The three men gathered towards the backdoor all standing with an imposing height of 6’8 (~182 cm) and equally burly physiques. Two were dressed in bck firefighter uniforms, all bck except for rings of reflective material around the torso and arms. Aside from a striking pure white shirt, one of the three remained in pin clothes. The three had a stony complexion to their skin as it tinged a light gray, and their eyes were a yellow that pierced through darkness. The three had finished James’ avant-garde method of potion-based performance enhancers.

  “So, you really want me to throw this thing?” Danny asked holding on to the strange metal orb James had removed moments ago. It was a size bigger than a basketball with a decent heft to it.

  “It won’t break, and it won’t turn on without an impact,” James said calmly standing in front of the back door taking a moment to adjust the fme on his strange fmethrower. Fine-tuning the miniature fme that burned at the tip of the red ring. It was smaller than a birthday candle.

  “What does it even do?” Due to the apparent fabrication of its smooth surface and fine details coupled with the strange disks that were inid and patterned over its surface, Danny was apprehensive, to say the least about throwing the thing. The fact that the disks turned made Danny think the device was delicate.

  “You’ll see,” James said as Danny eyed him suspiciously.

  Not willing to argue as the vines encroached further, “How far do you want it?”

  “A decent way away from the house so, 50 yards?” At that distance, it would end up away from the yard and into the pasture keeping any vines from creeping anywhere near the house.

  “I think I can manage that,” Danny said feeling the weight of the orb in his hands and remembering all his practice over the years.

  Ronald stood to the left of James still trying to calm his nerves and adjust to the odd weight of his equipment. Aside from the uniform, the gun felt far too light not to mention the shield. A metal square resembling a riot shield it felt like it weighs less than a gallon of milk.

  James crouched down into a runner's stance in front of the door. "Everyone ready? On the count of 3.” Everyone took a deep breath. One second passed. Two seconds. “3” *Click* The door opened. And with it, James smmed it wide as he bolted forward. The moment James exited the door, Danny went outside giving him enough room to lob the orb overhead.

  James ran forward facing a writhing mass as the orb flew behind him. Once he was close enough, he pulled the trigger of his fmethrower, ejecting an advanced propelnt turning the miniature fme into a confgration. Instantly incinerating the creeping vines and roots in his path before sweeping around the area, those that weren’t immediately incinerated into ash and cinders began squirming about as they burned, retracting back away from the house as they squirmed against the ground, attempting to snuff out the fmes. Some even began to sm into the dirt trying anything to douse the fmes.

  However, as the orb flying through the air made ndfall with a *Thunk* embedding into the ground before letting out a low hum activating, the inid disks that patterned around its surface popped up and began to spin around. Turning left and right a blue glow started coming from the disks and strange tendrils of energy stretched out from the disks pulling anything nearby towards the orb. If one looked closely, they might have seen a rger sphere of energy that now surrounded the orb.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Soon the surrounding vines and roots were drawn down towards the device’s gravity well. Caught in a trap that warped gravity they could only struggle in vain as they soon met their fate within the fming mass. Those strong enough to resist the pull soon met the same fate as the fmes were equal in their destruction, sparks spread from fming mass igniting the other vines.

  Seeing that the idea that he came up with on the spot was working better than anticipated James had a demonic visage spreading on his face as he began working on the second half. He got closer, towards the vines and the Grav Trap embedded in the ground. Burning down all the vines that approached with a torrent of fmes. When he got to the right spot, he stuck his hands inside his item bag removing a simir orb before tearing it out of the bag and smming it into the ground. As the device activated James jumped unching several feet into the air as he performed a backflip to avoid the striking vines. The vines that attempted this failed strike were soon pulled toward the trap as it finished activating. creating a simir blue field where everything was drawn towards its center.

  After nding James immediately started on the next trap. Running, Jumping, and dodging the incoming vines and roots. One after another he would pce down traps, if he didn’t have the time to dodge the incoming strikes and sweeps, he would instead turn them into charred wood and ash.

  The family watched this dispy of superhuman agility. James moved effortlessly jumping around and dodging the vines almost like he was dancing, correctly choosing the right move at the right time. Ronald and Danny had exited the house expecting to have some work to do but they could only watch in shock and awe as he bounced around dodging vines and pcing more traps. Danny already knew about James’ agility, but he seemed faster and bouncier than he remembered. Back inside the house, Diana was shocked to see her son who would normally rarely move if he wasn’t forced, moving with speed and agility capable of dodging the vines (That's James!?) she questioned. Ronald, while he felt a sense of pride in his son and relief that the problem was being taken care of so easily. He couldn’t help but also feel a sense of inadequacy as he was unable to do anything to protect his family. There was a tinge of fear in the back of his mind as he looked at his son's face as he burned everything in his path. Little did the rest of the family know that James was putting more effort into figuring out the differences and the limits of the potion-based enhancements.

  As James threw down the st of the traps from the air, he had finished creating a wall of Grav Traps, a wall that drew in anything that wasn’t strong enough to resist its pull. Those drawn in soon joined the others within the fmes as they spread throughout the burning mass. The remaining resistance would soon succumb to the fmes as the fire continued to spread through each vine and root. Any additional reinforcements would also be dawn toward the wall of Grav Traps.

  With the surrounding vines taken care of, and the immediate threat dealt with, “I’ll leave the rest to you!” James shouted before running past the burning wall of vines towards the forest.

  “Wa-“ Danny was about to call out to him as he ran off past the coverage of the spotlight disappearing into the darkness. He had already realized James was going to find the main body.

  END