Five days of fire

The nation burned, from coast to coast, east to west - north to south. As H.A.L.O.'s fell from the sky citizens ran off towards shelters.

It quickly became apparent that the H.A.L.O. was not capable of keeping up with the young warrior. The boy would move quickly along its blind spots, stay in difficult to reach areas and slice deep into the hydronic systems.

Worst of all was the moments the young man was pressed by sheer numbers he would summon a in human strength survivors would only ever refer to as magical, godly or otherworldly.

From simple things like stirring up dust to escape to spikes of ice and seas of malleable fire, the boy seemed quite invincible - he was something born from legends.

Without sleep Atom pressed forward at an unprecedented rate. In his wake was a sea of fire and destruction. Still each and every hour weighing him down.

For the small empire it was nothing less than the first great calamity all over again. This was a being above the mortal realm - unequaled Atom raged throughout the nation making two things clear.

This would not end in anything but more bloodshed and the old ways of the empire had died.

Eventually this all came to rest as Atom reached the ocean. Tired and bloody the boy shook as he simply tried to stand. He yelled inconsolably at the endless waters before him, as the remaining H.A.L.O units gathered in a semi circle.

Radio commands where clear for the national pilots; one - push him to the edge of the nation and let the monster go. Two - capture him alive for research, and three - if capture is impossible and he cannot cross the ocean on his own, kill the boy.

The pilots however felt quite different, their partially destroyed H.A.L.O.'s cried from every encounter. These pilots knew they could not kill or capture the boy. Or so they all had thought hesitantly waiting for the child to either leave or continue his killing spree when the bloody mess of a body simply collapse to his knees.

Atom could not sense the distance between continents but standing at an ocean he felt for the first time like a frog in a well, even if he was full strength he could never cross such endless amounts of water- not with his strength.

When the first H.A.L.O. made its move, just a single half step forward, the boy took attention to the others. His fight was not yet over. Standing to address the machines several took half steps back in fear of the child.

The stand off developed slowly until finally one of the H.A.L.O. pilots left their mech and began approaching the child disarming in the process.

"I mean you no harm..." The man repeated to the child but it became clear the child could not understand him. Catching on somewhat quickly the man pointed to the ocean and shook his head to gesture no.

The child looked to the ocean and understood, he pointed to himself and said; "Atom..."

The man did the same; "Izsak..."