Sete knelt with her arms raised above her head, as if she were truly surrendering. The heirs accompanied her, giving the armed men the fragile impression of victory in their mission, which made them lower their guard a little.
— Great. — The cold-voiced soldier who appeared to be the leader of that team lowered his head slightly to speak to his subordinates through a communicator, diverting his attention from the group below. — Stay where you are, rebels!
"I don't think he's talking to us, Sete! We're not rebels or anything, they must have gotten confused! He he he..." — Vez exclaimed in panic, his robotic laughter slowly dying away. — "Hey! We're not who you think we are!"
"Shut up, idiot. They can't hear you." — Sete muttered, analyzing the vegetation around the camp with quick movements of her bright green eyes. — "We are exactly who they think we are..."
At that moment, noticing the restless movement of the heirs in the face of Sete's lack of reaction, some of the E.G.O. agents fired warning shots. The young people lay down on the ground in shock at the loud sounds, while the commander ordered the soldiers:
— Get ready to go down! Don't forget to take the necessary restraint equipment, they have powers!
A tingling sensation of anger spread through Spring's body; she had to stop the soldiers from reaching the heirs.
So Sete bent down — as if joining the other young people lying on the ground — and spread her palms over the earth, burying her fingertips in the soil and feeling its sandy texture. A soft green aura expanded from where she stood, winding its way between each plant specimen rooted in the corrupted forest within a radius of a hundred meters. Her incomplete powers did not allow her to reach a larger area, but that would have to be enough.
A violent gust of wind came out of nowhere, shaking the tops of the dead trees alarmingly and carrying all kinds of particles in swirls upward. The men in the ships looked around in alarm, with sticks and dust hitting them uncomfortably.
Agitated, the young people lying on the forest floor stirred and raised their heads discreetly to watch the enormous amount of dry gray leaves raining down on them. The leaves obstructed the view of the E.G.O. agents, and the wind disguised the violent tremor that took hold of the trees around the camp, whose branches seemed to slowly come to life.
However, it didn't take long for the soldiers to notice the abnormal activity of the vegetation, which made them shout at each other about what to do next. Apparently, they had been informed about Spring's unusual gifts. The war drones turned their camera lenses in all directions, their AIs searching for targets to hit. However, they did not have time to react to the whirlwind of sharp leaves that hit them head-on.