bad," he said. He continued, "No. There is more to me than meets the eye. I won't lose."
He used his other best ebatix, a technique called the Blue Burn. The Blue Burn was quite impressive because the blue fire concentrated all of his energy into his fire temperature.
Blue attacked with his blue fire. A shield protected Steelio. Steelio attacked Blue with his blades, but the blue fire melted the blades.
Evil Snake said, "Well, my plan is working perfectly. I knew that Psyckit was going to learn how to harness his psychic energy. As for Heat, he was quite impressive as well. He managed to control and balance his many elements.
Steelio and Blue are resourceful as well. Steelio knew that his ebatix was also his weakness, but he learned how to improve the activation of the Green Magnetic Steel. Blue can avoid close combat by surrounding himself with fire.
All these eagles are becoming stronger, and they will continue becoming stronger. Even though I don't need them so much, it's always good to use what you have. My plans are coming together. Sooner or later, I will have my wishes."
The eagles clashed until finally one proved unbeatable.
Heat turned his focus and launched flames toward his brothers. The fire covered the field.
"This is too hot for me," Steelio said as the flames grew more intense.
Heat controlled the fire and directed it to Psyckit and Steelio. The fire scalded them badly.
Psyckit angrily said, "Damn that eagle! He really is strong."
Steelio said with a clear tone, "You're extraordinary, Heat. My ebatix wasn't fast enough to shield me from your attack. And you avoided attacking Blue because you knew that your fire can't deal enough damage to him. You're impressive indeed."
Heat said with confidence, "Thank you, Steelio. You too, jealous Psyckit. But I'm not done until Blue goes down."
Blue smiled. "Don't let your guard down yet. I'm your opponent now."
Blue attacked using his Direct Pyro Strike. Heat blocked it by creating a wall of earth.
Blue said, "Using your element of earth to protect yourself was the best way of avoiding my ebatix."
Heat stated, "I'm not gonna lose."
Heat unleashed a huge wave of water. The water consumed Blue and extinguished the blue fire around him.
Heat calmly said, "I will deliver the final attack."
Lightning struck and shocked Blue. Blue thought to himself, "Heat. I lost to you. I guess we're nothing compared to you."
"I won't drown you to death," Heat said.
A blast of fire was released. As the fire intensified, the water evaporated into thin air.
Blue said to Heat, "I guess you win. Congratulations, brother."
"Yeah, you're stronger than we thought!" Steelio said with surprise.
Psyckit shouted with jealousy, "Don't compliment him! He was just lucky. You're still a fool."
Heat commented, "You really are a sore loser. You are always like this, you psychic loser."
Blue, Steelio, and Heat burst out laughing while Psyckit barked, "I'm not a loser."
Yugitiwa commented, "Heat, you are the worthy one. I am making you my soldier."
Heat asked while sounding concerned, "I know that, but what about my brothers? They are still strong."
"They lost the fight. Maybe they can still be useful," Yugitiwa replied.
Yugitiwa bound Blue, Psyckit, and Steelio with his tail.
"What are you doing?" the eagles asked with panic.
The snake absorbed the eagles into himself. Heat was left paralyzed with shock.
"Don't stress about your brothers. Their powers are mine now. I still have plans, and you are skilled enough to do them," Yugitiwa stated.
Heat barked, "You really are the worst. I am never going to follow you."
He attacked Yugitiwa with all his might, but Yugitiwa blocked his attack. He slashed Heat using his tail. Heat's blood rapidly leaked out as screams of pain filled the air.
Yugitiwa said with confidence, "I can absorb you too, whenever I feel like it. You really think that you can defeat me? I've killed many xtros and destroyed many kingdoms. I fought countless xtros without using a percent of my power. Now I'll give you two choices, and only one decision will be made after that."
Heat glared at him without wavering but still felt his heart racing.
"It's either you fight for me or I absorb you just like I did to your brothers," Yugitiwa proposed.
Heat tried calming his nerves, but his body responded differently. His beak opened, but no words came out.
Yugitiwa rushed Heat's answer. "I don't have all day."
That being said, Heat slowly answered, "Yes. I'll fight for you."
Yugitiwa turned his head and left without uttering a word.
Heat's body remained stunned in silence. He collapsed, and tears started leaking out of his eyes. One after another, the salty water covered his eyes.
"My brothers are gone," he cried out with a sound weaker than a breath.
The heavy pounding of his heart made his tears more salty.
"I'm all alone," he whispered.