《Children of a Lesser God》


 Chapter 1: Because there is always a story behind it.

    Chapter 1: Because there is always a story behind it.


    "This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper" - T.S. Elliot.


    Moonlight cascaded down on the assuming stretch of ocean. A small stem seemed to peak it''s way upwards, like a child looking at the sun for the first time. Hesitation could almost be seen by its gentle swaying as the waves rocked back and forth around it. It would almost seemical that a bit of wood could be sticking straight up out of the water with such little movement, looking nothing more than like a piece of driftwood which could be spotted anywhere. Reality appeared stranger than expectation. In no more than a moment, the small stem expanded out and shot up towards the sky. It''s growth was like watching a time psed video of a tree growing, only this was happening in real time. And it was not a normal size tree. It started expanding upwards and outwards, reaching hundreds of meters high and several kilometers in width. This gravity defying behemoth had a trunk the width of several football fields in diameter with lush, green leaves growing on the branches. In barely a few breaths time, the heavens reaching tree seemed to appear out of nowhere, proudly iming its ce in the world, the the night still remained strangely silent as the waves seemed to meld around the tree, as opposed to striking against it.


    On a deep sea fishing boat a few kilometers away, the men had already set the baits and had begun circling back around to check the traps while running a.


    "Hey boss, doesn''t it feel strange out tonight?" Henry asked, looking out over the water.


    "It''s captain now Henry. I didn''t sell my life away for a boat just to keep working for someone else," Captain James replied while taking a drag of his cigarette. "But you are right. The waves are much more calm then you would expect this time of the season."


    Both men stood side by side in the cabin while looking ahead, the harsh illumination from the floodmps could barely light a stretch a few hundred feet ahead.


    BEEP BEEP BEEP


    A rapid flickering of lights on the radar screen and the sonar screen quickly lit up the dim room.


    "What the hell is that Captain?" Henry shouted, while looking down.


    Captain James didn''t reply at first while looking down, thinking for a moment.


    "It kind of looks like a big... tree...." the captain muttered while almost talking to himself.


    Henry looked on in shock. "We arn''t near anynd mass are we boss?"


    "No, unless there is some sort of undiscovered ind, we are basically sitting in the middle of the Mid-Antic Ridge, right around the Tropic of Cancer. There should be nothing out here."


    The ship continued on it''s course while the crew were making their way to the front of the ship, staring at the dense shadow that was growing bigger and bigger in front of them, rising up from the sea like a dragon.


    "What the hell is that?"


    "I don''t know, some kind of cloud reflecting the moon light?"


    "Looks like a giant tree to me boys."


    "How the hell could a giant tree be sitting in the middle of the ocean? You must still be asleep old man, or drunk." All the crew members gathered around, discussion in loud voices while mocking each other. When things just didn''t make sense, the mostforting thing was a bit ofughter.


    "Hey, Captain!" One of the more seasoned seaman yelled up at the bridge.


    "Where the hell did you bring us this time and what are we looking at?"


    Captain James frowned while looking out ahead at the ever growing shadow as the boat approached on the eerily calm sea. Sticking his head out the window, James immediately starting barking orders..


    "Pull in thes, buckle down the deck. We are turning the hell around."


    Most of the men looked at James strangely, but immediately starting running to their positions. They locked down the holds while getting to the crane to reel in the.


    "You bastards have 5 minutes before you feel what its like to be thrown around like women in a whorehouse," James yelled again out the window while staring ahead. Henry was wide-eyed shocked at the captains behavior and couldn''t help but ask "What the hell is wrong Boss?"


    "Henry, you see that thing that looks like a tree?" James asked, while not turning his head for a second.


    "Yeah, it''s weird, but so what?"


    "There shouldn''t be a tree here."


    "I don''t understand," Henry replied while still looking at the captain.


    "I don''t either. That''s the problem." Only now did Henry look at James'' hands while realizing his knuckles where pale white while gripping the wheel with all his strength.


    "I''ve seen a lot over the years, but when you see something that shouldn''t be there and you ain''t been drinking, there is a problem. When everyone sees the same thing, that means it is definitely there. That ain''t some shit that I need right now, so we are getting the hell away." Reaching one hand away from the wheel, James reach over to grab the receiver of the radio and depressing the button, he began to speak into the the small, palm sized mic.


    "This is fishing vessel Elliot Ness, to any ships in the area, over." Listening closely, both men only heard static on the line, so James tried again.


    "This is fishing vessel Elliot Ness, is anyone in range, over."


    "bzzt bzzt bzzt... click click click"


    Henry looked at the radio confused. The light red numbers disying the channel number starting to flicker and then faded, looking like the radio had lost power. Every other instrument was still operating normally, making the loss of the radio seem more perplexing.


    James dropped the receiver and looked at Henry while beads of sweat started to run down his weather beaten face. A loud shout came from the deck "Boss, we are set, you turning or what?"


    Henry looked at James and could see the fear in his eyes. "Whats wrong captain? Why arn''t you turning around?" James asked silently, almost in a whisper.


    "I''ve been trying, since before I used the radio. The wheel won''t move..."


    Henry now understood why the captain''s knuckles were white and why it seemed like he was getting more and more nervous.


    "Boss, whats the problem?" Came the question from the deck, the men looking at each other in confusion.


    James, taking a deep breath, stuck his head out the window and yelled, "Everyone, get your asses inside right now and get yourselves armed. Pete, take charge of them. Johnny, get on the horn to reach us up here. Until you hear otherwise, if anythinges in any door, you shoot it until it stops moving. Then shoot it again to make damn sure. We are locking the hell up."


    James moved to the door and threw Henry towards the wheel while mming the door and turning the deadbolt. He then lowered the steel bar in ce and turned around, making his way towards the chart cab. Even though this age relied on instruments and technology to navigate, James always liked to have charts around just to be safe. You can trust aputer all you want, but a map can''t lie. Unlocking the cab, James shuffled the maps aside and reaching towards the false bottom, he undid the hiddentch and pulled out two pump-action shot guns and a box of bullets. Without bothering to close the cab, he shoved the guns towards Henry while mming the box on the counter. Sliding it open, he reached for one of the guns from Henry and releasing the chamber lock, he started sliding shell after shell inside. After 5 shots were loaded in, he locked the chamber again and pulled back on the grip, loading the first shell and prepping it to fire. Only then did he look at Henry and attempt to pass him the gun while sticking out his hand to grab the other one. Henry didn''t even look over as he stared ahead at the ever growing shadow quickly approaching the boat.


    "Henry, what the hell? Pay attention here. That tree ain''t moving and we are heading right for it so I''m guessing you will see it soon enough," James barked, annoyed at Henry losing focus when they were already screwed.


    "Boss," Henry said, not even reacting to what James was doing. "You see those small lights, kind of look like fireflies?" Henry asked.


    "No, what the fuck are you talking about?" James yelled turning his head to look out the window.


    With the harsh illumination of the flood lights covering the deck and the area in front of the boat, anything within a few hundred feet would be immediately visible to anyone paying attention. As James stared ahead, he finally saw what Henry was talking about. Green tinted spots started appearing in view, just outside the range of the light. They twinkled brightly in the darkness, shing ever so briefly. Strangely enough, they were all in pairs.


    The only noise that could be heard in the cabin was Henry gulping before a brief sh flickered the lights and everything started going dark.


    "Boss... I think those things are eyes..."

 Chapter 2: Mornings suck.

    Chapter 2: Mornings suck.


    "Hey big boy..." The sexy, mature voice purred seductively.


    "How''s about you get up and give me a little attention before you get going, I''m lonely..." Came that ust filled voice again. Stirring slightly, a figure could be seen wrapped in a nket while facing the wall. The old room gave a rather decrepit feeling, like a bad 70''s style motel room,plete with worn out pink shag carpet, tube style box TV and mid-height carpeted walls. The wooden, four posted bed sat in a corner facing the window that looked out on the silent street. The cream color walls blended horribly with the brown curtains and did little to make the room look cheery. A low groan could be heard from under the nket as a figure started tossing around, angry at the interruption.


    "BABY!?! Come on, I need it, right now." The woman''s voice moaned. "Just slide over here and put those hands on me. Rough me up. Lay those strong hands on me and shove those fingers where ever you want."


    By now the lump in the bed was awake and groaning, turning over reluctantly to take care of this little problem.


    "I promise I won''t move. I just want you to make me feel good. Come on, you yed with me allst night. Time to get in a little more action before you have to go." She whined, clearly challenging the now moving lump.


    "Oh, I will give it to you so hard you won''t be able to say anything else this morning," the surprisingly young voice responded before reaching his hand out and swiping the rm off button on his phone. Why am I actually responding to my phone rm Laz thought to himself. Am I really that pathetic? Getting up from the bed in only his boxers, Laz looked around the roomzily before making his way to the closet, taking care to avoid the cheap tray table stand that held the TV. His overly thin, pale white body was only slightly muscled and didn''t move with any grace. The small room held only the bed and the TV along with an ugly palm tree style floormp. After grabbing some clothes from the pile on the floor, Laz made his way into the bathroom and turn on the water in the tub before looking at himself in the mirror. His slight 1.8 meter height was perfectly ented by his lifeless short-cut ck hair and ordinary facial features. The only thing that he could give himself a good rating on was his eyes. They were a deep and piercing blue that that caused most people to be unable to stare in them for long. Not that many people would. Laz''s full name was Lazarus Crowe. His parents were rather entric nature loving people and thought that Lazarus was a fine name for a baby. Laz was what he came up with after being made fun of during his first few school years. There was almost nothing he could do about sharing a simrst name with a man who was made famous in the southern US for his amazingly racial segregationws. Fortunately, it wasn''t exactly the same. At only 14 years of age this year, his rather strange living situation would actually be somewhat enviable for most. Living by himself, even if it is in a rather dingy apartment, is every teenager''s dream. Laz however, could not be considered happy.


    Frowning to himself, Laz removed his boxers and hopped in, regretting that there was no shower head. From the moment his feet hit the water, the apartment suddenly came alive with one loud "FUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!" The water was freezing cold. After running for over five minutes, the water should have at least went warm by now, but apparently the water heater was broken again. A pounding on the wall awoke Laz to the fact that he was alone in the apartment, but not the building.


    "LAZ, keep your voice down. Your grandma is sleeping," Came thement from the the downstairs apartment where his grandfather lived. Ol'' man Crowe owned the apartments where Laz lived, call "The Shack." For aplex that had 18 apartments, there was only 4 that were in use. Laz lived in apartment 9 while his grandfather was is apartment 1, right next to the drive that lead to the parking lot. It used to be a bonus that there was off street parking back when the building was built, now it was just another expense his grandpa had to keep up.


    "Got it grandpa," Laz yelled down to his feet. He just sighed to himself knowing that today was a day his grandma was "alive." She has been buried for almost 6 years and although his grandpa knew that, he also had days he didn''t know that. That would mean a rough day, but they happen. Laz didn''t care much about the bad days. He knew it was the price he paid. As long as his grandpa was ok most days, he could continue to stay here. If something were to happen to him, he would probably be taken by CPS. He wasn''t old enough to actually live by himself yet, at least not by government standards.


    Gritting his teeth, Laz squated down and lowered his head under the faucet to rinse his hair, the ice cold water sent needles into his scalp, making it seemed the the worst headache ever, but he endured. No matter what, he always endured. After quickly washing the rest of himself, Laz climbed out of the tub and reached for the towel that wasn''t there. Blinking the water out of his eyes, he realized he had left it on the floor outside the bathroom yesterday. Moving the curtain that separated the rooms to the side, Laz reached down to grab the towel and before he realized it, his right foot slipped back, propelling him forward. After hitting the floor face first with his forehead, Laz let out a muffed "Damn it," and turned over to face the ceiling. The throbbing pained mixed with the bright sunlight from the window hitting his eyes did nothing to make the day any better.

 Chapter 3: The Repair Man

    Chapter 3: The Repair Man


    As Laz gradually got off the floor, he realized he was running out of time and hurried to get dressed. Finally pulling on his pants and sliding on his faded Five Finger Death Punch tee, he made his way through the cramped bedroom and out to the kitchen/living room. It wasn''t arge area, only about a third bigger than the bedroom. The kitchen area consisted of a stove, pale yellow refrigerator/freezer, sink and a microwave that still used a dial setting. The living room contained a slightly bigger tube based TV that sat on the desk like piece of furniture in front of the only other window in the apartment. There was only one old recliner in front of the TV and a aptop sitting on the floor, a ring bit of technology in this old and dated apartment. His backpack sat next to the door on the floor right underneath his jacket that was hanging on a coat stand by the front door. Without so much as a thought, Laz threw on his shoes and jacket before slinging his backpack on


    His back and exiting the apartment. Turning the deadbolt behind him, Laz walked down the stairs right in front of his apartment. The chill in the air seemed to gather around the concrete steps with the rusted iron railing that still hung on despite years of weather and age. Jumping thest 3 steps, Laz walked down the line to apartment number 8 at the end of the walkway as the cold morning wind whipped his face.


    Knocking on the door, Laz yelled out ''Hey Joey, my hot water tank''s fucked up again. Can you pry away from jerking off long enough to fix it today?"


    A head soon popped in the front window between the red curtains and while giving him the finger said, "Yeah, fuck you to kid. I''m a busy man. I ain''t always got time to deal with your broken shit. Lots of these apartments need my tender love and care." The face staring at Laz was rather unkempt and jiggly, showing what happens when you eat a lot and don''t exercise for most of your life.


    "What tender love and care? You don''t even bother going inside any of them unless there is a reason. You live here for free and barely do jack shit. I don''t give a damn one way or the other, but at least act like you care when the timees, ok?" Laz called back through the window. Joey was practically a shut who only ever left to prowl around, shop or do something else which wasn''t worth thinking about. He has lived here for the past 10 years or so Laz was told by his grandpa on a good day. He was the repair man of the facility and actually did a good job, once you could get him to do anything. He was really enthusiastic a few years ago when he somehow convinced grandpa to install a high speed line from the road to the utilities area where he himself then wired it in to every room. Although he spent a lot more time doing his own room than the others, he still managed to make a usable connection in all the rooms. Although the wire ran outside the building, it was up underneath the overhang and barely noticable. Laz didn''t have a problem with Joey and barely ever talked to him, Joey also didn''t make any noticeable intention of getting to know Laz. It was an ideal rtionship for the two "neighbors." The only other one who lived there was actually on the second floor towards the far side of the Shack. His name was only really known as Tony and he didn''t interact with anyone else in the building. His rent was paid on time, he didn''t make a lot of noise and there was nothing toin about other than the people who would sometimese around at all hours of the day. That was it, 4 filled apartments and only 1 who paid.


    "Fine, leave your key in the box and get the hell out of here. I''m busy right now but will take care of itter," Joey finally relented. Not thinking twice, Laz dropped the key in the flimsy steel box in front of door number 4 and started to walk away. A barely audible "No, please don''t" came out from the crack underneath the door as Joey mmed the curtains closed again. Laz stopped for a moment and shook his head, thinking to himself that it must be that **** porn again. He just wished Joey would learn to turn down the volume during the night time hours. Although their rooms weren''t close and the soundproofing was actually pretty decent, you could still hear it from time to time if you went outside on the walkway. Whatever gets him off I guess, Laz figured as he let out a breath. He picked up his pace and made his way down the drive, finally getting out to the sidewalk. Unknown to Laz, a loud hoarse scream rang out from apartment 4 followed by an equally loud pping noise and muffled grunting. This was all followed up shortly by a knock on the floor of Laz''s apartment and another shout from apartment 1 calling up "LAZ, I SAID KEEP IT DOWN. YOUR GRANDMOTHER IS TIRED FROM HER TRIP AND NEEDS TO REST." As was expected, his grandpa had no idea what was going on as Joey happily enjoyed his 33rd birthday party in peace.

 Chapter 4: The Town Where I Live

    Chapter 4: The Town Where I Live


    Basin Falls was just a small town located in the middle of nowhere. Nestled between two big cities in Upstate New York, there is nothing there worth noticing with its small poption of around 2,000 people. A small river that ran through the middle of town was the dividing line between the east side and west side with the high point being the 10 meter tall waterfall right in the center of town. The only route to get from the west side to the east side was over the road bridge that connected right to the Main Street of town running north to south. This 4 way intersection also contained the only traffic light in town. The Shack''s location was on a small road right off the Main Street. To get from the Shack to the bridge is about a 20 minute walk. Getting past the bridge to school was another 10 minutes. Laz was able to walk the route in about 28 minutes and walk through the front door of school by 7am. He didn''t like beingte but not because he was a good student. He just knew that constanttes led to home calls and that was something he didn''t need. The bell would ring in 20 minutes so for the time being, he just wandered around without a ce in mind.


    Basin Falls junior high 8th grade was about as fun as it sounds. Although there were 6 grades located in the two story building, there were pitifully few students who attended the school. With only 91 students in the grade, there was about an equal split of boys to girls with only a slightlyrger number of thetter. After having been here for 2 years though, he didn''t have any real friends. It was due to this that he suddenly realized he didn''t bring his phone this morning. Left with nothing else to do, Laz sat at an open spot in a courtyard and just watched the various students and couples going on their way.


    "Hey, did you hear about the tree?"


    "Yeah, did they say anything else about the boat?"


    "Who cares about the boat? There is a giant fucking tree in the ocean. I hear you can see it from Florida."


    "Yeah, there are posts all over my feeds from people sending a ton of these pictures around."


    Laz was somewhat surprised by this group of girls walking by. What the hell? How could there be a big tree in the ocean? As he listened closely, he tried his best not to make eye contact or stare, as he knew that the best result would be a dirty look. Having left his phone at home, he had no way to check out if this was real or a hoax. This was probably the first time he ever felt to need for a phone and regretted not bringing it since he got it. Without someone to ask, he could only listen to others or wait till he got home to check it out. Laz had always been interested it strange things although he never got into the ult, voodoo or ck magic. But things like aliens and science rted crazy were an interest of his. He liked the real. Being a kid from a small town, he wanted more of the big open world and enjoyed learning about it. Not things from school that were controlled forms of brainwashing, but things that couldn''t be exined with what was currently known. Why did he think school was brainwashing? Because creativity was frowned upon and the only thing people got rewarded for was memorization and application. Could someone graduate from high school with an art or music degree? Nope, they had to learn the same thing everyone else did and if they couldn''t, it would stop them from going on with learning what they want to learn. This is why he hated school, but still went. For a system that was invented during the industrial revolution, its basically remained unchanged since. It wasn''t bad, it just wasn''t good. But whatever, what could he do?


    Noticing the time on the clock, Laz got up and started walking towards home room. It was a pretty cloudy day, but the sun wasn''t very wee anyway. In early October, it wasn''t yet cold, but it was far from warm. Getting back inside and walking down the hallway, Laz heard even more people talking about the strange tree in the ocean. Laz wasn''t exactly convinced though. Inte fads had a way of bing real until people got tired of the story. Then the actual facts came out. People posted on feeds and websites that imed to report news only wanted to make a ssh, not post real news. Until he looked for himself, he wouldn''t believe. Only seeing is believing. Sitting down in room 101, Laz looked up from his desk and in the back corner, he saw two people making out while others were sitting around them with their phones, watching the news.


    "Hey, you think this is like a sign of the apocalypse?" The tall blonde guy asked, looking up from his phone.


    "It''s a tree dumbass, not a zombie outbreak," replied Jesse. Jesse was "group leader" of this particr band of idiots. His dad was rich so he was naturally better than everyone else in his own head. The group were more like his followers and enforcers as even in a small town, people who had more liked power. The make out couple involved his friend Tommy and whatever vor he had chosen for this week. She might even be in another grade for all Laz knew. Tommy was equally rich and if not for his preference of drugs and puss, he would have been far more capable than Jesse.


    "Lay off Jesse, you know he takes too many shots to the head to be smart, " Tommy replied. The tall blonde was named Alex and yed sports since he was a kid. He wasn''t great in any of them, but he yed well in all of them. He would never be anything with sports, but it made him feel special. He was also Annie''s boyfriend.


    "Both of you shut up, he''s perfect just the way he is," she said while smiling at Alex in the same way a master would smile at an award winning show dog. Annie was the richest of the three, her father worth over $100 million. The three of them had been friends since the 1st grade as their fathers all ran in a simr circle. They all lived in town as it was the perfect distance between two major cities. The truth was they hated each other, but they were the only ones who were on equal ground with each other. And their fathers didn''t give them a choice.


    As the bell rang, Tommy unglued himself from the girl''s lips and smacking her ass dismissed her saying, "Get to ss Karen, meet meter today." The girl started walking from away from Tommy with a smile and once she was no longer in his sight, her face lost all emotion while she mumbled "it''s Kennedy, you fucking prick."

 Chapter 5: Grandpa Chu

    Chapter 5: Grandpa Chu


    School finished rather quickly after it began. Laz had a philosophy about how to get through the day without attracting attention. Be air because people don''t notice air. It wasn''t that he hated others or even that he didn''t want to make friends, he just discovered that in a small town, everyone had their own groups and joining one was a bit of a pain.


    As opposed to trying to be something he wasn''t, Laz would rather be who he was by himself.


    With no after school activities to take up his attention, he decided to just head for the restaurant early. Normally, he would go around 4pm and be done by 7, but since grandpa was having a bad day anyway, he figured it was better to stay away from the apartment for as long as possible.


    Grandpa Chu owned a take out restaurant in town called the Golden Panda, not that far away from the Shack on main street. Grandpa Chu and Laz''s grandfather were good friends for several years before Laz''s grandmother passed away. After that, Laz''s grandfather started having episodes the two didn''t get together as much. Laz met Grandpa Chu again when he moved in two years ago, although they had already met a few times when Laz''s parents used toe to town with him. Grandpa Chu didn''t have any grand kids as his daughter was always working her high profile career and his son had never been married. He just called Grandpa Chu''s son Uncle Chu since it was easier for everyone that way when working at the shop. Although Uncle Chu had gotten a degree in business, he preferred the quiet life and helping his father run the restaurant allowed them both to work and support themselves.


    Laz liked helping them out, either by working the counter or sometimes making deliveries on the scooter. Although he couldn''t legally do that, as long as it was in town, Grandpa Chu would let him. The scooter didn''t require being road registered and when it was winter or bad weather, Uncle Chu would just drive the small delivery van.


    Laz liked working with all the smells and the sounds and also liked listening to Grandpa Chu''s stories of when he was younger or even some of the crazy things he used to do with Laz''s grandfather.


    The other interesting part about all this was that no one ever recognized Laz as being a 14 year old from the local junior high. Since he was somewhat average in all things and had a face that no one really paid attention to, people didn''t remember him.


    Once he had the baseball cap and jacket on from the store, he was even less noticeable.


    Just like air.


    "Hey little Laz, how was school today?" Grandpa Chu asked when Laz walked in.


    "Same as always, which basically means boring but bearable," Laz replied while shing him a smile.


    "Ha, you know, they say these are the best years of your life little man. Maybe you should look for a girlfriend or something," Uncle Chu chuckled as he walked out of the kitchen.


    "Ok, how about you ask your girlfriend to introduce me to her daughter, eh? Or maybe a younger sister, I don''t mind," Lazughed while poking fun at this lonely bachelor.


    "That''s cold little buddy. Think you can even handle a mature woman? Does that thing even work yet?" Uncle Chu said while ncing down at Laz''s jeans.


    "Who knows, but I bet you I will find out before you use yours again," Laz replied while giving him a sly grin.


    Grandpa Chu walk up behind the two of them and smacked them both in the back of the head, putting a stop to the conversation.


    "Sorry grandpa."


    "Sorry dad."


    "Remember to keep things professional when on the job boys. We want customers to feel weed, not feel like they are walking in on a pissing contest," Grandpa Chu scolded while holding back his smile. He actually liked their yful bickering as it made things a bit more lively.


    "Oh hey, uncle, grandpa, did either of you hear about the tree in the ocean thing or know anything about that?" Laz asked as soon as he thought about it. Since he could only listen to the conversations of others during the day, he wanted to see if he could find anything out.


    "Oh, you heard about that? Why didn''t you just look it up between sses?" Uncle asked..


    "Left my phone at home today," Las responded regretfully.


    "I still remember how excited you were when you first bought that," Grandpa Chuughed.


    "Yeah, I was happy that i would have my own phone as opposed to just using the one at the apartment, but turns out it was a waste. Least it lets me get online at school," Laz replied, thinking back to how he was showing it offst year. He was looking forward to being like other kids at school and having his own phone. But due to ack of friends, he never really had a use for it, other than as an rm clock.


    "Hey Laz," Uncle said with a serious face.


    "You doing ok? I mean, I know it ''s hard to be new in town, but I kind of thought by now you would have at least a friend or two your own age."


    At first Laz thought he was being made fun of again, but looking at the concern on uncle''s face made him realize that he was honestly concerned.


    "It''s ok Uncle," Laz assured him with a grin. "I talk to a few people at school but for the most part, i just like being by myself," Laz lied, hoping to put some of his concerns to rest.


    "Alright, alright, he''s always got us," Grandpa Chu said encouragingly.


    "Yeah, that''s true. Worsees to worse, he can just live upstairs for the rest of his life eh?" Uncle said trying to dispel the awkwardness he had caused.


    "In your dreams, why would I want to live with you until you die?" Laz shot back.


    "Ohh ho ho. So you think I''m going to be single for the rest of my life huh?" Uncle fired back while giving him a barely angry look.


    "Oh. No. Sorry. You are right. After all, you''ve always got Rosie and her 5 friends right?"


    SMACK


    This time Laz was the only one to get hit.

 Chapter 6: Strangers In The Dark

    Chapter 6: Strangers In The Dark


    "OUCH," Lazined.


    "Shut it," Grandpa Chu replied, walking back behind the counter.


    Laughing out load, Uncle Chu grabbed Laz and dragged him behind the counter and motioned for him to go turn on the TV. Flipping it on, it immediately popped up on a news channel with a live report from a beach in Florida.


    "As you can see in the distance, the vague outline of the object that appears to be a giant tree can be seen out on the horizon. People are baffled as no one remembers seeing anything like this before the sun went downst night. Government officials are refusing to make any sort ofment about what this is or what happened, only stating that the anomaly is being looked into. Reports from inside have said that many major countries are arguing as to what course of action should be taken, but many agree that the U.N. should send out some sort of scientific research team to investigate. Many are also putting support behind getting some sort of joint military presence in the area although no one can really say what they would have to worry about from a tree. No ships are being allowed to sail through the area as quite a few U.N. members have already started moving ships into the area to set up a blockade. It has also be a no fly zone and anyone caught flying in will be shot down if warnings are not followed. A fishing vessel, the Elliot Ness, went missingst night, theirst location ping being right around this coordinate. With no further information being avable, we will keep you up to date on this strange scientific phenomenon as it develops."


    "Wow," Laz uttered, totally bewildered.


    "What is this?"


    "No idea," Grandpa Chu said, looking over.


    "But it has nothing to do with us. Go get washed up Laz, Uncle needs to go in the back and start cooking for the dinner orders. I will go back to help him once you are up here and set."


    "You got it Grandpa Chu," Laz saluted and ran over to the sink to was up and put on his "uniform."


    It wasn''t an overly busy night, but there were still many orders that came in. Laz took orders on the front counter and answered the phone in a swift and practiced manner. After having worked here for a year, he liked this sort of work. With his hat and jacket, he felt like he was basically in a mask. No one would recognize him and he was able to interact with people in a calm and cool manner. He didn''t have the chance to take out any orders but that wasn''t a problem. He just enjoyed the feeling of doing something.


    As the dinner rush wrapped up, Grandpa Chu walked up from the back and putting his hand down on Laz''s shoulder, said "Hey, that should be it for tonight. Thanks for the help again little Laz."


    "No problem Grandpa. I should be heading home to do up what homework I have."


    "Sure, sure. It gets dark earlier now and it''s a bit cold. You want Uncle to give you a ride back?" Grandpa Chu asked with care in his voice.


    "No, it''s fine. It''s not that far and it''s not too cold yet."


    "Alright, don''t forget you bag then and we will see you tomorrow."


    "Bye Grandpa, bye Uncle."


    "Be safe and go straight home Laz, no peeking in windows," Uncleughed while sticking his head out from the back.


    "There''s not much to see in this town anyway, knowing my luck, it would probably be some old guy watching TV or some granny practicing yoga," Lazughed while running out the door.


    The night was dark and chilly, with a only a sliver of a new moon appearing overhead. Without a cloud in sight, the little bit of moon and star light was draped over the town like a nket with only the strong torches of the streetmps illuminating the way.


    Passing by the four-way, Laz made his was across the street while avoiding traffic and started down the side walk towards the Shack. Passing by a few empty lots, Laz couldn''t help but get goosebumps like someone was looking at him. Even with cars running up and down the street, when your walking at night, they just feel like lifeless shells of metal. You could fall down dead and no one would even stop if they weren''t paying attention so it wasn''t possible to get this feeling from a car.


    Looking over towards one heavily wooded lot, Laz squinted his eyes in an attempt to see what was over there, thinking he heard something, but nothing came into view. Scratching his head for a moment, he started walking again. It was only about 10 minutes to his ce from here, but he started picking up the pace a bit, feeling very weird under the streetmps..


    As a chill ran down his spine, Laz paused again and looked over at another empty lot, wondering just why he was getting this feeling. Laz was not dumb enough to not know that he should just hurry home and forget looking for the cause of this feeling. He had seen enough sher movies to know that the ones who hesitate die first, but he couldn''t shake the feeling that something wasn''t right. This wasn''t a feeling of wild animal not right, this was a feeling of the universe was twisting not right.


    His curious nature towards weird things and his innateck of a sense of danger did not help to dispel his thoughts of wanting to see what this was.


    He started to move closer to the lot from the side walk to get out of the blinding light from the streetmp and squatted down, hoping to make himself seem smaller and less dangerous to whatever it was. He then focused his breathing to settle down his racing heart, taking deep breaths to calm himself.


    Up ahead, in the dark, he finally saw something he didn''t expect. It was two floating greenish lights, kind of like fireflies, just hovering underneath a tree, behind some overgrown bush. They were somewhat small but strangely bright when reflecting some of the little moon light in the area. At an even distance apart, they remained motionless, almost like they were just painted on something. Staring at them, Laz got an eerie feeling. Something wasn''t right. If these were just fireflies, why didn''t they move? And why would fireflies give him a feeling of wrongness.


    Without an answer to his question, he didn''t move and just looked ahead, stupidly unafraid.


    Seconds ticked by until almost a minute of time had passed.


    Laz finally figured out where the problem was as the lights flickered a few times.


    He realized they were blinking.

 Chapter 7: Devilish Aruna Princess

    Chapter 7: Devilish Aruna Princess


    Laz was taken back. He knew something was there, but he didn''t expect to see someone watching him.


    Or something to be exact.


    He didn''t know of any animals whose eyes would reflect this color of green. Yellow or red sure, but not this. He was shocked. For it to be watching him and waiting, it had to be intelligent. But he couldn''t tell what it was in the low light.


    Laz had a rather strange feeling at this point. It crawled up his spine and was nagging at his brain. It wanted him to greet it. But why would he greet an animal? It couldn''t possibly understand him. He also couldn''t understand it. Forget about a response back. Although Laz didn''t really care about how others saw him, he didn''t want to make a fool out of himself either. Fortunately, there was no one else around.


    After pondering his own feelings for a moment, Laz decided to be irrational.


    "Greetings traveler, what brought you out on this chilly night?" he asked, somewhat amused at his own wording. He felt rather sarcastic, but at the same time, somewhat intrigued. He liked to live in his own head most of the time, thinking up scenarios that would never happen and then figuring out what he would do in that situation. It kept his mind off things he didn''t want to think about, which was almost everything.


    Not expecting a word back from this strange animal, Laz just squatted there around 30 feet away from the bush with a friendly smile on his face. Might as well y out this delusion to the end, right?


    "Ohh, so this monkey can speak, you even know that I am here, hmm? Interesting.." came the amazingly melodious reply back. The voice was like a gentle caress mixed with a seductive purr. It would enter your soul and restrict your spirit, causing you you fall into an almost mindless trance. That was probably the only reason Laz didn''t fall on his butt or run away as fast as his legs would take him. He was quite literally frozen in ce.


    The eyes that had just been hovering there started to rise up, tripling in height and holding steady. The owner of the voice moved forward and started taking gentle steps towards Laz as he remained in position with the stupid smile still stuck on his face. He could have been a stone for all that it mattered.


    "You seem to be somewhat more interesting than any of the others I have seen so far, I wonder why?" The voice asked no one in particr, as the owner stepped into the dim light away from the tree.


    She had sparkling light blue hair and incredible pale white skin. The form-fitted dress almost seemed to be made of a flexible dark red wood that seemed to have the sticity of leather. Her chest was amazingly bountiful yet the tight dress kept it from swaying. If they were to be set free, they could possible obtain a status of holy relics. As she took a step closer, Laz was able to make out more of her features including fairly pointed ears, high-cheek bones and tender, plump, blood red lips. Her eyes were reminiscent of a cats, with somewhatrger irises that shown a deep green. Her face was perfection that was unseen in this world. It was exotically beautiful and instinctively dangerous. Laz could hardly move, barely breathe and yet couldn''t help but say, "Goddess."


    Nothing else woulde to his lips. He could barely think and although the thought beautiful came to his mind, to say it would be topare her to others of this. How could that be possible?


    "Goddess? Hmm... you see me as something beautiful? I''m surprised little monkey. You should be caught up in an illusion that you are in front of the thing that scares you most, yet you seem to see my true form. How very interesting." Taking another step closer, she was standing in front of Laz. He was once again dumb-founded. How? How is that possible? She took only three steps and yet still moved over 30 feet. That was impossible.


    Reaching her hand down, she ced it under Laz''s chin and slowly raised up his entire body until he was once again in a standing position.


    "Hmm, I wonder, what is it?" She thought to herself and she looked Laz over from top to bottom. She was stumped. Should could not figure out how he was able to feel her presence and not see the image she was projection. Humans, like all creatures, have a natural fear they feel towards dangerous predators and she was the most dangerous thing on the. He should have been unable to see her and be sent running from whatever nightmare he perceived her to be, but that didn''t happen.


    Lifting his chin once again with her soft and dainty hand, she made his face rise up until she saw his eyes. The clear, deep blue of his eyes was reflected right back at her without a hint of fear in them.


    "OH, how pretty. I want them. I want to take them home with me. But, DAMN IT." She said while stomping her shoe less foot. The rumbling from the force of the hit was enough to make the ground cave in by almost half a meter.


    "Grr, oh well. It''s probably better this way. No matter how we preserve them, they will eventually fade. Maybe I can get that crazy guy toe up with something more permanent?" She said out loud, trying to convince herself.


    At this point, Laz was beyond scared. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he got the feeling she wanted to take his eyes with her? How would that be possible? He still needed them.


    "Well my little monkey, this ends our fate for today, but since you have brought some interest to this princess, allow me to grant you a bit of something. It should also help me to find youter when I have a chance to dig out those beautiful gems of eyes," the princess said to him as she set her left hand gently on the the right side of his chest. Her eyes zed as the green light became piercingly bright.


    Laz was suddenly gripped with an excruciating pain on his chest where her hand was. He was drowning in this wave of fiery hot torment as an ear piercing scream rose to his lips..


    Sensing what was going to happen, the princess lifted up her other gentle and wless hand. Like a streak of lightning, it quickly mped around Laz''s neck, lifting him off the ground and choking him at the same time.


    Bringing him closer to her, the princess whispered into his ear "Shh, shh ,shh. No yelling. That might kill the mood. Remember something, little monkey, we are the Aruna and you have been imed by me. Don''t let me down."


    Being unable to breathe caused Laz to be unable to shout. As the pain intensified, He felt his vision going ck before passing out altogether. Thest image to pass his clouded eyes was of the celestial beauty choking him with one hand while burning him with the other, smiling the whole time.

 Chapter 8: Night Without End

    Chapter 8: Night Without End


    Laz''s body went limp in this crazy girl''s grip. She only looked at his face for a few seconds, before flicking her arm and tossing him away. He rolled when hended, only stopping once his body hit the tree she was previously standing by. He appeared dead, but her sharp hearing could still detect the gentle sounds of his weak breathing. Her face was unreadable and there was no way to tell her thoughts.


    Standing in the weak light of the moon, the chill had no affect on her as she looked up momentarily as if deep in thought. Sudden rustles of feet on grass dragged her out of her thoughts.


    "My princess!" came the melodious voice. Although slightly deeper, it barely sounded male.


    The princess turned her her eyes in the direction of the voice. She knew they were here but she only chose this moment to acknowledge them. Turning her head away from the sky, she moved her body to face these newly arrived guests.


    "Report."


    "Yes princess," the man in front reported, while dropping down on his right knee, balling his fist and crossing it in front of his chest. The others behind him adopted a simr pose.


    "The teams have all began to move. The information gathering is proceeding at a favorable pace. This doesn''t have use ofrge scale detection technology and has no concept of energy maniption," the leader reported. He was dressed in a loose fitted uniform that appeared to be made out of the same type of material as the Princess''s dress. The outfit looked easy to move in and made no sound. It''s dark green coloring made blending into the night effortless. His eyes reflected a dull yellow that resembled a natural predator of the night.


    "Have my sisters made contact yet?" the princess asked in an unconcerned manner.


    "Yes princess. They have all reported simr information. This seems to pose little threat to us," the leader replied with a small smile on his face.


    "Mistakes have been made before and our enemies are numerous. The moment you show arrogance is the moment you walk the path to your own end. Remember this."


    "Yes princess," the man replied, not daring to raise his head.


    "Get ready to move, the initial reports show thisnd mass to be ratherrge and we only have a few teams on this side of this world. Luckily, this world isn''t too big," the princessmanded as she took a step away.


    "Princess, what about that thing," the man asked, while pointing to the pile by the tree.


    "Leave it. I''m actually surprised it''s still alive. I''m actually curious to see if it will live through tonight," the princess replied while a small smile appeared on her wless face.


    The man couldn''t help but gulp and almost take a step back in fear. This princess didn''t smile. Her face was normally like a sculpture, frozen in time. No matter what she did, she did so with no feeling apparent on her perfect features. It was a legend among the princesses.


    It made her different from her several dozens of sisters. And anything that made them different would make them stand out which could be both good and bad. There was a lot ofpetition among them and as they all looked rather simr, differences were often times more noticed than simrities.


    There was one more part of her legend though, one that was just as important as the legend of her expressionless face.


    When she smiled, it meant that she had found something that interested her and whatever that thing was, it had only two choices.


    They could either submit to her or be destroyed by her. She never failed to do so. No matter what choice was made, the object of her attention would suffer unimaginably.


    He didn''t want to think about this anymore and instead, chose to stand and following after the princess. In less than a breath of time, everyone had vanished. It was eerily quiet once again in therge abandoned lot.


    ------------------.


    Laz had a long dream, one in which the silhouette of the dangerously beautiful woman would appear many times. He could not help but be afraid, even in his dreams.


    He didn''t know where he was, or what was happening, but when he woke up, he felt the searing pain in his chest. It was like getting stabbed with a knife and having it wiggled around while still inside. His world was nothing but the pain. He knew that he would die if he didn''t move. So he tried to focus on that.


    Time seemed to stand still as the waves of burning pain hit him over and over again. He wasn''t far from home in the first ce, but he had no idea how he would get there. There was no one to call even if he had his phone. He was going home to no one either. It was this loneliness that brought him out of the madness the pain put him through.


    If he didn''t do it, if he couldn''t do it, he would die.


    Standing up took more strength than he had to give, but he was able to do it. Making his way one step at a time, foot fall by foot fall. Every second took forever. When he could no longer stay upright, he fell forward and used his hands to break the fall. The weed feel of the cement under his fingers let him know that he had reached the stairs.


    If he was able to make it up these, he would at least be able to die at home.


    Crawling up stair by stair, he pulled his broken and lifeless body towards his front door. He knew that since it waste, his grandpa wouldn''t be awake and won''t wake up until morning. He knew he couldn''t wait in the cold that long. With the grace of a drunk zombie, he made it to the top of the stairs, reached in the old iron mailbox to grab his key and was able to unlock the door.


    His body gave out finally once he made it inside and closed the door. Thest thought that went through his head was he had never been so d to see the horrible pink shag.

 Chapter 9: Bad Choices Lead To Worse Mornings

    Chapter 9: Bad Choices Lead To Worse Mornings


    "Uuuuhhhhhh, what the hell happened?" Laz asked himself when he opened his eyes. His memory was vague and clouded, like a hang over from a night of hard drinking. His body felt like he had been hit by a car.


    Laying on the floor of his apartment, he could see the lighting in from between the curtains and knew that it was morning. He could only faintly remember that yesterday was friday so he knew that at least he wasn''t missing school today. He also wasn''t going anywhere for a while.


    Laying there like a corpse that only asionally blinked his eyes, Laz looked at the ceiling and couldn''t help but think, what the hell am I doing? Did I really need to go and invite that trouble? I could have juste home and nothing would have happened.


    But could he really do that? If life was a path, then every fork in the road was a choice.. He always believed that. Some would walk forward lifelessly, just striving to reach the end. Laz wasn''t like that. He wanted to walk every path to see what was there.


    This time, his choice led to a psycho. "Ah well," he figured. "You can''t win them all."


    He started to notice how ringly bright the light was. It seemed like the little crack between the curtains was huge and it really started to blind him. He had to close his eyes and turn his head before he he felt the pain recede.


    This however lead him to notice something else that was unexpected. With his eyes closed, he slowed his breathing and was able to hear a voice. It was his grandpa from downstairs.


    "I hope he''s ok, I haven''t seen him since wednesday. Maybe I should go up and knock on his door? No, no, it''s the weekend. Kids should rx on the weekend. Lunch!!! That''s it. I can make him lunch. I wonder what I got to cook with?"


    Laz knew that his grandpa was mumbling to himself. But for some reason, he could hear it as clear as if he was standing right next to him. It was strange. His hearing shouldn''t be this good. His grandpa was normally pretty soft spoken, but his voice was always clear. If he wanted you to hear him, you would. That also means that when he didn''t want you to hear him, you wouldn''t.


    Laz felt touched, even more so now afterst night. He knew his grandpa loved him, even if there were days he wasn''t right. Nothing would change that. Although he knew that as things progress, his grandpa would get worse, he would never forget this moment. After surviving something he thought would kill him, he became strangely warm towards the little things.


    Changing his attention for a minute, he started to focus on other sounds. He was able to hear very soft soundsing from down the walkway.


    "Hey, what do you guys want?"


    "Give us the normal shit."


    "Two fifty, cash."


    "Yeah, thanks."


    "Yep, just text ahead next time. Otherwise, I ain''t answering the door."


    "Yeah yeah, forgot you wanted us to do that from now on. Why you live in this shit hole?"


    "Cause it''s easy to get to and no one cares about peopleing or going. Plus I can move the big shit along with these easy deals. Business is all about location."


    "Whatever works. Thanks Tony."


    Laz heard the soft click like a door closing and then muffled footsteps. Opening his eyes slightly, he was able to see two shadows walk past his front window before turning to go down the stairs.


    "Damn it," he said to himself. "Was that a drug deal? And Tony''s ce is at the end of the fucking building so how did I even hear that?".


    Laz had questions but no answers. He knew he wasn''t going to get anywhere byying there either. With a super human effort, he was able to turn himself over and get to his feet, but just barely. His body felt like lead and his head was pounding in beat with his heart. It almost felt like it would explode. He made his way past the small kitchen area and turned into the bathroom. When he go to the mirror, he could not be more shocked at what he saw.


    He looked perfectly fine, but that was the problem. His eyes had never been the best although he didn''t wear sses. He could make due without them as the problem had just urred recently although he was thinking about visiting an eye doctor soon. It seemed like that was no longer needed even though he had no idea why. It was surreal looking at himself and everything around him. It looked like everything was in high definition.


    He could see the cloudy bits of minerals in the small dropsing from the bathtub. He could see the texture of the fibers in the tissues. He could even count the individual strands in the brush of his tooth brush without even moving it.


    "Seriously, what the fuck is this?" He thought again for the who knows what time today. After looking around and figuring out he wasn''t just imagining it, he was somewhat excited. This was actually pretty amazing.


    All of the sudden, the burning pain came back in a brief but monstrous wave. Laz struggled to stay on his feet while clenching his teeth. He grabbed at his shirt and ripped it off himself, looking at the spot that the pain wasing from. He almost passed out from shock.


    There, on his chest, was a strange symbol. It was raised on his skin like a new tattoo and it seemed like it was thumping with his heart beat. With his heightened eye sight, Laz could make out that it clearly wasn''t ink as it waspletely even throughout.


    The symbol looked like arge ck leafless tree with a red full moon behind it. It was about the size of his fist and stood out distinctively against his pale white skin. He instinctively moved his hand over to touch it before another wave of pain washed over him. He couldn''t stay standing this time as he legs copsed underneath him. Thest thing he remembered was thinking "fuck" as he bashed his head on the sink and passed out again.

 Chapter 10: Dancing With The Devil

    Chapter 10: Dancing With The Devil


    Knock Knock Knock


    "Huh, what?"


    KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK


    "Oh damn it," Laz slowly opened his eyes to the knocking sound on his door. He had no idea what had happened.


    "Laz, Laz? You awake in there?" His Grandpa''s voice sounded from outside his door.


    "Yeah grandpa, I''ming, one sec."


    Laz dragged his lead like body up off the floor and after putting on his shirt he made his way to the door and opened it up, closing his eyes to the blinding sun.


    "Laz! What happened to you?" His grandpa asked, noticing the bump on his forehead.


    "What?" Laz wasn''t sure what his grandpa meant, but he noticed his gaze going to his forehead.


    He ran to the only mirror in the ce, in the bathroom and took a look.


    In the mirror he was able to see what his grandpa noticed. On his forehead was arge bruise that was already swollen. He looked like he got hit with something.


    "Did you get into a fight Laz?" His grandpa asked as he came into the bedroom and looked towards Laz in the bathroom.


    "No grandpa. I got dizzy when I got up this morning and slipped."


    "Slipped? Isn''t that always an excuse?"


    "Not this time grandpa, you know I can''t fight." Laz said, shaking his head.


    "Yeah, that''s why I figured you got into a fight and got your ass beat."


    "Thanks grandpa," Laz said, shaking his head.


    "Ha ha, I''ve told you before, you''ve got to learn how to fight if you ever want to not be afraid," His grandpa said with a smile on his face.


    Grandpa Crowe had been in the military when he was younger. He had killed before, so he understood a bit more about life than his grandson. He loved him, which was why he was always concerned about him.


    "Laz, just because you don''t want trouble doesn''t mean that trouble will leave you alone," His grandpa gently replied.


    "I know grandpa. Did you want to do lunch now?" Laz asked, not really thinking about it..


    "How did you know about that? Did you.. did I say something yesterday?" Grandpa Crowe asked.


    "Oh um, yeah, you said something about it yesterday," Laz said, going with the flow. He forgot that he heard that while listening through the floor earlier. His grandpa never really remembered what happened during his bad days so he generally made sure to stay at home and not talk to anyone. Laz knew that he didn''t go out on his bad days, but he sometimes talked to Laz through the floor. Laz never understood how his grandpa knew not to leave the house. For the most part, he wasn''t sure of anything, but he never made that mistake.


    "Alright, alright, I got it. Let''s go, we can eat at my ce," Grandpa Crowe got up and walked to the door. Laz walked after him, grabbing his key and locking up behind him. Walking down the stairs, Laz frowned and pondered to himself. He wanted to ask but he wasn''t sure how.


    Once they got into his grandpa''s ce, Laz closed the door and sat down at the small counter. With theck of space in these apartments, there wasn''t any room for a table. Grandpa Crowe got to working on the food, although it was just a couple of sandwiches. Laz noticed the care his grandpa put into this, even cutting the edges off the bread. He knew that Laz used to enjoy the sandwiches this way when he was younger.


    Laz couldn''t help but smile at this. His grandpa might not always be in his right state of mind, but he knew he always cared.


    "Hey grandpa, do you... know about Tony over in 18?" Laz asked a little nervous.


    "Tony eh? Hmm, why do you ask?


    "I don''t know. I feel like he might be involved in something illegal."


    "Ah, Yeah. You could say that," his grandpa said with a bit of frown. Laz was shocked at his admission. His grandpa had never done anything bad in his life as far as he knew. So he couldn''t understand why he seemed unconcerned about this.


    "Laz, let me ask you something, have you ever heard the phrase to dance with the devil?" His grandpa asked, putting the sandwich down in front of him.


    Laz was shocked, yet again, but he still shook his head, not really sure how to respond.


    "Sometimes we do things we don''t want to do because we have no choice. We protect the things and the people who are important to us. Police make deals with criminals to catch bigger criminals. Countries trade prisoners of war. Normal people are given up and have their lives taken away just to serve the greater good. Without power, you are basically nothing. So instead, when you are weak, you do what you need to do to survive. This is the way of the world." His grandpa sighed and looked towards the window. He looked much older at this moment. Laz, with his incredible eyesight, couldn''t help but notice the wrinkles in his Grandpa'' skin. He never remembered him looking this old before, or maybe he just never noticed.


    "Tony pays 10 times the rent for his apartment. Because of this, I can keep this ce running. In return, I don''t ask questions as long as he keeps it quiet. He knows I''m old and don''t really have anything to lose. So, it''s an agreement of sorts. No questions."


    Laz could barely think straight. He never thought this kind of thing was real. In this little town that could be considered nowhere, there was a deal like this going down. It seemed like something out of a movie.


    "Laz, I know I''m not always right. Right now, we only have each other. That will change one day though so it''s time I taught you a few things," his grandpa sighed.


    "The first thing you need to learn is this: people do what they need to do to survive. Don''t me them for it. Don''t look down on them for it. Respect them for their strength. Not everyone can do it. You find as you go through life that most people are weak. The longer they live, the weaker they get. But some people can survive no matter what. That is true strength."


    "Yes grandpa."


    "Good. Also, you need to learn how to fight."

 Chapter 11: That鈥檚 Not Possible

    Chapter 11: That¡¯s Not Possible


    Laz looked at his grandpa and wondered what he meant. Laz never really had to fight before. The only time he had gotten into anything that could be considered a fight would be when he had been assaulted that night. But he couldn''t really call that a fight. He never stood a chance.


    Looking at his grandpa, he had no idea what he meant. He would soon find out though.


    After lunch, he grandpa told him to go get changed into something he could move around in easily and meet him by the car. Laz couldn''t help but get a bit nervous as he knew his grandpa shouldn''t be driving, but he did it anyway. Slipping on an old, faded tee and some sweatpants, he went outside and got into his grandpa''s old Chevy pickup. Grandpa didn''t say anything as he started up the engine and put the old truck into gear. Although it was a bit rusted and kinda loud, the truck still worked well and never broke down.


    Getting on the main road, his grandpa headed south towards the highway, his driving smooth and steady.


    "Laz, what do you think is the most important thing about fighting?" His grandpa asked in a curious tone.


    "To be the strongest," Laz replied, somewhat confidently.


    "Hehe, really? "


    "Yeah, cause the strongest guy wins right?" Laz looked at his grandpa.


    "Hardly. Strength can mean many things, but one fact remains the same in any fight: the one who loses their cool loses the fight."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Alright, think about it for a minute. You have one guy who is stronger than the other and one guy who is smarter, or faster and more agile. What do you think will happen if someone loses their cool and goes nuts?"


    "Uh... ?"


    "They screw up. If the guy you are fighting messes up, you can take advantage of that. If you mess up, they will take advantage of that. Sometimes, even the simplest tactic of evading can lead to victory, because it causes people to get angry. Let''s say some guy is going after you. He''s bigger than you, stronger than you and thinks you are an easy target. What happens when he can''t touch you?"


    "He gets mad?"


    "He gets insulted and that makes him mad. At that point, piss him off more. The more pissed off he gets, the more likely he will look down on you and make a mistake. Then, you just need to act on it."


    "But grandpa, how am I suppose to be calm like that?"


    "Well, that''s why we are here, isn''t it?"


    "Here?"


    His grandpa had turned off onto a dirt road and took the way down slowly. The massive ruts and potholes would have made a car bottom quickly, but the old truck with its higher suspension seemed to run ok.


    "This is the ce of an old friend of mine. He''s... uh... a little out there in a different way. Don''t ask him any questions about his past and if he says anything, I didn''t say anything either."


    "Yes grandpa.".


    "Alright, lets go." His grandpa put the truck into park and pulled the parking break before getting out of the truck. Laz followed behind him and began looking around. The area was pretty spacious with an old, run down trailer off to one side of the clearing and a big barn over on he other. Laz had no idea what they were doing here.


    "Hey Bill, BILL!!" His grandpa called out towards the trailer.


    "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT YOU OLD ASSHOLE?" Came the response from inside the trailer.


    "Friend?" Laz said, smiling at his grandpa?


    "I didn''t say he was a good friend now did I?" His grandpa smiled back and made his way over to the small fence surrounding the trailer. He didn''t walk past the front gate. Laz noticed there was a sign that read "Warning: Active Mines."


    "Hey Bill, I brought my grandson here for a visit."


    "Why would I want to meet your grandson?" Came the reply. The old man stumbled out of the front door and stood on the porch, looking at the two uninvited guests.


    "Well, my grandson here got into a fight at school and some kid pulled a knife on him," Grandpa Crowe lied smoothly.


    "HAHAHA, did he now? So did the little shit wet himself eh?" Bill asked, obviously enjoying himself. Laz could help but examine Bill a bit closer. He had an eye patch over his left eye and was unshaven. He stood there in nothing but underwear and a stained white teeshirt, unconcerned about the cold weather. His looked of amusement was just annoying to the eyes and Laz had no idea why his grandpa would say this to him.


    "Nope, he ran," Grandpa Crowe replied without missing a beat.


    "Oh, so the kid is smart huh? Justcks some guts?"


    "Yeah, something like that.


    "So that''s why you brought him here?"


    "Yeah."


    "Alright, I owe you one anyway. Since we both might drop dead tomorrow, might as well give you this one. Bring him to the barn and see if he''s made of ss. I will be over in a bit."


    "Thanks. Hey, they find you yet?" Grandpa Crowe asked, looking at Bill.


    "If I did, do you think I would still be alive? Fucking aliens, I know they are around, I just don''t know where. They were walking around the other night, but I scared those little green shits off. They ain''t taking ol'' Bill without a fight, god damn it."


    Grandpa Crowe didn''t say anything and just walked towards the barn, dragging Laz with him.


    "Laz, never question his belief in aliens, otherwise he will think you are one of them. Got it?"


    Thinking back to the night with the homicidal bitch, Laz actually realized that he couldn''t question it at all. He thought the same way. Had it been before, he would have thought Bill was nuts. Now, he kinda wanted to ask him about it.


    "Alright, see that heavy bag hanging there? Go take a few swings at it." Opening therge wooden door, Grandpa Crowe pointed towards the old punching bag hanging from the massive wooden rafters. The three chains that kept the bag stationary were slightly rusted. The bag itself was dusty and dirty. It was apparent that it hadn''t seen used in a while.


    Walking up to it, Laz balled his fist and struck out. His right hand nced off the left side of the bag, scraping his knuckles. The bag didn''t move at all. He grab his hand as it started hurting.


    "That hurt huh?" His grandpa asked, smiling.


    "Yeah," Laz replied, looking at the bag.


    "When you hit something like this, you have to go straight on. Straight in. There is no ncing blows. They don''t do shit. You square up your shoulders, and when you punch out, it starts from your feet and flows through your entire body. Never half ass it."


    He squared up his shoulders, nted his feet and punched out. The bag rocked back and forth, shaking a bit. Laz was rather amazed. His grandpa didn''t look that strong but he was still able to make the bag move. Laz wasn''t sure he would be able to do that.


    "Laz,e over here and just do what I did."


    Laz walked over and stood in front of the bag again. Bill walked over to watch, wondering if he would break his hand.


    Squaring up his shoulders, he nted his feet hard into the old wooden floor, pulled back his arm, and balled up his fist. His body was on fire, it felt like the excruciating suffering from the other night. His entire body hurt, but it felt full of energy. He swung forward and struck the bag dead on, causing a st of air to expand outward.


    "That''s not fucking possible," Bill muttered as the bag flew backwards, ripping off from the chains. It hit the ground and rolled until it hit the wall,ing to a stop.

 Chapter 12: Question Filled Night

    Chapter 12: Question Filled Night


    "AAAARRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH," Laz''s scream echoed through the barn, shocking the two old men out of their daze. He grabbed his right hand with his left and started cradling it.


    "Well, that''s to be expected," his grandpa muttered walking over to him. He seemed somewhat rxed. Although it was hard to tell from his expression, Laz almost thought his grandpa was happy he got hurt.


    "Well now, guess that bag was in worse shape than I thought, ah well. I will string it back up tomorrow." Although Bill seemed nonchnt, he knew that this old heavy bag was still in good shape. Bill had been many things in his past and a boxing trainer was one of them, so even if he had retired, he still kept up his equipment.


    "So, how did that happen?" Grandpa Crowe ask Bill while reaching for Laz''s hand.


    "You got me. Your kid here is what? 50 kg max? That bag is a 70 kg one. Honestly speaking, it should have knocked him flying," Bill replied while walking over.


    "How''s it look?"


    "Sprained, but not dislocated or broken, so no problems." Grandpa Crowe rubbed around the wrist a bit more while Laz gritted his teeth hard, trying not to scream.


    "Alright, least he didn''t mess that up. Ok old man, get yourself home. He will be ready for pick up tomorrow around 5 pm," Billmented while looking at his watch.


    "Ok, thanks again Bill. If I don''t make it here.." Grandpa Crowe began before muttering a bit.


    "Yeah yeah, it''s fine. I will send him back."


    "Alright. See you tomorrow Laz. Try not to move that wrist around much. Bill will splint it up for youter. And uh... just remember... this is for your own good." Grandpa Crowe stopped speaking at this moment after uttering those ominous words. He looked at Bill and walked back towards the truck.


    Laz walked over in time to watch him turn the truck around and head out on the dirt driveway.


    "You know, your grandpa is one of the best men I''ve ever known," Bill stated while going into a trunk that was sitting next to the door. He began digging through it before pulling out an old glove attached to a harness.


    Walking over towards Laz, he slipped his throbbing hand into the glove portion before locking the harness into ce on his forearm. This would lock his wrist into ce and not let him move it for the time being.


    "The why did you call him an asshole?"


    "Just cause he''s a good man doesn''t mean I have to like him, does it? Lets go get some dinner."


    -----------------------------


    Dinner consisted of a stew cooked in an old iron pot on top of a camp fire. Laz gathered the wood from the wood pile while Bill washed out the pot and grabbed the ingredients from inside the trailer.


    With the fire burning, it helped to chase away the constant cold in the air and actually caused Laz to feel quite warm.


    "Your sleeping in the barn tonight, climb thedder to the loft at the far end. The barn should stay pretty warm but there are some nkets next to the first stall. Take one to sleep on and one to cover up with."


    "Why am I doing this? I don''t even know what my grandpa by bringing me out here," Lazined feeling somewhat morefortable after having ate. He had never questioned the old man before, but the more things happened, the less he understood..


    Laz had always been on the move growing up. His parents would drag him around all over the country so he had never really had a concept of home before. The two years he had spent at the apartment would mark the longest he had even been in one ce. He was grateful for that which was why he always respected his grandpa''s wishes, but he was just too confused now.


    "He said he wanted you to learn how to fight right?"


    "Yeah, he got the wrong idea about something and thinks I got hurt at school."


    "Right, I don''t give a damn about that."


    "Uh..."


    "I also don''t give a damn about you."


    "Yeah..."


    "So quit asking fucking questions and just do what your told."


    Laz stared at the old man dumbfounded. Even if he didn''t like him, sharing a bit wouldn''t cost him anything right? Apparently he wasn''t going to learn anything so he might as well just shut up.


    "Get some sleep. We are getting up at dawn for a bit of a jog."


    "Uh.. ok." Laz walked to the barn, entered and closed the door behind him. The dim light from the free hanging bulbs could only make Laz wonder that if one of them broke, could the entire barn go up in mes and kill him?


    Probably.


    Laz gathered two nkets as instructed and made his way up to the loft. The barn was old, but enclosed tightly, not letting in so much as a breeze. Since it was winter, there was no need to worry about air cirction. The only view of the outside was from the loft and the only thing to look at was the sky.


    After everything that had happened today, Laz had almost forgotten about his eye sight and hearing enhancements. Since the only thing he could currently look at was in the barn, he closed his eyes and focused with just his hearing. He could hear the sound of mice on the floor below, an owl hooting in the distance and many other various sounds of nature.


    Laz found that if he focused on just one sound, he could amplify the sound even more while isting the sound around him. The more he practiced with it, the better he got.


    After a while, he pulled his head out of the world of sound whileying back, ready to take a good sleep. It had been a long day and many things had happened. The biggest problem being that he was bing more and more worried about his grandpa.


    Although this camping experience might be fun for some and miserable for others, Laz was feeling very rxed and he didn''t know why. He wasn''t sure what kinds of things he would be doing with the old man, but he somehow knew he needed to sleep.


    As he closed his eyes and rxed his body, thest thing he thought of was the dangerously sexy smile, the dark red lips and those glowing green eyes.


    ''Ah, she was really hot and crazy.''

 Chapter 13: Are You Fucking With Me?

    Chapter 13: Are You Fucking With Me?


    In the light of the moon, the silhouette of pale white skin was especially enchanting to behold. Her hair fluttered in the wind as her supple and intoxicating legs swung back and forth. She looked like a child enjoying a snack as she sat there, eating a bag of potato chips.


    The two guards behind her didn''t say a word or even look at her. They knew she was watching them even now as this could be considered a test. As the newest members under hermand, they had to show unwavering discipline. Anything else would only result in death.


    Sucking on her fingers one by one, she would would spend extra time when it came to lick the tip. Her tongue circled around the top several times before she put the whole finger into her mouth, sucking deeply. She even closed her eyes several times and brought her head back, as though in the throws of an orgasm.


    When she came to herst finger, she looked directly at her two guards and again licked around the tip several times before inserting her finger into her mouth. This time however, she even moaned in barely more than a whisper before her body shuddered as though climaxing.


    The guards who had been holding out lost it and both couldn''t help but gulp while their bodies heated up. They were both standing erect in more ways then one.


    Sensing their final bit of difort, the enchanting vixen looked at the two new recruits and smiled while sliding her finger from her mouth. Both guards opened their eyes wide in terror and attempted to bow and apologize, but they never got the chance.


    As they were lowering their heads, their bodies came to an abrupt stop but their heads kept going downward. The lifeless heads hit the ground and started rolling while the headless bodies fell to their knees first and then smack t against the stone.


    "Dispose of these," she ordered to no one in particr.


    "Yes Princess," came the quick reply back.


    ''How could you possible serve under mymand when you are so weak willed,'' she thought. Since she was always inpetition with her sisters, she needed absolute loyalty from her subordinates.


    Anything less could lead to betrayal.


    ''These people sure are egotistical,'' she said silently while looking down the mountain. Surprisingly, she and a few of her troops were standing on top of Mt. Rushmore while the rest were still out scouting. Information was always the key in every war.


    Behind her stood four of her long time solders along with a massive cage. Inside the cage were a couple dozen humans that had a strange symbol emitting a glow in the center of their chests.


    The light from the symbol which appeared to be an ancient rune kept them tightly bound and unconscious. Although their state of being appeared to be ok, their was no telling what might happen to them.


    "Princess, a small matter has been brought to our attention," reported the lead male captain.


    "Speak."


    "It seems like before we came here, these ''humans'' have never encounter the cosmic energy waves before. They are strangely absent from this and as far as we can tell, from this gxy."


    "Are you saying this is a dead?" the Princess asked without turning around towards him.


    "No, it''s alive, but with the addition of the cosmic energy, we have no way of knowing how the humans will react to it," the captain said, somewhat fearfully. He liked having answers as she didn''t like useless subordinates.


    "That''s fine, We shall soon see."


    ______________________________________________________.


    Laz woke to the first sign of the suning into the barn and a loud shout from the outside.


    "Kid, get your ass down here, NOW!" Came the roar from below the loft. At some point, Bill had let himself in but wasn''t about to climb up.


    Laz rolled out from the nkets and stood up, shaking some stray straw from his head. That had not been the mostfortable sleep he had ever gotten.


    "What do you want?'' He yelled down, having no idea what time it was.


    "Time for a jog, leave your shit here in the barn and you can get itter," Bill yelled back before going outside the open wooden doors.


    Although it was a bit chilly still, the temperature was still around 10 C so he didn''t feel the least bit cold. New York weather could go from -20 C in the dead of winter to almost 40 C in the summer so anything mid range was fine.


    Climbing down from the loft, Laz threw his keys on the old chest before heading out. He had again forgotten his cell as he had never had much of a use for it.


    "Alright, time for a special jog. I would suggest you run though as you might only make it through the day that way," Billmented with a bit of a sneer.


    "What are you talking about?" Laz asked, still somewhat groggy from being woken up early.


    "Oh, it''s quite simple. About 10 miles west is the edge of my property. There is a line marked by a chain link fence. Your run today will be from here to the fence."


    "Yeah, fine. Whatever. " Laz was somewhat unconcerned as he started moving his body towards the the treeline in an unhurried manner.


    "Oh yeah, I will be following you along to make sure your not cking off. You will want to move it since I want you to get there before noon," Bill said while walking over to an old 4-wheeler that was parked outside the barn.


    Starting it up, he looked at Laz and grinned while taking a hunting rifle off the rack on the back.


    "Onest thing," Bill said, pulling a glock from the holster underneath his jacket with his right hand while craddling the hunting rifle in his left. "This is also to train you in another way."


    He leveled the glock at Laz who was staring at him dumbstruck and moving the sight slightly left and downward, he pulled the trigger. The bullet embedded itself in the ground a few feet from where Laz was standing, causing Laz to jump from fright.


    "I won''t aim at any vital parts but... shit happens, you know. Might be best to get going." With that he hopped on the 4-wheeler and revved the engine, causing the load roar to echo across the open area.


    "ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME?" Laz screamed as he took off running into the trees like a startled cat.


    "HAHAHA, let the motivated jog begin," Bill roared while holstering the glock andying the rifle across his ap. He kicked the 4-wheeler into gear and cranked the gas, shooting off in the same direction Laz had disappeared in.

 Chapter 14: Motivated Jogging

    Chapter 14: Motivated Jogging


    Laz ran. He didn''t think Bill would shoot him, but crazy people can''t be underestimated.


    "You god damn cyclops, what the hell are you doing?" Laz had always trusted his grandpa. But he had no idea why the hell he would leave him with this maniac.


    "HAHAHA, run run run as fast as you can. Otherwise, your in for a world of pain." Bill was riding along behind Laz as he ran. The trails leading through the forest were pretty well traveled so he didn''t have a hard time keeping up


    Laz was running as fast as he could. He had never done this kind of running before. Even in school, he only ever paced himself when running in gym ss and never gave it his all.


    He knew he couldn''t keep up this pace all day but he didn''t want to slow down either.


    BANG


    A small dead tree next to him practically exploded as he ran past. Bill zoomed forward once again afterying the rifle across his ap.


    Laz practically jumped forward as he raced along the path. The weather was pretty clear today and the cool air was a blessing for Laz''s burning lungs. As he kept going, he was looking around for any idea on what he could do.


    Going down the path would allow Bill to chase and shoot as he pleased, but running into the thicket would slow Laz down considerably. Of course, it would also slow down Bill.


    He turned left suddenly and jumped over a fallen log. Bill pulled up and leveled the rifle.


    Laz''s ears twitched, he could almost hear the sound of the metal scraping as Bill pulled the trigger. Time seemed to paused for a moment as Laz focused. He would have closed his eyes if he wasn''t trying to avoid low hanging branches.


    BANG


    He knew where the shot wasing from. It was almost like having eyes in the back of his head.


    He was going for the calf on his left leg.


    Laz jumped while swinging his leg around, doing a perfect 360 degree turn in the air. The bullet flew past and hit another tree while Laz regained his bnce and continued to run.


    "WELL DONE! IF I CATCH YOU, I CAN SELL YOU TO A RUSSIAN BALLERINA TROUPE," Bill roared while revving the engine. He turned off the path and continued the chase, expertly guiding the 4-wheeler through the openings in the trees.


    "YOU FUCKING CYCLOPS, I WILL PRY OUT YOUR OTHER EYE WITH A RUSTY SPOON," Laz roared as he kept running.


    The race kept up all morning with one running and one chasing. Bill kept the distance between them at a minimum of one hundred feet. Once he reached that distance, he would aim the rifle and fire, aiming at various parts of Laz''s body.


    He legs, arms, back and even his ass became a target. Laz would jump, duck, roll and do whatever else he could to avoid the shot. Had he not had his weird super hearing, he would have been hit many times. He knew Bill was serious but had no idea how he knew Laz could avoid the shots.


    Bill was basically stumped at this point too. He had tried aiming at every part of this kid and yet he was able to avoid it. There was no way that was possible, but it was the truth. At the same time, he knew the kid didn''t know he was using rubber bullets so he was trying his hardest to avoid it.


    Although Bill didn''t understand it, it worked out better this way..


    Laz''s breathing wasbored, he muscles burned and he could barely see straight, but he kept running. There were no more thoughts in his head other than to keep moving. He didn''t understand this. He didn''t know why this old man would want to kill him, why his grandpa trusted him or even if he could make it. He just kept running.


    Most people don''t experience this kind of life and death situation during their lifetime. It makes for a good movie plot, but people hunting people is normally the work the deranged killers.


    Laz wasn''t going to make time for his feelings, or beg or plead for it to stop. He was going to just keep running.


    In this case, he had to thank the crazy bitch from the other night. She showed him what it meant to be powerless. He came face to face with death for the first time in his short life and was able to develop a will to live. Thanks to that, he didn''t bother with useless thoughts and instead just kept going.


    Sometimes peopleck that. They live in a nice safe ce that causes them to lose the primal desire to survive.


    Laz had heard those survivor stories where someone almost died and came back a different person, loving life and wanting to be a better human being.


    ''Fuck that,'' Laz thought, ''I''m not dying a virgin.''


    He never once thought that Bill wasn''t serious although he did seem to feel like something was strange from the bullets he fired. They didn''t sound the same as the oneing from the glock.


    Due to hisck of experience, he couldn''t figure it out.


    Up ahead Laz finally noticed the chain link fence outside the tree line. Beyond it stood a corn field that seemed to stretch out forever. It was a blessing for his weary body to see.


    His mood instantly perked up and Laz felt the energy deep down to keep going. It was a fine bit of refreshment after the hours long torment. Bill however, had a different idea.


    ''Well, might as well. I don''t think he will break anything,'' Bill thought as he aimed the rifle.


    Laz''s blood was pumping. With the fence in view, he knew he was almost safe. This crazy run made his body feel like lead, but his heart was beating with an intensity he had never felt before. The thrill, the terror, all of it. He could feel it in his veins.


    Click...


    This was it, Bill''s final shot. Even though his feet kept him moving forward, Laz had focused again on the sounding from behind him. He knew he could do this.


    BANG


    BANG


    BANG


    ''FUCK ME.'' Laz didn''t even think. He knew all three would being for his back. Diving forward, he stuck his hands out in front if him to catch himself and remembered his hand was still in the brace. He couldn''t bend it.


    In the fraction of a second that he had before he hit the ground, he channeled the surging energy in his body, tensed up and cranked his hand back as hard as he could, breaking the brace. With his hand free, he was able to push down on the ground and fling his body forward, doing a forward flip.


    The first bullet flew over as he went down and the second one sailed over as he wasing back up.


    He almost made it.


    Thest one crashed into his back as he wasing up and sent him flying. He hit the fence face first,ing to a crashing stop before being flung backwards. When he finally hit the ground, he was face up, looking at the sky.

 Chapter 15: Upgrade, Level 2

    Chapter 15: Upgrade, Level 2


    Besides pain, Laz didn''t feel much else. He looked at the sky and just nked out. He knew he had almost made it, but he was still going to die in the end. Looked like the only bright side was getting shot didn''t hurt as much as he thought.


    The searing pain in his back felt more like getting hit with baseball bat than stabbed. Guess that was something to take to his grave.


    The only sound entering into his eyes now was his own painful breathing, the harsh blowing of the wind and a constant, roaringughter.


    ''Asshole,'' he thought, closing his eyes. He was so weak he couldn''t move his body. He just wanted today to be over.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA, you flew like a ping pong ball. Damn, I wish I could have recorded it," Bill mocked him.


    ''Oh, so the bastard likes to re-watch his kills. Animal.'' Laz didn''t even care anymore. He was done.


    "Alright, that''s it for today''s exercise. When you drag your useless carcass up off the ground, you''d better get walking to make it back in time for dinner." Bill fumbled a bit in the storage bag on the front rack, looking for something.


    "I''m not dead?" Laz asked, somewhat unsure of himself.


    "Nope, but once you start moving again, you''ll wish you were. Rubber bullets not only hurt like hell, they also leave one hell of a bruise that won''t go away quickly," Bill replied, digging deeper.


    "Rubber bullets? RUBBER BULLETS?" Laz couldn''t ept what he was hearing.


    "THAT WAS NO RUBBER BULLET THAT HIT THE FUCKING GROUND!" Laz was sure of it. It drove itself into the dirt as only a real bullet could.


    "Oh, that," Billmented, pulling out a small, handheld device. "Yeah, the glock''s bullets arn''t rubber, but the rifle shots were. Added to the realism of the whole thing. You didn''t think I would actually kill you, did you?" Bill asked with a wronged look.


    "I''M GOING TO KILL YOU OLD MAN," Laz roared, trying to get up.


    "Might want to work on walking first, it''s a long trek back," Bill replied. Without getting off the 4-wheeler, he tossed the device towards Laz, hitting a spot a foot away.


    "That''s a standard GPS. The location of the farm is already marked. Don''t get lost on your way back." Bill was totally unaffected by Laz''s outburst. He just revved the engine, turned the handle bars and proceeded back along towards the farm, not even ncing back.


    Laz''s mind was nk. He couldn''t process what had happened. Rubber bullets? That would exin why they sounded different than the first time. It''s also exined how he was able to dodge them. Rubber bullets flew much slower than regr ones.


    Without knowing anything, Laz rolled his body over and pushed himself up, grabbing the GPS on his way. He could see he was almost 10 miles out and the general direction he needed to travel.


    Making his way along, Laz''s brain was full of questions and his body was full of pain. But he also felt something else. Although he wasn''t in any actual danger, he wasn''t aware of it and it left this amazing feeling in him.


    He had always felt that being like air was the easiest way. People ignored him and he didn''t have to deal with them. He knew that it wasn''t the right way to do things and he didn''t like to be alone really, but some memories were hard to forget.


    He wouldn''t forgive his parents, if he ever saw them again.


    Why trust people when they just betray you in the end? Why have friends when you just get used by them? They would just want, want, want. It wasn''t worth it..


    His life had been like air for thest few years, but today he actually felt what it was like to struggle, to thrive and even to fail. It felt good.


    Walking back took a lot longer, but that was ok. He just asionally nced at the GPS to get his bearings while enjoying the colorful woods. The leaves on the trees were already mostly changed into brilliant hues of yellow, orange and red.


    He couldn''t remember thest time he had just simply enjoyed living. With his enhanced eyes, he was able to see many small creatures running around. Squirrels were gather food while rabbits were were darting back and forth. There were even a few deer grazing in the distance. The peaceful nature was a stark contrast to the mad rush he had just done to get here.


    His mind felt exceptionally calm for once in his life. Laz could almost feel the essence of nature itself. Within his mind, he felt like a muscle that had always been tense had finally rxed. His brain began the feel flooded as though a damn had burst. His already exceptional vision got even better.


    Looking around, he was able to see the faint traces of heat that the creatures were emitting. It was a dazzling sight. The squirrel that was working hard had a small but intense heat, showing his hard work. The rabbits heat signature was slightlyrger, but not as intense. The deer who werezily grazing ere giving off thergest heat sense, but it was also the coolest.


    Laz couldn''t believe what he was seeing. This was actual heat vision. He knew some animals had this ability, but not humans. It urred to him that nothing would be able to hide from his sight, even in broad daylight. The heat signature of a living creature could even be seen behind trees or bushes. At night, he could see something even in the pitch dark. Nothing alive could escape his sight.


    He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn''t crazy and at the same time, tried tensing up the muscle he rxed earlier.


    His vision returned to normal even once he rxed. Doing this a few times allowed him to turn this special vision off and on like a switch. It was incredible. If his enhanced sight was like a level 1, then this was the level 2.

 Chapter 16: What It Means To Be A Man

    Chapter 16: What It Means To Be A Man


    Laz took almost 3 hours to make it back as it wasn''t in a hurry. This also allowed him time to practice with his eye sight to help him make better use of it. It''s easy to think about, but not so easy to put into practice. Things looking like different shades of red, orange, yellow and so forth does not make it to figure out what it is. Although it is easier to determine the size of something, it is not easy to figure out what it is just based on this.


    Laz didn''t want to think about walking up to something and thinking it was a hunched over human but finding out it was a rabid dog. That was not an ending he wanted to see.


    Although he had gotten himself familiar with it, he would still need work to use it effectively.


    Laz didn''t want to admit it, but he had a bad feeling about a lot of things. Had he only known about the tree, he would simply look on like everyone else. But these changes within his body made him think that there was far more going on.


    He was pretty sure he wasn''t crazy, so therefore it had to be something else that was causing it. Truthfully though, he didn''t rule out crazy. The insane always feel that the sane are the weird ones.


    Coming back to the farm clearing. Laz caught sight of Bill in front of a fire with a rack ced over it. He was sitting on a log while nkly staring into the mes.


    "Took your sweet time did you?" Bill asked with a strange look on his face.


    "Screw you too," Laz replied, sitting on a stump near the fire.


    "How did you do it kid?"


    "I got lucky."


    "Yeah, that would clear one of those. Rubber bullets might move slower, but they still fly a lot faster than a human could see and you weren''t even looking," Bill remarked, thinking to himself.


    After the walk back, Laz felt better than ever, so he didn''t really pay him much attention. He also didn''t feel like exining.


    "Laz, your grandpa didn''t tell you about me, did he?" Bill asked, looking somewhat worried.


    "Nope, he just said don''t ask questions."


    "You know I''m not crazy, right?"


    "Why would I care?"


    "They are real. I only used it as an excuse before, but things changed."


    "An excuse?"


    "Your grandpa knows he isn''t right most days. It hurts him, especially when ites to you. I owe him a lot over the years and the debt keeps growing. He''s never asked for anything, but he doesn''t mind giving everything." Bill looked up at the sky, obviously lost in thought.


    Laz was quiet and just kept listening. He knew enough not to ask what shouldn''t be asked. Anything that he needed to know would be said.


    "I wasn''t going to make him suffer this alone. If he is going crazy, we are going together. As a brother, I owe him that much.".


    Laz looked up. He never remembered his grandpa mentioning he had a brother. Bill reached over to a paper wrapped package on the ground next to him and unwrapped it, revealing arge b of meat. He set it on the rack and pulling out some seasoning, he started making dinner.


    "You grandfather and I met during the war, almost 50 years ago. We were both young and stupid and had no idea what were we getting into. They dragged all of us kids to go fight a war no one wanted in a country that had nothing to do with us. This was all about pride. As a country, we couldn''t admit to a loss."


    Bill was obviously agitated as he spoke. You could tell he had a lot of hate in his heart.


    "People died, a lot of people. Strangers, friends, enemies, allies, and brothers... most of us were just kids. They didn''t want to kill me anymore than I wanted to kill them. But there we were, on the opposite sides in the war."


    "I''ve spent a lot of nights awake, thinking about it. We were the invaders, the outsiders. We were fighting a politicians war just so they could stroke their own egos. I''m not saying anyone was right. Wars may be started for the right reason, but the people dying couldn''t care less about that."


    "Your grandfather saved my life. A member of our squad, Ziggy, stepped on andmine while we were on patrol. We heard the click and almost everyone froze. I was between your grandpa and Ziggy on the line. I didn''t even get out so much as a thought before I felt your grandpa bear hug me from behind and toss me down." Bill stopped to take a breath at this point, constantly flipping the meat while adding on additional seasoning.


    "Ziggy was nothing more then a pile of flesh and blood spatter and I had a piece of him end up in my throat since I didn''t close it quick enough. That''s also when I lost this. Shrapnel" Bill pointed at the eye patch, almostughing at himself.


    "19 years old and I got to see I guy I knew for a few months go st like a popped balloon. That was thest thing this eye ever saw. Shit like that changes you Laz and not in a good way." Bill stopped talking and just looked at the meat in a daze.


    "What happened after that?" Laz couldn''t help but ask.


    "A hell of a lot more than I want to talk about. Your grandfather and I arn''t good people Laz. We will burn in hell one day when the timees. But he will always be my brother by something thicker than blood, they all will. We might have gone there as stupid kids, but we became men bathed in the blood of our enemies and friends."


    "All of this, because someone fucking told us to. I would have just as soon gone out drinking with those boys I was firing at than have to kill them. Or be killed by them. But because someone gave the order, we fired, or we died. Simple as that. I think something like that might happen again."


    "What?"


    "You''ve noticed it, so don''t lie to me. I''m not going to ask, but at least listen to what I have to say. People are going to change real soon and I''ve got no fucking clue why. What I do know is, it won''t be good. And when different people start showing up, the ones in charge are going to get worried. Normal people will get worried. And when enough people start thinking dumb thoughts together, that''s when the real monsters wille out to y."


    "Old man, what do you know exactly?" Laz couldn''t help but ask, looking directly at him.


    "This eye hasn''t worked since 1971, when it was yanked out with the shrapnel. But over thest few days, even when I have it covered, I''m seeing things."


    "It''s like, watching two tv''s right next to each other. On this side," Bill pointed to his normal eye, "I can see whats happening around me normally. I can see you, I can see this food, I can see the fire."


    Bill then lifted the eye patch to show a mostly empty socket. This might have been the sickest thing Laz had ever seen, until he looked closer. He noticed there was a small, white, worm like thing inside of it,ying along the bottom of the socket. It had a shiny round head with a small ck dot right in the middle and it seemed like the other end ran into Bill''s head with no end in sight. Even his enhanced vision failed him at this point.


    It almost looked like a tiny eye.


    "And this one is ying a constant movie that mightst almost 2 years. The two years we spent in hell. Even when I close both my eyes, one goes dark and the other just keeps on ying the movie."

 Chapter 17: Gift

    Chapter 17: Gift


    There had been too many shocking things happening to Laz as ofte that he thought he was immune to it. He now found out how wrong he was.


    "Grandpa Bill, your... eye?" Laz mutter in total disbelief.


    "Oh ho ho, so it''s Grandpa Bill now huh? Not asshole, or whatever?" Bill snidely remarked, putting the eye patch back into ce.


    "I um.." Laz was at a loss for words. He felt this old man was strange, somewhat crazy, and not exactly friendly, but he didn''t seem to hate him.


    "Let''s not talk about that for now. I''m not about to go to a doctor for this as I don''t want to be a guinea pig for the little time I have left." Bill brought out some metal tes from the small bag that he was carrying the spices in.


    "The thing you need to know is that if this is happening to me, then there are other things happening to other people. Whatever you got seems to not be visible on the surface. Fucking congrattions. But that doesn''t mean it won''t be. That also means that others might have something like this too. For me, it''s a small thing that I can easily hide. For others, it won''t be."


    Cutting out arge helping, Bill handed the te over to Laz and cut some for himself. Apparently, he didn''t consider forks or knives were needed as he just ate with his hands. At this point, Laz was so hungry that he didn''t say anything and just started eating.


    One man and one boy sat there and ate, not saying a word to each other. The heat from the fire and the smoke rising into the air on the cloudy yet slightly warm day was a different experience for Laz. He feltfort in the simplicity of it.


    After Laz and Bill finished, Bill cut up the rest of the roast and split it between the two again, not saying a word. Laz just silently epted it and continued eating. He didn''t think he would be this hungry, but he seemed to have burned more energy than even he was aware of.


    "Come by next weekend for some more running, punching and whatever else I can dream up," Bill said atst, breaking the silence.


    "Why?" It was a simple question, but it was probably the biggest one on his mind. Although Bill had shared his thoughts on these things, he still didn''t understand what Bill and his Grandpa expected from him.


    "The times we live in are way too peaceful. Most kids like you will never know the ugliness and chaos of war. Normally, we old guys would be grateful for that, but not this time. Me and your grandpa have talked thesest few days when he has been ok. We don''t want you to end up like another Ziggy, or like me for that matter. When the timees, if everyone else freezes or fucks up, we want you to react first." Bill didn''t hide this matter from Laz. He knew he was a smart kid, albeit naive.


    "Lazarus, when the timees, you might have to face things alone. You need to be ready. It''s ourst job to make sure you are. You know, me and my wife along with your grandpa and grandma used to be really close. There was this one time that we all got drunk at the beach and me and your grandpa decided to switchdies for the hell of it. Ah, what a wild ride your grandma was. And god damn she had amazinglyrge bouncing breasts that put even my wife''s to shame. We..."


    "OK. NO! FUCKING NO! KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS OLD MAN." Laz bellowed, not even wanting to picture whatever was going toe out of his mouth next.


    "HAHAHA," Bill roared withughter. "At my age, sometimes the only things you have left are memories. Anyway, I treated your useless father like a son and therefore, no matter what you think of me, I will treat you like a grandson as well. I never had kids of my own and even when my wife passed, I just didn''t give a damn about finding another one."


    "That''s why, even though we only met when you were younger and you probably don''t remember me, I don''t want to see you die before me. Follow me over to the little shed over there. I''ve got something for you." Bill pointed at the small wooden shed by his house that sat open with the 4-wheeler sitting in front of it.


    Even though the day was somewhat overcast, If Laz wanted, he could have seen inside the shed but he decided against that. Since it was a surprise, he figured he would just wait and be surprised.


    Bill walked inside and backed out some sort of a bike covered in a tarp. After he leaned it to the side, he pulled the tarp off, revealing a somewhat old, but well kept dirt bike. Laz could tell that it wasn''t used much and that several parts had been rece and changed out, but he couldn''t make out the make anymore as it looks like Bill had removed anything identifying when he was fixing it up.


    He waved Laz over and had him sit on it.


    "This is for you. It runs like a dream and although it''s not road registered, riding out here in the country shouldn''t be a problem long as you stick off to the side of the road. This will also let you get here on the weekend without needing a ride," Bill beamed, somewhat proud of himself.


    Laz was suddenly taken over with emotions. After finding out about Bill''s close rtionship with his grandpa, he was already looking at this old cyclops in a new light. But this was obviously one of the best presents he had received for as long as he could remember..


    "Grandpa Bill, I.. don''t know what to say.. but thank you," Laz spouted, more than a little touched. Teens always loved freedom and when they got to a certain age, dreamed about having a car or such. Laz had gotten used to riding the old scooter for deliveries, but this was something he would own himself. In his heart, he might have finally epted this old man.


    "Yeah, yeah. You get going now and be here next week. Also, try to do a bit more during the week like running or some such. You need to stop being such a stick and start getting some meat on those bones. Go on."


    Laz turned the key to start to the on position and kicked the starter, firing up the bike. Revving the engine a few times allowed him to feel what kind of power the bike had. Minus the scooter, he didn''t have a lot of experience, so it was best to take it slow and steady at first.


    "Hey, I kept the shocks a bit stiffer since I don''t expect you will be bring this to a dirt track. They should handle the road better this way but it will still be ok for off-roading as well. Just remember this has more torque than your used to so easy on the eleration." As Bill gave Laz some advice, Laz almost felt like Bill might be getting a bit emotional himself.


    "Yeah, I got it Grandpa Bill. I will see you next Saturday morning. Try to work on your aiming a bit, alright?"


    "Ha. You want to lecture me know? Get the hell out of here before I give you another reason to run," Bill replied, grabbing a helmet from the shed and tossing it over. It was a half head helmet with an older style Native American eagle on it. It obviously wasn''t meant for this type of bike, but it was the best he could do on short notice.


    After he put on the helmet, Laz popped the clutch and almost lost the bike out from under him as the front wheel left the ground. It would have looked kind of cool had Laz not let out a somewhat high pitch scream of shock.


    He quickly recovered though and started making his way down the driveway to leave.


    Bill stood there for a bit, watching him go. His face waspletely unreadable.


    "Boy, I''m sorry I lied to you. Hopefully you understand one day. But even if you don''t, hopefully you don''t hate me."


    As Bill turned around, a single crimson tear fell out of his almost empty eye socket, only to be lost forever in the endless expanse of grass and dirt.

 Chapter 18: A Messed Up Situation

    Chapter 18: A Messed Up Situation


    Laz was in love. This feeling of the wind hitting him while riding down the road. There was little traffic and with the small mirrors on the handle bars, he could keep an eye out behind. He would always move over when a care came, but otherwise he was able to soar down the road.


    He noticed the bike could do over 70 mph based on the speedometer, but he kept it somewhat lower than that. He never really realized how much more you could feel the road and the wind when on a bike as opposed to a car. Although it was liberating, for his first time he took it somewhat slow.


    The other thing he noticed was that when he got used to the ride, although he would stay alert, his mind would sometimes start thinking back to thest few days. The conversations with his grandpa and Grandpa Bill were the things that came up the most. Times toe, changes that were happening, even about things like Tony and his grandpa''s ''business'' deal.


    He knew that his grandpa was probably doing it for his sake but Laz had always been someone who would walk on the side of thew, so he still had questions in his heart.


    As he rode, he would constantly be scanning the surroundings with his vision and focusing his hearing. Although the sound of the bike was loud, he found that with practice, he could narrow down what he heard and block out what he didn''t want to.


    He realized that practice makes perfect, even with something as strange as this.


    He found himself pulling into the parking lot of the apartment shortly before 3pm. Driving in the car would have made for a quicker ride and he could have gone faster, but it felt like he would connect more when he rode slower and used his enhanced senses.


    It was a type of training he made up for himself. Losing focus on a bike was far more dangerous than in a car. So to keep his concentration while also observing and listening ended up causing him to expand a lot more brain power. The reward seemed to be worth it though. By the time he parked the bike and shut off the ignition, he was able to have one part of his mind focus on that while the other part was scanning the surroundings with his hearing.


    He started to wondering if this was kind of like echolocation. He could practically build a 3D image in his mind based solely on the sounds he heard.


    Pulling the key out, he looked at them somewhat absentmindedly. Two keys, one for his bike, one for his apartment. It felt strange. He was only 14 and yet he already had his own ce and his own ride. He didn''t know for sure. but he felt like there probably wouldn''t be a lot of 14 year olds who couldpare with him on this.


    Since he had parked on the far side of the lot, away from the entrance, he had to walk along the walkway for the lower apartments. As he was passing by Joey''s apartment, he was still using his hearing and building the 3D image. It was like everything was nk outside of the circle radius until he got within range. If you could imagine exploring and mapping terrain inside of a game, it would be somewhat simr.


    He paused for a moment as his mental image came into focus. He could practically see the inside of Joey''s apartment and what he noticed disgusted him. The ce was a mess with trash everywhere, practically piled up with flies buzzing around. The area around hisputer was the only open area in the ce. Focusing more, he could tell Joey was in his bedroom.


    He also noticed he wasn''t alone.


    If something didn''t make a noise and wasn''t close, it wouldn''te into Laz''s mental image but luckily, he had his eyes as well.


    He focused his heat sensing vision at Joey''s ce and was able to tell a few things.


    The first thing he noticed was that it was much warmer inside than it was outside.


    The second thing he noticed was there was arge, roundish heat signature that must have been Joey, standing in his bed room and moving around like crazy.


    The final thing he noticed was there was another heat signature that was many times smaller than Joey that seemed to be in a horizontal position in the bed room as well.


    ''What the?'' Laz found this to be somewhat odd. He didn''t think this guy would have friends, much less a girlfriend.


    Laz slowed his breathing and stopped walking, slowing expanding out his hearing sense while closing his eyes.


    "Please... please... stop.... let me go. I won''t tell anyone, I swear. Please....".


    "Oh ho, sorry my little baby. Your not going anywhere till daddy here is finished with you. Even after 3 days, you''re still not begging me by calling me daddy, huh? I knew you were a feisty one when I grabbed you, but this has just been.... oh so good."


    "I don''t want to die... I''ve been good... so.. please daddy... let me go..."


    "Finally, HA HA HA, FINALLY," Joey''s breathing wasbored at this point, like he had be overly excited and his body couldn''t handle it. He started taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.


    "Well now, daddy seems to be a little happy, but you''re asking to go still. I haven''t trained you enough it seems. Well, there is still time. There is plenty of time."


    "No.... no, no more, not that."


    The girl''s weak voice cut out and Laz could vaguely make out that she had been gagged with something due to the muffledness of her voice.


    Smack Smack Smack


    There were twoyers of a smacking noiseing from the apartment now. One sounded sharp and intense and was usually apanied by painful groans. The other smacking sounded like two wet sponges being mmed together repeatedly.


    Laz may have been a virgin, but he''d watched enough porn to know what that sound was.


    ''The mother fucker is raping someone in his apartment?'' Laz asked himself. From what he knew, Joey was an asshole in the worst kind of ways, but this was a new low. And if that wasn''t the worst of it, it also sounded like he was beating the shit out of her at the same time.


    Laz''s first thought was to just walk away like he had heard nothing. His years of being air towards the world was the first instinct that came to mind, but it wasn''t the first instinct he acted on.


    Running back to his apartment, Laz grabbed his cell phone and started dialing 911, but he stopped before he dialed thest 1. His mind had been going at hyper speed since the ride which meant he would act first and thinkter, but it suddenly stopped when the thought of what would happen when the police got here.


    They would want to knock on all the doors and question everyone. His grandpa might be in a bad state today which might get the state involved.


    And then there was Tony whose apartment was probably like a small drug den. Even if nothing happened to Tony, once the police were there, things would get reallyplicated.


    Laz didn''t know what the situation with the girl was either. Were people looking for her? Was Joey noticed at all when he pulled this? Was he going to kill her and do this again?


    ''Well, what the hell am I suppose to do now?'' Laz thought to himself, clearly out of answers.

 Chapter 24: The First Kill

    Chapter 24: The First Kill


    Laz didn''t know what he was doing. He just stood there and watched while this whip like phallus was waving back and forth. It looked like a snake ready to pounce on its pray. His mind was about ready to shut down due to the craziness of the situation


    Joey just stood in the same spot while ring at Laz with a look of ridicule. He was content to just let Little Joey take care of this unwee guest so that he could get back to his y time.


    Tony was frozen in the kitchen, unable to ept the reality that was reality that was outside his tolerance range.


    "He he he, looks like a good meal. If it was a little bigger, I probably wouldn''t be able to eat it in one bite. Stand still and this will be over quicker. It might even be less painful that way," Little Joey mocked as it locked on to its target.


    Little Joey opened his grotesque ''mouth'' widened and erged it till it was as big across as Laz was. It looked like a giant mouth attached to a tube. If this was any normal creature, there would be no way it could actually fit Laz into it. But it seemed like it was going to be able to function like a giant python and swallow Laz in one gulp before breaking down his body.


    Laz''s brain finally settled on a thought, ''there is no way in hell I''m going to be killed by some guy''s monster dong." It wasn''t the most helpful thought his brain could have had, but at least it finally settled down.


    Laz took one more step back and realized that in a couple more steps, his back would be against the door. That wasn''t a ce he wanted to be. After the gun jog his Grandpa Bill put him through, he knew that in a situation that was constantly changing, he needed to stay mobile.


    Stopping his retreat, Laz firmly set his feet on the floor and started focus on the creature in front of him. He needed to see its move before it happened so that he could dodge it and try to think of a way out of here.


    He hadpletely forgotten about Tony in the kitchen while faced with this demonic trouser snake.


    Little Joey stopped swinging after his mouth had reached a good size and started following Laz''s movements, looking for an opening. He didn''t know why, but he sensed a faint trace of danger from the tiny human standing in front of it, especially when it started to firm itself up and focus.


    The change was simr to how a Lion could be grooming itself andzing about, but all the sudden crouch low and bare it''s fangs, ready to attack once it noticed it''s prey. Little Joey didn''t like this feeling.


    It decided it would be best to eliminate Laz as fast as possible. It''s head mouth suddenly stopped moving and snapped forward, lunging for Laz. Laz who had taken a firm stance, bent his left leg and dropped into a crouch to avoid the attack.


    Little Joey''s attack zipped right by and almost collided with the wall before he came to a stop, confused as to what to do now that it''s attack had missed. Although Little Joey had the instinct of how to move and fight, it didn''t have experience with doing so since it was so young. Although it was momentarily confused, Little Joey would recover quick since that''s how instinct works.


    Big Joey, noticing it''s mistake decided to yell out, "How did you miss? He''s right there. Just lean to the side and bite him to death. No need to make it so shy."


    Although Big Joey and Little Joey were connected, they didn''t share the same brain and therefore didn''t know what each other was thinking withoutmunication.


    Laz noticed it''s mistake along with it''s confusion and figured now was the time to act. He sprung up from his crouched position andtched on the the portion of Little Joey behind his head with his right hand while his left grabbed on farther down to prevent him from swinging around freely, the same way someone would handle a snake.


    Little Joey was furious and started to swing around, trying to get his head around to bite this pest. Laz wasn''t going to let go and now that he had dragged down the swinging dong, he noticed Tony staring nkly in the kitchen.


    Laz was thankful he hade into contact with so many weird things in the past few days that at least he could get past the shock and take action. This also must have been what both his grandpas had been wanting for him as well.


    Tony, despite seeing a lot of things during his time on earth, just couldn''t process this. A man''s penis was talking, had grown several meters and even had a mouth full of teeth. Being ignored also didn''t help him to wake up any faster as he just looked on like an unrted bystander.


    "WOULD YOU FUCKING SHOOT HIM ALREADY?" Laz screamed out while trying to pin the massive head mouth under his knee to get more control over it. There were several times it had almost lifted him straight off the floor or tipped him over, but thanks to his unnatural strength, he was able to hang on.


    His blood was burning wildly as he fought, giving him a surge of blood ust. Having never experienced this before, he didn''t feelfortable yielding to it and was able to keep his mind, but the more he fought, the more excited he became..


    Is this what it''s like to be a hero?


    "Ha, trying to distract us with tricks won''t work. The only other person here is my little baby and she''s not helping anyone," Big Joey roared withughter and then spread his palm out in an exaggerated way, showing the ''empty'' apartment. As he was finally motioning towards the kitchen, he finally noticed Tony and froze.


    Little Joey, sensing the change in the other, pried his mouth head around to ''look'' and also saw Tony.


    Being looked at by these two was finally what caused Tony to wake up. He pulled the gun from his back and took aim at Big Joey, knowing that he otherwise risked shooting Laz.


    Without bothering to say and useless words, Tony fired 3 shots at Big Joey, hitting him in the back and side 3 times. Although a little blood flowed out of the wounds, the bullets barely prated the skin.


    "NO WAY!" Tony yelled in disbelief.


    "What? WHAT WHAT WHAT? I''M ALIVE? I''M FUCKING BULLET PROOF!" Joey got excited and roared to the heavens. He had been too slow to move and was innately fearful of guns, but now he was excited beyond belief.


    ''AIM FOR HIS FACE, CLOWN" Laz yelled once more while still struggling.


    Tony took aim again but this time Big Joey reacted, bringing his arms up to block his face. Although he now knew his skin was bullet proof, that didn''t mean his eyes and inside his mouth were. He wasn''t going to take any chances.


    Tony fired round after round towards Joey''s head, trying to get lucky, but his arms blocked most of the bullets.


    "See that? See that? We are unstoppable. Hmm... maybe instead of killing you right away, I should knock you out and then have some fun with you. Big Joey''s wouldn''t let me have fun inside the woman since he wanted to keep her alive, so I couldn''t only do some stuff on the outside. But with you two here, I could do anything I wanted."


    Little Joey''s sick thought made Laz finally lose out to the rushing blood ust. He stood up off of Little Joeys ''neck'' and once again assumed a firm, horse like stance while still holding Little Joey in both hands.


    Breathing deeply, Laz suddenly roared and using every ounce of strength he could muster, pulled his hands in opposite directions.


    Feeling his ''neck'' stretch in an unnatural way, Little Joey was finally rmed and struggled with all his might to get free, but it was already toote.


    Laz''s eyes were glowing a fierce bright red as he stretched with everything he had, causing the skin to rip apart with a sound like tearing paper.


    The door suddenly pounded open and three men tried entered the doorway at the same time but froze in their tracks. All they could see was a kid ripping apart a giant monster snake that wasing from a guys crotch while their boss, Tony, was firing away like crazy at the same guy who was covering his head and screaming.


    "..."

 Chapter 36: Women Trouble

    Chapter 36: Women Trouble


    Although Laz liked to believe that some things were coincidence, he didn''t feel as though this was.


    Malene walked right up to the counter and smiled at him. He noticed upon closer view just how pretty this girl was. Although he had seen a couple beautiful mature women including Demi and his home room teacher, and a few beautiful young women like Kennedy, this girl was in a ss all on her own.


    Her hazel eyes were shinning in the store''s light and he couldn''t help but be drawn to them. Although she didn''t say anything at first, Laz knew that she had things on her mind. Although his blood was running a bit hard, he kept his cool and waited.


    "Hi, I''m here for my order," was all she said. Her bright, pink lips gave out a fatal attraction that screamed innocence and splendor. Although it was obvious her body wasn''t done developing just yet, her chest already had a healthy curve to it that was quite prominent through the white shirt despite the jacket. If Kennedy was described as firey hot, then Malene would be called pure enchantment.


    "Sure, what''s your phone number?" Laz had done this enough to not lose his cool no matter what. Since names can be confusing, they always did everything based on phone numbers.


    "Excuse me?" Malene''s expression turned a little less friendly at this moment as she looked at him. She knew he was the boy from her ss and felt that feeling inside that he was like her. Although this didn''t immediately put her on guard, she was never the less a bit wary around him. When she heard him as for her phone number so straightforwardly, she couldn''t help but think he had some sort of intention for her.


    There were reasons her family moved here all of the sudden, but Laz had no idea about any of that.


    "The number from which the order was ced? We keep track of orders by phone numbers," Laz smiled back in response, a bit warmer. The fact that she was wary of him proved that she knew who he was. He wasn''t looking to make friends with others like him as the Joey incident was still fresh in his mind. The reason he turned warmer was because it seemed like he didn''t have to worry about her.


    "Oh, oh right. Sorry." Malene pulled out her phone to look at a text. She didn''t ce the order, she was just here to pick it up on her way home. Giving the phone number to Laz, she put her phone away while Laz walked to the kitchen door to get Grandpa Chu''s attention.


    After talking with him for a moment, Laz walked back to the counter and began getting a box ready. It seemed like she had ordered quite a bit.


    "It''s almost ready, just one moment. Would you like sauce?"


    "Yes, please. And chopsticks too." Malene replied as she sat down on a nearby seat.


    "Of course! How many sets?" Laz responded while picking a selection based on her order.


    "Just one. My parents like to use silverware, but I think it tastes better with chopsticks." Malene replied, pulling out her phone again to look at it to kill time.


    "So do I," Laz replied without thinking. He was just making small talk with a customer in his own mind, but to Malene it felt like he was hitting on her. She turned her head over to look him with a colder re, but Laz was just assembling the containers that were being passed up from the kitchen without even looking at her.


    She put her head down as she realized she was over thinking it. She hadmented about why she like chopsticks first without a reason and he just replied back. ''Maybe I''m too jumpy because of this feeling of threat from him,'' she thought to herself.


    That''s right. Although Laz didn''t know it, those who could experience the vibe got different feelings from different people and the feeling Laz gave off was one of a huge threat, but not danger. It was likeing face to face with a dangerous animal at the zoo. Although you knew you were safe, that didn''t mean that the animal itself wasn''t a threat. It just couldn''t do anything to you.


    Malene had experience with many more of the people like them since she came from a big city, whereas Laz had onlye across a total of four. She could read people much better because of that.


    "Alright. You are all set. How would you like to pay?" Laz said, bringing the box over to the checkout counter.


    "Uh, do you ept electronic payments?" Malene asked a bit hesitantly.


    "Like credit or debit cards?" Laz responded back while still smiling. Although his face was slightly hidden, his blue eyes were looking straight at the girl in front of him as he lifted his head fully for the first time..


    "Uh, like google pay.." Malene just realized that in this somewhat remote town, small stores might not ept these modes of payment yet. She also seemed a bit taken back as she looked into those deep blue eyes of his. It was hard to tell unless you were looking straight at him, but his eyes were captivating.


    Laz knew what she was asking to begin with, but since he had already written her off as not being trouble, he couldn''t help but slip into his rather yful mood.


    "Is that a type of credit card?" Laz asked as he stared at her without blinking, making her feel a bit ufortable.


    "No, it''s my phone..." Malene held her phone up as though she was trying to show him something and she seemed to be a bit nervous. It felt kind of ufortable to have ordered food and not be able to pay.


    "Your phone can pay for food? I don''t think that will fit in the card swipe." Laz had the feeling of corning a small animal in the forest and almost started to feel like a bad guy. Almost.


    "No. No.. It''s an application on my smart phone that can be used to for things by connecting to a digital wallet that stores information.." Malene''s voiced trailed off as she looked at the rather brand new credit card reader in front of her on the counter. Since she had been looking at Laz''s eyes, she didn''t notice how new it was a first, or that that it had the digital screen to pay by digital wallet.


    Bringing her head up quickly, she gave Laz a death re that would have been sure to kill him had his skin not been as thick as it was.


    "Oh, that. Sure thing, just use the reader in front of you." ''They have these things on the vending machines at our school even, obviously we will have them as well. Still, seems like she''s a bit less mature than I originally thought,'' Laz thought to himself while watching her pay for the food.


    Grandpa Chu had walked up out of the kitchen just in time to see Malene pay and Laz slide the box over to her.


    "Boy! Go be a gentleman and help her out to her car," his grandpa scolded after noticing Laz intended to leave her to do it herself.


    "Alright," Laz knew he probably should have done it that way to begin with, but he was feeling almost a bit offended at her thinking they were that far out in the middle of nowhere. Laz had lived in many different ces as well so he knew what remote was. This was far from that.


    Taking the box off the counter, Laz walked around and stood there for a moment,pletely indifferent to her death re.


    Malene finally turned around with a "hmpf" and made her way to the door. Even though she was somewhat upset at his rude behavior, she still ended up holding the door for him since she felt that with the full box, it would be hard for him to open.


    ''I guess this girl isn''t all bad huh?'' Laz thought as he walked out the door.


    Malene gestured to a parked ck Lincoln in one of the parking spaces. As they approached the car, the trunk popped open and Laz set the box down gently. When he was about to reach up to close the trunk, Malene put her hand in front of him and told him to back up. Doing so, Laz was momentarily surprised to see the trunk could close itself as well.


    "Oh," was his only response. he couldn''t see inside the car since the windows were darkened so he didn''t know that he was being watched by Malene''s mom the whole time.


    "Thank you and pleasee again," Laz recited as he made his way back to the shop.


    "Wait a sec," Malene called after him, walking towards him slowing as though she was reaching for something.


    Laz didn''t feel anything off about her behavior as it looked like she was going to give him a tip, so he just stood there facing her without moving.


    Malene brought her hand out of her pocket as though she was holding something and brought it forward as though to hand something to Laz. In the next moment, his sight narrowed quickly to focus on her hand as he sensed a big threating from it.


    Despite his quick reactions and enhanced senses, he wasn''t able to make out what it was. The only thing he could tell was that it smelled like metal that shot out from her hand and scraped against his cheek before quickly disappearing.


    With practically no pain, all Laz felt was a small trickle, like a water drop ran down his cheek.


    "Don''t get close to me. Don''te find me. If you say anything about me to anyone, I will kill you before you even figure out how you died."


    Malene turned around and walked back towards the car, opened the door and sat down before pulling the door closed while Laz just stood there in shock.


    ''What the hell was that?'' He thought to himself while reaching up to his check. After touching the wet spot, he brought his hand back down and realized it was a drop of blood. She had cut his cheek with a de so fine, it didn''t even leave a scratch, just a single drop of blood.


    For the first time since he had seen this girl, he realized that she was an entirely different kind of trouble.


    ''God damn it,'' he thought.

 Chapter 38: Senses

    Chapter 38: Senses


    While Grandpa Crowe wasying in a bed surrounded by ice, Laz walked over to the barn with Bill,pletely oblivious to what was happening. Although it might sound strange, Laz knew that even if his grandpa was here, he might not be in the right mind to know of Laz so he thought nothing of it.


    Bill wasn''t going to tell him anything either as he knew that this young man already had a lot on his mind and didn''t want to add something else. Although Bill was worried, he was able to see ahead enough to know that his best friend of many years wasn''t going to die just yet. Therefore, he found no reason to worry Laz.


    "Alright Laz, your going to be working on just the bag today."


    "What''s up old man? Not nning on chasing me around the woods today?" Laz remarked somewhat sarcasticly.


    "Did you want me to? Cause I''ve got a new type of soft stic bullet I''ve been working on that hurts a hell of a lot more than a rubber bullet and might even break some bones."


    "Uh.. no, no. On second thought, the bag is fine."


    "Good choice. As you can see it''s the same bag from before, with a slight change. See that paint on it?"


    Laz looked over at the heavy bag and noticed there was red paint on several portions of the bag. including spots at head level, stomach and crotch level, and at various parts that could be considered where joints would be. With a questioning look on his face, Laz turned towards Bill.


    "Ohe on, haven''t you watch any movies? There are certain spots on a human body that hurt a hell of a lot more when hit than others. Take for instance a guys chest. You think your going to punch through the muscle and bone and shatter them with your bare hands? You''re dreaming. So instead of wasting time doing that, learn to punch at these areas which can be considered weak points."


    Pointing towards the spot on the ''crotch'' of the bag, Bill looked at Laz seriously and said, "You might feel bad about hitting a guy here, but let me tell you something. When ites to a real fight, fuck your feelings. You need to take a guy out as fast as possible and right here is a way to do it. Unless his nuts are made of steel, if you hit him here, it''s going to take him down. And that is exactly what you want. So for today until tomorrow, I want you to keep hitting these spots until the pant has beenpletely taken off the bag. Hit, kick, chop, palm it for all I care, but don''t try to cheat. Just use various parts of your body to figure out how to hit something. Just because you''ve seen someone give a headbutt on TV doesn''t mean its a great idea to actually do it. Although it may work, you will probably leave yourself a bit dizzy as well. Questions? NO? Good, get started and don''t let me see you stop."


    Bill walked away and headed back to the house, leaving Laz in the hot barn by himself. The muggy air in the barn with no breeze made it kind of hard for Laz to breath and now Bill wanted him to just keep hitting this thing all day and night? Laz shook his head and just thought that the running had helped a lot so he might as well just trust that this would serve some purpose.


    Looking at the bag, Laz realized that after what had happened thest time, Bill had hung three new chains from the rafters to hold it in ce. The course leather or vinyl that it was made from was rough and seemed like it was stuffed a lot fuller than before. Taking a deep breath, Laz could smell the barn all around him. Even though it was a barn, there was no smell of animals here. Just the smell of the dead wood, the somewhat stale hay and even the slight traces of metal from the new chains.


    Being alone in a hot area and not wanting to move caused Laz to focus more on what everything was around him, allowing him to enter a strange, trance like state. He moved slight to rub his hand on the bag, feeling the course texture and then to the chains, enjoying the cool, smooth feel of the metal. He then touched the wood of one of the supports and even bent down to rub some hay between his fingers, then some sand from below the bag. If someone were looking at him right now, they would notice his eyes were closed while he spent time using his sense of smell and touch to learn about the things around him.


    As he focused more and more, he started noticing that he could perceive what was in the area, everyst bit of it. It was very different from using just his hearing to ''build'' a 3D image in his head. Instead, he was able to tell everything that was there, even if it wasn''t making a noise. He could notice some ants, crawling up the side of the wall outside. He could tell where a bird was sitting aroundzily in the shade, just on top of one of the rafters. He would also detect what looked like sound wavesing from somewhere outside of the barn. Although he wondered what it was, it was outside of his range.


    Although it didn''t reach far, maybe about 10 meters, Laz knew everything that was in range of him at that moment. He seemed to reach an equilibrium where all of his senses were in tune and able tobine together, allowing him a type of sixth sense.


    Amazed at the little things happening around him, he was able to notice some soundsing from just outside his range. Focusing on it a bit more, he was able to tell that Bill was standing at the door holding what looked to be a hose while smiling.


    "Oh, shit." But it was toote to stop it.


    Laz had been just standing there in a daze with his eyes closed so as far as Bill knew, that was all he was doing. Turning on the high pressured water sprayer that he had grabbed from outside and started up, he sprayed Laz right in the stomach, causing him to be unable to take a breath and fall over.


    "So you needed to cool off eh? You should have just asked. I am more than happy to help." Yelling over the sound of the water, Bill drenched Laz with the hose for a good minute before he set it down as though nothing happened and walked away again.


    Laz stood there drenched as he regained his breath for a few moments before walking over to the bag. He squared his feet like he had been taught and started punching the spots on the bag again and again.


    After the first 15 minutes, the cold water he was soaked with had given way to his own hot, salty sweat pouring down from his head..


    After the next 15 minutes, his knuckles had started bleeding from the constant friction with the bag, so he switched it up to using the sides of his hands and palms. He even started kicking the sides of the bag more since he noticed that it was easy to hit the front spots but not the sides.


    After a full hour had gone by, Laz was soaked now in only his sweat while his hands, arms, legs and feet were throbbing in pain.


    On top of all this, Laz realized the paint hadn''t faded or peeled in the least. It looked the same that it did when he started hitting it.


    It was at this moment that he couldn''t help but extend his new sixth sense to try to figure out the problem with the paint.


    ''This couldn''t be an impossible situation right?'' Was Laz''s only thought about all this. He didn''t think Bill would set him up like that so he could only try to figure out what the deal was with the paint.


    Focusing himself, he was able to understand the way the paint adhered to the bag. It was a strong paint to begin with, but it had''t bonded fully to the bag. The reason it wasn''ting off had to do with Laz.


    He had been hitting the bag too lightly, not wanting to sprain his wrist again or break the bag. Because of his misgivings, he had only been hitting the bag with a strength simr to how guys would hit each other while y fighting. Enough to feel it, but not enough to hurt.


    The throbbing Laz had felt was mostly due to the friction and the constant contact, over and over again. He had basically been wasting his time. Clenching his first a few times, he found that although it hurt, it was the skin and not the muscle which hurt. He punched the bag a few times, using more force behind the punch, enough to cause the bag to dent in a bit. This caused a bit of the pant to start tearing a little.


    Seeing this, Laz knew he had found the right answer. He needed to adjust his force to use it in the most efficient way possible.


    Trying to focus on the problem though had left Laz open for another problem. Before he even realized it, he was hit in the back with the high pressure water spray and sudden fell forward. Holding himself up on his hands and feet, he could feel the water sprayer continue to hit him, leaving bruises where it met direct skin.


    "Thought you could use a drinkd. It is hot out here after all," Bill exined while spraying him down. This time, he kept sting him for almost 3 minutes before he stopped. He then walked over to where Laz was on the floor and set a bottle of water on the floor before walking away again, back towards the house.


    Laz just stayed there for a good 5 minutes while his body was trying to adjust. To be hit with cold water for that long after he had been so hot and sweaty, Laz felt more than a bit beat at this moment. He grabbed the bottle of water and took a few mouthfuls before setting it back down again.


    He stood up and stretched out his back while widening out his sense. He had a feeling that Bill was going to keep doing this all day.


    At the moment, Bill was inside watching a monitor next to Grandpa Crowe. The picture on the monitor was of Laz who had just taken the drink and went back to hitting the bag, over and over again.


    "He''s pretty tough for a kid his age."


    "Of course, he is my Grandson after all."


    "You going to tell him whats happening?"


    "Soon, or maybe I will just die before then and save myself the trouble."


    "You really want to leave that kid on his own?" Bill asked, a bit mad at his friends words.


    "I may not have a choice. Pretty soon, he will only have himself to rely on. Isn''t that what you told me?"

 Chapter 41: Strange Little Plant

    Chapter 41: Strange Little nt


    Laz''s coughing was drowned out by the old men''sughter. He hadn''t spent a lot of time with his grandmother before she left the world, but he still remembered her as a constantly smiling face when he was young. Knowing that these two old men were telling him that the smiling face from his youth was able to crush beer cans would definitely be something he couldn''t forget.


    Then again, he started this so he should have expected it. After he finished eating, he walked over to the barn to start hitting the bag again.


    Bill yelled out, "I didn''t tell you to go back there did I?"


    "Nope."


    "Oh. Ok. Yeah, go do that. Nothing beats hardening the fists. You would be surprised how weak a normal persons fist is." Bill seemed to wave him off a bit, but it was true never the less. Hitting the bag over and over again would be the best way for Laz to learn how to control his strength. He needed the practice with that before he ever had to hit a human.


    The results could be horrible otherwise. Neither Bill nor Grandpa Crowe wanted Laz to identally kill someone the first time he hit them. And with his strength, that could happen.


    Laz spent the rest of the day practicing punching and kicking the heavy leather bag. The constant impact over and over again made his bones practically crack from the strain, but he kept going.


    He didn''t want to admit it, but he was really worried. He knew that his Grandpa was sick but after seeing him out here, he knew he didn''t have much time left. As Laz''s ability grew, he felt the strain that such things put on his body. He knew his grandfather couldn''t survive such strain for long. In the end, the old man, no matter how tough he was, was already nearing the end of his life. This was just making it happen faster.


    Laz couldn''t do anything but wait and hit this punching bag, again and again. He knew he would be powerless when the time came, but his young mind didn''t think this day woulde so soon. Like all things, he thought he could face it when the time came and he would be able to handle it. But he was realizing that he wasn''t ready. Not by a long shot. Even if his parents were out there somewhere, he hadn''t seen them in a few years and hadn''t heard from them. He didn''t consider them as being a part of his future equation.


    Life was a weird creature. Just when you think you have things figured out, it likes making things chaotic again. No reason, just because.


    Laz couldn''t help but just stop for a minute and zone out. Things were moving too fast, far too fast. He was getting lost and he didn''t like it. For a 14 year old boy, this wasn''t something he knew how to deal with. Even if he wanted to get angry with someone, who could he get angry with. Thinking about some of those kids in his ss, he couldn''t help but feel somewhat jealous. They liked toin about their parents or talk about how they got into a fight with them over something stupid. ''Parents never understand,'' they would say, or ''I wish I could live by myself.'' These were only things that people who had never experienced hardship would say.


    Laz knew he was starting to lose himself. It had happened once before. This time was different. He walked over to the chest where his jacket, backpack, helmet and cellphone ended up. He normally kept them there when he wasn''t in the loft.


    Grabbing his cell phone, he walked over to a cab and opened it up, revealing an old, somewhat worn out radio. Grabbing the custom cut cord, Laz was able to plug it into his head phone jack and ignoring the message indicator, he set it up to y.


    He walked over to the to the bag and stood silently in front of it, clearing his mind of all thoughts. The day was somewhat gray and looked ready to rain at any moment. It had only cooled off slightly from the day before, but the amount of moisture in the air made it clear that a storm wasing.


    The weather reflected Laz''s thoughts perfectly.


    Laz stood still and just let his senses spread out, not focusing on anything in particr as the music started ying.


    ~I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And I fear no evil ''cause I''m blind to it all. And my mind, my gun theyfort me. Because I know I''ll kill my enemies when theye.~


    ~Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell on this earth for ever more.~


    ~ Sad I walk beside the still waters and they restore my soul. But I can''t walk on the path of the right because I''m wrong.~


    ~No I can''t walk.~


    ~On the path of the right.~.


    ~''Cause I''m wrong.~


    Music has a power over the soul. It''s something that has been recorded many times over the years. As the song repeated, Laz walked over to the heavy bag again and began hitting it. He lost track of time as the music filled his mind.


    He was hurt and in pain but he wouldn''t stop. He couldn''t. The moment he did was the moment he had to face the truth. He would do anything he could to not have to do it at this moment.


    Unknown to Laz, his grandpa and Bill hade to the door of the barn and silently watched the young man who''s knuckles had long gone bloody. They didn''t say anything. Taking a quick look at each other, they both sighed and walked towards the house after Bill set a bandage wrap on the chest. Sometimes a man had to figure things out for himself, no matter how painful it was. No matter how much it hurt.


    Growing up was painful, but you can''t stay a kid forever.


    Laz had no idea how much time had passed when he finally stopped. He neither noticed the pain in his hands nor the blood spots he had left on the bag. He stopped only once the music stopped. It had yed the same song over and over again until it killed the battery.


    It was only once he heard the lightning boom overhead that he awoke from his trance. He didn''t feel any better. He actually felt worse. But he could endure it now. His soul was far stronger than before he began, but he couldn''t know that.


    It only took a few moments before he noticed his hands bleeding and dripping into the sand on the barn floor. Walking over to the old hand crank water pump, Laz gave it a few good pumps until the water came out. Putting his hands under the bitter cold water, he washed them as best he could then walked over to the chest to find a towel.


    He noticed the bandage wrap quickly and knew that he had been watched. Laz couldn''t help but feel grateful in his heart. He dried his hands and wrapped them up as best he could. Flexing his hands to test the tightness, he went over to grab his phone then closed up the cab. Grabbing his jacket, backpack and helmet, he made his way to the door.


    Tacked up on the door was a simple note that read, "See you next weekend."


    Laz put on his eagle helmet and started up the bike. Looking towards the sky, he wondered if he could get home before it started to pour. He cranked the gas while popping the clutch and took off down the long driveway, making his way back home.


    As he flew down the county highway keeping an eye out for passing vehicles, he finally found some peace in his thoughts. The wind was refreshing while the cool moist air felt cleansing.


    It didn''t take long before he made his way back home to "The Shack." It had started to get a little dark but it wasn''t yette. Laz turned off his bike, took off his helmet and started walking for the stairs. Although he wasn''t all there at this moment, his perception was still spread out.


    Although it was a brief moment, he noticed a sh of light out of the corner of his eye. It looked somewhat green, like fireflies in the night. The strange part though was that they seemed to be moving upward and outward like a sparkler. The strange movement was what caused Laz to walk over and take a look.


    The back of the apartmentplex bordered a wooded area that was rather young in age. The trees were still young and thin but gave off a strong sense of life. Even the underbrush looked healthy but didn''t be overgrown. Laz had never really notice before how healthy the area was.


    Normally he wouldn''t look twice, but the light that caught his eye seemed to stir a memory in him. He just wasn''t sure what it was.


    Walking into the brush, it didn''t take long before he came to a small clearing. Surrounding the clearing was a steady line of the tallest trees in the area, but even then, they weren''t veryrge. This area was originally a park that the town lost the money to maintain. Because of that, they sold off patches of it to the surrounding households to use as they pleased. His grandpa had originally bought this area to use for something, but then lost either the money of the interest to follow through with it.


    Due to that, he just let the area grow over and return to nature, or so he said.


    As Laz walked into the clearing, he was somewhat stunned. He had yed back here when he was a kid, but he didn''t remember it looking like this.


    The grass was green and lush and there was even a stone bench next to a small pond. Near the pond was were the light wasing from.


    Laz walked a bit closer and circled around the bench before he caught sight of it. The nt was about waist height to Laz with rather big, bright green leaves that stretched almost 2 feet. They seemed to form a crown around a bright purple flower that was unlike anything Laz had ever seen.


    The flower looked like a big bowl that was glowing with a sort of nectar inside of it. The light that Laz had noticed wasing from this flower, or more specifically, the nectar.


    Laz couldn''t help but stand there in amazement as it finally dawned on him where he had seen these lights before. They were the same energy like light flecks that he saw after he had killed Joey.

 Chapter 48: Work To Do

    Chapter 48: Work To Do


    After gym ss ended, everyone went to their next sses and news about what happened spread around the school. Of course, the story became more and more exaggerated until the version of Tommy transforming into a monster and trying to kill everyone in the gym became the normal version. For the people who actually witnessed it though, they still spread the original version.


    At some point, the exaggerated story calmed down and the real truth was out. Everyone just felt like Tommy overdosed on something he shouldn''t of and that is what caused him to go nuts. As it was, by the end of the day, all final sses had posted memos about the dangers of drug use and how it would impact your lives and destroy your future and yada yada yada...


    Since the school was sticking to this story, it made the true story seem much more believable. As such, by the time everyone left, even though people were still talking about things, it had calmed down.


    Laz was on his way out the back doors to take his walk over to the restaurant when he was stopped by Kennedy. She had a bit of a smile on her face and seemed rather cheerful. Obviously, she was still rather amused by the events of the day despite there being danger involved.


    As she stood in front of Laz, she arched her back a bit and made her already proud chest stand out more as though she was trying to seduce the young man. Although Laz had gotten a little used to her antics, he wasn''t a stone and could''t help but take a deep breath to try to calm himself. This dark golden hair beauty was really too stunning, especially with that older woman vibe she gave off.


    "Yes?" Laz asked, after he regained hisposure.


    "You''re going to help me today. I need someone to be on the lookout for me and with your weird sense thingy, you are the best candidate for the job," she answered with a bit of a sing song voice.


    "Ok. But I still have my work over at the restaurant first."


    "That''s fine. I will send you the directions shortly. Once you get there, just go some ce quiet and hidden and keep a look out for me. I''m not worried about cops, but some guys seem to think a girl like me would be easy to bully and take advantage of. So, you will be my protector this time. And my rm system."


    With that, Kennedy didn''t say anything else and walked off back towards the school while Laz continued on his way.


    Neither of them seemed to notice that they were being watched. Although their stalker didn''t hear what they said, she seemed to be rather reluctant to get closer. She turned around and walked off in a separate direction, Her dark red hair with the bright pink tips was especially eye catching in the sun light.


    After Laz got to the Golden Panda, his phone beeped and there was just a simple text message on it that read


    :Alley between Coffee Craze and Pool Hall, 8 pm:


    Thinking about it, Laz figured out that when kids wanted to hang out in this town, they usually went to the pool hall or the coffee shop. The coffee shop was unique in that it was one of the most recently remodeled buildings in town. It was a coffee shop, but also had inte ess and gaming stations set up. This allowed for groups to actually have a chance to mingle while doing something which was very important in a small town with no chain stores or chain restaurants.


    As such, a ce like this was considered a gem by the town that everyone wanted to hang out at. The pool hall was a bit older of a ce and did have a bar that opened at 8pm. As such, kids could go their to y pool and use the old fashioned arcade machines up until 8pm. Between the two ces, it contained the best enjoyment that people could find in town outside of their own homes.


    Laz had never really been to either ce before since he wasn''t interested in spending time at ces by himself. Although he might have taken an interest in the various environments, he wasn''t exactly thick enough to want to go to a group hang out spot alone. It was just asking for embarrassment.


    Most nights, those ces would be packed even if school was in session. It wasn''t just a weekend spot. Their were other ces like the town gym where some people would go, but that was usually limited to the adut crowd.


    Although Laz wouldn''t exactly be there for enjoyment, he still found it pleasant to have an excuse to go.


    Monday thru Wednesday nights were special. Since the bar didn''t open, kids could hang out until 10 pm. As such, Laz was guessing who would be the target crowd.


    Although work was a bit slow tonight, there were still some orders to be done and Laz stayed busy. Uncle and Grandpa Chu were still the same as always except Uncle Chu was wearing long sleeves today and a funny bracelet. The only reason this came as a bit of a surprise to Laz was since Uncle Chu did the cooking, he liked to not have to worry about sleeves or essories as they might get in the way.


    It also wasn''t cold enough for them in Laz''s opinion, but who knows? People change as they get older, or so he thought. Since it was going to start getting cold soon and the nights would actually be freezing, Uncle Chu was starting to use his car for deliveries and Laz''s little scooter was parked away for the winter..


    Even if he was a little dejected about this, he still had his own bike to ride so he was fine with it.


    Although time seemed to drag, It was almost 7 pm and Laz was getting ready to leave before his Grandpa Chu came out from the back and sat at one of the bar stools on the front counter.


    "Hey Little Laz, let me ask you something," Grandpa Chu said as he turned towards Laz who was getting on his coat.


    "What is it Grandpa Chu?" Laz responded, wondering what seemed different about him today.


    "You see the news with all of the crazies that are changing?"


    "Yeah, what about it?"


    "What do you think about them?" Grandpa Chu seemed to have a strange light in his eye at this point. Even though Laz could tell something was off, he simply didn''t know what it was.


    "Everyone is still human, afterall. No matter what we look like, we alle from the same right?" Laz was a bit confused by this. He was going to say we alle from the same ce, but when he thought about how his Grandpa Chu had immigrated, he decided it was better to say.


    His thoughts on this were more concrete ever since he came into contact with that crazed she-devil. It didn''t matter how sexy a person was if they just wanted of own you or off you. You just wouldn''t have a good life.


    "Yeah, you are right about that. You know, even if you kids don''t understand, for us older folks, we could never trust people that came from ces different than us. It''s caused all sorts of conflicts over the years. Yet now, the world seems to be growing smaller and smaller with weird changes happening everyday. I just think people who still feel that way about others can only be considered small minded. Besides, your just as likely to be stabbed in the back by a good friend as you are aplete stranger. The difference is, you never see the friending."


    Laz was a bit shocked by his Grandpa Chu''s words and he felt like their was far more to them than he knew.


    "If you want to know more about this ''monsters'' Grandpa Chu, you should go find Old Bill outside of town. He seemed to know more than he''s telling anyone." Laz didn''t know why he responded like this, but it seemed to have made Grandpa Chu perk up a bit.


    "Old Bill? Really? Hmm... ok. Yes. HA HA, Thanks Little Laz." The more Grandpa Chu thought about it, the better he seemed to feel about what he was being told. Although Laz didn''t know it and wasn''t doing it intentionally, his Grandpa Chu seemed to figure out several things from what was and wasn''t said.


    Seeing his Grandpa Chu cheer up, Laz waved by and called out a good bye to his Uncle in the kitchen before he took off.


    Getting up from the stool after watching Laz disappear, the old man walked back to the kitchen to find his son sitting down at a table.


    "Seems like you were right, he seems to know some things," the old manmented before sitting down.


    The younger man looked over at his father and simply said, "That''s because he is like me. I knew I felt it the other day and that''s why I tried to avoid him. I don''t know where you got this bracelet from, but it seems to hide me from him sensing me."


    "Wee from a people with a long history. Even if you kids think some of these old beliefs are nonsense, you should at least consider there might be some truth to them as well."


    "If it was before dad, I would say your nuts. But for now all I can say is I''m d you were right." Uncle Chu had a thankful look in his eyes as he looked at his older father.


    "It''s fine, it''s fine. Looks like we need to get in contact with Bill. It seems like there are more than a few people in this town who are starting to change."


    "Is there a reason? For the number of people in this town, it seems a bit weird," the younger man couldn''t help but ask.


    "I don''t know."


    "You can''t read the stars or divine something?"


    "What the hell do you think I am boy? Forget it. I will go call Bill. You just tend to the store. We don''t have anything to worry about as long as you have the bracelet and can wear long sleeves." The old man replied with a huff while getting up and making his way over to the phone.


    "Ok dad. Thanks."


    Laz had made his way out and was walking down the street. It was about a 15 minute walk from the restaurant to the meeting ce but Laz was still going to be early so he didn''t rush.


    As he rounded the corner, he saw a girl learning up against the building as though waiting for something.


    Her knee high ck boots perfectly ented her white stripped leggings that disappeared under a somewhat loose hanging blue skirt. Although she wasn''t filled up much in her chest, she still showed a budding amount of potential pushing against the white cotton shirt with the ck leather jacket covering only the sides and her arms.


    Her soft pink lips paled inparison to the bright pink tips of her dark red hair, but that didn''t detract from their apparent softness.


    Laz had been distracted before due to thinking over his conversation with Grandpa Chu so he didn''t realize that this girl was right around the corner.


    Had he been paying closer attention, he would have noticed that she too had a somewhat special bracelet on her wrist, but for now, he didn''t do anything other than stop in his tracks.


    "It''s you."

 Chapter 56: Looking Like An Idiot In One Easy Step

    Chapter 56: Looking Like An Idiot In One Easy Step


    The old man came down the stairs and looked towards the door that Laz had just escaped out of. His son looked over at him and was only able to sigh. The old man had a smile on his face when he turned to him.


    "You don''t think he got it, do you?"


    "You''ve got the vision, you tell me?" Steven replied.


    "He''s smarter than we give him credit for. Much smarter. And more importantly, that young man knows how to listen. He might not always get it, but he always listens. I guess his parents taught him well in some things," the old man answered with a strange smile on his face.


    "Why don''t you tell him?"


    "He''s not ready to know. It won''t do him a bit of good. What he needs now is growth and time. Sadly, he will have very little of thetter and the former will be forced onto him whether he is ready or not." The old man couldn''t help but sigh at his ''grandson''s'' fate.


    "None of this should have happened. They shouldn''t have returned. Now, everything will be screwed up beyond even what I can see. Pieces and parts, gears and wheels. Everything is driving something else. Choices and chance, my son. I can see so much, but he is somehow hidden. The one person I wish I could help, could see for, and yet all I see is nothing but what is happening right now. Vision is a cruel gift." The old man sighed onest time before the vertical eye on his forehead closed and he walked back up the stairs.


    Steven Chu took onest deep breath before locking the door and making his way up to his own room, his thoughts kept silently to himself.


    As Laz made his way back to his apartment, he couldn''t help but think about everything that happened tonight. From the dealings with Kennedy to the strange meeting with his Grandpa Chu, his mind wouldn''t stop moving. He had listened to the story his Uncle told him and he felt good knowing that even at a time where everyone is told to shoot first and talkter, people can still be reasonable. But as far as applying that to his life? He wasn''t sure he had any real enemies to speak of.


    ''Well, that''s not totally right. I''m sure Tommy wants to kill me at this point. Still though, what the hell happened to him.''


    Not bothering to think to much about it, Laz finally reached the building and was about to go upstairs when the he saw some golden lights out of the corner of his eye.


    Making his way towards them, he realized he was walking the wooded path towards the strange, abandoned park again. Strangely, he only now remembered that he had kind of forgotten about this ce after he left it thest time.


    After all, it wasn''t like he was able to slowly get up and adjust that time. Instead, it kind of pushed itself to the back of his mind as though it wanted him to forget. Despite that, the energy cirction in him was still running on auto pilot, feeling at though he was constantly drinking the most powerful and hateful energy drink, one after another after another.


    It was like he felt full, even when he hadn''t eaten or drank anything for a while. The feeling was too unusual.


    As Laz approached the area, he slowed down to really take in what it was he was looking at. The park was old and overgrown, yet the grass really didn''t grown tall, it was to the tops of his sneakers at most. It didn''t show signs of being cut, just that it didn''t get any bigger.


    As he bent down, he reached out to grab a piece of the grass and tried to pull it from the ground to look at it closer. To his surprise, the grass couldn''t be removed. Interested, Laz bent down and ran his hands along it, almost like he was trying to feel it on his palm while extending his sense out at the same time. Once again surprised, the grass showed an incredible life force along with feeling soft and cool to the touch. It was like brushing against silk, yet with the strength of ker.


    Inspired, Laz took his shoes off and walked over to the stone bench that was in between the glowing golden flower and the icy blue pond. Setting his shoes and socks along with his bag next to the bench, he walked along the grass while probing with his sense, feeling the life and vitality of the area.


    He also noticed many poles and bits of metal sticking out of the ground in various spots. The faded paint and rusted metal added a somewhat apocalyptic feeling the entire area. Looking up, Laz could see only a bit of moon light shinning trough the trees that surrounded the overgrown park. The entire world felt dim and yet brimming with a silent energy.


    Laz was incredibly inspired at this point. Thinking about the ''scroll'' his Grandpa Chu had gifted him, he thought up the pictures in his mind. Knowing, based solely on the web novels he had read, he started trying to feel the energy of the first picture.


    A single step forward, the dragon like arrows of energy pointed forward, but was focused only around his forward leg. A front kick, but only part of a step.


    Taking a deep breath, Laz focus on the energy circling through him like two intertwined circles. Over and over. He closed his eyes and tried to simte sending that energy into his leg. Over and over again, he repeated the same step and felt nothing..


    No movement of the energy, no flow and nothing in the way of dragonsing out.


    Thinking it over, Laz decided to change it up a bit and tried to move the energy while at the same time taking a step forward.


    BAM


    His foot hit the ground and made a loud noise, but that was it. There was no energy involved, other than his immense body strength. Looking down, Laz noticed the grass was just the same as before. Even though earlier, he had smashed concrete with his fall, this time, he wasn''t even able to leave an impression in the soft ground. Focusing again but somewhat confused, Laz stood still and just tried to feel the energy.


    The moon light was dim, but the energying from the nt and the pond were quite illuminating. Looking at the two, Laz could see the tiny motes of light, flying between the two. He remembered when heid there before and passed out, it felt like the light itself was nothing more than an extension of life of the two oddities. Closing his eyes once again, Laz stopped trying to move this invisible and intangible energy and instead, focused on moving himself.


    He wasn''t trying to step forward, he was trying to move forward without stepping. With this thought in mind, the energy seemed to react slightly.


    Laz, encouraged by the reaction, took a single, sliding step forward, without using an ounce of strength. Although the energy reacted, it only fizzled a bit before returning to it''s normal cycle. Not being discouraged in the slightest, Las continued on, over and over again. Moving across the park with his eyes closed, Laz could feel the energy in the forward step moving hard and more fiercely each step he took.


    Laz felt like his mind had entered into a special state where things were getting more and more clear.


    Then, after an untold number of steps, Laz burst through with his full focus and BANG, he kicked a giant, rusted metal spring that was sticking out of the ground.


    His foot felt like it was on fire while he stumbled and he yelled "SON OF A BITCH."


    Getting his footing back, he used his own sense to look at his foot and noticed that it was perfectly fine for the most part, despite how hard he had kick the metal spring. It wasn''t even bleeding. If anything, the part that pissed Laz off the most was that his concentration was broken and he wasn''t sure he could get it back again so soon.


    Walking around a few steps to release his anger, Laz aimed a forward step ''kick'' at a copsed metal slide and without even understanding why, his foot sted into the slide like a 10 ton hammer and sent it flying. It only stopped when it hit a tree on the other side of the park.


    Although it was brief, he noticed a slight light that appeared from his foot that made contact with the thin, sheet metal based slide.


    ''WHAT? Wait wait wait...''


    Laz, taking a deep breath,posed himself pretty quickly as he thought about that feeling.


    Remembering back, he could feel the anger in his broken focus and his sense of loss at being so close and yet stilling up short. Seeing the slide, he didn''t really think but just brought his foot forward. When it made contact, his mind was just thinking about sending the slide flying and his inner energy responded. It had answered his call.


    Taking another moment, Laz focused in on himself and realized that in terms of his inner energy, it seemed somewhat dimmer, but was pulsing while growing brighter with each pulse. It felt like a heart beat.


    Once his energy got back to the strength it was at before, it stopped pulsing almost immediately, but continued to circte.


    ''So the cirction is like the energy within me, waiting to be used. And the pulsing is in its recovering itself,'' Laz thought while paying attention to it.


    ''Wait. Am I seeing things or does it look a slight bit brighter than before?'' Although Laz had the question in his head, he knew he wasn''t going to get the answer from himself.


    He walked back over to his start point, the stone bench and sat down to try to feel his energy again. Even though it was nice he got it to work, it was worth exactly jack if he couldn''t do it when he wanted to.


    While he did this with his eyes closed, he noticed with his sense that a few motes of light wereing into him again. He also discovered for the first time that he didn''t feel full.


    ''This is soooo very weird,'' Laz thought. He didn''t do anything other than observe the energy enter him for a time until it once again stopped. He felt full again, but it wasn''t as stuffed as before when he directly consumed the two liquids.


    Standing up and walking a few steps away, Laz once again focused on the one step, however he kept a good distance away from anything in or on the ground.


    After only a half hour of work, he was able to control the energy to some extent and send it forward through his leg.


    After a few small tests of sess, Laz braced himself on the grass and took on a horse stance. If someone looked at him from a distance, he would have looked like he was about to take on a very serious life or death battle.


    Opening his eyes, Laz''s gaze looked forward and in a slight moment, his eyes glowed a brilliantly bright red. With a step that he was sure would seed, Laz performed the first step of the ''Dragon Fist'' scroll and released his energy out from his leg.


    Of course, had he been more careful about taking an actual step and not just exploding his energy, he probably would have discovered sooner that he was very off bnce. As it was, he could no longer stop himself and while his right leg exploded out with the power to send broken and busted yground equipment flying, his left leg stood firmly in ce.


    The result was his body moved at half the speed of his front leg and double the speed of his back leg, resulting in him doing a show stopping split followed by a high pitched yelp of pain.

 Chapter 57: Last Rites

    Chapter 57: Last Rites


    Laz was in pain. However, even he had to admit it didn''t hurt as much as he thought it would. Apparently, while his body was being strengthened by the energy that was constantly churning inside of him, his joints, tendons and ligaments were also being strengthened. It hurt, but it was manageable.


    The real problem was that he was stuck in this position. It was kind of like a joint lock, ensuring that he was basically stuck with one leg in front of him and one behind him. If it was someone else, he probably would have found it funny.


    Of course, since it was him, he wasn''tughing.


    ''Well now... this is awkward.''


    Finally, Laz had no choice but to use his hands to knock himself over, thus ensuring his ability to recover. Standing up, Laz did a few squats and tried running in ce a little to ensure everything still worked right.


    ''Yeah, time to call it a night,'' Laz thought as he made his way for the path home. He turned around again as reached the path the the apartments to look at this weird, hidden park for moment. So far, the two times he hade here had resulted in nothing good happening. He may have gained a bit of understanding towards his inner energy, but he didn''t know if it was something he could use freely.


    ''Guess I should just practice more,'' was the only answer he could give himself.


    As Laz continued on his way, he failed to notice a movement off in the corner of the old park. It was simply a ruffling of leaves, followed by a few quick sniffs. As a cold wind blew, moonlight was able to shine directly between some branches which ended up reflecting off of a pair of deep blue eyes that could be seen above a dark, furry muzzle. The tiny animal sniffed the air a bit beforeying back down, as though it were going back to sleep.


    The night passed quickly and just as soon as Lazid down, he felt like it was time to wake up again. Checking his phone, he found a text from Kennedy, once again reminding him about his clothing choice for the party.


    Laz didn''t exactly have clothes for something like this, so he just figured he would do what he always did and search through his closet. His dad, having lived in the same ce when he was younger and single, had quite a collection of stuff. But now wasn''t the time for that. Although it was early and he had school, he had something to do tonight. Shooting a quick text to Uncle Chu to tell him he wouldn''t being to work tonight, Laz got his stuff and left for school.


    The day went by rather quick. He had worn his bracelet and brought the one for Kennedy, but he didn''t get a chance to see her. He wasn''t going to text her unless she texted him first. Laz had a weird feeling about her, one that told him that she wasn''t someone who wanted to be bothered a lot. And he didn''t really want to seem clingy. As such, he just figured the best thing to do was to react once she acted.


    He then called Bill to ask him for a favor.


    "What do you want kid? You know what time it is?"


    "Yeah, 6 in the morning. Don''t tell me you were still sleeping?"


    "Of course, it''s a perk of being old. You can sleep all day and fuck all night."


    "Just... stop. I need a favor."


    "Oh? Alright, what is it?" Bill seemed a bit puzzled. He couldn''t remember thest time the kid had asked him for a favor.


    "I need to borrow the Fat Boy."


    "Ha! Good fucking luck!"


    "Come on, please?"


    "I already gave you the dirt bike, why do you want the Harley?".


    "I... uh... have a date."


    ...


    ...


    ...


    "Grandpa Bill?"


    "With a real girl or... you just looking to get your mojo on for a night of intense whacking?"


    "What?"


    "So... which is it?"


    "It''s a real date with a real girl."


    "Ah. Well, I guess it''s fine. When do you need it?"


    "Friday. I''ll bring it back with me Saturday."


    "Yeah... alright. Tell you what. Bring it back Sunday. I''ll be praying that you won''t want to get out of bed Saturday."


    "Huh?"


    "Ha. If that''s what happens, you''ll know what I mean." Bill couldn''t help butugh to himself as he hung up.


    Laz just looked at his cell phone and wondered what exactly the old, perverted man was thinking about. Shaking his head, he could only give up and go to school.


    The week went by quickly as nothing of significance happened. Kennedy only contacted him once to remind him of the pick up time for Friday and remind him about clothes. He also didn''t see Malene much as she just went around acting like everyone''s new best friend while basically ignoring him. Of course this suited Laz just fine.


    Thursday came around and Laz rode out to Bill''s farm to get the bike. Coming down the dirt path that served as the driveway, Laz came into the clearing and noticed the Fat Boy parked in front of the house, along with Grandpa Bill and his grandpa sitting outside.


    "Grandpa, I didn''t know you would be here," Laz couldn''t help but point out as he park his bike and took off the helmet.


    "Ho. Of course Little Laz. The way I see it, I don''t have much time left, so any day I am feeling up to it, I like to take the time to visit my friends when they are free. You never really realize how fast time flies until you look in the mirror and barely recognize your own face. So I figure it''s best to do what I want when I got time to do it. So I hear my grandson has got himself a date eh?" The old man seemed to beam with pride.


    Laz had always been a bit of a loner as far as his grandpa could tell. Despite having his own ce, he never really had friends over or did anything wild and crazy as kids his age should be doing. He knew that Laz had never really been somewhere long enough to make friends which was pretty much his son''s fault, so he never really felt he should say anything about it. But now, hearing about the young man''s first date, he couldn''t help but perk up about it.


    His greatest wish was for his grandson to be happy.


    "Yeah, it''s with a girl from school. We just happen to be going somewhere together." Laz didn''t really want to exin to begin with, and seeing how happy the old man was, he wanted to talk about it even less.


    "Well in that case, it''s already been gassed up. Have a good time tomorrow."


    "Keys are in the ignition," Bill added on.


    "Thanks again." As Laz walked over to the bigger and much more powerful bike, he couldn''t help but get excited about it. Of course, it almost seemed like things were a bit too easy.


    "Laz..." Bill''s voice trailed off while he was frowning and wanting to ask a question.


    "Yes Grandpa Bill?" Although Laz normally just referred to the old man who once chased him around while shooting at him, he was in a good mood today and so was a bit more respectful.


    "Why do you have a gun stuffed in your pants?" Bill asked while making a weird face.


    "Uh, cause it hurts to stuff it in my shoe?" Laz tried to act calm towards the question, but it came out sounding like something else entirely.


    "Your date requires you to carry a gun?"


    "It''s for protection. You never know."


    "Little Laz, there are many different types of protection that one can bring on a date, but I don''t think a date where a gun is needed sounds like my type of fun."


    "Besides, what the hell kind of cheap piece of garbage is that?" Bill seemed like he could see what was stuffed in the back of Laz''s pants. Of course, he could only make out the outline of it.


    "It''s a 9mm."


    "Did you buy if off some sort of low life dealer?"


    "Kinda stole it actually..."


    The two old men looked at each other and startingughing.


    "That''s my grandson." Grandpa Crowe said with a smile.


    "Way to be kid. But honestly, that cheap piece of garbage is only good for scaring people at most. It would only kill someone if you got lucky and shot them in the eye or something," Bill added on, walking away.


    He made his way into the house. It wasn''t long before the sound of stuff being thrown around and other things breaking was heard.


    Laz just exchanged a nce with his grandpa before sitting down next to him and grabbing a soda from the small cooler on the porch next to the seat.


    Both young and old man sat there while enjoying the evening, listening to the sounds of Bill wreck his ce behind them.


    "AH, FOUND IT!!!" Bill yelled out, making Laz jump a bit while Grandpa Crowe just smiled.


    The old man looked a little disheveled as he reappear in the doorway. Walking over, he reached his hand out and curled his fingers a few times, asking for Laz''s gun.


    Laz took it out and handed it to him. Bill took the gun, popped the clip out and ejected the round from the chamber before tossing the gun into a scrap metal box.


    "Here, try this." Bill passed a holster over to Laz that held a gun that was far bigger than the one he had before.


    "What the hell is this?" Laz drew the gun out of the holster and drew it close to look at it. The gun looked brand new and weighed quite a bit. He saw the words "Last Rites" etched on the barrel.


    "Last Rites?" Laz asked while looking at Bill.


    "You know, the old 9 mm would be nothing more than a stick in your hand. Now matter how much you wave the stick around and hit someone with it, it''s still a stick. But this? This is like a sword. It''s meant for only one thing, taking lives. This should be thest thing someone sees before meeting their maker. So remember that as well. You only pull this out when you mean to kill. Once it gets to that point, don''t miss."


    Bill reached over and grabbed the gun from Laz''s hand before aiming it out hay bail with a target on it. Using both hands, Bill took aim before pulling the trigger. The first thing Laz noticed was the gun cranked wildly in Bill''s hands while a loud Bang echoed out into the sky. The next thing Laz noticed was the hay bail practically exploding and knocking backwards after getting hit.


    "Holy shit."


    "That''s why it''s called "Last Rites." My own little modified Desert Eagle. It takes a.50 caliber bullet and the kick is wild, but considering your arm strength, you should do just fine with it. Bill handed the gun back to Laz while sitting down again. He passed over a few more preloaded clips as well.


    "These fit right into the holster so make sure you practice changing them out."


    "Thanks Grandpa Bill," Laz said, truly touched.


    "Of course. Now though for the most important thing." Bill said with a bit of a smile.


    "Something else?" Laz asked while his eyes were shinning. He could have used his sense perception to figure out all these things in advance, but Laz kind of felt like doing that with family was rather rude.


    "Yeah. The gun was easy to find. This took quite a while. Now remember Laz, you are still young and haven''t gotten around a lot. But let me tell you something. You got to be careful out there. There is danger everywhere you look, no one will ever be honest with you, and more often than not, they will pass their problem on to you without ever saying a word. That''s why, no matter how much you hate it, you have to have protection," Bill exined with the most serious look Laz had ever seen.


    ''What is he going to give me next, body armor?'' Laz couldn''t help but wonder while Bill reached around behind him.


    In one drastic movement, Bill set a box on the table while both old men sighed a bit.


    "These have saved my life more times than I can count," Bill muttered.


    "Same here," Grandpa Crowe agreed.


    Looking at the box, Laz realized that it was a box of condoms.

 Chapter 58: The Haunting Message

    Chapter 58: The Haunting Message


    Laz said nothing. He just looked at the box on the table and at the two grinning old men as they dreamed of the past.


    ''I should have known,'' Laz thought to himself.


    He didn''t say anything, but reached over and grabbed them. It came as a slight shock that the box was somewhat new. He had a brief moment of horror thinking that the old men were giving him a half used box from their past, but luckily this didn''te to be.


    "Actually boy, Your grandpa and I have been waiting for you to finally find a girlfriend. We aren''t young anymore, so our time is limited. As such, we''ve been waiting for you to finallye into your own. Afterall, we''ve left you big shoes to fill, so to speak," Bill said with a mischievous grin.


    Laz didn''t want to know what he meant. Instead, he got on the Harley and took off, waving as he left.


    "It''s getting closer, isn''t it?" Bill asked, while looking at the disappearing back of the young man he thought of as his own grandson.


    "You already know it is. It''s just a matter of time. You know, in a way, I kind of envy you and our bro Chu."


    "I know. I''m tormented by the past while bro Chu sees the present. But you? Your constantly being burned by seeing things in the future. You have it the worst of all," Bill replied, somewhat stoically.


    "We all have our crosses to bare. It''s not like that little guy knowing anything will change anything. I don''t want to scare him anymore than he already is. He has so little time left to be a kid, I just want to see him smile a few more times until the end. I guess that''s just a greedy part of being old. You don''t care much about your own life anymore, but you get greedy when ites to the youngsters," Grandpa Crowemented while sitting back down.


    "He is tougher than we all give him credit for. His generation never had a great war. They have only ever been protected by those older than them. The world hasn''t burnt in a long time. But now, there is no way to avoid it," Bill said, while also sitting.


    "He will survive. Hopefully, my idiot son will be there for him when he needs it."


    "Have you already gotten in touch with him?"


    "Yes. He can''te back right now since he is still needed. And the advice of this old man just goes in one ear and out the other. But then again, two years ago, when all this started, he didn''t listen to me then either." Grandpa Crowe sighed, thinking about the past.


    "He did what he had to do, along with your wonderful daughter inw. Don''t beat yourself up over it. We know what happens when the ones who can do something choose not to. You raised a good kid who wasn''t going to back down. Don''t start questioning him or yourself now," Bill said,forting his brother like friend.


    "Just because it''s the right thing doesn''t make it the best thing. That boy needed more than I could give him. We just got lucky. Really lucky."


    Neither one said anything else and instead just sat there for a bit while watching the moon rise, lost in thought.


    Laz got home quickly and sent a brief text to Kennedy to let her know he had the ride situation figured out. He also warned her to make sure she wore something warm. Although it had been somewhat mild to warm so far, winter had a way of sneaking in quickly to freeze everything.


    Since he didn''t really have anything to do, Laz just went to his closet while looking for something to wear. He had been through here only a bit so he really had no idea what kind of clothes his dad had left there.


    After a while of searhing, Laz was dumbstruck. Leather pants, feathered jackets and snakeskin boots were some of the more normal things he found.


    "Was he a pimp or something?" Laz asked himself out loud. This was not the wardrobe of a normal person, not by a long shot.


    " Let''s see, silk suits, several leather jackets, different types of boots, hold up... are those leather chaps?" Laz couldn''t help but shutter..


    He finally decided on a loose, low length leather jacket, a button up, blue silk shirt along with some low key, but ssy style silk pants and the snake skin boots. Honestly, these weren''t a good choice, but it''s not like Laz had ever had a chance to wear boots like this before.


    Thinking about it for a minute, Laz pulled out his phone and took a picture before sending it to Kennedy.


    ''Hmm? What''s this?'' Laz pulled out a old looking stereo on a cart. Looking it over, it definitely looked like something that was popr many years ago.


    ''Is that a record yer?'' Laz couldn''t help but look at the ssic style turntable and he noticed a record was still on it.


    ''Oh? Johnny Cash huh? My dad always was a fan.'' Laz thought as he plugged it in. Laz liked more metal and less what he considered to be ssic. But since it was something his dad had listened to, he didn''t think much of it and wanted to listen to it as well. He didn''t check the thing like the date or what not, since he didn''t pay much attention to ''ssics.'' As far as he knew, once something was ssic, it was just old. End of story.


    Moving the needle into position, Laz turned the old machine on and sat back, wondering what thest thing his dad had listened to.


    Listening to a somewhat mellow guitar strum, Laz almost immediately felt lost in the music.


    "I hurt myself today to see if I still feel, I focus on the pain, the only thing that''s real.


    The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting. Try to kill it all away but I remember everything.


    What have I be, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end.


    And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt."


    Laz was entranced. He couldn''t help himself. As the gut wrenching lyrics hit him along with the soothing and yet haunting melody of the guitar, his eyes started to water.


    "I wear this crown of thorns, upon my liars chair. Full of broken thoughts, I cannot repair.


    Beneath the stains of time, the feelings disappear. You are someone else, I am still right here.


    What have I be, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end.


    And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.


    If I could start again, a million miles away, I will keep myself, I would find a way."


    As Laz sat there, he looked nothing like the demon who had beaten up three gangsters just a few days ago or the young man who had already killed someone. He was nothing more than a curled up ball of tears. He couldn''t escape the thought that this was thest song his dad had listened to thest time he had been here. The song wasn''t new and neither was the record, but it was newer than the rest of the stuff in the closet.


    The only way he would have been able to listen to it would have been if it had been yed back when he and Laz''s mom had dropped him off two years ago.


    ''This was hisst message to me. Why?"


    The answer for that question wouldn''t being any time soon.

 Chapter 59: Meet Up (party 1)

    Chapter 59: Meet Up (party 1)


    Laz felt his mind be stronger. Sometimes, the only way to grow is to experience pain or loss. Sometimes, all a man needs to relieve his worries is a good cry. Have you ever heard the saying is it better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all? Well, it is better to have loved and lost since it leads to personal growth. Also, since you didn''t die, you still have a chance. Of course, it never feels that way at the time. Also, never tell a guy who is hurting that there are other fish in the sea, you are likely to be hit.


    Laz''s body had experience several growths since the day he felt his power awaken, back on that bathroom floor. But his mind was still that of a teenager. No matter how strong he got, that wouldn''t change how he was mentally. Although he had a lot of feelings about his parents leaving him, he had never really felt suffering. Many kids didn''t. Not real suffering anyway. This was the first time he actually confronted the reality of what his parents leaving him meant. He knew nothing, not even if they wereing back. Listening to that song made him unable to hide from that thought he had buried.


    Although it wasn''t real pain, it really did hurt. Some could argue that we only really grow thought these sorts of pain. They wouldn''t be far off.


    Standing up, Laz turned off the stereo and rolled it back into the closet. He took note that there were several other albums. Even if he was more into modern music, he suddenly found himself wondering what kinds of things his dad had. It was obvious that he had collected vinyl as opposed to things like cds and cassettes. That alone set him apart.


    Having decided on the outfit and not getting a text back from Kennedy, Laz finally crawled into bed. It was going to be a long day.


    For a Friday, the day flew by in a sh. Although Laz saw Malene a few times, when he did, she just ignored him. This suited him perfectly fine though as he thought that she finally got the hint. Had he been paying more attention though, he might have noticed her looking at him every now and then. The look in her eye was weird and hard to describe. She looked mad but also curious. Only she knew what was on her mind during the day.


    As school ended, Laz got a text from Kennedy telling him to be back at 7pm to pick her up. Although Laz wanted to act like a gentleman and pick her up from her ce, no matter how many times he asked, he was told no. He finally gave it up. He got home from school and had a few hours to kill. Since his grandpa wasn''t home and he had nothing else to do, he went to the abandoned yground for a bit and just sat at the stone bench. He feltfortable here, surrounded by the quiet bit of nature and the weird nt. If he was going to call it anyhting, he would call it peaceful for him.


    His energy circted while he just sat there with his eyes close, quietly being watched from a ce a bit behind him. The small eyes stared at him carefully as though they had a question to ask. But in the end, the question was never asked. just an hour before the party, Laz went home and got himself ready.


    He made sure to pack "Last Rites" as well, but he put that in a saddle bag on the bike. He didn''t think they would allow guns at the party since there was no telling how crazy things could get.


    After making sure that everything was in ce, Laz got his leather jacket on and made sure to grab his mask as well.


    The roar of the bike was a sweet greeting to his ears as he revved the engine and took off.


    It didn''t take long before he pulled up to the somewhat empty school where the sight that greeted him was jaw dropping.


    Kennedy was waiting out front on the side walk in a trench coat and heels. The sunsses added even more of an air of mystery about her and the briefcase didn''t help the image at all. Laz couldn''t help but wonder if someone hadn''t tried to pick her up or called the police to report a suspicious person. Either one would have made sense.


    Laz pulled up the bike right in front of her but didn''t take his helmet off. Masking his voice, he said in his manliest tone,


    "Hey baby, how about putting something big and powerful between your legs?"


    Kennedy, not knowing it was him at first, shot back,


    "I would love something big and powerful between my legs baby, but somehow I''m thinking your a bitcking down there. Why don''t you piss off and find me a real man, hmm?"


    Laz couldn''t help butugh while at the same time letting his voice sound normal.


    "Hey, I''m a grower, not a shower alright?"


    Kennedy burst outughing after figuring out it was Laz.


    "Oh thank god it''s you. If I had to fend off one more horny middle aged dad, I was going to scream.".


    "Well, your the one who looks like she''s up to something with how you are dressed."


    "It would have been worse without the trench coat. Thank god you are by yourself."


    "Hmm?"


    "I was worried you would have gotten like your dad to drive us or something."


    Although Laz didn''t take offense to it, he somewhat stiffened up at the mention of his dad. Although Kennedy couldn''t see his face, she could see the change in his posture and felt like she might have said something wrong. A bit embarrassed, she immediately tried to apologize.


    "Hey, I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to.."


    "No, it''s alright. We''ve never talked about our family so I don''t me you for anything. It''s not even a problem. Family has just been on my mind recently."


    "Oh... ok than."


    Laz got off the bike and reaching into one of the saddle bags, pulled out a helmet. He was about to hand it to her when he thought of something else really quick and turned around before she could take it.


    "What''s up..?" She asked with a bit of a questioning stare.


    Laz turned around again after pulling a blue case out from his pocket and handing it to her.


    "What''s this?"


    "Just something. Part of the reason you didn''t know it was me actually."


    Kennedy carefully looked at the box before opening it. Insidey the red jade butterfly bracelet. Kennedy was obviously surprised as a shocked expression covered her face. The gently lifted the bracelet up and looked at it closely.


    "They are so beautiful."


    "Do you like it?"


    "Yes... but... I can''t take it."


    Kennedy looked visibly sad as she reluctantly put the bracelet back in the case and tried to hand it back to Laz.


    Laz sighed, but didn''t reach out to take the offered box.


    "Who am I to you?" Laz asked with a surprisingly calm look on his face as his blue eyes stared right into Kennedy''s.


    "I.. uh.. you''re my friend?" Kennedy said with a bit of question in her voice. It seemed like she didn''t know what he wanted to hear.


    "That''s right. Your friend and your partner in this crazy shit. Also, I''m your protection, right?"


    "Yes?" Kennedy said, still a bit unsure.


    "Then this is me, keeping you safe." With that, he walked towards her out stretched hand and grabbed the box before opening it.


    As Kennedy was a bit shocked still, she didn''t move despite his actions. She could only helplessly look on at the devilishly handsome young man who seemed to be a few years older now than when she first met him. He seemed far more confident now as he unsped the bracelet and wrapped it around her wrist. It was like he knew she wouldn''t resist him so he was going to be bold.


    Of course, the next two minutes of watching him struggle to try to get the tiny sp to attach hurt this manly image of his, but only a little bit. If anything, he was far more cute this way.


    As far as Laz''s thoughts, they could be summed up with three simple letters, W T F.


    ''How is this damn little thing so hard to get together. And why are my hands shaking?''


    When Laz finally felt it fall into ce, he left out a sigh of relief before looking at Kennedy and seeing her trying her hardest to stifle theugh that she was holding in.


    Laz couldn''t help but grin and rub his forehead a bit to hide his embarrassment, which made Kennedy silentlyugh even harder.


    Laz, looking to change the subject, pointed to the briefcase and and asked what it was.


    "This is the package and the ticket into the party. Without it, we wouldn''t even be able to reach past the front gate," Kennedy said as she handed it over to Laz.


    Without saying a word, Laz took it and locked it into to storage under the seat. He then handed Kennedy the helmet and got on while motioning for her to join him. She slide on the helmet over her hair gently so as to not ruin it, but then hesitated when it came to sitting down.


    "What wrong?" Laz asked.


    "Well, I''ve never been on a motorcycle before and I am wearing a dress. For some reason, when you said to dress warm, I thought you meant a convertible."


    "Ah" Laz said as he understood. He leaned the bike over and put down the kickstand before letting it rest.


    Pointing to behind him, he said, "Sit with both your legs on one side instead of straddling it. Also, you will have to hold on to me tight."


    Kennedy turned around and sat down before reaching her arms around Laz''s waist and grabbing on tight.


    "Actually, it''s probably better this way," Laz said with a smile.


    "Oh? Why is that?" Kennedy asked, releasing her grip a little.


    "You''re about to experience the worlds most powerful vibrator. It''s probably a good thing you have your legs closed."


    "Why you little ass," Kennedy yelled as she squeezed him extra tight as though wanting to pop him.


    Without calming down hisughter at all, Laz kicked back up the kick stand and roared away from the sidewalk while Kennedy started whispering directions into his ear. They both seemed to feel a lot better knowing that they had each other to rely on tonight.

 Chapter 60: Arrival (party 2)

    Chapter 60: Arrival (party 2)


    The old style stone mansion sat back from the road, as though wanting to hide its dirty secrets. All old homes had dirty secrets. The real question was how dirty the secrets and how interested were the home owners in keeping them. Laz liked old homes as they always had exciting stories to tell. "The Shack" was like that.


    As Laz pulled into the drive and arrived at the gate, Kennedy pulled off her helmet and held up a medallion. After a moment of nothing, the gate started to open and Kennedy put her helmet back on. Laz drove up the drive while sending out his sense perception.


    ''Let''s see, metal detectors and armed guards. Is the a party or are we meeting the president? Whoa, are those guard dogs?'' Laz was kinda surprised by the security here. Of course, he wasn''t really a person who attended a lot of social events in his day. Well, that''s not entirely true. He did attend events that had this kind of security, but it wasn''t a party. Laz briefly thought of his parents before bringing his attention back to the present.


    He parked the bike in a spot off to the side and got off before helping Kennedy off the bike. He looked at the mansion before sighing a bit and turning to Kennedy.


    "Take out the gun and any other weapons you might have."


    "Metal detectors?"


    "You don''t seem surprised?"


    "No. This is standard fare for this sort of thing. Laz, what we are walking into isn''t a party, It''s a battlefield. These people can''t even be considered animals. Animals don''t mock their prey when they attack, they just go in for the kill and be done with it. But these people will take any weakness you have, exploit it and then ultimately destroy you and everyone around you. Rich kids are bored people, so they have a lot of time on their hands. Just keep as quiet as possible and let me do all the talking."


    Laz thought about the young girls words for a bit. She didn''t like these people in the slightest and he could tell. At the same time, she was still ying a game by their rules and he just didn''t know why.


    As Laz thought about what it could be, he realized more and more that he really knew nothing about this girl. Sure, they had their moments of fun so to speak and he felt like they were getting along nicely enough.


    How long had they known each other anyway? Did she only trust him to the extent of what their business together involved? The more he thought about it, the more that seemed to be the case.


    Did he like her? Sure, he couldn''t deny that.


    Was he in love with her? Of course not. He couldn''t even tell you what love really was.


    Did she like him? Maybe? He didn''t really know, but he liked the think so. He wouldn''t even consider if love was a possibility. After all, you hear them in the school hallways and all over the ce. High school couples telling one another that they love each other.


    ''Big load of crap,'' was Laz''s normal thought when he heard this happen. He knew he loved his parents and he thought they loved him as well. Yet he had still been abandoned without knowing why. So when it came to things like love, even at his young age, he knew that he didn''t understand it and he felt like it would be hard for others his age to understand it either.


    She probably never meant to set off this train wreck of thought in Laz''s head, but he had juste off a half hour bike ride of being hugged tightly and having tworge and squishy things sliding up and down his back. His mind was not where it should be no matter how hard he tried to concentrate.


    ''Haaaa, bikes are the best.''


    "Alright bodyguard, time to earn your keep again. Put this on." Kennedy handed Laz a mask that was somewhat different from the slip over and warm skull mask he had before. This one was clearly designed for inside wear and featured a solid, metallic face te with leather straps. Laz couldn''t help but wonder if it was some sort of goalie mask... or a bdsm one. But he didn''t ask.


    Laz turned the mask over to notice it was once again a skull with a reddish, jewel like coating covering the eye sockets. This time, he looked up at Kennedy with a questioning look on his face.


    "Hehe, don''t ask. You can get almost anything online you know. And besides, your eyes are somewhat easy to recognize. This way, they will be tinted red and impossible to tell the color of. Besides, I''m not sure you noticed, but the red matches the color of my bracelet. Although that was pure coincidence," Kennedy answered with a smile.


    Laz justughed a little and put the mask on. He couldn''t help but picture himself in his head. He figured he probably looked like a skeleton yboy. Kennedy then took out a painted, ceramic mask that she put on as well. It looked absolutely fairy like with her flowing and lush, dirty blonde hair..


    "Ready?" The mask was only a half-face mask that allowed her mouth to be freely seen. Her dark red lips added a seductive air to the entire look. Laz then realized that he hadn''t even seen her dress yet.


    As they headed for the front door, Laz noticed that everyone getting out of limo''s or sports cars also had masks on. Everyone was alsoing in groups of two. Usually, there was one younger one and one older one. It was a somewhat strange situation.


    As they got in line, Laz once again spread out his sense to take a better look at the individuals who were alsoing to this party. Although he was a freak due to his changes, he got a sense of danger from more than one person in line and it was always the older one.


    It looked like he wasn''t the only bodyguarding today which of course led him to want to ask why, but he held back. He could possibly talk mind to mind with Kennedy, but since he didn''t know what was going on, he didn''t want to distract her. Instead, he took to looking around and trying to be imposing.


    He didn''t know how well he was doing in that aspect until Kennedy elbowed him to get his attention. Looking at her, she pointed to her head a few times as though trying to convey something. Luckily, Laz wasn''t aplete idiot and surrounding her with his sense, sent her a mental message.


    *What?*


    *Would you stop?*


    *Stop what?*


    *The wavesing off you feel as though I''m standing next to some sort of evil demon. I''m not sure how your doing it, but can''t you tell that all of the pros are staring at you like you are threatening them?*


    Laz took a moment to look back down the line and realized that all of the older ones were looking strait at him. Even if he couldn''t see their faces and in some cases, their eyes, he could tell just by how stiff their bodies were that she wasn''t exaggerating. He then thought about his aura and calmed his somewhat excited blood.


    In just a moment, everyone rxed a bit as though the pressure had been removed.


    *What was that?* She asked.


    *I don''t know, I was just trying to be imposing.* Laz went to scratch his head in embarrassment when he remembered he had a mask on and stopped.


    Laughing a little bit, Kennedy didn''t say anything else.


    Their turn came shortly and as both Laz and Kennedy walked up, they were asked if they had anything. Kennedy walked to the guard and leaned in, whispering something. The guard nodded his head and she set the briefcase down before spreading out her arms.


    Laz followed her example since the only thing on him were his keys which he set down on the table next to her purse. Another guard looked through it briefly before sliding them back while yet another guard ran the wand around their bodies. It only stopped once on Laz''s belt before the guards looked at each other briefly.


    They might have looked like guards, but they were in fact mercs. The problem with Laz''s belt was that in their line of work, belts were considered a weapon and weren''t normally allowed. But this wasn''t a war zone and wasn''t considered a high risk event so they didn''t know how much should or shouldn''t be allowed, weapon-wise.


    Laz wasn''t about to say anything and Kennedy took the initiative to look over at the guards and say,


    "Look at the belt buckle, obviously if he wanted to cause problems, he wouldn''t need a belt to do so."


    The guards, now curious, took a look to see it was an engraved buckle the read USMC. Laz had just grabbed it since he needed something to keep the slightlyrger size pants up and didn''t think about what it was.


    The guards, both a bit shocked, just looked at each other and nodded before one of them asked for a name report.


    "Kennedy and bodyguard, Blood Skull," Kennedy replied without a second thought.


    Had Laz been drinking something, which wouldn''t have been doable in the mask, he would have spit it out at that moment.


    *Blood Skull? Really? That''s what I get?*


    *I know, it sounds imposing right? Just be quiet and keep it in mind,* Kennedy thought back without even looking at him. Had he seen her face, he probably would have figured out she wasughing.


    As they passed the check point, two young men came forward along with two nicely dressed girls who seemed to be acting as hostesses. Their shapely ck dresses revealed a lot of curve but not a lot of skin and they both wore in, white masks.


    The two young men, who were obviously party goers, pulled Kennedy aside for a moment and talked to her before handing her a card and a card scanner. After looking at it and scanning the card, Kennedy nodded her head and gave them the briefcase before stashing the card away into her purse. She then walked back over to Laz before the two hostesses walked up.


    "Mam, would you follow me please to pick out your party favor. Sir, you may follow her to be shown the surveince room with the others before the party begins."


    Kennedy thank them before turning a knowing eye to Laz. Laz just nodded and followed his assigned hostess down the hallway towards what he assumed was the surveince room.


    After walking inside, he quickly found himself at the entrance to a somewhatrge, circr room that had many monitors and several guards watching them while an older man stood behind where the guards were sitting. Taking a quick peak at him, Laz could tell this old man was dangerous and had killed before, many times.


    Although a bit surprised, he simply went to stand with the rest of the dangerous feeling individuals who had started talking together on one side of the room.


    He focused his vision on the individual cameras to see what was happening and what he saw gave him almost endless shock.


    In the main party room, there were already several guests walking around, chatting with each other or just sitting down. The thing that Laz waspletely floored by was that each one of them, either male or female, was holding onto a leash.


    And on the end of each leash were practically naked males and females.

 Chapter 61: Party Favors (party 3)

    Chapter 61: Party Favors (party 3)


    It looked like each guest had their own pet, be it male or female. Male guests generally had female pets and female guests had male pets... of course there were a couple that had female pets as well. The interesting part, assuming the whole thing wasn''t interesting, was that they all had leather hoods, ears on the hoods, gloves and tails. Of course, as Laz looked closer, he noticed the tails weren''t tied on but seem to be attached to something that was interested.


    The curious thing about the hoods was that they were actually painted up like animal faces. Laz noticed that most males had a theme of dogs or wolves while the females ranged from foxes, bunnies, cats, and what looked like a few sheep and cows...


    ''Now why would they include cows?'' Laz thought as he looked closer.


    ''I mean, I can see why for the rest of them. Soft and small animals are like every guys dream, so why would they.. OMFG!!'' Laz finally figured it out when the camera angle finally caught the answer. That ''cow'' had humongous tits.


    ''You know, that actually makes sense,'' Laz couldn''t help but think to himself. In the next moment though he had another thought. ''What?... why does any of this actually make sense?'' Laz had to ask himself.


    As he looked on, he noticed that the guests were just walking around and talking and on asion, would inspect each other''s pets. Between the talking andughing, the guests would sometimes rub their pet and at other times might hit it if it wasn''t following closely enough or following the guestsmands.


    Another point that Laz noticed was that the masks the pets wore were really tight around the mouth and didn''t have any openings. The only way the person in the mask could breathe would be through their nose. In fact, the mask looked so tight, that it was probably impossible for the pet to actually speak. At most, they could probably let out some sort of a grunt. The mask also seemed to cover the eyes which would have made it impossible to see although they did seem to have some holes for the ears. It seems the guests would be able to tell the pet what they wanted them to do.


    Thest thing Laz noticed was that the pets had paws or hoofs covering their hands and that their calves were tied to their thighs and fitted with a boot of sorts that prevented them from doing anything more than walking on their knees. Although there was additional padding for the knee, there was no way for them to stand up.


    As Laz pondered it, he realized that there was no way that these animals could walk, run or even hurt their masters in anyway. They had their mobility crippled, couldn''t speak and even had a cor around their necks which would choke them if they resisted. Doing so would also be a really stupid thing seeing as they couldn''t take deep breaths with their mouths and could only breath through their noses.


    No matter how Laz looked at it, they were basically animals that looked like humans and not the other way around.


    As Laz waited for the rest of the body guards to get into the room, he continued looking at the cameras but faced forward as though not looking at anything in particr. One of the benefits of wearing a mask was that it could hid what you were looking at.


    The thing to note was that he wasn''t really turned on by what he was watching. Despite being a hot blooded youth, at most he could say he was curious. Both the guests and the pets were still in fact humans after all. So why did it seem like the guests were the only humans in the room?


    As he watched on, he noticed several somewhat disgusting things.


    One of the cameras pointed towards some couches were there were several male guests sitting down and chatting with each other. At the same time, they had their pets on their aps. Sometimes the pet would just beying there, curled up, as they were being petted. Other times, the pet would be on its back while the guest was touching it all over, rubbing breasts or sticking their fingers into whatever open spots they wanted. If the girl reacted defensively, the guest would usually spank it several times and yell at it.


    One of the cats even tried to use it''s paws to block her ass when it''s master decided to try sticking more than one finger in. This resulted in the master getting mad and violently pping the cat in her face. She fell off her masters ap at this point which just made him more angry. He then dragged her back on to his ap and sat on her hands while he spanked her several more times before he settled down. Although Laz couldn''t hear anything, he saw the young man say something which made the othersugh.


    From another camera, Laz observed three females standing around chatting while holding their pets by their sides in a sitting position. One of the girls said something to the others and then made her pet get on all fours as she walked behind him. She then used her foot to rub the pet''s testices while the other women looked on interested. The pet, dressed like a dog, started to shake a little but the woman just kept going. Eventually, the pet couldn''t help but get aroused by the constant provocation and got hard. The result of doing so was that the woman ended up using her shoe and forcefully kicking it into the center of the ''dog''s'' butt. Doing so ended up jamming the plug end of the tail further in. The dog ended up shooting forward in obvious pain but couldn''t go far since the woman, expecting the reaction, yanked back hard on the leash which pulled the cor tight. The dog, being choked, had no choice but to fall back while the woman kicked him a few more times before she and the other women broke down inughter.


    If the man was free, there was no way the woman could have pulled him backwards. Due to the angle and the fact that he couldn''t stand or use his hands on the cor, he could do nothing but what she wanted him to do. Laz could only think that at least the pet was lucky that the woman didn''t kick him in the balls.


    Other camera''s showed somewhat simr scenes of sexua and physical abuse. There were even a few times Laz saw guests actually having sex with their pets in out of the way areas. The guests, guys to be specific, would then wipe themselves off and continue to walk around like nothing happened. A few times, the guys didn''t even bother to clean up their pets who were then forced to crawl around with bits of juice leaking out of them.


    Laz didn''t know what to feel about this anymore, but he knew that basically every person at this party was some of the worst trash of society. The worst part was that all of these guests were probably under the age of 18 and they would probably only get worse as they grew up. It made him sick, in many different ways.


    It was about now that Laz noticed thest body guard had entered the room and the door shut.


    The old man who stood at the front expressionlessly finally made a sound like clearing his throat to get everyone''s attention..


    "Everyone. We thank you for the peasure of yourpany tonight, even though we are sure none of you actually want to be here. It''s not easy ensuring these young masters stay protected despite their apparent need to do dangerous and detestable things. But this is what we are paid for after all. It''s also better than risking your life for breadcrumbs in a battlefield somewhere due to some politicians having a cock fight."


    This statement drew more than one chuckle from the assembled men. Laz could tell that quite a few of these guys had been in that type of situation before. He couldn''t help but feel that for these hardened men, this type of job was pretty easy, if not dull.


    "Fear not though brothers. We will have a bit of a special event that all of you can participate inter if you would like and earn some extra cash along with satisfying everyone''s love of a good gamble. I''m sure all of you can guess what I''m getting at. There is no worse sin than when a man forged in blood loses his edge. Just keep in mind that although we won''t hold death against anyone, it might bring some trouble to your young masters so stop beforending a killing blow alright?" The old man asked with a knowing glint in his eye. He seemed to be able to tell that although these men who had simr lives mostly got along, they also held a lot of pride. Being beaten wasn''t just humiliating, it could also impact their jobs and therefore, some men wouldn''t be able to admit defeat.


    Some were also older than others or trained in things like weapons that couldn''t be used. As such, they would feel it unfair to lose and would fight that much harder because of it.


    "To help with this, we will keep it to a three knockdown victory condition, alright?" All the men seemed to nod and expressed their agreement. Laz just shook his head as well to go along with the crowd. He didn''t think he would be participating and he didn''t think Kennedy would want him to either. He was basically half, if not a quarter the age of everyone else here.


    The man then spoke about the course of events for the night including various exits, medical areas and other information they would want to know to protect their charge. Laz listen on as well and memorized everything he was told whileparing it to the information he had gained by sensing around earlier. He was able to determine that there were no lies in the old man''s words.


    Watching all these grizzled veterans, Laz couldn''t help but wonder what their personal thoughts were about what the guests were up to. Even if these men were cold-blooded killers, watching these kids engage in this type of behavior had to garner some sort of a reaction from them. And if not them, what would the parents think about their kidsing to a sex and drugs party right after they got out of high school for the day.


    ''The guards are employed by the parents so they had to report the behavior, don''t they?''


    As Laz wasn''t rich, he probably didn''t understand how this kind of thing worked. Would the guards report what the kids did all night? Yes, but they would obviously leave out a few key parts. The problem the body guards faced was that if they told everything that happened, the kids were more than able to get the guard fired. On a simr note, the parents also knew this problem existed. If they wanted a real report, the only way they could get that would be to never mention it to their child and therefore, not punish them for it.


    This was the only way to know what the kids were actually doing.


    As Laz was listening to the dangerous old man and thinking about what kind of fucked up parents would let their kids do these kinds of things, he noticed that Kennedy had appeared on the party floor.


    As she walked past the monitored area, Laz was surprised to see her holding a leash. It seemed she also had a pet and from the looks of it, it was a female fox.

 Chapter 62: The First Conflict (party 4)

    Chapter 62: The First Conflict (party 4)


    Laz was surprised for many different reasons. After all, he thought that with his understanding of Kennedy as a person, this wasn''t the type of thing she would do. But the real surprise was that she had decided to go with a female pet. Even if Laz was more mature, he would still question if Kennedy possibly preferred girls to guys. It''s not like it is unheard of and was actually pretty normal.


    The question was more about her thoughts on having a pet that was here to only perform favors for the guests.


    Of course Laz didn''t have an answer and it looked like the group meeting hade to a close.


    "Alright everyone, go on ahead and meet with your young masters and enjoy the party. We will be having a sign up for the contestter. Everyone is wee to join and of course there will be a betting table set up. Feel free to bet on whoever you want to win."


    With that, the old man dismissed everyone and they all started to file towards the exit. Joining in the middle of the line, Laz just stayed silent and looked forward while some of the bodyguards continued to interact with one another. Although he wasn''t in a hurry to meet with Kennedy, he also didn''t want to stay around these people who practically smelled of blood and death.


    It didn''t take long for him to exit into the grand room so he began to walk over to where Hest saw Kennedy. The only change was that now she wasn''t alone either.


    There was a tall and well dressed man standing next to her while engaging her in conversation. Another group of young men were also gathered around while seeming like they were waiting for the two to finish their conversation. Everyone of the young men also had their pets close at hand as they talked a bit between themselves while also having brief moments of ''ying'' with their pets. If this was any other ce and time, Laz was sure that each one of them would be arrested for sexua harassment.


    Walking up slowly, Laz didn''t make a sound but just ended uping behind Kennedy and standing there while observing the situation. He took a moment to admire her low cut and somewhat tight dress that he failed to notice before. It was a blue color that seemed to pair perfectly with the shirt he was wearing but seemed newer. The dress tightly hugged Kennedy''s rather generous proportions, allowing the deep ravine of her chest to showcase her assets nicely while also showing a wonderful arch that allowed one to make out the measurements of her perky butt. Considering how tight it was, Laz couldn''t help but wonder if she was wearing anything underneath as it seemed like he could perfectly make out her curves without having anything else sticking out.


    Standing there silently, he was able to overhear the conversation easily. He could tell from the voice that the fine dressed man that seemed to have two pets was actually Tommy. He seemed to be flirting with Kennedy a bit and even seemed rather interested in the fact that she had chosen a female pet as well, although what his actual thoughts were, only he would know.


    "You delivered nicely on everything promised. I''m sure everyone here is going to have a great time now," he said as though he was rather proud of himself.


    "It was what I promised. You pay, I deliver. That''s what it means to do business," Kennedy replied, rather shortly.


    "Can''t you be a bit warmer to me? After all, were did have those few wild days at the beginning. Besides, I see we have a simr interest in ythings. I wouldn''t even mind just watching what you do to that poor little fox," Tommy said with a rather evil glint in his eye.


    "We just made it look legit for the sake of argument, hence why you never got toy a hand on me. Honestly, I''m not sure you could afford to do so," Kennedy said back with a certain chill in her voice.


    "HA HA HA. What is there that I can''t afford him? Thanks to my parents, I have all the money in the world to do whatever I want. Even people can be turned into toys with the right amount," Tommy spouted back before reaching down and forcefully squeezing the breasts of his two pets. They both let out a muffle groan and shivered, but barely moved a muscle. Laz could only imagine what kind of torture they had gone through before being able to not react badly to that.


    "Some things can''t be bought, even with all the money in the world," Kennedy replied. It was at this moment that she noticed Laz was standing behind her and she couldn''t help but smile. Although she didn''t like to admit it, he was like a wall that gave her confidence. She never would havee to this party if she were going to be by herself. There would be way to many unknown events that could pop up, especially when considering the crazy bastard in front of her that she had to make out with for several days so that people would believe they were together.


    "Oh? And who is this short bastard eh? Doesn''t seem like much protection to me." Tommy had just noticed Laz as well. He could tell based on his appearance that he was obviously Kennedy''s protection for this event. Tommy knew a bit about Kennedy''s lifestyle and knew that she didn''t have money, just connections. As such, he didn''t think she would bring a body guard along with her just like all of his other friends and peers. As such, his first thought about seeing him was that he thought it was just some street thug she hired to keep up appearances.


    "You would be surprised what he can do. I would not bring him just for his looks after all," Kennedy stated as she pointed at the mask.


    Laz just didn''t say anything. he knew that the worst thing he could do at the moment would be to speak to Tommy. Although he wasn''t sure Tommy was smart enough to know who he was just based on his voice, he also didn''t want to take that chance.


    Tommy just kind of red at Laz but didn''t say anything. After a moment, he just looked over at Kennedy again with a strange glint in his eye and said,


    "So if he is actually able to fight, are you going to enter him into the contestter? First prize is ten grand, not including the bets you make, "Tommy asked in a somewhat snarky tone. He couldn''t exin it, but he did not like this red eyed, skull masked figure standing in front of him.


    "I didn''t bring him here to y around. He''s here for me and me alone, not to be some sort of entertainment," was Kennedy''s only reply..


    "HA, I figured as much. Nothing but a useless show. Not that I would expect anything more from you. You should have just listened to me and be mine. I wouldn''t have taken you for long, but at least you would have gotten paid better than anything you''re working for right now. Besides, I have have a few friends who would also pay top dor for that ass. After all, you are worth far more than these pieces of garbage who can be bought for only a few hundred a head," Tommy shot off before spanking the two pets at his feet.


    Kennedy was rather pissed at this point. If she didn''t need the customer base and Tommy was the first easy way in she found, she never would have had anything to do with him. But since she still wasn''t set with connections, she had no choice but to endured this asshole and hisments. Tommy was never one to treat anyone else with any sort of respect unless they were on the same level or higher than him. Otherwise, everything else was simply garbage to him.


    Of course, Kennedy wasn''t the only one pissed. Laz did not care that he got the brush off. He didn''t mind being called names either. And although he wasn''t sure what he felt about Kennedy or even how much he understood her, he felt strongly that she was his friend. And as a kid who didn''t really have many friends in the first ce, he couldn''t help but let his anger get the better of him.


    Before Kennedy could utter back a response that was probably going to be the wrong thing to say, Laz stepped up right in front of Tommy before the other had a chance to react. The interesting part was that Tommy had been shadowed by two bodyguards this whole time and when Laz stepped forward in what could be a threatening way, they both stepped up to stop him. All in all, it looked like it was going to be a one on two fight.


    This seemed to be a rather normal affair for the evening as these young rich kids would never fight their own battles. They would instead have their bodyguards fight over any disagreement they had and keep it at that. They all knew how important it was that they have nothing to do with physical violence against each other and instead preferred to have Pokmon type battles. Laz had previously been told all this by Kennedy before they arrived.


    It was a rather interesting and yet ''safe'' way for this silver spoon kids to show off. A general never fights his own battles after all. He has foot soldiers for that. And these kids were being raised to be the top generals in their parents corporate armies.


    The result of Laz stepping forward to fight with Tommy''s hired help was something that no one expected. Laz had just taken a single step towards the two meat sacks when, without any warning, both of Tommy''s guards ended up flying backwards at breakneck speeds as though they had hit a giant airbag at full speed. Laz had of course just used the move he had been practicing, but no one else would know that. Tommy just stood there in shock, not knowing what had happened. In fact, since Tommy was the main host of the whole party, people had been paying attention to him the whole time and therefore, the entire event was witnessed by a lot of different people. Both guests and several guards had no idea what Laz did to make the two grown men go flying, but they started talking like they knew anyway.


    Discussions immediately began as guests asked their guards to exin and the guards just spouted off whatever came to mind. The mostmon idea was that neither guard expected that the much smaller man would attack so quickly and therefore they were both caught off guard. It wasn''t umon for a trained merc to be sent flying as that was usually the result of the merc using his own movement to off shoot the force used against him. In a way, it just showed how unprepared they were for the attack.


    Laz didn''t make any other moves towards Tommy and just turned around, walking back to Kennedy while giving her a look. With a thought, she understood what he wanted.


    "Actually, since you asked nicely and my man here is feeling a bit bored, we will be more than happy to join in." Kennedy had a smile on her face as she looked at the fuming young man who seemed to be shaking as though trying to contain himself.


    "Fine. That''s the way it should be. But be warned, idents do happen." Tommy didn''t say anything else but turned around and made his way to the security room. He wanted to speak to the old man about what kinds of trash he had protecting him and also say a few additional words to his own fighter.


    This party held extra meaning as it was Tommy''s first peer party. he had been to other''s parties, but it was important that he could show his guests a wonderful and exciting time as well. This allowed for closer connections and also meant that people would pay more attention to him. It was like a social debut for the young elites. And now, he had been made a bit of a fool of by some low ss girl who he couldn''t even bang.


    Instead of getting mad at her which would show he had no restraint and embarrass himself in front of his peers even more, he was going to make sure that Kennedy''s skull masked protector met with a quick but bloody end up on stage. He was going to show everyone that he couldn''t be messed with.

 Chapter 63: Contest Start (party 5)

    Chapter 63: Contest Start (party 5)


    Laz didn''t know that Tommy was out to kill him. Would he be worried if he knew? Probably. But would it change anything? Probably not. Laz had a different way of looking at things ever since the incident with Joey. He wasn''t going to be afraid. Still, now that Tommy had walked away, he knew he needed to talk to Kennedy.


    Of course, the real question would be how to start that conversation.


    "Before you say anything, hear me out." Instead of Laz having to say anything, Kennedy started talking. It urred to Laz that they would just have conversations mind to mind, but that it would look funny if it seemed like they were talking without saying anything. It was good to hide secrets but awkward when observed in real life.


    "Ok, so the only way to get into the party was with a ''pet,'' as they like to call them. Obviously I tried to decline, but these rich assholes have their own way of doing things. And to be honest, I didn''t want to be walking around and have to see a guy''s member swinging back and forth so don''t be giving me that judgemental look either. Anyway, she''s got it a bit good seeing as how we are not going to be doing anything to her so don''t feel bad. And no touching either as you''re suppose to be my help and able to control yourself ok?"


    Laz didn''t know how to respond. Did she think he''d never seen a naked woman before? Isn''t that why they invented the inte? Actually, she was half right, there really was only that one girl at Joey''s ce, but he would keep that secret with him to the grave. Or until he got lucky, whichever came first.


    Either way, Laz just nodded and didn''t say anything else. He kept ying his part as the silent body guard without the slightest slip up.


    "Ok, now tell me what seems weird to you?" Kennedy asked while looking at Laz.


    If she had been able to see his face at this moment, she would have been somewhat amused by the nk look he was wearing.


    ''We are in the middle of a teenage sex ve party and oh look, there are waiters with silver trays, passing out X and LSD. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE WEIRD ABOUT THIS?'' Laz joked to himself silently. Still though, in an effort to earn his keep and prove himself, Laz looked around for a bit before turning back to Kennedy. Now Laz wasn''t stupid and knew that the answer was probably way more straightforward than he first thought. So he stopped for a second and thought about everything he had seen so far as opposed to looking for something new.


    The answer hit him almost immediately.


    He just looked Kennedy straight in the mask and touched his arm. Kennedy''s eyes brightened at this moment as she thought that he was finally starting to pay attention more.


    ''That''s right. How the hell is Tommy not wearing a brace or a caste. He shouldn''t be able to move that arm much less drag a girl around with it and yet that is exactly what he is doing." Kennedy agreed with Laz''s gesture as she spoke her mind.


    Laz didn''t say anything but just thought silently. He then got Kennedy''s attention and with two fingers, indicated lines down the front of his face.


    "You think so to huh? But he isn''t wearing something like a bracelet from what I can see." Kennedy thought back to his sleevesing up a bit as he was dragging his pets around and didn''t remember seeing anything that looked like what Laz had given her.


    Laz once again kept quiet and just pointed at himself and Kennedy and shook his head. Kennedy tilted her head to the side as though she didn''t understand and in response, Laz just said into her head,


    "He''s not like us. He is something else." Of course, even Laz wasn''t sure what he meant, he just felt like Tommy was different from them and Marlene. But if you were to ask him how, he wouldn''t be able to exin.


    The topic of their conversation was off in the security room, talking to the old dangerous man.


    "What the hell did he do?" Tommy fumed. To be insulted like he was at his own party was driving him mad. Even though he respected the old man who had protected his family ever since before he was born, Tommy still viewed him as nothing more than hired help and therefore wasn''t going to be civil now that he was pissed off.


    The old man didn''t respond right away and instead, was looking at a camera where Laz and Kennedy were currently speaking.


    "I''m not sure. No matter how I look at it, the only thing I can think is that he is a trained martial artist as well as the fact that he struck before they were ready. But based on only these two factors, there is no way he will win in a one versus one battle with guys who are better trained and much bigger. His kind of fighting could be called a street brawl level at best. So we will have no trouble eliminating him in an idental way. Still, It would be best if young master were to test him out a bit first. Even if your fighter is a former MMA punk, one can never be too careful," the old man thoughtfully responded back.


    "You''ve always been too damn careful old man. If I start to make this thing look fixed, all I''m going to do is piss off the other guests. And that''s not something we can afford to do. Make sure he is ready. I pay you all more than enough to at least do these little jobs right." Tommy didn''t say anymore as he stormed away, leaving the old man to bitterly shake his head and mumble to himself,.


    "It''s your parents who pay me you little shit. Bah, I''m getting too old for this."


    The old man just smiled slightly and continued to do his job and observe. He didn''t really think it would be any trouble for their former MMA fighter to kill a little boy so he didn''t bother to take precautions.


    As Tommy arrived back into the main room, he stood up on a raised stage that just to happened too be sitting in the middle of the room.


    "Alright Ladies and Gentlemen. Hopefully everyone is having a good time? Remember you each have a room assigned if you need to sleep here for the night so feel free to get fucked up. Now it''s time for the main excitement of the night. The betting table is over there where those severaldies will be more than happy to fulfill your gambling needs. The house has enough money to cover bets up to one million. Sorry it couldn''t be more but my parents were being cheap this week," Tommy said with a grin which earned him someughter from the crowd.


    "Now then, I hope everyone enjoys the special high quality snacks provided to us by this very specialdy," Tommy then gestured towards Kennedy before continuing.


    "She will be avable to anyone who needs something in the future so feel free to snag a business card before you leave tonight. Also, she has agreed for her guard to be one of the first ones toe up for the starting spar.Let''s give her champion, Blood Skull, a round of apuse. Tommy then started pping a bit too enthusiastically which was followed by everyone else.


    Luckily the noise was a bit loud as people were getting messed up in more ways than one so no one heard Kennedy say,


    "Fuck, he''s set us up."


    Laz just smiled and didn''t say anything but he began to walk forward towards the stage. As he passed by Kennedy thought, he stopped and leaning in, whispered in her ear while handing her his money.


    "Bet it all on me and we will be rich."


    "You sure about this? This will be a lot of money to lose."


    "Yeah, but I won''t lose," Laz said with a grin. And with that, he made his way up on stage while Kennedy hurried over to the better table where there were already lines forming.


    The stage was propped up so that the guests could see better while arge projection screen was lowed, allowing for a more top down look.


    As Laz walked up the steps, he was able to hear some people pping for him still while others have already stopped. Obviously he wasn''t the one ted to win this opening match so although some people had already bet on him while going for a long shot, most had bet on his opponent.


    Of course he only now saw his opponent for the first time while getting onto the stage. He was a tall guy, over six feet and covered in muscle. He didn''t look too bright but then again, when the objective is just to hit things as hard as you can, you don''t need a lot of smarts.


    Kennedy had also made her way over to the betting table and found out that Laz was running 10:1 odds. Which meant that any bet on him would get ten times the payout. She now understood why some people would take those chances even if it seemed like he no chance to win.


    As he went to the center of the stage to face off against the big muscle head, a ring announcer took over for Tommy. Lifting his voice to make sure it carried all the way through the room, he bellowed loudly:


    "Let the first match of the Sex, Drugs and Violence party, begin!"

 Chapter 64: First Fight (party 6)

    Chapter 64: First Fight (party 6)


    Of course the match couldn''t begin like that. Participants had to remove their shoes and any other articles of clothing that would get in the way. Honestly speaking, It was just an excuse for the guys to show off their muscles as shoes were really the only dangerous thing they had on them thanks to security.


    Once the tall idiot had removed his shoes and his shirt, he started flexing to the crowd to show off. This was especially invigorating as everyone was currently indulging themselves in various forms of pleasurable substances. As such, the roaring got louder and louder. The tall idiot continued to show off as music began to y in an effort to really work people up. In this way, it would cause more people to want to bet which would then raise the stakes. For many, high stakes gambling is the ultimate high.


    Of course, while this one man show was going on, Laz just calmly sat down and removed his shoes, setting them down next to Kennedy. He then undid his jacket in a unhurried fashion and neatly folded it before beginning to unbutton his shirt. For the few people who were looking on, mostly the guards of the other youths, Laz seemedpletely unfazed but the much taller and rowdier man on the stage in front of him. Those watching couldn''t help but nod in approval at this young man''s calm demeanor. As they knew well, in a fight, a battle or a war, the most important thing was to remain calm.


    The real shock came to most people when he finally took his shirt off. Laz, by nature, wasn''t a very vain guy. He never had much money, ever, so he just always wore what he hadying around and did enough to make himself not look like a hobo. Admittedly, with the clothes on that were a bit too baggy, Laz looked like he was wearing borrowed clothes. As such, it made him seem a bit poor in this rich environment. Once people had that impression, they would then look for every other fault a person possessed and act like it made them into less of a human. But once the shirt came off, people shut up.


    Laz had experienced much since he started to change a few weeks ago. Be it the initial body burning he went through in his apartment, the constant beat down he got as a result of Bill, or the time he decided to taste the likely poisonous nectar and drink the highly suspicious glowing water, his bdoy was in a constant state of refinement. Even top athletes train for around 12 hours a day, several days a week. But Laz was basically undergoing body training every moment of every day, 24/7. As such, the initial muscle he had gain on the ount of his first change had be a rock solid build now. If the tall idiot could bepared to a body builder, than Laz would be a chiseled statue of a god. Even Kennedy couldn''t help but flush red as she looked at his finely sculpted abs, the explosive arms and his rock solid pelvic muscles that were visible above the waist of his pants. She almost found it hard to breathe.


    But the thing that really stuck out to her was the tattoo on his chest. The blood red moon behind the ckened skeleton of a tree stood out prominently against Laz''s somewhat white, unblemished skin. This point was made more ring by the fact that his skin was pretty wless as though though he had never experience the world. In fact, unknown to even Laz, the constant body training along with the energy cirction did a lot to help erase whatever scars he used to have.


    For the ones watching him, it seems impossible for him to look that clean, even if he wasn''t a merc.


    The sight of this obviously young and powerful young man standing there in only pants and a skull mask was enough to make the fewdies at the party want to own this rare creature. The poor pets they had been ying with seemed rather dull byparison.


    Annie was no exception. As she sat off to the side with a leash in her hand while resting on the back of her own personal bull, she couldn''t help but openly gawk at the exotic disy before her. Alex was actually standing off to one side while sipping a drink and watching the match beginnings as well. Strangely, he had no such pet with him. As the situation stood, Annie wouldn''t let him have one.


    "This is the druggie bitch Tommy found right? Where did she get this hot piece of street meat to fight for her?"


    Although one might think she was talking to her boyfriend, that would be incorrect as Jesse sat off on a couch to the side. Like Alex, he didn''t have a pet with him. Instead, as he was leaning his head back, soft and supple fingers were massaging his temples in slow circles as he had his eyes closed. Without bothering to open them, he simply responded back,


    "The girl is a bit obsessed with money. If you offer her a good price, she might let you go home with him."


    "Hmm... not a bad idea," was Annie''s only response. It was almost as though she didn''t have a boyfriend right next to her. Most days, Jesse would show a bit of respect towards Alex since he kind of felt bad for the guy. But that only extended to a certain point. His days have not be goodtely and therefore, he didn''t give a damn about Alex.


    "I hope he doesn''t get hurt. Otherwise, that would ruin the funter," Annie added on with a strange glint in her eye.


    Jesse didn''t say anything but just grunted a bit as the finely dressed woman behind him continued to rub his head as though trying to rx him. He was very much enjoying this moment of rxation.


    Alex didn''t say or do anything, he just stood there and watched while asionally drinking. All in all, it was a strange scene to observe.


    "Is Tommy ok? I can''t believe his arm healed in only a few days?" Annie asked while looking over at Jesse. Even if her parents were richer than his, he showed signs of being very sessful in business at a very young age show his parents gave him quite a bit of responsibility for someone so young. Recently, he had been going over the material about the strange mutations going on in people so that he might offer a few suggestions at the next board meeting. Unique resources were always in high demand.


    "He''s fine. Better than fine actually," was Jesse''s only response.


    "He''s not one of them, is he?"


    "Strangely no." For the first time, Jesse sat up and looked at Annie. Jesse''s interest had alwaysid in a much higher ce than high school or whatever trouble his friends would get up to. He was the type who wanted to be older now so that he could start doing amazing things and as such, he took an interest in the strange happenings as ofte.


    "Mypany has been doing research on the medical end after obtaining a few samples of these... things. Although there is no difference in the actual DNA structure of the creatures, there is a change in their inner bodily organs. It''s like, over night, a new organ just grew right in the center of these people. We are doing lots of testing on this new organ, but we''ve yet toe up with what it is or what it does. It''s amazing. But Jesse doesn''t have that, at least not as far as we can tell. Of course, we can''t just cut him open and take a look either, which is a pity.".


    Jesse rxed back down once again while settling in for his massage to start.


    "Anyway, since he didn''t have it, his parents and my parents just agreed that I would observe him along with a bit of a research team. He might be somethingpletely different from those monsters and this might be the first finding of it. If I wasn''t being worked to death, I would be fucking thrilled."


    Annie didn''t say anything else but just turned back to the stage. Her thoughts were running wild at this point.


    Laz didn''t say anything as he climbed onto the stage. He just gave onest look to Kennedy and a small nod before he turned around to face his opponent. The tall idiot had stopped showing off for the crowd and was just looking at Laz like a small creature to be devoured. He didn''t think much of this small man who had a good build. No matter how strong he was, he could only be so powerful with a body that short.


    As the judge took a step back, he waved both men into the center of the ring before indicating that they should shake hands. Laz and tall man both stuck out there hands to shake and began to grip each others hands tightly. As was custom, this was the first disy of strength.


    Although the tall man kept increasing his strength, Laz just responded in kind and didn''t try to take the initiative. Instead, he was matching this muscle head''s strength, bit by bit.


    As they broke away to take their stances, the tall man finally got serious and settled into a half crouch while raising both his hands. After the hand shake, he knew that he had sorely misjudged his opponent.


    Laz didn''t take any stances but just stood there with his hands behind his back, as though he was watching a show. He had never really fought with an actual fighter before so even though he looked calm, he was actually boiling and excited on the inside as he started speeding up his energy cycle and spreading out his sense. He wanted to make sure he didn''t miss a single movement of his opponent.


    The judge then waved his palm down between the two men to start the match and retreated back to get out of the way. The tall man didn''t directly charge Laz as many had thought he would but just started taking small sliding steps to circle Laz. He wanted to feel him out before he went on the offensive.


    Laz didn''t react in the slightest and just let the man do what he wanted. He was content to respond instead of act. The only thing he did do was to keep his eyes on the man so that it seemed like he was paying attention.


    The crowd, riled up before the match, was anything but quiet while they yelled out various chants to encourage the fighting to begin. When that didn''t work, they started cursing the two fighters.


    "Come on, kick his skinny little ass."


    "What happened to all that show before? Don''t tell us your just a one minute man."


    "Fuck him up already. Damn, I could have done it myself by now."


    The tall man, fired up by the crowd, finally made a move with a straight punch towards the side of Laz''s head. In response, Laz just slightly leaned to the left to avoid it before stepping to the right to avoid the follow up to his chest. The tall man, stunned at Laz''s movements but reassured by the fact that he didn''t fight back, started to let loose with more punches and an asional kick.


    As the screams got louder, more and more people were excited by the fact that no matter how he attacked, Laz couldn''t be touched. If anything, it looked more like the two were dancing with the tall guy leading and Laz responding.


    After a few minutes those, Laz couldn''t help but frown. Although this guy was strong and had good judgement, he obviously never studied martial arts before and therefore wasn''t able to teach Laz anything.


    With a sigh and a barely whispered "worthless," Laz finally reacted.


    The tall man had brought his leg around for a roundhouse kick which Laz easily ducked. The then stepped forward and reaching back a slight bit, punched forward straight into the mans stomach. After having failed the kick, his tense body had loosened up at almost the exact moment Laz made a move and as such, was unprepared to defend. Laz''s punchnded right in the middle of the man''s stomach, catching him off guard. Laz put a bit of energy behind it while bracing his body. The tall man ended up flying backwards as thoughunched from a cannon and without a single bit of resistance, wasunched right off the stage while the heavy hit caused him to start vomiting while still in the air.


    As he hit the ground and passed out, he still twitched a few more times before finally falling unconscious. At this moment, the entire room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.


    Of course that onlysted a moment before an explosive cheer rang out everywhere.

 Chapter 65: Scheming Old Man (party 7)

    Chapter 65: Scheming Old Man (party 7)


    The crowd went wild, literally. Considering most of the crowd was jacked up on various mild altering chemicals, watching the end of the match was like a big rush to the brain. The first match was exactly the big start that everyone was looking forward to watching and it helped pump them up in a big way.


    Kennedy was rather impressed with Laz. She had seen him fight before, but thest time he did, all she got to watch was him bash up a few street punks. She never knew about the training he did so how would she know that he could do more than just scare some witless idiots. As such, she also joined in the crowd to cheer widely also keeping in mind that she had bet a few thousand on his match.


    Laz didn''t do much other than stand on the wooden stage and nce at where his opponent had fallen before turning around and walking off, back towards Kennedy.


    "THE WINNER, BLOOD SKULL!" The ref made sure to announce after he recovered from his surprise.


    The most important thing about matches such as these was to put a name with the face (or mask) and the action. When people saw a match they liked, they would remember the person who did it and pay more attention to the next match. It was something that humanity had learned as far back as the roman Colosseum when diators madesting impressions on fans. Even now, people would always want to see their favorite fighters fight so making sure the name was announced was paramount.


    Of course, how much the crowd would actually remember was up in the air at this point.


    If there was anyone who was not happy with how things yed out, it would have been Tommy. Although he didn''t put any stock into this member of his house''s security team, to see him beaten in one hit was not something he could stomach. His face was definitely turning red with anger behind his expensive mask.


    Annie, on the other hand, couldn''t have been more thrilled. She was almost screeching like an immature school girl at the way Laz won and then walked off the stage as though it was nothing. This kind of cold, detached attitude along with the chiseled body was more than enough to get her hot and bothered. Although Alex still kept quiet, the more Annie got excited, the tighter he was squeezing his ss.


    The only one who remained calm about the whole thing was Jesse who was still getting his massage as though nothing in the world was more important than that. At least, that was how it looked on the outside. In truth, he was sneaking nces at Tommy the whole time as though trying to pay attention to his reactions.


    Even if Tommy wasn''t happy, he wasn''t going to stop the event just because of that. There would always be another chance. As such, he did nothing but sit down while dragging his two pets up to apany him.


    The fights would continue as nned.


    Laz walked back to Kennedy and started to put back on his shoes, shirt and jacket in a slow but steady manner. At the same time, he noticed Kennedy''s burning gaze on him as though she wanted to drill right through his skin and find out all his secrets.


    "Is there something wrong?" he said once he was dressed again. Although he would be going back intopete again, he didn''t feel like walking around shirtless. Besides, he wanted to maintain the image that he was a professional, not just a fighter.


    "Where did you learn to fight?" Kennedy asked with stars in her eyes.


    "ces. Isn''t this the reason why your cousin wanted me to protect you? Because I could fight?" Laz responded back while looking at her.


    "He never said you could fight, just that you were tough. He never really exined why though."


    "Ah," was Laz''s only response. As he thought about it, it would make sense that Tony didn''t reveal what had happened that night. After all, there are some things you don''t tell a girl when she is family.


    "Well, there will be more of that soon. As long as I don''t lose, we can make some money here." Lazmented. Although the funds were important, what Laz was really looking forward to was a good fight where he could learn. He felt that with his sense and his ability to circte his energy, the best thing he could do to get stronger was to learn some technique. Although Grandpa Chu was going to set him up at a dojo for a bit, he didn''t want to wait that long. It wasn''t like it was going to be a long term thing anyway.


    "AH, good point. Be right back." Kennedy started walking towards the betting table as though she had forgotten. She didn''t get far before she looked back though and asked Laz a question.


    "Do you want to bet on other matches?"


    Laz thought about this for a minute before shaking his head no. Although they had won when they bet on him, he didn''t know the other fighters and didn''t think that wasting his money in this way was a good idea. After all, unlike the others here, he didn''t have a ton of money to waste..


    Laz sat down as though he was resting while an extremely attractive and rather scantily d hostess walked up with a tray of drinks and offered it to him. Turning to look at her, he didn''t say anything.


    "Hello sir, that was an amazing match. Would you like something to drink?" She said while holding the tray out for him and bending over, revealing the massive cleavage he couldn''t notice at first while sitting down.


    Laz didn''t speak or even react at first while he looked over. He was somewhat mesmerized by the deep valley just inches from his face. Although it was for only a moment before he regain himself, he was still d he was wearing a mask that could hide his face. Laz didn''t say anything but he did point to the various cups on the tray while the woman gave a description of each. Although a few were alcoholic, most were not since most bodyguards weren''t about to drink on the job. Compared to the other drinks that the other hostesses were offering, it was obvious she was attending to him personally.


    Laz finally just grabbed a cup of water before turning his head back around to the stage where two more contestants wereing up to fight. One of them had several tattoos all over his body while the other was covered in scars. Laz was quite amused by the different types of people who would do this kind of work. Some looked like they had been through hell while others just seemed to want to look tough.


    Cough, cough.


    Laz turned over due to the noise to look at the woman who had offered him drinks and found she was still standing in the same spot and looking at him while bent over. Luckily, Laz was prepared this time and didn''t get trapped into looking below her neck. Although it took a bit of will power, Laz was actually truly interested in getting rid of this woman so he could focus again.


    ''Is there something wrong?'' Laz said in his head, knowing that she couldn''t hear him. Interestingly, he had tilted his head slightly when he said this to himself and she got that as a cue to continue.


    "Uh, sir, is there something wrong with the drink?" The woman asked, somewhat nervously.


    It was then that Laz realized that he hadn''t taken a drink. Not thinking much of it, he raised his mask slightly and took a sip before putting the mask back down. Due to the design of the mask, raising it that much wouldn''t reveal the face hidden behind it.


    He then faced the woman and nodded before turning back to the ring. Laz really had no idea what the right thing to do in this situation was since he was far more interested in the matches on stage. Therefore, he was totally oblivious to what was going on. He also failed to notice the old man staring at him from across the room who started smiling when he took a drink.


    The hostess smiled while her eyes lit up as though his acknowledgement was the very thing she was waiting for before bowing slightly.


    "If there is anything else you need sir, feel free to call me over... err... just wave me over. I will be standing by for you only." She then walked away in the direction of the old man.


    Coming up to him, she stood by his side and her smile immediately dropped from her face.


    "Good work," the old manmented.


    "Too easy. These guys who are supposed to be trained bodyguards seem to lose all sense of awareness when they are in such a rxed situation." The woman replied with a cold re as she looked at Laz.


    "They don''t see this as a battlefield so of course they would be rxed. It''s normal for this to happen, hence why it''s so easy to y them. Of course, this one seems to be amazingly dumb. ording to the young master, there is no way that girl got a real merc so he must just be some sort of street fighter."


    "Tch." The woman just clicked her tongue and didn''t respond back.


    "To be nameless and not attached to anyone important yet still to think that he can cause havoc here, he was asking to die from the moment he acted," the old manmented with a thick venom in his voice. He was the old man who was in charge of security but he also was in charge of protecting the families interests. Because of that, even if he acted otherwise in front of Tommy, he wasn''t going to let this young punk insult the young master.


    "He should be honored to have had that ss of water. The powder mixed in is probably worth more than he will see in his whole life," the womanmented while still staring at Laz.


    "Perhaps, but that bitch of his just made off with almost $40,000 just from betting on him once. At least this will also keep us from loosing too much money from these kids." The old man said back, somewhat nonchntly. In truth, the money wasn''t the problem as that was just pocket change. The problem was that half of the guests were from subordinate families who were there as a sort of reward while the other half were from peer families. The goal was to show off to one side while keeping the other side in line. It was really a kind of test the family arranged to evaluate Tommy.


    The old man wasn''t going to allow any outside factors to affect it.


    "I don''t see what the young master sees in that blonde bitch. It''s not like we don''t have contacts for these types of things," the womanmented while taking a drink from a clean ss.


    "It''s not our ce to question him, just to support him. Now, although one sip is enough, make sure to encourage him to have some more and don''t let anyone else drink from those cups. It''s not like it''s going to kill anyone, but it is not a pleasant experience to go through," the old man exined.


    "I don''t understand why we don''t just poison him and be done with it?" The woman asked while looking at the old man.


    "Sigh. You''re still too young Jade. In this sort of situation, it is far better if that ''Blood Skull'' dies in the ring as opposed to dropping dead in his seat. Far less questions and far more entertainment. Understand?"


    "Ah. I see," Jade said with a sh of enlightenment.


    While they were talking, Laz was focused on the battle taking ce on the stage, unaware of the plot against him.

 Chapter 66: Poison Isnt As Effective As One Might Think (party 8)

    Chapter 66: Poison Isn''t As Effective As One Might Think (party 8)


    Laz might have been oblivious to the plot set against him, but he wasn''t oblivious to what happens to his body. For instance, when you are focused on something, you might be able to tune everything else out. Heavy sleepers are a good example. It would take something like a loud fire rm or their house copsing for them to wake up. In this case, although it wasn''t apparent to Laz at first, it didn''t mean he didn''t notice it shortly after it happened.


    As it was, Laz was in the middle of watching the fight when he felt a strange itch in his stomach. It kind of felt like indigestion although it was more like concentrated on one spot. Normally, a poison starts acting as soon as it''s ingested, making it''s way quickly to the blood stream. But that would be the effect for a normal person. Laz was anything but.


    After having ingested a few weird things not too long ago, things that would kill a normal person, Laz had be much more resistant to harmful substances. If he was old enough to drink, he would find that he could drink as much as a man twice his size even before he might have felt it. In a simr way, the amount of drugs used on Laz to make him unable to exert himself was more situated to someone Laz''s size or a bit bigger. The old man didn''t know this, but due to his holding back on attempting to poison Laz, he actually shot himself in the foot.


    Not only was the poison not effective, but it had actually cause Laz a strange difort that he felt. Since Laz couldn''t exactly reach into his stomach to itch it, he did the next best thing. Sitting back in his seat, he focused his sense on himself in an effort to see what the problem was. Normally, his body would appear to shine a bit golden and blue, thanks to the water and nectar he had consumed. However, looking at himself, he was able to see a ck spot on his abdomen where the poison was attempting to prate his stomach lining and force it''s way into his blood stream. The poison wasn''t alive, it was just that the powder wasn''t able to sit in one spot long enough to affect him until it had reached his stomach.


    Laz was confused at first, but gradually, he figured it out. If the golden and blue colors represented a positive energy bnce within his system, what could ck possibly be? Something foreign and harmful. Knowing that he had just drank the water, he was able to quickly figure out that he was being targeted.


    He started to panic a bit after figuring this out as this was apletely new experience for him. He had been poisoned after all and he had no idea what to do.


    As he kept looking at the ck spot just sitting there, Laz could feel little beads of sweat starting to form under his clothes.


    ''What the hell am I suppose to do about this? Should I say something to Kennedy?'' Looking over at Kennedy who hade back with a happy smile on her face, he felt like telling her would be a bad idea at the moment. This wasn''t something she could do anything about, so what would be the point? Make her panic? He was barely keeping himself in check since he could see it wasn''t spreading. But there was no way she would react so calmly.


    In Laz''s head, he felt like it was a small bomb someone had nted. He didn''t know what it was, why it was there, or what the result would be. Even if it wasn''t doing anything now, that didn''t mean it would stay like that.


    Over the past few weeks, Laz had been subconsciously circting his energy ording to the natural way he learned while observing the energy in the air. He didn''t know why he did it, but it made him feel more energetic every time he did it. Since he was already somewhat on edge, he started the cirction naturally as he tried to calm himself down.


    The result was amazing.


    As Laz watched the blue and gold lights of energy cycle around his system, every time they passed by the ck spot, it shrunk more and more. It didn''t take more than a few cycles before the ck patch was gone. Moving his hands and feet, Laz realized that he was feeling just as good as he did normally while doing this.


    For whatever reason, his body''s energy eliminated that ck patch before Laz even knew what it was.


    Although he was relieved that he was out of danger, he now had a bigger problem.


    It was obvious he was being targeted and since it didn''t take a genius to figure out who had slipped him the poison, he knew he was being targeted by the people at the house. He couldn''t help but look over at where Tommy was sitting, wondering if it was him. He would be the first choice that Laz could think of. But as he observed him, he noticed that Tommy didn''t even look in his direction. He was more focused on ying with his two toys while watching the blood fly on stage.


    Laz felt that considering what had happened, if it was Tommy, he would at least be sneaking nces at him. Since he wasn''t, Laz felt like it had to be someone else. As opposed to looking around though, Laz just spread out his sense so that he could observe the people of the house and see who was taking looks at him. He noticed the waitress immediately. And standing next to her, while she kept looking at him, was the old man in charge of security.


    One might think that Laz would feel better about it not being Tommy, but the truth was he was far more scared of the old man. Tommy was young, impulsive and hot headed. He could be figured out easily. But the old man was a sly, crafty one. Those were the most dangerous.


    Laz wasn''t some super solder or some all knowing tough guy. He was a student with a bit more experience than most. Knowing that someone was acting against him like that, his first thought was to run. But could he?


    Looking over at Kennedy, he decided it was best to feel the situation out.


    *Hey!* He thought towards her. She had been taking a drink at the moment and had almost spit it out upon hearing his voice in her head.


    *Jeez. Would you not just do that all of the sudden?* She asked while holding back her cough..


    *Sorry. Did you get the money from the bet?*


    *Yeah. Then I put it all on your next match. I''m not sure what the odds are, but we can still win quite a but more since everyone is still looking down on you,* Kennedy responded with a smile. She had quite a lot of trust in this body guard of hers. And since they both needed the money, she felt like any bet on him was a sure win.


    *Damn it,* Laz said, not hiding his thought.


    *What? What''s wrong?* Kennedy asked, sitting up and looking over at him.


    *I think we are being targeted. Well, me anyway. I have no idea if they want to do something to you,* Laz thought to her while looking in her direction.


    *What do you mean? Did something happen?* Kennedy now looked rmed. Although Laz couldn''t see her face, he could feel the changes in her thoughts immediately. Despite the severity of the situation, Laz couldn''t help but feel a bit touched. Even if he didn''t know how much it was, he did know he liked this girl. And when a girl you like shows concern for you, it ends up hitting you far more than you can imagine.


    *I think they tried to poison me. But, for whatever reason, it didn''t work. So, before you lose it, I am perfectly fine,* Laz said, shaking his head as though it would somehow prove he was ok. Since she couldn''t see his face, he felt it was the next best thing as though his bodynguage would match his words, so to speak.


    *WHAT? THEY...YOU... ARE YOU SURE?* Kennedy almost screamed this, but managed to keep it inside her head at thest moment. Laz''s head nodding did little tofort her.


    *Yes. I''m sure. Trust me?*


    Kennedy sat back to collect her thoughts and carelessly started ying with the leash in her hand. Her pet seemed started to sit up as though she might need to be used for something, but Kennedy didn''t react at all.


    *So... what should we do?* Kennedy asked a bit apprehensive. She didn''t want to lose out on the money she had bet, but she wasn''t about to bet his life or hers to get it. What''s the point in being rich if you are not alive to enjoy it?


    *We will wait until my next match is over. Then you go collect the bet if I win and head for the door. Make up some excuse about needing to go outside to the bike to get something. Start looking through the bags like you can''t find it and keep doing that until you see meing. Then get the helmet on and get ready to go.*


    *Are you sure? I''m not about to risk you just for this.* Kennedy said a bit emotional. Even though it was his life being threatened, he was still making sure to take care of her. He knew how important the money was to her even if he didn''t know the reason why. So the fact that he was going to go through with this next match despite the risk caused her heart to quiver a little bit. It was a feeling she wasn''t used to.


    *It''s fine. Besides, we need to make this as natural as possible. I don''t know what they are trying to do but it is already to this point. I can''t fight the small army they have here so we might as well get out before things get any worse.*


    The n in Laz head was taking shape. Getting Kennedy out would be easy as no one thought much of her in the first ce. The one they seemed to be targeting was him and as such, he was the one they would watch. Despite the danger of it all, Laz was getting a little excited.


    As the final match of the first round was starting up, Laz just sat back and watched, almost as though he didn''t have a care in the world. The truth was that he was scanning the surroundings in a effort to make an escape root. Looking at the camera cement along with the building arrangements and guard positioning, he got a rough idea in his head.


    Since he could figure out where people were just by using his sense, he knew he could make this work, at least he thought he could.


    The final match involved a rather well muscled middle age man who had several tattoos on his back. The mask he was wearing looked like a clown mask that, when ced on his body, would scare anyone he came into contact with. In contrast, the one opposite of him was wearing a smiling theater mask, the kind that was pure white with pitch ck eyes and smiling mouth. If anyone hadn''t been paying attention, this would look amazingly like a creepy showdown between two serial killers.


    As the judge started the match, both men took a moment to circle each other in the ring, as though looking for their opponents weak point. The clown was using a sliding step to circle while smiles, who was also quite ripped, was justzily walking around in a circle as though he didn''t have a concern in the world. When his opponent finally stopped, he just continued to move as though it didn''t affect him in the slightest. The clown, a bit taken off guard, turned his body to face smiles who was still moving, but didn''t take another step.


    Finally, when smiles was only a few feet away from the clown, the clown pounced at him, aiming a faint at his face while his real target was his lower body. Most people, when being attacked in the face, would move a hand or two to stop it as that was instinct. Doing so in a fight was actually pretty stupid. Not only would it tie up both of your hands, leaving the rest of you exposed, but it would also block your vision. It was normal to start a fight this way as a probe.


    Smiles however, had a different idea. Instead of blocking the punch with his hands, he brought his head down to headbutt the fisting at him. He then raised his left knee to block the lower blow while bringing both his hands up in a reverse chopping motion, going directly for the clowns neck.


    As the clown was to focused on his hand being hit and his lower punch being blocked, he failed to bring his hands up fast enough to block smiles'' attack and as such, itnded square on clown''s neck. The blow was so hard, it ruptured his windpipe almost immediately and caused him to grab his neck in a panic while backing off.


    The judge, seeing this, tried to rush forward, but he wasn''t nearly fast enough to stop smiles from kicking the clown in the stomach. The kick forced all the air out of the clown''s copsed windpipe which caused him to faint due to oxygen loss.


    He twitched a few times before his body went limp while the judge was waving over medical personal. All the while, smiles just sat down, off to the side as though watching a show.


    Sadly, even though they tried sticking a tube in his throat, it was far toote due to the damage and clown passed away in front of the audience.


    The room was once again quiet before bursting into cheers at the sight of a man dying in front of them. For these rich and spoiled youths, this was the ultimate kind of high.

 Chapter 67: Love Is In The Air (party 9)

    Chapter 67: Love Is In The Air (party 9)


    The cheers rang throughout the mansion as a match ended in death. No one saw thising although everyone had hoped for it. For many, death was something that you heard about, something that happened to someone else or something that came to an old family member or maybe even a family pet. Most of the time though you didn''t see it happen, it just did. In this day and age, many parents try to shield their kids from death and as such, it is considered to be a taboo. To see man who was so alive die right in front of them was like a charge to their bodies. Several of the guests couldn''t hold themselves back anymore and just started fucking their pets right then and there. For anyone who didn''t know what was happening, the whole room simply resembled one big orgy. The insanity level was just as high as the excitement level as everyone felt their own blood boiling.


    Tommy and Annie were two such people, although their responses were a bit different. Tommy was like all of the other guys in the room and while one girl pet rode him, the other one was forced to kneel next to him while he viciously spanked her. Annie, on the other hand, was sitting on her bull pet while rubbing herself off. After spreading her legs, she called Alex over to lick her toes while she went to work on her herself, using her left hand to rub her cit while the two middle fingers of her right hand plunged deep inside, curled into a w shaped and shook up and down vigorously. While Alex was icking her toes, he couldn''t help but be aroused himself as he stuck his hand down his pants to stroke himself a bit. He even started to boldly try to kiss his way up Annie''s leg before a foot to his forehead pushed him back. Looking up, Annie red at him for just a moment and then turned back to look across the room.


    Looking over himself, Alex realized that Annie''s eyes were glued on Laz who was just sitting there calmly as though he was taking a nap. The only movement from Laz that Alex could see was him asionally taking a drink of water, but little else. In this chaotic sort of environment, he seemedpletely at ease, which apparently turned Annie on more as her eyes never left him. Alex knew he still wouldn''t have a chance to touch her tonight more than he already was so he had no choice but to go back to her foot and continue to use his tongue to give her feet peasure. That was actually far more than he had gotten before this anyway.


    Jesse was another who was seemingly unaffected by this as he continued to get hie forehead massaged, almost as though he was unaware of what was happening. In truth, he was. The attractive, mature woman who was rubbing him had slipped ear plugs in before the match had started, so he had no idea what was happening. He just simplyid back and enjoyed this rare moment of rest away from schooling or work. His added bonus was asionally, the woman would rub herrge breasts against his face, to which he couldn''t help but have a reaction to. She knew what he wanted just as much as he knew what he wanted. He liked this older woman who knew how to please a man and she liked the feeling of controlling a young, rich and healthy boy. In the end, it was for mutual benefit.


    Of course, all of this didn''t escape Laz... or affect him. Although the things going on around him were quite stimting, he had his focus on the smiling masked man who had just exited the ring and went to sit down like it was nothing. The same couldn''t be said about Kennedy though. Even if Laz''s mind was working on not only this killer in a mask but also running through some scenarios in his head about what the escape would look like, he didn''t fail to keep some attention on Kennedy as well. He never forgot that she was the primary focus for him tonight, so he was making sure to divert some of his attention to her as well. As such, he noticed it quickly when she started to breathe a bit heavily. Looking over in an effort to see what was up, he noticed she was wiggling around a bit ufortably in the chair while moving her sexy, stocking covered legs together. He almost thought she was trying to hold back having to go to the girl''s room. He figured out his mistake the very next second.


    "Ahhh... mmmm!!!" She moaned, ever so quietly.


    *Kennedy? Hey, what''s wrong?* He turned his body to look at her. While her legs were constantly rubbing, she started to lean back and tilt her head back. In the next moment, she moved her hand up as though she wanted to grab her breast.


    Reaching out quickly, Laz grabbed her hand to stop her and in doing so, he leaned closer. Her mask didn''t cover her eyes the way his did and he could see that while she had originally had her eyes closed, she opened the the first moment he grabbed her hand and looked straight as his eyes. Almost without pause, her other hand started to reach for his pants while her already heavy breathing intensified. She moved forward as though she wanted to crawl right on top of him while her warm breath finally hit his face. It was at this moment that he noticed a sort of flowery scent to her breath which seemed very odd. After all, flowers weren''t normally a smell people had on their breathe. He then got a really bad feeling.


    Holding her back, he spread his senses out over the room and noticed some incense burning around the outside of the area. The light smoke was easily drifting around the room and being enjoyed by all, minus the service staff who had seemed to be wearing colorful mouth and noise masks. He didn''t know when it had happened, but it seemed like some sort of aphrodisiac had been let loose unto the crowd of already excited youths. Laz realized that after the water incident, he had been circting his energy the whole time which didn''t allow anything to affect him. That was why he failed to notice it.


    Focusing back on Kennedy, he couldn''t help but notice the red flush that had crept down her gorgeous neck, down her chest and even started reddening her heaving breasts. At this point, Laz really wanted to know just how far down she was flushing, but decided it probably wasn''t a good idea right now. For now, he had to figure out what he was going to do to wake her up from this, lest she start going for some other guy.


    Thinking about what he had done and how effective his energy was counteracting poisons, Laz came up with a stupid yet crazy idea. Closing his eyes for a moment, he started forcing his energy around faster and faster while he focused on what he had figure out from practicing the dragon fist.


    After only a few moments, he opened his eyes to see that while he was distracted, Kennedy had moved herself on top to straddle him, while moving back and forth as though dry humping him with her hands on his chest while he was holding her wrists. As it seemed like she was almost able to break her hands free, Laz''s hands tightened down and sent a jolt of his energy through her. Her high pitched yelp was simply drowned out by the crowd''s noise so no one noticed anything odd about her.


    Her body movement''s calmed down in no time as the focus came back to her eyes. She quickly froze when she found herself straddling Laz while looking down at him. Although she was frozen in ce and trying to figure out what the hell happened, she noticed Laz was shaking as though he wasughing.


    *All better now?* He asked as he helped her stunned self off and back into her chair.


    *Wha.., what happened?* She asked, a little shaken.


    *There is something in the air. You should be ok now, but I don''t rmend breathing deeply for the time being. You should be ok for a bit, but if you start feeling like your body is heating up, let me know.* Laz said after getting her back into ce.


    Although Kennedy was a bit out of it, she was still incredibly smart and quickly figured out what had happened.


    *FUCK THOSE FUCKERS,* she yelled in her head at Laz, making him jump a bit in his seat.


    *I can''t believe they just used that shit and didn''t tell anyone. DAMN IT.*


    *Hmm?* Laz looked over a little interested.


    *It''s called Love. It''s a different kind of drug that when burned into a smoke, acts like the world''s greatest aphrodisiac. I just can''t believe that they decided to use it all right now. That stuff is expensive.* She said, while taking another sip of her drink..


    *Ah, so then I guess you could say that ''Love is in the air?''* Laz asked. Although she couldn''t see it, Kennedy knew he had the worst grin on his face at the moment.


    *I really want to kick you right now... but...* Kennedy''s mind voice trailed off silently.


    *What''s that?* Laz asked.


    *Thank you, for waking me up without.. you know... doing anything...* Even if she was out of control, it''s not like she didn''t remember what had happened. She hadn''t been that far gone before Laz brought her back.


    *Of course,*Laz said, *It''s my job to make sure you get home safe, no matter what.* Laz answered back while giving her a thumbs up.


    Although Kennedy thought it might have been the result of the smell, she felt that her body got a bit warmer after hearing this from Laz. She had never really felt a feeling like this before.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen. Due to the previous rounding to such a spectacr end, we had a few contestants who had dropped out from the second round. As such, very soon, we will get to the final match of the night, BLOOD SKULL vs SMILES. And don''t worry everyone, we will being around to get your bets in a moment, seeing as how everyone seems a bit busy at the moment. Remember, your not allowed to do anything to the hostesses, except for look. That''s what your sweet little pets are for. The rate with be 1.5 to 1 on Smiles and 4 to 1 on Blood Skull. Unlimited wagers everyone, up to 1 million please. If anyone wants to do an electronic check, that is actually much easier so just ask your hostess. Stay tuned!"


    As the man got off the stage, Laz and Kennedy turned to face each other, both having the same thought.


    They were being set up and it wasn''t even being hidden anymore. In fact, considering who his finally opponent was, they most certainly wanted him to be the next one dying for the audience. Thinking quickly, Laz sent Kennedy a thought.


    *Forget the bet, get out, now,* Laz said to her as he stood up.


    *No, I''m not just going to leave you here alone. Besides, that guy will kill you. Juste with me,* she shot back.


    *I can''t get out if I have to worry about you, which means that no matter what, you need to be outside and ready to go as soon as I finish this. Besides, you think they are going to let me leave? Everyone is distracted while having a big fuck fest and they all want to see some action so it''s not like anyone is going to say anything,* Laz argued, indicating towards the doorways where several armed guards were now standing at attention. After looking around to confirm, Kennedy looked straight at Laz. Even though Kennedy couldn''t see his eyes, she felt like there was a faint glowing from the red gem like eye sockets. It felt calming and soothing to her. Before she knew it, she was nodding her head as though she was an obedient house wife.


    "Be safe," she whispered as she stepped back.


    "For you? Always." Laz replied in his own voice before turning towards the stage.

 Chapter 68: Hidden Moves (party 10)

    Chapter 68: Hidden Moves (party 10)


    As Laz finally got on stage after talking of his shoes, shirt and jacket, all he could hear was the crowd. Many people were betting against him as they didn''t think he had what it took to beat the killer he would be facing. There was also discussion going around about why this fight was taking ce as many assumed that other fighters would do better from the crowd who seemed one part horny and one part blood thirsty. Several hostesses were going around and quietly giving some bullshit reason for it, but Laz didn''t even bother to listen to it. Pretty soon, his opponent was on the stage across from him.


    The only one who didn''t bothering questioning this was Tommy. He could figure out pretty quickly that it was probably something the old man had arranged after watching him fight. He knew that the only reason he would do this was because the old man felt that none of the other fighters were worthy. Jesse didn''t care either way but Annie was looking on with die hard fervor.


    "Your not going to have him killed are you? That would be such a waste," shemented while looking over at Tommy. Tommy, who was still in the middle of of being forcefully ridden by his one pet, just looked over at the girl who had just closed her legs but was still getting her feet licked.


    "Does it really matter? Besides, you of all people should understand that in a situation like this, the best thing to show power is to be able to kill someone who disrespects you. These aren''t like the times back when our parents could easily make someone disappear. Nowadays, people are to soft to do that. And besides, it''s a lot easier to notice when someone goes missing. I don''t even know who this fucker is, but I bet he isn''t important. Therefore, he makes the perfect little promotional piece for this party. Honestly, I should thank that bitch, Karen, the next time I see her. She delivered me the perfect little sacrifice." Tommy was grinning like an idiot as he thought things through and started to get excited. He also finally started to get into the action of the girl on top of him. Wrapping his hands around his pet''s waist, he forcefully mmed her down onto his hard member as the once gentle sounds became ps of flesh against flesh. After only a few moments, he finished inside of her and threw her to the floor before cleaning himself up and calling for a drink. He didn''t want to be distracted from the uping entertainment.


    Annie on the other hand, just sat there as calm as could be. Had one not been watching, they would never have guessed she was just going at herself like a dog in heat. If anything, she started to give off a somewhat cold vibe after being somewhat brushed off by Tommy.


    Surprisingly, Jesse actually opened his eyes at this moment, as though he felt something while taking a look at her. Annie was just watching the stage somewhat casually, basically ignoring Alex who seemed to really be enjoying his ''treat,'' but she now seemed to be giving off waves of coldness. Jesse spent a few moments observing her before smiling a bit and closing his eyes. He was the only one who knew what he was thinking.


    Laz stood on stage while facing Smiles. Even with the mask on his face, Laz couldn''t help but think that this guy was actually smiling quite stupidly. Interestingly enough, even though Smiles had removed his shirt to show off his well toned and tanned muscles, Laz had this feeling like he was hiding something. There was very little reason for why he felt like this, but it almost seemed like Smiles was moving his arms stiffly, like he was holding something in his palm that he didn''t want to let go of.


    The judge quickly called for the match to begin as the cheers rocked the open hall. It was at this point that Kennedy had reached the exit as she ran swiftly up to the security there.


    "Hurry up and move, I left most of my cash in the car and this match is going to be an easy pay off." Immediately, Kennedy used the lines she had nned with Laz. Apparently, this wasn''t the first time this had happened, despite the small number of fights, so the guards gave way quickly, leaving Kennedy to walk outside in a swift manner. Although she was on her way to the bike, she couldn''t help but nce back at the massive building every time she heard a cheer and cringe a bit. She couldn''t help but lower her head and pray for his safety, even as a few tears escaped from down her face.


    As Laz faced Smiles, he couldn''t help but feel a bit nervous. As it stood, he knew this guy was no pushover. If you add up every fight that Laz has been in so far, never once has he fought someone who could be considered skilled. All the same, he wasn''t going to back down.


    Something Laz noticed while training the other night was that he didn''t feel pressure while fighting. Minus the monster that was Joey, but that was a different kind of pressure. It''s like the difference between seeing a truck racing towards you and being surrounded by a hungry pack of wolves. At least, as far as the truck is concerned, you can dive out of the way at the right time. As long as you stay moving, you will be impossible to hit. When you are surrounded however, there is no ce to go. If Laz was going to choose what described this current pressure, it was definitely like he was surrounded.


    For a brief moment, nothing was said as both fighters just looked at one another. The crowd was somewhat hushed at this point as it seemed as though everyone was focused on the stage. Smiles ended up moving towards Laz first. At most, the two men were about 30 feet apart, but Smiles just took on slow step after another towards Laz. Laz didn''t move, but just stood there and watched. If anything, he was a bit excited. In truth, since he had no experience fighting, he thought this was the perfect time to learn. Of course, had Kennedy known his thoughts while she was outside worrying about her, who knows what her reaction would be.


    As Smiles got to within a foot of Laz, he tilted his head, as though he was confused. After all, this was suppose to be a fight, yet so far all this guy did was stand there and not move. Unfortunately, because of the masks they were both wearing, there was little that could be read off a person. In Laz''s case, he was either scared solid orpletely unconcerned, Smiles just had no idea which.


    Without warning, Smiles turned around quickly and swept a leg at Laz''s head. Due to Laz''s senses, he was able to see this moveing and just backed away a slight bit. The problem came the next second as despite the kick missing, Smiles was able to extend his other leg while supporting himself with his arms and kick straight at Laz''s leg. The result was Laz''s legs were swept out from under him and he fell backwards while being stunned.


    He was using his sense to monitor Smiles every move, but he didn''t register what had happened.


    As Laz hit the ground, he quickly rolled back, using the dodging techniques he had learned thanks to his inspired run through the woods. He had just barely managed to get back upright in a squatting position before another hidden kick connected to his stomach and sent him flying. As hended, Laz rolled a few times before stabilizing himself, taking a deep breath, he stood back up. Although the wind had been knocked out of him with that kick, he was able to quickly get his breathing under control. As if by instinct, he started circting his energy through out his body while looking at Smiles with rm.


    ''How the hell can I not see it?'' Laz desperately worked through the sequence of what had happened, but it seemed like nothing more than a blur each time. Although Laz was rmed, he wasn''t worried. As it was so far, he didn''t feel any pain. If anyone was hurting, it was probably Smiles Laz thought.


    And he was right.


    ''What the fuck is this kid?'' Smiles was thinking from behind his mask.


    ''I''ve fucking hit him with enough force to break a wooden beam and he''s just standing up like it tickled. The only thing fucking hurting right now is me.'' Looking down, Smiles couldn''t help but lift his foot slightly and move it around. It felt stiff and sore. He knew it was badly bruised but not broken. He couldn''t say the same thing about a few of his toes.


    The first time, when he had kicked Laz''s leg, he hit dead on the side of Laz''s knee. A normal kick of that strength at that spot would have broken it for sure, but that didn''t happen. Then, he aimed a straight but powerful kick right to his stomach to crush a few ribs and maybe puncture a lung, but the only thing it felt like he kicked was a sandbag. No, even sand bags had a little give in them, this felt more like a steel beam..


    While Laz was engrossed with trying to find the secrets behind the moves, Smiles was trying to figure out how to fight this rock solid flesh bag. He could already tell from how his attacks went that Laz had no idea what he was doing. If anything, he had just relied on his solid body to get him through so far. Oddly, he was exactly what that old man had told him before rigging the match. The only thing the old man didn''t figure out was exactly how hard Laz''s defenses would be.


    Of course, there was always a solution. Not every part could be rock solid on a person, no matter how much they trained. Therefore, Smiles was going to have to fight dirty. And he knew just what to do.


    Laz was paying even more attention now as Smiles slowly backed away, his mind going through things again and again. When he had dodged those rubber bullets in the past, he could figure out where they wereing from and where they were going. Putting one plus one together, he could figure out exactly where he should be to avoid them. But as he was fighting, he felt more and more like he was being attacked by a flowing river. Just because the attacked started at one ce and was aimed at one ce, it was constantly changing where it was going. Because of this, it was impossible to know just where it was going tond and therefore, impossible to dodge.


    Of course, this didn''t discourage Laz in the least and instead, made him more excited. He felt like he was training his brain by taxing it with figuring out Smiles moves while at the same keeping his body tense to help reduce the damage he was taking. Even Laz had to pause for a moment and wonder if he was some sort of masochist. He brushed this thought off quickly since this wasn''t the time.


    Looking ahead, Smiles was now a few feet away and looking strait at Laz.


    ''What''s he doing?'' Laz asked himself. He was starting to get a feeling of danger from him.


    Before Laz could entertain another thought, Smiles charged straight at him and jumped, as though he was going to use the downward momentum to empower his attack. This sort of attack seemed simple enough to Laz who brought his arms up to defend himself.


    As he noticed this, Smiles smirked before changing his aim wide to allow the attack to miss. As hended not a half a foot in front of Laz, he instantly did aplete split, dropped down and pulled back his fist to attack. He was looking to see if Laz''s iron body could handle a point nk range, world shattering nut punch. Without missing a beat, he swung his first forward as hard as he could.


    BOOM...

 Chapter 85: It Has Begun

    Chapter 85: It Has Begun


    Riding down the road for the quick trip back home, Laz had many thoughts going through his head. Some things started to make sense while others still seemed a mystery. He still didn''t know anything about Vivi. He did know what happened with the girl Jade in the bathroom. He wasn''t sure if Kennedy was actually attracted to him or if it was the side effect ofing into contact with his blood that he was covered in after the fight. He had no idea where his parents are. He didn''t even know the name of the crazy hot woman who had bound his life to her.


    ''Too many questions and too many change. It''s hard to wrap my head around everything,'' Laz couldn''t help thinking to himself. ''But I guess that''s kind of what life is.''


    As he turned the corner to get onto the main road, he saw arge ck SUV in the distance that came closer and passed him. Looking back, he noticed that the SUV turned onto the road he had just turned off from.


    ''Guess I made it just in time. I don''t think they noticed where I came from.'' Had Laz been any slower, they would have seen him turn off their road. Since they were the only family living on the road currently, it would make no sense for him to being off of it.


    By the time Laz finally got home, parked and went inside, it was already around noon. He let Vivi down and out of the bag, only to see her make a run for his bed, jump in, then curl up.


    ''So let''s see, it''s already noon on Sunday, guess I should go return the bike.'' He made a quick call to Bill but just got a auto response, saying he was out.


    ''That''s weird. Ah well, guess I will hold on to it for now.''


    As Laz looked around his apartment, he felt somewhat weird. Although he had been alone in it before, for some reason, he felt especially lonely today. He knew he wouldn''t hear from Kennedy for a while and for a few weeks now, she had been his somewhat singr source of interaction. He didn''t have to think about it before now since yesterday was a crazy mess and this morning was even worse, but now that he got time to think about it, he felt a bit down.


    ''Since when did I start enjoying spending time around people?'' Laz could help but shake his head as he sat down on the old and faded recliner. He hesitated for a bit before turning it on, although he didn''t really care what he watched. He was just looking for some noise to feel less lonely.


    As heid his head back and looked up at the off white ceiling, he just spent a bit reminiscing about the weekend. Before he knew it though, a small ball of fur had jumped into his ap and flopped down on him. Seeing Vivi snuggling up, Laz couldn''t help but chuckle a bit.


    "That''s right. How can I be lonely when I have you eh? Still... I''m surprised you''re not hungry. What do you eat anyway? I doubt you would want dog food."


    Vivi''s head shot up and moved her head till she was eye level with Laz before shaking her head.


    "So, no on that huh? Well, then what will you do for food?"


    In response to the question, Vivi jumped off Laz and walked to the door. When she got in front of it, she suddenly grew, going from the size of a small pup to about the size of a great dane. Reaching forward, she turned the door knob and open the door before walking outside. She then walked back in, shrunk down and hopped back into Laz''s ap.


    "Ah. So you''re saying you can get your own food right?"


    Vivi''s only response was to shake her head yes before stretching out andying down. Laz couldn''t help but stroke her silky soft fur as he started flipping the stations.


    "And now our top story. It has been several weeks since people all over the US and across the globe have started undergoing drastic gic changes. Although some havee to light, many have not. But the ones that have appeared have always done so in a catastrophic way, so much so, they are beingbeled a danger to normal people. As of yet, science has not yet been able to discover why these changes are taking ce. However, some breakthroughs have been made in detecting those that have shown or will show, signs of change. We take you to our live correspondence in the field. Nancy?"


    "Thank you Dianne. I''m standing here outside the Global Sciences building where researchers have just announced that they have developed a blood test that can be used to detect when a person''s blood has undergone mutation. Although the method isn''t yet ready for mass production as they are still waiting on approval from the FDA and the federal government, representatives we have talked to have confirmed that through volunteer testing, they have been able to show a 99% uracy rating in terms of detecting the mutation. Inside sources within the government have also expressed a need for this kind of screening as a way to help identify potential cases where individuals might be at risk of what some are calling, dangerous mutations."


    "Thank you Nancy. Are there any insights on how long such an approval process would take?"


    "As of right now Dianne, no time frame has been quoted. But insiders have revealed that the government might push through the approval process past the FDA in an effort to get it out to the public as soon as possible, maybe even before the thanksgiving holiday."


    "Thanks again for your report Nancy. Now we would like to take a minute to introduce our guests for the evening. First is the director for the Social Awareness Movement, Dr. Jacobs. And next is Rev. Calliday. Good afternoon gentleman.".


    "Good afternoon!"


    "Good afternoon."


    "Alright, first question is for Dr. Jacobs. Doctor, you have spent thest few weeks trying to get people to spread a message of understanding and tolerance towards these individuals who have changed, saying that although caution is a necessity, we must remember that these people are human beings just like the rest of us. Can you tell me why this is the message you want to convey?"


    "Of course Dianne. Humans have always had within themselves a fear of change and a fear of others who they deem to be different from themselves. We only need to look back at our own history to see a past filled with social and racial intolerance. As we move forward, we are seeing more and more people who have been affected with something that is akin to a blood virus and who''s bodies are changing because of it. Due to these changes, we may begin to see people who had gotten this blood virus as different from us, even if they are people we have known all of our lives. Because of this, we run the risk of having an us and them mentality. If this bes the wide spread norm and we don''t make an effort to see these sick people as just that, sick people, we may very well iste and cause friction between the us and them."


    "That is a very thought provoking insight doctor. Now let me turn it over to Rev. Calliday. Reverend, you seem to have a very different insight to the doctor on what these changes mean to the normal poption. Can you share with us your view on what you think we should do going forward."


    "I would love to Dianne. I agree with the good doctor on one point he made. These people are sick. However, I believe we need to be a bit more proactive towards them, especially considering that more and more people seem to be getting sick. So far we have no clue what''s causing this. Even them doctors can''t say for sure if everyone will be getting sick, or if everyone will be ok. Therefore, we need to do what we have always done when there''s been an outbreak like this. We need to iste the ones who are sick from the ones who are healthy. Now I hear that in yourst report those scientists havee up with a way to see who is sick and who is not. That''s an excellent start. We need to be having that test made widely avable to all hospitals and have the entire poption start going through some tests. If we don''t even know who is sick and who is not, how''er we ever going toe up with a cure?"


    "You make a good point reverend, but what happens when someone tests positive but shows no sign of change? Knowing that they are sick will cause people untold amounts of stress and may interfere with their normal lives. An argument can be made that knowing is better than not knowing, but if they haven''t changed at all, does it really matter?"


    "Well of course it matters Dianne. Just because they are showing no signs of change doesn''t mean that they won''t. And if they do, they could pose untold amounts of danger to their families, their neighbors andmunities."


    "Excuse me reverend."


    "Yes doctor?"


    "From what you are saying, if someone is found sick, regardless of if the illness is showing or not, you believe it wise to inform those around them of this?"


    "Well of course doctor. These people can and have been shown to be a danger to themselves and to others."


    "But reverend, doing something like that is akin to what the Nazi''s did in World War 2 where they had people were a badge of identity that was used to persecute them. How is doing this any different than that?"


    "Well doctor, assuming you are a medical doctor, you must understand that these people are sick, not Jewish. We are not pointing them out for their race or their religious beliefs. Instead, we are warning others that this person is sick and that they could be contagious. A better solution would be if we could iste all of those that are found to be sick, thus ensuring that the disease can not spread."


    "So now you are speaking of concentration camps reverend? And it isn''t even known if the disease can be spread from person to person so isn''t this all a bit premature?"


    "Well doctor, I''m not sure if you know this, but the idea of concentration camps was taken by the Nazi''s from us. That''s right, we have found it to be an eptable solution in the past and it would work well here. Now I''m not saying we are going to be trying to kill all these people or have them dress in pj''s and sleep in the dirt. Obviously they would get some modern facilities where they can live well and be treated for their illness. As far as this being premature, when would be the right time? When a guy who has the ability to attract and hypnotize people like the pied piperes along and convinces thousands to join his death cult? Or maybe instead of a death cult, he just decides to make all the women in the world his personal sex ves, or maybe he''s one of those that would want all the men in the world as his sex ves. If that happens, wouldn''t that be toote? It''s better to take action sooner than be regretfulter."


    "Well that''s all the time we have for now. Thank you for your insights on this very pressing topic Dr. Jacobs and Rev. Calliday. Please stay tuned after the break as we go to an emergency White House announcement."


    As Laz lowered the volume a little, he started to get a very funny feeling in the back of his head. He has been looking at himself this whole time and what''s been happening to him. But soon, the entire world will be involved in this. It''s not just going to be a part of Laz''s life, but of everyone''s life. If they do start rounding people up for testing and throw them into camps, Laz couldn''t help but shutter at the idea.


    ''It seems as though everything is just beginning.''

 Chapter 95: Change Of Plans

    Chapter 95: Change Of ns


    It was getting colder out. Although the snow hadn''t started falling yet, it was only a matter of time. Considering the warmth Laz felt when he first got up, he felt rather chilled now. Sitting down, Laz leaned back and closed his eyes, not really thinking of anything. Vivi had climbed up and was sprawled out on his ap. They stayed this way until Laz''s phone rang. It was his Grandpa Chu.


    "Good morning Laz, did you have a fun night?"


    "Uhh..." Laz was somewhat hesitant as to whether he should answer this question.


    "Oh ho ho. No need to be shy. Your grandpa called and wasining to me and Bill about loud noises all night and wanted to know if he could stay at one of our ces. When we asked him what he meant, he held the phone up to the ceiling."


    "I, uh... oh damn..."


    "HAHAHA. Boy, you''re something else. Unless our old ears were mistaken, there were definitely several voices making noise..."


    "Grandpa Chu... did you have another reason to call?"


    After he had stoppedughing, Grandpa Chu exined the reason for his call. He had gotten a hold of his old friend who worked at the dojo and wanted to know if Laz wanted to go now.


    "Now? Like right now?"


    "Yes. Today in fact."


    "But I still have school." Since it was only the beginning of November, Laz wouldn''t be on break until the end of November at the earliest.


    "School? Come to think of it, shouldn''t you be there right now?"


    "Uh... I''m just a bit out of it today..."


    "That must have been one hell of a wild night eh? Anyway, let me ask you a question. What do they call doctor''s who got C''s in ss?"


    "I don''t see how this has anything to do with me being in or not being in school.."


    "They call them doctors boy. It doesn''t matter how much ss you miss or how bad your grades are in the process. Long as you pass, that''s what matters the most."


    "Oh."


    "So pack up some clothes and whatever else you need for a few weeks. I will send the address to your phone. All you have to do is get there and they will find you a ce to live while your there. Also, since it''s getting cold, take your grandpa''s truck. No sense in riding a bike in the snow. Bill wille to pick up the Harley. Let me know when you get there." With that, his Grandpa Chu hung up.


    "Uhh... now this? Seems I won''t be getting a break anytime soon," Lazmented out loud. Vivi, who was sitting in his ap, just looked up at him.


    "Well than, would you like toe with me?" Laz asked the little pup. Vivi just shook her head and jumped down, making her way to the bedroom to getfortable on the bed.


    "Heh... Guess I''m flying solo," Laz said to no one in particr..


    Although he didn''t know what this whole thing would entail, Laz didn''t waste time. He got himself packed up quickly and went downstairs to get the keys from his grandpa.


    Grandpa Crowe was waiting for him when he knocked and told him toe in. Apparently, he had just gotten back not long ago.


    "Heading out to the dojo?" His grandpa asked with a knowing smile. Laz turned a little red after thinking about the conversation he had with his Grandpa Chu and just mumbled a yes.


    "It''s good to be young. No matter what, enjoy it while itsts. Regrets should only be a part of life when you get older. Until then, live fast and free!" The old man advised him. After chatting with his grandpa a bit longer, Laz grabbed the keys and handed his grandpa the keys to the Harley before heading out. He had already gotten the location so he knew it was going to be about an hour drive to get there.


    Laz felt some different emotions about this whole event. He was nervous about heading off to a new ce where he didn''t know anyone, but also kind of excited to be doing something like this. Even though he was still a bit down about the departure of Kennedy and Malene, he now had something else to upy his thoughts so the down feeling didn''t stay for long.


    Getting into the old pickup, Laz started it up and got on the road. The drive was mostly uneventful. Using the gps on his phone, he was able to quickly figure out where the dojo was. As he pulled into the parking area, he noticed the building wasn''t new, but it was run down either. It looked well maintained. The big brick building was a rather simple, county affair. It looked like it had been a store at one time with the front of the building being lined with windows, but now the front was covered with various ss clings showing the name of the dojo along with contact information.


    Laz hadn''t really looked around much before while driving, but he noticed the area was rather quiet and out of the way. There were only trees on one side of the building while there was some sort of recycling center on the other side. Over all, it looked like someone had cleared thend for development, but not much interest had been ced there. The town itself was much bigger than Basin Falls, maybe just a few streets longer. The main center of business was that main street with shops, restaurants and gas stations lining the left and right side of the road. Once you go into town, it would just take a few minutes to drive out the other side of it. He was basically on the other side of it. Past the tree area, there was nothing more than a few houses further on down and then farnd again. Although Laz liked this kind of town, he had seen way to many carbon copies of it ever since his parents had moved him out here years ago. Living in a city had its downsides, but at least it was far more lively.


    The ce seemed to have been built for retail purposes, but due tock of business or whatever, there was no retail interested in going in there, hence why it was avable for use as a dojo. As Laz parked in the ratherrge parking lot, he took a look at the sign that hung over the ss windows,


    "The Open Palm, well... ok." Laz didn''t really have ament on this. As he was thinking about it Laz realized that he hadn''t had much of a chance to practice his Dragon Fist. He had figured out the first stance and the second stance, albeit identally. But there was still a third stance. The third stance was the one that would really cause his energy to explode out. ''Maybe I will have a chance to practice it now,'' Laz thought.


    Laz grabbed his bag and walked to the front door. Pulling the door open, Laz got afortable st of warm air that hit him the moment he went inside. Taking a moment to adjust, he felt like the lights were a bit dimmer inside and the mood more peaceful. He had always taken martial arts to be more of a high impact, fast pace sort of thing so walking into thefortable atmosphere was an unexpected experience.


    The inside was decorated somewhat sparsely, but the real point that stood out was that everything was basically made of wood. Even the floor and ceiling had wooden boards running the lengths of each. Based on the stone bricks from outside, Laz could only assume that the wood was something added by the dojo and not what the inside of the building originally looked like. There were several nts at various spots as well and some stone pieces that had what he recognized as characters carved into them. Over all, it gave a real feel to the whole ce.


    Looking around, Laz noticed a desk behind which sat a young man who was absentmindedly staring out the window while twirling a pen. Even Laz could recognized an amazing bored person when he say them. Not wanting to disturb him, Laz stood there quietly for a few moments before he figured out that the young man wasn''t go to notice him anytime soon. In response to that, Laz just cleared his throat once. Getting no response, he tried again, this time a bit longer.


    The same scene repeated itself several times with each time Laz got louder. Finally, after the 6th time Laz lost his cool.


    "HEY?"


    "Oh, hello." The young man turned around to face him, showing off his curly golden hair and brown eyes. Before Laz had a chance to say anything else, the young man who seemed to be only a few years old than him suddenly said,


    "You know. You should probably go see a doctor. Sounds like you might being down with something." And with those words, the youth turned around and looked back out the window as though Laz didn''t even exist.


    "What the hell?" Laz could not help but ask under his breath. He decided to stop paying attention to the young man and start making his way to look around. As he made his way around a ratherrge, wooden covered support pir, he notice a very attractive women in karate gi standing in front of a rope wrapped pir of wood. Interested, Laz moved around a bit to get a closer look.


    The woman looked to be in herte twenties with flowing brown hair, firm and full breasts and a rather well rounded butt. Although the gi hid the curves somewhat, it was impossible for it to conceal everything. As he stood watching, she suddenly took up her stance and began releasing a series of kicks and punches against the pir. Starting at the top, she ran through a several hits with her fists before working downward on the pir and ending with an assortment of kicks that targeted the pir up high, mid way and then the lower portion. Overall, her movements were fluid and well practiced. Laz could see that she knew very well what she was doing. Seeing the pir vibrate with every hit, he couldn''t help but wonder it he would even be able to take that series of hits. Despite his rather sturdy body, he felt like she could break him in half easily. He got a far more dangerous feeling from her that that MMA fighter from the party.


    Just when she had finished her set of exercises, Laz ended up letting out a small ''wow'' sound which grabbed her attention.


    "What the hell are you doing in here kid?"

 Chapter 116: It Ends Only Before It Begins

    Chapter 116: It Ends Only Before It Begins


    It was dark and quiet. Vivi had jumped on Laz''s shoulder and rode him down. For her, she didn''t care what was happening as long as she would stay close to Laz. Laz didn''t really understand why this was, but even if it was just the little pup, he felt better with somepany.


    He hit the floor pretty quickly before looking up, but he didn''t see anyone looking down at him from the room above. In fact, all he heard was a click and then saw the ceiling move back into ce while thedder swung up and went flush with the depression in the ceiling. Unless you were underneath it, you couldn''t see it at all from another angle. The actual apartment was empty minus the curtains on the windows.


    "Quite ingenious really. I guess Tony was just a bit paranoid after all," Laz whispered to himself. He went to check the front window and saw a lot of activity happening outside as both uniformed and in clothed individuals rushed around.


    Suddenly, he heard a loud bang from the room above and a bit of shouting.


    "GET DOWN NOW."


    "FUCK OFF, I''M FINISHING MY DRINK. GIVE ME A MINUTE," came Bill''s reply. It seemed like Laz could only hear them because the upstairs door was now open.


    Laz wanted to do something, anything, to stop this from happening. But there were far too many people, actual people. And real cops too. This wasn''t something that could be contained quietly likest time. He would either have to kill everyone or not do anything. Since he was already told such, Laz would not do anything.


    Even though he really, really wanted to. He felt it in him, the desire to kill. The desire to burn the things in his path. He knew he could do it. In fact, it would be so easy to do it. But he didn''t. No matter how strong the desire was within him to let loose, Laz didn''t waver in the slightest. And there was only one reason for this,


    ''They are still humans.''


    Now that he was here, Laz realized that he wasn''t turned off or disgusted by the thoughts of killing humans. Or killing anything for that matter. He had done it before, Joey, the monster in the woods and even those still living puppets. Those puppets in particr were special because they were innocent. As puppets, they had no control over their actions and would just be used again and again. At the time, Laz was just pissed and didn''t think much about it. As he stood here, alone with a pup in the dark room while hisst known rtive was being dragged away for who knows what, he had a moment to reflect.


    ''If this was a movie or some stupid story, I would leave them alive in the hopes they could be helped and just take care of the ones who were dead. But honestly? Fuck it. I can''t help them and they were trying to kill me so therefore, there really is no question about this." Laz didn''t think he was wrong.


    Laz spread out his sense and got the general idea of what was happening. The old guys had already packed up their stuff and were not being arrested, more like supervised. It seemed like his Grandpa Crowe really knew what he was talking about. Seems like they wanted something, not just to kill them or whatever. Knowing this was the only way Laz could hold himself back.


    There was also another problem. Despite the three men giving themselves up and being escorted out, there was no movement from any of the men surrounding the apartmentplex. They were all staying in ce. Although it was ast minute n, Laz was going to basically jump out the back window before walking the rather long distance to Bill''s ce. It seemed like it was going to be an issue to do that without being seen if none of them moved.


    For now, Laz was just sensing the surroundings while holding Vivi and checking out the back window, waiting to see if something would change. Best case scenario would be that they would start to make their way up to the cars now that their target had been secured, but they weren''t moving. As Laz heard and ''saw'' his Grandpa Chu walking out the door, he, like Bill and Grandpa Crowe, stumbled a bit as though all three had drank too much. But Laz noticed his hand swing towards some unassuming brick on the wall and saw it move in slightly.


    ''That must be the timer. But how did these old guys know about all this? Did Tony tell them?'' Laz had questions that he knew wouldn''t be answer, not that it mattered. He just knew he had five minutes.


    ''Shit, shit, shit, shit...'' Laz kept whispering quietly while looking outside as the minutes ticked by. It was only now that Laz remembered his grandpa mentioned they might do a final sweep of the building. If that was the case, did it mean that they would never move?


    In truth, by the third minute that the three men had been taking out, the ones surrounding the building began to move forward and circle to the front of the building. Seeing this, Laz knew it was his chance as he thought they would probably start sweeping the building.


    Laz set Vivi back on his shoulder and started fumbling with the window while she looked on with interest. It was a normal side sliding type window with a screen but it seemed like the window was stuck for some reason. By the time the fourth minute ticked by, Laz was almost starting to panic. Just then, Vivi jumped off his shoulder and onto the ledge. She pushed an almost invisibletch at the base of the window, causing the entire thing to swing outward.


    ''The whole thing is one piece huh? A fake window but actually a swinging hatch. Seriously...'' Laz was once again surprised, but he didn''t let that stop him. Swinging the window outward and up, he was able to quickly get himself, his knapsack and the dufflebag out the window. Looking around, he didn''t see anyone but gave things a quick scan with his sense.


    ''Shit, there are three people in the brush further out. Fuck it, can''t stop now. Maybe I can take them out before they notice me.'' Laz made the most logical choice at the moment. Past the brush was the main road which you could normally see from the second floor. Laz could only assume there were no cars parked on the road to keep things as quiet as possible. Laz''s n was to follow the brush along the road until he got a distance away, but it looked like he would have to take care of those three as fast as possible first. Without stopping, he started to sprint the small distance to the brush while Vivi quickly followed after.


    Two of the figures weren''t moving while the third seemed to be pacing back and forth. It seemed like none of them noticed him as he stalked silently forward, when he reached the first figure, he noticed it was actually frozen in ce with it''s eyes closed..


    ''The hell?''


    He wasn''t moving. In fact, now that Laz focused on it, he realized that the man who was dressed all in ck no longer had a heart beat. He was dead. After focusing on this part, Laz quickly sensed the other two. The other stationary figure was also dead. Only the third one seemed to be alive still. Strangely, Laz got a somewhat familiar feeling from it. Thinking real hard, a name popped into Laz''s head.


    ''No fucking way...''


    Laz approached thest figure but didn''t bother to hide himself while Vivi happily ran around his feet, seemingly having sensed his mood change.


    "It''s you."


    "So you got out ok huh?" Came the seductive voice back to him. Although she was wearing a rather heavy, fur lined coat, it did nothing to diminish her foreign beauty. Her long flowing ck hair fluttered in the wind while she held a sub machine gun in her gloved hands. The gun was not aimed at him.


    "Jade."


    "Hello Blood Demon or should I say Lazarus?"


    It was at this moment Laz heard shouting and turned around. The upper half of the building had erupted in mes, catching more than a few of the searchers unaware.


    ''Did that bastard intend to kill everyone in the even he was caught?'' After he had this thought, he realized that it probably wasn''t right. Had theye for him, they probably would have cleared the rest of the building first. In truth, Tony wouldn''t have cared either way. Had others been caught up in the fire, it would have distracted those that came for him, increasing his chances of getting away.


    "What do you want? Come to take me in?" Although he asked that question, he had figured out a few things based on the fact that the other two were already dead.


    "No. I''m going to help you escape."


    "Why?"


    "I''ll exin in the car, we should move." Without waiting to see if Laz followed, she made her way out of the brush and to the road before walking down it a ways. Having no better ns, Laz followed her while Vivi followed Laz.


    After walking almost a half a mile, they came to a Jeep parked off the side of the road. Jade quickly got in to drive while Laz climbed into the passenger seat. Vivi hopped up on to Laz''s ap before quickly making herselffortable.


    Although Jade nced at Vivi, she didn''t say anything. With her training, no matter how crazy the feeling was, she would follow those feelings. And she had gotten an extreme sense of danger from this seemingly weak little wolf pup. She chose to ignore it since it seemed like it didn''t want to do anything other than ride on Laz''s ap.


    "Where do you want to go?" Jade asked as she started up the vehicle.


    Laz gave her directions to Bill''s farm and she took off, the four wheel drive easily found traction on the rather wet and snowy roads.


    "So, your like me now huh?" Laz asked while looking out the window. He didn''t feel any evil intent from Jade and since he was still a bit tired despite having slept 4 days, he decided to let his body rx.


    "Like you?" Jade asked back.


    Laz took off his red jade bracelet and became a bit surprised. It seemed like he could no longer feel his source essence like before. In fact, it seems like since it was all gathered into the condensed ball, it was no longer leaking all over the ce. Inparison, Jade was only at maybe the middle of the awakening stage and he could feel the resonance with her. She couldn''t do the same. Seeing this problem, Laz circted his energy, letting it run it''s course through his body. As soon as he did this, he stood out like a sun next to Jade''s slight candle me. She couldn''t help but be shocked by this.


    "WHAT? How did you hide that? How strong are you?" Jade asked excitedly while keeping her eyes on the road.


    ''Sigh''


    "Here, for you. It seems like I won''t need it anymore." With that, Laz handed Jade his red jade bracelet to Jade. Seeing what it was, she quickly slipped it on without hesitation and was able to feel the energy in her body calm down. It was still there, but it wasn''t acting crazy like before. It seemed like the bracelet had a calming effect on it while hiding it. She had seen a few people like her with these, but she couldn''t find them for sale from anywhere.


    "Thank you."


    "Just think of it as a gift for the ride."


    "Oh, just what I needed and everything." Jade smiled rather seductively.


    "By the way..." Jade stuttered, her voice bing softer and less yful.


    "Hmm?" Laz wondered if she was going to share what was happening since she was thest face he expected to see here.


    "My name is Yumi." Yumi shared.


    Although silent for a moment, Laz started to smile.


    "Lazarus, but everyone just calls me Laz."

 Chapter 124: Learn A Bit, Train A Lot

    Chapter 124: Learn A Bit, Train A Lot


    Of course, she has spoken the thought out so that Laz ended up hearing her, but he was very confused.


    *Runes?*


    It was hard for Vivi to hold in her excitement as she made her way over to Reggie who was getting constion from Dee and Leona. As much as Dee hated her ability, she now knew that Reggie''s was useless, at least as far as they knew. As for the reason why they had not shown each other before? This was because Leona had said it was dangerous and also because they had gotten it at different times, Reggie being thest one.


    As she came up to him, she smacked his leg with her paw, causing him to ''yelp'' in pain as he looked down. Seeing Vivi there, he was wondering what had hit him since it felt like something really hard, which wasn''t something he could imagine Vivi doing. While looking down, Vivi used her paw to point at the two light discs as though she wanted to take a closer look. Thinking that she was amused by them and astounded at her intelligence, Reggie directed one of them to float down to her while she started to use her paw to mess with it.


    *I thought so...* She finally said when she was done.


    *Thought what?* Laz asked back as he saw her make the disc float away.


    She finally exined it like this. The disc was basically a nk te that he could write runes on. When asked what that meant, she exined that there were two types of writing that had a basic means of power, Sanskrit and Runic. Since the discs Reggie was able to produce were nk and didn''t have anything else on them, he was basically using the Wyrd rune without knowing it. The effect? Unknown. But if Vivi had to guess, she would guess that because it affects the flow of fate, that it was the reason Reggie had made contact with Laz. It had guided him to Laz. If Reggie was able to not only learn each rune and what they mean but then incorporate them, he could use a wide variety of abilities, kind of like a mix and match. As far as what effect they would have, that would depend on thebination. First and foremost though, he should start simple and practice a lot.


    When Laz asked what the difference was between Runes and Sanskrit, Vivi could only reply that she knew about Runes but not about Sanskrit. Based on her feelings though, Runes were more powerful, but lessplex. You could do far more with Sanskrit, but that also meant it was far easier to make a mistake, but since she didn''t have memories of it, this was only the feelings she got. Runes, due to being simple, were much faster as well. It was basically power versus precision.


    Dee had been trying to cheer up Reggie since he still thought his ability was to making moving shlights with only Leona staring at Laz. She watched how he looked at Vivi and how Vivi was looking at him. It looked like a conversation without words which captured her interest, making her wonder a bit more about what this weird guy was hiding. He seemed to know a lot and was able to answer all their questions. He also came off as being very mature which at first made her think he was older than her, but at other times she wondered if that was really the case. Either way, since he was useful, she would keep interacting with him. As it was, his knowledge and training was exactly what she had been looking for. She didn''t know what was going to happen with that annoying guy but felt that things would happen soon.


    As Dee and Reggie continued to chat, Laz had walked over and patted him on the shoulder making Reggie think he was trying to make him feel better. Hence, when he heard the next words out of Laz''s mouth, his jaw practically hit the floor.


    "Well, congrattions Reggie. In this game of ability surprise, looks like you got the most powerful one," Laz said with a serious face.


    "Huh?"


    "What?"


    "How?"


    No one really had a clear response, just questions. If it wasn''t for Laz''s serious face, they would have thought he was being a smart ass.


    "Yeah, I figured this. Ok Reggie, I want you to look at something and try picturing it as forming on the disc, ok?"


    "Umm, sure?"


    Laz used a stick and drew an M shape on the ground as he was instructed to by Vivi.


    "Ehwaz, movement. Try to picture it," Laz reminded him.


    Reggie went a little nk thinking of the M shape since that was all it looked like, an M. He didn''t think it seemed special. But as he thought about it, he also remembered the word Laz said, Ehwaz. As he did both things at the same time, suddenly, one of the disc light up and a dark yellow M appeared on it.


    "Woah, strange...".


    "Hey... does this mean you can write things? Like, is this a spiritual text message?"


    Dee''s thoughts were rather unique about the event while Reggie, having been the one to do it and felt it, felt like his energy drained out quite a bit as the rune appeared. Leona was just looking on but not saying a word, an indifferent expression on her face while her mind was working overtime. It didn''t escape her notice that Laz once again was turning to Vivi while sometimes nodding as though he understood.


    "So... what does this do?" Reggie asked after examining the disc.


    "Hmm... I''m not totally sure, so let''s try out a test. I want you to run forward as fast as you can." Laz suggested. In truth, he heard from Vivi that it should increase his movement speed, but wheither that meant his hand speed, reaction time or running speed, she wasn''t clear. Therefore the best option was just to try it out.


    "No problem." Reggie got into a crouch and took a position like a professional. Without any warning though, he shot forward as a speed that was even faster than what Laz had shown.


    "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." Reggie''s echoing screams seemed to fill the forested area as he disappeared out of sight, leaving the other three behind with different expressions.


    "Will... he be alright?" Leona finally asked to break the silence.


    "That''s kind of hard to answer," Laz replied back with a rather dumbfounded look. Even Vivi seemed surprised by how it worked. Leona immediately shot Laz a cold nce which caused him to need to follow up.


    "So, if he were to stop suddenly or hit something, he might be in for a world of hurt, but the rune shouldn''t have just made him faster. It should have also increased his reaction time meaning it''s unlikely for him to hit something. This all depends on if he has enough energy though and how he uses it. If he slowly lets off the gas, he should slow down so to speak. If he just suddenly cuts off the power, then it would cause him to basically return to his normal running speed and probably cause him to fall over. I guess this whole thing is just up to chance." Laz finally shrugged his shoulders as though he had no idea what would happen. Leona continued with her cold gaze until the finally caught sight of something speeding back their way. As it go closer, it started to slow down, allowing everyone to take a breath and rx. It seemed as though Reggie had figured out a bit on how to control it.


    "WOW, THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME." Reggie came to a stop in front of the group while grasping for breath.


    "And that''s only the basics of that rune. You can also use it to move stuff other than yourself. You can also use it on other people. What I mean to say is that there is far more to learn about what that rune can do besides just make you run fast," Laz followed up with the words that Vivi had told him.


    Although he was just hearing a few uses from Laz, he started to get some ideas from even these vague hints. Now that he had experienced it for himself, Reggie understood what Laz meant by he had the most powerful ability.


    "Heh, even I''m a bit jealous of that," Laz couldn''t help but to be in awe of Reggie''s ability. Even though he had several strong points of his own including the ck me, he could tell instantly how useful the ability to use runes would be.


    *It''s not like you can''t you know,* Vivi''s soft voice chimed in.


    *What''s that now?* Laz asked back.


    *Since you have an external ability like the ck mes, you can also draw and use runes. But you will never be as quick or as diverse as Reggie. He was born to it while you will have to put in a lot or work to make it work,* Vivi exined, leaving Laz a bit excited.


    ''I wonder why she never said that before...'' Laz didn''t think too much after that and instead, got everyone to calm down. Although it was fun to use abilities, they needed to train them properly first. Before that, during that and everyday after that though, they needed to train their bodies.


    "Alright. Well, this will be something to work on. Each of you is special in your own little snowky way, so much so that it''s impossible to really get a full grasp on your abilities right now. That takes time. But more importantly than that, you need to build your bodies," Laz threw on some cold water before their fire of ambition spread any more.


    "Why should Reggie train his body with an ability like that?" Leona was the first to ask this practical question. Since Laz had shown them the proper way to use and build energy, allowing their source essence to expand, wouldn''t that mean that Reggie would benefit more from doing that than training.


    "Your body is like a battery. Although you can keep building more energy within it, the best resultse when you use the best material for that battery. The stronger you are, the more energy you can withstand. This way, you won''te to a point where you might explode or go crazy one day," Laz patiently exined.


    "So, like those people you hear about on the news going crazy and shit?" Reggie asked whileing to a realization.


    "You got it."


    With this exnation, all of them realized that what Laz was saying made sense. If they wanted to grow their energy and source essence, they needed to have the body for it first. After that, no one tried using their energy again and just followed Laz to do standard exercises. The cold and stone faced Leona was in the best shape and able to keep up while Dee and Reggie struggled hard. Push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, running, climbing trees, and other various yet simple activities, Laz had them do them all until Dee and Reggie looked like they would drop. ording to Laz''s estimation, they would both take a while to get on track.


    "Alright, let''s stop here for today and head back. I know you all have school, but you should try doing these things daily in your free time no matter what. It''s important. Any weekend day you''re free, we cane up here and work together. I will get some stuff together to increase the difficulty." Although Laz was ending it here, in truth, Vivi had promised to show him what she was talking about with Runes, hence why he didn''t say they could meet up tomorrow. Besides, they would need to still do home work and have their lives, so he was nning on only investing as much into them as they wanted to do themselves. You couldn''t force someone to train after all.


    As everyone tiredly walked down the mountain, Laz took Vivi on his shoulder and started to jog, getting ahead of the crowd and disappearing first. Although Leona could have caught up with him had she tried, she stayed back with Dee and Reggie who were tired and moving slow. When they finally got off the mountain, they could see lights on in Laz''s trailer. They had been at it since early morning and it was already dinner time so everyone was very hungry. They split up and while Dee headed home, Reggie was walking with his sister.


    "Reggie..."


    "Yo?"


    "Go on ahead. I forgot I left my jacket at his trailer." It seemed like a stupid excuse, but the was the truth. The only part she didn''t admit was that she did it intentionally. Knowing his sister, Reggie didn''t say anything and just walked on ahead. He didn''t think that she was going back for anything other than the jacket since as far as he knew, she had never been attracted to a guy before. There had been times when he would have thought she liked girls, had she not seemed equally as annoyed with them as she was with guys.


    When Leona finally walked back to the trailer, she noticed Laz was outside with wet hair while Vivi was munching on something. They both were watching an old TV that had been propped up outside and it appeared as though Laz had taken a shower. When Leona walked over, she saw Laz smile at her before turning back to the TV. It looked to be a local news program.


    Leona walked over and grabbed her jacket from one of the empty car seats sitting around and turned around as though she was going to leave, but hesitated. Laz had noticed she had left the jacket but also knew she had left it after she came back down. Therefore he knew she wanted to talk about something.


    "So.... what is it?" Laz asked, trying to prompt her. Taking the que and realizing how obvious she had been, Leona didn''t hesitate any longer and sat down across from him.


    "Is this all we are going to do?" she finally asked.


    "What do you mean?" Laz said, a bit curious.


    "This feels like... I don''t know... It''s missing something. Like, it''s just too easy..." Leona said. And it was the truth about how she felt. It seemed like it was too basic and easy and that wasn''t what she wanted. Having seen Laz''s body, she knew that he obviously trained a lot harder than what he showed today. What she wanted was something like that, something that would actually make a difference and not just a high school work out routine.


    Laz couldn''t help but chuckle a bit. It seemed like she was thinking along the same lines that he was. In truth, this was nothing more than an intro. Originally, Laz hade up with two training ns. Because of Reggie and Dee''s currently ability, he had decided to go with the easier one for now and work up to what he considered the actual n. But it seemed like Leona felt herself ready for it. Physically speaking, she was. Mentally though, Laz wasn''t sure.


    "What''s with that face?" Leona asked, going from being hesitant with something hard to exin and straight into her cold demeanor.


    "Nothing. But... you are right. This isn''t the type of training you need." Laz''s experience over the past year and a half along with the training he did while back in New York gave him a rather twisted perspective on what was actually needed, but it wasn''t for the faint of heart. Seeing him answer honestly, Leona softened a little.


    "Then what should I be doing? I''m guessing your going easy on us because of those two?"


    "You''re right again. They aren''t ready for the real training yet."


    "Am I?"


    "I''m... not sure."


    "Why not?" Leona thought back to how she had worked out and thought that her performance matched his. She had always been athletic, so although it was a bit tiring, it hadn''t been hard.


    "Because, it''s not just harder physically, but it''s also harder mentally," Laz tried to exin.


    "That''s not a problem. I can handle anything." This was the way she felt, it was a confidence in herself. Even when her dad passed away, she never once broke down no matter how badly she wanted to.


    "You sure? Because if you start, I won''t let you stop. Because once you stop, you will have wasted both our time." Laz spread his spirit sense around and confirmed that no one was around for several hundred feet. Since he had chosen to set up his camper in a far off lot, there were empty lots all around him.


    "You think I can''t do it?" Leona felt like he was challenging her pride. To her, she believed that no matter what he asked, she could do it. And she didn''t like to be questioned.


    "That will be up to you," Laz said with a smile. Vivi, seeing how the conversation was going and knowing what Laz was going to do, grabbed the dried meat with her mouth and made her way into the trailer to getfy on the couch before turning on the inside TV.


    "When do you want to start?" Laz asked, feeling amused.


    "Right now," Leona answered with conviction.


    "Ok. Then stand up," Laz said while standing up. Leona quickly followed suit, standing right in front of him as though challenging him.


    "Good. Now strip!" And with that, Laz proceeded to take off what little clothing he had thrown on after his shower.

 Chapter 125: Not All Stories Should Be Shared

    Chapter 125: Not All Stories Should Be Shared


    "Excuse me, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Leona took a step back as Laz started to undress.


    "You said you were ready for anything right? Well, wee to anything." Laz had a smile on his face as he reached for his shorts.


    "WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO SEE YOUR TINY DI..." Leona''s voice trailed off as Laz removed his shorts. It was obvious from a nce that he was anything but little. Currently, in the blossoming moonlight, Laz''s pale white yet well sculpted body was entirely visible. His tattoo also stood out in the moonlight, with the blood red moon almost looking as though it was giving off an eerie light while behind the ck, lifeless tree. She had seen it during the day but didn''t think much of it. But now, in the moonlight, it gave her a slightly evil feeling.


    "Stop staring or I might just blush..." Laz poked fun at the normally stone faced Leona. He was actually perfectly at ease being naked and didn''t actually have any bad thoughts. At least that wasn''t his intention.


    "I knew this was a bad idea. I''m gone." Leona finally regained her calm and turned around to leave. This wasn''t what she had in mind.


    "Didn''t you say you could handle anything? Why the hell are you leaving now?" Laz asked a bit yfully.


    "I don''t even know you. I just went along with things because Reggie insisted it was a good idea. But what happened? You''re just an asshole like every other guy." Leona stopped walking when she responded.


    "You remember when I said that your brother was gifted an ability with runes and we tried it out earlier?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Did you think those discs he was using were nk to begin with?"


    "Well, nothing was happening until you had him do that movement thing..." Leona thought about it and realized she agreed with the nk idea. In truth, minus up until this point, she had not gotten any bad feelings from this weird guy. And it wasn''t like he was assaulting her or anything. Even now, despite being naked and her walking away, he didn''t do anything. She couldn''t help but find this weird.


    ''Maybe he just had a stripping fetish?''


    "They weren''t nk. As soon as they are summoned, so to speak, they are being used. Hence why I told him not to summon them minus when he is here or around me."


    "What does that mean?" Leona had a rather inquisitive nature. Hearing Laz say that caused her to turn around to look at him. Having forgotten he was standing there while hanging out, she quickly turned her head away again, although not before taking another quick peek.


    ''Damn, is that even natural?''


    "The nk rune, Wyrd, otherwise known as Odin''s rune. It has many strange meanings, but it''s use allows a breath of chance from the universe. What I''m saying is your brother''s power brought you all here to me, simply by chance. Or hell, maybe it brought me to you? I have no idea. But I can say this, I can give you all what you need to survive, if only just a little bit." Laz tried to exin his thoughts, but even to him they sounded stupid and made up. When he was younger, Laz never believed in something like fate. But now, he felt like things would move him even if he did nothing, such as Leona, Reggie and Dee finding him. Even if it wasn''t guiding him somewhere, it was at least telling him that he couldn''t ck off.


    "What does that have to do with you being naked? Or asking me to strip? How is that suppose to help?" Leona had no idea if he meant it, but she almost wanted to believe it. She felt like things were getting worse and so far, he is the only one who could provide help.


    "Because, your mind is bound up in chains. And currently, it''s your greatest weakness. So, I figured we would do something about that first."


    "You''re not making sense."


    "How old are you?"


    "18, why?".


    "You even been with a guy?"


    "That is none of your damn business..."


    "So... no...?"


    "YOU ASKING FOR IT?" Despite Leona''s normally cold demeanor, she was actually more of a raging fire on the inside. The coldness was something she had developed due to things she couldn''t control.


    "So me being naked here makes you ufortable?" Laz asked, basically figuring out he was probably right.


    "You think I haven''t seen a guy''s dick before? I have, ok? But that doesn''t mean I want to see yours."


    "And that''s the problem."


    Leona was getting rather angry at Laz''s stoic responses while standing there in the warm night air. As Laz had intended, he was challenging her. He wasn''t sure at first, but knowing she was a rather proud person meant that handling her would actually be pretty simple.


    "You just want me to get naked, that it? This some kind of sick test? Fine, FINE!" And with that, Leona walked back and stood right in front of Laz. She set down the jacket she was carrying and started by pulling the tank top she had worn over her head. She then pulled down the gym shorts she was wearing and although she hesitated for a moment, she finally pulled off the red thong panties and matching sports bra she had been wearing. Now, she was standing there fully in the nude like Laz, with only her shoes and socks on.


    Having done this, she took a stance right in front of him with her hands on her hips as though saying, ''what else?''


    Despite the low level of light, Laz had to admit that Leona was just as hot as he had thought. She was toned, although not muscled, without a hint of excess fat on her stomach or thighs. Her perky breasts with their sulent dark nippes had no trouble supporting themselves despite being a bit more than a handful for Laz. Leona''s ass had a sexy curve to it that couldn''t be denied while her well groomed front promised of wild delights. In the cool moon light, Laz felt like he was facing an amazon warrior that was poised to attack if he made the slightest wrong move.


    "How''s that feel?" Laz asked after tantly looking her over.


    "It feels...crazy. Very crazy..." It also felt freeing, although she wasn''t going to say that out loud.


    "Good, then let''s run!" With that, Laz took off towards the back field at a crazy pace. Leona stared at him for a moment before looking at her clothes and then back at Laz. Having steeled herself, she took off after Laz.


    Since it was just the two of them, they took off up the mountain as fast as possible with Laz limiting his speed to Leona''s. In truth, had he been at the stage she was at now, she would have been much faster than he was. Leona was trying her best to run faster than Laz, but no matter how hard she pushed, she was only able to look at his back. She couldn''t help but wonder how strong he was. It was actually around this moment that she started wondering more about him, besides just how strong he was.


    ''What''s his story? I can''t imagine he just one day knew all this stuff.'' Leona couldn''t help but think. She knew nothing about him minus the little that he told and even that was stuff you could learn on your own from watching someone for a while. While she was still lost in thought, Laz dropped back to run next to her.


    "What do you think?" Laz asked while looking forward. Leona noticed for the first time that since the initial stripping, he hadn''t actually gawked at her or spent time checking her out and instead was just focusing on the run.


    "Why are we doing this?" Leona asked? Sure, it was decent exercise, running up a mountain in the dark while naked, but it didn''t make sense.


    "Simple, we need to change this," with that statement, Laz brought his finger up and tapped on her head.


    "It''s too stuck in societies viewpoints and expectations that it actually goes against your inborn nature of survival." They had reached the first stopping point in only a matter of minutes but Laz didn''t show any signs of stopping and instead just kept going with Leona still staying by his side.


    "How so?" Leona asked while pondering his answer.


    "Before that, let me tell you a story. About two hundred miles north of here I was at a rest stop when I observed a guy grab a woman and pull her behind the building. It waste, dark, and he had no idea I was in the camper at the time so he probably thought he was fine. But I had seen him."


    "What did you do?"


    "Well, since i was awake and a bit bored, I decided that I would work up a slight sweet and take him out. But when I came around the building, I paused as something hit me."


    "What?"


    "The girl''s actions. She had been dragged and was forced into a pile of trash from an overflowing dumpster. They started fighting and although she was yelling, it was hard to hear over the sound of the truckers pulling in and out. Now the part that got me what that she was fighting so hard when she still had her clothes on, but other than covering herself once they had been ripped off, she hardly did anything but sob."


    "How is this surprising? She was scared andying naked in a pile of trash."


    "Yeah but, she gave up. She stopped fighting once the clothes were off. On top of that, she lost her rationality since she was surrounded by stuff she could have gotten a hold of while he was going after her clothes, had she went for it instead of trying to have kept her clothes on, she could have done some damage to him and gotten away."


    "She was probably scared of getting hurt, worse than she already was going to."


    "Exactly. Fear. Unease. Terror. Being defenseless and naked andying in a pile of trash while some guy is about to **** you. If you were there, what would you do?"


    "That''s..." Leona didn''t know how to answer. Having not been put into a situation like that, she couldn''t even imagine it.


    "Keep those types of thoughts in your head. Survival isn''t just about getting by, it''s about being able to keep living."


    After these words of Laz, they both picked up the pace and ran faster, eventually getting to the second clearing in the trees. At this point, they had gone almost 5 miles up the mountain. Laz, being used to this kind of training, was sweating a bit, but not very winded. Leona was panting while walking back and forth as her side had started burning.


    "Sit on the grass and rest a few when you can. I wouldn''t rmend the rocks since it would probably hurt."


    "Heh..." Leona let out a dryugh as she threw herself on the ground next to where Laz had nted himself and was looking up at the moon.


    "Why are there no creatures around here. They had warned us that weird things were appearing in the mountains and to note up here?" Leona asked while looking around. This thought had just urred to her.


    "I normally run this way and hunt anything nearby. Chances are you won''t run into anything on this side of the mountain even if you go off the trail," Laz answered.


    "How strong are you anyway?" Leona asked the question that had been bothering her.


    "Let''s just say that if I wanted to do something to you, you wouldn''t even have a prayer of stopping me," Laz responded with a chuckle.


    "Hell, I''m so tired right now I probably wouldn''t even try to," Leonaughed, feeling a bitfortable around Laz. They had run all five miles in only twenty minutes so she really was feeling tired. Despite being totally exposed to this guy she only knew for a day, she didn''t get any bad vibes from him. Actually, it made her wonder if he didn''t find her attractive.


    "So what happened? With the girl in the trash?" Leona asked when Laz didn''t say anything.


    "Oh... that. Yeah..." Laz actually blushed a little as he thought about it.


    "What? Don''t tell me you didn''t help her?" Leona had beenying in the grass but turned over on her stomach, put her chin on her hands and looked at Laz to exin. Laz couldn''t help but again noticed just how nice her ass was.


    "Well, I did. I jumped out and ran up to the guy to kick his ass, but just as I was about to, the girl jumped up and stood in front of him to protect him. She was saying wait... wait..."


    "What? Why?"


    "Well, turns out they were just role ying a fantasy of hers. Her boyfriend didn''t want to do it since it was dangerous but she somehow convinced him to anyway." Laz was wearing a half smile as he responded.


    "Ha ha ha ha ha...." Leona couldn''t help but startughing as her entire body shook while kicking the ground with her feet, making her ass jiggle in the moonlight.


    "Actually, it gets better," Laz said while waiting for her to finish.


    "How?" Leona finally asked once she had stoppedughing.


    "She decided that since I was cute, I should make like I beat up her boyfriend, be her hero... and then fuck her in the trash pile myself." Laz was shaking his head while recounting what had happened.


    "The hell? What did you do? You didn''t, right?" Leona asked with wide eyes.


    "Of course not... damn." Laz said while looking offended.


    "Ah, I was going to say..."


    "I just settled for a blowjob as a thank you and went on my way..."


    "You asshole."


    "I''m kidding. Besides, it was the boyfriend who offered that..."


    Leona just stared at him wide-eyed while Laz shook his head, trying to get the memory of the experience out of it.

 Chapter 126: Can You Do It?

    Chapter 126: Can You Do It?


    Leona didn''t know what to believe, so she decided to let it go.


    "What''s next?"


    "Next?"


    "Yeah. More running?" Leona said getting up.


    "You seem to be ratherfortable now?" Lazmented, pointing out the obvious fact that she seemed to no longer care about either of them not wearing anything.


    "Well, yeah. I mean, I don''t really understand it, but I don''t feel it''s a problem." Although Laz had exined his reasoning for this, Leona didn''t really understand. Of course were she to think about it, she probably wouldn''t feel so self conscious now. She could only suppose that in a way, it made sense.


    "So you trust me?"


    "I guess?"


    "Bad choice." Laz reached over before she could understand what he meant and pped Leona hard on the butt. The sound of the smack echoed out even as a red hand print started to appear on her light brown skin.


    "WHAT THE HELL?" Leona, jumped up and moved back, while rubbing the injured spot.


    "Why would you trust me? You don''t know me and yet you came so far out here alone with me. It''s like you are asking for it in the worst way," Laz got up and started walking towards her slowly even as she backed away.


    "This isn''t funny..." Leona said with a hint of fear in her voice.


    "Does it seem like I''mughing?" Laz said, not slowing down.


    "Don''t do this..."


    Denial and now pleading hmm? It''s starting to get fun..." Laz moved even closer while a smile appeared on his face.


    "I''m warning you..." Leona was still backing away, but after having beenughed at, she started to get angry. She started to circte the energy in the way that Laz had shown her hours ago. She could feel her blood move faster in response.


    "Why? Do I scare you or something?" Laz stopped and looked at her with his hands on his hips.


    "No. You don''t." Leona had started to get a little more courageous seeing as how he stopped.


    "Really? Cause you should be scared..." With that, Laz circted his own energy, causing his eyes to go blood red, this time mixed in with a hint of killing intent. He even went so far as to mix in a bit of source essence, causing puffs of ck me to escape from parts of his body as though steam wasing off his skin. Leona might have seen it before, but this felt entirely different. This felt like she was staring into the eyes of a monster. She could help but step back even faster while her whole body was shaking. Just as she turned around to run, she felt another sharp pain to her butt, but this time there was an additional force along with it that caused her to fall forward,nding on her knees and hands. Her energy almost seemed to freeze in ce, along with her blood.


    "That''s it. Good girls should just stay like that with their ass in the air. Come on, give it a shake?" Laz infused his voice with a bit of energy, causing it to sound extra creepy and low as it seemed to ring inside Leona''s head. She might have been scared, but now she was getting more and more angry.


    "Just spread them and get ready, I''m sure you''re going to enjoy it..." Laz''s face was so close that it sounded right next to her ear. Leona clenched her teeth so hard as her fingers dug into the dirt..


    ''KILL HIM,'' her inner voice exploded in her mind while the almost stopped energy began circting faster than ever. Her blood was boiling more now that it ever had before.


    Before she could even think straight, she threw the dirt over her shoulder and jumped up. Her ws extended out at record speed while her eyes took on their cat like appearance. Her entire body was suffused with a purple glow as she face the eyes of the demon. Even now, he was still smiling at her.


    She didn''t think, didn''t feel. There was no time for doubt, she just moved. As fast as the wind, she was in front of him with her hands jutting forward as though she wanted to stab through his chest and stomach. She knew it wasn''t going to work, but Leona didn''t care. Her only thought was that she wouldn''t stop fighting unless he killed her.


    Just as her ws came close, she saw Laz''s evil smile fade as his eyes shifted back to a clear blue. The soft white glow of the moonlight almost make them look like sapphires. Although she had noticed the change, she couldn''t stop herself in time as both of her ws prated Laz''s body.


    ''These fuckers are pretty sharp...'' Laz couldn''t help but think. A normal knife would have done nothing to him. He even had the idea that a bullets would probably break the skin and enter a bit, but that it would be able to damage anything important. Despite this, Leona was still able to jam her ws into him.


    "But... you..." Leona felt hesitant and her powers started slipping.


    "Don''t. Don''t let it slip away. I''m right here. I''m your enemy. Are you just going to hesitate because I no longer look threatening? Are you just going to let me go? Come on. Show me. Can you do it?" Laz leaned forward, jamming the ws further in. Leona didn''t know this, but she had missed every vital organ. Laz knew it because he could feel it and actually it was what he was aiming for in the first ce.


    Leona didn''t know what to do. Laz didn''t look like a threat so she didn''t know how to respond. Suddenly, she felt a hand grab on tightly to her left breast while another started to mp down on her throat. Her blood suddenly spiked and started bursting out into waves. Even though she had reached the Late stage of Awakening just by messing around, she had never once driven her energy so much. As the waves of pain racked her body, bits of impurities started oozing from her skin as her energy began condensing down. She was on her way finally to breaking through to Condensation realm just as soon as she was able to condense all of her energy. But that didn''t matter right now.


    "YYYYYAAAAAHHHHHHH"


    Leona yelled out while pushing forward with all of her strength, ripping the ws out of Laz and attempting to stab him again, this time for real. Before she could get anywhere though, she felt a hand mp down on both her wrists and pull her down until she was on her back. Suddenly, she felt arge weight on top of her.


    "I''M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" She screamed out.


    "Your saying you didn''t already try to?" Laz responded from on top of her while looking down at his bleeding wounds. He was on her stomach with his legs pinning down hers and his hands holding hers back.


    "Easy now. Easy... That''s enough. You did pretty good. At least I think you could have done it if you had the chance."


    "YOU ASSHOLE, LET ME UP. NOW!" Leona still screamed while struggling.


    "Not until you take a few deep breaths and rx that power of yours. See? Mines gone." Laz tried to soothe her a bit, knowing how worked up she was.


    Seeing his normal smile along with the fact that besides restraining her, he wasn''t trying to do anything, Leona took a few breaths to settle herself. Once she was calm enough, she retracted her ws and her eyes went back to normal.


    "You good?" Laz asked after noticing the change.


    "Yeah... I''m fine... What the hell?" She wanted to know what the hell he was doing.


    "Well, you know what I said this was all about right?"


    "Yeah. Freeing the mind or some shit."


    "Close enough. Anyway, if I hadn''t pushed you this far, would you have been able to even fight me for real?" Laz asked while getting to the point of the matter.


    "So this was your n? Piss me off and get me to kill you?" Leona asked as she calmed down some more.


    "Well, if I wanted to fight you for real, he wouldn''t have gotten this far. Besides, now you know how it feels to stick your ws into another human. That''s nothing something that can be taught or exined. You need to feel it."


    "But... you''re bleeding... and..." It was just now that Leona noticed that since Laz had been sitting on her waist, his stick just so happened to beying across her chest and in between her breasts. If she wanted to, it wouldn''t have been hard to bite it.


    "AND GET THAT THING OUT OF MY FACE," she screamed after she figured it out. Laz quickly got off her as she got up. It was only then that she noticed the ck sludge that was coating her light brown skin.


    "EEWWW, what is this stuff? It smells like a sewer. AAHHH.... MY HAIR IS STUCK IN IT," she said as she tried wiping it off with little sess.


    "It''s hard to exin, but it''s actually a good thing. You need to wipe it off once we get back to my ce but after that you can use the shower to clean up before you head home." Laz offered. He only knew what had happened thanks to Vivi. It really was gross. Still, seems she had eaten rather healthy foodspared to him as he had to deal with iting out of his skin and his ass. That was not a pleasant memory.


    "Thanks. I..." Leona started wobbling on her feet.


    "Hmm? You ok?" Laz noticed she seemed a bit off.


    "Yeah. Fine, fine. Just... feeling hot. Is it hot all of the sudden?" Leona felt like she was really warm, but in a good way. In fact, she felt great. Looking over at Laz''s sexy features, wild hair and blood stained body, she couldn''t help but shiver with desire.


    "Um.. No... why?" Laz could see her looking at him while icking her lips. He then suddenly figured out what the problem was and looked down, realizing that not only had he bleed, but he bleed on her.


    "SHIT."


    ''What to do... what to do... AH!'' Laz thought of something. The mountain had many streams that ran down it and there was actually one rtively close by. On top of that, there was actually a shallow pond in that spot where the water collected. Without exining himself, Laz reached over and grabbed Leona, picking her up and putting her over his shoulder. He then started running at full speed which for him was twice as fast as they had gone before.


    "Just hang in there, I''ve got the perfect solution for this..."


    "MMM... It''s ok... Ya know, you really are rather yummy looking..." Leona''s word''s started to slur a bit as she rubbed her hands all up and down Laz''s back. Before he knew it, she hand wrapped around his waist with her arms. Her hands quickly found his exposed manhood that was swaying back and forth.


    "It really is huge. You know, I''ve only been with one guy before, but we were both much younger and he had no idea what he was doing. But you... mmmm. It wouldn''t even matter as long as you used this." Leona''s eyes clouded over as she started to stroke him. Laz was running as fast as he could and trying to keep focused, but it was really, really hard.


    Just as he caught site of the pond, Leona had bolted up right in Laz''s grip, swung her right leg up and wrapped both of them around Laz''s head. She then grabbed his hair and started moving his head around. With no other choice, Laz''s face became buried in her moist honey put as she started to moan.


    "Ah... That''s it. Keep going..." Laz wasn''t actually doing anything, but because of this position they were in, his nose kept rubbing against her cit. Pulling himself back a bit, he finally got free enough to say,


    "Why don''t you hop down a little and I will really make you feel good," Laz offered.


    Not knowing any better, Leona moaned her agreement and loosened her leg lock. Just when she was about to hop down, she felt Laz''s hands reach up under her arm pits and lift her up, before throwing her forward. Shended in the rather cold pond with a ratherrge ssh.


    "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

 Chapter 127: Meeting Another Chosen

    Chapter 127: Meeting Another Chosen


    "You... You... YOU..." Although the pond wasn''t deep, it was deep enough that if you sat down, your head would be under water. Considering Leona wasn''t paying attention, this is exactly what happened. As she surfaced though, she saw Laz standing there observing her as though interested in what was going to happen next.


    "You feel alright?"


    "IT''S FREEZING..." Leona replied through chattering teeth.


    "Well, that was kind of the point," Laz responded with a bit of a grin. Seems like he had guessed right and the shock woke her up from the stimtion. Leona''s head was a bit foggy as she wasn''t sure how she ended up in the water, but as she thought about it, she realized that something had happened and that for a while there, she was uncontrobly horny. Turning a bit red, she started to climb out of the freezing water.


    "Wait, wait. Since your already in, you should clean off a bit. Me too actually," Laz said, seeing as how he had gotten covered in ck gunk from carrying her. Walking into the water, Laz released his source energy to a moderate degree as mes started covering his body. The pond was barely twenty feet across and had water moving in and out constantly, but the temperature started to rise the moment he set foot in it. Leona couldn''t believe what was happening.


    "You... You''ve... You''re able to produce mes? Is that ck colored fire?" Leona asked while moving closer.


    "Yep. That''s one of my primary abilities," Laz nodded as he ducked down, causing the water around him to heat up more and bubble.


    "OOHHH, that feels good." Leona had gotten close up to Laz and started bathing herself in the heated water. Laz had started to use the water to clean himself off too. Although the mes he made were hot, they weren''t about to burn off the gunk unless he really let loose. But if he did that, he might also hurt Leona. Seeing Laz clean himself, Leona couldn''t help but feel embarrass. She still asked,


    "What is this stuff?"


    "This is basically all the crap inside your bodying out. Kind of like a total body cleansing, only this isn''t something a spa can do for you." Laz exined while rinsing out his hair.


    "This is horrible," Leonamented while trying to do the same. It was a good thing the pond had water flowing in and out since it caused the gunk to start washing away.


    "It could have been worse. You don''t want to know what happened to me," Laz tried tofort her.


    "So, this happens a lot?" Leona asked.


    "No. But it''s actually quite beneficial when it does. You''ll notice it the next time you circte your energy. Oh, that reminds me." Laz went on to give Leona an exnation of the Condensation Realm and how to go about reaching it. As they were talking and cleaning, Laz kept the mes going so the water just continued to get hotter, until it reached around 80 degrees F. At that point, he leveled off on the mes so that the water would stay warm but not get hotter. As such, they both had taken to rxing in the water a bit while Lazid things out for Leona. It was important that she learned this now and not waste time trying to figure it out.


    "How do you know all this?" Leona asked on one point.


    "Lot''s of reasons, but one''s I can''t really share," Laz responded. He didn''t want to bring up things about Vivi just yet and he wanted to talk about his crazy, only appears in his dreams, protector either. People had been diagnosed insane for less.


    "Still, it''s good that you are here. I mean, how was I suppose to find out this stuff otherwise?" Leona asked as she floated in the water.


    "Hmm..." Laz started pondering.


    "What?"


    "You think that other people are having that problem? Like not knowing what to do?" Laz asked as though he hade to a conclusion.


    "Yeah, absolutely. Who''s suppose to teach people this stuff?".


    It made sense, but Laz had never thought of it before. He had totally over looked the fact that most people would bepletely in the dark about this stuff. He knew he would have to do something.


    "Alright, all clean?" Laz asked as he shook those thoughts from his head for now.


    "Yeah, I mean, clean as I can get without soap." Leona replied.


    "Well, that''s something. Let''s go." Laz walked out of the pond and started walking with Leona following quickly behind.


    "Before you get cold, run your energy through you body and force out the water," Laz advised as his let his me burn brightly for a moment before it went out all together.


    "You can''t just use that fire on me?" Leona asked, having watched his actions.


    "Uh... It would probably roast you alive at those temps," Laz said awkwardly while scratching his head.


    "Ah..." After trying a couple of times, Leona seeded in drying off. As they started to walk down the mountain, Leona had wanted to ask about several things, but she stayed quiet. She had no idea why she suddenly wanted Laz like some sort of dog in heat, but she didn''t connect that to anything he did so she didn''t put much mind to it for now. The only thing she could think of was that she was feeling wild because of every thing they had done so far. There were times where she had even forgotten that they had done this whole thing naked. Of course, when she reached this point in her thoughts, she finally asked something.


    "Are we always going to be running around like naturalists?" She somehow assumed that this whole thing was some sort of nudest game.


    "No. You''ve adjusted to several things tonight, so you''ll be a lot better offter. From now on, when we work out together, we will basically just run and fight. And at some point, I will bring you all to kill something."


    "Kill something?"


    "Yeah. You need to get that baptism of blood out of the way as well. Tonight was to free your body and your mind. That will be to build a blood ust within you." Laz responded, thinking about some of the things Vivi had told him. Luckily, Laz never had to work on that since he had already killed several times before they had set off on their journey. Now, it was almost bing second nature to him.


    Leona couldn''t help but shiver a bit at the thought. Even when she had lost her head while being harassed by Laz earlier, she never thought about killing him. But now he is saying that she needs to get used to killing? Was he for real?


    Although Laz could guess her thoughts, he didn''t say anything. This really was something she would have to figure out for herself. It was like he had asked earlier; could she do it? Only she could make that call.


    They took their timeing down the mountain, both lost in their own thoughts. Once they started approaching the camper though, they sped up to grab their clothes and get dressed. Leona was originally going to take a shower, but since they had rinsed off in the hot water, she had felt pretty refreshed and decided it could wait until she got home.


    Just as they finished getting dressed, Leona noticed a car drive by the front of the camper. Since they both had seen the lights, they had ducked behind the camper to avoid standing out. Although it was dark out, there was enough ambient light from the trailer park for Leona to see that the car was a convertible Mercedes. She couldn''t help but frown and sigh, something that Laz noticed right away.


    "Something wrong?" He asked.


    "Yeah, that shit head actually found me..." Leona replied. Laz was a bit surprised since this was the first time he actually heard something like pure hate in her words. Even when she was being cold, it was more like she was annoyed, but not hateful.


    "This the guy Dee and Reggie keep talking about?" Laz connected the dots right way.


    "Yes. Argh... Brian. He''s actually only ever been nice to me, but hees on way to strong," Leona exined.


    "Then why the hate towards him?" Laz asked, not understanding.


    "It''s what Reggie and Dee tell me. When I am not around, he ignores them like they don''t exist. But any time he sees me, even if they are with me, he tries to act like everyone''s best friend. But the way he looks at them is like he is looking at a pile of shit that won''t go away."


    "That''s different. Then why don''t you just avoid him? All of you I mean?"


    "No choice. His dad is the mayor of this little Podunk while my mom works in the town hall as a clerk. Therefore, he''s technically her boss."


    "That''s like a plot out of a bad movie," Laz said, judging the situation.


    "That''s what it is. Ever since dad passed away, my mom has been hit on by his dad any number of times. And Brian has been obsessed with me ever since I met him in high school. He graduatedst year so I thought I would be rid of him, but he didn''t go anywhere and likes to follow me around and buy me stuff. It''s freaky," Leona exined.


    "Plus, ever since these changes happened, he''s been giving me an even worse vibe."


    "Worse vibe?" Laz questioned.


    "Yeah. It''s like, I''m naturally repelled by him, but he seems to be even more in love with me. It''s really weird." Leona tried to exin things the best she could. Now that they had done what they did, she trusted Laz more than she thought was possible.


    "Hmm... Interesting." Laz was thinking back to someone he had encountered before. Thinking back to that gym ss incident, he got a funny feeling that things might be the same. But if that were the case, things might get troublesome.


    "You got an aunt or uncle who lives out of state that you don''t see often?" Laz suddenly asked out of nowhere.


    "Uh.. Yeah. My aunt Mary, why?" Leona asked with a puzzled look on her face.


    "No reason. Can you avoid him to get home?" Laz then asked.


    "Doubt it. I don''t know why he is circling around in here, but my guess would be one of his idiot friends saw me and reported it. The idiot friend is probably watching the road in case Ie leave." Leona said with a frown.


    "That''s just messed up. Alright, let''s go. I will walk you home," Laz said before walking out from behind the camper. He sent a quick spirit message into the camper to let Vivi know what he was doing and then started walking for the road.


    "No, NO!" Leona tried to call to Laz to stop him but he just turned around and smile and wave her toe follow him. She was worried that Brian would start something with Laz if he saw them together. At least if she was by herself, she coulde up with some excuse.


    She finally just growled and ran to catch up, giving up resisting. Laz just followed her a step behind while spreading his sense around the area. Although they didn''t see Brian''s car again, when they got to the entrance/exit of the park, he quickly sensed the car that was parked off on the side of the road watching the ce.


    Not taking a moment to pause, Laz just told Leona to leave the way and trust him in a bit and they started walking the mile and a half to her house. Before they got too far down the road though, a convertible Mercedes pulled up next to them as the window came down.


    Laz felt it when the car was getting closer and felt it even stronger when the car pulled up. The driver was definitely a ''chosen.''

 Chapter 128: A Strange Event

    Chapter 128: A Strange Event


    The window on the ck Mercedes rolled down and a somewhat feminine voice came out from it,


    "Leona? Fancy meeting you here. What are you up to?"


    ''Fancy meeting you here? When you''ve been stalking her for a while now? Does this guy think people are going to believe this shit?'' Laz decided to keep this thoughts to himself for now.


    "Hello Brian. I''m just out for a walk and headed home." Leona had be ice cold in an instant. It happened so fast that Laz could have sworn he felt the temperature drop.


    "Oh. Did you want a ride since I am going by your house?" The voice sounded out again. Laz was finally able to see the face attached to the voice as the window finished rolling down. He had to admit that Brian was rather attractive. Blonde hair and hazel eyes along with a somewhat buff body. The only weird part was his voice which seemed like it was a few notches too high, like someone had a vice around his balls that was continuously tightening it. Laz was actually having trouble notughing now that he caught a glimpse of this guy.


    Of course, there was also the fact that Laz was being ignored, but he didn''t mind that. This was the usual ploy of those who felt themselves rich and powerful enough to take control no matter what the situation.


    "I''m fine." Leona replied back sternly and started walking again with Laz matching her pace. Driving along beside them, Brian seemed to have finally noticed Laz.


    "Who are you?" There wasn''t even a hint of friendliness in the voice. It was more like a demand of identity. Laz had actually been waiting for this. It really was pretty easy to deal with these kinds of people, you just had to know how.


    "Hey oh. Name''s Lazlo. Good to meet yah!" Laz extended his hand for the window as though he wanted to shake hands, totally ignoring the aggressiveness with which he was questioned.


    "Why are you walking with her?" Brian ignored the friendly greeting and just went on with his questioning, as though interrogating someone who had gotten close to his wife. Due to having acted like he was greeting someone, Laz had changed ces with Leona and was now closer to the car than she was.


    "What? Course I''d be walking with her, I''m taking her home." Laz said. Since the moment he had opened his mouth, he was using a deeper voice and a thick ent as though he wasn''t from around here. Leona couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at his act, but she didn''t say anything either.


    "Then what is your rtionship with Leona?" Brian''s high pitched voice seemed to be trembling a bit as he asked, as though he was getting angry at the idiot he was talking to.


    "Huh? My rtionship? She''s my cousin of course, can''t you see the family resemnce?" Laz reached his arm over and wrapped it around Leona''s shoulder, pulling her closer. Then he used his other hand to indicate his face, then her face, as though it should be obvious to make the connection.


    "Her cousin?" Brian was getting really angry right now. How the hell did they look anything alike. Other things aside, Leona has soft, brown skin while Laz was pale like a ghost.


    "What? Can''t see it? When we were younger, everyone said me and Little Lee looked like we could be twins." Laz could see Brian''s eye lid twitching and couldn''t help but start enjoying himself. Even Leona had to turn away, acting like she was upset when in fact she was trying her best not tough. She had no idea Laz had this side to him.


    "What bullshit are you talking about? And what the hell is Little Lee?" Brian was about to park the car and beat this joker''s ass.


    "HA ha, I''m ying brother. My dad married her Aunt Mary, so yeah, we''re cousin fo shore since years ago. They live up in Jersey and used to ship me down here for the summer so they could get a little freaky time together. She''s little Lee cuz whens we were younger, she wanted to be a guy, so she used to ask the grown ups when her pee pee would grow in, ouch... OUCH. Ok. Sorry Little Lee, I know you don''t want me talking bout that. Bute on, it''s still funny." Laz had turned over to look at Leona who, after hearing what he said, started violently pinching him. She couldn''t help but think how much worse this was going to make things. The strange part though was that when she looked over at Brian, he had an almost nk look on his face. She couldn''t believe it.


    "Yo, so listen up. I''m just in town cause Mama Mary said to stop on by. I go to Penn state and since Little Lee here is going to college in the spring, they wants me to talk bout my experiences or something. After this, it''s straight on to Virginia Beach for a summer of hot chicks with loose morals, ya know what I''m sayin, eh?" Laz just continued to rattle off some bullshit as though it was the most natural thing in the world and Brian just stared nkly back not knowing what to say.


    All of this was part of Laz''s n. He could tell from what he knew that a guy like Brian had control issues. Because of this, when things went totally out of his control base, he would basically short circuit for a while, then get pissed off and try to find a way to control things again. The tricky part was making sure to leave before it reached that point. The other part of the n was for Brian to put Laz into the grouping of Leona''s family so that it would cause less trouble overall. If he was just some random guy hanging with Leona, Brian would probably totally lose it and do something stupid. Laz wasn''t trying to bring problems to Leona and Reggie so this was what he came up with to handle that.


    "Right. Time to go Little Lee or we will both be in trouble." Laz took the chance to start walking faster with Leona, leaving Brian behind with a stomach full of hatred and a head that couldn''t make sense of this weird guy.


    ''Was he telling the truth? If I act now then I might drive Leona way. Damn bitch, it''s like she''s ying with me. And this Lazlo...'' When Brian finally regained his thoughts, he suddenly had the feeling that he had been yed. But the only truth he could muster out of it was that Leona didn''t say anything else so there should be some truth to this Lazlo guy. Of course he wasn''t just going to believe it though. Instead, he sent a text message to a certain friend of his to get a background check and see if he could figure out who this guy actually was. Until he knew for sure, he would have to wait. Brian couldn''t help but grab the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He finally revved the engine, spun the tires, and doing a 180, sped off in the other direction while his goons in the car parked outside the entrance had to quickly follow..


    "What the hell was that?" Leona finally asked when they noticed they weren''t being followed.


    "What?" Laz had reverted back to his normal voice.


    "That!" Leona used her hands to indicate all of Laz, as though asking where that guy from before came from.


    "Ah. Well... There are two ways to bullshit someone. First way is to mix enough fact with fiction that it''s hard to figure out which is which. The other way to to make the story so crazy and so fake that it seems like no one would believe it, but to act like it is the truth," Laz responded.


    "How do you know all this stuff?" Leona asked, feeling as though he had a point.


    "Crime Dramas. Vivi got attached to them for a while and wouldn''t let me watch anything else," Laz answered honestly.


    "Vivi? Your dog?" Leona questioned.


    Laz just nodded in response and did say anything else. After walking for a bit longer, Leona couldn''t help but voice her worry.


    "Thank you. For that. But now he is going to be trying his best to figure you out. And he will take advantage of whatever he finds to make your life hell," Leona warned Laz.


    "He''s wee to try, but that won''t be something a kid in the middle of nowhere will be able to figure out, no matter how much help he has," Laz responded confidently.


    "You''re full of secrets, aren''t you?" Leona ask, unknowingly smiling at Laz''s show of bravery.


    "I''m full of something, I''m just not sure it''s secrets," Laz joked back, making herugh. It didn''t take long for him to finish walking her home before he ran back to his own ce. As he went inside, Vivi was still up and munching on some dried meat while watching a show.


    *How''d it go?* She asked, pushing the bag of snacks towards Laz.


    *Decent. She has potential.* Laz responded while grabbing a few pieces.


    *I have no idea how you people have survived for so long after loosing your animal instincts,* Vivimented.


    *I know. But that''s just how the world ended up.*


    *Likembs to a ughter,* Vivi grabbed out another snack and started munching.


    "What kind is this one anyway?" Laz asked out loud.


    *This was that bear that had the mesing off it''s back,* Vivi replied.


    "The one I thought someone had lit on fire?"


    *That would be the one.*


    "Hmm... it''s got a bit of spice to it." Laz finally stopped talking and just watched the show with Vivi. They both finally got to bed sometime after midnight.


    ...


    Around one in the morning, Laz suddenly felt a chill run up and down his spine, causing him to wake up out of a deep sleep. As he sat up on the twin size bed, he noticed that Vivi had also awakened and was sniffing the air while looking around.


    "You felt that too?" He asked.


    *Yeah.*


    "Oh. Good night." Lazid back down without a care in the world and was going to go back to sleep.


    *Wake up. We''ve got to go check that out!*


    "Bah, it will wait till morning."


    *Come onzy human, it might be something good.* Vivi tried to yank the covers down to force Laz to get up.


    "It will still be good in the morning."


    "GGRRRR" Vivi started growling at Laz.


    "Go check it out then, just be careful and let me know when you get back." Laz turned over and snuggled in. It had been a rather long day and night for him and he was exhausted. Knowing his condition, Vivi just sighed and didn''t say anything else. She couldn''t me him after all. She jumped down off the bed and exited the trailer.


    Taking her time, Vivi made her way quickly out of the back field before she suddenly started changing. Gone was the small dogg with a cute star mark over her eye and in her ce was a slightly over six foot tall wolf with sparking, jet ck fur that seemed to shimmer in the moon light. If someone were to look close enough, they would even been able to see rings of pure white fur surrounding her feet. At a speed that Laz couldn''t hope to match, Vivi took off, running up the mountain towards the source of the energy spike they had both felt.


    When she finally got close, she noticed an old abandoned hunting lodge situated next to a rather steep rock cliff. Sniffing around, Vivi took a while to go through the entire overgrown area before she finally stopped in front of an old well. As she stood over it, the only thing she could see was pitch ck darkness that seemed to go on forever. With a slight breath and a blink, Vivi''s eyes suddenly glowed the same blood red light that Laz''s did, except hers were much brighter. As she once again looked down the well, she was shocked by what she saw.


    *That''s impossible...*

 Chapter 129: Beast Den

    Chapter 129: Beast Den


    Vivi couldn''t believe what she saw, in fact, it didn''t make any sense. There was a hole towards the bottom of the well on the wall that could actually be called a cave, only a few inches above the water line. There was a dense white fog that covered the opening to the cave which restricted her vision. But from what she could see, there seemed to be several low level demon beasts crawling around just in side. The reason for her shock was that up until now, these demon beasts had been loner type creatures. Even in the event where she and Laz hade upon two of them at the same time, it was usually because they were fighting. But now it seems like things are changing.


    She had to get back and get Laz. If this gathering of beasts were to grow and eventually leave the cave, they would cause havoc if they made it into popted areas. And as she and Laz had agreed, although they weren''t trying to save the world, when they came across these things, they wouldn''t ignore it either. This was Laz''s resolve after everything that had happened in New York.


    Running back quickly, she entered her "moe" mode as she crossed into the trailer park. Rushing into the camper, she saw Laz had fallen back asleep. Jumping up on the bed, she started yanking the nkets down to get his attention and wake him up, but Laz wasn''t having it.


    *Hey, wake up.*


    *HUMAN, THIS IS IMPORTANT.*


    *HUMAN, IF YOU DON''T GET UP, I''M GOING TO GET ANGRY*


    *HHHUUUUUUMMMMMMAAAAAAAANNNNNNN*


    Bite


    "IIIIIEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHAHHHHHHH, DAMMIT VIVI," Laz yelled as she started rubbing his now throbing butt.


    *I warned you. Now get up, I need to show you this.* Vivi started dragging Laz, afraid he was going toy back down.


    "Alright. Alright. I''m going..." Laz reluctantly stood up and began to dress. He quickly followed Vivi back to the old well and took a look inside. As his eyes shown a blood red color, he could see the signature motes of energy moving around just behind the fog curtain. Although he couldn''t see as deep as Vivi, the difference wasn''t by much. He finally understood why she would have the reaction she had.


    "This... what is this?" Laz also tried using his spiritual sense, but it wasn''t even able to prate the outer edge of the mist barrier. He could only look at his little treasure trove of knowledge and hope she could exin. He had found it to be very weird, the things that she just seemed to know. In fact, at first, he couldn''t help but question it and her almost all the time. The only answer she could give was that it was like the knowledge was imprinted within her. But that knowledge was like reading a description in a book without a picture; she might be able to exin something, but that didn''t mean she understood it. There were times she didn''t even know is she was talking about the right thing. But after the time they had spent together, he was now a firm and trusted believer in her. Even if she made a mistake, it was still better than him working with nothing.


    *It''s... a collection of beasts, like a family... or a nest?* Vivi said, trying to voice it out.


    "Since it''s a cave, I would say it''s a den. But why is it here? And what was that energy wave we felt?" Despite being shocked awake, Laz''s brain wasn''t working at one hundred percent just yet.


    *I don''t know. From what I can see, it looks like the cave wall was part of the well and copsed into the well, freeing the things inside. The burst of energy we felt was probably from the mist blowing out. What do you want to do?* Vivi knew that Laz didn''t want to be a hero, but he also didn''t want to let normal people suffer. He couldn''t stop all the strange things going on, but he wasn''t going to ignore what was happening in his back yard either.


    But this would be far more dangerous than anything they had faced before. Before, it had just been Vivi leading them to hunt demon beasts in whatever area they were in, fighting and killing them. Then Vivi would get the small core inside it while Laz could grasp the energy that escape. And they would always take away a portion of the meat on the ones that could be eaten as food. Vivi said it was good for their bodies as these types of beasts have natural energy that wouldn''t pollute their bodies like regr food. This time though, they would be walking into an area with an unknown amount of beasts in a strange environment. The amount of danger they face would be many times greater than ever before.


    "What are our choices?" Laz asked.


    *Fight or ignore it.* Vivi responded back, rather bluntly. There was another option, which would be safer to everyone, but very dangerous to the two of them. They could report it to the government. There had been lines that had opened up in the past few years that people could call to report strange things they found. Although many times they ended up getting nut-jobs and crazies, there had been real incidents reported. Since it was a government line, they would also make sure to track all calls and as such, it was like shinning a spot light on yourself to use it. If you had nothing to hide, you were fine. If you did, you were in trouble. They couldn''t take that route.


    Although it was dangerous, Laz couldn''t help but feel a bit excited. Actually, he knew that Vivi felt the same. They had been growing at a rate that was above most of what they encountered, so the danger outside the first few fights had grown slim. They couldn''t grow like this, ording to the wise Vivi. So seeing this strange, dangerous and yet slightly exciting challenge in front of them, they both knew they would give it a try.


    But they had to prepare first.


    You couldn''t just go jumping into a cave with nothing but the clothes on your back and expect that everything would be ok. As Vivi liked to say, preparation is life. So they both went back to the camper and hopping on their somewhat old but perfectly good aptops, they did what anyone would do to look for information in the modern age, they googled it..


    "Hey, so we need shlights, rope, possibly some climbing spikes..."


    *No need. My ws are super sharp. You just need to hang on.* Vivi said while quickly clicking the mouse as she browsed, her little paw moving quickly.


    *Don''t we need a bird or something? Like in a cage?* Vivi asked while reading.


    "Isn''t that for mines?" Laz asked, not really knowing the answer.


    *This isn''t a mine?* Vivi asked while looking over at Laz, a questioning look on her face.


    "Good question.... Wait... oxygen sensor, even better. Hmm, small air tanks just in case." Laz said while ordering a few things.


    *How long will it take?* Vivi asked once they finished their search.


    "Couple of days, everything is in stock." Laz replied and closed the aptop.


    "But we do have another problem." Laz said while frowning.


    *Hmm?*


    "Money is running out, just food and rent alone will wipe us out in about two months." Laz had saved a bit from working with Kennedy and there had been a tucked away in the camper that had been left by Bill. It hadsted for a while, but travelling and living wasn''t cheap.


    *Oh...* Vivi''s tail dropped. She knew that she had spent money on things she didn''t need, like some clothes and organic shampoos, but Laz had never said anything. He always just joked that she was a high maintenance girl. He had warned her in the past several times that it would be really bad if they ran out of money one day, but he never told her no either. So hearing him say this after ordering the things they needed for the cave meant that they were really going to be broke soon. She couldn''t help but feel like she caused it. After all, Laz never really bought things for himself. His clothes were always discount specials and even the stuff they had was mostly collected junk that other people got rid of despite being usable.


    "Hey. None of that now." Knowing what she was thinking, Laz sat next to her and started to brush her silky ck fur.


    "It was bound to happen, I just need to find a way to make more," Laz said as a matter of fact.


    *But how? It''s not like you can just go get a job...* Vivi responded whileying down on his legs to get into a better position for the brushing. He had exined the hardships of this problem to her before.


    "There is a way, I just didn''t want to go back to that. But hey, beggars can''t be choosers." Laz said to reassure her. She knew what he meant. Although it was somewhat dangerous, it also paid pretty well.


    *Sigh. But you never used it before. You don''t even know if it''s possible down here,* Vivi said, voicing the concerns that he had originally expressed.


    "Won''t know unless we try." Laz knew it was a long shot, but he didn''t think he was told wrong. After all, this information was given to him from Kennedy''s cousin Tony. They were talking about dealing. It wasn''t like it was a real job and most people would hate those types of people. But Laz''s view on it had changed since he started traveling. If you knew where to look, those types of people were everywhere. And it wasn''t like they forced others to buy from them either. Customers came looking for them, they just had to have the channels to get it. Not selling didn''t mean that people would stop using, it just meant they would find other sources. The dark side of the world wouldn''t disappear just because the world frowned on it. Everything had it''s ce after all.


    Although Laz didn''t want to be that type of person, survival wasn''t something you judged with a moral code. That just meant you had never been there before.


    *Alright.* Vivi agreed. She would always go with what Laz decided since he always had their best interests at heart.


    "Anyway, we will worry about that after the cave dive. Deal?" Laz said as he put his hand out, palm up. As always, Vivi put her paw on his palm and responded back,


    *Deal.*


    After that, they both turned in to sleep. Despite the danger of the cave, they weren''t dumb enough to risk themselves in their haste, so it would have to wait.


    For the next two weeks, Laz continued on like normal, exercising, cultivating and hunting. Every afternoon, just after school normally ended, Leona, Dee and Reggie would show up. Everyone would go up the mountain and practice. Besides regr body training, Reggie would work on using his Rune skill while learning what he could do with them. Based on Vivi''s suggestion, he started with only two, one for each avable rune stone. He would then spend time on using them by themselves, and using them together. Each rune could only effect one person at one time. That meant that in a group of four, he could boost two people at once. Vivi had mentioned that when he became skilled enough, he couldyer runes on someone. This would allow one person to have two runes.


    Reggie was excited when Laz told him that, but soon figured out why it was bad to try it when you weren''t ready. For example, the two runes Vivi made them both learn at first was Ehwaz, movement, and Eihwaz, or defense. The reason for this was so that movement could be used on Leona and defense could be used on Dee. Seeing as how Dee was a super strong girl, the best thing that could be done for her was to have a strong defense too. This way, she could be like their teams tank. These was also key runes for Reggie. If he ever got attack, these things would save his life. Sure, he could learn some sort of attack rune, but he already had two women with him that were perfectly suited for fights, so why not start with what made the most sense?


    But if he tried toyer both movement and defense on himself, the end result could be something like him running faster than the defense rune could keep up and knocking himself out. The defense that was formed from the defense rune appeared like a skin tightyer of protection around the body so hitting it would be like squashing yourself into a wall. As he tried it with everyone so they would get a feel for it, Laz would then hit them with a ratherrge log that would send them flying. But even after being sent flying and hitting into things, it didn''t hurt in the slightest. The key here was that Reggie had enough energy to keep it up. Otherwise, it would fail along with any other runes he was using.


    When it came to Dee and Leona, he just fought them one on one. For melee types of fighters, experience was the best. It took some prodding to get Dee into it since she didn''t think she was that type of girl. But after using her strength for a period of time in her slightlyrger body, she started to really get into the fights. The only negative moment was when they first started, she had worn stretchy clothes but had neglected Laz''s well meaning but slightly perverted suggestion. He warned her not to wear underwear. Having never gone all out, she didn''t know how big her body would get and the end result was one hell of an incredibly painful situation. After that, everyone listened to Laz''s suggestions no matter how weird they seemed.


    As for Leona, she would train with them in a group environment, butter at night some days, she would sneak out to see Laz for more personal training, but nothing like what had happened the first night. Instead, it was more like violent shes in which Laz encouraged her to hurt him as much as possible. In return, Laz would control his strength to a degree which caused her massive bruising, but no permanent injuries. And he would do it all over her body, to the point where even her most delicate ces weren''t spared. But the repeated training sessions allowed her battle sense to jump severalyers while her ability to handle pain increased just as much. It was crude, but effective.


    When the packages finally arrive and their gear was set, it was time for Laz and Vivi to explore the cave.

 Chapter 130: Going In (Beast Den 2)

    Chapter 130: Going In (Beast Den 2)


    After gathering up everything they would need, at least as far as they knew, Laz and Vivi headed out once night fell. They both felt that operating at night would be safer since they didn''t want to be seen.


    Vivi had been watching the well off and on for the past two weeks and she had not seen anythinge outside, so they still had no idea what they were going up against.


    After making their way to the well, Laz put down the two duffel bags worth of items and began to pull stuff out of them. Normally Laz wouldn''t wear boots since they interfered with his movement too much, but for this endeavor, he made an exception. Other than that, he had packed an armored motorcycle jacket, studded finger less gloves, and semi-thick, Kerced, leather pants. Strangely enough, riding equipment was the most economical thing he could find. The goal was to have some sort of armor that he could use, but it wasn''t like armor was something that was easily obtainable. Even if you wanted to get body armor, such as a bullet proof vest, you needed to work forw enforcement or have the proper connections, neither of which applied to Laz. Laz quickly slipped on his holster and checked to make sure Last Rites was loaded before changing his clothes.


    Besides the clothing, he had also packed several lengths of rope, two climbing pickaxes, a couple shlights including head band ones, the two oxygen tanks and the oxygen monitoring device along with a couple of rolled up sacks in case there was something to bring out like demon beast meat. After thinking things through, these were the best few things he could afford to take with him to ount for the most issues. If something popped up that they couldn''t deal with, thest thing left they could do would be to get out and block up the tunnel and the well and inform the government about the issue. Although Laz didn''t want it to get to that point, he wasn''t going to let whatever was in there to run free either.


    After conforming that Vivi was ready, not that she was packing anything, he tied a rope to a nearby tree and with Vivi curled over his shoulders, proceeded to climb down the well. Laz didn''t have a problem with ustrophobia, but even he felt a little cramped in the well that was barely five feet in diameter. Using his sense and Vivi''s guiding, he quickly made it to the cave opening that had opened up above the water line. Leaving the rope to hang free as it was the only way they were getting back upter, Vivi sniffed the strange white fog that was rolling around the opening before Laz tried to breath it. If the fog appeared to be dangerous, they would immediately cancel the whole thing since the small tanks Laz bought were only good for about 110 breaths worth of air. That was hardly enough time to do anything as they were suppose to be for emergency use.


    The strange thing was, the more Vivi sniffed the fog, the more excited she seemed to be.


    "What''s wrong?" Laz asked.


    *Come sniff this.* Vivi said, jumping down and standing just inside the opening.


    Laz brought his face closer and closer until he was able to sniff in just a little. Once the milky white fog came into his body, Laz felt a cooling sensation rush all throughout his body. Breathing in a couple more times felt almost like he was sucking in an almost liquid like form of energy. It wasn''t nearly as concentrated as the strange pond or weird flower form where he used to live, but it was much more gentle and easy to circte throughout his body.


    Laz felt like if he could breath this stuff everyday, he would progress at an astounding rate.


    "What is this?" Laz asked, feeling excited but confused.


    *I don''t know. But at least we know it''s safe to go in.* Vivi said as she turned around and started walking. Laz was just a few steps behind her. Due to the narrowness of the well and the cave opening, she was still in her tiny form, making it much easier for her to move around.


    Walking in, Laz attached a light to his head, illuminating the dark corridor. Although he and Vivi both had their spirit sense spreading out, with the dense energy fog in the air, it was almost impossible to grasp theyout ahead for more than a few feet.


    As they walked father on, the cramped passageway started expanding till it was almost ten feet in diameter, allowing for them to walk side by side as they made their way in. They both seemed to think of something at the same time but Vivi voiced her thoughts first.


    *Where did those creatures go?*


    Laz didn''t know how to respond and stayed quiet. After walking for almost 10 minutes, they found a ratherrge rock that seemed to block the tunnel. The strange thing was that there appeared to be a glowing from the other side of the rock. There was very little clearance between the rock and the cave walls, so for the moment, they were stuck. After a brief mental chat, they decided to try to push the rock out of the way.


    Vivi assumed her fighting form while Laz set down the backpack he was carrying and got into position. With a huge amount of effort, they were able to slide the rock forward a few feet, causing the entire tunnel to be bathed in the strange glow. As their eyes adjusted, what they saw took their breath away.


    Glowing masses of crystals lined the walls and the ceiling, creating a soft white glow in therge, open cavern. The fog rolling around the area made it look almost like it was a yground of ghosts, drifting around in endless circles. Although the area was light up, it had a hazy feel to it as though everything was constantly shifting. Breathing in and out slowly, Laz and Vivi were finally able to stop the feeling of vertigo that threatened to overwhelm them.


    Vivi took the lead and started walking forward while Laz turned off his headmp. Before she got too far, Vivi suddenly stopped and started to violently shake her head and body as she backed up.


    *What''s wrong?* Laz sent the thought. Although he normally just talked to her out loud, they had previously discussed it would be best to be as quiet as possible while doing this.


    *Get. This. Stupid. Thing. Off. Me....* Vivi said in between her shaking. Getting close to her, Laz could see almost invisibly thin threads that had covered her head and stuck to her. Laz quickly reached over and started removing the threads one by one. He noticed that besides being clear and nearly invisible, they were silky smooth and kind of damp, which was what caused them to stick to Vivi in the first ce..


    It didn''t take long to get Vivi unwrapped, but looking at the threads, Laz started having a bad feeling. These threads looked almost likerge spider webs. As Vivi started grooming her fur to make sure all of the webbing was out, Laz took a quick nce back at the cavern. Only this time, the focused more on the walls and less on the crystals. Once he did so, he was able to see that it looked like the entire cavern was covered in these webs, giving it that constantly shifting feeling when the light hit them.


    *Well fuck me...* Laz couldn''t help but swear in his head once he saw all the webbing.


    *If there are this many webs here, I can''t imagine how many spiders there are crawling around,* Vivi added as she too looked around the strange cavern.


    *But where are they?* Laz asked.


    They had both seen little signs of creatures running around the opening when they checked the ce out originally. But now the entire area looked deserted. Even still, with the webbing all over the ce, going through here wasn''t going to be easy as they didn''t bring anything to cut through it with. In a quick moment of inspiration, Laz brought out his ck me into his hands and held it to the webbing. Almost instantly, the webbing began to melt away, leaving them a way forward.


    *Smart human,* Vivi praised Laz. With his me out, they would be able to walk forward without having to worry about getting tangled up.


    Laz and Vivi both looked at each other for a brief moment before moving forward at a slow pace. Laz kept both his hands out and moving, using the summoned ck me to melt away the web and they walked while both of them kept their eyes and ears peeled for signs of the webs owners.


    Just as they had gotten to the center of the room, they heard a sound approaching them. The sound reminded Laz of a piece of metal being scrapped along stone. Although the sound echoed badly, they could make out a somewhat small silhouette approaching. When it finally came into view, Laz and Vivi both felt a slight feeling of fear.


    The thing in front of them was a spider that almost came up to Laz''s waist. It seemed to be alone at the moment, but Laz could swear he heard something like shufflinging from all over the cave. Before either Laz or Vivi could really examine this neer in front of them, dozens of tiny spiders came into view,pletely surrounding them. After looking around for a minute, Laz was able to determine that all the small spiders seemed to be low ranked awakening creatures while therger on that was blocking the way forward was actually already a condensation realm spider. Or as Vivi tried to get Laz to remember, it was a level 2 spider while all the rest were level 1 spiders.


    Seeing this spider block the way while the other spiders were moving in made Laz quickly determine that this wasn''t going to be a peaceful experience. Just as Laz raised his hands while circting his energy, therge spider slowly started to back away and ended up vanishing from sight momentster. Neither Vivi or Laz could understand why it would do that, but since the smaller ones were still moving in, they didn''t bother to think about it and quickly got ready to fight.

 Chapter 131: The Strange Pouch (Beast Den 3)

    Chapter 131: The Strange Pouch (Beast Den 3)


    Despite being surrounded by these little spiders climbing down form the walls and ceiling, neither Vivi nor Laz felt concern. Both could sense that at most, they were level one demon beasts, and some of them weren''t even that. Even the ones that weren''t demon beasts were far stronger than any normal spider however. If a normal human were toe across it, the spider would easily beat the human in a contest of strength. All this could only be attributed to the environment in the cave.


    Even still, when there were dozens of these little guys plowing around, that would still be a headache to Laz and Vivi. But the reason they were worried was mostly because of Laz. Without needing to say anything, Vivi shrunk down and stood between Laz''s legs. Laz had also set the backpack down between them so Vivi was in fact just standing on the backpack. Had anyone been around, it would have looked like Laz was squatting on Vivi and the backpack like a mother hen keeping her eggs warm.


    Just as the spiders had gotten within feet of Laz and Vivi, Laz''s entire body erupted with ck mes, spilling out from him in waves. The ck mes incinerated all of the spiders and webs around him in an instant and kept rolling out until the filled the entire floor of the cave. Once they hit the walls though, they seemed to stop and didn''t crawl up. Laz kept his energy billowing out for a few moments before cutting off the flow of energy to his source essence. As the mes died down, the entire bottom half of the cave was now free of webs and spiders. The heat was so intense, it had scorched the walls ck while melting all of the webs further up. The only thing remaining of therge group of spiders were a few burnt out husks at the top of the cave along with a measly few half melted webs. Minus Laz who was now circting his energy to recover and Vivi who had started to bite her nails, there was no other thing alive in this section of the cave.


    The temperature of the cave quickly cooled, due in part to the influx of foging from an opening half way up the wall at the back side of the cave. The crystals in the wall still glowed a faint, cool light but there was noticeable burnt marks on them, causing strange shadows to start dancing around the room.


    Vivi got down off the backpack and resumed her previouslyrger size while looking around and nodding her head.


    *Mmm... Good job human. Your control is getting better and better. You only singed my tail a little that time,* Vivimented while icking off the burnt fur at the end of her tail. Had she not said it, Laz wouldn''t have even known he did it since her fur was pitch ck to begin with.


    *Sorry about that,* Laz apologized. When he had first started working with the mes to practice control, he had identally burnt off a good portion of the fur on Vivi''s stomach and side, causing her to want to die from embarrassment for the longest time until it grew back. Of course she didn''t let Laz have an easy time either as she took the opportunity to shave his head with her ws one night while he slept. It took almost two months before Laz would stop wearing a hat all of the time.


    *Let''s have a look around now that it''s empty.* Vivi started walking around to some piles of broken wood and metal that was scattered around. Thanks to Laz''s ck mes and the rual of time, most of it had been destroyed, but it was still possible to make out some random things from it. Some of the bits that had beenpletely buried were now exposed, hopefully offering some clues as to what this ce was.


    As Laz and Vivi walked around the cavern, Vivi found a piece of metal tube sticking out of the ground and started pulling on it with her mouth. Thanks to her sharp teeth and powerful jaw, she was able to pull the tube that was attached to wood out of the ground andid it down, calling Laz over.


    *What is it?* she asked. She was clear that it had been something a human made since it looked like the wood was attached to the metal tube.


    As Laz took a closer look, he couldn''t help but trace the pipe with his fingers, as though admiring it.


    *No... It can''t be...* Laz said spiritually to himself and Vivi.


    *What? What? COME ON...* Vivi said while Laz just seemed to hold it while appearing to be in a daze. She was jumping up and down and felt rather excited about having found something. Vivi, for all of her knowledge, was still about as mature as a ten year old. Because of that, she was easily excited when they came upon something that she didn''t know about. Learning new things was her second most favorite thing to do, right after being cute. Cute always came first.


    *It looks like a rifle, a really old rifle. Although the identification has worn away and I can''t tell when it''s from, it looks moreplicated than a musket. I wonder if it''s from the civil war...?* Laz wasn''t really a gun enthusiast, but being a guy, he always had a bit of a thing for them. Bill also had quite the collection so Laz had seen a few from around that time.


    *Civil war?* Vivi asked, wondering what he was talking about.


    *Yeah, the Civil war,* Laz responded back, not understanding the question.


    *How can a war be civil? Does everyone scream, ''Look out'' before they shoot and then apologize when they hit someone? How can you be civil in a war?* Vivi asked, not understanding. Laz smacked himself in the forehead as he had forgotten. If it wasn''t something she had learned about, Vivi had a tendency to take everything literally. To her, civil mean polite.


    *It''s hard to exin quickly. You can look it up when we we home. Just know that it took ce about 160 years ago,* Laz said as he continued to study the old rifle. It was damaged beyond repair and even if he wanted to take it with him, it would be a big hindrance. Laz had no choice but to set it down and keep looking.


    As they walked around therge cavern, despite the destruction, they were able to spot a few clues.


    There were several burnt out pieces that looks like more rifle barrels and signs of what used to be crating. There were ever some buried scraps of cloth that looked like old, thick blue cotton. Laz wasn''t a history buff, but he felt like he had an answer.


    *This looks like it used to be an old Civil war storage area. I have no idea how it ended up like this though...* Laz finally concluded. Although Vivi didn''t know what this civil war was, she could tell by Laz''s expression that although this was surprising, it didn''t really mean anything to them right now. After all, this cave was now filled with this energy dense fog and crawling with demon beast spiders. Obviously this didn''t have anything to do with 160 years ago..


    *So now what?* Vivi asked, looking around. She got a funny feeling, almost as though she felt a faint fluctuation, but considering where they were, she didn''t think much of it.


    *Let''s move on to the next cave,* Laz said, while taking out the climbing pick axes. The entrance was about 10 feet off the ground and the column leading up to it looked like it was polished smooth, so there was no way to just climb the rock. Besides, Laz didn''t know if he would actually have a chance to use these pick axes he purchase and figured he would at least try them out.


    Vivi looked at him as he swung the climbing pick axes around and couldn''t help but chuckle since she knew what he was thinking. If it came down to it, she could easily jump that height and pull Laz up, but then he wouldn''t get to y. They both found this whole thing to be way to enjoyable.


    As Vivi was watching Laz smack the smooth stone with the pick and then testing his weight on it, she suddenly felt the fluctuation again. This time though, it was a bit more intense. She then felt it again a few more times while looking around for the cause, but not having any luck. At the same time, Laz was using his energy to try to force the pickax into the stone, causing a banging sound to go off and hamper her ability to concentrate. Just as she was about to tell him to knock it off, she noticed that the fluctuation happened every time Laz used his energy. He face suddenly brightened as she started to circte her own energy and send it out in small waves.


    Just like a beacon sending out a signal, Vivi was able to quickly find the source of the fluctuations and quickly dug it out.


    *Human, HUMAN. OVER HERE* Vivi called over, getting Laz''s attention as he ran over quickly.


    *What? What''s up Lassie? Did you find Timmy?* Laz who was having way to much fun made a joke that Vivi couldn''t understand. Seeing her confused expression, Laz stopped messing around and took at look at what she had dug up.


    At first nce, it appeared like apletely in, leather pouch that was still remarkably intact. Picking it up, Laz opened it up, only to find it was empty. After shaking it a few times just to confirm, Laz looked over at Vivi.


    "Did you want a souvenir or something? This is small enough to carry out without a problem,* Lazmented, knowing she liked random stuff like this. He was still a bit confused about her earlier interest though.


    *No, you foolish man thing. It was reacting to you using your energy. Try injecting some energy directly into it,* Vivi ordered while looking on closely. She could have done it herself, but she couldn''t look inside it while holding it in her mouth or putting it under her paw while doing so.


    *Oh? Ok.* Laz did as asked and the pouch once again let off a strange fluctuation. Laz looked inside while doing this and was immediately surprised. Vivi also had a shocked look on her face. The inside of the pouch, which had beenpletely visible and empty, now looked like a ck void. Poking at the darkness a few times, Laz felt no response, nor resistance. Feeling a bit more at ease, Laz stuck his hand in and pulled it out quickly. Noticing no issues with his hand, he stuck it back in while Vivi watched. Before either of them knew it, Laz hand inserted his entire arm, up to his elbow, into this little pouch that was barely bigger than his palm. Pulling it back out after having felt something, Laz opened up his hand to reveal a few burnt out, old style rifle bullets. Vivi and Laz both looked at each other in shock since both had seen the pouch was empty before.


    *This... This...?* Laz was at a loss for words and even with the store of knowledge in Vivi''s head, she was barely able to find any information as to what it might be.


    *Ripped space?* Vivi thought out loud.


    *Come again?* Laz asked.


    *Hang on.* Vivi suddenly shrunk once again and jumped up on Laz''s arms. He had been injecting his energy into the pouch so that the ck void stayed constant as Vivi directed him to bring it closer to her. Suddenly, before he could stop her, Vivi shoved her entire, tiny sized head into the pouch before pulled it back out again and gasping for breath.


    *What the hell?*


    *I wanted to check something.*


    *Well, next time don''t. Who knows what the hell could have happened,* Laz scolded Vivi for her reckless behavior. Vivi just smile back and gave him puppy dog eyes until his anger dissipated.


    *I just needed to check if there was actually air in there.*


    *And why?*


    *Cause of a theory. There isn''t by the way.*


    *Which means?* Laz asked, more confused than ever.


    *Which means no air goes in and nonees out. It''s basically a sealed pocket of space that opens when you inject your energy into it.*


    *Uhh...*


    *SEALED POCKET OF SPACE? NOTHING? Psh.... stop watching porn and maybe you would learn something.*


    Cough, Cough.


    *Ok, Sage Vivi. Please educate this pitiful human?* Laz asked while sucking up.


    *MMmm, least you understand your ce,* Vivimented while having a smug look on her tiny face. Laz knew that this little girl was really easy to please and didn''t hesitate to do so.


    *OK. Sealed pocket of space that''s enclosed in the pouch. I can only imagine how this happened. Some sort of explosion must have gone off in the pouch but somehow was contained,* Vivi pondered out loud.


    *It''s function used to be to store powder and bullets for the rifles. So maybe something happened when I let loose the mes earlier?* Laz mused.


    *Maybe, but it''s far too random to think that it could happen again. Well, anyway. If my guess it right, we should be able to actually store loads of stuff in that space and then take outter. Although I have no idea how much...* Vivi replied.


    *Like the handbag that sexy British girl had in that movie with the wizards?* Vivi could help but look at Laz like he was an idiot. That was what hepared it to? Well, technically it''s the same principle, but she wasn''t going to admit that.


    *Anyway. Store it for now and we will y with itter. We''ve got more important things to do.* Vivi ordered as she jumped down and reverted to her full size while looking up at the opening from earlier.


    Laz turned his head that way too and frowned. They both felt some of the waves of energy from that hole had started growing in strength. And this strength was actually slightly stronger than either his or Vivi''s. There was something stronger than them in there and it seemed like it was waking up.

 Chapter 132: Eight Legged Freak (Beast Den 4)

    Chapter 132: Eight Legged Freak (Beast Den 4)


    Vivi couldn''t help but turn to look at Laz. Neither of them thought that something that strong would be in here. Laz had just entered thete stage of his Condensation Realm where as Vivi was slightly more powerful, as ater stage level 2 demon beast, she wasparable to ate stage Condensation Realm who had made it about half way through. But the fluctuationsing from the opening gave them both a bit of a chill.


    Although it felt stronger than either him or Vivi, it wasn''t a drastic difference. Still though, this would have been the first time either of them encounter something stronger than themselves since they had left Basin Falls. Laz couldn''t help but turning to Vivi as well, noticing that they both had a look of excitement and hesitation in their eyes.


    *So... what do you think?* Laz asked first. It was normally Vivi''s job to evaluate an opponent since she was able to see through their energy fluctuations to determine their strength. Although Laz could do the same, he was still rather unlearned in that aspect. It was like how just because someone could see some dark clouds, that didn''t mean they could predict the weather. In contrast, someone who had lots of knowledge of weather could look at the clouds and predict exactly what would happen. There was noparison between the two.


    *Well, I think this thing is somewhere between dangerous and deadly..* Vivi answered with a bit of mystery.


    *What does that mean? I meant it''s level...* Laz replied back with a bit of annoyance.


    *You could figure that out too if you bothered to give it a shot.*


    *Yeah, yeah...* This was an ongoing argument between the two of them. Although Laz did have an interest in it, he also knew that he could never match Vivi and because they never encounter things stronger than themselves. It was thisck of danger that caused Laz to not be so serious about it.


    *Arg, honestly. From now on I will make you learn this stuff. But that''s not important for now. What I said is actually a bit more important.* Vivi said while sniffing the air a bit, taking in more of the fog that kept seeping out as though trying to figure some things out.


    *About it being between dangerous and deadly? Why is that?* Laz asked, a bit curious.


    *Sometimes I wonder if you ever bother listening. Don''t you remember what I''ve said before? About demon beasts being more than just their energy levels?* Vivi asked while ring at him.


    *Uhh... let''s see. Even if it''s weaker than you, it can still kill you?* Laz said, thinking back.


    *Sigh... close enough. Alright. Look. You know how there are things that even if they are small and weak can kill a normal person?*


    *Yes?*


    *Well, this is the same thing. Think about it, if you got bit by a poisonous snake, would you die?* Vivi said, trying to make it as simple as possible.


    *Well... maybe not anymore...* Laz said, starting to see where she was going with this.


    *No. But what if it was a level 1 demon beast? Or even a level 2 demon beast snake?*


    *Then... yeah. It would kill me...* Laz sighed while realizing what she said was true. He hadn''t thought about it before, but it made sense. Just because the thing was weaker than him didn''t mean it didn''t have it''s own means of defense againstrger predators.


    *You get it now?* Vivi wanted to make sure he understood. She was worried that Laz might be toocent and forget that he shouldn''t under estimate either beasts or other humans just because he has had some sess. She knew from the information in her head that there could be tons of dangerous things out there. She just didn''t know where this information came from.


    *Eww... so like if I encounter a giant level 2 skunk... do you think it''s stink would kill me as well?* For some reason this worry popped into Laz''s head and he had to ask. Vivi just stared at him, eye to eye while her furry mouth hung open, wondering if there really was something wrong with his head. Despite this, he almost had a point. Almost.


    *It actually sprays out a liquid. If my guess is right, at this level, it would probably melt you into a puddle of man meat soup.* ''How did I get stuck with this guy?'' Vivi couldn''t help but wonder while she kept sniffing. She had an idea what was in there, but it was still best to be cautious.


    *EEWWW...* The thought make chills go up Laz''s spine while looking at the cave..


    Suddenly, the sound of metal scrapping on rock echoed out of the opening as both Laz and Vivi backed up a bit. Laz pulled out his gun and took aim, ready to blow away whatever came out of the dark.


    In barely a moment, dozens of glints of light flickered in the opening as a dozen spiders crawled out from the opening and spread out, crawling up the ceiling and walls while others just walked along the floors. These spiders were muchrger than the ones they had fought earlier, all being simr to the first spider they encountered. After they spread out, they all just stopped while eyeing the invaders, sometimes making screeching noises as though talking with each other.


    Although it looked dangerous, all of these half man size spiders were only barely level 2. They were still quite a bit weaker than either Vivi or Laz. The only problem was that there were around 12 of them which would make it hard to fight one or two while trying to guard against the others. It truly was a dangerous situation.


    Despite surrounding them, the spiders made no other moves besides chatting with each other. To Laz, it almost seemed like they were waiting for something as they would sometimes turn and face the opening.


    *What are they doing?* Laz asked.


    *Waiting for the one we sensed earlier.* Vivi said with a vague understanding.


    *Great. Should we attack now? Before they leader gets here?* Laz''s eyes zed as though looking for a fight.


    *They will probably just run around to tire us out. Before the leader gets here we should conserve our energy,* Vivi said after analyzing things.


    *Alright. When it get''s out, I will take care of it. You get rid of the minions around us,* Laz said after looking around. Although Vivi was quite a bit smarter when it came to overall knowledge, they both understood that when it came to fighting, Laz had better senses. He med it on years of video games.


    *Don''t fire the gun in here if you can avoid it. Between the sound and the st, it may make the entire cave crumble,* Vivi said while eyeing Last Rites.


    *Well, doesn''t that make things a bit more interesting.*


    *And don''t attack right away. We should talk to it first,* Vivi advised.


    *Seriously?*


    *Yes, you brute. You should always try to at least say hello before fighting. You might be able to avoid a lot trouble that way. You get into it enough on your own anyway...* Vivimented while looking back.


    Although the smaller spiders made scraping sounds as they move, this one seemed to be rather silent. The only reason they knew it wasing was the fluctuations were getting closer. After several minutes worth of wait, they finally saw movement in the dark. Tworge globs of light could be seen hovering over four smaller globs of light as the thing got closer and closer. Emerging from the opening, tworge hairy legs came into the light, followed by two more. They allowed the massive creature to drag it''s body into the cave, only barely being able to squeeze it''s humongous body through the tight opening.


    *HOLY SHIT,* Laz swore as soon as the thing came into view. The spider was asrge as an elephant, totally dwarfing the other spiders, Laz and Vivi. When therge spider came into view, the smaller spiders ran away quickly and hid on the ceiling, almost as though they were afraid of catching the eye of the huge spider. As such, only Vivi and Laz remained on the floor, directly in it''s line of sight.


    *What is that?* Vivi asked, taking a look at it''s massive body. Especially eye catching was the two downward facing pincers that looks like teeth surrounded by hairy flesh that was jutting from beneath it''s mouth.


    *It''s... no... it can''t be... they don''t make webs...* Laz was at a bit of a loss. He thought he knew what kind of spider it was, but it didn''t make any sense.


    *Just say it. Just because the normal size ones couldn''t doesn''t mean it can''t. Does that thing even look like it rtes to anything you''ve seen before?* Vivi said while backing away slightly.


    *It looks like a wolf spider. They are found throughout north america and live in the ground. Normal size ones aren''t poisonous but their venom causes paralysis is smaller creatures. But that''s only the small crawling things it normally hunts and eats.* Laz said, rying what he knew while rxing slightly. He only knew this since he had been bitten by one before. Even though the bite hurt like hell, it didn''t pose any danger.


    *Yeah, well. Now we are small crawling creatures, aren''t we?* Vivi asked, wondering why he seemed to rx. This was incredibly dangerous.


    *Good point. Well... go ahead.* Laz said while indicating the spider.


    *Go ahead?*


    *Yeah. Talk to it. It''s a wolf spider and you''re a wolf. You''ve got that inmon don''t you?* Lazmented while indicating that it made a difference.


    *HOW IS THAT ANYTHING LIKE ME???* Vivi yelled at Laz while taking another step back. She wasn''t afraid in terms of fighting it, but just it''s look made Vivi feel grossed out. It seemed like it took up around a third of the cave while Laz and Vivi had retreated to the rock that lead outside. They were both thinking about possibly running.


    *Huuummmmaaannnnn aaannddd ssmaalll ppreeyyy.* A voice that sounded like nails on a chaulk board suddenly appeared in both their minds, almost making them drop to the floor in pain.


    *IT CAN TALK??* Laz was shocked to the point of almost going nk. Even if Vivi had mentioned it earlier, it didn''t mean he believed it. How would a spider know humannguage anyway?


    *Of course it canmunicate. All creatures after reaching a certain stage can. And it''s not speaking English or even a human tongue. It''s simply projecting it''s thoughts. As an intelligent creature, it can learn things like I do, which I''m starting to suspect is based on bloodlines. Since these things normally live in north america, it''s knowledge it based on it''s ancestors. And most people here speak English.* Although Vivi was just guessing with what she knew, it made a lot of sense to Laz.


    *Uh... Hello?* Since Vivi didn''t want to try, Laz felt he should as least give it a go.


    *MMM.... ffffrrreesssshhh ppprreeeeyyyy. Mmmyyyyssss bbaaaabbbiieeessss haavvveee lllivvveed iiinn ttthhheeee ddddaaarrrrkkkk fffooorrr toooo lllooonnnnngggg. II ssseeee. AAA aaaayyyy ooouuutttt fffooorrr mmeee hhaasss aaapppeeeaaarrreedd.* The spider made no attempt to hide it''s thoughts. And in fact, the longer it talked the easier it became to understand it.


    *Uuhhh... Soo... You''re not going to be peaceful about this, are you?* Laz finally asked as his head stopped reeling in pain.


    Screeching noises echoed from the elephant size spider which got the attention of all of the smaller ones hiding on the ceiling. They crawled down as fast as they could and once again surrounded Vivi and Laz, this time much more aggressively. Both could tell that there was a fighting one way or another.


    *II''mmm hhunnnggrrryyy fffooorrraargggeerrr mmeeeaaattt aaannndddd fffrrreeeeeeddddoooommmm* The creature said with an undisguised hunger in it''s voice, causing Laz and Vivi''s eyes to go red. They both assumed a battle stance as the smaller spiders pounced at them, eager to fill their leaders orders.

 Chapter 133: Battle With The Spider (Beast Den 5)

    Chapter 133: Battle With The Spider (Beast Den 5)


    The dog sized spiders swarmed over, looking to kill Laz and Vivi quickly in one go. Luckily, it seemed that despite the intelligence of therge spider, it didn''t understand anything about energy levels. If it did, it would have realized that it was just sending it''s children to their deaths.


    Laz''s entire body zed with ck fire as he started to madly circte his energybined with his source essence. As the smaller spiders scurried over, they were touched one at a time. As Laz had been progressing over the past year and a half, he had focused on how to control the ck mes to use them as a targeted weapon and not just by relying on instinct. Before the spiders could react, three had already been charred to a crisp.


    Vivi''s style of fighting was much less elegant. She simply jumped on the spiders as they came over, squished them down and took a bite out of their bodies, just below their heads. Although crude, she was able to target their demon beast cores and rip them out of their bodies, swallowing them in a quick gulp before moving on to the next one. Because of how fast she was able to move, the spiders were helpless to jump at her, often missing and rolling along the floor beforeing to a stop a ways away.


    By the time therge spider noticed it''s prey''s fighting ability, over half of it''s children had been killed. It quickly screeched, calling it''s children back to the walls and ceiling, ordering them to attack when the prey was distracted. At the same time, the elephant size spider charged, aiming to quickly kill the annoying pests. Due to it''srge size and despite having eight legs, therge spider that had been regrly fed by it''s children ever since it took over was not able to move quickly, allowing for Laz and Vivi to both jump to the side to get out of the way. As the spider hastened to turn around after having missed, Laz let loose with two streams of ck fire from his hands while Vivi''s jumped forward to bite at it''s leg. Although it sensed the danger, it wasn''t able to move out of the fast enough, allowing for the fire to wash over it''s back, causing it''s normally hard skin to start to melt. Vivi also seeded, grabbing on to it''s leg and yanking it fiercely. The sound of the spider''s leg breaking echoed throughout the cavern as the spider let loose an ear piercing screech.


    The sound was so painful, it forced Vivi and Laz to back off and attempt to cover their ears, giving therge spider time to face them again. Therge spider was a little more weary this time and didn''t charge straight ahead. Instead, while Vivi and Laz were squaring up again with their red eyes glowing at it, it sent out a screech to it''s children, having them start to descend the walls in an attempt to box the invaders in. If it worked, Vivi and Laz would have no where to run when therge spider came for them. It was a basic tactic for pack hunting, but one that has proven to be effective for many years.


    As the spiders came down, Laz and Vivi noticed them inching closer, but not straight out running for them. Vivi quickly picked up on the sign of what wasing.


    *They are going to box us in,* she said while trying not to smile.


    *Figures. Not like this hasn''t happened before,* Laz replied while keeping his senses spread out. They had both backed away from therge spider while getting closer and closer to the wall, almost to the point where it was at their backs.


    *Still though. You sure you want to try this?* Vivi asked with a strange look on her face.


    *Sure. It''s worked in every game I''ve ever yed,* Laz said back while holding in his ownughter.


    *But this... I mean, how stupid would it have to be for this to happen?* Vivi said as her tail touched the wall. Although spiders were running around on the ceiling and wall above them, they weren''t worried about these ones in the first ce.


    *About that stupid?* Laz pondered while looking at the spider get closer. Therge spider was actually feeling pretty content as it had managed to back it''s prey into a corner. With it''s children circling around them, there was no ce for them to dodge to this time. It had also started to feel a bit hesitant due to Laz and Vivi staring at it with those glowing blood red eyes, but it wasn''t enough to make it back off. In fact, the reason why It was having that feeling was because Vivi and Laz were looking at it with a bit of ridicule. Anyone could see it was about to use the same tactic again, but did it think it would work this time when it didn''t thest time? But sadly the spider didn''t know how to read facial cues.


    When it finally felt it was close enough, therge spider pounced, attempting to lock down Vivi and Laz with it''s front legs. At the same time, the dog sized spiders all jumped down as well, attempting to block the area around therge spider so that they couldn''t dodge this time. Fortunately for Vivi and Laz, they weren''t looking to jump out of the way. Both Laz and Vivi crouched and jumped forward at the same time. While the spider was trying to jump in an arc towards them, they stayed straight on the ground, causing the spider to actually jump over them. Just as they were about the clear the spider''s legs, Vivi stretched her neck out and grabbed one of the front legs while Laz reached out and grabbed the other, both yanking down at same time. Due to their forward momentum and the strength of their bodies, the spider couldn''t get it''s other legs, namely the ones it was using to attack Vivi and Laz, down in time. The spider couldn''t help but screech again as it mmed head first into the wall, squishing two of it''s own children.


    The entire cave shook with the force of the impact, causing several of the little spiders to lose their bnce and fall. Although therge spider was stunned, it''s tough body took very little damage due to the crash. Vivi and Laz weren''t going to let this chance go and quickly got out from underneath the spider while leaping up on to it''s back. Vivi started scratching and biting it''s back while Laz let loose wave after wave of ck fire on it''s unguarded body, causing the stone like skin to cked and melt. Laz then punched as hard as he could, shoving his hand through the now brittleyer of skin. He then unleashed even more streams of ck fire as he started roasting the spider from the inside.


    Although stunned, the pain from being burnt and bitten and scratched caused it to quickly wake up. It screamed while shaking it''s body violently, causing Vivi and Laz to be thrown off to opposite sides. Taking Laz and his ck mes to be the more dangerous of the two, the spider once again pounced after him. Because of the damage that it had taken, it''s body wasn''t able to respond quickly. Laz saw the front legsing down and quickly rolled out of the way several times, avoid the multiple attempts to skewer him. Just as he was about to run out of ground on which to roll, Vivi had jumped on the spiders back and continued her assault, her razor sharp ws ripping away more and more of the spiders rock like outer skin. The spider had to stop chasing Laz while it tried to shake Vivi off, giving Laz time to get out of the way and get back on it''s feet. He quickly got out of view before Vivi was thrown off.


    With Laz out of view, the spider totally forgot about him and started to go after therger and in it''s mind, easier target, Vivi. Just as she was getting back up on all fours, the spider bore down on her, going all out to pierce her flesh with it''s front legs before using it''s pincers to incapacitate her. Just as it was about to reach her though, it felt another heavy object hit it''s back, causing it to once again fall forward and miss. Just as it was about to shake Laz off, Laz grabbed the yed area where Vivi had attacked,tching on and not letting go. While it tired it''s best to shake Laz off, Laz held on tightly with one hand while the other hand held tight to the freshly drawn Last Rites. Just as it thought it had shook Laz loose and stopped shaking, Laz rammed Last Rites into the now defenseless flesh of the spider and fired several shots. Therge caliber bullets burst through it''s squishy flesh on it''s back and exploded out the other side, leaving three head size holes in it''s chest. Due to being inside the spider when being fired, the muffled bangs barely even sounded in therge cavern, but the damage they did was unmistakable.


    Laz jumped off the monstrous spider as it thrashed around. Neither he nor Vivi could get close to it now as the started to go mad, bashing into walls and iling about wildly. They both just did their best to start away from it as the cavern dangerously shook again and again from therge creatures movements. After what seemed like forever, therge spider, the leader of the entire den, copsed on the floor. With a few final death surges, thest bits of life drifted out of the spider, causing fist size balls of green light to start hovering in the air. Without a second thought, Laz strode forward to absorb the energy while Vivi started to tear up the spider''s corpse even more, finally pulling out a red, melon sized demon core. As Laz sat down to circte the energy of the spider, Vivi started absorbing the rich source essence from the core. Although the spider wasn''t a third stage beast, it was still a peak level two stage beast which was stronger than anything they had faced before. The resulting energy rewards were huge too. Vivi quickly absorbed what she could while she waited for Laz to finish securing as much of the energy as he could.


    After almost an hour of frenzied absorption, Laz had taken in as much energy as he could while Vivi had done the same, draining the core by almost half. For Laz, it would take a while to actually refine all of that energy, so he wasn''t in a rush. But he got a bit confused while watching Vivi.


    *I thought you always just ate the cores?* He said after noticing her odd behavior.


    *You think I can eat this thing?* Vivi said while indicating the side of the core.


    *No..?*.


    *Right. That only works for beasts that are smaller and more suitable for me to do that. Once these cores starting from even higher level beasts, the amount of energy in them will be unfathomable. So obviously I can''t just take it in all at once.


    *Ah. That makes sense.*


    *Yeah, sure human. You really have no idea what I mean, do you?* Vivi said while shaking her head.


    *Nope. But then again, I don''t have to as long as you''re with me, right?* Laz responded while fluffing up her messy hair.


    *We got lucky this time. Had there been more than one of those things, we would probably be nothing more than spider chow,* Vivi evaluated while rolling the core over to Laz to store in his backpack. She would need to wait and absorb the rest of the energyter.


    *Yeah. I could feel that just one hit with those legs of that thing would have been enough to go right through me. We really lucked out," Laz said, agreeing with her observation. Had there been two, then they wouldn''t have been able to attack in turns and keep it distracted. No matter what, they would need to be ready for something like that in the future.


    *So now what?* Vivi asked, looking around. Therge spider was dead while there was only around 2 left of the dog sized ones. All in all, the cave looked pretty clear.


    *Well, now we see what''s behind door number one over there,* Laz responded while pointing to the cave opening the huge spider used to make it''s entrance. He really wanted to see what was buried back there that had caused all of this energy fog.

 Chapter 134: Oil Lamp (Beast Den 6)

    Chapter 134: Oil Lamp (Beast Den 6)


    *Fine. Fine. But sit down for now and recover,* Vivi ordered whileying down on the ground.


    *What about those guys?* Laz pointed at the ceiling, indicating the couple of remaining dog sized spiders that were clinging to the ceiling without moving.


    *They won''t move from that spot until we leave,* Vivi said without a moments hesitation.


    *Why not?* Laz asked, a bit confused on why she seemed so sure.


    *Cause right now I''m the baddest bitch in this ce,* Vivi responded with a smirk.


    *Uh, ok...* Laz just sat down and began circting his energy. Despite having absorbed the source essence that was released when the spider died, he still felt somewhat exhausted now that Vivi had pointed it out, although he didn''t know why.


    *Feeling tired?* Vivi asked, looking over.


    *A bit, yeah.*


    *That''s because even though you absorbed the source essence that was released from the spider, it doesn''t automatically make it yours. You need to slowlybine it and incorporate it into your body, letting it take on the characteristics of your own source essence before it bes usable. It''s like eating a bit meal. Just because you have the food in you doesn''t mean you can convert it into energy right away. It takes time for your body to break it down. Since you went all out like a human me thrower, I''m not surprised your tank is empty currently. You need to learn how to pace yourself better,* Vivi instructed Laz. She knew that when it came to things like energy usage and pacing, Laz had not been in any battles big enough to actually exert himself. Since this was the first time, even though it had gone smoothly, he needed to learn what it felt like to be empty and learn how to avoid that in the future.


    *Ah. Makes sense. But why is it that the energy in the air seems to recharge me faster than the big load of energy I just got?* Laz asked, feeling how the energy in the air was refreshing him faster than the gathered source essence.


    *That''s because it''s pure energy. It like drinking a liquid as opposed to eating solid food. It can be absorb loads faster.* Once he heard this, he realized that it made perfect sense and stopped asking. After around a half hour, Laz felt refreshed and ready to go, as did Vivi. Laz still felt like he was full and that bit by bit, that source essence was breaking down andbining with his ck me like source essence, causing it to grow stronger. It was still in the shape of a ball inside of him, but if you could look closely enough, the ball looked as though ck mes were dancing on the surface of it as it grewrger andrger.


    Seeing that Vivi had gotten up, Laz did the same and made their way to the pir of stone that was lead up to the opening. As Laz looked around, he noticed that his backpack had been knocked over at some point and the contents had spilled out. Although almost everything was alright, the climbing pick axes had somehow gotten trampled and destroyed in the fight. Holding up the broken pieces, Laz couldn''t help but feel regret since he barely even got to y with them. Seeing the sad and pitiful look in Laz''s eyes, Vivi walked up next to him.


    *Get on,* she said while indicating her back.


    *You sure?* They had never done this in the past, but Laz had brought it up once. The fact that Vivi was basically the size of a ratherrge horse meant that the normal size Laz could, in fact, ride her. Of course when he brought that up, all he got from Vivi was a vicious stare and as a t out ''not on your life,'' kind of response. He learned from that look that he should never bring up this suggestion again.


    *Yeah, but if you rip out any of my fur, I''m going to rip out your''s while you sleep,* Vivi growled to make sure he understood. It wasn''t that Vivi hadn''t thought of the same thing before, but there had never been the need to do it. And also, she liked being the little sister to Laz''s big brother. She enjoyed the times that he held her in his ap and brushed her hair, clipped her nails and cleaned her ears. She enjoyed the spoiling and pampering that he heaped upon her and was worried that his view might change if she suddenly became his mount. But now that they needed to get up their quickly, she ignored her rejection of it and just wanted to get it over as quick as possible.


    Laz carefully got on and instead of sitting up straight, heid against her back and wrapped his arms around her neck. Then, just to diffuse the mood he knew Vivi would be in, he whispered in her ear,


    "Please be gentle."


    Seeing him be goofy and knowing her was only like that around her, Vivi couldn''t help butugh as she ran over to the pir, jumped up on to the wall and flung herself off of it, just managing to grab the top of the pir and pull them both up. As Laz slid off her back, he could see two spikes nailed into the ground near the edge of the pir. Thinking about it, he figured they used to hold the ends of the rope for whateverdder or what not that used to hang here. Laz gave one final look over therge open cavern before he turned around and pulled out a sh light, lighting the way forward. Even though the one cavern had crystals, the pathway ahead did not.


    Taking their time by going ahead slow, the cave, much like the one they first entered through, started to open up more and more as they went on. It seemed that it didn''t take long until they reached another cavern that was actually quite a bitrger than the one they hade from, this one also being lit by the strange wall crystals. Looking out over it, Laz couldn''t help but blink his eyes a few times as though he was dreaming.


    "What the hell is this ce?" Laz said out loud, not bothering to keep quiet.


    Although there were still a few small spiders roaming around, there were none of the dog sized ones. Instead, the entire area seemed to be mostly empty, which caused the few things in the area to be that much more eye catching. The entire cavern, unlike the circr and rough shape of the outer cavern, was actually carved into the shape of a giant square. In one of the far corners, there was a massive collection of sticks, moss, roots and grasses, all looking to be randomly piled on top of each other, forming what looked to be a bed, or nest. With the quick conclusion, Laz believed that must have been where the giant spider slept. In the other far corner, there was a hole in the wall, out of which came a steady trickle of water that ran down into a square shaped pool beneath it. The sides of the pool were actually raised stone blocks that had been piled together and sealed, causing it to look like a giant bath tub. Although the water continued to drip down into the pool at a somewhat quick pace, the water level in the pool didn''t get any higher, remaining at a constant level. Above the pool, hanging from a brace that was nailed into the wall, hung an old oilmp. Laz watched on, a bit mesmerized as he realized the energy fog was actuallying from that old oilmp. Laz and Vivi both briefly turned their heads to look at each other, neither knowing what to make of it..


    Instead of just standing there with their mouths open, they both proceeded to walk further into the cave and check things out a little closer. As they were walking with their attention on the fog spewingmp, Vivi identally stepped on one of the small level one spiders that were running around. Although therger, early level two spiders knew enough to be afraid of her, these smaller ones were just too weak to notice the danger.


    *EWW...* Vivi couldn''t help but lift her paw and tried to wipe off the spider guts onto the stone floor. As she did so though, she noticed that a bit of web had escaped from the bottom of this spider pancake.


    *Hey, human.* Vivi got Laz''s attention although he was already looking at her while trying to hide his smile.


    "Yes?" Since they had taken care of the big spider and nothing else around seemed dangerous, Laz just went back to talking like normal.


    *I thought you said these wolf spiders didn''t produce webs?* Vivi asked while shaking her paw back and forth, making the web attached to it more visible.


    "Uh, they don''t. At least not the normal ones outside. But... this is clearly a wolf spider and it''s obviously making webs." Laz leaned in for a closer look and was caught by surprise as Vivi ended up wiping the spider pancake off on his pants.


    "Thanks," Las said tly.


    *Happy to share.* Vivi said while smiling. She had obviously noticed the smile he had tried to hide and decided to have some payback.


    "So wolf spiders can make webs? you can tell from the eyes and the pincers that they are wolf spiders and I remember reading about them not having webs though..." Laz was voicing out his confusion for Vivi.


    *Hmm, interesting.*


    "What is?"


    *Nothing for now, why don''t we check out thatmp. And something tells me that pool isn''t normal either,* Vivi said, hiding her concern. She had a bad feeling about the smaller spiders that could make webs, but that wasn''t something to talk about right now.


    Laz nodded his head at her suggestion and started to walk towards the pool. He had felt it too, but she had voiced it first. The thing they both noticed aftering into the square shaped cavern was that it was several degrees warmer than the other one. And the source of that heat seemed to being from the pool.


    ...


    Outside a two and a half story white and red house, a lone figure could be seen sitting on the roof outside an opened window. Her silky smooth hair was blowing gently in the warm breeze as she continued to look up at the stars in the sky, seemingly lost in thought. Although creating a surreal picture, one couldn''t help but notice the rather icy look on her face, almost as though she bore hatred for the sky itself. Before long, the window on the other side of the roof opened up, revealing a young man who stuck his head out to watch her. Knowing that she wouldn''t be at peace unless she said something, she directed her cold gaze towards her brother.


    "What?" Leona asked.


    "Nuttin. Just wondering what''s got your head all messed up?" Reggie asked, not bothering about he seemly cold attitude.


    "Does it matter?" She asked back.


    "If it didn''t, you wouldn''t be out here," Reggie answered back. Although the roof was nted, it was still t enough and strong enough that you could sit on it and both of them had done it at various times. It was also a bit dangerous if you fell, but that just added to the istion it provided. They both knew that when either of them were outside like this, they had something bothering them.


    "Heya, it''s not that guy Laz, is it?" Reggie asked, already having some ideas based on Leona''s personality.


    "So what if it is?" Leona shot back.


    "Then you got a problem." Reggie retreated back into his room and made like he was going to close his window.


    "Wait..." Leona stopped him.


    "Well?"


    "My problem is, I don''t know who the hell this guy is. He just shows up outta nowhere, acting like he knows everything and boom, we just follow right along. Doesn''t that seem wrong to you?" Leona asked, wondering if her little brother had felt the same thing. Reggie didn''t respond as first, but leaned against the window sill and looked up.


    "You want to know him? Why don''t you ask him about himself then? Why make things hard on yourself? And us? So far, he''s done everything without expecting something back. You know what that tells me? Either he''s hiding something or there is a story there. But you won''t know unless you talk to him. I mean, it''s not like he''s done something horrible to us or anything." Although Reggie meant something else, Leona couldn''t help but turn a bit red when she thought about thete night she had spent with Laz. She wasn''t sure if she should be frightened or pissed at him.


    "Look, guys are simple, you know? You want to learn more about the guy, ask him out. Great way to get to know someone. Simple and easy. And you get a meal out of the deal. What could be better?" Reggie said, using his own limited experience. Although he had dated a bit, most of the time he remembered the food more than the girl. And almost every time he went out, he wished that he was out with Dee instead. They just hadn''t yet taken that step.


    "What if he says no?" Leona asked, feeling a bit nervous. No girl liked to be rejected. She would have no problem staring at Laz naked since they had already gone past that point, but she was actually a bit scared to ask him out.


    "Well, then that means he has no taste," Reggie replied, smiling encouragingly to his sister.


    "Thank... "Leona felt a little touched and was going to thank her brother.


    "Or he''s gay."


    "I mean, that would be his..."


    "Or you''re not his type."


    "I guess..."


    "Or your just not pretty enough..."


    "Really?..."


    "Or maybe it''s because your boobs are a different size..." Just as Reggie was about to go on, he felt a whoosh and noticed a pen had been lodged into the wood of the window frame right next to his head. It was at this moment he knew he had gone a bit too far.

 Chapter 136: Leo

    Chapter 136: Leo


    As they exited thest cavern before going into the tunnel that lead to the well, Laz turned around to put the rock back in ce. Although they had wiped out therger problems in the cave, that didn''t mean that if the other spiders escaped that they wouldn''t cause problems. Laz didn''t feel like taking risks.


    When they had originallye into the cavern, it took both of them and a huge effort to move the rock forward a few feet, just so they had enough room to get in. Of course, pushing out of the way was going to be much easier than trying to put it back. With Vivi staring at him while he stared at the rock, Laz just finally decided to give it a go. Amazingly, as Laz''s handtched onto the rock, the area where he grabbed crumbled away, as though he just grabbed on to a baked cracker as opposed to a one ton boulder. Watching the rock fragments crumble in his hand, he couldn''t help but look a little wide-eyed at Vivi who was also staring at his hand.


    "Uhh..."


    *I would advise you to get used to your new strength first before you do something stupid... such as gripping too hard when you masturbate....*


    "That''s where you go with this?" Laz asked, a bit embarrassed that this little sister of his was talking like this. Of course her only response was,


    *Am I wrong?*


    ''That''s not the point,'' Laz thought, but he didn''t think it. Instead, he jammed his hand into the new opening and dragged the boulder back using just his one arm. Although the act had caused his hand and muscles to be sore, it could only be expected considering how much he just moved.


    In truth, Vivi wasn''t trying to be mean, she was just a little flustered still due to Laz''s actions and therefore was being a bit short with him. In her opinion, until she understood why she felt like this, she wanted to keep him a bit further away. After all, Vivi knew what effects his blood had on other humans and although it had never been a problem for her in the past, she didn''t want to risk it.


    As the human and she wolf made their way back down the mountain, Laz took every opportunity to familiarize himself with his new found strength while Vivi was lost in thought. Although it would have been a good idea for her to do the same, she felt like she would just do itter by herself.


    Laz was hitting trees and trying not to break them while also trying his best to lift rocks gently without crushing them. He would also asionally do a quick punch and kick routine so that he could figure out his body''s bnce again. It would be very embarrassing to identallyunch himself forward while trying to fight someone in the future. As such, by the time they made it down the hill, it was already morning, two dayster as they discovered when they got back to the house.


    As it turned out, they had actually spent almost twenty four hours in the pool, tempering their bodies. Up until now, that would have been the longest they spent doing anything of the sort. When Laz asked Vivi about it, she simply said that the stronger you get, the more your sense of time distorts. Although Laz didn''t understand, he nodded all the same before going in to take a shower.


    Just as he was about to pull open the door when he saw a sticky note stered on the door. They had left after the normal nightly training with Leona, Reggie and Dee. But since he didn''t say he wouldn''t be home the next day, they had shown up here and waited for him before finally going for a quick run lead by Leona. The note was simply saying they had been there and asking if he was ok. Due to this, Laz couldn''t help feeling a little warmer as he went to the small bathroom while Vivi gotfortable on the couch and started watching TV, while their equipment was just piled into the corner. It would be Laz''s job to take care of itter.


    After spending a rxing day doing nothing, it was once again time for their meet up and exercise session. Laz just gave an excuse about somethinging upst minute and telling them good job on sticking to the program. He also told them he would take them on a special adventure soon, a deration that caused Dee to be excited, Reggie to be curious and Leona to frown and wonder if he was going to do something he shouldn''t considering Dee and Reggie''s age. In her mind, Laz was older than her so having them do what she did was a big no no. Of course she also had to deal with the asional encouraging looks and gestures from Reggie and Dee, who had been told by Reggie, that she wanted to ask Laz out. She could only shake her head and ignore them.


    After the training session, Leona told Laz she had tests to study for and wouldn''t be avable for theirte night training so Laz ended up having extra free time. As such, while putting away the equipment from the expedition and ying a bit more with the unusual pouch, Laz once again had to face the ongoing issue ofck of money. He needed a job, but he knew that it wasn''t going to be easy. He had been paying attention to things that had developed in New York and knew that a few agencies were on the look out for him, although mostly it was in response to the fact that his guardian/grandpa had been taken away. As such, the police, in cooperation with child services, were basically on the look out for him. Fortunately, the fact that he had grown considerably and his skin had be rather pale caused him to lookpletely different than any of the photo''s that had existed up until that point. He was also using a fake identity which would normally be ok, but might raise rm if there was a background check run on him. Due to all of these thingsbined, his choices were limited.


    After mulling it over for a good portion of the night, Laz finally took out a business card that he had gotten from Tony before he left. The only thing Tony said to him about it was that he had to use a certain app when scanning the QR code. Once he did that, it would use a GPS ping to locate some potential employers in his area. Specifically, people rted to the family that Tony was a part of, the Hearn family. ording to him, the Hearn family had business contacts all over the US and as Laz seemed to be trustworthy in his dealings with Kennedy, he would be allowed to work for the family under provisional contracts as long as he stayed clear of thew and remained loyal while he was employed. Other than that, he just needed to let his employer know that he was leaving before doing so, so that they could put him up as a free agent again. Apparently, there was always a need for capable and loyalbor in there line of work.


    After weighing the pros and cons, Laz finally used the app and found a contact point in the area. From what he could tell, it was a night club on the outskirts of the nearby city called Waves. From the small town Laz was living in, it would be a 25 minute drive to get there. Laz was d he had nned ahead for this since he wasn''t about to drive the camper there and back and it didn''t seem like buses ran through this town. After making sure he knew where the ce was, he sat down for a bit with Vivi who was watching some model show and proceeded to brush her fur like normal, not noticing her reluctance at first that disappeared as she lost herself in thefortable feeling of his skilled hands.


    After a night of sleep, Laz got up pretty early and began his normal morning exercise routine before cleaning himself up. He dressed himself up in jeans, a tee, a hoodie and a leather jacket, one of the few things that had been brought over from his former apartment. He had considered bringing the mask that he still had, but decided that it probably wouldn''t be needed for today. After a quick chat with Vivi about where he was going and when he might be back, Laz went outside to the back of the camper where an old motorcycle was parked. He had bought it when he first got here since he wanted something to ride around town if he needed it. As it turned out, he barely ever went farther than a small grocery store that was a ten minute walk from the trailer park so the bike ended up just getting covered up with boxes. Although it started up when he first tried it, even the person he bought it from said it could be hit or miss and that it would require fixing. Laz had big dreams about doing something like fixing it up, but it didn''t end up happening. Today seemed to be a good day for the old, small bike and it started on the first try. Letting it idle for a while, he went in and got his helmet and took off, headed for the Waves night club.


    Although he almost got lost, Laz found the ce pretty easily since it was pretty big and shypared to the surrounding buildings. He had debated calling beforehand, but had no idea what he would say. As such, he decided to check the ce out first and get a feel for it before hemitted to anything.


    Pulling his bike into the parking lot, he couldn''t help but take a look around. Therge white, somewhat poorly decorated outside was covered in lights and mirrors, showing that the building probably came alive at night. Over the entryway was a golden sign that spelled out Waves in a manner that seemed like it belonged on the entrance to a casino in Vegas and not a dive night club in Virginia. He noticed a few search lights chained up to the side of the building along with line spacers to handle the iing crowd. Other than these few signs that the building was even in use, he didn''t notice any cars in the front parking lot at all, which caused him a bit of confusion. When he visited the website of the ce, he noticed they opened at noon which is why he was here at this time. What he didn''t know was that it was only the bar that opened then and there would hardly be anyone looking for a drink at noon on a weekday.


    Opening the door, Laz was greeted by the smell of polished wood and alcohol, all carried along by the overly cold st of an air conditioner. The dimly lit club was a stark contrast to the sunny weather outside but it only took Laz a moment to adjust to it. Looking around, he noticed a raised stage, several hanging cages that looked just big enough for a person to fit inside of along with a rather huge dance floor. The bar was situated towards the front of the building with bar stools lining it''s length. Several tables were spread out behind the stools, allowing for someone to either pass by the bar area entirely or to ess it directly from the dance floor as well. As far as Laz could tell, the inside was rather shy, but not gaudy. It looked like it would be a fun ce to go and didn''t seem cheap or dingy in the least. He was rather surprised.


    Looking around, Laz noticed a middle age man tending the empty bar with three rough looking guys huddled around a table, talking and drinking as though they owned the ce. Knowing that he stood out a bit, Laz quickly made his way to the bar. Just as he was about to sit down, the bar tender who didn''t even look up from his paper, said,.


    "We don''t serve minors."


    Not the least bit put off, Laz grabbed out his ID and set it on the bar near where the man was reading. Reaching his hand over, he took a look at it and then looked at Laz.


    "Lazzo, 22 eh? Why the hell do you look like you''re already dead?"


    "I have a skin condition. Give me a Jack and Coke on ice," Laz calmly replied as he sat down, collecting his ID. In truth, the picture on the ID was him, it was just aged slightly and actually looked exactly like him, minus his now pale skin. Not saying a word, the bar tender got to mixing his drink before handing it to him.


    "$5," The middle aged man said, holding out his hand. Laz calmly paid the man before taking the drink and trying it a bit. It was light on the Jack and heavy on the coke, something he kind of expected. Before the bar tender could turn away and ignore him, Laz calmly took out the business card Tony gave him and set it on the bar next to the middle aged man.


    "I''m looking for some work and heard this was the ce to find it," Laz said, neither rushed nor hurried. If Laz was being honest with himself, he actually found these types of things to be rather thrilling. He felt like he was acting out a role and couldn''t wait to see what came next. He didn''t feel the least bit of pressure despite knowing that it could be said he had walked into a lion''s den.


    The middle aged man nced at the card but didn''t say anything. Instead he just coughed twice and proceeded to disappear behind a door leading to the area behind the bar. Hearing the man cough though caused the three rough looking guys at the table to stop talking and stand up. All three of them seemed to have aplete change in attitude as they now looked like solders standing at attention as opposed to thugs hanging out and drinking. All three of them were staring at Laz, as though he had just insulted their mothers after sleeping with their girlfriends. It caused the atmosphere to be rather tense. But none of this affected Laz who just sat at the bar while sipping on his slightly alcoholic soda and watching the news on a TV behind the bar.


    It didn''t take long for the middle aged man to return, following closely behind a rather dashing young man who had dyed his hair blue. He had several facial piercings, was wearing designer clothes and even looked like he had gotten a manicuretely. His skin was even just slightly darker than Laz''s, making him seem more and more like a guy who lived the night life and didn''t see the sun much. Laz could in no way picture this youth as someone in charge as he looked more like a wanna be musician.


    He walked over in front of the bar and waved his hand, causing the tense, rough looking individuals to sit down. They didn''t go back to drinking however and just watched the two figures sitting at the bar. The young man finally reached over and took the card, turning it over in his hand. He grabbed out his phone and scanned a tiny QR code that was on the back of the card, something that Laz couldn''t get to scan no matter what he tried. Looking at his phone, the blue haired youth finally took a breath and reached his hand out.


    "Name''s Leo. Heard your called Lazzo?" The blue haired man had a rather musical voice, one in which seemed to resonate as though he were giving a performance as opposed to an introduction. Laz shook the offered hand and then retrieved his card that was offered back to him before responding.


    "Just call me Laz," Laz replied. ''Seems I''vee to the right ce.''

 Chapter 142: Times Have Changed

    Chapter 142: Times Have Changed


    Thunk.


    Boom.


    Whap.


    The floor was soon littered with groaning bodies of individuals, some of which had been covered in protective gear and others who had not. The ones who didn''t have gear on were highly trained martial artists who knew how to take a hit and a fall, but in this case they imed they wouldn''t need it. Whether they were regretting the decision now or not was something only they knew and probably wouldn''t speak about even if they could.


    In the center of the room dressed in a white, skin tight body suit that did little to hide her curves, a young woman was taking a look around the room at the fallen individuals while maintaining a fighting stance. After confirming that none of them were getting up any time soon, she dropped the stance and walked over to a stool in the corner where a bottle of water was waiting for her. After taking a sip, an old gentleman walked over with a towel and handed it to her before stepping back.


    "Thank you. Any messages for me?"


    "No Miss. Nothing that needs immediate attention," the old man responded respectfully. Although his hair had gone white and his skin looked rather loose with age spots sprinkled in, his eyes were bright while looking at the over 30 people who had been knocked all around.


    ''It seems as though she is getting even stronger,'' the old man couldn''t help but think to himself.


    "Excellent. I will take a shower briefly and then head home for the night," the woman exined after wiping her face and neck. Even her golden blonde hair dripped with faint signs of moisture, showing that although she had handled all 30 of her opponents, it had taken some effort. The old man knew however that if she had wanted to kill them, it would have been over much quicker.


    "Miss. Young master Jordan has expressed his desire to take you out for the evening as it is still early. He has picked out a rather studious selection of ces to go depending on your taste for the evening," the old man tried to remind her in a rather gentle fashion as he knew how she was going to react as soon as she heard this.


    "That bastard who enjoys calling himself a young master can go do whatever the hell he wants alone. As I have already told him any number of times, I am not avable for his whims. If he wants to talk business, so be it. But other than that, I wish to have nothing to do with him.... err... well, I guess just make it sound as gentle as possible when you blow him off Edward," the woman''s tone went gentle in the end as she realized that it wasn''t Edward''s fault, he was just rying the message. He was a good man and incredibly helpful so she was trying her best to keep her temper down with him. He wouldn''t bat an eysh even if she blew up at him, but that wasn''t the kind of person she wanted to be.


    "Of course Miss, in as nice a way as I can." The old man couldn''t help but nod his head. Unlike some of the other youngsters vying for a ce among the next generation''s leadership, this young miss of his stayed solely focused on her goals and didn''t let distractions get in the way. If only they could all be that way.


    If he had to pick out one w of hers, it would be her focus on finding a certain young man along with finding the location of an enemy of hers. Edward could understand the enemy as he too had spent his younger days making sure to pay back those who wronged him. The old man actually rather approved of this mindset of not letting wrongs go unpunished. It was paramount for a leader to do so. But the obsession she had with finding this young man was truly bing more important in her mind as time went on.


    Originally, she was rather cold about it and simply wanted to obtain his body for burial. But that changed when she found out he was still alive, or at least, that he didn''t die back then. It seemed like no matter what the old man did, she wouldn''t let it go. This was why he was hesitating on giving her a message that she had gotten on her phone. Since she had been busy with training thest few days, she didn''t check her phone during that time, but Edward had already learned the contents of the text from her cousin. He couldn''t help but wonder how she is going to react when she finally reads it. Sadly, he was out of time to look for a solution.


    "Um... Miss!" Edward got her attention just as she was about to walk away.


    "Yes?"


    "There is one thing I haven''t mentioned yet."


    "Oh? I thought you said there was no business issues?"


    "It''s a personal matter concerning yourself Miss."


    "Personal matter? The only person matters I have is Marlene who knew I would be busy for a few days and Tony who is busy with his new position."


    "It''s actually from your cousin Tony.".


    "Oh? What did he need?"


    "It''s about... that boy you''ve been looking for."


    The blonde girl in the tight white body suit froze on the spot before looking at the old man. He couldn''t help but take a big gulp as he looked back, staring into her eyes. Her cornea had suddenly contracted, going from round into an oblong shape that ended in a point at both the top and bottom. Her aura had also changed in an instant, seemingly letting out waves of power that made it hard for the old man to even breathe. Despite having been bathed in blood at a young age, he couldn''t help but be awed at the amount of strength she was projecting at this moment. Itsted for only a few breaths of time before it was retracted, causing it to almost seem like it had never even happened.


    "What about him?" She finally asked when she had calmed down.


    "From what your cousin said, it seems the boy is alive," the old man chose his words carefully. He didn''t know how she had felt about the young man and she had never rified it, so he always approached the subject with the utmost amount of tact.


    "Is he? Did he say anything else?" Although the woman was trying her best to hold back her emotions, just a little bit would escape here and there. Unfortunately, it still wasn''t enough for Edward to get a read on it. If anything, it seemed like she badly wanted to find this boy, although he couldn''t tell if it was because of a violent personal grudge or because she was madly obsessed with him.


    "It seems the boy has taken a job with an off branch member of the family down in Virginia. He used the contact reference Tony had given him to locate and get it."


    "MMmm..." The woman didn''t show any emotion at this point, mping down on it tightly. Edward could only follow up after noticing that she wasn''t going to say anything.


    "Did Miss wish to contact him directly or possibly go and meet him?" Although he didn''t want to propose this, she was within her rights to do it if she wanted to. The young woman didn''t respond right away, but instead just stared off into one of the dim lights on the ceiling.


    After a while though, she made up her mind.


    "No. Not right now. Did Tony say anything else? Like how he was doing?" The woman had two cell phones, one for work and one personal one. Her personal number was only known by Marlene so Tony had no choice but to go through the work phone that could be looked at by high members of the family. It wasn''t that the woman didn''t trust him, but it was that he had too many enemies and didn''t want them to find out anything personal about her. It was safer for both of them this way.


    "He is fine, as far as could be told. Apparently, the only thing that is different besides his age and size would be that his skin has gone very pale."


    "Like he is sick?"


    "No. Not in the slightest from what was talked about."


    "So be it. Make sure that his employer takes good care of him. I will handle him myself when the timees so until then, he should be given the highest level of respect."


    "I will convey your words Miss."


    "Thank you. If there is nothing else, I''m going to get cleaned up and head home for the night." The woman once again started walking towards the back area where her personal shower was located.


    "Have a good night."


    "Thank you." Although the old man couldn''t see it, Kennedy face started smiling the minute she turned around. She could finally feel herself rx for the first time since she had heard the "Shack" had burned down.


    ...


    Laz and Leona had said goodnight and he had finally gotten back home. After handing Vivi hertte, Laz took a seat as he lost himself in thought.


    *It''s cold,* Viviined as she took a sip while holding the cup between her paws.


    "We ran into trouble on the way home."


    *Trouble?*


    "Brian."


    *Ah.*


    "How much do you know about these chosen?" Laz asked.


    *Nothing. And I don''t understand why the hell your people are referring to them as that either.*


    "Nothing? And what do you mean?"


    *Nope. ording to my memories, people like them never existed from the time frame I remember. As for why I say that, that''s simple. It doesn''t make sense.*


    "How so?"


    *Well. Your ''doctors'' are saying that your change in body chemistry, specifically the seed of power that quite a few people now possess, is a mutation. But that means it''s a change that can be detected. ording to your sciences, that means that it''s traceable and that something caused it. Since that''s the case, it makes you biologically different, but that''s about it. As for these ''chosen,'' they have no idea what''s causing it and no idea what the effects are since it can''t be detected. Isn''t that far more scary than something that can be looked at? Don''t you human''s fear the unknown far more than the known? That''s how it should be ording to your history.* Although Laz didn''t know what Vivi was trying to get at, she did have a point. Normal science said that something with a cause can have a cure where as if something can''t be identified, then there is no way to study it, much less cure it. That''s why doctors and people in general should fear it far more than something that can be seen.


    "Who know''s what people are thinking. They are probably scare of change which is why they look at those chosen who haven''t really changed in a more positive light."


    *That''s going toe back and bite them in the ass,* Vivi couldn''t help but point out as she kept drinking the coldtte.


    "Well, I agree with you there. Brian doesn''t exactly seem like a little ray of sunshine.... Oh, I''ve gotten a text from Leo," Laz said as he reached for his phone.


    *What is it?*


    "Looks like I''m working this weekend."


    *Good. Cause this girl needs a few new ribbons and you being broke isn''t helping.* Vivi took a sip while staring at Laz in me. Although Laz didn''t feel that ribbons weren''t high on his list of priorities, he also liked to keep this little sister his happy and didn''t like telling her no. And she had been good since he brought up their problems and didn''t buy anything since. She really held herself back.


    "Heh. Ok, ok. I know. You will get them. Promise" Las said while raising his hand in pledge.


    *Good.* Vivi had the biggest smile on her face with his promise.

 Chapter 153: Not Going To Let It Go

    Chapter 153: Not Going To Let It Go


    Laz walked back to the main area, only to find that all of the knocked out individuals had been moved. ncing up towards the VIP area, Laz noticed Leo looking at him. When he saw Laz look his way, Leo made a gesture then said something to Arnold.


    "They were brought out front." Arnold''s voice came through the walkie.


    Laz walked towards the exit, noticing that the crowd seemed to not even know that anything had happened. Apparently, with loud enough music and enough drunk people, anything is just epted. When Laz finally walked outside, he saw Ruby and Leona waiting for him. Out front of the entrance,ying down on the ground, were the 10 knocked out goons while police cars were pulling up. Anthony was standing around the with several of the security guards who looked like they had been beat up. When Laz shot a look at Anthony, he just smiled.


    ''These guys seem a bit too skilled at this,'' Laz thought while watching everything y out. By the time the police left with the thugs, it had been staged that all of them had been doped up and got into a fight with security and then knocked out as a result. Simple and clean, but Laz was feeling like things were anything but over.


    "What''s wrong?" Leona asked, seeing Laz''s face.


    "This isn''t done..." Laz responded while watching the police cars disappear down the street.


    "But we won? Didn''t we?" Leona asked. She seemed a bit unsure seeing as how both Ruby and Laz still had a stern look on their faces. She couldn''t help but wonder if she was still feeling some side effects.


    As it was, all three of them were now mostly sober, even after only twenty minutes having passed. When Laz realized this, he quickly figured out that it had something to do with their unique bodies.


    "Maybe. But for something like this, they will be back. For guys like this, respect means everything and so far, they haven''t been shown the slightest bit of it," Ruby answered. She then turned to look at Laz.


    "What happened to the guy you chased?" Ruby asked.


    "Gone," Laz''s reply was simple, but Leona seemed confused.


    "He got away?" She asked.


    "No." Laz responded while still in thought, making Leona even more confused.


    "You are not going to let this go, are you?" Ruby asked Laz.


    "What would you do?" Laz asked back.


    "I would make sure it was a clean sweep. It''s obvious that if you hit them hard enough, they won''t bother fighting anymore, but that will leave them free in other ways," Ruby responded after a moment.


    "So then?"


    "Remove the weed from the roots. Make sure everything disappears at once. No loose ends," Ruby answered with a icy gaze in her eyes.


    "Leona." Laz turned around and looked straight at Leona. He couldn''t help but smile at her questioning gaze. She was smart, but what he nned on doing was something so outside her scope of normal, Laz didn''t think she would be able to adapt. He would still leave the choice with her.


    "Hmm?" she asked.


    "Ruby and I are going to do something. Something both dangerous and wrong, but it needs to be done," Laz tried to exin..


    "You don''t want me to go?" Leona immediately read Laz''s thoughts. No matter how many times it happened, Laz couldn''t help but be amazed by how quick witted the girls were around him.


    "I don''t."


    "Why not?"


    "Because..." Laz didn''t know how to say it gently. Luckily for him, Ruby didn''t have any issues with it.


    "Because we are going to go kill a bunch of people," she said,pletely straight faced.


    "You''re going to WHAT?" Leona was shocked and rightly so. Laz could only sigh and turn to Ruby.


    "Wimp... Anyway. Look little sis. These guys have already proven that they aren''t backing down. So what does that leave? We just sit here and wait for them to attack again? Maybe theye up and shoot up the ce one day not caring who they kill? No. And even then, one of them knows what Laz is and all of them know that Laz had a run in with their boss. Even if we just wanted to get rid of the leaders, it would somehowe back to Laz. So, whether we want to or not, we''ve got one choice; end this before it gets bigger." Ruby didn''t mesh words or hold things back for feelings. She said exactly what was up which left Leona speechless. She couldn''t help but look at Laz''s young face and see the resolve in his eyes. She knew that this was his n, word for word.


    ''What does someone go through at his age to make them like this?'' The question shot through Leona''s head and stayed there. It was only now that she really understood how little she knew about Laz.


    "You''re going with him?" Leona asked of Ruby. Ruby''s position wasn''t exined in detail yet to Leona so she didn''t understand why she would be putting herself on the line for Laz. But now wasn''t the time to ask.


    "Yes." The simple reply was all Ruby gave.


    "Then I will go..." Leona said with conviction, causing both Laz and Leona to look at her.


    "I don''t know anything about this world you too seem to be from. But I know that I will be a part of it not matter what I want. So isn''t it better to do so with others than try to survive alone?"


    Ruby smiled and didn''t say anything. It was Laz''s decision.


    "Are you sure?"


    "Isn''t this what you''ve been training me for? How to survive? How to kill?"


    "Killing another human isn''t easy."


    "These guys aren''t human if they would so recklessly hurt and kill other people."


    "No. That''s the wrong way to think about it. Look. They are people. They are human, just like you and me and Ruby and any number of the other people around us right now. You can''t see them as something less or as something different. Once that mindset gets to you, you will be a monster. That''s why you have to take the responsibility of what it is to take a life. As long as you don''t forget that, then you can still hold on to your own humanity," Laz exined, causing both girls to be a bit shocked. Leona knew how young Laz was because he told her. Ruby knew how young he was because Jade had told her. But neither of them had ever thought like this, much less expected to hear ite from this young man in front of them. It was truly a wake up call.


    "Is that what you think of them as?" Ruby asked.


    "Always," Laz replied firmly.


    "And it doesn''t effect you?" Leona asked.


    "It does. But I have seen what happens when you fail to be decisive enough. When you fail to be ruthless enough. Or even when you are too weak. I promised myself that I won''t take those sort of chances when it involves the people I care about. I won''t be a monster, but I also won''t stand by and watch other die." Although it was only briefly, the blood red light shown in Laz''s eyes at this moment, showing the girls just how serious he was being. Neither of them question him again. For Ruby, this was a chance to do a favor for someone their own boss had a high opinion of. For Leona, it was a chance to live in Laz''s world and feel the same things he has felt while being able to train herself. She knew that in the future, human lives would mean a whole lot less than they did right now.


    "Do we know where to go?" Leona asked. Laz just turned to look at Ruby.


    "Give me a few minutes." With that, she rushed inside.


    "Didn''t youe with friends?" Laz asked Leona.


    "OH! Right. be right back." Leona then dashed back inside, leaving Laz all alone. No one said anything to him as he looked across the packed parking lot.


    Before long, both Leona and Ruby returned. Leona told her friends that she had met a guy she knew and they were going to hang out. Ruby had grabbed her purse, car keys and her phone and was currently making a call. Before long, she hung up.


    "Got it. It''s a warehouse on the north end of the city," Ruby said while leading the way to her car. As everyone got in, Laz in the passenger seat while Leona sat in the back, they took off towards the warehouse that served as the gang''s base.


    "Here. This is the warehouseyout." Ruby handed her phone to Laz who started studying it. Laz took a quick look and noticed there was a problem.


    "There are too many exits..."


    "Yep. So that means we have to cover the outside with at least two people," Rubymented. For her, this was a pretty simpleyout, but she knew Laz had other concerns.


    "What does that mean?" Leona asked.


    "It means that we will all have to split up," Ruby answered. Laz had wanted to keep Leona with Ruby. It was already a given that he would be going inside and that Ruby would cover the exits. But with so many different ways out of the warehouse, there was no way they could have Leona stick with Ruby. Although he hadn''t said this, Ruby knew that this was his original intention.


    "Leona..."


    "I... can do this. Please. Trust me!" Leona was insistent that she was up for this. Although Laz had his doubts, he decided to let it go. She would need to experience this sooner orter. At least if something went wrong this time, the opponents were rather easy ones.


    Nothing else was said as they drove. When they finally arrived, Laz looked at the building in thought.


    "Are you sure about this?" Ruby asked him one final time.


    "There is no sure or unsure. We have to... I have to." Laz answered.


    "There is a real difference between defending yourself and basicallymitting a mass murder. It may sound fine when you say it, but that''s going to be a lot of blood on your hands..." Ruby tried to argue. She didn''t know why she was saying this as she had understood his point. But this kind of action was new, even for her. She had eliminated many targets before due to her work, but she had never hit a ce with so many people before with the intent of wiping them all out. Even for her, this wasn''t an easy situation. And she had many years more of practice than he did and she was older. She had no way of knowing what was going through Laz''s head right now. But when she had called to get the info, her supervisor wanted to know what was happening and she had told her. After that, she had asked her supervisor if she should be helping him? This was a good deal bigger than just target elimination and involved a lot more people. Although her supervisor hesitated for a moment, Ruby had heard a voice in the background saying that she should do whatever Laz asked. Ruby wasn''t sure, but she thought it was the voice of Jade who had said this. The call ended shortly afterwords.


    Laz raised his hands up as though contemting what she had said before he balled them into fists. Both Ruby and Leona were suddenly hit with a strange feeling of fear, as though they had encountered a monster. Laz turned his head to look at both of them and simply said,


    "I would much rather have my enemies blood on my hands than my friends... or my lover''s."


    Laz retrieved a mask from out of nowhere and put it on. It was the forged demon masked he had gotten from Kennedy a long time ago. Putting it on, his face became a nk te, devoid of emotions. The girls could only see the red light glowing out of the eye sockets. Laz finally got out of the car and started walking for the front door while plumes of ck mes surrounded his entire body. In the dark of night, he simply resembled a red eye demon from hell,ing to reap the lives of the living.


    It was only now that both girls saw him for what he was, a demon. Yet they felt no fear. Instead, it was though a heat had risen in them, causing their bodies to warm up as their legs went weak. Had they been in the right state of mind, they would have noticed their breathing had be sporadic as they began panting. Ruby had even subconsciously started grabbing herself, pinching her nippe tightly between her thumb and forefinger. It was only after his body had disappeared that they both regained their senses. Ruby and Leona both took deep breathes to calm themselves while Ruby grabbed out a few masks she had hidden in the car.


    With a strange look of excitement, both girls ran to get into position. Tonight was going to be a night of hot blood and fresh corpses.

 Chapter 163: When Others Fight

    Chapter 163: When Others Fight


    The girls were both flustered, but Ruby recovered quickly. She immediately brought forth the knife and the small survival sword and went to work, hacking away. The small, awakening level spiders didn''t prove much of a challenge for her to kill, but she noticed a problem right away. If she could hit them dead on, she could cleave them almost in half. The small spiders bodies were actually amazing tough and resistant, but she had personally sharpened her own des to a fine point. The problem was that they were constantly moving and making it next to impossible to hit them. In fact, more ofter than not, she ended up getting the weapons lodged in the webs and had to fight one handed while she worked on freeing it. Seeing that she was losing ground, Ruby took a nce over at Leona and saw her still struggling to get herself under control.


    "Lea! LEA!" Ruby yelled.


    "WHAT? Leona yelled back.


    ''Lea?" Laz thought to himself. ''Did Ruby give her the nickname or did she already have it and I just didn''t know?''


    "You need to focus. These little shits are nothing, but there is too much webbing around here for me to kill them quickly. I need you!" Ruby yelled while taking another swing.


    Leona looked over and saw that Ruby was killing the fist sized spiders, but was having trouble keeping her weapons free. Taking a few deep breaths, she med herself down. Seeing this, Ruby gave her a smile.


    "Good. With your ws, you can do a whole lot better than I am. Just keep stabbing until they are all dead," Ruby said after having stabbed another one.


    Both girls seemed to change over time and be better at it. Although Laz had gone through this the first time, he had kind of cheated his way past so he never knew there were so many of the fist sized spiders roaming about. After almost a half hour of fist sized spider killing, Ruby was moving with a sense of grace the defied reason while Leona was quickly stabbing the spiders in the head with one or two nails before throwing them away.


    Watching the girls do all the killing, Laz felt kind of refresh and started looking around. Strangly, he noticed a single small spider hadnded not far from him. Although he had sensed it when itnded, he just figured it would attack the two girls, but it had instead just stood on a web and looked over. It had to be said that the spiders showed almost no interest in Laz up until this point. He briefly wondered as to why that would be but then he remembered something that Vivi had told him. Creatures were sensitive to predators. When the creature knew that something was very dangerous, it would generally stay away from it, almost like a sixth sense. As such, Laz quickly figured out that they avoided him because he was dangerous. That is, except for this little guy. Of course, the little guy wasn''t attacking him either and was instead just watching on.


    Seeing the little guy be so interested in the ughter that Leona and Ruby were unleashing without jumping itself caused Laz to have a moment of pause. For some reason, he decided to sit down on the cave floor and reach his hand out, as though inviting the spider to climb over. The little spider ignored Laz at first but seeing that the fleshy hand wasn''t going anywhere and was instead blocking it''s view, the little spider finally climbed on.


    Laz didn''t know what had made him do this, but he was d he did. The little guy was a bit on the smaller side but was actually quite fuzzy and slightly cute looking. Laz couldn''t help but use a finger and rub it against the little spider''s back as though he was petting it. The spider, still watching the fighting, stiffened a litte at the movement but then ended up rxing it''s body as though it enjoyed the attention. Laz continued to pet the little guy while taking a closer look at it. He noticed it had a strange mark on it''s back, something that looked shockingly simr to the ck tree Laz had on his chest. The way the ck lines formed and ran along it''s fur seemed to closely resemble the leafless ck tree only quite a bit smaller. Laz was rather surpised by this discovery and couldn''t help but think about it.


    As Laz was lost in thought while sitting on the floor of the cave and petting a tiny spider, the two girls were panting for breath from the endless waves of the little spiders that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Laz had advised them to dress light, but be fully covered. Although they didn''t understand it before, they did now. Both Ruby and Leona were wearing skin tight leggings, hiking boots and had their hair tied back. Leona''s ck leggings matched well with the long sleeve, grey shirt she had on. It was a slightly thicker material the was good to prevent abrasions, but that also meant it trapped in the head and didn''t breath well. Ruby''s dark green leggings matched well with her brown blouse she had dressed in,. The problem was that it wasn''t thicker like Leona''s so she had found that it had been torn in many ces. Both girls couldn''t help but look over at Laz who wasfortably resting on the ground while petting a little spider.


    At this moment, if Laz wasn''t careful, their gazes would have turned him to stone.


    As it was, Laz was absentminded while petting the spider and thinking of things. He had kept his sense locked onto the two girls so that he would know if they go into trouble. But just like he had originally thought, both girls ended up being fine. Both girls were covered in sweat and gave off a rather charming appearence. The tight fitted clothes on Leona''s well proportioned body were a stark contrast to the slightly looser clothes on Ruby''s thin, althetic body. Both girls couldn''t help but create an exotice scene of wild beauty and blood ust, like female amazons who could capture your heart or destroy your body with but a thought.


    When Laz finally noticed they had stopped moving, he woke up from his thoughts and saw them both staring at him. Of course their deathly stares didn''t detract him from enjoying the eye candy before him.


    "What?"


    "The hell are you doing?"


    "Why are you petting a spider?"


    Laz looked down at the little thing who looked back up at him in turn. It''s fuzzy face had eight little eyes that seemed to be staring back at him as though wondering what was up. Laz, reacting on instinct, ended upmunicating with the little thing via his spiritual sense as he would normally do with Vivi.


    *Hi little thing. You seem different from the others?*


    *mhuaa?*.


    Laz suddenly went from pale white to ghostly white as he jumped back. Luckily he managed to not drop the little spider that was in his hand.


    "You... you... you.... talk?" Laz spoke these words out loud, causing Ruby and Leona to look at him like he was nuts. The spider didn''t respond back this time and only started looking around before it''s eyes wandered over to the next cave entrance that was sitting half way up the wall on the rather hard to climb ledge. Coming back to himself, Laz followed the little things gaze and knew that something else was on it''s way.


    ''Must be the dog size ones,'' Laz thought as he looked over to the two women. The smaller spiders, or the few that were left at least, had retreated into the ceiling and the little holes spread all about. They knew they weren''t going to have a chance to feast on these two pray with the big brothersing. Knowing what was going to happen, Laz actually got up and backed away a bit more, until his back was against the wall of the cave before sitting down with the little spider. This time though, he put the spider on his shoulder to keep his hands free and drew a few throwing knives out of his pouch. He had no intention of interfering, but he wanted to be ready just in case.


    The girls, seeing Laz''s movements, looked over at him and then at eachother before looking back.


    "What are you doing now?" Leona asked, finally having caught her breath.


    "I would advise you to take off the backpacks and toss them over here," Laz said while gesturing with his hands.


    "Why? The little shits are all dead and scared. It would have been nice for you to tell us this like half an hour ago," Ruby responded while setting her bag down. She was going to go through it and find something better to wear. It was only know that she understood why Laz told them to bring changes of clothing and make sure it was durable. Unlike Leona who had gone through some of Laz''s training and knew that if he said something, he meant exactly that, Ruby had dressed up a bit nicer to start with, if only because she enjoyed looking good for herself.


    Before Ruby could even unzip her pack, Leona had thrown her''s towards Laz and walked over to Ruby. Before Ruby could say anything, Leona grabbed her pack and threw it at Laz as well. The entire time, she was looking in the direction of therge hole half way up the cave wall.


    "Hey Lea, I was using that. I want to change out of my shirt." Ruby hadn''t noticed the look of danger in Leona''s eyes.


    "Ru, get ready. Something else ising," Leona advised while helping Ruby to stand up. Leona''s senses had been trained a bit by constant sparring with Laz so she had sensed the iing spiders before Ruby did. Although Ruby was trained in the ways of humans and detecting bloodlust, she had no experience when it came to monsters or animals.


    Ruby finally looked up at Leona and noticed her gaze. They both backed away a bit and put some distance between themselves and that side of the cavern.


    As they made ready to fight, Leona looked over at Laz and noticed a rather calm look on his face, as though everything was what he expected. Seeing this caused mixed emotions in her. She was mad at him for acting indifferent and not helping, but she also knew that meant they were fully able to handle what wasing and that he had investigated things before hand. Obviously this was something he had set up to train them and after seeing the knives in his hands, she knew he was going to make sure they were ok. Just knowing that Laz was watching over them caused quite a bit more warmth in Leona''s heart. She couldn''t help but enjoy having a partner that would watch out for her but trust her at the same time and allow her to do her own thing. Most men were not like that. Just as she hade to this conclusion, Ruby had noticed Laz as well and came up with a simr evaluation. Despite the danger both girls felt, they couldn''t help but smile knowing he was watching on.


    Laz had no idea that his little guestures were being regarded with warmth by the two girls as he too watched the opening. In barely a few breaths of time, ten of therge, dog sized spiders appeared and rushed out of the opening. They jumped off the ledge andnded on the ground before charging at the two waiting girls.


    Laz stiffened up when he saw this, thinking that Vivi didn''t tell him there would be this many. His first instinct was to act and take out a few of them, but seeing the girls smiling at the oing threat, he decided against this. Instead, he strengthened his sense so that he could observe the battle more closely and waited.


    It was important for them to fight like this against creatures and allow them to grow, but he wasn''t going to allow any idents. He knew that he wasn''t always going to be there for them as he had a feeling that life would make him leave soon, but until then, he promised himself he would take care of these two no matter what.

 Chapter 165: Into The Stone Pool Once Again

    Chapter 165: Into The Stone Pool Once Again


    Although it took a while, both girls soon recovered enough to stand. Ruby and Leona had gotten their emotions under control so that they were back to their usual selves while Laz spent timeforting both of them. He really couldn''t me them. There is a big difference between fighting and killing a human versus fighting and killing a monster. The main difference is that humans could be read, be it their facial features, bodynguage or actions. Monsters, on the other hand, would simply kill you as soon as they were able to. And there was nothing to read either, at least not at first. Therefore, fighting monsters required a much greater degree of concentration and was therefore more mentally taxing. There is also the fact that their bodies were unlike a human''s in that it was much harder to kill. That mental exhaustion was what lead to the girls being so worn out.


    When they were finally able to move again, they stood up and Laz followed suit. They both looked at him while Laz just pointed at the hole in the cave wall, many feet above the floor they were currently standing on. Without saying anything, they all started walking for the out cropping so that they could figure a way up. Just as they came to the base of the out cropping, they noticed a ratherrge skeleton that had been picked clean, without a sign or shred of meat on it''s bones. Compared to the smaller spiders they had fought before this, the thing was huge and imposing, causing both the girls to stare at it before turning to face Laz as though expecting an exnation.


    "I came here once before," Laz exined.


    "So you knew that this was going to happen?" Leona asked.


    "Yeah. This was the point of this exercise. Fighting these things. It''s also important to know that this is what this cave looks like after a week. So basically, these things grow pretty quickly," Laz added on.


    "Then what the fuck is this thing?" Ruby asked while pointing at the pickup truck sized skeleton in front of her.


    "The final boss?" Laz said, not really sure how to exin it. Seeing the girls eye him as though they wanted to beat him up, Laz felt it better to ecin a bit more.


    "Ok, ok. So the little guys you fought were, at most, mid awakening level. The dog sized ones though were actually at the condenstation realm, low level though. The best guess I have is that it takes a while for them to grow. Once it hit''s this amount of spiders, a boss level monster will show up at some point, probably from one of the early level condensation realm ones. And it has a power level at thete level condensation realm. It''s also rather huge and dangerous."


    "So you fought it? And killed it?" Leona asked, eyes wide. Just thinking about a creature of that sizeing after her was more than just a bit scary.


    "I did. And I killed it," Laz was still leaving out info on Vivi for as long as possible. At the same time, Laz walked over and started looking at the skeletion. He didn''t know where all that meat went in one week, but he had some guesses. Maybe this was the reason the rest of the spiders grew so muchrger so quickly. But even then, it didn''t mean that arge one came in to rece it. What this revealed to Laz was that although the flesh from therge spider helped feed the many other spiders in the cave area, it wasn''t the primary cause for them getting stronger. After all, that spider probably didn''t eat anotherrge spider to get to it''s size in the first palce.


    After Laz''s answer, both girls showed a bit fo shock. After the warehouse, Ruby understood that Laz was stronger than her, but she never knew how much stronger. As it was, she had suffered from the fight against the spiders that were there. She had no idea how she would have been able to fight something thatrge that was even stronger than the dog sized ones. As for Leona, she felt that even when she was sparring with Laz, he was holding back. Although this event wasn''t as surprising for her as it was for Ruby, it just went to show that she had a long way to go to catch up to him.


    "Alright, now we just have to get up this rock," Laz said, staring up. As it was, he remembered how much of a pain in the ass it was climbing the thing thest time. As he turned though, he saw Leona, followed by Ruby, run towards it. Using their innate abilities, Leona jumped at the rock, out cropping, then vaulted off that, then the wall, then used her ws to grab the outcropping again and boosted herself right on to it. Ruby just copied her actions as though the girls had discussed doing this ahead of time. As both of them stood there, looking at Laz, Laz couldn''t help but have a dumb look on his face.


    ''Am I the only one that has trouble climbing shit like this?'' Laz asked himself. In all fairness, Laz was still carrying the bags with him. He felt that the least he could do was to be a porter since he had no ns to fight anyway. Plus, both girls handed him their bags after they had gotten changed earlier. Laz didn''t really have a graceful way of getting up there and didn''t n to try sinking his hands into the wall to try to do so. Mostly because even though he could jam his hands into the wall, he would probably cause a lot of damage and there was no telling if doing so would hold his weight. Instead, he went for the most direct approach.


    "Look out above," Laz said as he ran and jumped. Laz''s body had been strengthened to an amazing degree thanks to the pool thest time he had been here and now was the perfect time to take advantage of that. Like a cannonball, Lazunched himself upwards, causing Leona and Ruby surprise before the girls darted out of the way like frightened animals. Laznded with a crash on the ledge by nting his feet into the stone floor and then rolling forward a few times before he stopped his momentum. Laz them calmly stood up and dusted himself off while being red at.


    "What?" He asked. Leona justughed while Ruby sighed thinking this boy seriously had no style.


    Without saying anything else, Laz lead the way into the dark tunnel that had only the tiny bit of illuminessence, making it hard to see. Strangely though, the girls didn''t have any trouble with it and Laz just used his spiritual senses. Had Laz looked back, he would have noticed that both girls had used the eye portion of their ability, causing Leona''s eyes to take on a feline like structure while Ruby''s eyes had a serpentine look to them.


    It didn''t take long to arrive at the mosty empty end of the hallway cavern. Walking into it, the girls noticed that the strange fog that had been all around seemed as though it wasing from the strangemp that sat above an artificially carved stone pool. In fact, a few drops of water fell off themp and hit the pool, making a slight sizzeling noise. Themp itself was lit with it''s slow burning blue me that gave the entire area a rather eerie appearance.


    While the girls were focusing on themp and the pool, Laz was looking around. Thest time he was here with Vivi, there had been a pile of remains and waste sitting over in the corner of the room, something that he assumed was a nest for therge spider. Since he had been gone, everything had been moved away and Laz could now see the corner was rather clear. Based on this, he was able to see that this entire room actually had no holesrge enough for the spiders toe and go from. It seemed like they moved around based on the holes they had seen from the first open cavern area and this ce was more like a resting spot. And to Laz, that didn''t make sense if you considered there was only one way in and out.


    Turning his attention back to the girls, he noticed that Ruby was about to climb into the pool to check out themp while Leona was trying to stop her.


    "HOLD ON. That''s a bad idea," Laz called out.


    "Why? Sides, I just wanted to see..." Ruby said, backing up..


    "You''ll see in a minute. Now, into your bathing suits," Laz said, before making several towels appear andying them on the edge of the stone pool. He then took out his own pair of swimming trunks that he had brought with him. He then stopped to consider if he should just change right here or walk away a few steps when he noticed that Leona was looking at him funny while Ruby was looking at the pool.


    "What now? Did I say something wrong?" Laz asked, confused.


    "Are we going into this... thing?" Leona asked. She had been wondering about why he told them to bring something like a bathing suit when they had ended up going underground, but now she was even more weirded out.


    ''It wasn''t just a cave full of spiders but now some sort of strange pool? Were they going to be fighting eels next?''


    Seeing Leona''s worry while seeing Ruby looking at the pool really closely as though she wanted to see what was in it madeugh unable to help himself as he startedughing. Leona just red at him in response as though she were seriously debating attacking him until he finishedughing. Seeing her concern, Laz decided to answer honestly.


    "There is nothing else to fight. This cave and the other one should be pretty quiet for a while so there is nothing like that to worry about. So, feel free to get changed. Actually, the water is heated a bit so it will feel rather nice," Laz encouraged the girls, causing them to run over into a dark corner and get changed. Laz being the gentleman that he was, didn''t try to sneak a peek and instead got himself changed. He felt bad about not telling them about what would happen once they got in, but sometimes it was better to not say anything behand and have them overthink it.


    Just as Laz finished changing, the girls walked out from the corner whileughing at eachother. Then they both looked at Laz and couldn''t help butugh again. They had already seen Laz''s body for the most part and knew he was not only pale but also extremely muscled. The reason for theirughter was because it was obvious that the swimming trunks he had put on were way too small and made him look kind of funny, like he had put on a pair a spandex shorts. Of course, due to the poor lighting, the girls couldn''t make out his rather well endowed man bit, but they probably would haveughed harder since it was now firmly adherred to his leg which made it somewhat difficult for him to move. Laz wasn''t paying any attention to that though and was instead basking in the eye candy that was provided for him.


    Leona had worn a simple one piece that was blue with ck trim. It looked more like a swim racing suit that a normal swim suit and ended up almost fully covering all of her naughty parts, but did little to hide her generous chest which seemed like it wanted to fight the spandex to the death to break free. The other part worth noticing was her long, toned brown legs that just screamed touch me. Ruby on the other hand had worn a simple blue bikini that showed off her tight stomach, curvaceous ass and tanned skin. It was a feast of exotic beauty that left Laz breathless.


    Seeing the girls focus on him, they justughed harder and walked over, each to one side of him and led him over to the edge of the pool.


    "So is this our reward?" Ruby asked before sticking a toe in to check the temperature.


    "Oh? It feels soooo good. Is this a hot spring?" Ruby asked while Leona tried it herself, enjoying the feeling of the hot water on her sweaty skin.


    Laz finally came back to himself and shook his head to clear it before pulling the girls back from the pool.


    "This isn''t exaclty a rest stop. Well, it will be, but first there will be a bit of pain."


    "Huh?"


    "What''s that now?"


    Neither girl understood as Laz thought how he could word it better before giving up and exining it.


    "This pool has a rather violent and benefical energy to it. It will be helpful, but it will hurt. But you have to hold on through it, ok?" Laz tried to be as serious as possible, but neither Leona or Ruby understood what he meant. Seeing their confused faces, Laz just shook his head.


    "Nevermind. It will be better to feel it yourselves." With that, he bent down and pick up both girls, one over each shoulder and walked them into the waist deep pool before dropping them in. They didn''t even had time to protest or resist due to Laz''s quick actions and both girls ended up underwater before they quickly got up and jumped at Laz. Laz, having prepared for this, quickly jumped away and sat down while counting to himself. Leona and Ruby looked at eachother and nodded, having reached a silent agreement. They start stalking over to where Laz was sitting peacefully with his eyes closed and got ready to jump on him.


    Just as they were in position, Ruby''s face stiffened as Leona''s body started trembling. It felt like waves of lightning attacked them through the water and both girls let out a miserable yell,


    "AAAAHHAHHHHHHH"


    "AAHAAAAAAAAAHH"


    "Hmm, about twenty seconds. That''s good to know."

 Chapter 167: To Know the Heart

    Chapter 167: To Know the Heart


    There was an ufortable silence between the girls and Laz. He didn''t understand why they would suddenly act this way considering how everything worked out. Looking at them and they way they looked at him though, Laz knew that something was up.


    ''Sigh.''


    "Alright, what did I do now?"


    "Do you even care about yourself?" Ruby asked with a stern voice.


    "I do. Of course I do. Why?"


    "THEN WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO DANEROUS?" This time it was Leona who yelled at him. She didn''t mean to lose her cool, but she was only now appreciating just how dense this young man was. Cute, but dense.


    "Ahh..." Was all Laz could say while Ruby tried to get Leona to calm down.


    Truely, the whole situation looked strange. All three of them were in this small pool, in a cave underground without clothing and yet none of that bother them in the slightest.


    "That''s it? That''s all your going to say?"


    "You know something? I forget sometimes. I forget what it''s like when someone else actually cares about me..." Lazid back in the water with his eyes closed while Leona and Ruby shared a look. They then both walked over to the pool edge where the lip was sticking out underwater and sat down, waiting for Laz to continue.


    "I told Leona before a bit about my past, so I''m guessing she understands so I won''t waste your time talking about it again. Instead, look forward. I have no idea what''sing but look around. The news, the politicians, everyone is saying the same thing. We are dangerous. We are a problem. And once peopletch on to an idea, it''s hard to change their minds."


    Laz was still just floating around and not really doing anything, yet he still ended up floating in front of the two girl who ended up guiding him over. Even though he was still technically floating, Laz was actually now perched on their legs with his head resting on Leona''s ap while his legs were resting on Ruby''s. For whatever reason, Leona started randomly ying with Laz''s hair while Ruby just leaned herself against his legs. Although his manhood was in full view of her, she was instead focused on his face.


    Laz probably didn''t know that right now his voice sounded strange. it sounded a bit deeper, more steady and mature. It was also filled with sadness. Perhaps it was some sort of strange irony that while Laz''s blood could inme the desires of others, his voice could entrap their minds. Or at least, make them listen to him.


    "It''s happened before and it will happen again. They will hunt us down like criminals and lock us up, just for being this way. That''s how it will work once everyone thinks we are a threat. The worst part is that someone is already doing their best to make sure that we are the ones that are called sick and infected while those they deem chosen are not. What''s the difference really? Is there even a way to tell? And I can tell you this; life is going to get really shitty very soon."


    Laz was just letting out his thoughts. He probably shared them with Leona before, but for Ruby, this was new. And Laz really was feeling very tired. Everything that had happened had kept him kind of on edge the past year and a half.


    "Ruby. You''ve got the ck Rose. If something happens, take Leona with you. And find a ce for Dee and Reggie," Laz finally asked. He had this feeling that he would be going soon. For some reason, he felt like it was a bad idea to stay in one ce for too long, and he had already been here longer than he had wanted.


    "You... won''t be here?" Ruby asked.


    "I don''t know. Ever since I left home, I just don''t feel like staying anywhere for too long is a good idea..."


    "Where will you go this time?" Leona inquired.


    "I''m not sure yet."


    There was a peaceful moment of silence while everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Leona was the first one who came to..


    Leaning over, she nted a kiss on Laz''s lips while he wasn''t prepared. He had been floating, but the sudden kiss caused him to almost sink.


    Opening his eyes, Laz noticed Leona looking at him with a smile.


    "What?"


    "Will you forget us? When you leave?" She asked the question in her heart. Laz hade into her life like a storm, changed almost everything about her and was going to be leaving just as quickly. She wondered that if after he left, if she would ever see him again. And she also had a feeling that he was going to be really important someday, even if she didn''t know how. Therefore, she wanted to make just a little mark on his heart. Even if he only thought about her every once in a while, it would be enough.


    "How could I?" Laz asked, still a bit dazed. The portion of his life back when he lived with his parents had started to be blurred, almost like a dream. Instead, when he thought back, he only could really remember things from when he started living with his grandpa. He wasn''t trying to be disrespectful to his parents, it was simply that his life then was so different than his life now. and on his road to bing a man, there was more than one women who seemed to have a part in it.


    Hearing his response, Leona bent down and kissed him again, this time with passion that wasn''t hidden behind shyness. It was a sweet and snt kiss, filled with feelings. It was also stimting for Laz since due to their angle, Leona''s breasts and therefore her nippes rubbed up against his head and chest. In fact, had they been any bigger, Laz would have doubted that she could have bent over enough to kiss him.


    The whole time, Leona''s hands were gently rubbing his head and chest, as though she might forget the feel of him suddenly. The stimtion from such a move was enough to excite him, but he didn''t really care. Although he wasn''t intending to do this type of thing with her, how could he deny his hot blooded youth? He had forgotten about one thing though, as hey there kissing Leona. And that was Ruby.


    She had moved him so that his legs were resting on her legs, as such, when he started to get arroused, it was right up near her face. Although Ruby had been amazed before, considering Laz''s age, now she was simply astounded. She wasn''t some young, inexperienced girl and had seen the world... and porn. Although he wasn''t outrageously huge, there figured that there wasn''t a lot of guys out there that couldpete. It was certainly bigger than anything she had seen up close and that wasn''t because she had been with it a lot of guys. It was due to the training she had recieved from Lady Mathilda that she had no choice but to see a lot of guy''s privates. In the end, one of the lessions she had been given was that a target would generally be less careful and have less defense towards a hit while naked. It was amon thing to attack when the target was the most defenseless and even though it was less of an issue for guys as opposed to girls, it still held a lot fo sway over them. Due to this, there had been more than one target she had taken out that was naked, hence her exposure.


    All the same, when faced with the rising solder in front of her, even Ruby couldn''t help but blush a little. Seeing that it was because Laz had been kissing Leona that he had gotten this way, Ruby was feeling a bit left out. She had a simr feeling to Leona although she had intereacted less with Laz. Just from the small time she had interacted with him, she had found herself drawn in. He was like a strange drug or addicting drink that you just wanted more and more of. Hearing him talk and hearing Leona''s responses, she knew that it didn''t seem like he would be around forever. And she herself knew that her job would move one day too. She had taken Leona to be a little sister and would have her join the organization, so she knew they would both lose their connection with him. How could she let this man who had left such a deep impression on her walk away without leaving one on him?


    Just as Laz was deep into his kiss with Leona, he suddenly felt a pair of small hands wrap around his flesh sword and gently rub it up and down. It took but a moment for him to figure out who was doing it and although he was surprised, he epted it. No matter how much he had wanted to distance himself from others, women especially, it seemed like that wasn''t going to happen. So why think so much? He just rxed and used one hand to reach across his chest to rub one of Leona''srge, firm breasts while he used his other to reach down and y with Ruby''s nippe piercing, twisting it between his fingers at times while pinching the nippe into the metal at other times.


    As Leona''s kissing became even more crazy, using her tongue and bitting his lips, Ruby''s hands seperated, one of them ying with his man sack while the other grip his rod like a de. She brought her head over and sticking out her tongue, she rubbed his shaft against her face at times while icking it at other times. Between the stimtion of all of the actions, everyone''s breathing became hotter and heavier. It almost seemed like a three way fight to see who would lose their reasoning first and want to go on for more.


    It turned out, the first loser was actually Leona. The feeling of Laz''s hot kisses along with his constant and skillful rubbing was enough to make her feelpletely hot and turned on. She couldn''t help but pull away and take a deep breath. Seeing Laz smiling at her with a well defined ust in his eyes turned her on even more. She gently slid up from the pool and stood on the edge before reaching down to bring him along with her. Feeling Laz move, Ruby looked up to see Leona was moving his and almost wanted to fight back before Leona looked back at her a smiled. Ruby, knowing her intentions, smiled back and followed them. Leaving Laz sitting on the edge of the pool with his legs still on the inner ledge which was more like a step under water, Leona and Ruby went over to their bags and pulled out two thick sleeping bags that had been rolled up and shoved inside. They were survival bags so not only would they providefort against the ground, but they also folded up to an amazing degree, allowing them to be transported easily. These were something Ruby had arranged although it wasn''t for this purpose.


    Theyid the sleeping bags out next to the pool and each taking one of his hands, guided Laz over to the nowfy area on the ground. For what it was worth, the small spider was stillzily soaking in the pool as though the actions of the humans didn''t concern it in the least.


    Laying Laz down both girls sat on Laz''s stomach just long enough to exchange a rather intimate kiss before Ruby snuck down, sliding her body along Laz''s and even rubbing her wet lips along his man meat as though kissing it from the side. Just when it was about to spring back up, she caught it with her hands and began to once agian devour it with her mouth. Leona had slid up on Laz until her dripping honey pot had reached his mouth. Without saying a word, Laz reached around her legs and spread her ass and thighs. The forceful assult caused a moan to escape Leona''s upper pink lips while his tongue licked up and down her lower brown lips before finding their way to the tight pink center and tasting her inner ambrosia. Slidding his tongue around and down, he made sure to attack her cit as well, sending pulses of energy through her body.


    As the assault became more and more fierce with Laz not only using his tongue but his fingers, Leona''s eyes suddenly changed as her ws grew out. Even Ruby looked up at her in surprise as Leona couldn''t help but roar out while she orgasmed, filling the cave with her beastial roars as her entire body went limp and copsed on top of Laz''s muscr chest.


    Sitting up slightly, Laz''s eyes met with Ruby''s.


    He knew that she wanted the same serving of what he had just given Leona and could barely contain herself.

 Chapter 168: Getting Even Weirder

    Chapter 168: Getting Even Weirder


    Leona was barely able to roll off from Laz while her heavy breathing echoed in the stone room. At the same time, her transformation didn''t disappear. Her ws were still extended while her eyes still retained the look of a feline. One difference from anytime she had transformed before was that her already dark and silky smooth hair became even darker and puffed out, as though the fur of a wild car that had been excited.


    While her body was still spasming in the after effects of an orgasm, Ruby stopped her assault on Laz''s member and jumped forward, once againnding on his stomach. This time though, she leaned forward and kissed him madly, as though wanted to eat him. Laz, already stimted, responded back with wild abandon. Besides just kissing Ruby''s full, red lips, he also moved his hands along her body, teasing her nippes, yanking her hair back so that he could kiss her neck, and finally grabbing her ass. Responding in kind, Ruby was kissing and biting his lips, running her fingers along his chest while rubbing her already soaked lower lips along his lower body. Despite the crazy forey though, neither moved on to the next stage as they fought this game of teasing to it''s fullest.


    Just when Ruby and Laz thought that they themselves would break first, they suddenly heard singing.


    "There''s no time for us


    There''s no ce for us


    What is this thing that builds our dreams


    Yet slips away from us?"


    As they broke away from their crazy battle, Laz noticed that Leona had recovered and grabbed out her phone from her bag and started ying music. Noticing Laz looking at her, Leona just smiled and turned to Ruby,


    "Thank you."


    "I promised, didn''t I?"


    "What''s this now?" Laz asked sitting up slightly with Ruby still on top of him.


    "I promised I would let her go first," Ruby responded smiling.


    "Who wants to live forever?


    Who wants to live forever?"


    As Laz continued to sit up, Leona crawled over while Ruby sat behind Laz''s back. Laz didn''t know it, but after Leona had distracted him with the music, she had undergone her own transformation, her body being covered by the skin tone scales while her eyes took on a reptilian look and her fingers became somewhat pointed. Although Laz had said he was ok with it, she was still rather embarrassed about it.


    "There''s no chance for us


    It''s all decided for us


    This world has only one


    Sweet moment set aside for us"


    Leona came over to Laz and stood up before easing her way down, reaching a hand underneath herself while being careful with her ws, she positioned his raging flesh club at her juicy love canal and proceeded to slide down, letting it fill her up as far as it could go. Before she could get itpletely in though, it hit the fleshly and soft back wall, causing her to cry out in peasure. With her knees on the ground, Leona''s entire body shook in exctasy as another small orgasim over took her. She was more prepared this time and recovered quickly. Putting her wed hands into his dark hair, Leonaid her forehead against his and started riding him like a rocking horse, moving her hips back and forward, slowly at first, but steadily increasing in speed. Ruby, who was sitting behind Laz, had been kissing his back and his neck at various times, reached her arms around and was greedily ying with Leona''s generous breasts, causing her peasure sensations to be that much more intense.


    "Who wants to live forever?.


    Who wants to live forever?


    Who?


    Who dares to love forever


    Oh, when love must die?"


    Laz kissed Leona, breaking her out of her entrancing ride and causing her to look at him.


    "Why this song?" Laz asked.


    "The first guy I was with... we did it on a couch he had downstairs where he would party with his friends. All I really remember was that it smelled like stale beer and hurt my back. I didn''t even cum once. There were other times too, like the back seat of his car outside of a football game and times like that. It really sucked. But since it''s with you, I wanted something a bit... more romantic and I''ve always loved this song. And the video... with the candles. UHHH OOHHHHHH MMMMMMMM.... AH.. aananannnd... annd... and although there are no candles, this is still much better than any of those times."


    Laz had been supporting himself with his hands to keep himself sitting up, but after hearing what she said, he flipped his hand over and started drawing using his ck me. When the rune that looked like two triangles with their tops connected wasplete, Laz whispered a simple word, Dagaz. Suddenly, the rune rushed out and flew threw the air, stopping at several spots andbusting. Ruby''s eyes were drawn by this scene and even Leona stopped moving for just a moment while the light of the rune flew about. Before either of them could ask what was happened, they noticed that in the spots were the runebusted, small mes of regr fire had sprung up and continued to burn in the air, almost as though the air itself in those spots were it''s fuel. Just as suddenly as the rune had shot out, it ended up losing it''s power and fading away, leaving dozens of small mes burning in the air around Laz, Leona and Ruby.


    Seeing this scene with the candle like mes and hearing the song, Leona couldn''t help but feel tears in her eyes.


    "But touch my tears with your lips


    Touch my world with your fingertips


    And we can have forever


    And we can love forever


    Forever is our today"


    "All you have to do is ask," Laz low-key promised.


    Leona couldn''t help but look at him and feel her blood burn hotter than ever as he smiled back. Suddenly, Laz circted his inner energy as his eyes turned blood red. Seeing this change, Leona responded in kind, grinding him harder and harder as her now vocal moans contrasted with the music. Laz didn''t forget about Ruby either. Using his flipped over hand, he moved it between Ruby''s already opened legs and after gently stroking her soft, little lips and the piercing that ran from one side to the other, he slowly press a finger up inside her. Ruby couldn''t help but moan in joy at the attention, but before she could react further, Laz slid in another finger, using both his ring and middle fingers to fill in her sweet, wet puss.


    "Who wants to live forever?


    Who wants to live forever?


    Forever is our today


    Who waits forever anyway?"


    As the music yed, Leona continued to rock back and forth, while Laz''s fingers reached the sweet spot in Ruby. At the same time, all three had subconsciously started circting their energy. Leona''s body tighted up as her muscles became more pronouced while Ruby suddenly grew long, snake like fangs. Even though Laz''s eyes were already blood red, another changed happened as well. His pale skin was already rather eye catching, but now there were strange ck lines that started growing out from the ck tree on his chest, causing a tribal like design of ck lines to cover his chest while creeping around his back and neck and down his arms. Just when it got to the part where it covered his upper arms, it stopped. Strangly though, the bloos red moon of the tattoo didn''t end up getting covered and in fact, seemed to have grown bigger. After this change had ured, Laz''s entire body went hot with energy as his thrusting became harder while his overall aura became even more dangerous. The aura caused the girls endless excitement that mixed with his energized actions, causing both of them to go crazy and orgasim.


    As Leona''s body was rocked with her climax, a gush of love juice burst out from between her legs. She stiffen up and dug her ws into Laz''s chest, causing a few simple drops of blood to escape as the energy of her body mixed with Laz''s with a tidalwave like collision. Having been strengthened by the energy pool, her body was much stronger than before and now had the ability to pierce his skin, although only by a slight bit. She felt herself be even strong as her realm increased from midte condensation to peak mid condensation. Ruby''s orgasm wasn''t as intense, but her reaction was. She couldn''t help but bite down on Laz''s shoulder without realizing that she had grown fangs. Because of this, she ended up drawing out even more blood that ended up finding it''s way into her mouth.


    Taking an unintentional sip, the pure, forbidden energy of Laz''s blood worked it''s way into her system, causing her insides to feel like they were on fire. Struck with a soul rending desire, she moved. Leona, whose body was still rocking with her orgasm and sudden and forceful power up, barely felt Ruby''s hands on her shoulders as she was pushed aside, off from Laz. Laz, who had been enjoying the mixture of energy, opened his eyes and saw Ruby move Leona away. Before he could say anything or even think about it, Ruby had grabbed Laz''s cock that was still wet from Leona''s love hole and squated down on it, ramming it inside of her as she yelled out. It almost seemed like he was about to rip her in half. Her closed eyes opened as she felt the pain mix with the peasure and Laz caught a glimpse of the red light that had invaded her snake like pupils. He also noticed the drips of blood around her mouth along with the fact that more of her body had been covered in the flesh colored scales. Seeing her look at him with world ending hunger along with the blood dripping down her mouth, Laz himself started to lose his reasoning as well.


    With Ruby still impaled on his manhood, Laz stood up while an intense roar escaped his lips. Ruby''s small yet tight body posed no issue to Laz''s rock solid body as he stood with her, almost like she was suspended in mid air. With one hand behind her back to hold her into ce, Laz reached out and wrapped his other hand around her neck as his slim body seemed to inte slightly, causing him to appear to go up a size. With eye''s devoid of reason but filled with ust, Laz began pounding Ruby''s tiny box with a vengence while shetched on to the arm on her neck, her small hands holding on for all she was worth while her legs wrapped around Laz''s waist.


    Laz continued to pound her mercilessly as the smile on her face became wider and wider. Their energies also mixed quickly, as though added by the drops of blood she had consumed. this caused her power to skyrocket even more than Leona''s had, going straight to the peakte consensation realm, only a small ways away from Laz''s realm. Laz was enjoying his benefits as well, causing his already max peak condesation realm to feel like it was going to burst through to the unknown realm. He just barely kept it under control and pumped more and more into Ruby in effort to further solidify his energy while not letting it build up to a dangerous level. Because of this, he was way more brutal than he had to be, pounded her until even the stones underneath the sleep bag started cracking from the pressure of his thrusts.


    With one final thrust, Ruby was no longer able to hang on. Her back arched as she erupted like a geyser while screaming. This continued for almost a full minute before she suddenly went limp in Laz''s grasp. Letting her down, she barely manage to cushion her fall as Laz discarded her like a broken toy while his blood red eyes shinned even brighter in the gentle fire of the cave. Standing there, his deep breaths caused the energy rich air to rush in and out of his system, almost like a beast that needed prey.


    "Laz."


    Hearing his name whispered suductivly, Laz looked over, only to find Leona down on her hands and knees with her ass pointed right at him. Sheughed as she shook it, her feline like eyes making the inviting gesture even more tempting.


    Without even a thought, Laz pounced over at her as though he wanted to devour her.

 Chapter 169: You Are A Devil

    Chapter 169: You Are A Devil


    Laz has lost most of his reason at this time. The energies inside of him were boiling to the point of going wild and he had no choice but to vent it as much as possible. Seeing Leona offer herself to him again caused any hesitation he might feel to go out the window.


    Laz got down and positioned himself behind Leona before thrusting into her with a vengence. He reached forward and grabbed onto her hair with one hand while the other wrapped around her waist and forcefully mmed her against him. Leona couldn''t help but cry out in peasure as almost everyst inch of Laz''s flesh stick forced it''s way inside of her wet honey pot. Without even thinking about it, Laz began circting his energy andbining it with hers. He ended up giving her more than he took, but the energy that went back and forth and settled into his body was far more concentrated than when he began, almost as though he was using her as a filter.


    "AHHHHHHH"


    "MMMMMHHMMMMMM"


    "MMMMOORRRREEEEEEE"


    Leona''s voiced echoed throughout the cavern as Laz rode her hard. Her ws had actually pierced the sleeping bag and dug into the stone ground in an effort to keep her stationary, but against Laz''s forceful thrusting, she only barely stayed in ce. At one point, she had no choice but to lean down against the sleeping bag as she held on since her voluptious breasts were swinging so hard that it felt like they would fly off. Due the the new angle, Leona couldn''t help but orgasm over and over again.


    Just as Leona felt her mind go nk, a rush of flesh covered her and pushed Laz back breifly while soft red lips pressed against his, gently forcing him to give way. Ruby had recovered somewhat and having seen Laz start to go wild, decided to tag Leona out. As Laz backed off for a quick moment, Ruby flipped Leona over and and squatted on top of her, offering herself to Laz. Without hesitation, Laz rammed himself inside of her, quickly filling her up and then some. As she called out in peasure and pain, Leona reached up and grabbed Ruby''s head before bringing Ruby''s lips to her own, sharing a kiss with her.


    Laz pounded Ruby''s sweet hole for almost five minutes before her entire body tensed and arched again, soaking both Laz and Leona with her juices before bing limp. Leona gently pushed her off herself and reached up her hands at Laz. Leaning forward, Laz allowed her wed hands to reach around his neck as Leona pushed him over backwards, allowing her full ess to ride him in any way she wanted. Unlike before, when Laz was the aggressor, this time Leona took the lead.


    As strange at it was, Leona had noticed something from the rough sex she and Laz were having. Not only was her energy getting stronger, but her body was getting stronger as well. What she didn''t know was that the rough physical activity was stimting the energy contained in the water and causing it to strengthen all of the parts of her body, making her muscles stronger and more flexable, causing her bones to be more dense and solid, but not making them brittle, and so on. That was why this time, she was the one who wanted to lead, so that she could get the maximum benefit from the activity.


    Laz started by gripping her waist as she thrust back and forth, the intense peasure causing her to almost continuously orgasm before she brought his hands up to her chest. Ever ready to please, Laz started massaging her breasts with his hands while sometimes pinching her hersey kiss like nippes. He had only just started when he heard her say,


    "Harder!"


    Like a beast being offered a meal, Laz grabbed on to her full tits and squeezed while thrusting upward with his hips, hitting the back of her womb repeatedly. Leona''s screams which also sounded somewhat like roaring, reached a fevered pitch while Laz, having run a long marathon, couldn''t help but climax at the same time, filling everyst inch of her with his man juice. Having reached nirvana together, Leona cosped on top of Laz, panting for breath while rubbing his face gentle with her ws. Laz stretched up and fixed her wild hair before kissing her cheek and her forehead. He knew enough not to try to kiss her mouth as she was already gasping for air as it was. Afterying like that for a while though, Leona had practically passed out so Laz gently rolled her off of himself. After having expanded one load, although he was still filled with vitality, he had regained his overall mental state.


    Sadly, he wasn''t going to get a chance to rest just yet.


    While Laz was adjusting Leona and covering her with some spare nkets, Ruby had slid over and started running her sharp fingers against his back and across the tribal like designs on his chest. After getting Leona set, he turned over to find that Ruby was smiling at him. He couldn''t help but be captivated by her exotic eyes and the enchanting paterns of scales that were running up and down her body.


    "Feeling better?" Ruby asked. She noticed that Laz had somewhat lost himself, although she didn''t know why. And she wasn''t going to ask either.


    "A bit. Sorry about that.." Laz felt a bit embarrassed. He had been far more forceful with them than he felt he normally would be.


    Ruby''sughter as she took in the look on his face made him turn even redder.


    "That was amazing. What''s there to be sorry about? Here''s a secret. Some girls are into that gentle and smooth shit, at least the first couple of times or even the first few years. But after a while, if you don''t spice it up, it gets boring. Besides, do we look like normal girls to you?" Ruby asked still smiling.


    "Yeah... but still..."


    "No buts, ok? You really are younger than us, arn''t you?"


    "What do you mean?" Laz asked, wondering why she brought that up..


    "Because you can kill a man without blinking an eye, but when ites to love making, you get somewhat shy and nervous. Don''t be. Be strong and confident. That''s a real turn on."


    "Even to you?" Laz asked with a smile, feeling rather stupid for questioning himself. After all, these girls weren''t weak. If they wanted him to stop, they would have got him to stop.


    "Expecially to me."


    "You seem close to Leona now?"


    "Girl''s secret, I''ll never tell." Rubyughed again.


    "Oh, really?" Laz asked, reaching a hand out to Ruby''s tiny and flexable waist.


    "Why? Think you can make me?" She asked, provoking him.


    Without responding back, Laz''s hand which had been going for her waist changed direction and pped down hard on her healthy ass, causing a slight jiggle along with an almost silent moan from Ruby. Noticing her mistake, she tried coughing to cover it up.


    "Hey. That''s enough of that," she said after her fake coughing stopped.


    "Enough of what?" Laz asked, acting innocent.


    "Spanking my ass!"


    "Ok!'' Laz said with a grin and spanked her again, this time even hard. Although she tried to hide it again, Ruby couldn''t help but moan once more. It wasn''t actually all her fault that she did this either. Normally speaking, she would find it very arrousing, but currently her body was still full of energy and she hadn''tsted nearly as long with Laz as Ruby had, nor exerted herself as much. Due to this, the extra stimtion ended up having an unexpected appeal that she couldn''t hide.


    "Hey now... I''m am still sore from you ramming that thing into me before. You know how big that thing is? It''s not like I''m used to doing this you know."


    "You didn''t seem to mind though, did you?"


    "MMMM, not at all. It was amazing. A girl can get addicted to that kind of sex. But now it almost hurts to walk. I don''t rmend you try that with a normal girl either. You might kill her."


    "Yeah. I kind of thought that. But it''s a good thing you''re capable. And beautiful too I might add." Laz responded. In return, he made Ruby''s cheeks get a little red.


    "Even looking like this?"


    "Why not? I look like this don''t I? Laz asked while pointing out his strange markings and still red eyes.


    "Actually, you look really evil right now."


    "Then I guess that means you should be careful little girl. Or the big, bad man might get you?"


    "What big, bad man? Maybe a slightly big boy..."


    Laz wasn''t going to take that insultying down... at least not anymore than he already was since he was still kind ofying down. So in response, Ruby got another hard p to her ass, causing her to once again moan in enjoyment.


    "You should be careful or I''m going to bite you again," Ruby warned, trying to act serious. Laz found it pretty amusing as he got up and pulled her to him.


    "Go ahead," Laz said, offering his neck to her where the tiny marks left from her fangs from before had already mostly faded.


    "You''re a monster, you know that?"


    "Am I now?" Laz pulled her on top of himself and used both hands to grabbed Ruby''s ass. Since he was still arroused, she couldn''t help but feel his raging rod p against her ass a few times as he squeezed them several times, shaking her back and forth.


    "I already said I can''t handle it anymore. So what do you n to do, hmm?" Ruby asked while pressing her elbows into his chest and resting her chin on her hands.


    "Oh, something else..." And with that, Laz spread her open and positioned himself.


    "Hey, now....gentle..." Ruby said, knowing what he wanted to do. Hearing her give her consent, Laz slowing slid his way up and in her already lubricated back door. As the pain of the insertion mixed with the peasure from the experience, Ruby closed her eyes for a moment before lowering her head onto Laz''s shoulder. Turning her head, she moved her lips next to Laz''s ear and simply whispered,


    "Make me scream!"


    With that, she sunk her fangs into Laz''s shoulder again as Laz proceeded to move in and out of her forbidden hole that was already well lubricated from her earlier squirting. Laz, caught up in the moment, began to thrust harder and harder, going deeper and deeper as Ruby''s fangs tore at his hardened flesh. Ruby experienced orgasm after orgasm from this strange and sensual peasure as she tried her best to hang on. Just before Laz was about to cum, Ruby tossed back her head and let out a soul stirring scream filled with untold amounts of pain and peasure.


    "OOOOOHHHHH FFFFFUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK MMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEE!!"


    Her entire body tensed as one hell of an orgasm ripped through her while Laz''s second orgasm of the night reached it''s climax and he unloaded into her.


    Ruby''s body fell limply on top of Laz as he slid out of her, both now throughly worn out and unable to move. The only sounds in the lit cave was their heavy breathing mixed with the gentle popping of the rune fires that still zed about.


    Just before Ruby was about to fall off from Laz''s warm chest, she muttered,


    "Eres un demonio," before falling down and passing out all together.

 Chapter 170: His Final Word (Poem)

    Chapter 170: His Final Word (Poem)


    I heard him as he cried out


    Begging for someone to listen


    I stopped to look


    And found a man


    Dying alone, beaten and imprisoned


    I sat with that man for only ten minutes


    But his story rang loud and clear


    Until he finally slipped into death


    As i gently wiped away my tears


    And as I said goodbye to that man


    I realized his voice had been heard


    For in the end, he wasn''t alone


    And the nation would soon spread his word


    I stood up and slowly walked away


    My heart full of regret


    About this man I would never know


    But one who I would never forget.


    ~Rathan (6/2/20)

 Chapter 171: The Infinity Technique

    Chapter 171: The Infinity Technique


    In the quiet of the cave, Laz slept. When he opened his eyes, he was met by the blue haired goddess of abuse that had been silent for a long time now.


    "It''s you!" Was all Laz said while she smiled back.


    "Do you know why I summoned you?"


    "Nope."


    "Sigh. You creatures. I''m not sure if you''re being stubborn or you''re just stupid."


    "Who are you?"


    "You''re not at the point where you need to know that yet. Instead, let''s talk about you. Based on everything I know, you shouldn''t exist. And yet, here you are..." The sexy woman was sitting at her white wooden table while sipping something from an exquisite looking tea cup while her eyes ran along Laz''s body. Had this been the first time he came in contact with her, he would have been more scared of that look. As it was, now he was just somewhat annoyed and so stood there without saying anything or moving. When she finally finished though, she nodded her head somewhat and told him to sit down.


    But Laz didn''t move.


    "Is there something you don''t understand about what I said?"


    "Just tell me why I am here again. Obviously you want something so juste out with it," Laz responded annoyed.


    "There isn''t a gentle bone in your body, is there? Here I am, offering you a seat and you can''t even appreciate it," she responded while pouting.


    "Should I? I know nothing about you, or wherever the hell we are. And on top of that, you don''t even bothering tell me anything. I''m notining, nor do I really even want to know. Just say what you''ve brought me here to say and let me get going..."


    "Heh he he he... You''ve be so maturepared to the first time I met you. And yet, to me, you will always be a child. And you think I don''t know what I pulled you away from? Mating on the ground like animals with some random bitches you picked up? Truely, the minds of you creatures is hard to fathom.." The girl''s words trailed off while she shifted her position, the hem line of the red, wood fiber like dress seemed to ride up along her wless white skin, almost to the point of showing something that would normally be kept hidden. Laz didn''t even spare it a nce this time.


    He was way too angry.


    The ck mes of his inner energy raged out like an expanding hurricane as his eyes shed and turned blood red. The tattoos on his chest, having reduced down, expanded out to cover his upper chest and arms as he looked at this girl in rage.


    "Don''t fucking insult them..."


    Yes, that''s what he was angry about. He didn''t know who this girl was and although she had helped him a couple times, that didn''t stop him from being pissed off about the way she spoke about Ruby and Leona.


    "Well, arn''t you all serious all of the sudden." With that, a golden light shed from the girls eyes and spread out to contend with the blood red from Laz''s. As the two energies met, the blood red light was barly able to hold on for a second before being crushed by the golden light. Not only that, but the golden light continued to spread, covering Laz and putting out the ck mes that had surrounded his body. They toosted only a moment. Once the golden light hit his body, he was sent flying from where he stood, not stopping until he had hit the stone light wooden wall of a small gazebo in the girl''s garden.


    Laz had been defeated with but a casual nce from this girl. But she was far more shocked that he was. If one took a moment to consider her realm as opposed to his, his energy shouldn''t have been able to resist her''s at all. As in, he should have been instantly crushed as soon as the golden light hit him. But that fact that it didn''t caused her to be amazed. Seeing him panting in front of her from the strain of having fought her as he got up, the girl couldn''t help but reveal a rather inchanting smile. For she knew that the only way he could have hung on with his own strength being as weak as it was would be that his innate power was rather special and epically strong. The more her grew, the more that it would mannifest.


    Although she had only taken him on as a whim, it seemed like she had really been blessed by the goddess for having found someone like him.


    "Still insist on protecting your ego? Let me exin something. Just because you don''t like what I said doesn''t mean you can magically be strong enough to fight me or even get me to appologize. You''re far, far to weak for that. Here''s something your society has forgotten over the years, strength equals right. Pretty soon, everything you know will change. When that happens, those weak and insigniciant things that call out for justice will be silenced while those that have actual strength will stand at the top. If you can''t handle people talking about you or those close to you, than you have to be strong enough to make them shut up. But for now, just sit down and cap your arrogance. I don''t have time for it," the beauty said while retracting her golden aura..


    Laz had no choice but to sit down as he knew that no matter what she said, he really was no match for her. Despite this, a burning sensation had once again risen inside of Laz as her words echoed throughout his being.


    ''She''s right,'' Laz thought to himself.


    So far, he had been lucky in a way. He had yet to meet someone more powerful than him and started to feel like he was special. But now he saw that even this rather delicate flower in front of him was still far stronger than he was. He now knew that he still had a long way to go.


    Before she said anything else, she indicated a te of strange looking fruit that was sitting on the table.


    "Here, take one," she said.


    Laz didn''t move right away but instead looked at her in the eyes. Although he knew that this girl was not something he could fight against, that didn''t mean he would just do whatever she said. This wasn''t about his ego, he just wouldn''t allow himself to be controlled so easily.


    "Rx. It''s nothing harmful. Take it."


    Laz reached foreward and grabbed a piece. The fruit looked like some sort of dried out peach. It had a golden sheen to it and was plump and moist in his hand. Without another thought, he ced it in his mouth and started chewing.


    "The world that you know is wrong. However, that''s not relly your fault either. I''ve seen some of the myths you have written down in the annauls of your history, things that seemed to have be more fiction than fact. And yet the truth is that all those things, as distorted as most of them now are, are based somewhere in fact. Such as this food here. It''s actually something that your people used to im was the food of the gods, one that could make a normal man immortal. But as you can tell, it''s not actually that amazing."


    The piece of fruit, after Laz had chewed it, disolved in his mouth, sending bursts of vor and waves of energy throughout his body. It was truely the most amazing thing he had ever tasted. Not only that, it also contained a decent amount of energy that he couldn''t ignore. Instead, he circted his energy in the way that he had discovered and spread the energy through his body, nourishing ever fiber of his flesh. This type of energy wasn''t able to make an impact on the condensed ball sitting below his stomach, but it was able to provide a ton of additional strength to his flesh, skin and bones. Although he didn''t know what it was, hearing her explination, he could imagine how if a mortal had taken it, assuming they survived, their entire bodies would go through an explosive change.


    To a normal human, the person who had consumed it might really be considered a god.


    "Now than, you''ve already reached the peak of what the condensation realm can allow. On top of that, due to some unknown amount of luck, you have strengthened your body to a point that would allow you to rise to the next realm. I honestly thought that you would have to rely on the pwoer of this ambrosia, but it seems like that little puddle you found did an excellent job on it''s own. Ah well, i guess this can be considered a bonus." The girl sighed as she exined.


    "The next realm?" Laz had been wondering for some time and it looked like hew as going to get some answers.


    "The Foundation realm. And after that, the wording on the next realm changes depending on who you ask, but the best way to describe it is the Void Origin realm."


    "Foundation? Void Origin?" Laz was confused.


    "Alright, here is a way that you might understand. In the Awakening realm. you gather the materials. In the Condensation realm, you mix the building material, getting rid of the impurities and get the energy ready. In the Foundation Realm, you startying down the base of power. Therger and stronger it is, the more you can put on top of it. In this realm, it''s very, very important not to rush. And finally, the Void Origin realm. This is an abstract concept to you, but just imagine you are starting to put buildings on the foundation. You begin to build. As far as the other things go, you will figure those out on your own based on your own abilty. What I am truely curious about is how did you find that technique to build your energy. It''s not simple and yet it conforms with the make up of the universe. For something so powerful to end up being learned by you... how did you do it?" The girl asked. This was actually the first time he had used this technique in front of her, but somehow it seemed to be something amazing.


    "I made it up... actually..." Laz said, not sure how to respond.


    "You made it up?"


    "Yeah, based on how I saw energy flow..."


    With this, the girl sat back and lost herself in thought. It was a while before she spoke again.


    "Since you are the creator of this technique, then byw, you get to name it. Do you have a name for it?" She asked, looking at Laz.


    "A name, why would I name it?"


    "Because there are thousands of techniques out there. How would someone know what technique they were using if they didn''t have names...?" The girl looked at Laz like she was looking at an idiot.


    "Fine... Well..."


    "What?"


    "I guess I will call it, The Infinity Technique."

 Chapter 172: Aruya

    Chapter 172: A''ruya


    "Well that''s dumb... but I guess it is urate within the bounds of your human mind. Whatever, since it''s youre choice, it''s your choice," The sexy, blue haired girl responded back. Laz didn''t take offense to it considering he had no idea what she was talking about.


    "Hmm... and I guess our time is up. I covered everything I wanted to say so time to get you back," the girl stood and moved towards Laz who was still sitting down with a rxed expression on his face. Since they had already done this song and dance a few times, he wasn''t surprised nor afraid. Instead, he could barely bring himself to react to it. Seeing the look on his face, the girl couldn''t help but sigh.


    She didn''t like him, nor did she hate him. If anything, he was bound to her in a way she couldn''t exin and he wouldn''t understand. Most times she could say without issue that she cared nothing for his feelings, but right now, looking at him look back at her with such a nonchnt attitude, she started to doubt if she was doing this right. The whole point of being so short and condesending with him all the time while also acting as though she was the master of his life was to give him a goal to work for, so that he would want to be strong enough to fight back against her. She had expected to see hatred or at least a shred of fear in his eyes. Yet she was right now seeing neither.


    Just before she got close to him, she stopped and leaned against the table while crossing her arms. She now understood that he wasn''t as simple as the humans she had learned about and therefore the whole guidebook on them could no longer be used. Instead, she would need to figure out what to do going forward.


    "Do you hate me?"


    "No?"


    Somewhat surprised, Laz just responded with the first thing that came to mind. He worded it like a question only because he wasn''t sure if he was suppose to or not.


    "Why not?" the girl asked, curious.


    "I don''t know you well enough to hate you. Besides, considering everything up to this point... I would say you have helped me far more than hurt me. When thinking about that, how could I hate you?"


    "Then why do you show no emotion even though you know whatsing?" She asked, thinking back to the texts. In the books she had read on humans, one thing that stood out was that they were afraid of death and that it was a very easy way to control them and they would both hate dying itself and hate the feeling of dying. Therefore, most humans would avoid wanting to live through that feeling reapeatedly. And yet, contrary to that idea, this young man in front of her looked like it was nothing more than their normal way of saying farewell. She couldn''t understand it.


    "Should I fear you? Should I fear dying? How many times have I experienced death at your hands now, three times? Four times? It''s not like I''m going to change things or that your suddenly going to send me out of this dream world or wherever it is just because I don''t like dying so we might as well just get it over with," Laz replied honestly.


    "But... don''t humans fear death?"


    "What creature doesn''t fear death? But so what? Experiencing the endless ck void is something I would like to avoid, but if ites, ites. It''s not like I''m looking to just give up my life, but sometimes that darkness is nothing more than a sweet and silent embrace. After everything that has happened to me over the past two years, death no longer scares me. The only thing that really scares me is that when the timees, I won''t be strong enough to save those around me... again..." With this admission, a tear escaped from Laz''s eye, but it didn''t change the look on his face. Seeing him like this, the girl automatically knew what he was talking about. Even though she showed him a general disinterest, she had been paying attention to him over the years. As such, she knew about Kat and what happened there. For her, it was nothing more than watching a show y out. But when that show involves real people experiencing real events, how can the emotions the actors feel not be real as well?


    "I forget, sometimes, that you human''s arn''t what we remember... those time gaps in history... so much as changed..." As the girl''s voice trailed off, Laz couldn''t help but put on a questioning gaze. He really wanted to ask somethings, but he knew that she would only tell him if she wanted to, so he restrained himself.


    "Sigh. Ah well. Doesn''t matter I guess. Afterall, it doesn''t really change anything. Still though, if I ever see you slow down, just know that it will be your end," she said, regainging her usual attitude.


    "Right, right. End. Darkness. Destruction. Oblivion. And all that. Let''s get this going..." Although Laz wasn''t taking her seriously, that didn''t mean he wasn''t being serious in his pursuit of strength. This kind of response would have normally angered the girl, but for some reason sheughed instead. Laz was surprised by herughter that seemed to twinkle through the area like stars, ringing like bells. It was refreshing and uplifting at the same time. Thinking about it, he realized it was probably the first time he had heard her honest left since they first interacted.


    ''You truely are different than the books say. Even having been around the world and seen your culture while observing others, I guess you can''t really understand someone until you get to know them," she said when she finally calmed down.


    "Of course. Was there suppose to be another way? An old saying we have is that to really get to know someone, you have to walk a mile in their shoes, or at least that''s what my grandpa used to tell me. But it does make sense."


    "Walk a mile in their shoes? Is that a distance or some sort of trail? And how would I fit into your shoes? Your feet are so big and awkward?" Laz was surprised to discover that this seemingly all knowing murderous beauty seemed to be a bitcking in abstract thought. Of course it could just be the cultural differences between them as well, but since it would take a while to try to exin, he figured it was best to leave it at this.


    "Well, whatever. Time for you to return to your little mating session. I seriously don''t understand why male type creatures enjoy that sort of thing, or females for that matter..."


    Hearing this, Laz couldn''t help but have a thoughts,.


    ''Has she never had sex before? Wait, I''m assuming she even has sex like us... obviously she isn''t human... Oh? She''s ring at me. I wonder if she can hear what I''m thinking?''


    *OBVIOUSLY I CAN HEAR WHAT YOUR THINKING, YOU''RE SCREAMING IT ALL OVER THE PLACE!*


    Before Laz even had the chance to be shocked by the fact that she couldmunicate in this way, her palm mmed into his chest and like a bomb going off, his body exploded into tiny particles that disappeared. Just as his world went ck and his mind felt that cold, silent taste of death, he heard something else.


    *AND BY THE WAY, MY NAME IS A''RUYA SO STOP CALLING ME SHE YOU DAMN HORNY MONKEY.*


    ...


    Outside a ratherrge office tower in a city about five hours away from where Laz lived, a ck limo pulled up to the guarded side door. The driver stepped out and walked around, grabbing the door and opening it up. Although he knew he was speaking to a dog, he still had a job to perform and went through all the steps.


    "We''ve arrived miss. There will be someone inside to escort you to see thedy once you go in," he said, wondering if he was actually going to have to show her.


    ''In fact, normally when driving an animal, even if the animal was alone by themselves in the back, there would be someone here to meet them. Why did they think she could go in on her own? Fuck it... now I''m going to have to go get the whole thing cleaned or it''s going to smell like dog...'' As the middle aged man''s thoughts trailed off though, his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open into arge ''O'' shape. The back window to the limo had originally been closed and therefore he had no idea what was going on back there. So how was he suppose to react when out of the limo stepped a young, maybe 14 or 15 year old girl dressed in a red and ck pleated, high waist skirt with a ck long sleeve top and leather, knee high boots.


    "Thanks!"


    Without saying another word, Vivi, with a character back pack, walked up to the enterence without hesitation and opened the door, the wind asionally catching her raven ck hair.


    Just inside the door, talking to the few people who were surrounding her, Kennedy was standing there in a ck business skirt suit with her eyes on the door. She knew that Vivi was arriving soon and although it was a little inappropriate for her to wait out here herself, she didn''t really know how she would exin letting a wolf dog walk through the building while being escorted would turn out. Therefore, she felt it better that she do it herself.


    Just as she started wondering when Vivi would get there, the revolving door swung around and in walked a cute and pretty young girl who smiled as soon as she saw Kennedy. Without waiting for Kennedy to say anything, Vivi lifted her hand and waved while moving over towards her quickly.


    "Hi! It''s been a while!" Vivi giggled as she was enjoying the nk look on Kennedy''s face. Everyone else, knowing that the boss was expectingpany, backed up and gave them some room to greet eachother.


    After a minute though, with Vivi holding her hands while smiling at her andughing inside, Kennedy still hadn''te back to herself. Finally, she caught a glimpse of the icey blue eyes and raven ck hair and she came to the most insane conclusion.


    "Vivi?"


    "What? Am I that different?"


    "THAT DIFFERENT? NO, OF COURSE NOT." Seeing Kennedy raise her voice as though shocked, angry and surprised at the same time, Vivi couldn''t help but burst intoughter at he response. Kennedy, seeing herughing, knew that she had done this on purpose.


    "Why you little..." Kennedy was half tempted to pounce on this scheming little wolf and teach her a lession, but held back for the sake of her image to her underlings.


    "Let''s go, you''ve got some exining to do..." Kennedy said as she turned around to the elevator.


    "Yes big sister," Vivi replied as she followed behind, still letting out fits of giggles.


    Hearing her response, Kennedy stopped and turned to look at Vivi who was still enjoying her surprise. Looking up and down Vivi, Kennedy''s gaze finallynded on her chest before responding,


    "Well my cute little sister, it does look like you''ve grown up quite a bit. But it seems some things might have gotten left behind," Kennedy said with a smirk. She then raised her gaze to Vivi''s face that looked like it was stuck betweenugher and extreme shock beforeughing while swiftly retreating to the elevator.


    Hearing herughing in amusement while running away, Vivi jumped after her as fast as she could while screaming,


    "NOT EVERYONE WANTS BIG, BACK BREAKING, SAGGY MILK JUGS LIKE YOU, YOU KNOW!!!"

 Chapter 173: Enemies Meeting

    Chapter 173: Enemies Meeting


    Vivi was shocked at what the girls were showing her. She even slunk in close and started poking the markings as though doing so would allow her to better understand them. But even we she did everything she could think of to figure it out, she came up with no answers.


    "How... Or, I mean, when did this happen?" Vivi asked.


    Kennedy and Malene looked at eachother and sat down again, fixing their clothing.


    "Mine was shortly after my inner energy expanded. I''m currently at thete stage of Condensation and it seems like it keeps growing more and more, even without me doing anything. It''s like, getting your battery charged even when it''s not plugged in," Kennedy exined.


    "Mine was about the same. It''s weird though. When I do circte my my energy and cultivate it, it grows, however it feels like a little bit of it is lost. In truth, the amount is so tiny that for everything that I am gaining, it doesn''t even matter. I talked to Aqua about it and Aqua said that it''s some sort of connection and that the little amount of energy that I am losing to going to whoever is on the other end," Malene replied with.


    Hearing this, Vivi started asking some questions and forming a timeline in her head. After she lined everything up, a very strange idea popped into her head, but she didn''t share it. Instead, she started focusing on other thoughts.


    Vivi had a lot of tucked away knowledge from ages long past that had yet to be awakened. As she grew stronger or encountered things that triggered a response, the information would then be avable to her. Because of this, she was able to offer some advice to the girls.


    "I would rmend you both close the connection in any way you can. At the same time, try to observe it and see if anything changes as you both get stronger," Vivi advised.


    "Speaking of that, I would really like to know how we proceed from here. Did you figure anything out yet?" Kennedy asked. She was the strongest in the team that she was building, but she needed to be able to have a path to follow and to outline for her recruits. So far, things were good as she tons of information about the first two realms thanks to Vivi and Laz. But soon, she would be looking to figure out how to continue and she needed to know how to go about that. Due to this, although she hadn''t been constantly hounding Vivi about it, she still brought it up as often as she could. She knew that Vivi was trying her best, but the longer they went without an answer, the more worried she became. With the question asked, even Malene leaned closer to hear what was being said.


    "Why is that?" Malene and Kennedy asked at the same time. Vivi took a bit to exin about what happened at the warehouse with Laz and almost dying. Although she wasn''t there for it, after hearing about it from Laz, she got a sense of how dangerous it was. Hearing that the blue haired bitch showed up, she knew that she was still apying attention to him. Honestly, as far as Vivi was concerned, she wished that the girl would disppear forever, even though she was helping Laz, in a sense.


    The hardest part for Vivi is that she felt like she should know something about this girl and where Laz was being dragged to in his dreams, but it seemed like there was some sort of lock on that information. Everything else was avable, but that information was password protected and she didn''t know the key.


    Since there was nothing to be done about it, Vivi was going to keep extra cautious of anything having to do with her. Hence why she was keeping themunication and visits with Kennedy and Malene secret from Laz.


    "That idiot. Can''t he control himself even a little bit? What? Is he doing this just for the puss or something?" Malene started freaking out and went off. Kennedy too shared her views, but thinking back to the young man and their encounter from a few years ago, she somehow felt that it wasn''t so simple.


    "It''s not that. They weren''t even in that kind of rtionship," Vivi exined.


    "Then why would he go to that extreme? He could have died..." Malene, despite being angry, was more scared than anything.


    "Because, his desire to protect those around him outweighed anymon sense he had. If anything, I would say that he is feeling extremely lonely..." Vivi responded back, trying to put her thoughts into words.


    Hearing this, both Kennedy and Malene couldn''t help but be a little emotional. Even though they had left him for different reasons, the truth was that they had both left him. Knowing his history and what''s been happening with him, it was clear that many people had left him in his short life. So how could they not understand that something like that would have a profound impact on a person.


    "Then what do we..." Kennedy was about to ask what to do but Vivi cut her off.


    "Don''t worry about him for now. He hasn''t lost sight of his goals, his need to get stronger or his reasoning. From now on though, I will make sure I stick close by him and not let him do anything this reckless in the future."


    "Alright then, enough about him. Let''s go look at the ones I''ve recruited," Kennedy said, getting up.


    "Are you sure thepany will be ok with this?" Malene asked, knowing just what kind of game Kennedy was ying..


    "It''s fine. They will work for thepany afterall so this is nothing more that helping others to help yourself," Kennedy replied with a smile and lead the two girls out of the office and down the hall to a seperate elevator.


    ...


    Brian was sitting at a rather luxurious looking bar while examining the man next to him. This man looked nothing like what Brian had pictured when he had been contacted by some of the people he knew in the city. He was rather skinny, pasty, and even seemed like he would fold under the pressure from just sitting next to Brian. His hair was a mess, his clothing dirty and he even smelled slightly. The main issue was that Brian felt disgust towards this person, something very simr to the feeling it had when meeting that ''cousin'' of Leona''s. All these things added up made Brian want nothing more than to be rid of this little rat.


    The problem was the rat had information he needed and was willing to work for him.


    He also had a special ability that would prove to be quite useful.


    "So you''re saying you used to work for Jimmy''s gang and you were there the night the warehouse was attacked."


    "Yeah, it was horrible. This guy... he was a fucking monster. No matter how many times we shot at him, he would either dodge the bullets or just not die..." The man took another few gulps of his drink to steady himself.


    This person who Brian had found was Fred who had escaped from the warehouse the night of the attack. Brian was trying to find a few people who would do things for him without asking too many questions and Fred needed some protection in case the ck ming psycho were to show up again. As far as they were concerned, they could use eachother in this way and both benefit.


    "Was he someone like you?" Brian asked. Normally, he would have asked if he was like us, but he had started to feel like he was different from guys like Laz or this piece of shit, Fred. Because of that, he was loathed topare himself to them.


    "Yeah, except much stronger. I hit him before you know. Full on, right in the front. I''ve used this ability to bust through fucking concrete walls. But this guy? He just smiled and shrugged it off. So I''m thinking, maybe... just maybe, his ability negates mine right? Like maybe hes got some sort of special power that cancels mine out? If that were the truth, then that''s that. You''ve seen it online and shit, where there''s always a counter to something in every game. But then he goes and hits the fucking warehouse. And he''s just killing people left and right like he is just stepping on ants. And those ck mes of his? They melting the motherfuckers into piles of meat sauce. I mean, don''t get me wrong, these guys were all fuck tarts who deserved it, but they were still people all the same. To see someone melting into a puddle in front of your eyes... damn...."


    As Brian listened to Fred''s ramblings more and more, he suddenly got really interested in this person who could kill without bating an eysh and who had no problem doing it in the goriest way possible. Brian felt like maybe Fred might be useful for now, but if he could somehow befriend this person, then he would have gained an incredible ally in the future.


    As he looked at this dirty and disgusting person, Brian felt like he wasn''t such an eyesore afterall. Especially if having him close by was the key to drawing out this homicidal killer.


    "So then what happened, at the warehouse," Brian took a drink and asked. He was really interested in hearing how the things there had yed out, hopefully without having to listen to Fred drone on and on.


    "Then Jimmy goes fucking nuts. The guys start shooting the shit out of this mother fucker and Jimmy goes and pulls out a grenadeuncher he had gotten in some arms deal and shoots him with it. It doesn''t exactly hit him directly, but he was caught up in the explosion and blown away. At this point, I had already gotten the fuck away from there but I was still watching from the shadows to see what would happen. And you know what that cockroach did?"


    "No. What?" Brian asked, a bit more exicted now.


    "He stand back up like he had just taken a nap, covered in fucking blood but not a damn scratch on him. ''WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?'' I yelled to myself and got the fuck out of there and didn''t look back." Fred finished his story and downed the rest of his drink. Even thinking about it now gave him nightmares.


    "So even after all that, he was fine?" Brian asked, amazed.


    "Seemed like it. I mean, the blood had toe from somewhere and when he was killing out guys, he was snapping necks and lighting them up like candles so it couldn''t havee from them. And yet, it was like... he didn''t just heal quickly or some shit. It was more like, the wounds just vanished as fast as they appeared. Scary, right?"


    "Yes... terrifying..." Brian said outloud while being secretly happy on the inside. If what this piece of human scum was saying was the truth, than this guy would be a perfect person to make friends with.


    "Yeah. I told the boss way back after this first night at the club that this guy wasn''t someone we should mess with, but he just told me I was being weak and a coward. But now, this coward is alive and he is six feet under, probably in liquid form. That asshole should have listened to me from the start, thinking he knew better. He wasn''t even close to being as smart as you, young sir. At least I know that following you will lead to a bright future," Fred didn''t forget to bootlick Brian while ordering another drink,pletely unaware that the ''boss'' he was now following was thinking of how he could use Fred as bait to get in touch with this masked individual.


    "So you said he worked for that club owner named Leo, right? Did you guys ever investigate and get a name or information about him?" Brian asked, trying to feel this situation out.


    "Yeah. Yeah. No address or anything. Even our contacts inside said that his information wasn''t recorded anywhere for some reason. but his name... Boss found that out right away. And it was a fucking crazy one too... like Lasso... or Lenard.. or... Lazlo... Lazlo. That''s right. He goes by the name of Laz though..."


    Just as Fred had worked out the attackers name, Brian suddenly stiffened up. He squeezed the ss in his hand so hard that it shattered, causing the pieces to fly everywhere, scaring Fred.


    "WHAT WAS HIS FUCKING NAME AGAIN YOU LITTLE SHIT?!?!?!"

 Chapter 174: Strange Connection

    Chapter 174: Strange Connection


    The girls came into Kennedy''s office and closed the door before Kennedy took a disbelieving look at Vivi.


    "What?" She asked.


    "You''re Vivi?" Kennedy asked.


    "Yes...why?"


    "Cause... you''re.... well..."


    "Human?"


    Kennedy didn''t respond. She just stood there are looked at this girl who was supposedly the little wolf pup she and Malene meet way back when. For her part, Vivi just smiled back and waited. Minutes stretched on and stil Kennedy just stood there and looked at her until Vivi finally couldn''t take it anymore.


    "FINE!!"


    Before Kennedy could say anything, in a sh of blue light, Vivi had suddenly transformed back into the same, albeitrger, wolf pup that she had known back then. Seeing this actually caused Kennedy to take a breath and rx.


    *Happy?*


    "You can never be too careful." Kennedy turned around and walked over to a ss table at the edge of the office next to the window and sat down, inviting Vivi toe sit with her. Vivi transformed back in another sh of blue light before sitting down next to Kennedy. As she looked on, Kennedy grabbed the tablet that was sitting on the table and turned it on. Hitting a few buttons, she then passed it over to Vivi with a smile.


    "What''s this?" Vivi asked, taking the tablet.


    "I promised you a meal didn''t I?" Kennedy smile as she pointed at the stuff on the tablet which was actually a menu.


    "OH MY.... HOW RICH ARE YOU?" Vivi was used to living out of a camper with Laz and always had to fight for everything they got. Be it money, living expenses or food, living had always been a bit of a challenge. Knowing that Kennedy was doing so well now when she remembered how much she had done just to make a few bucks back in Basin Falls, Vivi couldn''t help but be a little envious of Kennedy''s situation.


    "Me personally? Not very rich, but I''m saving what I make for the future. Things like this are just a perk of being in charge." Kennedy exined.


    "OH MY GOD, IT ALL LOOKS SO GOOOOOOODDDD!" Vivi squealed as she looked through what was avable. Everything on there was basically an ingredient with a few cooking suggestions. It didn''t conform to a usual type of menu since the main dishes would change daily, based on what demon beast meat was avable. Such a thing was just crazy for Vivi who was used to either eating everything grilled or having to freeze it forter. Seeing all the different dishes of fresh food was enought to make her mouth water and then some.


    Watching her, Kennedy had a lot of things she wanted to ask and to talk about, but she held back for now. The conversations they had online had to be kept mostly normal since cyber security was hard to enact thanks to a government who liked to listen in on everything. Kennedy couldn''t even use herpanies servers for it since there would be people higher up than her watching what she was doing and there were some secrets she didn''t want revealed just yet.


    "Oh, just ask already. I know you want to," said Vivi as she chose a few dishes that looked especially good to her.


    "How is he doing?" It wasn''t what she nned on asking first, but it ended up being the first question out of her mouth, almost as though they had a limited time together and therefore the number of questions would be limited, which wasn''t the case. Perhaps she had just been dying to ask this question for so long that it couldn''t help bute out first.


    Vivi couldn''t help but frown at this question. She wasn''t upset that it was being asked since Vivi herself was the one that requested that Kennedy and Malene didn''t inquire about Laz over the inte, but because she really didn''t know how to respond. It was clear that Kennedy was hung up on Laz and she could only assume that Malene felt the same way. It wasn''t like he was some great and unforgettable guy, but that the power in his blood was addictive and almost impossible to forget. Even Vivi herself had to be careful around the big brother of hers and make sure she didn''t fall in too deep, despite knowing that staying with him was the best path for her.


    Vivi''s real concern was that once she told Kennedy about the things that were happening with Ruby and Leona or the things that happened with Kat, that things might get awkward. After weighing her decision for a while, Vivi finally made up her mind..


    She told Kennedy everything.


    Well, everything that she had known up until this point. Obviously she wasn''t around Laz currently and had no idea he was doing what he was doing, but she could make her guesses.


    As Kennedy listened to the story, she kept her face as still as a mask, something she had learned to do since she had entered the business world. However even she couldn''t stop herself from crying after learning about what happened to Kat. After Vivi had finished the rest of the story, including the two new girls who seemed to be hanging all over Laz now, Kennedy sat back with a thoughtful look.


    BAM!


    Kennedy''s office doors blew open as a speeding figure rushed in, making Vivi jump in front. In contrast, Kennedy just reached over to a small touch screen on the ss table and pressed a button, causing the door to close behind the figure who was now standing there and panting before she slipped back into thought.


    Standing there in a blue and ck pleated, high waist skirt with a white top and red hair was Malene who had rushed over after hearing that Vivi was visiting.


    "WHERE IS SHE??" Malene demanded as she looked around. Her eyes suddenly fell on Vivi who was dressed amazingly simr to her and before Vivi could say anything, Malene screeched and ran over to her, directly locking her into a hug while rubbing her face against her hair.


    "OOOHHHH YOU''RE SOOOO CUTTTEEEEE...." It was unknown how Malene knew that Vivi was Vivi, but she knew all the same and hugged while Vivi hugged her back. When Malene had finally settled down, she set her sights on Kennedy with a rather angry look.


    "Why didn''t you text me and tell me she wasing?" Malene asked in annoyance.


    "I did email you," Kennedy responded, breaking away from her thoughts.


    "I ONLY CHECK MY EMAILS ONCE A DAY!"


    "Well, that''s a you problem. I''ve told you before you need to check it several times a day."


    "Why do that when you could just text me?"


    Kennedy just sighed as Malene took the other seat at the table and picked up the tablet to order food, almost as though this was her own ce.


    "So what did I miss?"


    "I was telling big sis here all about bug brother Laz," Vivi responded with a smile.


    "All about him? What kinds of trouble has he gotten into now?" Malene asked, looking over at Vivi.


    "I thought you said you were done with that uesless guy who only knows how to take advantage of women and never gives anything back?" Kennedy said with a smirk. Although she had been feeling rather down for a while over several things, being together with Vivi and Malene did much to improve her mood. While Vivi started retelling her story to Malene, Kennedy got up and grabbed some sses from the bar area and grabbed some juice out of the refrigerator. There were actually many different types of alcohol here as well, but that wasn''t something for the girls that were even younger than her to drink.


    Sitting back down, she poured a cup of the juice for both girls and just sat back while sipping on her own, enjoying the mood. It was truely rxing to be able to just sit and talk without having to worry about something or another. It was a feeling she missed from when she was younger.


    Seeing the juice in front of her, Vivi reached down and took as sip and was so stunned she almost dropped the cup.


    "What is this?" She asked, surprised.


    "What do you think it is?" Kennedy responded back.


    "It tastes... great, but the interesting part is that it contains a trace of cold energy that reminds me of the cold blue pond from where we used to live..." Vivi said while searching her memories as though trying to confirm it.


    "That''s exactly what it is actually," Kennedy said whileughing. Even Malene was giggling,


    "But... how?" Vivi asked.


    "OOHH. Let me." Malene said before Kennedy had a chance to answer.


    "So. After sis Kennedy her started getting stronger and taking over running parts of thepany, she set quite a few things in motion. She got a hold of me and started having me work on an outside secured server system so that we would be able to chat freely soon. I''m kind of good withputers afterall. Also, she ended up buying thend that "The Shack" was sitting on and purchasing the building that is now a burned out husk. Because of that, the park area in the wooded area behind that came into her personal possession and we''ve started doing experiments on both the nectar of the flower and the water in the pond. That''s actually how we''ve started an outside business so that all of the funds used to set up the server and start funding our group have been covered without having tracks back to this ce.


    One could tell by Malene''s expression as she exined things that she was very impressed with Kennedy''s ability to do all these things in a short amount of time. And the business was booming. Just a drop of the special water in arge vat of juice would be enough to several hundred gallons with this taste which was not only amazing but also good for a normal person''s health. Of course, that was just one product that hade from this as there were many others. There was also other things which the research had unearthed. For example, after various testing, the girls figured out that both pond and nt seemed to generate one drop of spirit liquid a day and using more than that required a longer amount of time to replenish it. But using more of it wasn''t a bad thing as the nectar or water that came back to take the ce of the now missing bits were actaully more concentrated that they had been before.


    Soon, the girls even had ns to start making products that were benefical for energy users only. Although how much they would sell it for or how it would be done, they were still working on that. Even now, there were only a few people working on the project for Kennedy and all of them were outside contracts not rted to thepany. She was being extra cautious to not keep ties too close to it, almost as though she knew that she would not be with thepany forever. For now though, it was a useful tool.


    As the food came and the girls started eating, Vivi finished the story and Malene, who had also cried when she heard about Kat, couldn''t help but sit back and lose herself in thought, much the same way that Kennedy had done earlier. Seeing this, Vivi couldn''t help but feel something was wrong.


    "What is it?"


    "What is what?" Kennedy asked, asnwering for Malene.


    "So far both of you have seemed to start thinking about something after hearing his story. I would have thought you two would be angry about him being involved with other girls. Arn''t you worried that he''s just being a jerk and going to forget you two?" This was the primary question in Vivi''s mind. Why did it seem like neither of them had this concern? Or was it that they already had stopped wanting to be with him?


    The girls exchanged a look before Malene reached out and grabbed Vivi''s hand that was resting on the table, setting her own on top of it.


    "It''s not that," Malene started off saying.


    "Actually, we could never be apart from him even if we wanted to.." Malene''s voiced trailed off, but the words confused Vivi.


    "What do you mean?" Vivi asked.


    "How much have you learned about Laz''s ability?" Kennedy asked, not exining right away.


    "He''s really strange. His ck mes, his body, his ability to use runes like I exined. It''s like, he''s not even covered the surface of what he is capable of and yet there is so much underneath that remains a mystery," Vivi answered honestly.


    "No one like him has ever appeared before, or at least, my awakening memories don''t recall someone like him," Vivi finished her thoughts and looked at the two girls.


    After exchanging another nce and a nod, both girls stood up. Kennedy removed her suit jacket and started unbuttoning her blouse while Malene lifted her shirt and pulled down the high waist of her skirt. Just as Vivi was going to ask what they were doing, she noticed something on their skin that she had seen many times before.


    On Malene''s waist was a very detailed and finely drawn ck, leafless tree that matched perfectly with the one on Kennedy''s chest just above her breasts. Unike the tattoo that Ruby had from her organization, these weren''t tattoos and didn''t have any other details with them. They looked like newly grown and young trees, remarkably simr to the ancient one that was on Laz''s chest. The other difference was that there was no full red moon behind it. It was just the tree itself. Despite looking like a younger version of the one Laz had, it still carried with it an innate feeling of power that couldn''t be imitated.


    "The reason why we arn''t worried about him ever being able to leave us is because he is already connected to us, through his own doing..."

 Chapter 175: The Coming Storm

    Chapter 175: The Coming Storm


    Fred looked at Brian in horror. He had no idea what he said that seemed to pissed him off, but now he couldn''t help but shrink back from the now enraged young man. Every other patron in the bar looked at Brian but seeing who it was, they just returned to their conversation. It was obvious to anyone that Brian was a regr at the bar and they knew not to say anything to him.


    After taking a few breaths to calm down, Brian sat back down and ordered a new drink while wiping off his hand with a napkin. After the drink had been set down, Brian took a sip and turned back to Fred, once again asking,


    "What was that person''s name again? And what did they look like?" Brian asked, the picture of serene. Fred calmed himself down and exined what he remembered about Laz from the confrontation outside of the club. As Brian listened, his expression became darker and darker, but he held onto his temper and didn''t say anything.


    After Fred described everything he remembered, he sat back and drank his drink while Brian just sat there, lost in thought. Finally, he ended upughing as though he had gone crazy.


    "This is actually better than I thought, much better. I can work with this... Yeah. I can bring them in... and get a detail. He will fall right into the trap. Obviously he won''t be expecting it..." Brian mumbled to himself as he grabbed out his phone and sent out a few texts. Then dialed a number and waited until the other side picked up.


    "I need a favor," Brian said.


    "Yeah, normal price. Uh huh. Right. I will let you know the time shortly. Less than a week for sure. Right, money wired first. Got it. Yeah, I will get the ''evidence'' together tonight. Not a problem." Brian finished his conversation and hung up the phone, turning back to Fred once again.


    "Well, looks like you''ve given me the perfect opportunity to do something I''ve been meaning to do. If you y things right for me, I can promise you will be well rewarded for it," Brian encouraged Fred while giving him a reassuring smile. Although Fred wasn''t the brightest, he saw that whatever it was that Brian wanted him to do wasn''t going to be simple. Sadly for Fred, he had no ce else to turn. At least for now. He needed money and this kid was the fastest way to it.


    "I will do my best," Fred said.


    "I know you will," Brian agreed, although his meaning was way different than what Fred had intended.


    Leaving the bar about half an hourter, Fred took off to a hotel that Brian had put him in for the night before pulling out his phone again and also a card that he had recieved. He dialed the number while walking over to his Mercedes.


    "Agent Wace, I''ve have some information that could be really useful for you. It''s about the cause of that warehouse fire and a very dangerous infected. Yeah, I would love to meet in person. Right, feel free to send me a text at this number with a meeting ce. Proof? Well, not only can I give you the one responsible, I can also get you a freebie that is also infected, although slightly less dangerous. Neither of them are anyone important, but one is a career criminal. Yes, I figured that would make things quite a bit simplier. Of course. have a good night Agent." Brian hung up the phone and smiled. He wasn''t taking any chances and would make sure to have offical government help with this. Afterall, when hunting a monster, extra guns would always be helpful. In the back of his mind, Brian had alreadye to the conclusion that people like Laz and Fred were the dangerous infected that the government was looking for, which meant that he had to be one of those chosen that they were also recruiting. Not only would he be a hero for capturing two enemies, he would also be a god that others could only look upon.


    And when all of this wasplete, he would have Leona locked in a nice little cell for his personal enjoyment until he was sick of her and decided to discard her like a few of the others.


    As far as he was concerned, he was going to be a new god afterall. He could therefore do whatever he wanted with his newfound godhood.


    ...


    Just as Brian was swimming within his delusions, Agent Wace was looking at aputer screen with information on Brian on it.


    "Is this everything?" Agent Wace asked.


    "Yes sir. Based on the phone number, this is definitely the kid who just called," replied the suit who was in front of theputer. Agent Wace looked over at the information and pulled out a notepad to write down a few things.


    "Looks clean. Son of a mayor huh? Small town, but the father is rich. probably bought his way to his office. Wants to run for state congress. No surprise there. Boy just graduated highschool and on his way to college in the fall. Hmm... I wonder who he is selling out?" Agent Wace spoke his thoughts outloud.


    "You believe him to be selling someone out sir?" The man on theputer asked.


    "Of course. It should be real information based on the fact that this kid is the son of a mayor and his father would probably kill him or worse, take away his trust fund if he messes up his father''s election chances. So I''m betting the information is true. However, when someone like this is willing to turn someone in, it means that they either need to silence them, or can''t get them on their side." Agent Wace informed the suited man as he kept writing notes..


    "Is that good for us or bad for us sir? It seems like we are being used..." The man asked.


    "It''s fine. Results are what matter, everything else is nothing more than the thin grey line. Unforunately, this isn''t the 50''s anymore or we could do things a bit more harshly. Sadly, we have to wait until we can varify that these people that the kid is selling out are actually infected. Otherwise, if it gets out that we attacked and arrested innocent people, things might get rough."


    "I understand sir."


    "Good. Set up the appointment with Brian at a local ce and I want the first flight out there."


    "Sir, you''re going yourself? But we have people setting up bases around the country for that." The suited man pointed out.


    "And that''s fine for the rest of the time. But this time, it seems like we hooked a big fish. Did you read the report about the fire from the warehouse? There were melted bodies in there. But there should have been a lot more people there, anywhere from 45 to 50 people were in that gang and have gone missing ording to our organized crime group in the area."


    "What does that mean sir?"


    "It means that not only did all of the members of the gang have disappeared, but it also means that for every bit of remains that we found, there were many more that vanished. Either the killer is really good, or they had help. And I mean a lot fo help to clean up that many bodies. The fact that there was so much liquid remains and based on the factors the doctors havee up with, the ones who died did so long before the fire."


    "That''s..." Getting Agent Wace''s meaning, the suit at theputer couldn''t help but frown. It was an almost inconceivable theory that was being suggested.


    "The real troubling part is that the FBI, DEA, and Homnd security were working together in a joint task force once it was discovered the number of arms deals that were going on there and yet now all of the arms are gone. That means that a whole lot of weapons disappeared very quickly. And no one is happy about that." Agent Wace finished. As he walked back to his office, he was greeted by several new people he was now assigned to work with. He walked in and closed the door, walked over and poured himself a drink. Although federal employees weren''t allowed to drink on the job, he didn''t really care.


    "This was suppose to be a big reassignment, but now they''ve got me chasing down special little snowkes that they need for testing. This is an insult," Agent Wace said to himself, yet outloud. But in the end, it was only the beginning. Afterall, once he was able to show results, the department would get major funding increases that would allow it to grow and expand. Although the general idea was epted in Washington, there were still a lot of people who were against giving them money when there were so many other departments that could use it. And the bases that were being set up all over the country, that had been put on halt after the ones in charged had learned of the bill. So for now, everything was in limbo, or so he ahd heard.


    But once he showed how dangerous these people could be, he would then be in charge of a country wide unit, something he could have never dreamed about while a member of the FBI before.


    That was the only reason he had taken this job.


    Therefore, he was going to be there so that when they got these two handed to them on a silver tter, he would be the new face of the department.


    He could only hope that they would cause more trouble and violence in the meantime. In fact, the louder, the better. If they resisted arrest, that would sweeten the pot even more, making it international news worthy.


    He had heard the stories from overseas already. Many ces were making seperate units like the U.S. and a good number of them were military based. It seemed like only the United States had the funding and the means to simply use internal services to begin the department, which made things much easier for him. Military would have been impossible to control, but civn forces were much more easily manipted.


    No he just needed to go meet with this Brian kid and get everything he could out of him.


    Things were looking up for Agent Wace.


    ...


    As these things were happening, something else was going on in the basement training rooms of the Hearn Company.


    Malene and Vivi were standing in front of the group of about twenty people as Kennedy rattled off a list of names that neither of them would remember. Malene was just awe struck that Kennedy had recruited so many different people who had abilities since she rarely ever came down here. In fact, most of the time when she visited with Kennedy, it was in her office. Malene had different interests that kept her behind aputer screen while Kennedy was the one that handled these sorts of matters. Each girl was good at what they did and needed eachother for that. Malene didunication on arge scale, reaching across the country and nations while Kennedy was getting people together in person to create a personal army.


    Vivi wasn''t as amazed at Kennedy, but was more so amazed at how strong these people were getting. They were obviously far from newbies and Vivi could tell they had fought actual creatures before, although something still seemed off to her about them.


    It was like, they had the taste of blood, but they didn''t produce an aura of it.


    That could only mean that although they have killed creatures before, they hadn''t been worried about living or dying at the same time. Since this was Kennedy''s business, Vivi chose to keep silent.


    After she finished reading their names, she turned to look at Vivi, as though seeking her opinion, something that Vivi didn''t miss out on.


    "What did you want to ask?" Vivi questioned.


    "What do you think?" Kennedy asked with a smile, which caused an almost audible reaction from the room, something that would never happen otherwise. Their leader, their goddess, had actually asked someone else''s opinion. On top of that, it seemed like she was asking a girl who was much younger than herself, one that even looked somewhat weak.


    They had no way to keep their surprise inside.


    Normally Kennedy would be mad about this, but she let it slide this time. Besides finding out things about Laz and getting the information about the next levels, there was another reason she had invited Vivi here and didn''t mind if Malene tagged along. Having both the girls here would cause these fighters of hers to rx their guards.


    "They are... ok." It was the best answer that Vivi could give. If shepared them to Laz, they would be nothing more that shiny pieces of stone, fun to look at, but useless otherwise. He could kill all of them before they would even have a chance to resist.


    "Only ok?" Kennedy had expected some reaction from Vivi, but this was even worse than she had anticipated. Both Vivi and Kennedy heard mumblings from the group after Vivi had given her evaluation and Kennedy had hoped they could at least learn something from this.


    "Have they seen livebat?" Vivi asked.


    "Yes, they each have killed at least ten low level beasts and at least two on the same level as themselves." Kennedy answered.


    "How many died?"


    "None..."


    "Why not?


    "Why would I let them die? Do you know how hard it was to find them in the first ce and convince them toe here, train and help me."


    "And that''s the problem. How many of them would have failed and died the first couple of fights they had? Five? Maybe Ten? If you want them to be useful, it means that they have to understand that it is either life or death when they fight. Without that, they will simply show cowardness and run the first time their lives are actually threatened."


    Nodding her head, Kennedy understood. She was still thinking along the lines of how things are and not training her people for how things are going to be.


    With a sharp glint in her eye, Kennedy turned back to the crowd who was looking on, somewhat nerviously. Especially those that would have died the first fight had things happened the way they should have been allowed to.


    Every single person knew that when you got that look ,they were about to undergo something hellish which might kill them.

 Chapter 176: Teacher Vivi

    Chapter 176: Teacher Vivi


    Looking out over the crowd, Kennedy finally had understood what she had been missing, however that also added a bit of sadness to her face.


    ''I wonder how many times he has actually risked his life fighting...'' The thought shed through her head at the same time if shed through Malene''s head. Both girls had a momentary bout of sadness that soon left.


    They could no longer dwell on the things that have already happened. They could only advance towards the future.


    "Line up. We''re going right now," Kennedy said with conviction. After having her team''s shortings revealed to her, Kennedy immediately thought to remedy the problem. But Vivi had another idea.


    "Hang on a second there big sis. How about we do things another way?" Vivi asked with a sweet smile.


    "Another way? What did you have in mind?" Kennedy asked, looking towards her. Malene looked at her as well, wondering what she was thinking. In truth, Malene wished that Aqua was with her at the moment, or even her newest spirit friend Lc. But they had ventured off together for some training with Aqua leading the way. With things the way they were, Malene preferred it this way. Unlike before where she was only able to fight using Aqua, she had gained her own abilities. This was the only reason that Aqua felt she was safe enough to leave by herself. Otherwise, Aqua''s growth wouldn''t be as exceptional as it is now since Malene wouldn''t have been able to go out with them as much.


    Had they been here, Malene would have loved to have had Kennedy''s recruits fight Aqua as Aqua would have kicked all their asses. She figured that might show them just howcking they are. After all, she understood Kennedy''s plight in not wanting the recruits she had trained so much to be killed uselessly. And showing them a battle they can''t win would have done wonders for their growth. Still, now that Vivi was offering something, Malene was quite curious.


    "I happen to have a rather special ability that can... help to show them what they might one day fight," Vivi said, wording it rather strangely.


    "A special ability?" Kennedy asked, thinking that she was up to something and wanting to y along.


    "Yes. An ability to summon a demon beast here for them to fight. But there is only one problem..." Vivi replied, acting hesitant.


    "What''s that?"


    "Well, I can bring the creature here... but I can''t control it in the slightest..."


    "What?"


    "Huh?" Malene added on, not getting that this was a show. She continued,


    "What''s the point of bringing a creature in that you can''t control? Is it super strong?"


    "Yeah, very strong. I''m betting it can eat about half the people here," Vivi responded with a nod while looking at the crowd in front of her. Although they didn''t show any sort of expression, Vivi was more than strong enough to hear that many of them had increased heart rates and were taking faster breaths.


    "EAT THEM?!?!" Malene was confused and shocked, wondering why this was a good idea ording to Vivi. Although she had agreed that they needed harsher training, half of them getting eaten would be over kill, wouldn''t it?


    Kennedy smiled at this. She was starting to get an idea about what Vivi wanted to do. Even she noticed the nerviousness in her group''s demeanor and that was what she was going for. They had started to get an inted ego about their abilities which needed to be crushed. She couldn''t do it herself as they would just attribute that to Kennedy''s power. So if Vivi had some sort of way to do that, she would be greatful.


    "Well... i mean, it''s not like it could swallow them all at once so it''s fine..." Vivi''s voice trailed off.


    "Ok. You have all heard what is being suggested. Thoughts?" Kennedy suprisingly asked everyone for their thoughts about Vivi''s idea. As she looked out over the crowd, she noticed that they were a bit nervous, but there was also some looks of disbelief in their faces, as though they didn''t think that Vivi was being serious. Despite their ws, they had fought demon beasts before and had seen real action. So why would this be different.


    One of the young, blonde haired girls in the front row stepped forward and said "Mam.".


    "Go ahead Renee."


    "I think it will be fine. But I must ask, will this be a one on one challenge? We have gotten used to working in groups against demon beasts so a bit of adjustment would be needed to fight one on one. If that were the case, wouldn''t it be better if someone as strong as you mam were to train us?" Renee asked Kennedy before turning her head to Vivi with a slight look of mockery. As far as Renee was concerned, if this girl wanted this thing to challenge them, it would only be right to do so when they were at their strongest. Otherwise, what was the point? Wouldn''t fighting the boss be better than wasting their time on whatever animal Vivi had in mind. This was also her way of sucking up to Kennedy


    Just as she thought that she had posed a question that would disregard Vivi''s purposal, Viviughed.


    "Ha ha. Oh damn... This girl... Ha ah ah ha."


    Hearing Vivi''s mocking words, the girl turned a bit red while her face disyed an obvious frown. When Vivi finally stoppedughing at this movie like scene, she finally said,


    "It''s going to be all of you fighting this creature at once. No need for any one on one''s or group fights. All twenty some of you can work together. Any other problems?" Vivi asked while looking at the group. Seeing their smug faces caused Kennedy to frown but made Vivi that much happier. The more arrogent they were now, the better it would be when they fellter.


    "I guess that''s that. Ten minutes and we will start. Clear the room." Kennedy quickly gave out instructions before turning to Vivi.


    "Is there anything you need?" She asked, but then added,


    *You can actually trol this thing right?* Kennedy was asking half becuase she wanted to make sure it didn''t get lose somewhere and also half because she didn''t want all of her people to die due to their carelessness.


    *Of course. That creature will be me afterall?*


    *YOU''RE FIGHTING!?* In a strange twist, Malene somehow injected herself into their conversation, surprising all three of them.


    *You heard us?*


    *Is this now a group chat?*


    Kennedy and Vivi both had their own questions and it was obvious this was the first time it had happened to any of them so Malene tried to exin.


    *Well, yeah. I was able to catch the bits of conversation that were going on between you both and figured I would listen in. And then suddenly, when i spoke out, you all heard me. Kinda cool, huh?*


    Staring at Malene''s pleased face, Vivi turned back to Kennedy and just said,


    *I need a room. When the timees, I wille out,* Vivi said. Kennedy then directed her over to her own private bathroom and sat down in the only two chairs that were there. One for her and one for Malene.


    *You sure that Vivi is up for this?*


    *Well. I have never seen here fight before, but you have. Do you think she is up for it?*


    *After following that man around for almost two years, I think she is...*


    *Sounds like you''re not sure.*


    *Well, I mean. How do you know? How do you know that a guy who has been on the run since he left here has actually grown. And that''sing from saying that we have grown as much as we did, based on the money that you have spent. They didn''t have that...*


    *I know. But if she says she can, then we have to believe her.*


    *Alright."


    It didn''t take long before the ten minutes was up, and everyone was ready in battle gear. A few of the members of the group wore heavy padding including balistic vests and shields along with helmets while other members had lighter, Ker based clothing that allowed for faster movement. While a few carried fire arms, most of them did not and this was at Kennedy''s judgement. She didn''t want them to be to relient on the guns when they needed to develop themselves first. She remembered something Laz had told her once, that although guns worked for now, they wouldn''t always work. What was the point in having abilities if you weren''t going to use them.


    Seeing them gather and set themsevles up, Malene couldn''t help butugh as she wondered if it was intentional that they had set themselves up like a MMO raiding party with tanks in the front, melee in the middle and long range charaters in the back. Despite this, Malene had to admit that it was the set up that made the most sense.


    As they all waited, facing the bathroom door, nothing happened.


    One minute went by.


    Then two.


    Five minutes.


    After ten minutes had gone by, the originally tense group had already started rxing, the tanks setting their shields to rest on the floor while some of the others actaully sat down. When Kennedy saw this, her eyebrows twitched, but she didn''t say anything and continued sitting there while drinking some coffee with Malene. Mentally though, they were sharing quite a few things.


    *Wow, howzy can they get.*


    *Sigh. I know. I know.*


    *She''s doing this on purpose...*


    *Yeah, I know she is. And it''s working perfectly.*


    *Are they sitting down and acting uninterested?* Vivi''s mental voice chimmed in.


    *Yes.*


    *Good.*


    *This was your n?* Kennedy asked, a look of regret in her face.


    *Just the start. But as you can see, they are treating this as though it was a game.*


    *I see it and you''re right.*


    *See? That''s why I like my big sisters so much. Whenever I argue with that brick for brains brother of mine, he just wants to do things his way and hear no excuses.*


    *Well, I think even he would admit this is a good n...* Malene giggled while thinking of Vivi and Laz''s rtionship.


    *He would... but only because it was something he suggeted to me in the past...* Vivi admitted. Both girls couldn''t help but smile at this.


    Just as they were talking in their heads, Renee walked over, having left her position in the middle line. She was also serving as the coordinator for this excerise by leading the entire team.


    "Mam," Renee said, standing at attention. Kennedy didn''t respond back and instead, just looked up over her coffee up at Renee, neither smiling nor frowning.


    "I''m not sure what has happened, but maybe we should check to see if your friend is..."


    Before she could even finish, razor sharp spears of ice had risen from the floor and bashed into all of thezily assembled group members, sending many of them flying while only one or two people were able to dodge it. At some unknown time, a almost invisible white mist had drifted out from the bottom of the bathroom door and made a very fineyer which covered the entire floor of the training room. Had someone been paying attention to it, they would have noticed it.


    But they had failed to take it seriously.


    As the fallen members tried to pick themselves back up, Renee, frozen at the sudden attack, swore to herself while running back into ce. She had just gotten there and was about to organize people into position when the bathroom door flew open and a shadow, devoid of all light, pounced forward. Before Renee could identify it, it had reached the three closest members of the group. The three tanks grabbed their shields as quickly as they could to try to get a defense up, but in the end, all three were touched by something and their eyes went wide. Looking at them from a distance, one could see a purple glow surrounding the victims and freezing them quickly. Before other''s had pressed what happened, all three tanks were now ice statues with their life and death unknown.


    Just as the remaining members were about to go nuts randomly start firing everywhere, arge, seven foot tall wolf appeared in front of them. The ck fur seemily devoid of all color while the white star mark over the eye lent it a dangerous sort of appeal.


    Yes, Vivi had taken her full size form and was about to teach these kids a lession.

 Chapter 177: Group Fight

    Chapter 177: Group Fight


    Malene and Kennedy both froze on the spot as they took in Vivi''s huge form. Malene had seen it before and even described it to Kennedy, but back then she was still much smaller and didn''t look nearly as majestic as she did now. Her jet ck fur had tiny sparkles of white dotted through it, almost as though one were looking at stars tucked into the night sky. Along her paws were another patch of white at the bottom of her feet, making it look like she was walking on clouds. To top it all off, a rather soft purple energy seemed to be floating around her and spreading off onto the floor, helping to spread along the almost invisible gas. If one were to look close enough, they could almost see little ice crystals within the energy.


    While Laz''s ck me could melt a person within a few breaths, Vivi''s purple ice could freeze them almost as quickly.


    Standing there with the three ice statues next to her, Vivi looked like some sort of mystical beast returned to life. Her normally sky blue eyes were now instead a deep gold color that froze those foolish enough to look into them. Of the almost two dozen fighters that Kennedy had assembled and trained, nearly half of them were on the ground having lost all will to resist.


    For her part, Renee was still standing strong while trying to get everything back to order. A few of them moved up to form ranks, but the ones who were the closest to Vivi and also happened to be the tanks seemed utterly unable to even hear her yells. Only one of them was able to withstand the pressure Vivi let off and assume a defensive stance, as though just that one person alone would be enough. The other two who were not frozen, were unable to move.


    With a quick step and a casual flick of her tail, the two useless tanks were now just as frozen as the ones she had attacked at first. For the group, this meant that five out of their number had been beaten even before the fighting began, something that Kennedy didn''t fail to notice.


    "How ironic that the ones who were suppose to be the strongest were also the first to fall."


    Malene could only nod her head at Kennedy''s observation since the final remaining tank was actual female.


    Renee was finally able to get everyone on their feet, something that was only possible since Vivi had just stood there and let it happen. She knew that if she had acted before and not stopped, the entire group would be nothing more than fun little ice sculptures.


    As the group pulled back together, Vivi just stood there watching. Although it seemed like she was just having fun, she was actually remembering a conversation she had with Laz one time when they talked about games he used to y.


    "MMO''s"


    *And what are those? And follow up, why would you think of a group battle like a game you used to y?*


    The conversation had started when they had been thinking of how you would work a group battle. Vivi and Laz often had these conversations when they were bored with nothing else to do. For his part, Laz had watched, read, and yed a ton of war games when he was younger. Travelling around with his parents, more often than not, he would be stuck in front of a aptop while they did whatever they were doing. And as most young men did, he too enjoyed battle type games.


    So when they were talking about fighting off a demon beast, Vivi asked Laz what he would do if he ever had to fight with a group. Laz asked exactly how big a group she was wondering about and she just threw out the number six. As such, Laz suddenly had ideas pop up in his head about the MMO genre he used to y.


    So then he went on to exin it.


    "Well, you basically split everyone up into one of three categories which are then broken up into other sub categories. But for now, let''s focus on the three. Offense, Defense and Support." Hearing him say this, Vivi nodded her head since it seemed like the most basic sort of team.


    "Ok, so, once you have that basic setup going, it''s a normal sort of party y, the holy trinity if you will..." Laz rattled off.


    *You lost me,* Vivi replied. It wasn''t that she didn''t understand what he was trying to get at, but it was more like she didn''t understand the term and therefore didn''t know if he meant what she was hearing.


    "Ok. So, the idea is that anyone who can take a hit is a tank. They are defense. They stand in front and block the shit from hitting the others. Pretty simple right?"


    *Yes. But... what if the creature is breathing fire? Or acid? They aren''t they just asking to die first?* Vivi asked, thinking of some of the things they had fought in the past.


    "Yes. But, those are the outliers of the situation and what I''m telling you about is merely the way it works. Not that it will work in all situations or that we could actually use it in the real world. It just provides the format. Now then, once those defensive tanks lock down the demon beast or beasts, it''s up to the offense to take them out. No matter what type of offense, they either hit it from afar or get in close and hit it before backing off. And they are the types that aren''t as body built as the tanks, so they have to avoid attacks as much as possible."


    *Ok, I am with you so far.*.


    "Last but not least, the support. They have to stay away from the enemy as much as possible and support the group in whatever form they can," Laz finished up.


    *That''s just basic stuff though...* Viviined after he finished. She was expecting more.


    "It is. It is the most basic of basics. But that''s why it''s awesome. Because itys down the ground work for the team and let''s everyone figure out their general role beforehand. Much better than people who have no idea what they can do. Or if a team randomly gets together, everyone can name off their position and that will give them a quick idea of what the team consists of, it''s strength and it''s weakness. Obviously when you have a normal group of people you hang out with or kill with, then everything is much clearer and roles are better defined. But for a start, you can''t lose with the holy three."


    As Vivi spent some time thinking about it, she had to admit that it was better to be simple and clean as opposed toplicated and fucked up. Therefore, after talking with Laz a bit more and reading up on some of the games that used that system, Vivi had posted the group battle form to the website, the Flower and the Pond. With this info, Kennedy had used it as a base to train her team and since it was a gaming concept to begin with, everyone caught on quickly.


    And watching it in action right before her eyes, Vivi couldn''t help but admit that it was effective because it was simple. Everyone knew were they had to be and what they had to be doing, despite being attacked and already losing five teammates.


    As they formed up, there was a noticeable gap in the front with only one person standing with a shield. Seeing this, Vivi didn''t think too much of it and started walking towards the lone tank.


    The tall female with the shield held her ground as therge wolf walked her way. She could barely keep her legs from falling out from underneath her when she noticed two more teammates walk up to her sides.


    "Fill in the gaps. Secondary tanks into position and switch to defense. Once the beast is locked down, hit it with everything you have. Don''t get behind it or we can''t help you if we lose sight of you. MOVE IT." Renee''s orders came fast, getting everyone into position. Had Vivi been in her human form, she would have smiled at this since all of these tactics were things that Laz had told her and she had posted.


    Since the team was doing as she instructed, Vivi was feeling rather proud. Of course, that wasn''t going to stop her in the slightest. The simple fact was that she was much stronger than them with her realm and level matching Laz. In contrast, the members of the group were at most, mid level Condensation realm, having just stepped into it while most were still at the early stages of the low level Condensation realm. It was still impressive that they, as a group, were this strong.


    As the team had now formed up, with three tanks in front and everyone else spread out behind them, Vivi began her assault. She charged the remaining tank girl, head on. As she was about to hit, the tank girl''s hands shed an almost invisible wall sprung up in front of her. As Vivi ran into it, she slowed just in time to make it seem like the wall had stopped her. Thinking this was their chance, Renee yelled out, "ATTACK."


    Several gun sts were heard as the bulletsunched towards Vivi along with a glowing arrow, a spinning disk, what looked like nt vines, and several other colors and shapes. At the same time, a couple of people quickly approached to attack Vivi''s body, their human forms distorted, giving way to various ws, des, and scales among others.


    Watching all this, Vivi realized that although they had memorized what she wrote, they had no idea how to actually put it into y. What looked like a well formed group devolved into nothing more than a mob pile up.


    Sighing at thisck of progress, Vivi''s eyes suddenly glowed a sh of gold before she charged forward, ignoring the attacks heading her way.


    mming into the wall, she sent the tank girl and her two helpers flying before they could even brace themselves. They had backed off due to the various attacks their teammates were throwing around since they didn''t want to get identally hit and because of that, they weren''t ready.


    After the tanks were down, Renee had no idea what to do at this point. In every group battle they had run before this, once the pray was locked down and everyone attacked, the beast would die without a doubt. Seeing this one ignore every attack andunch one itself broke whatever thought train was in Renee''s head. The only thing that shed in it was to once again form up.


    Just as she was about to yell it, Renee heard a a scream of fear and looked over, only to notice that anyone close to Vivi had already been frozen and now she was zapping around, freezing everyone else at random. Renee''s ability involved the vines that Vivi had seen earlier. Her ability allowed her to lock things into position and make it hard for them to move. But with her poor control and the power difference between her and Vivi, she never stood a chance.


    Even before another thought popped into her head, she blinked her eyes once and noticed that the wolf was standing over her, as though it was about to snap it''s jaws and rip her in half.


    Despite being frozen in fear, Renee stayed standing, ring at the wolf''s whose hot breath was in her face. Just when she felt like she might pee herself from the pressure, she suddenly saw the wolf shake it''s head and whine as though the smell of Renee had bothered it.


    While not sure if she was angry or confused at being able to live, Renee watched on as the wolf slowly walked up to the table Malene and Kennedy had been sitting while drinking coffee and in a sh of light, the wolf was gone while only the young girl remained in it''s ce.


    Seeing this, Renee''s jaw hit the floor while her legs finally gave out.


    Looking around at all the ice statues, Malene just shook her head while Kennedy leaned forward.


    "Why didn''t you kill her too?" Kennedy asked Vivi.


    "She''s not a bad leader, just inexperienced..." she replied.


    "But you killed the rest of them?" Kennedy asked while handing Vivi a small cup of coffee.


    "And now she will have to live with this failure for the rest of her life while the blood of her teammates will forever stain her hands...Shame..."

 Chapter 179: Discussion Of Paths

    Chapter 179: Discussion Of Paths


    As Lazid back and rxed, he couldn''t help but let his mind wander and dive into the information that A''ruya had given him.


    ''Foundation Realm and Void Origin... I can kind of guess that foundation realm is like building a foundation. But didn''t I already do that with the condensation realm? Or wait.. she said condensation realm was mixing the cement and foundation realm wasying the base. But what kind of base would that be? I mean, am I building a basement for a house or like a solid base for a statue? I mean, how much more vague could you be? Still, I guess this gives me something to work with. Maybe Vivi would be able to help after I tell her what I''ve learned? I doubt anyone else has made it this far... or at least if they have, they themselves have no idea what to do next. Still, if this crazed alien is telling me these things, I can''t help but wonder if there are other aliens telling other humans things? And to what point? Why help us? Don''t aliense to Earth to take over the? Why would aliens want to help the people of Earth... Unless they want something. That''s right, she has said that she wants something but that I am too weak to even bother helping with that. ARRRHHHH.... This shit makes my head hurt....''


    As Laz continued on with his internal monologue, he failed to notice that there was some stirring going on from where he had covered the girls up. Leona, who had passed out first, was starting to wake up. At first, she was confused, then a bit frightened, but then feeling the warmth left next to her and seeing Ruby still sleeping soundly, Leona started looking around and noticed that Laz had crawled back into the pool.


    She still had many questions about certain things, but for the moment, she felt nothing short of content. In fact, she couldn''t help but pinch herself while wondering if everything had been a dream. As she moved around a bit though, she felt the lingering wetness from the nights activities and realized that it was no dream. She even felt the surging energy within her body and moving her hand to outside of the sleeping bag, she ran her fingers along the stone floor. Even without having her ws out, she was able to jam her fingers right through the stone and leave five grooves full of broken stone. Although this ended up making some noise, Laz was too lost in thought to tell.


    Ruby wasn''t however.


    Rolling over from herfortable position, she noticed that Leona was awake and staring at the damage she had inflicted on the ground. Without saying anything, she slid over and draped herself over Leona, looking at the indents in the ground. Seeing what Leona had done, Ruby brought her hand over as well and slid her fingers in a parallel direction, causing a sort of crossed shape to appear. She was also able to slide her fingers though the stone floor as easily as Leona had. Seeing this, Leonaid back and looked up at the ceiling distracted while Ruby continued toy on her, moving her finger around through the stone.


    "What''s on your mind?" Ruby finally asked.


    "Imagine just how much stronger we''ve be... and yet he didn''t hesitate to bring us here and share it''s secret with us without wanting anything in return," Leona answered back.


    "Ohh... But we certainly gave him something in return, didn''t we?" Ruby said while smiling.


    "I would have done that anyway..." Leona shot back while turning red.


    "Why?"


    "I... don''t really know... but it just felt... right?" Leona said, struggling to remember the various thoughts that she had that had led up to this moment.


    "I felt the same way... There is something about him that is hard to put into words. It''s like... a primal desire or something along those lines?"


    "I felt it too..."


    "... And want it again, right?" Ruby finished her sentence with a smile.


    "Still though, you''re right," Ruby continued on. "He didn''t have to share this with us. Even if it no longer matters to him, it will be beneficial to anyone who can use it in the future. There is so much to learn about it and things to do with it..."


    "You''re going to bring your group here?" Leona asked, thinking along the same lines as Ruby.


    "That''s the n. After all, we can only do so much by ourselves. We will need support and since the leader trusts him for who knows what reason, there is no reason I should hide this from her."


    "What is it like... doing what you do?" Leona asked, feeling interested.


    "It''s exciting... and dangerous. There is a thrill every time you go toplete a mission. It''s not like just finding someone and taking them out. That would be fine in a movie, but in real life there is a lot more involved. You ever see those true crime shows when they tell you how someone hired someone to wack their significant other? Those people are all amateurs. To really make it happen the right way, the key is that you can''t leave any tracks. The best kills are ones where they have no idea what happened much less who could be responsible. The fact is, you need to be like a ghost. You move in, get the job done and move out just a quickly. If they start finding pictures of your face or what you look like, it get''s much moreplicated and you can''t be used as much. In this age, or so Lady Mathilda tells us, it''s almost impossible to do a job perfectly. There are just way too many cameras and ways for people to get your picture. Which is why it''s the youngest of us who are the most used since we are the least well known." Ruby went on to tell Leona about various times she went out on jobs and what it was like along with her own personal feelings. In truth, Ruby had only really done a grand total of three jobs, only on of which she did by herself. She had thought she knew what she was doing, but by the time things had finished and the target was dead, she had almost screwed up numerous times.


    It was a job that she would never forget..


    Listening to all this, Leona didn''t really know how to feel. Ruby was only a few years older than her and yet had already done so much and seen so much from a much younger age. Leona was actually feeling like she was missing out on the world. The strange thing was, if she was to stop and think about it, she wasn''t opposed to the thought of taking people''s lives. In normal society, that kind of thinking would scare a normal person and make others look down on them, the value of human life and all. But to Leona, this was bing her new normal and she didn''t feel bad about it in the least. Maybe it had to do with her mindset; she no longer thought of herself as normal.


    As the girls talked, Laz continued toze around in the pool while the tiny spider just floated on the surface of the water, strangely content with just being near Laz. Laz didn''t question this either. He had heard it once from Vivi when he asked her about why she had followed him. Due to this, he just figured there would be other such creatures that would find him likable and didn''t put much thought into it.


    Just as he was about to give up, knowing that he needed a lot more time and a bit more guidance to get anywhere, he heard the sounds of feet stepping into the pool next to him. Opening up his eyes, he noticed that Ruby had slipped in on his left and Leona had slipped in on his right. Since he was sitting on the stone step at the side of the pool, the water was onlying up to his waist. As the girls slid in next to him, although their waists were covered, the rest of them wereid bare.


    The water itself couldn''t be described as hot or cold. For whatever reason, the water was at around body temperature which made it feel like you were sitting insideyers of gently wrapped silk that clung to your body, but neither heated nor cooled you.


    As the girls climbed in and slid up next to him, Ruby seemed to shake a little bit before picking up Laz''s arm and wrapping it around her back. She then firmly nted his hand on her exposed breast, acting as though it was there to support her mounds. Laz naturallyplied with her unvoiced request. He slid his pinky and ring finger underneath her small yet full breasts while gently pinching her pierced nippe between his middle and pointer fingers. He thenpleted his custom hand bra by rest his thumb on the top of her breast. After doing all this, he pulled her in closer so that her body touched as much of his as possible.


    Feeling the intimate touch along with the warmth from his skin, Ruby couldn''t help but sigh with content. It might had looked like a sexua act, but since it was just holding with no fondling, it actually ended up being just a much closer style of cuddling.


    After Ruby took this bold move, Leona ended up doing the same. The biggest difference was that Leona had a lot more to cup and Laz''s hand didn''t fully enclose her entire mound, but the set up involving his fingers gently pinching her tempting dark nippes was intact along with most of her body pressed up against his.


    It was a rather interesting sight as they allid there, lost in each other. It might have been sexua if other steps were taken, but instead just ended up being a melding of bodies.


    Just as Leona and Ruby were going to say something about the previous night, Laz ended up speaking up. He went through the various things he had learned about the next two realms that had been revealed to him. Hearing what Laz was saying, both girls ended up forgetting what they wanted to say and started ying close attention to what Laz had to say. All of this was things they needed for the future and they didn''t want to miss a word of it.


    After Lazpleted his story, the girls were silent for a minute before starting to ask questions and offer their own thoughts on the things Laz had conveyed.


    Although the information had been given to him, they both had insights based on the things they had experience while walking their own paths. Once shared with Laz, he ended up with a much clearer picture as to what he should do in the future.


    As the continued to talk and share thoughts, Laz ended up releasing a bit of controlled ck me into the water, allowing it to warm up quite a bit which caused Ruby and Leona to rx even more, making it much easier to exam their own thinking.


    Perhaps it was just Laz''s imagination, but he almost thought he heard a bell ring at some point, as though it was the past and some great event was being announced.


    He didn''t share this though, but if he had, he would have known that Leona and Ruby felt like they heard the same thing.

 Chapter 181: Full Force Spar

    Chapter 181: Full Force Spar


    After introducing Tyr to Vivi didn''t take long. In fact, they seemed to get along well although Laz had no idea why or even how since as far as he knew, Tyr couldn''t talk. But for some reason, Vivi had no problemmunicating with the little guy. In fact, at one point, the little guy had hoped up on her head and she bolted outside, as though she was going to show him something.


    Either way, Laz was d they were getting along.


    As the week went by, Laz didn''t see much of Vivi or the little guy and he just thought they had a lot to do. In truth, although Vivi was doing stuff with Tyr, it wasn''t to the point where she couldn''t be home with Laz. It was actually that she was avoiding him. She never knew how, but Laz always had a sense of when she was hiding something. Most of the time he was as dense as a rock, but when it came to her, he seemed to have a six sense. Therefore, to avoid a situation where she would have to lie to him about meeting with Kennedy and Malene, she was just out and about instead.


    For Laz''s part, the week went by like normal. He trained in fighting techniques with Dee and runes with Reggie, practicing different group tactics and ns. Most of the time, he would act like the enemy while Dee, Leona and Reggie all fought him as a team. After the events in the cave, Leona was more of Laz''s match than she had been before, but only to the degree of training with her body. Laz was still a lot tougher than her, but she was able to use her advantage in agility to make up for it. There was even a practice round when Ruby had dropped by to y, allowing the match to be 4 vs. 1. Although Laz still came out on top, it wasn''t in such an exaggerated way.


    It could have been expected, but Dee and Reggie were amazed by abilities Leona and Ruby ended up showing. Although it was their first time meeting Ruby and seeing her abilities, they had trained together with big sis Leona several times before this. Comparing that to now was likeparing twopletely different people.


    With Reggie using his runes to boost the entire party, Dee would charge Laz at the front and do everything she could to stop his movements as much as possible while Ruby and Leona harassed Laz from the sides. The reason Laz ended up having so much trouble during this sparring session was because he had to be noticeably more gentle when dealing with Dee than he did when dealing with Ruby and Leona and this was something they took full advantage of. Ruby loved the agility boost she got from Reggie as it allowed her to move like the flowing wind, striking Laz quickly and retreating before he could respond. Leona was far more viscous though and would jump in range, strike several times to draw his attention before changing directions. Due to this, he would then have to switch to Dee or Ruby which would give Leona time to prepare her attacking again.


    The most interesting part to note about the sparing was it was done without them using their normal abilities and instead just fighting with the strength of their bodies. If Leona had brought out her ws, Laz would have had far more than just bruises to worry about while his ck mes would probably kill everyone there. To top it all off, because Dee and Reggie still weren''t use to using their inner energy without the use of their special ability, Laz had to resist using strong moves like his Dragon Fist or other such attacks, leaving him to deal with several sets of arms and legs using only his pair.


    But that was ok.


    For Dee and Reggie, it gave them the chance to experience real lifebat. For Ruby and Leona, it gave them a chance to get used to their own strengthen bodies. The worst thing that can happen to someone who gets stronger is not knowing how to use their own strength. Although Laz had to hold back most of the time, the sparing allowed him to better control his strength as well, allowing him to be much more precise.


    As they finished, Ruby ended up having to leave quickly since she had some work to do for ck Rose. Dee and Reggie ended up making excuses as well, although Laz had some idea that they were doing this to give him and Leona alone time together. Although Laz was right, he didn''t know that it also gave them alone time from the otherwise overbearing Leona.


    As they stood there alone with the warm, soft summer breeze caressing their skin, Laz could help but take the time to soak in thest remnants of the setting sun. Leona stood by his side, also enjoying the moment while holding his hand. As soon as the sun disappeared though, she backed away from Laz and put some distance between them.


    Due to the practice involving other people, Laz had worn a pair of shorts although he had left his upper body bare, showing not only his pale white skin but also the tattoo that stood out in stark contrast to his skin. Leona had also just worn a sports bra and tight fitting shorts to allow her a full range of movement. As they stood there facing each other, they both ended up smiling. Leona quickly started to fix her hair, tying it back into a tight pony tail. Laz didn''t do anything, other than watch her.


    "Same asst time?" Laz asked while looking at her prepare herself.


    "Of course," Leona answered back.


    "You think you can win this time?" Laz asked a bit yfully.


    "I think that I will make it very difficult for you either way," Leona responded back, just as yfully. Before Laz could respond back, Leona attacked while circting her energy. Her ws grew out while her eyes took on their feline quality. At the same time, her light brown skin became covered in very fine and almost unnoticeable dark fur. She attack as though facing a mortal enemy, not the man she cared for deeply.


    Laz didn''t stay idle and let her attack either. He circted his energy as well, allowing the subtle ck mes to cover his body while his pale white skin became even whiter and looking as though it was glowing underneath the dark sky. His normally fist size tattoo also went through changes, with the branches of the ck and dead looking tree expanded out, covering the upper portion of his chest and arms with ck lines almost resembling a tribal style marking. His eyes changed as well, turning from their deep blue into the blood red that he only disyed when his blood boiled and his energy raged.


    It might have taken a moment to described all of the changes that took ce, but it actually only took around a breath of time to happen.


    He met Leona''s attack by raising his arms, causing her ws to scrape his forearms, but also stopper her momentum. He thenshed out with a kick while drawing back the ck mes. Although they were his most powerful ability, they were only something he used towards enemies so there was no need for them now.


    Leona effortlessly avoided the kick and struck back, flinging her knee at Laz''s head, which he stopped with his palms. Leona dropped down before he had a chance to steady himself and swept his feet with a kick, causing Laz to start to fall. Before he hit the ground, he pped out his palms, hitting the dirt floor and flipping himself over, just in time to meet Leona''s w swipe at his chest. He barely avoided by jumping backwards, but she continued to press.


    Back and forth the fight went,st almost two hours. Leona and Laz jumping back and forth, striking and retreating whileying waste to the area around them. Whether it was Leona''s ws tearing apart trees or shing rocks or Laz''s sheer strength smashing craters in the ground, nothing was spared. The simple fact that they both showed only bruising or small cuts was a testament to how able they were getting. Laz had already had a lot of experience but this was teaching him how to control himself more since he was trying to only injure Leona lightly. As Laz had discovered, it was easy to just explode out and destroy everything in your path. It was much harder to only use the minimal amount of force to get the job done. But doing so was essential tosting a long time in a fight..


    The real benefits were all taken by Leona since she could go all out as hard as possible to try to injure Laz with out having to hold back. Of course, she did take some caution when it came to things like attacking his manhood. She didn''t want any idents to ur.


    As they fought on though, Leona was getting tired as was Laz. He might not have been fighting all out, but he used a lot more energy just trying to learn how to use less energy. Just when Laz felt that it was time to finish up and collect his reward, his slightly dulled senses meant that he failed to notice the broken stone and cracked ground behind him while stepping back to avoid another one of Leona''s strikes. His foot failed to find footing and he started to tumble. Before he could correct himself to regain his bnce, Leona had pounced at him in a full body tackle, causing Laz to hit the ground back first. Since it was simple dirt and stone chips he hit, it didn''t hurt his tough skin, but he couldn''t help but feel a blow to his pride.


    Leona, who had been stuck in fight mode, seemed to have noticed what had happened and threw her arms up into the air while still on top of Laz.


    "HELL YES! HA, I BEAT YOU!!!"


    Laz could only smile and nod his head, knowing that he had lost and epted it. It wasn''t a shameful thing to lose to someone you care about and in fact, Laz was amazed by her progress. She was advancing at an astounding rate and he couldn''t help but feel happy for her.


    "Yes yes, you won."


    "You know what that means?"


    "Yes, I know..."


    "Yes?"


    "AHH... Yes my goddess. This little one understands..."


    "Good, nowy out a nket." Leona pointed to the one piece of unbrokennd and ordered Laz toy a nket out there to which Laz grabbed one out of his pouch and put it down. Although Leona watched this happen, she didn''t ask. Actually, he and Ruby had noticed for some time that he had something weird that let him store tons of stuff, but since he didn''t bring it up, they didn''t ask.


    Walking over, Leona slipped her sports bra off before removing her tight fitted shorts, letting the slightly cooler air of the night wash over her beforeying down on her stomach. Laz just stood there and watched as she freed her joyous mounds and tempting, hairless bottom lips with a smile on his face.


    "Come then and rub these feet. They have been quite soretely." Leona had put on an air of royalty as she spoke although she barely contained herughing.


    "Yes my goddess." Laz responded, acting as serious as possible. He knelt down and slowly started to rub and kneed her feet, using a slight bit of sense to pin point the locations of most distress and work them loose. As he worked, Leona couldn''t help but let out a moan of pure peasure at his actions.


    This whole thing had started when Leona had injured her foot while training the first day of the week. Although normal sorts of cuts and bruising heal quickly, things like muscle pain would be a lot harder to get rid of. As such, when she mention it to Laz, he quickly took off her shoe and began to go to work, quickly relieving her of her pain. Due to his abilities and his sense, there was no way he could not fix the problem. After the pure peasure that was this, Leona decided to try starting a game with Laz where when they fought, if she could knock him down, he would give her a full body massage. Laz happily agreed, saying that the reverse was true as well. If she didn''t knock him down, then she would have to give him a full body massage. Of course, he didn''t actually lose after that for a few days straight.


    But today, thanks to the group fighting with Ruby and him training on his control, he had made a mistake. It was a pity because for several days prior to this, it was himying down naked while Leona worked over his body. But, since that had happened, now it was his turn to do his part. As far as the conversation went, that was something that Leona had done for fun that now Laz was doing in return, essentially, role ying.


    "Ahh... slower you animal. Make sure to get the heels... ooooooohhh..... just like that...." Of course, the entire time the normally icy and quiet Leona was getting massage, she was also doing things to tempt Laz as well, such as asionally ying with her nippes or even rubbing herself. It seemed that the cold and slightly shy Leona that had tried to attack Laz and warn him to stay away from her family was no where in sight, instead reced by this rather spirited and seductive Leona. What Laz didn''t know was that the only reason Leona could act like this was because she felt secure enough around Laz to just be herself in any way she wanted to. She had never felt like this before.


    All Laz knew as he slowly worked her calf while watching her asionally finger herself was that he was in for a long night.

 Chapter 184: The Date

    Chapter 184: The Date


    Laz looked around, but didn''t find anything. Truth be told, it was kind of disgusting, but it wasn''t exactly his problem either. Look at it like this, if you tried to fix every problem you came across, how much time would you spend fixing problems? And a better question is just how many of those problems would you actually fix? Laz was no superhero, nor was he some sort of defender of justice or any of that shit. He saw a body dump site on the mountain and his only thought was basically,


    ''It''s actually a rather practical idea.''


    After he hade up with a few conclusions about what was happening, Laz was just going to jot down the approximate location and then pass a message tow enforcement. That would be the extent of his interfering with whatever this was.


    Just as he was walking away however, he noticed something slightly weird from one of the bones he passed. Kneeling down, Laz took a closer look, only to find nothing on the bone, at least nothing tangible. He vaguely sensed something about the bone that seemed... to give him a weird yet familiar feeling. He thought about it for a bit, but gave up and just went back to n A. Walk away now and leave the problem for someone else.


    Shortly after Laz left, a sporty SUV pulled up the dirt road and turned around, before two guys got out. Popping open the trunk, the reached in, grabbed the nketed figure and threw it down on the ground before mming the trunk closed.


    "Boss seems differenttely, don''t he?"


    "What you mean?"


    "I mean like, he''s doing this more and more and his temper is getting worse and worse. Like he''s going to blow at any minute."


    "No shit. But what are we suppose to do about it huh?"


    "We could... I don''t know, call someone?"


    "Call who? Who would you call about this, the feds? The police? You know how many bodies we''ve dropped up here so far? We call someone and boss will get a nice little vacation somewhere out of public view while we will be both get life... No. I ain''t going like that, ok? Look, my dad always said that you can''t just get off the train just cause you don''t like what''s on the tracks. You''re safer plowing through and hoping that everything works out and you''ll live longer that way."


    "Isn''t your dad doing life for killing your mom?"


    "Yeah, cause he was sick of her damn crazy train and wanted off. That''s why he knows what he''s talking about. Anyway, we are here. We''ve done this and we going to keep doing this. There isn''t another choice...."


    "FINE, FUCKING FINE...."


    "Look, alright? I''ve been having these same doubts, so I asked ma dad. He said, ''When you in a bad ce like that, then what you need is some evidence that you can useter. Either ckmail to keep yourself alive or shit you can turn over to the state to help them make their case. The more you got for them, the better the deal they will cut you. Just keep your hands as clean as possible!"


    "That''s... that''s good advice..."


    "Right?"


    "You''ve been getting stuff?"


    "Not a lot, pictures and stuff. But I''m trying to avoid Brian noticing me so I''ve been keeping it real low key like..."


    "Alright... This will work. I can help you..."


    "Yeah. Ok. Then we cut the deal for both of us and use both of our stuff... just got to make sure he doesn''t notice, ok?.


    "Yeah, Yeah. No problem."


    ...


    Laz headed back home, not knowing that he had just missed the answer he was looking for. After getting ready, he waited for Ruby and Leona to pick him up.


    Soon enough, they showed up to his door, both dressed stunningly but casually. Leona was wearing a white sweater and had on tight blue jeans along with a gold linked belt while Ruby sported ck tights, a red skirt and a ck loose fitted top. Laz couldn''t help but be amazed by the different outfits these two wore that both gave a very different vor. He didn''t make theme get him as he met them outside but they both got out of the car when he arrived. Sadly, he was left to sit by himself in the back due to, as Leona put it, fairness.


    When they arrived at the club, they noticed that none of the barriers hadn''t been put up and the entrance was left open with only two members of the security staff wandering around to check id''s but that was about it. Ruby then exined to Laz that on days where there were no big events, they didn''t need to worry about the unruly crowds. Since tonight was a more low key concert type venue without a major band ying, there was no need to bring in the entire team. This was also the reason she was able to get the night off ande on a date with him.


    When they finally got in, Laz saw that half the dance floor was covered in tables and chairs, allowing for a far more casual experience, based more on dining with a show. There would still be room to danceter if people wanted, or they could sit at their table and enjoy the experience. As they found a table, one of the waitresses came over to take their drink order before handing them a menu. It was truly an entirely different scene from what Laz hade to expect from the club.


    The dinner went by pretty quickly with Lazughing and just eating whatever the girls wanted to try. Waves actually had quite a decent menu. Laz had seen the kitchen before so he knew it had a full range a abilities and wasn''t just a small outpost with a few stoves. A true dinning experience could be found here.


    After the food and a few drinks, both girls ended up moving closer to Laz, Leona on his left and Ruby on his right. Laz found it fun to talk to them as they both had very different backgrounds. Leona shared stories of her childhood and what it was like when they traveled around with her father in the army. In turn, Ruby shared stories from the ck Rose and a few of the less ssified things they had been involved in. Laz didn''t end up talking about himself but did spend a lot of time asking questions and understanding them both better.


    Soon enough, Leo and his band members got up and started to y. Laz couldn''t help butugh at this since all of the members of the band had different hair colors. Leo with his blue, the two guitarists with orange and red hair, the drummer with green hair and the keyboardist who was sporting grey hair. Laz wondered if this was some sort of a hook that they coordinated or if they just did whatever color they wanted and took it from there.


    The entire time, sign ups were going on for anyone who wanted to try singing karaoke, something that Laz had no interest in but that Leona and Ruby dragged him to do. He seriously wondered how he got dragged into these things, but looking at their expectant faces, he couldn''t say no. Needless to say, he didn''t notice when he was signed up to go on after their group by himself by a rather naughty Ruby even though Leona tried to stop her. Well, she had thought about stopping her, but then thinking of how cute it would be for Laz to sing by himself, and she just stayed at the side like she knew nothing. Ruby just randomly picked a song too.


    ...


    Brian was meeting with Agent Wace at his home while Fred stood nervously off to the side.


    "And you''re sure that this person not only is an infected, but is also the one who caused the fire?"


    Agent Wace seemed skeptical based solely on the age of the Brian.


    "Yes sir. This guy, Fred, he was a member of that gang... He told me about the entire incident,: Brian reported, pointing over to Fred who seemed to cringe at the mention of his name.


    Agent Wace took a look over and couldn''t help but think that this guy looked like even less of a criminal that the kid sitting in front of him.


    "Don''t worry," Agent Wace spoke calmly to Fred. "I''m only here for the infected types. You could be a mass murdered and that wouldn''t be my problem." Fred only seemed to rx when he heard these words, letting his tense shoulders drop. He didn''t know that Brian had already mentioned that Fred was also an infected and therefore would be part of his catch as well. Fred really had no idea he had already been sold out.


    "Go wait downstairs with the others," Brian ordered without even looking, causing Fred to bolt out of the room.


    "Now tell me why I shouldn''t arrest him right now?" Agent Wace asked.


    "Because he is the perfect bait for luring over the big fish," Brian responded kindly.


    "So you say..."


    "Officer Wace, I''ve already done some research thanks to my dad''s connections and I know that you don''t exactly have a huge force beside you. The most you can bring is maybe three others right?"


    "GGRR... Yes. That''s right." Agent Wace was obviously annoyed by this kid bringing this point up.


    "No need to be angry Agent. Since I asked for your help in this in an official aspect, I am also able to help out in this venture. With my father''s help and your blessing, we can borrow a swat unit from the city with apprehending this criminal. With this, you will get the cor you need for more funding and I will also be able to do a good deed for the country."


    It was only now that Agent Wace was starting to get a good feeling as to what this kid was nning. No matter what he wanted to do in the future, helping out in this way would be a springboard to sess. Although Agent Wace didn''t want to admit it, it was a good n. And it was also what he needed as well. Swallowing back his reservations, Agent Wace decided to go along with it and ask,


    "So what is the n?"


    "Well, we already know where the target is currently. Now, we have the bait for the nt, we just need the prize..."


    "The prize?"


    "Although the person I am talking about, Lazlo, wants to eliminate Fred, it wouldn''t be something he woulde after just because he knows where he is. Instead, we need to get someone close to him and bring them here, cing the me on Fred."


    "You''re talking about kidnapping?"


    "Not at all. This person is a friend of mine from school. She would be more than willing to help after she finds out that we need her help. The only problem is she is also someone who is close to your target and doesn''t understand how dangerous he is. Therefore trying to convince her would be problematic, but she wouldpletely understand after the fact. We are doing this for her own good after all," Brian said with conviction, as though showing his dedication to the cause. Agent Wace knew something was fishy, but since it was what he needed, he let it go.


    "So you will bring this girl in to keep her safe and make him think it was Fred who grabbed her. And then what?"


    "Then we just need to draw the catch into the cage which will be here at the house. Don''t worry Agent, after tonight, you will get everything you desire," Brian said with a barely containedughed.


    Agent Wace had the distinct feeling he had just sold his soul to the devil....

 Chapter 185: Song

    Chapter 185: Song


    "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything."  to


    ...


    As the dinner continued and drinks were poured, all of the guests were enjoying the sounds of Leo''s band. Although Laz was more of a ssic rock and metal fan, that didn''t mean he didn''t appreciate other types of music. Added on to that Leo''s full and melodious voice and Laz couldn''t help but wonder if they had ever thought about going farther with the band? Thinking about it though, it wasn''t something Leo was nning on. If that was the case, why have a night club and run a business? The more Laz thought about it, the more he realized that Leo''s true goal was the family business. After all, fame is fleeting, but family is forever... even dangerous criminal families.


    As Laz turned back to the conversation with Ruby and Leona, who seemed to be talking andughing more to each other than to him, Laz couldn''t help but smile while also wanting to frown. He couldn''t shake the feeling that something was going to happen and ruin this rather rxing life he had found himself in. He wished it were otherwise, but he couldn''t really find aint to make. After all, he had stuff to do still.


    ''I really wonder just where my parents had gone off to?''


    Laz never forgot one of his goals in setting out on his own which was to find his parents. Originally, he heard they were in D.C. but that turned out to be old news. He was currently without a lead. That was really the only excuse he had as to why he hadn''t gone somewhere else yet. But he knew that he couldn''t stay still for long.


    "Alright, next in the karaoke portion of the night. So, feel free to dance, have some drinks,ugh and enjoy yourselves. We will be back for moreter on," Leo announced as he and his band members left the stage. Some of the stage hands had brought over several new mics and disys for the would be singers. Laz was thinking about what song the girls would be singing when it came to their turn.


    As he nced at them, Laz ended up with a bit of a shock. Both girls were looking at him with a blush on their cheeks, almost as though they were embarrassed about something. Laz couldn''t help but wonder what it could be considering they had already pretty much done everything that could be done so what would there be left to be embarrassed about? Laz ended up getting the answer fairly quickly.


    After a few rather... talent-less singers took the stage, Leona and Ruby''s turn finally came and they of course dragged Laz with them. Leona was a bit scared at being on stage and being looked at by everyone while Ruby was simply cool and nonchnt about it. As for Laz? Well, he didn''t really care much nor did he let it effect him. He remembered back to when he participated in the fightingpetition with Kennedy and couldn''t help but smile. Whenpared to a fighting match in which people were screaming for blood, what was a bit of booing? Well, at least he hoped he would be the only one booed. As the girls got into ce and the MC introduced them, Laz stood behind a the other mic and wondered just what song had been picked. While staring at the disy, Leona took a look back and saw that even Laz was rather rxed and just seemed curious while not being angry in the least. She was originally worried that he would not want to do this but seeing his current self, she put those fears to rest.


    She felt like she could do anything with him at her side.


    Meanwhile, up in the almost empty VIP area, Leo was chatting with his sister Lessa who happened to notice that Laz had gotten on stage.


    "So this boy can sing eh?"


    "I really have no idea... but it looks like he is going to try.." Leoughed a bit. He felt like this wasn''t something that Laz would normally do considering his usual character, but he also understood that sometimes you couldn''t tell a girl no, even if you looked like a fool in the process.


    "Ha ha. Excellent. I''m looking forward to it," Lessamented as she took a sip of her drink.


    "Why is that?" Leo said, looking at his sister.


    "Darling. For someone who is so into music, I wonder how you can be so deaf sometimes..."


    "The hell?"


    "His voice of course. Hmm... How to describe it... It''s like, not musical in the least and yet it contains a certain... charm to it. It''s not like one he tries with it, but it''s natural."


    "You paid this much attention to his voice? Didn''t you only meet him like twice?" Leo respected his sister''s opinion since she had a talent in reading people. So if she said he had a charming voice, he had a charming voice. The point of interest for Leo was that his sister wouldn''t point out something so little unless there was a big reason for it. For example, in the past, Lessa had mentioned how a ''friend'' Leo had made had very skilled hands. Leo at first thought it was just some sort of strange fetish of his weird sister, but heter found out that the person he had befriended was actually a mass murderer who enjoyed cutting open his victims, draining their blood, removing their organs and turning them into human dolls whose clothes he hand made himself. Her feeling that his hands were skilled was due to his ability to do all of those things.


    Needless to say, Leo became a bit paranoid about having friends with skilled hands unless they could y a keyboard or guitar. He also decided to stop meeting so many people from the underworld.


    "It''s not just me darling. The girls from the other night that he came in contact with all said the same thing. One, he''s got beautiful eyes and a hot body. Two, he is incredibly polite while also being friendly. And three, his voice is captivating, even though he doesn''t know it.".


    "I swear, those friends of yours..."


    "They are reliable girls so give it a rest."


    "Is that why you wanted to do a male strip party next Thursday?"


    "I can''t believe you won''t even consider it..."


    "Do you have any idea how many regtions there exists for that? AND I DON''T WANT YOU TO JUST DO IT ANYWAY, UNDERSTAND?" Leo was getting the feeling that Lessa wasn''t paying attention to him.


    "Sheesh... fine. Damn... Anyway, sit down. They are going to start soon," Lessamented while pointing to the stage.


    Ruby and Leona''s power was around the same level while Laz was currently stuck as he looked to venture into the next realm. Even though he was told how to go about it, that didn''t mean that he could just go and do it. It was still a learning process. This aside though, all three of them had made great gains to the improvement of their bodies. Whether it was their strength, speed, agility, skin, or even bone strength, everything about them could be considered superhuman whenpared to a normal person. Strangely enough, this also included their voices.


    In the same way that a professional singer would have a stronger voice that a person who smoked a pack a day for twenty years, Ruby, Leona and Laz''s voice''s were something that even professional singer couldn''t hope to match.


    This was nothing more than a fun side effect of their cultivation.


    As the lights dimmed and the music started ying, Laz couldn''t help but sigh... of course he knew this song.


    Leona began by herself.


    How can you see into my eyes like open doors?


    Leading you down, into my core


    Where I''ve be so numb, without a soul


    My spirit''s sleeping somewhere cold


    Until you find it there, and lead it, back, home


    Laz couldn''t help but be memorized. Leona''s singing voice really was a reflection of her normal, sweet sounded voice, but she was able to put a rather haunting vibe into it


    Suddenly, it was Laz''s turn. He had listened to the song tons of times, so of course he knew how it was suppose to go.


    Wake me up inside


    Wake me up inside


    As Leona was currently vibing with the music, only Ruby was still really paying attention. She was just doing some backup vocals with Leona for fun, hearing Laz sing though, she was stunned. It was a small part, but the power behind his voice blended well with the haunting sound of Leona''s voice.


    Of course, Leona ended up joining him for the next part.


    Save me, call my name and save me from the dark


    Wake me up, bid my blood to run


    I can''t wake up, before Ie undone


    Save me, save me from the nothing I''ve be


    Leona and Ruby both had the next part while Laz started to enjoy himself. Afterall, they were just little inserts he had to do. Therefore, he was mostly enjoying hearing Leona sing with Ruby''s backup.


    Now that I know what I''m without


    You can''t just leave me


    Breathe into me and make me real


    Bring me to life


    Wake me up inside


    Wake me up inside


    Call my name and save me from the dark


    Bid my blood to run


    Before Ie undone


    Save me from the nothing I''ve be


    All three were singing while Laz hid his hands behind his back and let loose a bit of formless energy. Normally, something like this would go undetected as it was formless. But because of the stage lights along with the darkened crowd, the formless energy caused the lights to refract as though they were going through a prism, creating a rather strange and beautiful light show.


    Laz:


    All this time, I can''t believe I couldn''t see


    Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me


    Leona:


    I''ve been sleeping a thousand years, it seems


    Got to open my eyes to everything


    Laz:


    Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul


    Leona:


    Don''t let me die here


    Laz:


    There must be something more


    Leona and Ruby:


    Bring me to life


    Wake me up, wake me up inside


    I can''t wake up, wake me up inside


    Save me, call my name and save me from the dark


    Wake me up, bid my blood to run


    I can''t wake up, before Ie undone


    Save me, save me from the nothing I''ve be


    Bring me to life, I''ve been living a lie, there''s nothing inside


    Bring me to life


    As Laz, Ruby and Leona ended the song, Leona was looking at Laz while her eye''s zed. Ruby was d as well. Leona had wanted to express herself to Laz, but she never found a way to properly tell him. Although Ruby was a bit jealous, she knew that she had already found a ce in his heart. But had she waited or not gone for it as soon as she sensed Laz, she would probably have no way in now.


    The crowd was obviously pping and cheering their heads off since this was the first performance of the night, minus Leo''s band, that didn''t make them want to stick their heads in their phones. Even Lessa and Leo were pping form the VIP area. Andmenting on how great of a voice Leona had.


    Leo had started to make his way down since the band was going to y a few more sets after the next performance when suddenly the M.C. announced that Laz would be doing a solo number, much to his surprise.


    Laz turned and stared at the girls who were still excited from their group performance when he noticed Leona''s face turn a dark shade of red while Ruby was suddenly preupied with stirring her drink while staring off into space.


    Laz suddenly understood their attitudes from before.

 Chapter 187: Compound

    Chapter 187: Compound


    Of course, his rage fitsted all of about five seconds before he calmed down. After all, Laz knew that getting mad wasn''t going to solve anything, at least not yet. There is a time and ce to be angry and this wasn''t it.


    He already figured out who had taken Leona, it was just a question of where. They must have been ready to jump her as soon as she came in since Laz knew that Leona would have fought even harder had she been given the chance. The problem came from not being prepared to being jumped at home, something that Laz hadn''t even considered.


    He was still way to soft to survive in this new world.


    Although Laz was worried about Leona, he knew she would be able to take care of herself, at least in the short term. He was more clear than anyone as to exactly how strong and tough she was. It was simply a matter of how calm she could remain under the circumstances. Telling someone what to do in the case of being attacked, kidnapped, abused, etc. is incredibly different from actually being in that situation.


    Either way, that was how things are. Laz did another sweep of the house and found a back door had been broken open, allowing them ess to the house. This wasn''t the kind of town where there was arge crime rate so although people locked their doors, they didn''t have rms or cameras. After all, those things cost money that most people didn''t have to use on that.


    Laz sensed a car pulling up and walked outside, having finished with his search of the house. There was nothing there. He thought for a bit about where Leona and Reggie''s mom was and figured he should put the question to Ruby when he got in the car since only she could contact Dee.


    Opening the door, Laz sat in the front passenger''s seat and saw Vivi with a half smile in the back seat while Ruby had a dumbfounded look on her face.


    "What?" Laz asked.


    "She. Can. Talk..." Was Ruby''s only response.


    "Well, it''s not really talking per say... but yes. Is that a problem?"


    "She''s a talking dog..."


    :And from what I''ve smelled from before, you''re a talking blow up doll. What''s your point?: This remark from Vivi got a re from Laz who then turned back to Ruby, only to find that she hadn''t been the least bit bothered by the insult. Maybe because she was still too stunned form the fact that Vivi couldmunicate with them.


    "And?" Laz asked.


    "And... this isn''t a problem for you?" Ruby asked, trying to get thing''s straight. Laz reached back and opened up the door while Vivi jumped out, already knowing what he wanted.


    "I guess I got used to it. She''s been talking for almost two years, give or take?" Laz said, thinking it over.


    "She could always talk? Then why didn''t she say anything?" Ruby had been over to the camper a few times and Leona had been over many times. Despite that, it wasn''t like Vivi had ever said hi or anything.


    "She''s rather reluctant to talk around people until she gets to know them... In fact, she didn''t even talk to me at first. I had to hear it from someone else even though I was the one who found her. Or, she found me, depending on how you look at it." Laz thought about back then when he only learned from Marlene that Vivi couldmunicate. He really only realized it was his faultter as he never really tried to talk to her first.


    At this point Vivi had got done sniffing around the house and came back into the car. Using her back paw, she pulled the door closed in a rather human way before nting her butt on the seat.


    :There were three different smells besides Leona''s from around the same time. Seems like she had just gotten inside and closed the door when the attackers fired while rushing her. Had she reacted fast enough, she would have been fine. But her smell trail shows that she hesitated and didn''t move at first. After she was hit though, she sent at least one of them flying before the drugs took effect and knocked her out.: Vivi exined to both of them, transmitting her words at both Las and Ruby.


    Laz nodded while thinking where as Ruby just stared nkly. She finally woke up enough to add her thoughts.


    "She must had tried to understand what was happening before moving to protect herself. That''s prettymon with newbs.".


    "So where is she?" Laz asked Vivi.


    :I''m not a bloodhound you know. The smells in the house were pretty easy to figure out since there was no breeze or anything. But as soon as they got outside they dragged her into a car and took off. That basically cut off any trail.:


    "So now what?" Ruby asked, more worried than anything.


    "I know who took her, I just don''t know where they took her..." Laz said feeling a bit lost.


    "Let''s try their home first. I''m sure I can get someone there to give us details," Ruby offered with a strange gleam in her eyes.


    "I don''t know where he lives... oh right... you can figure that out. Fuck me..." Laz said knowing that he forgot that Ruby had connections in this area.


    "His name is Brian and he''s the mayor''s son. I don''t know ast name..." Laz said while thinking about murder.


    "That''s easy enough, hang on..."


    "Also, get in contact with Dee again and have her ask Reggie to do something about his moming home and finding this. Thest thing we would need is the police called." Laz said.


    :I''m not sure if I should mention this, but it might be important.: Vivi said while looking at Laz.


    "What''s up?"


    :There was at least one infected among the attackers... and they smell somewhat familiar.:


    "What? How so? Someone we know whose and infected?" Laz racked his brains while Vivi went on.


    :Yeah. I smelled him on you, the night you came back from the warehouse. I''m not totally sure as it was faint since you had changed your clothes which made the smell fade. But it was someone you came into close contact with that you didn''t kill considering they were in this house.:


    "Someone I didn''t kill? Wait a sec..."


    "Ok, I''ve got his home address." Ruby said after a few moments. She quickly started the car and flew off, making her way towards where she found that he lived.


    "You want to stick your head out the window?" Ruby asked Vivi who was sitting in the back as though she was enjoying the ride. Although Ruby hadn''t reacted to Vivi''sment earlier, it wasn''t as though she forgot it. She just had to wrap her head around things first while also being worried about her friend. Now that they had a target they were aiming for to save Leona, she had started adapting the the situation.


    :Want me to stick your head through the windshield?: Vivi didn''t have many interactions with people, minus Kennedy and Marlene. What she did have was hours upon hours of watching dramas, roms and other various types of TV and movies. As such, she wasn''t someone who was shy about a fight.


    "Ho ho... looks like someone''s having some issues. Need to go to the vet?" Ruby smirked while turning the wheel, drifting past a stoplight and almost mming into oing traffic.


    :I''m sure they would be much more interested in a bitch like you as opposed to a sweet thing like myself, but thanks anyway.:


    "Are you two done?" Laz said while reaching into his pouch. He slowly pulled out Last Rites while grabbing thest few additional clips he had. In most cases, his ability would be the best way to handle a problem. His one limitation though was that hecked range with it and had no idea as to what he was going to walk into. It was sometimes better to threaten with a gun and get someone to talk than it was to burst into mes and expect them to still stay sane. Most normal people weren''t able to adapt to that kind of experience.


    "She started it..." Ruby replied while checking her phone and gps. Vivi just sat in the back while wearing an innocent look, as though she had nothing to do with it. Laz was actually somewhat amused by Vivi''s actions as he had known her for a long time now and this was probably the most animated he had seen her get with someone else. It was rather funny, but he would never express that out loud.


    "Were here," Ruby said as she slowed down, only to freeze up. Her reaction was pretty much the same as Laz''s and Vivi''s once they saw the ce.


    The entire house, or more urately mansion, was set back off the road almost a quarter of a mile down a long, t driveway. From where they sat, all they could see was an almost ten foot brick wall with a gated entrance that was being patrolled by heavily armed guards. Laz couldn''t help but had a sh back to when he and Kennedy went to that party at the prick Tommy''s mansion. Compared to that ce, this one was a bitcking. But then again, he wasn''t trying to take on the whole ce.


    "Damn. I knew this ce was huge... but damn..." Ruby remarked while taking in the view. They had pulled over in front of the house and across the street, allowing other cars to pass. It was fortunate that the road itself was busy, otherwise they would have stood out a lot more.


    "Did you getyout info?" Laz asked, wondering if she had the info like when they raided the warehouse.


    "No. There are prints registered from when the house was originally built, but there had been a ton of expansions that were never logged."


    :Heh, useless. So we are flying blind?:


    "I will punt your furry little ass over the wall. I''m sure there are some guard dogs in there that would love you all night."


    :You sure your not just tempted yourself, bitch?:


    "Why you little..."


    "ENOUGH!" Although Laz had raised his voice, it wasn''t to the point of yelling. Despite that, the car shook with the force of his word and both girls quieted down. Laz then turned to Ruby,


    "What did the original prints look like?" Laz asked. Ruby showed him theyout on her phone that she had gotten from the nning and zoning department''swork. Despite the uselessness of the info, something was better than nothing. And in most cases, some things would remain as a base and have other things built on to it. At least as far as he knew. Seeing the original build, the only thing that happened to catch his attention was therge, foundational basement. As far as Laz knew, something like that would remain no matter what changes happened on top.


    "You need to be careful..." Ruby said while taking a closer look at the guards.


    "What''s up?" Laz respected Ruby''s opinion on this and knew that if she didn''t have a worry. she wouldn''t say anything.


    "Those guns... they aren''t civilian issued guns... And the way these guys carry themselves. There is no slouching orxness in their bodies. Something like that isn''t taught in security guard training or even police training. That''s something that only military training would address."


    "You''re saying these guys are ex-military?"


    "No. I''m saying that this is the house of a standing mayor. Despite it being a smallish town, that still makes him a government person. And I did my checks. This guy only became a mayor recently from not having been in government at all. Plus he is rich. You add these two facts together and you''ve got someone who is starting a career in politics."


    "I don''t..."


    "It means that this is a spring board for jumps to ces like congress, whether that be state or federal. And these guys have connections in ce before hand. These aren''t some low life bangers with pea shooters. Those are high powered rifles that will rip through even your dense flesh. That also means that if you can''t be totally quiet, then this is going to blow up... and big."


    At this point, even Vivi was listening while thinking to herself. She understood what Ruby was trying to say. If Laz went on a kill streak, then he was going to bring the feds down on himself. If Vivi thought it would work, she would convince him not to go and they would just drive off tomorrow. But she knew that Laz was far to loyal for to do something like that. It was part of the reason she loved him. And also why she hated him at times.


    "Then I guess I will just have to be a super ninja, huh? Just rx, drive down the street a bit and wait for me here. I will be back soon," Laz said with a smile as he got out of the car. Before they knew it, Laz had disappeared, making his way quickly and quietly down the side of the wall and around the corner.


    "He''s just charging head first into it without even a n. Even our newest members know better than to do something so stupid..." Ruby said out loud to herself.


    :How''s about you shut that beak and think of some way to be of use then?: Vivimented while pulling out a phone from who knew where. Very quickly, a blue light shimmered on her body and she changed from the tiny little wolf girl into the adorable young teen version of herself. She quickly started sending out texts while Ruby just sat in the drivers seat with her mouth hanging open.


    After sending out a few texts, Vivi quickly aimed the phone at Ruby and took a picture before saying,


    "Hmm... I wonder how I should edit this? Let''s see what kinds of things we can shove in there..." Just as Vivi wasughing while opening the editing program, Ruby attack, going right from the front seat to the back while grabbing for the phone.


    "WHY YOU LITTLE FUCKING..."


    "FUCK YOU GRANDMA..."


    Neither noticed the faint strand of spiritual sense that spread briefly over the car before vanishing.

 Chapter 192: Bad Idea

    Chapter 192: Bad Idea


    Have you ever had an idea that you went through with even though you knew it was a bad idea? That was kind of how Laz was feeling as he walked up the stairs. Sure, he didn''t want to leave those girls stranded down here. It wasn''t like he was going to be able to call the police to tell them that the mayor''s son had a hidden room under his house in which he kept girls prisoner, right? No sane person would believe that. As such, Laz knew he was the only chance these girls had of being freed. But there was a far more important reason he did it.


    Leona had asked him to.


    We''ve all been there. When that girl who has a ce in your heart ask you for something, you do your damnest to make her requeste true. It''s just the way it is. Obviously those request didn''t normally include mortal danger, but there is always the exception.


    There is also the fact that Leona was in the dark about the situation at thepound since Laz didn''t tell her. If he had, she would have never made that request. But that would have haunted her for a long time toe.


    Science calls it survivors guilt and it will haunt you for the rest of your life. Laz wasn''t about to strap that problem on to her. Instead, he was going to do everything in his power to make it happen for her.


    Even if it was a really bad idea.


    Sighing to himself, Laz finally reached the actual basement of the house. It was a finished living area that had cinema style seating and looked like it could seat a lot of people. On top of that, there was arge screen and various refreshment areas including a fridge and a mini bar. Laz noticed that the door he just walked out from seemed to blend into the wall when it closed. It was almost like if you didn''t know where it was and how to open it, you wouldn''t even know it was a door.


    ''I suppose when you want to hide something, this is the way to do it.'' Laz could only marvel at the hidden door. After all, it was clear this was a rather rich persons house. And which rich person didn''t have a few things to hide.


    Despite the rather cozy setting, Laz spread his sense around and found the next staircase leading upward. There wasn''t anything for him to do down here anyway. His real target was one floor above.


    ...


    The security and government agents were still waiting around and rxing. Although they were in position, there was no sign of the iing threat. As was the generally epted norm, they would be hearing from the gate first before anything happened. Since the gate was quiet and nothing else was happening within thepound, they didn''t feel it necessary to be totally alert. Even Agent Wace was sitting down and having a drink while they waited for an update while chatting with Brian.


    The only person who seemed nervous the entire time was Fred who was doing his best to not pace.


    Brian had already asked him to calm down, but Fred just wasn''t able to. Looking at him, agent Wace couldn''t help but show signs of disgust.


    Noticing this, Brian couldn''t help butugh.


    "Yes. He is a rather unpleasant fellow." Despite Brian''s age being much younger, he treated agent Wace as though they were on the same level, something that annoyed the agent to no end. Of course, since he needed Brian, he wasn''t about to let that show.


    "I don''t know why I agreed to you using him."


    "As I said agent, a good trap requires good bait." Although Brian kept spewing this line that he knew was shit, the agent would always believe it. Brian spared no effort to use what he knew the agent would believe and understand since that was a good way to control him. Watching the agent do just what he wanted with few questions only to advance his own career while believe every lie he was told? Brian couldn''t help but wonder how such an idiot would have been put in charge of this position. The man knew nothing about the infected types and the Blessed which is what Brian started calling himself after he had seen the term online somewhere.


    As such, Brian felt that the good agent was nothing more than a puppet for him to control.


    As everyone was mired in their own thoughts and obviously feeling that this whole situation was over kill, no one noticed when a door opened up near the stair case and a young, pale man dressed in a security uniform walked out. Well, no one except for Fred who would have jumped at the sound of a pin drop.


    He was actually the first one to recognize Laz. But instead of being able to say anything, he just froze up and wasn''t able to move. Mostly because Laz was standing right next to him.


    Not one guard turned around to the sound of the door opening and closing since people had been moving in and out of the room all day for various reasons. Not even agent Wace or Brian noticed at first as they were busy doing their own things. Only Fred saw the pale face with the bright blue eyes that looked directly back at him..


    Why would anyone even think that the one they had been sent to capture woulde up from the basement? They were still ''focused'' on the front door.


    Seeing this situation, Laz didn''t know whether tough or just be thankful that he wasn''t greeted by by a hail of bullets as soon as he walked through the door. As it was, he noticed Fred for the first time since walking in.


    "Oh? I was looking for you..."


    Since his goal was to blow things up, why not start with one of the causes of this mess. Seeing Fred here, he knew for a fact that he had been involved in this whole incident and Laz couldn''t help but want to remove one of the roots of the problem.


    Laz extended a finger out right towards Fred''s frozen face that was still trying to call for help and ended up touching him right in the forehead. Then with a slight bit of energy, Laz drew forth the ck fire. Like a lit match hitting gasoline, Fred''s entire head caught fire, the ck mes quickly spreading downward. Just before His his vocal cords liquefied, Fred let out a heart wrenching scream, alerting everyone in the room.


    Every head turned toward''s Fred''s direction as his cry died out and he fell to the floor. In mere seconds, he was reduced to nothing more than a puddle of human fluid while shock took everyone by surprise.


    Seeing everyone stare at him stoned faced, Laz just gentle raised his hand and waved while saying.


    "Hello."


    Brian and agent Wace were the first ones to react.


    "FIRE!"


    "SHOOT HIM!"


    It''s a good time to note that the current set up of people included two factions. One was the security that work that on a normal basis. The other group, while having been arranged through connections thanks to Brian, were regr police swat that were aloud to be a part of this thanks to Brian using Wace''s federal position. With the swat members there was also the few federal agents that Wace was able to bring with them. Although the swat and federal agents were better trained, there were far more of the security guards.


    Needless to say, when Brian and agent Wace yelled out their orders, agent Wace''s group responded first. The guns that had originally been pointed at the front door was suddenly aimed at Laz as they opened first, only to see Laz disappear like a mirage before them. Using his superhuman speed, even the most well trained among the group had trouble keeping up with his speed. It also didn''t help that they were using tranquilizer darts which fired at a much slower speed than a regr bullet.


    Laz easily dodged the slow bullets and made his way to those who were closest to him. Since these people were just normal people and also weren''t criminals, Laz didn''t go all out against them. Even if they were stronger than a regr person, they were still normal humans. There was no reason to unleash a massacre on these people just doing their jobs. As such, he easily dispatched the ones he came in contact with with nothing more than a quick hit to the gut, relying on his martial arts training to take them down in a quick and mostly painless method.


    His choice of moving into close quartersbat caused those firing at him to be at a loss since they could no longer keep firing without hitting their allies. Both agent Wace and Brian saw the problem but only Brian, having expected this, reacted.


    "Fall back. Stop shooting. Turn on the cameras."


    The first two orders made sense, thest one didn''t. But then again, only he knew who he was talking to.


    "Well now, look what we have here. A rabid dog just itching to start killing. The people will not be afraid of you, you filthy creature. They will not be intimidated nor oppressed by you or your kind. You will not have your way. The people of this United States will stand up and rise against you and all of those like you who wish to take over this great nation of ours and turn it into your yground," Brian said while striding forward in a heroic manner.


    "The fuck are you talking about?" Laz was genuinely confused as to what the hell Brian was doing. But Brian didn''t n to exin and instead, just continued on with his rant.


    "This ying stupid act will not confused people anymore. We have seen you for what you are. Murders, invaders, rapists, kidnappers. I''m not even sure you''re human anymore. But you creatures will not do as you wish. We will rise up to stop you!" As Brian continued his monologue, he continued to step forward while releasing a strange light from around him. It was a blindingly ring white that seemed to coat the room in a strange glow, reflecting off the wood and stone fixtures that adorned the ssic southern style home.


    If people were watching Brian from outside of the light''s blinding edge, they couldn''t help but think that Brian was actually some sort of figured who was made up of only light, like some sort of holy deity.


    And that''s exactly what was happening.


    Brian had set up HD camera''s at various ces around the house and was streaming the feed out. The feed was actually boosted thanks to a certainb that he had made a deal with when he had contacted them before, causing the stream to go out to more people who then started sharing it with others. And that''s not even mentioning the ones who were recording it to be sharedter.


    The entire thing was a set up.


    ...


    In the main office of the Global Sciences building, Jesse was watching the stream without showing any emotion what so ever. Next to him were various members of thepany along with several members of Congress. They were all sitting in a conference room while this fight was ying out on a live stream.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen. I know that there has been some doubt in the past, however we now have a chance to to show you just how dangerous these creatures are to our democracy and it''s citizens. We were lucky to have been contacted by the person you see now to be evaluated. And I must say, his blood inpletely clean from this or any other sort of virus. This young man is amazingly healthy, even by our standards. Not only that, but he was able to get in contact with the federal agent to assigned to head the new anti-infected division and they set up a trap for one of the most dangerous infected we have seen. This man on the screen was personally responsible for the deaths of over 50 gang members and the destruction of their warehouse. You might say to yourselves, ''well, isn''t that a good thing?'' If so, then I ask you. If he can do this against armed gangsters, what''s to stop him from robbing a bank, or destroying a school? Maybe this one won''t, but what about the others? Time will only tell, but do you want to leave something like this up to chance?" As Jesse''s words spread out over the room, several of the congressmen and women could help but engage in whispers. Although they were mostly still reserved, he could tell that he had set the fuse. All that was left was to wait for the fireworks.


    Turning back towards to monitor, Jesse couldn''t help but whisper to himself,


    "Time for the real show to begin."


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    <strong>Author: </strong> Machine Trantion

 Chapter 196: Breakthrough

    Chapter 196: Breakthrough


    Laz was out.


    The girls had stopped dragging him after noticing what had happened.


    The police had pulled their guns and were pointing them at everyone.


    Agent Wace started screaming to get his men back in order while running for Brian.


    The firefighters and media personal were frozen in ce while the remains of the house still burned.


    It was pure chaos.


    After several minutes of useless shouting and posturing, agent Wace pulled out his badge and started taking control of the scene. He had the police go and surround Laz to make sure he didn''t move while trying to get the swat to handle the girls. He had a bad feeling about them and knew that he needed to separate them from the crowd and media.


    He also checked out Brian personally to make sure he was really dead and found a hole shot clean through his forehead and out the back. There was no doubt about it, he was dead.


    Just when agent Wace was getting the situation under control, several ck vehicles pulled through, going around the gate and the crowd anding to a stop near where the various security guards, swat and agents were stationed. Out of the now parked vehicles came several women in suits who were also armed. They went right for the girls who had been led away by the swat agents along with the ones who were still hidden further down the wall. The woman in charge went straight for agent Wace.


    "I''m agent Myth, who''s in charge here?" She asked, raising her voice to get everyone''s attention. Agent Wace, still hunched over Brian''s body stood up and walked over.


    "What the hell are you doing? Who are you?"


    "I''m agent Myth, CARD. And you?" asked the women, holding out a badge and id for agent Wace to look at.


    "Why the hell are you here?" Agent Wace asked without identifying himself.


    "Why else would we be here?" Agent Myth pointed at the agents who had started to round up the girls.


    "You knew about this?"


    "I don''t believe I''ve caught your name?"


    "Agent Wace, from the.... ICCU."


    "What? What the hell is that?" Agent Myth asked.


    "Infected control and containment unit."


    "So that''s a thing now? I guess I didn''t get that memo..."


    "Are you questioning me?".


    "Of course not. You''re information is real so we will just take this as being yourmand. My only objective is these girls and their safety."


    "Whatever. They don''t leave, understood? I will call my boss and figure out who is suppose to do what. Can''t believe I wasn''t briefed on this before..."


    "I can''t believe they put together a team to fight bigfoot..." Although it sounded like agent Myth had said it under her breath and to herself, it was still loud enough for agent Wace to hear and he couldn''t help but stiffen up at the ridicule.


    ''I will show you. I will show everyone. Today is nothing but the first day on the road to fighting these monsters and soon, everyone will need us..." Agent Wace swore to himself as he tried dialing his phone, only to find out that signals were still being jammed. He went about finding out who was doing it so that he could bring the jammer down,pletely forgetting about agent Myth and her team. As far as he was concerned, since he hadmand, she was just an extra pair of hands to help with that part of the problem. Agent Wace felt like he was being yed left and right and needed to starting up with something to tell those who had gathered here.


    While doing all this, he let the fire department in to do their thing while organizing the media near the entrance way so he could keep them updated and out of the way. He never noticed that all the girls were being loaded into the various vehicles while agent Myth climbed back into the lead car.


    "So what''s happening? Why is Laz being left to them?" Ruby asked. She was currently sitting in the car with Leona and Vivi, waiting on news.


    Agent Myth, otherwise known as Lady Mathilda, pulled out a cigarette and rolled down the window while lighting it.


    "It''s be too big and there are too many eyes. If we even made an attempt for him, it would alert everyone around and we would be facing way too much attention," she said while taking a puff before continuing.


    "At best, we can get these girls out of here and to a hospital where they will be safe. At least there, they will be in the public''s eye and out of danger from any sort of retaliation. As far as your little man goes though, for the moment, he is on his own."


    Although the girls were upset and anxious, they knew that what she was saying was right. At the moment, there was nothing they could do. They had watched the feed, up until it went dead right after a shot rang out, but it was only now that Lady Mathilda confirmed that Brian was dead and that it was Laz who shot him. Before this, they had no idea who shot who.


    "I will send the girls away and we will wait here for the time being in case an opportunity presents itself, but I wouldn''t hold on to hope. He is being chained up and locked in the back of a swat truck instead of an ambnce. Whether he lives or dies is solely up to the gods right now dears."


    This truly was the best n... and the only n. Lady Mathilda led the way, driving off with no one noticing. Despite the medics on site trying to care for the girls they were quickly brushed aside. There were several members of ck Rose that had far more medical training than any countryside EMT. In the chaos that was currently ongoing, no one thought that anything was out of the ordinary right now.


    At the same time that the abducted girls were being led to safety by ck Rose, Laz was currently unconscious in the back of the swat van, locked down with every restraint that was humanly usable. His hands were bound and connected to his bound feet by a half meter long chain. Even if he wanted to stand, he would be unable to do so. On top of that, he had been injected with several rounds of the drug that Brian had used on Leona when he had her abducted. This was just a further measure put in ce by agent Wace who was trying to get things situated and had known about the drug.


    He couldn''t care less if Laz lived or died, he simply needed a body to show for the reports.


    As the agent thought about it, it was probably better that Brian was dead. At least this way, he was now in total control of the entire situation. On top of that, knowing that Brian was keeping girls locked in his basement meant that there would be little recourse from his father and whatever political connections he had. As long as he kept the girls out of the news, he could use them to keep the political pressure off his back.


    Agent Wace was simply a suit, he wasn''t a yer in the political game and could be easily disposed of. Those girls were his safety measure.


    With all things considered, agent Wace went to address the media and started spinning a tale of a federal manhunt to capture an illusive and dangerous individual who was known to have killed several dozen people, leaving out their gang rtion. He even hailed Brian as a hero who gave his life to bring such a criminal to justice while praising those blessed humans who were taking a stand. The entire thing was made out to be like some epic drama, one in which the news media''s would devour and embellish upon, causing agent Wace to be even more of a hero himself.


    And that was exactly what he wanted.


    While Wace was spinning his web of lies, Laz was currently stuck deep within himself as he fought with the aggressive snakes of lightning that were still tearing him apart. It felt like little fire worms were crawling their way all over his body, slowly melting it down form the inside.


    ''Now what the hell do I do?'' Laz asked himself as he looked on in horror.


    ''I know that I''ve killed Brian and have probably been taken into custody, but even that won''t matter if I can''t live through this."


    As Laz observed more and more, despite the pain, he was able to notice something interesting. The little snakes of lightning were crawling all over his insides, but gave a wide berth towards his core. If anything, they looked like opposite pulls of a ma. Whenever they got close to his core, they ended up bouncing off and going in another direction like a force field that wouldn''t let them move closer.


    Seeing this, Laz had an idea.


    Albeit a painful one.


    ''If these little snakes of lightning were just another form of energy, then they obviously wouldn''t want to get close to something that is a different form of energy. On top of that, it seems like the energy in my core is stronger than them and that''s why they can''t get close. But if it''s a form of energy, then maybe it can be used.''


    With an internal breath, Laz started to circte his self made Infinity Technique. Like cars on a highway, all of the snakes started being pulled intones and began rushing through his body in the direction of his choosing. Had he been awake right now, Laz would have screamed out loud.


    Before doing this, the energy was going everywhere and wasn''t just sting the same internal nerves over and over again, but now that they were being put on a path, he had no choice but to feel the constant pain and burning of these snakes of lightning rubbing on the same ces over and over again. It''s like the difference between being wounded in multiple ces versus getting cut in the same spot, over and over again.


    It was like dragging his own body further into hell.


    Laz was only able to hold on thanks to his strong will power and the fact that he noticed that when he did this, the energy would be super charged andunched at his core, causing it to be devoured, bit by bit.


    And since this crazy energy was several times stronger than anything he had taken before, it was pounding his core harder than he thought was possible.


    He knew what he had to do thanks to A''ruya, but he never really considered how hard it would be to pound his spherical core down to a foundation. Just because you hit an iron ball with a hammer didn''t mean it was going to just be a t disk. But using the lightning snakes, he was now equipped with a hydraulic press to do the work for him. Thanks to this, he could see his core bing tter and tter.


    Laz had no idea how much time had passed, but he had no choice except to keep doing it until all of the lightning energy was gone.


    Just when Laz felt like he could no longer go on, thest bit of energy hit as he made onest desperate attempt with everything he had.


    BAM


    The once perfect sphere was now a t tform, shinning within him. On top of that,z could make out strange symbols all along the base of it, thing that he could barely recognize as runes. But these seemed different than the ones he had studied before.


    Despite that, the biggest change was how the energy flowed.


    It used to be drawn into the sphere from wherever and then emitted from the sphere in the same way, with no real direction or path. But now, the energy would flow into the bottom of the foundation and be let out at the top. Due to the change in flow, Laz was clearly able to feel that he not only was the energy much morepressed and dense than it used to be, but he could also use a hell of a lot more of it at one time.


    It was the difference between simply using a firecracker to explode outward versus using a controlled explosion like a cannon. They were on two entirely different levels.


    Feeling this new found power, Laz understood that he was now officially in the Foundation Realm.


    And now it was time to wake up.

 Chapter 199: Pursuit

    Chapter 199: Pursuit


    Although Laz was surrounded, he wasn''t overly worried. The main problem he had was the air support as that was going to be an issue.


    Since he already said what needed to be said, it was time for action.


    Laz put his hands up as though he was surrendering, causing all of the guardsmen to feel a bit confused. After all, why escape if you were going to give up so quickly without a fight. Little did they know that Laz actually had no ns to surrender.


    Instead, as his hands were above his head, he lowered the front of his body like he was about toy on the ground. Just as it looked like he was going to tip over, he brought his hands down and propped himself up before bending his knees and squatting.


    It took only a moment for the guardsmen to understand that Laz had taken a runner''s starting pose, but it was way tote to react.


    Boom, swoosh.


    Laz exploded with his strength, shooting off like a bullet in the opposite direction from where the girls were parked. Before anyone could even pull a trigger, Laz was off the edge of the road and running through the tall grass. Sadly, the area he was near wasn''t forested or he would have been more confident in his ability to escape.


    Now, Laz''s speed wasn''t so extreme that the guardsmen who had taken aim at him couldn''t see him. The reason he was able to disappear from their view so quickly is because of tricking their kic vision. In other words, Laz went from a speed of zero to a speed of almost one hundred miles per hour, or around one hundred and sixty one kilometres per hour. As such, Laz escape from their range of vision even before they noticed he moved. In the same way that it is impossible to watch a bullet shot from a gun with your normal vision, Laz was able to disappear.


    His speed and strength were both a blessing brought from his new realm.


    But he had made a mistake as well.


    Having grown more powerful, Laz felt like he could do these things without a problem, but what he didn''t expect was that his body wasn''t exactly up to the task.


    Having used his muscles in a way that they weren''t used too, Laz could feel his legs burning as he continued to run. Despite having just started the escape, he had already hurt his legs by putting too much pressure on them. Sadly, there was no time to stop and rx them. The injury wasn''t severe, but if he didn''t let it rest, it would get worse.


    Just as Laz was trying to adjust his speed to rx his legs slightly, he heard the sounds of the coptering up from behind him.


    ''DAMN IT.''


    Despite the pain he felt, Laz kept running.


    The copters were more than able to keep up with Laz''s speed as the trucks and various armored cars on the highway sped off, looking to loop around to where Laz was headed.


    Although Laz didn''t know it, at the moment, they were actually in West Virginia as they had crossed into the state to cut over into Pennsylvania. Due to the short path through, the guardsmen of Virginia were allowed to continue the transport without needed to switch guards.


    Of course, this wouldn''t have matter to Laz anyway as all he could see at the moment were open fields.


    The copters had closed in while Laz was making his way through the grass and started ring their speakers.


    "STOP RUNNING AND GIVE UP."


    "IF YOU DON''T STOP, WE WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO OPEN FIRE.".


    "THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING..."


    Despite hearing this, Laz wasn''t going to stop moving. Instead, Laz ended up focusing a bit on the copters that were following him as opposed to thend in front of him.


    Bam, Bam.


    Shots rang out from the aircraft as the snipers on board took aim. In this instance though, since they weren''t able to stay stationary, it would have been more appropriate to call them sharpshooters as they wouldn''t be able to use a normal sniper rifle and scope. Despite this, the shots were aimed with precision and would have been able to take down a normal person in one shot. Things weren''t about to go that easy.


    Seeing were the shots were aimed, Laz made a few quick course changes and managed to avoid them. But all that earned him was more fire at him.


    Thanks to leaping, jumping, making crazy turns and adjustments, Laz was able to avoid each shot by quickly figuring out where they wereing form and where they were going to go, leaving the ones doing the shooting to wonder if Laz was psychic.


    More than once, the crazy movements caused Laz to fall and wear him out even more. Despite breaking into the Foundation realm, Laz hadn''t had a chance to rest in a few days. Even though his injuries were healed, the process of both the break through and the healing had taken a lot out of him and he was finding it harder and harder to dodge. But Laz refused to give up.


    1 mile.


    10 miles.


    25 miles.


    No one had any clue as the extent of Laz''s endurance, but it almost seemed like it could go on forever.


    On top of that, Laz finally found what he was looking for: a wooded area. The copters wouldn''t be able to track him if they couldn''t see him.


    As Laz approached while still avoiding the suppression fire from above, he noticed that a road ran along the edge of the treeline and it was crawling with guardsmen from both states and all forms ofw enforcement.


    Every single one of them had a gun pointed at the direction Laz wasing from.


    "IF YOU REFUSE TO SURRENDER, WE WILL OPEN FIRE THE MOMENT YOU ARE VISIBLE. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE." Another message came down from one of the chasing helicopters, just as Laz noticed this death line in front of him. It seemed like they had guessed that he would want to make for the woods and decided to stop him at any cost.


    ...


    At the death line, various members ofw enforcement and guardsmen had their weapons drawn and were pointing at the field around were the helicopters wereing from. They all knew the fugitive was going to be somewhere underneath and in front of the air pursuit so they had a good estimate as to where Laz was.


    Of course there was more than one confused person present.


    "Hey captain, why the hell do we have to stop this guy from getting past us. I mean sure, the woods are good for hiding, but the memo said shoot to kill?" One of the younger guys asked his captain in confusion.


    "If he gets into the woods, we can''t follow," the captain replied while taking a look back in thought.


    "Why not? I mean, sure, it will be difficult. But we''ve got a ton of local guys who hunt these woods all the time. They''ll be able to find him in no time."


    "I swear to god son, you''ve got to start paying attention a bit more. We''ve lost over twenty local boys in these woods in the past month. Hell, we even started sending in search parties that ended up separated. And only half of them made it back. I don''t know what''s going on in there, but no matter what, we ain''t going in there. If the feds want a crack at it, more power to ''em. But we ain''t going in there fer nothing, got it? He get''s past us though and hes considered dead. The feds don''t want to see good material wasted or sum shit so we just got to take him down. Even if he''s dead, I guess his body is still useful or something. But he gets in there and he''s gone for good."


    It was only now that the young officer noticed the look of fear on his captain''s face. It seemed as though he knew more than he was letting on, but he was only saying that they were not allowed in there under any circumstances. This could only mean that it was something that the young officer shouldn''t know or ask about.


    "HE''S COMING!" The shout went up along the line and everyone snapped to attention taking aim.


    Laz knew what was ahead, but he wasn''t going to stop. He could only charge forward while gritting his teeth against the pain. He knew that it was about to get sticky.


    Just when he broke the line of tall grass, he was able to clearly see what he could sense before. All up and down the road, paced at intervals, was a whole mess of military and local police, all when guns pointed right at him. Of course there was no ce to hide or even to stop and Laz could only charge forward.


    That was when the hail of bullets came raining down on him.


    Laz had two choices, try to dodge them or run right through them. Dodging with this much gun fire was impossible, even for him. So he could only hope his body held up.


    Of course he wasn''t just going to rely on his body for this. Seeing things get about as bad as they could be, Laz could feel every cell in his body scream out and erupt with energy as his entire being was covered with the ck mes. Before, he was only able to cover himself with a rather thinyer of mes. But now, having broken through, the mes that covered him were ten times as dense. Not only that, but they also burned a lot hotter than ever before. As such, a good portion of the bullets that came flying at him were melted into scrap before they could even reach him. Despite the constant barrage of gunfire, Laz continued to run like a maniac towards the line of cars. The crazy use of his energy was quickly depleting even his now massive store of energy, so much so that Laz couldn''t help but wonder if he would be able to even make the treeline before he ran out of juice.


    But he had no choice.


    His only saving grace at this moment was that a lot of shots were going off target or missing all together. As was normal for Laz, as he circted his technique while pumping out the energy, his eye were burning with a blood red fire of their own. As far as the ones who were shooting at him could see, there was a devil with red eyes and covered with ck mes charging at them. For these country boys, although they had seen their fair share of crazy, this wasn''t something they had any experience with. Be it the police of the guardsmen, they were hard pressed to even look at Laz, much less trying their best to aim.


    The same couldn''t be said for the ones in the copter. Both sharpshooters had steadied themselves and took aim, wanting to make these shots count since Laz could no longer evade them.


    Bang, Bang.


    Both copter''s rang out with urate aim, hitting Laz in the shoulder and thigh from behind. Even with his mes raging, he couldn''t melt the shots fast enough before they hit him.


    "FUCK," Laz yelled as he faltered for just a moment. But with a will that was way more than something a man of Laz''s age should be capable of, he held on and ran.


    Las was withing yards of the car line now and didn''t both to slow down in the slightest. Instead, he brace himself and plowed into a police cruiser, causing the car to go flying as it crashed into the several cars around it.


    Seeing that Laz entered the line, the ground units quit firing and started to run, looking to put distance between themselves as this demon. On the other hand, the copters tried to slow down, seeing that Laz had stopped moving for a moment but ended up over shooting the line.


    The better of the two sharp shooters used this moment to fire again, this time hitting Laz in his arm as they passed by to turn around.


    Laz was in tons of pain at the moment. The bullets had hit but didn''t pass through, instead lodging themselves in his strengthened body. He was now bleeding from three holes and finding it hard to stand. But since he had a moment, he figured he would use it.


    Laz ripped off the car door of two of the cruisers that were closest to him and waited. As the copters came back around, he ducked down and cut off the ck mes around him. As a couple of the cars has been engulfed in his mes, there was a trail of smoke that made it hard to see from the air, causing the copters toe in blind.


    As soon as they got close enough, Laz jumped up from cover and smiled.


    He then flung out the doors like a disc, hitting them both head on. They didn''t burst into mes, but the doors sliced through the front panels, killing the pilots on contact and causing both helicopters to spin and free fall out of control. One ended up going towards the grasnd Laz had just run out of while the other one went down on top of a group of unlucky solders who were trying to get out of the way. There was no way of knowing just how many were now injured or dead.


    After seeing the results of his throws, Laz didn''t hesitate to run forward, disappearing into the woods while leaving the scene of chaos behind him.

 Chapter 200: Doctor Tyr

    Chapter 200: Doctor Tyr


    Laz stopped briefly to see how many were chasing him and where they wereing from. He also took a moment to check out his wounds, pulling out some cloth strips from his pouch to bind them up so that they would leave a blood trail. As he was doing so, he noticed, strangely, that no one had followed him in.


    ''What the hell?'' It didn''t make sense that they wouldn''t even try toe, despite knowing how fast he could run. It was obvious that based on the blood stter from where he got shot that he was injured and that would indicate that this was the best time to pursue him. Despite that, he was able to use his sense and tell that all of the cars and various agents and police were just spreading out down the road, as though waiting for him toe back.


    Laz couldn''t help but be confused.


    Laz also noticed that Tyr, who had been hiding on his back, had rushed to his shoulder, as though sensing the threat was over.


    "Have a fun ride?" Laz asked, looking at the little guy who nodded his head yes. It was almost like he wanted to do it again. Lazughed at the cute, furry little hitchhiker and started to make his way deeper.


    It didn''t take long though before Laz noticed that something was wrong, well, felt something was wrong.


    He stopped and looked around, even spreading his sense out every way that he could, but he found nothing.


    He noticed that the trees were healthy, the wind was gentle and there even seemed to be a sense of extreme calm. Besides the wind, there really was no other noise.


    "Am I imagining things?" Laz asked the little spider who was also looking around like he was in thought.


    "There isn''t even a sense of hostility...Ergh..." Laz could feel every step he took from his tired and bleeding body. Even if everything around him was the picture of tranquility, Laz wasn''t in good shape to enjoy it.


    "Damn it. I just hope that there are no beasts to smell the blood, otherwise.... wait a second..." It was only know that Laz realized what he had missed before. Besides him and the little spider, there was no other creature within range of his senses. In fact, he was no longer able to sense the people waiting for him on the road, something that he should be able to do since he wasn''t really that far away from them.


    "What the hell is this?" As Laz took a few more steps forward, he noticed that the woods around him were bing dark. It was simr to walking from the sun into the shade, but then walking into an even darker shade and then a darker one. It shouldn''t have happened like that.


    No matter what was happening, Laz first needed to try to tend to his wounds more. If he had ended up in some ce dangerous, having those bullets inside of him would only make things worse if he had to fight. So no matter what, that was now the priority.


    As he sat there, he took out a knife from his pouch. Laz had actually thrown a few medical kits in there not knowing when they would be of use, but he figured it was better to have them then to not. After all, injuries were bound to happen, even to him.


    On a normal day, he would be fine to let the wound heal itself while circting his internal energy. But these bullets seemed to be especially hard to take care of. It was almost like they were stuck inside of him and didn''t want toe out. At first, after he had been shot and when he was using his ck mes to cover his body, he had kept the mes away from the bullets since he didn''t want them melting inside of him. There was no telling what would happen if he did that. He was sure he could melt them, if it came to that. But it really was thest resort.


    Having no other choice, Laz began digging at the wound in his shoulder while trying to find the bullet. Since his body was solid enough that a normal bullet wouldn''t effect him, he couldn''t use normal tweezers since they would just break while he tried using them. As such, he could only dig into himself with a titanium de. It wouldn''t break his skin, but it wouldn''t break easily either.


    After a few moments of of digging, Laz was able to remove the bullet. He then switched hands and did the same for the one in his arm too. The final bullet was the one in his thigh and he knew that it would be the most difficult. After wrapping up the first two wounds Laz tried his best to rx before standing up. The problem with the tight wound was that it had hit from behind and buried itself in there. Due to this, Laz could only try his hardest to dig in while standing up since he wouldn''t have been able to reach it otherwise.


    After a good ten minutes without sess and a hell of a lot of swearing in his head, Laz couldn''t stand the pain and dropped the knife while sitting back down to rest. Looking around again, it almost looked like it was now nighttime in the forest. And it was giving Laz an even creepier feeling.


    "I don''t think we should be in here Tyr..." Laz tried calming himself while talking to the little spider who had been watching him while he worked. The spider turned to look at Laz and then looked down at the knife before jumping down and running to retrieve it. Although it looked a little clumsy at first, Tyr was able to bring the knife back to Laz while holding it in his front two legs. Seeing this, Laz couldn''t help butugh while leaning over carefully to take it from him. Surprisingly, Tyr moved the knife out of the way as though he was ying a game of keep away.


    "Tyr. I don''t think it''s the time to do that..." Laz said with a smile, thinking that Tyr was a like small child that wanted to y. Instead of Tyr handing him back the knife though, Tyr instead used a third leg to point at Laz and then point at the ground.


    "What''s this now?".


    *Down,* Tyr responded.


    "Down? Likey down?" Laz asked the little guy who responded with a nod.


    "Uh... ok" Lazid on the ground while Tyr stood next to him with the knife.


    *Over.*


    "Roll over?" Laz''s question once again got a nod from Tyr.


    ''Is he going to try to get thest bullet out?'' Laz couldn''t help but think to himself, even though it seemed crazy.


    ''Well, it''s either that or he''s going to take me out... still...'' Laz couldn''t help but think that someone standing behind him would have a better chance of getting it out than Laz trying to do so without being able to reach to correct angle.


    Just as Laz rolled over and braced himself though, he felt a sharp pinch around the wound before all the pain went away.


    ''The fuck?'' Laz used his sense and noticed that Tyr had actually bitten him near the wound and injected him with his venom, albeit just a little bit. It was just enough to cause the wound and a bit of his leg to go numb. Tyr then seemed to expand in size , from being about the size of a chicken egg to being the size of a squirrel. Laz was just too surprised to even have a thought about this.


    With Tyr''s increased size, he was able to handle the knife with ease. But it still was hard for him to get the angle in there to pry it out without possibly causing damage to Laz''s leg. Laz knew this, but Tyr didn''t. What he did know was that Laz was good and he wanted to help Laz. He had seen Laz using the knife and getting out the thing inside and saw that he couldn''t do it for his leg. So Tyr wanted to do it for him. But as Tyr held the knife, he knew that he still couldn''t do it. So he was going to try something else.


    Tyr set down the knife and held up his front legs. With a flick, little talon like protrusions appeared at the end of his feet. With a nod, Tyr plunged them into the hole in Laz''s thigh and feeling around carefully, he was able to quickly grab the bullet and yank it out, much quicker than Laz ever did. When he was done, he noticed there was still a problem as it was still bleeding. So Tyr came up with another idea. He used a bit of web and and his talons to stitch it tightly closed and then used a bit more webbing to cover itpletely. Although it wasn''t pretty, it was sown up well enough.


    Tyr hopped off Laz and came around to his front where he nodded while patting Laz''s head, as though he was saying ''All done.'' Laz quickly turned over and got up before examining the wound and finding itpletely bound. He couldn''t help but be amazed. On top of that, it still didn''t hurt at all. Flexing and stretching it a few times, Laz felt like it was as good as new.


    Laz held out his hand and Tyr, now reduced size again, climbed on and ended up on Laz''s shoulder.


    "That''s amazing buddy," Lazplimented Tyr while rubbing his furry little head. After taking a few steps, Laz trusted that he could use it like normal.


    None of this helped the fact that he was still lost in this freaky, silent woods. Still, staying here wouldn''t solve anything and he couldn''t head back, so moving forward was the only option.


    Laz had just found a clearing and was walking towards it when he noticed something moving across the clearing in the shadows, shaking some trees. While checking it with his sense, it was like nothing was there.


    Laz quickly hunched down and took cover before slowly making his way over. He was almost crawling as he moved, making sure his body was concealed by the brush. Just as Laz thought he would be in range though, the tree''s stopped moving and everything was again calm. At least, everything on the outside. Inside, Laz''s heart felt like it was about to explode out of his chest. Whatever that thing was, it scared the shit out of him on instinct.


    Laz knew it was time to get away from this clearing, but before he could move far, he suddenly felt like something was watching him, several something''s in fact. Looking up, Laz could see several strange lights in the trees on the other side of the clearing.


    Hauntingly, every single light he saw was way up high.


    And in pairs.


    It didn''t take a genius to figure out what those light''s were. For the moment, Laz hesitated as to trying to fight or running? Then he ended up seeing one of the pairs of lights start to slowly move up the tree until it popped above the top of the tree and kept going. By the time it stopped, it must have been almost two hundred and fifty feet off the ground and pointed straight at Laz.


    This answered his question real quick.


    ...


    In the strangely beautiful natural court yard thaty in front of her residence, A''ruya was sipping on some tea while reading a book. Just as she went to take another sip though, she frowned and put the cup down before closing her eyes. Noticing her strange behavior, one of her personal body guards walked over and asked,


    "Is something wrong princess?"


    "I''ve got to go out. Please let my mother know."


    "Princess. You should know that after you snuck out thest time, your mother has put us here to watch over you and make sure you don''t do it again."


    "My mother just thinks I am too young to contest and my ideas are too radical for father and the consul. And that''s why she put you here to babysit me. But, as we both know, that is stupid. There is no way you can stop me if I want to go out," A''ruya had a strange look in her eye as she stared at this watcher of her''s. She was threatening him and not trying to hide it.


    "Now, you can eithere with me, or go tell my mom. What choice do you think will leave you in a better position?"


    "Sigh. Yes princess. Where are we headed."


    "Just follow me and shut up." She shed away in but a moment and ended up showing up right where Laz had entered the forest. In fact, she could still smell his warm, energy infused blood on the ground. Just as she appeared, several of the police and guardsmen noticed her and raised their weapons, only to drop them a momentter. They themselves then dropped as well, hitting the ground as though a puppet with it''s strings cut. The guard appeared now as well with a frown on his face. Just as he was going to kill everyone for disrespecting the princess she stopped him.


    "Princess, I really feel as though they need to.... be... taught.... a.... what the hell is this?" The guard was looking upward and around, obviously seeing much more than Laz did when he came in here or a human would have.


    "Damn it," A''ruya said, looking seriously pissed off.

 Chapter 201: Time Lapse

    Chapter 201: Time Lapse


    Laz was running towards what he thought was the road. But as he kept going, he soon discovered that the road was no longer there. In fact, as far as he could tell, the forest he was in now went on forever.


    "This looks bad little buddy," Laz said to Tyr who was enjoying the ride. Laz honestly didn''t know if Tyr was simply carefree or if he just didn''t know about danger yet. As Laz gave it a quick thought, he soon realized that he really didn''t know much of anything about Tyr, other than he was a little spider with a lot of secrets.


    After a while, Laz came to a stop. He was getting nowhere. In fact, as he turned around and took a few steps back, he noticed he was still looking at the same clearing that he had run away from.


    "You''ve got to be shitting me..." Laz said, looking at the eyes that were looking back at him.


    Seeing as how he had no hope of leaving, Laz ignored the danger and decided to face it head on.


    Walking forward, Laz came out of the tree line and made his way to the middle of the clearing. Laz had the feeling that the things looking at him were just curious. Sure, they could kill him in a heart beat, but that didn''t mean they were actually interested in doing that.


    After entering the clearing, Laz noticed that in the distance he could see several mountains that looked like they were outlined by the moon. He wondered just how big were they when they seemed so big and yet so far away.


    Another scary thing he took note of was that there looked to be severalrge creatures walking around the mountains as well, looking like giant shadows that jutted out from the mountains. At this point, Laz was sure he was somewhere else. Cause this kind of thing would be impossible to miss if he was just on Earth. No matter how sparse the poption of the states, this wasn''t something one could see and not say something about.


    Turning back, Laz looked at the creatures who were currently in front of him. Based only on what he could see, there looked to be four different things in front of him. Besides, therge one that was now high above the trees, there were two more that were sitting in the trees and one that was ground level. Laz had no idea which one he should be the most afraid of and it wouldn''t have mattered if he did. All of them gave him a feeling of immense danger.


    "Eh...Hello?" Since the eerie quiet was going on, Laz decided to break it. It was better than just standing there and being looked at.


    He didn''t get a response, but he heard a strange noise, like a gentle whistle that was going back and forth. Laz wanted to say something else, but was stopped by little furry legs that suddenly covered his mouth. Looking down, Laz noticed Tyr looking back up with him, still carefree. This time though, he had something to say.


    *Eyes. Red.* Was what Tyrmunicated to Laz. Not knowing why he wanted him to do that, Laz did what Tyr suggested. Circting his energy to the max, Laz''s eyes turned their dark red color as the powerful light from them spread out. Laz was then going to go one step further and use his ck mes but was stopped.


    *Fire. Wood. Bad.*


    "Oh.. good point." Laz then decided against this. He was a bit interested in using his mes as a deterrent, but obviously Tyr thought that would be a bad idea.


    ''Actually, how did he know I was going to do that?''


    Strangely enough, after a few moments of just looking back at the eyes with Tyr on his shoulder, the strange creatures started moving towards him. Laz made to back away from this but Tyr patted his cheek and told him it would be ok. So Laz stood his ground instead.


    As the creatures entered into the moon light, Laz had a sudden desire to run the fuck away as fast as possible. As far as he could tell, these creatures of different sizes really were nothing but shadows with eyes. As they came closer, Laz could see their bodies shimmer as though the moonlight was simply going through them. He wasn''t sure these were even real creatures anymore since they looked like ck blobs.


    As they got closer to Laz, the two that were about the size of a house seemed toy down to get a closer look while the one that was the size of a small moving truck just stood right in front of him. Laz was far to scared to see what the big one was going, despite seeing it stand right over him.


    Just as Laz was feeling insanely ufortable, the one that was closest to him moved. Before Laz could react, the shadow creature''s something or other hit Laz on the head and sent him flying. Without even knowing why or how, Laz cked out.


    ...


    Laz opened his eyes, only to see a fire in front of him. His entire body felt numb and he could barely move or make a sound. It felt like every bit of energy inside of him was drained dry and he had no strength. In fact, he could barely open his mouth to speak.


    "Wwwaaaaeeerrrrrr." It was the only thing he could get out, was a need for some water. He didn''t even know if anyone could hear him as his head felt like it was going to explode. He had closed his eyes to the harsh light of the fire when he felt a stream of water enter his mouth. He focused all his strength on swallowing what was given.


    After he finished drinking, Laz rxed his head as he focused on recovering while he head a voice.


    "Rest up young man. You''re safe here." The voice sounded old and wizened, but somewhat rxing. Laz could feel himself drifting in and out of consciousness, but he couldn''t do anything about it. When he finally opened his eyes again, he noticed that it was still dark, but he could feel some nkets on top of him, something he didn''t feel the first time. Or maybe it was because he couldn''t feel anything the first time. Laz didn''t know how much time had passed.


    "Are you awake?"


    "I am..." Laz''s voice was still rough, but it was much better than thest time he tried to speak.


    "Good. Try to sit up," the voice suggested. Laz did exactly that. Even though his body didn''t feel any better than before, at least he was no longer numb. There''s a world of difference from feeling weak to not being able to feel.


    After a bit of effort, Laz was able to get into a sitting position. As his eyes adjusted to the light of the fire, things started bing a bit clearer. He could tell that he was still out in the middle of nowhere, but the world looked different. He didn''t really notice that before, when he was seeing those creatures, the world itself seemed... greyish. It was like there was a constant fog in the air that you couldn''t see but it made everything else look weird. But now he discovered that the grey world was gone.


    Laz looked around, trying to figure things out when he discovered the old man sitting across from him. The man was dressed in a nnel jacket along with jeans and boots. His long and smooth ck hair was infused with many strands of white and came to a braid in the back, on which several pieces of jewelry could be seen. When Laz looked over at him, the man looked back at Laz.


    "You have questions?"


    "I.."


    "I don''t have all the answers. I can only tell you what I know. And even that is far less than you want to hear..."


    It seemed like he was speaking in riddles, but in truth, the things he said hit several points in Laz''s thoughts. It was almost like the man was telling him that he needed to prepare himself to rx since he wouldn''t like the answers he was given.


    While Laz looked on, the man stroked the fire with a stick, causing the mes to burn a bit higher. He then reached over a tossed a hand full of something on the fire, causing the mes to burn a shade of blue.


    "Where you were, where you are, how did I get here, how did I find you, what happened to you, what did I see? These are the things you ask and of these, I can only answer a few. But answerse with a price which is answers to my questions as well."


    "You have questions?" Laz asked, unsure of what the old man was trying to get at.


    "I do. What you have seen, I can guess. Where you are, I can tell you. How I found you was simply on ident although I was sent to look and where you are now is probably around where you were before."


    "Uh.."


    "I wonder if you know who you are? And how long where you in there?"


    "In there?"


    "Answers first."


    "My name is-"


    "Truth. I have no time for lies."


    "My name is Lazarus Crowe."


    "That is your name, not who you are."


    "Who I am...?" Laz was confused by the old man''s riddles.


    "MMmm, I see. Even you don''t know. They are ying with you. This makes sense."


    "Uh..?"


    "How long were you in there?"


    "I don''t know...? I passed out and then woke up here."


    "How long do you think you were in there?"


    "It was... a couple hours that I remember?"


    "A couple hours... interesting...." The old man was looking into the mes as though searching for something. Whatever that was, Laz had no idea.


    "Most people who return only remember a few breaths, maybe a couple minutes at most. But you remember hours. And you didn''t die. The ce you were at, is not a ce a person''s body should be. That''s why you are like you are. But, that might be good, or bad. Maybe only you can tell me thister on."


    ''Huh? My body?''


    Laz looked down and noticed that his skin was no longer a pale while, but now looked like it was a dark grey. In fact, it almost looked like someone had dunked him into grey paint. On top of that, the strange tribal like tattoos that had just been on his chest before now covered his entire upper body. It might have just been the light, but it seemed like they were moving around on their own.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that Laz had epted that things would just get weirder and weirder, he probably would have been very scared of his own skin right now.


    "Damn..."


    "I know what you are and that might be the only reason you are still alive. As far as how long you were in there, well, I remember my grandfather telling me stories of a chase on the highway with the feds and the man that managed to escape despite all of that, you look a lot like who he described."


    "Oh...WHAT? YOUR GRANDFATHER?"


    "HA HAH AHA HA HA HA."


    "WHAT?"


    "I''m kidding young man. Rx. Although if you are that person, then that event happened almost a year ago now..."


    "A year? It''s... been a whole year?"


    "As measure by the sun and seasons, it has been. Better than a hundred years?"


    "Yes... But... a whole year." Laz couldn''t believe what he was being told. A year had passed by but for him, it had only been a few hours.


    "You should consider yourself lucky. Most people never return from that ce. Even on my own spiritual journeys, it is only my soul which visits, never my body."


    "Your... soul?"


    "You don''t believe in the soul young man?"


    "It''s... not something I have experience with." This was the best way Laz could describe it. He had never really thought about his soul, much less if he had one.


    "The soul is important with regards to that ce and to life in general. Maybe that''s for another time though. Rest for tonight and I will take you back to my vige in the morning. I was sent out here to bring back a traveler and it seems as though I have found him. There is no reason to stay longer. We can talk more tomorrow.


    Just as the old man finished speaking, the blue mes died down to the normal orange and red color. For whatever reason, Laz felt his body be light and his eye lids heavy. Although he wanted to talk to the man more, he knew that things were done for the night. Without hesitation, Laz slumped down onto the nket on the ground and quickly fell asleep. It was his first normal sleep in over a year.


    Watching this happen, the man had a thoughtful look on his face. While Laz had spoke, he had used a big of old magic to look into some of the weaving''s of destiny and fate. Although he had seen a few things about this boy he saved, there was far more that was blocked from his vision. That had never happened before.


    "The world has changed much in just one year boy. I''m sure you won''t like it, none of the rest of us do. So whether you like it or not, I can only ask the spirits to guide you. Since you came out alive, I already know they are watching you. And I truly wonder just what happened to you in there."


    Laz turned over while asleep, not noticing a little spider had crawled up on top of him and gotfortable before falling to sleep itself.


    "Sigh. Even a small spirit creature follows this boy around. What sort of twisted destiny has he made for himself?"

 Chapter 202: White Owl

    Chapter 202: White Owl


    Laz awoke the next morning and noticed that the fire was put out. Not only that, but it seemed like the old man had vanished as well, leaving Laz alone in the woods. As he sat up though, he noticed the furry little spider who was still in dreamnd on top of him.


    ''Honestly, you''re a spider. Why do you curl up and sleep like a puppy or something...'' Laz shook Tyr a bit until it''s eyes opened. He then noticed it was still kind of dark out and rolled over, intent on going back to sleep.


    ''Wait, I didn''t think spiders had eyelids...'' Laz just shrugged, toozy to think about it.


    Just as he was standing up while making Tyr get up with him. As soon as he started stretching, he noticed his entire body was weak. It wasn''t weak to the point where he had trouble moving, but it was more like he was suddenly back to where he started before he gained his abilities. Even worse, he could barely sense the energy inside of himself, which almost made Laz freak out. He never wanted this, but since it hade to him, he didn''t regret it. Compared to spending a life in mediocrity, which was originally his goal, he hade to rely on and even relish the power he had. And yet now it seemed like it was gone.


    The bit of hope he had was he was still able to sense the power within himself, it was just smothered by the grey fog that had invaded his body. When he looked closer, his center foundation was still in ce, but was surrounded on all sides to the point where the energy couldn''t get out. Despite that, the ck me within looked as though it was sitting on top of the rune covered base and was constantly burning away the fog. Once it burned, a bit of the energy from it would escape into his body and along his pathways, causing his skin to be the weird grey color that it was.


    Wanting to test it out, Laz walked over to a tree and hit it as hard as he could. Although he left a fist size imprint on the tree, there was no other damage done. On the plus side, his fist was fine even after doing this.


    ''So this is the normal power of my body without the energy added in? I thought it would be stronger.'' Laz thought it over and figured it made sense. He had thought his body was super strong before, but that was only because of the dense amount of energy he naturally circted. Without it, he was still super strong, but it was super strong as measured by a normal person''s standard. As far as infected go, he figured that even Reggie would be able to be him up at this point if they relied on pure strength alone, much less Ruby or Leona.


    ''I wonder how the girls are doing? Vivi, Kennedy, Marlene, Leona and Ruby... Damn. I really should learn to keep it in my pants.'' Thinking about them wouldn''t make a difference right now anyway and he had to find a way to contact them.


    Just when he thought about following the only path in the area, the old man came back.


    "You look better?"


    "I mean, as good as can be I guess?"


    "Hmm... That''s good. But still, if someone where to see you right now, they would probably think you are sick and that''s thest thing you want right now. Let''s go."


    "Where? and wait, what do you mean." The old man didn''t stop but kept moving back down the path he came from. It was only now, seeing him in the semi light that Laz really took notice of the fact that he was of indigenous decent.


    ''I''m on a reservation?'' Laz thought as he followed the old man.


    As he came out from the small path, Laz noticed a rather nice truck parked on the side of the road. It looked brand new and nothing like what he thought the old man would be driving. Seeing Laz face, the old manughed.


    "What did you think, that I would have some horses or an old, busted up pick up?"


    "Kind of...?"


    "Kid, you watch way to many movies. Get in."


    "Where are we exactly?"


    "In the middle of nowhere. Closest city is Beckley."


    "Beckley? That''s... in what state?".


    "West Virginia. You really don''t remember much do you?"


    "It''s not that I don''t remember... it''s more like..."


    "When you came into this state, you were shackled up in the middle of an armed escort?"


    Despite Laz feeling that the old man knew about him, hearing him bring it out like this hit Laz with a few feels. One of those was a feeling of wariness. The old manughed as Laz put on a face of distrust.


    "Boy. Don''t worry so much. Our people don''t exactly have a good rtionship with the federal government. And we don''t like them spending too much time around us either."


    "So you don''t live on a reservation?"


    "No such thing in this state. Most of our people either hid their culture or relocated way back when. Even though there are a few viges left, we''re mostly just living together as amunity as opposed to being a recognized tribe." Laz could hear a bit of sadness in the old man''s voice. There was probably more of a story he didn''t know, but it wasn''t Laz ce to ask.


    As they drove into a town, the old man stopped and pulled into a gas station. As he parked the truck and looked over at Laz.


    "My name is Onacona, which means white owl. Apparently, when I was born, there was a white owl outside the hospital window when my mother gave birth to me. I''m not sure how true that is, but it''s what was told to me. In truth, having a name like that has made my life a bit hard. After my generation, we rarely give our children ancestral names. Instead, they have normal English names and we give them a Cherokee namesake that they use when at home."


    Listening to this, that made sense to Laz. Even if he felt bad about what history had done to Onacona''s people, it wasn''t like he could change anything.


    "Speaking of which, I''m pretty sure you don''t go around having people call you Lazarus, right?"


    "No. Just Laz."


    "Lazarus is an interesting name. A man who died and was brought back to life. It seems rather fitting for you in many ways." Onacona got out of the truck and went to gas up while Laz got out, set Tyr on the seat and went inside. He still had no idea where he was or anything that was happening, so he figured it was better to find out for himself as opposed to looking stupid to Onacona.


    Walking inside, he noticed the young man of around twenty behind the counter reading a motorcycle magazine while rxing. It looked like it wasn''t a very hard job he had. Laz grabbed some snacks, a map and a newspaper and went up to pay. He still had his pouch on him with all of his money and most of his valuables inside of it, something for which he was extremely grateful for. He looked around, but didn''t notice any sort of disposable cellphones and figured he would have to get one somece else. He went up to pay and was sort of ignored. As opposed to arguing with the young man, Laz just set the money on the counter and walked away. He got the feeling he was being ignored for a reason, but didn''t say anything. His spiritual sense was still usable in the same way it was before his inner energy was sealed and he knew the man had seen hime in. Since that was the case, Laz wasn''t going to press the issue.


    As he went back outside, he noticed the man had stood up and was looking at him through the window, watching at he hopped back into the truck with Onacona who had just finished gassing up. The man''s expression seemed to change having seen this and looked shocked. It seemed like he wanted toe outside and say something, but they had started driving away before he had the chance.


    "You should wear a hoodie or something for the time being and try to hide as much skin as possible without making it look obvious. You can borrow some clothes when we get back to my ce. The changes are probably a good thing for you, since you don''t look at all like the kid who was on the FBI''s most wanted list not too long ago."


    "I was... but I''m not?"


    "Nope. Congrattions. You''re dead."


    "WHAT?"


    The old man looked amused as he wasughing at Laz''s face. Laz''s forehead seemed to have a few ck lines on it as he stared at this old man who seemed to be full of jokes.


    "I''m not joking either. The ce you disappeared? Up at the north side of the state? Lots of people have gone missing in there. If you don''te out within the day, you nevere out. At least, not within the past year. You''re not the only one who went missing, but I bet you''re the only one who came out."


    "How much do you know old man?"


    "Old man eh? I guess I deserve that. Like I said, I know much, but not much of it will be helpful. Don''t worry so much. I was told to find you and take care of you and that''s what I''m doing."


    Although the old man seems to like to joke, the fact is that Laz realized that when he said he was sent to find him, he didn''t seem to be lying. But that was weird since even Laz didn''t know where he was. So who could have sent the old man?


    "You wonder who sent me, right boy?"


    "Laz. And yes."


    "The spirits did, of course. They said a boy wondered in and his annoying pet was hounding them to let him out. So they needed some help."


    "Annoying pet?" Laz looked down and noticed that Tyr was still rxing while curled up like a kitten with his legs wrapped around him.


    "The spirits are rather unusual things. They don''t dislike humans, but they don''t like them much either. They say that humans have forgotten their path, forgotten the old ways. But for those who still seek them out, they are still there to guide. It''s just much harder now. Anyway, having wondered into their home, you should be dead. Seems as though you''re pretty lucky."


    "This seems like a shitty plotline from a bad story."


    "Life is exactly like that at times boy. Try not to let it get to you."


    They didn''t talk much after that and soon arrived at the old man''s house. It looked like an old ranch style farm house that was well taken care of. As the old man pulled in, several young children who were ying in the yard came over and ran after the truck as it pulled in. When the old man got out, he was jumped by all four of the kids who looked like they ranged in age of four to ten years old.


    "GRANDPA!" They yelled as the smallest ones jumped on him first and the two older ones stopped just before.


    "I''m back. You''re all out here ying? Where is your mom and sister?"


    "Mom''s inside. Sarah is off doing whatever," the ten year old answered. He looked like a young boy who was covered in variousyers of mud like the rest of the kids. It seemed like they had been having fun ying around the yard.


    "Grandpa, who that?" The youngest girl asked. She was the one who looked about four years old. The next oldest was a boy around six and another girl around eight.


    "Oh him? Just a stray I picked up on the way home," the old man joked.


    "He doesn''t look like a dog," the younger boymented while looking at Laz. The little girl on the other hand wandered over and looked up at Laz who was now wearing his hood. He had originally changed after Tyr had done up his wounds which was apparently a year ago. He had checked earlier and it seemed like all of the wounds he had have healed and even the webbing had disappeared. This was one of the only reasons he had believed the old man''s story.


    "Where is your tail?"


    "I tuck it inside my pants so it doesn''t get in the way," Laz responded with a smile. The little girl giggled at the joke and kept circling Laz as though he was some sort of strange, new creature. Laz couldn''t help butugh at the girl''s yfulness.


    "I''d tell you toe in and get cleaned up, but these little ones are going to need to be cleaned up first or their mother will kill me. If you want, behind the barn, there is a shower stall for horses. You can go get cleaned up there," Onacona said, pointing off to the big red barn in the distance.


    "Sure thing," Laz said and started walking. He felt dirty as it had been a year since hest showered. Top that off with the fact that he still felt dried blood on him and it wasn''t a pleasant feeling.


    "I''ll bring some clothes out to you in a few."


    "That''s ok. I''ve got some spare ones with me," Laz said, not thinking about it. As he walked away, the old man looked back at him while herding the kids inside. Even though it was only mid day, they were much too dirty at the moment.


    ''He''s got spare clothes with him? The spider carrying them or something?'' The old man shook his head and didn''t bother thinking on it. The boy really was too strange after all.


    As Laz reached the area behind the barn, he noticed the horse cleaning area he had been directed to.


    "Shower stall for horses, eh?" Laz said, looking at the area. It was basically just arge, cement square on the ground with wooden walls on three sides and arge opening on the forth. There as an over head shower along with a rolled up hose and various types of shampoos. Laz didn''t know what kind of shampoo he was expected to use, but found what looked like an oatmeal bath and figured that was good enough. He also made a mental note that he should get some personal cleaning products for the future and wondered why he had never thought of it before.


    After setting the now awake Tyr down, Laz stripped naked without much thought and turned on the water which came gushing out. It was a stall designed for horses so having high pressure was a must. After getting the temperature right, Laz went under the water and began washing himself, cleaning off the various dried blood and other junk that had seemed to collect on his skin. It was almost like he had washed away an outeryer of junk which made his almost charcoal like grey skin a few shades lighter. It was still much darker than natural however.


    Laz couldn''t help but look down at himself as well. The ck, tribal tattoo like lines really did seem to be covering much of his upper body including his chest and stomach and all along his back. Luckily they didn''t extend much down his arms or go onto his neck as that would have made them much harder to hide. Either way, Laz felt like he looked kind of like a convict or an ink junkie considering what it looked like. The tree and red moon marking looked unchanged as well, just the the tree looked more defined while the moon was a brighter shade of red. Noticing this led him to start thinking about that mysterious A''ruya and wondering if she knew what was happening with him.


    Maybe he was distracted due to his thoughts and the water pressure was pretty intense which caused him to not notice the surroundings, but before he could process things, he suddenly saw a pair of legs walking along the side of the washing area and a voice that seemed annoyed.


    "Can''t believe they were ying with the shower again when I told them not to," the voice said as a pair of lovely legs in cowboy boots walked around the corner and then froze in mid step after seeing Laz.


    Laz was surprised as well and didn''t say anything while observing the attractive youngdy whose dumbfounded gaze was fixed right on him. Well, to be more precise, it was actually staring at his manhood which was dangling freely in front of him while the water cascaded down his naked body.


    After being stared at so long, Laz felt a little weird and decided to break the silence.


    "Hello."


    "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." The girl''s scream echoed across the yard and made it''s way back to the house where Onacona was stirring the pot of stew that had been made for lunch, a job he had taken over from his daughter while she went to clean up her kids. He could help but startughing so hard his stomach started hurting as he doubled over.

 Chapter 203: Whats Changed

    Chapter 203: What''s Changed


    Laz shook his head at this girl who started screaming and yet failed to turn her head or cover her eyes. As such, he just turned around and finished getting clean. He never had a problem being naked around others thanks to a certain someone so it wasn''t like he was going to all the sudden be shy now. Also, he was here first and she crept up on him so if anything, he was the victim. Or at least, that''s what he would say if things became an issue.


    As he had finished washing off the soap and turning around, he noticed that she had finally left. Using his spiritual sense to check, he noticed that she hadn''t gone far. Laz didn''t know why, but for some reason, he felt like this girl might be a bit of a headache. And he wasn''t here for that kind of thing anyway. Onacona had rescued him in a sense and brought him somece to recover, so he felt that he needed to be respectful of the old man and his house. And if the girl was his granddaughter like he thought she was, it wouldn''t be a good idea to dip his hands into that cookie jar.


    Laz ended up drying off and getting dressed, but not before looking at his skin some more. It really was a weird experience for him to have gone from pale casper white to an almost charcoal grey. Even with his inner energy burning away at the mist that had permeated his body, he had no idea exactly how long it would take for him to recover. More importantly, with his power being locked up the way that it was, it would be super dangerous for him for a while if the government was still looking for him. Yes, Onacona had said that he was dered dead, but shit happens and not being able to defend himself would be a problem. Luckily, he still had a bit of his strength left.


    After Laz finished changing, he started to walk back towards the house, totally ignoring the girl who was peeking around the corner of the barn to look at him. Well, he mostly ignored her. His instincts wouldn''t let him ignore herpletely as he did use his sense to do a once over on her. If he had to describe what she was wearing, the best way he coulde up with was fake country.


    Laz had grown up going all over but spent his years with his grandpa in the middle of nowhere New York. What people might not understand is that the countryside of New York is just like the country side of any other state. There are a lot of farms and a lot of farmers. As such, Laz knew a bit about country living. As such, he could see that she was wearing a thin, fitted nnel top, cut off shorts that were obviously never actually pants and boots that were in no way water proof. It was an outfit that screamed I''m country, without actually having any real country involved. Laz didn''t care, but it did strike him as odd considering they were literally in the middle of nowhere and on a farm. Laz could only guess that this girl did not grow up here.


    Just as Laz was about to hop back on the road that led to the house, the girl jumped out from behind the barn and raced over.


    "What are you doing?" She asked while holding her phone as though she was going to call someone.


    "I''m going inside. Why?"


    "Inside? Who the hell do you think you are? Are you trying to rob us? Let me tell you my grandpa is home and he owns guns," she said while warning him.


    She gave Laz a weird feeling while talking to him. She seemed to think he was some kind of hobo drifter that was looking for a meal which was a turn off, while at the same time being interested for the same reason. It''s like... watching something super disgusting but not being able to turn away. Laz really had no idea what to say.


    Instead, he just shook his head and started walking.


    "Hey, HEY. I''M NOT DONE TALKING TO YOU, YOU FUCKING PERVERT!" She screamed out. Laz couldn''t help but sigh and try to keep calm. After all, he was a guest.


    "Yes?" He asked while looking back.


    "Who are you?"


    "Just a drifter your grandpa picked up," Laz figured it was a good cover as he really had no idea how to exin himself.


    "That''s bullshit. My grandpa never picks up drifters or hitchhikers." Laz could see that this girl actually seemed around his age, sixteen. Although, after he thought about it, he was seventeen now, wasn''t he? Either way, she wasn''t a kid, but she wasn''t an adut. And from the looks of things, she was pretty much what you would expect to see from someone who had never been out in the real world before. Laz silently wondered if that was why she was here.


    "Well, you will have to ask him. Let''s go." Laz made for the house again and this time, no matter what she said, he ignored her.


    Walking around to go into the door near the kitchen, Laz saw the old man stirring the pot while drinking a beer. Seeing Laz, he couldn''t help but smile.


    "Have a nice shower."


    "Yes. Thank you again."


    "You''re not going to say anything about the peeping tom?" Onacona asked while watching his granddaughtere inside..


    "Grandpa. Did you really bring this guy home?" She asked, despite now seeing Laz interacting with the old man.


    "Of course." The old man walked over to the fridge and grabbed out another beer, handing it to Laz.


    "But... isn''t he underage?" The girl asked. Although Laz was well built and somewhat tall, he still had a baby face that was difficult to miss. To be fair, with the greyishplexation, Laz did look older than the girl, but not by much.


    "Kamama, it''s not just about age. If you had gone through what this young man has gone through, I would treat you as an adut too."


    "But grandpa..."


    "No butts. Go help your mother get your brothers and sisters ready for lunch. I need to talk to our young friend some more." Sarah got up and stomped away, a bit upset at having been dismissed by her grandpa.


    "She''s not a bad girl, but where she grew up, she didn''t have to worry about anything. On top of that, she never really had to do much either. Just the fact that she does help when asked is more than I expected." Onacona sighed while looking at the hall way she had just disappeared down.


    Laz didn''tment as he didn''t know the situation and just drank his beer. The old man looked out of the house at this point and saw two trucks driving down his driveway. They stopped right in front of the house. The old man had an annoyed expression on his face, but he put on a smile anyway and walked outside. Laz just sat at the table while he debated using his sense to spy on them. As it was, they weren''t being quiet and Onacona had stopped them on the walkway into the house so they were close enough for him to hear.


    "We are just checking things out old man, no worries."


    "I''m not worried. Thanks for doing the rounds and keeping us safe."


    "No problem. Is your granddaughter free? I figured she might want toe out for a ride with us?"


    "She''s busy helping the kids get cleaned up. Maybee backter. My grand nephew is visiting so we are spending some family time today."


    "Nephew eh? Didn''t think your brother had any kids, much less grandkids?"


    "And you wouldn''t since he moved away almost forty years ago now."


    "Oh. Right right. Alright, We will do a once over and then leave you to your family time." The group of young men walked back to their truck and ended up driving towards the barn and took off towards the back fields, each of them armed with a shotgun or a rifle.


    As Onacona went back into the house, he saw Laz just sitting there, drinking his beer as though in quiet thought.


    "God damn kids..."


    "Hmm?"


    "Nothing. But do me a favor. If those guyse around and I''m not here, don''t leave Kamama alone with them."


    "Uh... ok?"


    Onacona didn''t say anything else. he just sat down at the table and drank his beer. After a while though, it was like a light suddenly went on in his head and he remembered he had meant to talk to Laz about a few things.


    "Right. So you don''t know anything that happened in thest year, right?"


    "Has it... has it really been a year?"


    "Well, you were the one who escaped the envoy heading north. And it has been a year since then."


    "Damn..."


    "Hard to wrap your mind around huh?"


    "How do you deal with losing a year of your life?"


    "Boy. When you get to my age, a year is nothing except maybe the time I got left. Besides, I spent quite a few years of my life doing things that just wasted time. I would say that maybe you will too, but somehow I doubt that."


    "Ah."


    "You''re still young. Don''t bother with details just yet boy. Anyway, guess I should probably get you caught up. You see, things started changing pretty quickly after that whole incident. They weren''t rted, it just seemed like an event to mark when things happened.


    Onacona went on to tell Laz everything that had developed in the short amount of time. Packs of demon beasts were on the loose all over the world. The hard part about fighting them was that the moved quickly and disappeared just as fast. In fact, entire towns have been destroyed from some of therger, faster packs. Even with the government sending out troops to hunt down these packs, there were just too many showing up all over the ce. And many of them had special abilities that caused casualties among the hunters.


    With therger, more dangerous packs being handled by government troops, the smaller packs were left for individual hunters to take care of. As such, most towns and viges ended up organizing hunting parties to do checks around towns to make sure that there were no traces of demon beasts. Squads such as the young ones in the pick up truck that had visited Onacona''snd were a normal sight outside of cities. As far as cities went, they had their own problems.


    Cites have been referred to as concrete jungles and rightly so. Although normal kinds of demon beasts would stay away from areas with arge human poption, there were always exceptions. Sometimes, a random beast would appear in a city and cause a massive amount of damage before they were taken down. At other times, they would hunt and kill silently, not even letting people know they were around and disappearing just as fast. Arge snake had managed to hide in central park for over two months before it was finally noticed and put down. The thing was almost 40 feet long and over 35 deaths had been linked to it.


    These days, when people started talking about alligators living in the sewers, others listened.


    The problem came from more than just demon beasts however. Fights between infected andw enforcement were bing more and moremon. There had even been a gang rounded up of more that six people who where all infected. As they escorted their drugged bodies away, the average person was treated to another round of brainwashing as ''specialists'' exined how the mutations of the body had led to their various abilities. All of this, of course, was caused by the disease.


    And they had a point, in a way. Those who tested positive to having the blood infection all ended up showing physical signs of the infection. Sometimes, it was little things like a bit more body hair or gain weird patches of color on their skin. But for some, the change was far more intense, causing them to no longer even appear human. Because of these radical changes and the bouts of violence that, although rare, were pushed to the national media, support for these infected started to taper off.


    This was also the biggest difference aspared to those who were considered blessed by the heavens. They were pushed forward as a leap in evolution for all mankind, showing no outward symptoms other than some ttering war paint like marks that would appear and vanish depending on their power usage.


    The world had found it''s angels... and it''s demons.


    Listening to all this, Laz started to get a clear picture as to what was happening. And none of it sounded good.

 Chapter 204: Strange Words

    Chapter 204: Strange Words


    After lunch, Laz wandered off by himself, finding a ce to rx. Thend around him really was scenic and beautiful. Laz hadn''t wandered into to many cities in his life because he preferred these wide open areas without people. Perhaps it had to do a lot with his previous nature of wanting to be alone and not connect with others. He wanted to remain invisible before even though he no longer understood why that was. Maybe it was because for him, getting close to others was way to painful.


    He thought he had found a way to avoid that and yet, he had still gotten way to close to quite a few people. Well, quite a few girls anyway.


    As his thought drifted here, Laz felt a familiar furry lump take a seat on his shoulder before it started to rub his face. Although the words the Tyr could speak were still few, he was still really good atmunicating. And really perceptive.


    "I''m fine. No worries." Although Laz said it, he wasn''t sure he meant it. Having been gone for a year without a word to anyone... how would the ones he cared about view that? Would they be angry at him, be worried? Or maybe they had forgotten about him? He didn''t know and because of that, he was worried. But even if he wanted to get in touch with them, he knew it wouldn''t be easy. Especially if everything that Onacona had been saying is real. From the sounds of it, infected were now being hunted and the ones that had stood up for them before were being ignored. It wasn''t as though Laz didn''t know it was going to happen, he just thought that it would take longer.


    But it seems like time waits for no one.


    "Well, maybe I''m not fine, but there isn''t anything I can do about it right now."


    Tyr jumped off of Laz''s shoulder andnded on the ground before turning around to face Laz. Tyr then tool a fun position and wrapped his back and middle legs around himself while using his front legs to rest in front of himself. Laz looked at the way he was sitting and wondering what it meant.


    *Budda* came Tyr''s quick and short exnation.


    "Budda?" Laz asked back. As he did though, something hidden in his brain seemed to click.


    -Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.-


    "The hell?" It was like the thought appeared in his head without his permission. And it wasn''t like he had memorized it at some point and forgot it, more like it was there and he just needed the key, which was apparently his mental state along with the keyword.


    Laz looked down at Tyr who was still sitting funny but with his little, furry eyes closed.


    ''I really don''t think spiders have eyelids... whatever." Laz pushed those thoughts aside and focused instead on the wording that had popped into his head.


    ''Do not dwell in the past." As Laz recited those words, he felt his mind drift inside of himself. Before long, he was floating in front of his fog covered foundation, on which a ck me could barely be seen, burning in the center. Although the ze looked impressive, it also looked like it was being smothered by the grey fog that seemed to cover his inner world. This was Laz''s basic problem. Wherever he was, this fog had seeped into his body and hadpletely covered his foundation, preventing any energy from escaping. As far as the thin amount of energy Laz was able to draw in from the outside world, it looked as though it disappeared as soon as it touched the fog. The only thing that brought himfort form this scene was that it looked as though the ck me was slowly burning away the fog. Laz couldn''t even begin to imagine how long that was going to take though.


    Just as he thought about these words again, some of the runes that circled the bottom of his foundation seemed to light up, looking like he had plugged in the lights from a Christmas tree. Although it was only a few runes, Laz could make out that they were definitely brighter than every other dull rune around the base. On top of that, Laz was almost sure that when the runes lit up, it looked as though his ck me had be a bit more steady.


    ''What the hell is this?" Laz truly had no idea what was going on, or what had happened. Before, when he had looked at the runes, they appeared blurry and unreadable. But now, even though it was just a small few of the runes, they started be clear and just a little bit brighter.


    ''And what is this suppose to mean?'' Laz asked himself while lost in thought. As he pondered over the words more and more, he discovered that as he applied their meaning to himself, it seemed like the runes were growing even brighter and bing clear enough to read.


    ''Is this... what I think it is? The words from that Buddhist proverb were some of the many runes that were strung along his base? Then, what about the rest of them?''


    ''Do not dream of the future.'' Sure enough, when these words appeared in Laz mind, the next small string of runes lit up as well.


    Thinking that Laz had found a bit of insight, he tried thinking of the final line.


    ''Concentrate the mind on the present moment.'' As these words popped into Laz''s mind, he quickly looked at his foundation base, but was disappointed. The following runes remained dull and lifeless..


    ''But why?'' Laz paused as he considered what he knew so far and did a double take over the previous strings of runes.


    ''The first set is the brightest, but I feel like they aren''t nearly as bright as they could be. The second string of runes looks like it''s barely lit as all.... WAIT A MINUTE.'' Laz said out loud in his own head.


    Laz had a strange feeling that the runes and the lit parts are like a long wire... if there isn''t enough juice going in, the current won''t travel the entire length of the wire, leaving lights unlit. It might be a crude way to put it, but that was all he could think of.


    Going back to the first set, Laz started from there, thinking of all of the ways those words applied to him.


    ''The past. The portions of my life that are gone and the parts that won''te again. More importantly, they are things that aren''t here with me now and there is nothing I can do about it.''


    As Laz went through these things in his mind and how it applied to his life, the runes on his base began growing brighter and brighter. When he had reached a point where thinking about it made his head hurt, he started thinking about the second line.


    ''Do not dream of the future.'' Ever since Laz had heard that he had basically been missing for a year, he couldn''t help but think about the girls who he left behind. He wanted to see them, if only to let them know he was still alive. He still had to find his parents as well and find a way to rescue his grandfather. There were so many things he had to do that when he would think about it, it would almost suffocate him. In turn, this led to him being unable to focus on what was happening at the moment. He had too many responsibilities to shoulder and it really did prevent him from focusing.


    As he thought more about those words, he knew that the theory was correct. It was just hard to put it into practice. How do you let go of the worry when the worry is always there? Laz couldn''t help but be stuck on this line, with no clear way of applying it. At least, not yet. But maybe that was the point? As he focus more on setting the things aside that he couldn''t do anything about right now, he vaguely felt that those words got a bit brighter. And more importantly, the final string even showed some signs ofing to life.


    Although there was more left to think on, Laz let everything go for a bit and opened his eyes. He knew that there was far more for him to get through, but he needed time to rest his mind.


    When Laz looked around, he noticed that the sun had started sinking and had almost set. He hade out after lunch, but now it was almost looking like dinner time. Even Tyr had fallen asleep while resting on him, as though Laz had bored him to sleep.


    "Well that was freaky," Laz said out loud to himself, thinking that in no way did it feel like so many hours had passed.


    "No shit. What did you hit that made you zone out like that for the entire afternoon?"


    "AAHHHHH"


    "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH"


    "Damn it..." Laz had no idea when Sarah had wandered up behind him. Although he was normally pretty calm and wasn''t easily startled, his mind was still super foggy from before and he had no idea she was there. So, he screamed and she screamed. It''s also worth it to note that Tyr was startled awake and hide behind Laz before she saw him.


    "Why did you scream? Aren''t you a man?" Laz wasn''t sure he was annoyed due to her disturbing him or if he was just annoyed that he didn''t make as much progress as he had expected to. Either way, he found that this girl got on his nerves rather easily. He was tempted to explode back at her, but he took a deep breath, calming his mind almost immediately.


    "You should already know the answer to that, right?"


    "WHY YOU..."


    "Did you need something?" Laz asked before she could go off.


    "ARRRGRGGGGRGRGGG... Dinner is going to be ready soon. So get back to the house." Sarah decided that since she did what she was asked to do, she would ignore Laz now. As she started on her way back to the house, she grabbed out her phone and immediately buried her head in it. Seeing this, Laz couldn''t help but sigh a bit louder than he intended.


    "WHAT?" Sarah screamed back. It seemed like she had pretty good hearing. Laz had to admit, she was rather pretty even if her temper was terrible and her clothing seemed a bit ridiculous to Laz.


    "Nothing. Feel free," Laz said, indicating that she could leave.


    "Look you grey skinned weirdo. I don''t know who you think you are, but you''re here as a guest. Maybe you could be a little nicer to the people who live here," Sarah said back, clearly annoyed at Laz. Although Laz was somewhat thicker skinned now than he used to be, even he felt a bit embarrassed by being told this.


    And the hard part was, she was right. He was a guest and her grandpa had taken him in to help him out. Whatever the reason was, Laz really shouldn''t have been getting annoyed by her.


    "Yeah. You''re right. I am sorry and thankful. Please ept my apologies," Laz said with sincerity. He really hadn''t done anything except being helped. And he really was in no ce to judge her.


    "Oh? So I guess you''re not just a bum after all?" Although her words were a bit mean, they were her honest thoughts.


    "Anyway. I had just sighed because I was wondering why you would keep yourself locked to your phone and miss out on everything around you?" Laz voiced his feelings.


    "Everything around me? In this backwater farmville out in the middle of nowhere? What''s there to enjoy? It''s not like I asked to be dragged here. And there is so much going on at my school that I am now missing out on. To top it all off, some of my closest friends are now ignoring me as though I don''t exist, ok? That enough reason for me to be pissed off?" The longer she talked, the more angry she became. Despite Laz looking a bit weird, he seemed close enough in age to her, unlike the guys who came by earlier on patrol who were obviously over 18. Maybe because she had kept so much bottled up, she just let it all out on Laz who she thought might understand.


    "Well, I can''t argue with that. I''m worried about my friends too so I understand where you areing from." Laz left out that they were girlfriends. And his little sister, so to speak.


    Hearing Laz agree with her turned her mood a bit better as she dropped down and sat on the ground, as though she was tired. Oddly, she was a distance away from Laz, but he didn''t bother moving closer as he felt that maybe this was a safety space for her.


    "So what''s your story exactly?" Had Laz not started being a little nice, she wouldn''t have bothered to even ask. But considering she wasn''t getting anywhere talking to her friends from school, she figured he might be more interesting. At least for a bit.


    "There''s a lot of story to tell, more than just the few minutes we have before dinner," Laz said, not rejecting telling her. He just felt like now wasn''t the time.


    "Oh, soooo mysteriousssSSSSS OH MY GOD!!!!" Sarah started screaming while pointing at Laz''s head. Tyr had gotten bored waiting for her to leave and since Laz didn''t seem to have a problem with her, Tyr didn''t feel like he had to hide. Sarah was not prepared for Tyr to pop out of nowhere.


    "Hmm? Oh?" Laz reached up and picked Tyr up off his head and set him down on his ap. Tyr was currently still the size of a small cat which was still muchrger than a normal sized spider and more than enough to freak Sarah out.


    Before Laz could introduce him, Sarah jumped up and ran for the house, screaming all the way. Laz looked down at Tyr who was looking up at him.


    Both of them shrugged, not understand why she had ran. After getting up and dusting themselves off, Laz and Tyr started walking towards the farmhouse.

 Chapter 205: Being Used

    Chapter 205: Being Used


    When Laz arrived at the farmhouse, he heard Sarah''s voice echoing out from the door.


    "HE''S GOT A HUGE SPIDER..."


    "Yeah, so?" Onacona asked back, obviously already having known about Tyr.


    "BUT IT''S....it''s... huge..." She thought that saying that Laz had a giant spider following him around would get more of a reaction from everyone than it did. Her little brothers and sisters didn''t seem to understand while her grandpa looked as though he didn''t mind. Only her mother showed a bit of a reaction, but seeing her father not take it as being an issue, she felt herself rx.


    Sarah''s mom obviously knew her dad quite well and over the years, many weird things have happened. The old man was always telling stories about how these things came about. For example, one day, when she was younger, they had gotten up early for breakfast and the entire living room was moved around. When she discovered it, she didn''t think anything of it since it always seemed like stuff would change in the house without her knowing. She had always assumed it was her parents. But the strange thing was that her mom was arguing with her dad about it. Although they stopped when she came in the room, she had caught some what her mom was saying about how he needed to stop inviting spirits into the house. She had no idea what that meant, but it ended up being the cause of a fightter so it had always stuck in her mind.


    Even when she got older and after her older brother had moved out, she would experience times where it felt like things were moving around the house, yet when she went to check, there was nothing there. Door''s closing by themselves, lights going on and off, weird things like that were a normal part of the house she grew up in. But it never felt dangerous. It didn''t feel like evil ghosts that wanted to kill you in your sleep were around, more like innocent creatures who were amused by modern inventions.


    As such, she never felt fear from these things that happened around her. Instead, when she talked to her dad about it, he would always tell these tales of teaching spirits about the current world and things in it. She always found those stories exciting and kind of cute.


    Due to these things that happened when she was young, she had a much higher tolerance towards the weird, much higher than her daughter, Sarah.


    "Kamama," her grandpa said softly.


    "My name is Sarah, grandpa. How many times have we talked about this? Sarah."


    Just as Laz walked in though, everyone turned quiet. On top of Laz''s head was Tyr, who was looking around nervously while seemingly wanting to burrow into Laz''s hair to hide. Very soon, seeing everyone looking at him, he closed his eyes so that he didn''t have to see anyone. It really was only now Laz figured out that this was Tyr''s first time meeting a bunch of new people face to face. Laz already knew he was nervous as Tyr had made that clear when Laz wanted him toe in and meet everyone. Seeing his reaction, Laz knew that this was the right move. Tyr needed more interaction with people and this was the first step.


    Why did Laz think this? There were several reasons. If something happened to Laz, Tyr needed to be able to survive on his own. To do so, he needed to understand all types of people so that he could react appropriately. And also, Laz had this weird feeling that Tyr might end up like Vivi and be able to be human. Or maybe he wouldn''t. Either way, knowing how to act around humans in this world was a valuable skill.


    "It''s ok. No one is going to hurt you." Laz did his bet to encourage Tyr. Currently, Tyr was in his smallest form that was around the size of a fist. This was the only reason he was small enough to hide on Laz''s head.


    Strangely, it was the smallest girl who walked up first and pulled on Laz''s shirt. Looking down, Laz saw the little girl wave to him, like she wanted him the bend down.


    Lazplied and squatted down so that his head was just a bit above the girls. She then stood up on her tiptoes and reached out a hand to touch Tyr. Tyr, noticing her handing, tried to back away, but Laz simply said,


    "Tyr, it''s alright."


    Tyr stopped backing away and just stood there waiting. Sarah looked like she wanted to scream out ''don''t touch it,'' but noticing the look her grandpa gave her, she restrained herself. She then nced over at her mom who simply had a smile on her face.


    The little girl then put her hand on Tyr and rubbed him a little beforeughing.


    "He''s fluffy!" She said in an excited voice.


    Hearing this, the other little boy and the slightly older girl came over as well and took turns rubbing Tyr.


    "He is fluffy.".


    "Super fluffy."


    All three kids took turns rubbing Tyr while giggle. Tyr, seeing themughing and smiling, rxed a little. After that, when they took turns petting him, he would rub their hands on his own, causing them tough even more.


    "See? What did I tell you?" Laz said, moving a hand up to his head. Tyr climbed on and Laz lowered him to the floor.


    "Go ahead. Get a little bigger." Tyr nodded to Laz''s encouragement and suddenly erged, going from the size of a fist to the size of a small dog. As he stood there on all eight of his legs, he looked up at the kids whose faces were covered in shock.


    But that onlysted for a moment before they startedughing and giggling and getting down on the floor to y with the nowrger, but still super fluffy Tyr. Seeing this, Laz couldn''t help but smile. Even the older boy ended up on the floor, ying with Tyr.


    As he looked up, Laz noticed that although Onacona was still fine, both Sarah and her mother had looks of shock on their face while staring at Tyr''s nowrger form. Sarah then turned to look at Laz and couldn''t help but ask,


    "Is it safe?"


    "He''s perfectly fine. In terms of age, he is the youngest one here so don''t worry." Laz reassured her.


    "It''s better that they get used to these things now, rather thenter. Still, if you see something like this outside, don''t let the kids get anywhere near it. This little one seems to have a close bond to our guest. Others would only see the kids as food." Although Onacona said this to no one in particr, both Sarah and her mom nodded their heads.


    After this fun interlude, Sarah''s mother had all the kids clean up for dinner while Laz sent Tyr out to go hunting on his own. Laz actually didn''t know what Tyr ate, only that he seemed to take care of himself pretty well and Laz didn''t have to worry. When the kids got back and noticed Tyr was gone, they were a bit sad, but brightened up when Laz promised that Tyr woulde y with them again soon.


    Dinner was a quick affair with lots of food and everyone was very full after words. Laz helped clean up with Sarah to show his appreciation and was about to head back out for a bit before he was stopped by Onacona.


    "I''m guessing you already know why I had youe here?" Laz looked at the old man as he said this and nodded his head. Despite them being out in the middle of nowhere, Laz noticed that there weren''t any infected in the small town. It also seemed like they had been lucky so far and there weren''t any dangerous demon beasts in the area. Although they had encountered a few, from what Laz had figured out, they were mostly low level ones that could be brought down easily by regr guns. As such, the entire vige wasn''t really at a state of high alert about the changing world around them.


    And that was a very dangerous mindset to have.


    "You want to use me as a way of getting people to understand the dangers out there?"


    "Something like that, yes," the old man agreed.


    "In truth, I want my family to at least have an idea of what is happening. My daughter, although she believes me, still thinks these things are distant and don''t affect us. And my granddaughter, well, she is almost totally oblivious to what''s happening in the real world. And it''s not totally their fault. The government is still keeping things locked down as much as possible and therefore most people are still blind to it."


    "That''s nothing new." Laz knew that the thing that scared people the most was the unexined. Although things had leaked out, the news was still controlled by the government. This was a point shown by seeing how the normal person thought of the infected versus what they thought of those chosen types. Even though both could be considered dangerous, it was the ones who had physical deformities that would scare the masses. Hence why the infected were considered a threat.


    "I am sorry about using you, but I have no choice. I have seen what''s going to happen. It''s not something that the unprepared can survive through."


    "It''s alright old man. I needed a ce to recover anyway and if I can help your family in the process, then that''s fine by me." Laz knew that he was being used in a way, but he could also feel the helplessness in the old man''s voice. Onacona had imed toe find him thanks to being led by his visions and although that part was true, even Onacona had no idea why he was led to find Laz. That truly left some questions unanswered.


    "In a few days time, I want to call a town meeting so that we can open a forum on what''s really happening and what we can do about it. I hope that you will be able to talk to everyone a bit and share some of your experiences," Onacona asked Laz.


    "I would be more than happy to," Laz replied without hesitation.


    "And don''t worry about your secret getting out. Only the aduts will be invited and everyone here in the tribe can be trusted. No one wants anything to do with the federal government." Although Laz didn''t say anything and would do as the old man requested, he did have a bit of hesitation about revealing himself. He knew that at this point, the government would do anything to get their hands on him if he was found alive.


    After their conversation, Laz felt a bit more rxed, now that he knew what the old man had nned for him. Although good people existed, there were few who would help a stranger with no strings attached. Laz got the feeling that if he said no, the old man wouldn''t chase him away or anything like that, but he would be a bit disappointed. And since the old man hade to pick him up, shelter and feed him, Laz wanted to return the favor somehow. He didn''t want to owe any debts.


    Both men had a few beers before Onacona wandered away, something about going to talk to some old friends of his to get things moving on the forum. Just as Laz walked outside, he noticed that Sarah was standing around while seemingly ying on her phone. The interesting part was that the phone was actually upside down atm. Laz already knew that she had been listening in.


    Without exposing her, he just started to walk, back to the edge of the cornfields on a small hill that he was at before. He knew that Tyr would go to find him there when he was done eating.


    "Hey..." Sarah''s soft voice rang out. It was almost like she was forcing herself to talk to him even though she was hesitant to.


    "Yes?"


    "I... uh... I wanted to... ask you something..."


    "What''s that?" Laz could feel her hesitation. Despite her normally fiery persona, it seemed like even she had moments where she could feel skittish.


    "Are... are you one of those... people? The ones they talk about on the news and on websites sometimes?" She asked, while clearly afraid to look him in the eyes.


    "I am. Why?"


    Hearing Laz acknowledge it, Sarah felt herself shivering. She had read the stories and had always been scared about these human monsters that were appearing, but she never thought she would meet one.


    "Are you... are... you... here... to... hurt us?"


    "... No?" Laz was actually rather amused by her behavior now. Would someone admit to being a killer before killing everyone he admitted it to? Only if he was really messed up in the head.


    "Then... why are you here?" Sarah seemed especially nervous now.


    "Cause your grandpa gave me a ride." Laz replied before turning around and walking away, leaving Sarah with a nk look on her face.

 Chapter 206: Trouble

    Chapter 206: Trouble


    It took Sarah a moment to process what Laz had said before getting mad at the blow off.


    "HEY! I''M NOT DONE."


    "I am." Laz said, not turning around. It wasn''t that he thought good or bad about this girl, more like, he just didn''t have time for her and he didn''t exactly want to get closer to her. He was keeping Onacona''s request in mind, but now just wasn''t the time. Laz was still working through how long it was going to take to open back up his inner energy. For the first time in his life, he had known enemies and he did not want to be crippled if they were to show up. Although his body still had quite a bit of strength to it, more than a normal man was capable of, it wasn''t nearly enough for the kinds of things he could experience.


    How would he handle being chased by a helicopter again?


    His body''s ability to heal fast was tied into his energy. Although his skin was still pretty tough, he had serious doubts that it was somewhat bullet proof. And a high caliber rifle? He would go down just as fast as a normal human.


    Of course, wanting to have some time to himself and actually having time to himself were two different things. Sarah followed him the entire time he was walking until he got to the small hill he was looking for.


    Although she kept trying to talk to him, he didn''t say anything. When he finally got there, he just sat down in the grass, cross legged and closed his eyes. He was going to try his best to help work off more of that grey fog.


    Seeing Laz ignore her, Sarah was getting more and more angry. Although she might have been a bit fearful of him based on knowing what he was, the more he didn''t react, the more brave she became.


    "Hey."


    No response.


    "HEY."


    Still nothing.


    "HELLO. HEY. YOU. YO. WAKE UP. I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME." By the time she finished yelling, she was actually right by his ear.


    Seeing as how ignoring her wasn''t going to work, Laz took a deep breath and opened his eyes.


    "What?"


    "Why are you ignoring me?"


    "Why do I need to pay attention to you?"


    "WHY YOU..." Sarah was quick to anger it, something which even she didn''t understand. After all, Laz was right. Was there any reason for him to pay attention to her?


    ''Why do I even care?'' Sarah thought to herself, seeing Laz''s nonchnce.


    "Ugh." Sarah sat down in the grass as well, facing Laz.


    "Look. I''m just wondering about you, that''s all.".


    "What do you wonder?"


    "Well... how old are you? Where do youe from? How long have you been... this?" Sarah rxed and started asking questions. These were the things she was actually thinking about. Since fighting with Laz didn''t get her anywhere, she figured she would be more direct.


    Laz stared at her for a moment, making her cheeks turn a little red. His blue eyes came off piercing and seemed like they could see inside of her. As such, she had to turn her head away after only a moment. Laz could see that she really was only curious.


    "I''m... well, I should be seventeen now. Ie from up north and I have been like this since I was fourteen."


    "Three years?"


    "More or less." Laz wasn''t going to get into exining what happened in that strange spirit realm so instead, he just epting that by conventional standards, he was now seventeen.


    "Seventeen huh? So you''re just one year old than me?"


    "One year older?" Laz couldn''t help but gawk a bit at her chest when she said this. Even though one year older or younger didn''t make too much of a difference at this age, Laz couldn''t help but wonder exactly how she got as filled out as she was with being only sixteen. Of course Sarah noticed is gaze and got a bit red. But that didn''t keep her quiet.


    "AND WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING?" She said while covering her chest with her arms.


    "Eh? Oh. Well, I just figured you were either the same age or older. I never would have guessed you were younger." In truth, Sarah wasn''t as well equipped as Kennedy was at sixteen. But she was still more impressive than any other sixteen year old he had seen. If she kept growing at this rate, she would surpass Leona... and that was saying something.


    "Well I''m not ok. Keep your perverted man stare to yourself."


    "Right..."


    "Anyway... uh... oh. What''s your name?"


    "Your grandpa didn''t tell you?"


    "Well, I didn''t actually ask..." She hadn''t. She always just referred to Laz as him when she talked about him before. Either that or that guy, etc.


    "My name is Lazarus. But I just go by Laz."


    "That''s a weird name."


    "Tell me about it. Could be worse though."


    "That''s true. So, uh..." Sarah had several other questions she wanted to ask, but they were more personal. As such, she didn''t feel right asking them.


    "Yes?"


    "Why... do you keeping out here?"


    "Here? Cause it''s a good ce."


    "A good ce?"


    "Yep. There is a decent amount of energy in the air and it''s quiet."


    "Energy in the air? What does that mean?"


    "It''s hard to exin when your not an infected person yourself."


    "Oh. You know, you don''t seem like what they say on the news and stuff."


    "And how was I suppose to be?"


    "I don''t know. They just have been warning people to stay away from you guys and to call the police if you notice anyone acting strange who might be sick."


    "Sick huh? Do you think I am sick?"


    "Well, your skin is the color of a rock... But other than that, you seem ok."


    "Thank you. In truth, most of us are still human. Just like you. Only now, we are all a bit different too. Most of us are still going to be the same person, at least for now." Laz offered his opinion. He would want to say that everyone is still human, but he remembered the parasitic bug guy he had met before and hadn''t killed. Although most infected were still normal as far as Laz was concerned, it didn''t mean that they would all be that way.


    "Then why do they say you are dangerous?"


    "Because we are."


    "You don''t seem dangerous."


    "Looks can be deceiving. You might find I sneak into your room one night to nibble on your flesh..."


    "That''s disgusting. And perverted."


    "Tastes like chicken..."


    "What does?"


    "You know what? Probably best I don''t answer that." Laz didn''t know whether or not this girl was mature enough for these kinds of jokes, so he figured it was better if he stopped.


    "What do you..."


    "Anyway. The reason I aming out here is because I ended up somewhere I shouldn''t and some bad stuff infected my body."


    "Do you need to see a doctor?"


    "No. That wouldn''t go over well. Besides, even if I could find a doctor who could be trusted, my problem isn''t something modern medicine can handle."


    "So what are you going to do?"


    "Well, to be honest, I don''t know yet. But that''s what I''m going to figure out."


    "Oh. Well can I..."


    Just as Sarah was about to ask something, Tyr showed up and jumped out from the corn field, causing her a fright. She ended up popping up of the ground andnding on Laz ap through sheer coincidence.


    "Uh...?"


    "Sorry. Sorry. I''m still getting used to him."


    Seeing Sarah get off from Laz ap, Tyr came over and stood in front of Laz before closing his eyes.


    :Big beasts near.: It seemed that for Tyr to say so many words required him to concentrate. But even then, his limit was three words. Still, it was a big improvement over him not being able tomunicate at all.


    "Where?"


    :Show you.: Little Tyr turned around, indicating a direction. Laz was about to follow when he remembered that Sarah was still there.


    "Go back home for now and tell your grandpa there may be trouble," Laz advised.


    "Where are you going?" Sarah asked, wondering just what had happened.


    "I''m going to look for trouble," Laz replied, smiled and started running with Tyr taking off in front of him.


    "You''re what? HOLY SHIT!?!" Laz had taken off like a rocket, almost disappearing from sight. Tyr didn''t take Laz through the cornfield but instead starting circling it. Only the little guy knew why that was and Laz didn''t ask. Sarah was left there dumbfounded at the speed in which Laz ran, looking more like a blur than a human.


    Sarah paced back and forth for a moment before sending a text and running off in the direction Laz had disappeared in.


    ...


    It didn''t take long before Laz saw the ce that Tyr was directing him to. In the back fields, surrounded by trees and brush, there was a small pond that had developed due to run off gathering together in a basin. Although it wasn''t very deep, it was rather wide, but that would fluctuate depending on the time of the year. During dryer months, it would shrink. During rainy months, expand.


    Seeing Tyr slow down, Laz followed along, before jumping into the cornfield andying down on his stomach. Doing this, he was at least a bit hidden. Over by the side of the pond, there were severalrge beasts that had gathered and were drinking water. It was hard to make out what they originally were since all seven of them had grown to being the size of cows. Their dust colored fur and yellow eyes along with their lean bodies gave them a rather canine feel, but they didn''t look like wolves.


    ''Wait a minute... What''s the word... Coyote?'' Laz said to himself. It wasn''t really important to identify them but it was still helpful to know what he was up against. Just thinking about that was enough to give him a headache. With those powerful legs and mean looking teeth, he knew it would be hard to lock down the entire pack to take them out. On top of that, canine demon beasts were simr to their normal counterparts in that their strengths were usually the same. And the strength of all four legged creatures is their incredible run speed. On top of that, when they are pack hunters, they could wipe out an entire group of people before they even had a chance to respond


    Sending his sense over, Laz tried to get a feel for their overall power, but found that he couldn''t. It wasn''t that they were too strong, but just that he was too weak. To get a power level, you needed to be able topare it to your own. And since, Laz''s was locked away, that made it hard topare and contrast.


    Just as Laz was thinking of retreating and waiting for help to arrive, he heard a noise in the distance and looked over at the direction he hade. Walking along with caution, Sarah was constantly looking for Laz, but she hadn''t seen him anywhere. Although her footsteps were loud, at least she wasn''t calling out his name. There was no way the coyotes would have missed that.


    Just as Laz was getting up to get her and drag her away, his worst fear came to life.


    "LAZ??"


    The coyotes at the pond sprung up as though someone had set their tails on fire and looked over, seeing the Sarah stand there oblivious to the danger she was in. They practically licked their lips and said thanks for delivering the meal as they started to slowly make their way over.


    Seeing this, Laz had a desire to beat himself in the head with a corn stalk. Knowing that wouldn''t solve anything, he took off running towards Sarah while swearing to himself that next time, he would just let her be eaten.

 Chapter 207: A Wild Ride

    Chapter 207: A Wild Ride


    Before Sarah understood what was happening, she had been grabbed by Laz and was being carried under his arm like a duffel bag.


    "WHAT THE HELL?"


    "SHUT UP. YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF, SO IF YOU DON''T WANT TO DIE, HANG ON TIGHT" Laz yelled as he started running. He had first intended to run back to the farm house but quickly changed his mind. He had no idea if Onacona had weapons to fight these things and even if he did, the kids could be harmed in the process. So a much better n was to lose them somewhere away from here and have Onacona contact the town''s hunting teams.


    Of course this entire n was based on thinking that he could outrun these cow sized coyotes. Had Laz been able to use his energy like normal, he might of had a chance. At the same time, had he been able to use his energy, he wouldn''t have needed to run either. Sadly, that wasn''t the case.


    It took less than two minutes for the coyotes to catch up to Laz and Sarah as they started taking bites at them. Laz was lucky enough to dodge away from the corn field and get into some trees, giving him some cover, but even then the four legged animals had a huge advantage over Laz and his baggage.


    "RUN FASTER. RUN FASTER. I DON''T WANT TO DIE...." Sarah screamed while wrapping her body around Laz.


    "WOULD YOU SHUT UP PLEASE?"


    :WEEEEEEEEEEEE: Tyr had hopped aboard for a ride at some point as well, hanging on to Laz shoulder while lifting his front legs like he was riding on a roller coaster.


    "Not WEEEEEE. This isn''t a time for fun Tyr. Those things want to eat us." Laz, who had been yelling right back as Sarah, rxed his voice enough to talk to Tyr calmly. As far as Laz was concerned, Tyr was still a child. As such, he didn''t want to make him feel bad for yelling at him for something he didn''t understand. Laz was constantly changing direction to avoid the jaws snapping at him from behind.


    "OH. SO YOU''RE NICE TO THE DAMN SPIDER BUT YOU''RE AN ASSHOLE TO ME?" Sarah yelled.


    "AT LEAST HE IS USEFUL AND NOT SOME ANNOYING BITCH WHO''S TRYING TO GET US KILLED," Laz was losing his temper with this girl. Had she note, this wouldn''t have happened. On top of that, she was just being extra baggage that was slowing Laz down. He also was feeling rather powerless at the moment. He had Last Rites in his hip pouch still, but he had no time to direct his attention into the bag to find it. And ever if he did, the coyotes would be on him and Sarah before he could even kill a few of them. He was certain he would live while he was also certain that she would not.


    Laz jumped out of the way, just in time to avoid a set of teeth that were aiming for his neck. Therge demon beast ended up hitting the tree that was in front of Laz and knocking it over while it rolled along the ground. Laz was excited, seeing that he had set this misdirection up, but that vanish a momentter when he noticed with his spiritual sense that the beast was fine and once more in pursuit of him.


    "Damn it..." Laz was sort of running out of ideas.


    :Faster?: Tyr asked, figuring out that Laz was in danger.


    :Yes. We need to go faster,: Laz responded in his head, trying his best to save his breath for running.


    Hearing Laz''s reply, Tyr jumped off of Laz''s shoulder right in front of him and started dropping back until he was running right in front of Laz''s legs then, Tyr suddenly started growing while his body was covered in a white light.


    :Hop on: Tyr said while his body was expanding. Laz, a bit confused, decided to trust the little guy anyway and leapt forward. Just as he felt like he was going to crush Tyr, Tyr''s body explosively grew until it was the size of a box truck. Laz just happened tond right on the area behind his neck. Feeling Laz''s hands grip on the the hairs on his neck while his legs clenched, Tyr suddenly increased his speed like a rocket, sting its way forward. Before the coyotes could evenunch another attack, Tyr was already putting distance between them.


    "Tyr, this is amazing."


    :WEEEEEEEEEEE:


    "Ha Ha. Yes. WEEEEEEEEEEE"


    :HA: Hearing little Tyrugh in Laz''s head with his child like voice just made Lazugh harder. For Tyr, this was a fun game. He had almost no sense of danger from the beasts chasing them..


    Laz had put Sarah behind him on Tyr''s neck and she was grabbing on to his waist as hard as she could while burying her head in his back. It was clear that she was not having fun.


    Now that Laz had his hands slightly free since Tyr''s running on eight legs was rather smooth, he finally had time to go searching in his space pouch and pulling out Last Rites. He had honestly not expected to have to use his again since his strength and speed made his body a much more effective weapon. Yet now, seeing as how most of his strength was sealed, Laz was going to have to rely on it again. The worst part was that his was severely low on ammo, since it took a special caliber that Bill had designed and made himself. He wasn''t even sure if he could buy something usable from some other gunsmith. To top it all off, he hadn''t taken the time or energy to collect additional weapons with which he could use. The only other thing he had which could be considered a weapon was the slightly rusted, curved sword he had obtained back from the cave that he had almostpletely forgotten about.


    "Fuck..." Laz still held Last Rites in his hand and checked the barrel.


    ''Four shots... seven targets... well we are fucked. I guess it''s better than nothing. Besides, even if I chase them off now, they will juste back to the pond at some other point. Since this area is within their hunting zone, they will end up way to close to the house. I''ve got to think of something else.'' Not being able to tell how strong or weak a target was caused Laz a headache. When he stopped on this thought for a moment, he couldn''t help butugh at the fact that this was his biggest problem currently.


    Just then, he felt some squirminging from behind him as a couple of firm yet squishy tomatoes pressed into his back even harder. He had been ignoring it, but with the little bit of bumping that was caused by Tyr''s running, Laz could now tell that Sarah had obviously been ''stimted'' by the rubbing. Her squirming was due to her trying to push herself away from Laz while also not letting go.


    "You ok?" Laz asked, tilting his head back slightly.


    "NO... No... I''m not ok. What is this shit? Seriously? We are riding a giant spider while being chased by fucking cow sized dogs? Is this what happens when people hang out around you?"


    "Well. Kinda. Yeah." Laz nodded his head. This kind of trouble always seemed to happen to him, in one form or another. He was used to it. She was not.


    "Well what the fuck are we going to do, eh?"


    "Yeah. That. Well, just hang on to Tyr and he will keep you safe ok?"


    :Keep close little buddy, but keep circling around if any of them follow you and keep leading them back my way,: Laz advised Tyr.


    :OK.:


    While Sarah was trying to figure out what Laz was talking about, Laz suddenly pushed up on Tyr''s head, throwing himself into the air slightly. Using Tyr''s neck as a springboard, he ended up catapulting himself up and backwards, doing a backflip over Tyr''s back andnding between the fleeing spider and the chasing coyotes. Before they could register what happened, Laz raised his gun and took aim.


    BANG.


    The first shot hit the lead coyote in the head, causing its head to blow up as it''s body fell and skid along the ground.


    BANG


    This shot hit the next coyote in the nk as tried to pass Laz and continue the chase after Tyr. It''s bodyunched sideways from the force of the impact as it''s internal organs shattered.


    These two shots scared the rest of the pack that was following in the back, causing them to either slid to a stop or change direction away from Laz.


    ''Stronger than a stage one but not too strong... so maybe a low level, stage two?'' Laz thought to himself after seeing the amount of damage the shots had caused.


    The other coyotes in the pack were startled, but they hadn''t given up either. Four of them quickly circled Laz while the fifth one tried to go around to attack Tyr and Sarah who had stopped not to far from them. Although Tyr was faster than the coyotes, it really wasn''t by much. And most of that was due to them being in a wooded area with uneven terrain. This gave Tyr a huge advantage. Had they been on open, t ground, Tyr wouldn''t have been able to outrun this cow sized, mini wolves.


    Laz took aim at the one that was trying to get around him and the pack and fired.


    BANG


    The shot hit the coyote square in the nk and sent it flying, a mess of blood and bone exploded out from it''s side as it went air born for a few seconds before hitting the ground and rolling, never to get up again.


    The four that had surrounded Laz started growling and backing away, seeing that this prey of theirs wasn''t as easy as they had assumed. Although they had gotten bigger, their intelligence hadn''t kept up with their size. It took the death of three of theirpanions before they saw Laz as a threat. Laz wanted to eliminate all of them to bring an end to eventual danger, but seeing the pack start to back up, Laz was worried that they would get away since he could at most kill one more with the same ease that he had the first three.


    After thinking for a moment, Laz could only ept the fact that he could kill four of them at most before they bolted. He could then only pray that they would leave this hunting ground and look for another.


    Taking a deep breath, Laz took aim with Last Rites, preparing to fire the final shot. Seeing this the coyotes were obviously panicked and looked like they were about to flee at any moment. Sighting out thergest one from the remaining pack, Laz pulled the trigger.


    But nothing happened.


    ''WHAT?'' Laz screamed in his head and tried pulling the trigger again.


    Still nothing.


    ''FUCK.''


    Laz released the clip, only to find that it didn''t eject. He tried his best to pull it loose but found that it was lodged in there.


    The gun had jammed.


    Seeing the weapon that was raining death on them not do anything, the coyotes got a bit of their courage back and started approaching Laz with slow, measured steps.


    Laz could only helplessly stash the gun back in his pouch and pull out the old, slightly rusted civil war sword and hold it before him.


    This was not how he had nned to spend his day.

 Chapter 208: Using The Sword

    Chapter 208: Using The Sword


    Holding the sword, Laz couldn''t feel more awkward. He had never held a sword before. He had used knives to the extent that he knew how to not cut himself, but using a sword was a brand new experience for Laz.


    He had read stories before of heroes wielding magic swords and ying impossible creatures, but standing here, mostly human with only a sword in hand, Laz just felt stupid.


    It wasn''t to the point that Laz was an idiot. After all, swords can be used in only so many ways. Swing to cut or poke to stab. It wasn''t rocket science. But be that as it may, knowing his life was now being determined by how well he could use this cold weapon caused Laz to feel more than just a bit hesitant.


    But what else could he do?


    Facing down the coyotes in front of him, Laz felt like he was going to be using a tooth pick to poke a grizzly. Before he had any more time to think about it, two of the coyotes charged at him at the same time.


    Laz''s first instinct wasn''t to swing the sword, but instead to dodge. He jumped left as hard as he could and rolled, sessfully evade both attacks.


    Having narrowly made it, Laz regained his footing, just in time to see another sharp set of teethe charging at his throat. Do to Laz''s inertia, he could only drop backwards and kick out and up, sending the newest attacked flying behind him. If the beast hadn''t been charging full tilt, Laz wouldn''t even have been able to lift him. As it was, Laz''s back and legs almost spasmed from the strain. He just barely kept from dropping the animal on top of himself.


    As Laz once again got to his feet, he noticed thest monstere charging at him while the other three started turning around to attack him again.


    Although it took a while to describe, everything happened within mere breaths of each other.


    Laz barely managed to jump and roll out of the way with this newest attack.


    ''I can''t keep this up. Right now I''m just like trapped prey that they are toying with," Laz thought to himself. He wasn''t far from the truth either. Most animals don''t y with their food and although these demon beast weren''t just animals anymore, they hadn''t developed much in the way of intelligence. So what they were doing wasn''t toying with Laz, it was testing him out to see if he had any more defense. This was the reason they were making swift and evasive attacks.


    It was part of their survival nature.


    Seeing it look like Laz was in dire straights, Sarah had tears in her eyes. She knew that she had fucked up and even more than that, she had dragged Laz down with her. Had she just listened to him, this never would have happened. Interestingly, despite her emotions getting the better of her, she was still thinking of trying to help. As she sat on Tyr and watched Laz jump around like a corned rabbit, she suddenly thought of trying something.


    "Hey... Hey you..." Sarah whisper towards what she thought would be Tyr''s ear.


    "Can you help him?" She asked, not even knowing if he would understand or respond. The only reason she was trying it was because Laz had been speaking to Tyr all along.


    Tyr, hearing the question, turned his head over a bit to that he could see her. Tyr could onlymunicate words by using his spiritual sense. Even if he wanted to talk to Sarah, he couldn''t. It would be like talking to a brick wall in that his words couldn''t get through since she hadn''t developed a spiritual sense herself. If he forcefully tried to do it, her head would be wracked with pain, causing her to either pass out or possibly die. This wasn''t something he knew, it was just instinct telling him not to.


    Seeing Tyr looking at her as though he had heard her, she tried again.


    "Can you help him?" She asked again, pointing over towards Laz. Tyr looked over and then looked back at Sarah, as though considering her words. He then nodded his head and shook a little bit, causing her to lose her bnce slightly. Knowing this meant she should get off him, Sarahplied, sliding off before hiding herself behind a tree. Tyr reached up with one of his legs and petted her head, using the t side of his w.


    It was like he was saying, ''stay here.'' Sarah nodded in understanding.


    As Laz was desperately looking for an opening to attack, he suddenly saw Tyr run towards him without Sarah. He took a quick moment to notice that Sarah was hiding behind a tree before again having to jump out of the way of a bite. He could only say a silent thanks again to the girl who taught him how to use his body as a weapon. It was only because of those instincts she had drilled in him that he was still alive right now.


    Tyr was not only fast, but he was also silent in his approach. Before the coyotes even noticed, Tyr had shrunk himself down to being the size of the coyotes, jumped up on to a tree and thenunched himself off, directlynding on the back of the closest beast..


    "TYR,"


    :Hunting,: was Tyr''s only reply to Laz. Tyr quickly mped down his surprised victim and then bite down, injecting it with venom. Before the other coyotes coulde to their pack members aid, the coyote stiffen up like a board and fell down t. Normally, this would be when Tyr would wrap it up in webbing if he was going to save it, but since this was a fight, Tyr instead switched his attention to the next closest demon beast. He crouched slightly, making ready to jump at the first moment he saw.


    The other coyotes were enraged and ignoring Laz, the three of them charged Tyr, intending to rip him apart first before catching the jumping rabbit.


    Laz, having been given a moment of breathing room, stopped hesitating. Laz had no idea how strong Tyr really was, but he wasn''t going to let him fight alone.


    Seeing all of the beast jump towards the normally sweet and cute little Tyr, Laz felt himself be increasingly angry. As soon as he caught up with the closest beast, which also happened to be the biggest one remain of the pack, Laz jumped up and swung his sword down, intending on turning it''s attention away from Tyr.


    Had Laz''s stroke of the sword been any more crass, Laz would have had to be careful of the sword bouncing back and hitting him in the face. As it was, his swing was fluid, awkward and left much to be desired. The only reason it had any decent strength behind it was due to his ability to free use his body thanks to his previous training. So even after he started swing, Laz just focused on keeping the ''sharp'' portion of the de pointed towards his target while using whatever strength he could.


    He couldn''t have even imagined how violently the result was going to be.


    As the de reached the back of the animal he was jumping at, the de lit up, ever so slightly, and took on a dull, whitish appearance. Had Laz thought more about it, he would have realized that the de light was simr to when he used just the barest amount of world energy in his attacks, back before he had gained his inner me.


    Despite it being the barest amount of energy, once it covered the de, it became like aser through butter, cleanly bisecting the demon beast in half down the middle.


    "THE FUCK?" Laz yelled out at the result of his attack. Before he could even begin to understand what had happened, his body shuddered as waves of pain assaulted him.


    "AAHHHH," Laz yelled, as muffled as possible while he feel backwards, still gripping the rusted de.


    His actions followed by his copse drew the attention of the remaining demon beast, Tyr and Sarah who had no idea what was going on. Seeing this prey fall, the two remaining demon beasts charged away from Tyr and jumped at Laz.


    But Tyr was already posed to attack. Seeing them turn their backs just gave him the opening he need.


    Tyr jumped forward and once againnded on the closest beast, quickly locking it down before injecting the venom. This beast had the same reaction as thest one, it''s body stiffen and it fell over, unable to move.


    Seeing that all of it''spanions were down, thest beast decided to leave and started running. It''s flight took it right next to where Sarah was standing. Seeing the lone prey standing there in shock, the beast snapped out it''s jaws, hoping to swallow her in one bite.


    Before it was able to sink it''s jaws of death around Sarah''s young and healthy figure, a white light once more sliced the air, cutting off the beast''s head in one, skill less and jerky motion. The beasts blood pumped out from it''s still vigorous body and like a fountain, covered Sarah and the now pale as a ghost Laz. Seeing she was ok, Laz smiled a little before his body dropped to the ground.


    This time, he was unable to get the pain under control as he rolled back and forth while shaking. The reason for this reaction was because he was using energy he had no right to use. Imagine if you squeeze a sponge out, and remove ''all'' of the water. The sponge still retains it shape and looks fine. That''s because although it is slight, there is still a minimal amount of water left in it. But if you leave that sponge for a certain period of time and it loses all of the moisture in it, the sponge will shrivel down to nothing and be hard like a rock. The only way for it to get it''s full, flexible shape back is to either immerse it in water all at once or let the water run over it and work it in.


    Laz was like the shriveled up sponge that had just drawn out thest of his energy to deliver those two strikes. He had no ess to his core energy, so the only energy he could use was the negligible little bit that was normally inside his system. Normally, he wouldn''t even be able to touch this energy since it was so sparse, but the sword was most than happy to draw it out of him.


    And just when he thought the pain wave had passed, he saw the demon beast run towards Sarah and without thinking, ran over to chop at it again.


    He was already a dried up sponge. He figured that the de wouldn''t have anything to draw upon and would just act like a regr sword, possibly even frighten thest beast so that Tyr could just chase it down really quick. The only reason Tyr didn''t react like Laz was because he was still super young and his sense of danger wasn''t as developed. He could hunt, but he wasn''t too good at fighting.


    That was Laz''s n, but the de had one more storage with which to draw from, Laz''s biological body. Drawing out the bit of energy that was even contained within his skin and organs, the sword was able to activate one more time, but now the bacsh from it caused Laz''s entire body to look shrivel up, like a tomato that had sat in the sun too long. Even just him moving in pain was causing his skin to crack and bleed from scraps and cuts.


    "LAZ. NO!" Seeing him like this while even she was covered in blood would have been a touching scene, until what happened next.


    The blood on Laz''s skin slowly started being absorbed into his body, drop by drop at a time. The vigorous blood energy of the demon beast was the best tonic that Laz could ask for right now as it served the same effect as being immersed in water for the dried out sponge.


    The blood was soon gone, but Laz had yet to recover. Luckily, Tyr, while not being too mature just yet, was still very smart. He quickly went over the headless body and dragged it back, positioning it so that the still dripping blood all fell on Laz.


    After many tears from Sarah and Tyr jumping on the headless body to squeeze out everyst drop on blood, Laz''s skin finally looked refreshed and normal again.


    It was still grey.


    Laz opened his eyes as the pain died down. He truly looked demonic since now his clothes were all died red with blood but there was none on his skin or in his hair anywhere.


    Before he could even tell Tyr that it was enough blood so that it would stop using the dead beast as a trampoline, a fast moving, soft and lightly scented creature jumped into his arms while crying.


    It was Sarah.


    She just hugged him and cried at the same time, sometimes almost choking on her own tears. Laz could only pat her back while telling Tyr he was good for now and to prepare the bodies of the demon beasts, instructing him to save a few for himself if needed but to get the rest ready for him to bring back to the farm.


    "It''s ok. I''m fine, ok?" Laz finally said after he felt Sarah stop crying fromck of tears. She finally settled down but didn''t move off of him. Laz waited there for almost ten minutes before he finally sensed that something was wrong.


    Sarah was burning up.

 Chapter 209: Illness

    Chapter 209: Illness


    Laz didn''t know what happened, but he knew that she wasn''t well. By using his spiritual sense, he noticed that she was not only burning up, but little spurts of energy were practically exploding off her skin. With a closer look, Laz noticed that her cells seemed like they were super excited, which was what was causing the fever. Laz knew, thanks to medical shows, that if her body kept experiencing this, eventually, her organs would start breaking down as they roasted themselves.


    Laz was no doctor so he had no idea how to stop this. The only thing he could think of was trying to get her cooled off. But how was he suppose to do that out here?


    There was no good way. Before he did anything else, he needed to get her back to the house.


    "Tyr. Super size it, we have to go back," Laz called Tyr over. Although Tyr didn''t understand what Laz was saying, he could sense what Laz wanted. Tyr grew to hisrge form in an instant while Laz jumped on his back while cradling Sarah.


    "Let''s go," Laz yelled and Tyr was off and running.


    Even though they weren''t being chased, Tyr knew the urgency of the situation and was running at full speed. Thankfully, with his eight legs and incredible vision, Tyr was unstoppable as he ran. Before Laz knew it, he could see the house.


    And of course, the people at the house could see him too.


    The children and their mom couldn''t help but scream, seeing therge spider charging straight at them. Onacona''s daughter dragged the kids inside the house and ran to get the shot gun while Onacona just sat there with a concerned look on his face. He had a hunch about what he was seeing and therefore knew that there was no danger. But the part he was concerned about was why was Laz and his spider rushing for the house as fast as they were.


    He got the answer in just moments.


    Even before Tyr came to aplete stop, Laz had jumped down with Sarah in his arms. He quickly brought her over to the old man who''s face had gone white.


    "Wh... wh... what...?" He rushed over and started examining his blood covered grand daughter, looking for a wound.


    "We were attack in the woods by somerge demon beasts. She''s not hurt though."


    "She''s not. But what is this illness. It feels like it''s burning away her life force?"


    "She was covered in blood from the demon beast. She was fine for a while, but then she started getting hot and passed out," Laz was trying to recount what happened while holding her. The old man looked her over from top to bottom and didn''t find any wounds. He could only believe Laz''s words.


    The old man could feel the stress her body was under and the energy that was raging inside of it. Although he wasn''t an infected himself, he had a very strong spiritual sense, something he had trained in since he was young from the old chief. Despite the loss of customs for many of the tribes, there were some that still respected and practiced the old ways, keeping the traditions alive.


    "She''s... changing..." He knew his grand daughter better than everyone, minus her mother. He had also been present when other members of themunity were infected. There was still no telling how some were infected and some weren''t, but they all experienced the same symptoms.


    "You''re sure?" Laz had to ask. He knew how it felt as he had experienced the same thing. But even he didn''t know what exactly happened after he lost consciousness.


    "She''s not the first here who has gotten it."


    "Didn''t you say that there weren''t any infected in town?" Laz remembered he had asked that question, just because he was curious. And the answer was no.


    "There aren''t. We''ve had several get sick but every one of them died..." The old man looked a bit lost as he looked at his grand daughter. He was hesitating. They normally avoided hospitals unless they didn''t have a choice. But the doctor in town had no way to deal with this. He had already tried his best. But even then, the choice of a hospital was one where you would basically go in, but never leave. At least, not without an armed escort and a trip up north to their ''special hospital'' that was designed to handle infected.


    There were more than one instance of people losing track of their loved ones after they went in. The ones that did get out were in body bags..


    But even if everyone knew what the government was doing, the popce just epted that it was for their own good and told those who were worried about their loved ones to just let it go.


    Onacona didn''t want his grand daughter to die. But he didn''t want to lose her either. And there was no telling if she would even survive a trip to the hospital.


    Laz looked at Sarah and fell into thought. Tyr was standing a ways away. looking back at Sarah''s mom and waving while smiling. He looked kind of silly when one noticed that Sarah''s mom was pointing a twelve gauge right at him. Before she could stop them, the kids all noticed that the giant spider was Tyr and ran out of the house, scaring the shit out of their mom.


    Seeing the kids running at him whileughing, Tyrid down on his belly and stuck his feet out, giving the kids adder with which they could climb on him. Tyr loved ying with the kids after all.


    "Let me take care of her," Laz said while looking at the distraught old man.


    "You? Can you?"


    "I don''t know. But I have to try..." Laz had thought of something, but he was going to need to put her down and he needed it to be quiet.


    "What do you need?"


    "A ce toy her down and privacy."


    "Privacy?"


    Just as the old man was considering his words, Tyr jerked up and looked down the long drive way. Laz sensed it to.


    "Go. Draw them away and circle back," Laz told Tyr. Tyr gently but quickly removed the kids and took off, shrinking while getting out of sight quickly and running down the side of the driveway. Sarah''s mom finally took a deep breath and looked over at Laz and Onacona, finally noticing something was wrong with Sarah.


    "WHAT HAPPENED?" She screamed as she raced over, scaring the little ones who were looking around, sad at Tyr''s quick departure.


    Onacona made a choice right then and there.


    "Take her to her bed room. Upstairs, third door to the left. Quick." Onacona said while point, he then moved to block Sarah''s mom while trying to calm her down.


    "Stop. YOU NEED TO STOP." Onacona gripped his daughter tightly while trying to get through to her.


    "WHAT''S WRONG WITH MY BABY?" She screamed, obviously worried and angry at her father.


    "She will be alright. The boy will take care of her. But you need to be calm. The patrol ising up the drive. And if they hear something is wrong, Sarah will really be in danger then." The old man looked his daughter in the eye. With almost a unnoticeable sh, a light came from Onacona''s eyes and hit hers, causing her tense body to finally rx. If one looked closely, the would see that she almost looked absentminded, as though she was there but not really.


    "Alright children. I''m taking your mom inside to rx. y out here a bit, but only in the front yard. If anyone shows up, tell them to go away."


    "OK!" All the kids responded at once as they raced off, obviously looking for Tyr.


    As the kids raced down the road, an old pick up was driving up the stone driveway with four twenty somethings inside. The young men all held rifles and an inted sense of ego at having the job of guarding the town. They hadn''t actuallye across any demon beasts in their time guarding and only had some of the older guy''s stories exining how dangerous they were. As such, none of them felt the slightest bit of fear.


    "Why are we going out here again? Want to see that little hottie boss?"


    "Shut up. It''s cause of your guys mouth''s that she doesn''t want to hang out with us anymore. Not like there are a lot of options in this town. And as long as we got work, it''s not like we can head up to the city to look for chicks either. So this time, keep your mouth shut. Otherwise, I won''t invite the other girls the next time." The oldest of the bunch responded, scolding him.


    The town has had a long history. Although they were the descendants of indigenous people, it''s not like everyone who was born in the town stayed in the town. Some of their best and brightest had gone out into the world and with the towns help, had gone on to do amazing things. As thanks, all of them had given back to the town, helping fund building projects, getting the town broadband near the center of town and other things. These sess stories were spoken of by all of the grateful families of the towns and their names were well known. Even the town doctor was one such person. As someone who wanted to start his own practice, he needed funding. As such, the town supplied that for him, allowing him to open up shop close to town, but also close enough to serve other towns and viges, giving him the option of growing. Once he was sessful enough and could expand his practice, he would open up new clinics and services.


    All of these people were the pride and glory of this small nameless ce in the middle of nowhere.


    And then, there were these guys. They barely made it through high school and instead of going on to try to do better and be better, they basically gave up, picked up a few jobs around town and didn''t do much besides waste their days drinking and trying to getid. It was like college without the asional sswork.


    And being guards now, of course.


    As such, knowing that there was a new girl in town that they could try to get friendly with, their boss went out of his way to spend time with her, despite their age difference. His behavior really was a headache to all.


    Just when he was thinking about what he could off Sarah to go do, the guys saw the kids running down the drive way as though looking for something. They quickly stopped the truck as the boss called out,


    "Hey. Boy. What are you brats doing?"


    "Looking for Tyr," Sarah''s oldest brother called out while picking up a rock. He quickly shook his head and set the rock back down.


    "What the hell is a tear? The thing you cry?" One of the other guys asked, not understanding the kids. Although these guys were assholes, they weren''t bad people, per say. They had their limits. Even if they were rude andzy, they still loved the town that raised them. Otherwise, they never would have agreed to spending some of their days driving around, wasting their time.


    The smallest one, the little girl suddenly looked up and pointed,


    "Tyr!!!" She yelled, causing the guys to all turn their heads. Just as they turned their heads to look, they ended up having to look up as well since Tyr had assumed his truck size form.


    And he was waving at them with a smile on his face.


    The guys nked out, their brains not able to handle what they were seeing. Tyr just continued to wave for a good two minutes before he felt like something might be wrong. He lowed his arm which caused a bit of a boom as it hit the ground. The noise was just enough to wake the guys from their stupor. The all ended up screaming in a high pitched panic while the one driving floored it. The truck did a quick circle and shot off towards the main road, with the sounds of the guys screaming still echoing.


    After watching the show, the kids just shook their heads and pounced at Tyr who was happy to shrink a little, crouch down and let all the kids hop on for a fun, giggled filled ride back to the house.

 Chapter 210: Figuring Out A Treatment

    Chapter 210: Figuring Out A Treatment


    Lazid Sarah on the center of her bed before sliding over a sturdy, yet faded old chair. He changed his clothes into a lose tee shirt and sweat pants before sitting down. Laz could feel the headache brewing. He had figured out a few things thanks to the information he had received from Onacona, but he wasn''t sure how to put it into practice.


    Cooling her off wasn''t going to work since this wasn''t a fever. It was more like a biological reaction, one that external factors wouldn''t effect. At present, Laz was trying his best to observe her body using his spiritual sense to see if he could figure anything out. Laz still wasn''t totally sure about how spiritual sense worked or even if he could use it in other ways. It just kind of kept developing as he grew stronger, adding him in sensing the world around him. He wasn''t even sure that calling it spiritual sense was correct, but since he always called it that, it just stuck.


    Needless to say, that strange sense he possessed is the only thing he could rely on to observe Sarah, so he was thankful he had it.


    As Laz looked on, the her clothes quickly disappear like smoke as her entire body wasid bare before him. Although some might find it stimting, it wasn''t really like that since her clothes were still there. If anything, he was now seeing through them like an x-ray, causing even her skin to fade.


    There wasn''t anything to really be attracted to without skin.


    Instead, Laz wanted to observe the energy in her body as close as possible since that was the cause and probably the solution to her problem. After focusing his sight, Laz was able to see exactly what was happening. Little worms of energy were crawling every which way over her body, hitting everything in their path, including each other. Despite that, they all seemed to be staying on a certain path. If Laz had to make aparison, it was like a onene highway with high dividers and everyone was driving a bumper car. So although the energy worms were going every which way, in truth, they couldn''t leave that path.


    The problem was also that they couldn''t leave that path. Every time they ran into something, the energy worms would cause damage, either to the walls, the road, or each other.


    It was literally chaos every way you looked at it.


    The end of the path also marked the beginning of the path. They all seemed to want to go to a certain ce that Laz quickly recognized as the origin point. Then, after a while, new energy worms would emerge from that point and start out on the highway again, going any which way they felt like.


    Laz recognized that this was exactly like how it was for him. Everything started from his center and circted around, grabbing more energy as it ran and bringing it back. His center was currently covered in the grey fog so there wasn''t anything running on the highways, but it was still there.


    Seeing this, Laz understood. Sarah needed to be able to properly direct this energy until it ran it''s course and settled down. After doing it enough, it bes second nature, like breathing. At that point, even if she ispletely knocked out, the energy is trained and goes on it''s own.


    And somehow, Laz had to teach her that while she was passed out.


    Laz thought back to it and realized that when he had passed out, he somehow knew what to do, something he never thought about too much. Somehow, it just felt right. When he learned his infinity technique and started using it, he was able to direct the flow of traffic on the smoothest and most natural course. It was like learning how to control your breathing, as opposed to just breathing. Doing so would add strength to every breath you took, improving lung function and stabilizing heart rate.


    But before you could run, you had to learn how to walk.


    And that was what he somehow had to teach Sarah.


    Seeing her body shudder and convulse, Laz was awoken form his thoughts. He started to get a crazy idea.


    Even if he had ess to his energy, he couldn''t use it on her body. His control wasn''t the best to begin with and on top of that, his energy was robust and wild. Sending that into her body would be like injecting a balloon with hotva. He would melt her pathways in less than a second.


    But his spiritual energy would be a perfect fit. The only down side was that he had even less control over his spiritual energy than he did his internal energy.


    ''If I was using my internal energy, I could at least control it with my hands... Can I do that with my spiritual energy as well?'' This question seemed to pop in Laz''s mind, leading to his crazy idea.


    "I''m really sorry about this," Laz said, standing up. He gently leaned over and removed her boots and socks. Then from the top down, he slow stripped away all of her clothes, leaving her lying in her bed with only her underwear.


    It was worth it to note that she was wearing a matching white bra and white panties, but they were anything but innocent looking. Thece was practically see thru, something that Laz couldn''t help but take a moment to appreciate..


    ''Damn... She''s actually hotter than I thought...'' Laz thought it, but then let the thought die. This wasn''t the time for that.


    Laz sat down and gently leaned forward. In this position he would be able to touch almost every part of Sarah with his hands. Now, Laz had to experiment. Using his hands as a guide, Laz focused his spiritual sense forward to the tips of his fingers. cing his fingers on her skin, Laz strengthened his sense concentrated at the tips of his fingers and using a tracing motion, he started using his fingers to trace the pathways of Sarah''s energy. In the same way a ma under the table might affect metal on top of a table, Laz was able to use his spiritual sense to move the energy along the routes that his own energy would take when he used the infinity technique. Although it was slow at first, once he started affecting enough of those tiny energy worms, they started moving forward on their own.


    If one had been looking at Laz from the outside, it would appear that tiny white lights had formed at the end of Laz''s fingers and were cutting through Sarah''s skin. They didn''t actually harm the skin in the slightest. The first difficultly Laz found was when trying to move the energy along the routes in her chest, Laz had no choice but to press hard against her breasts in a effort to maintain the same bnce of intensity without causing her any harm. Since he was stillpletely new to using his spiritual sense this way, he had no idea what kind of harm he would do if he tried using more strength. It wouldn''t harm her body, but if the energy it was directing got out of control, that would be far worse.


    Sarah, who was still unconscious, could help but moan a slight bit as Laz was roughly digging into her breasts. The soft and sweet sound was entirely unexpected, causing Laz to almost lose his focus. Luckily, Laz was no longer a cherry boy whocked experience. Even though he was startled, he quickly recovered and continued.


    After the upper portion of Sarah''s body was circting correctly, Laz had to focus on her lower body. The pathway of energy went down her outer thigh to her leg and foot beforeing back up to her inner thigh and moving across her pelvic region to her other leg to repeat the process beforeing back up and disappearing into her center.


    Laz couldn''t help but take a deep breath and he began to trace these pathways with his sense, forcing the energy to move how he wanted it to. The outer leg was easy enough, as was the foot. Laz didn''t have a foot fetish, but even he had to admire how soft and supple her feet and toes were. Tracing back along to her inner thigh, Sarah again couldn''t help but moan in her sleep as Laz''s strong, firm yet gentle fingers ran upwards along her inner parts before brushing up against the white fabric. Tracing his fingers along the route, Laz had no choice but to pull down the tops of her panties with his fingers while tracing the route. He could just barely cross a small line of fabric without losing connection. Trying to stay on top of her panties the entire way was way too difficult for the current him.


    As he was doing so, Laz brushed against the tip of Sarah''s fleshy folds, idently hitting the spot that makes all girls shudder. Sarah''s body tensed almost solid due to this action and it took a while after Laz had cleared going down her other side before she loosened back up. There was also a slight wet spot on the wless white fabric.


    Laz didn''t actually notice any of this since he was far more focused on the task at hand.


    He was finally able to finish up directing the energy worms along the path way before he sat back, covered in sweat. His head was throbbing with a piercing pain between his eyebrows. He couldn''t believe how much effort it had taken him to do that. Laz had never used his spiritual sense this more or in such a focused way so he had no warning the the resulting pain was going to be so bad.


    ''No. I can''t pass out yet. I need to watch her more,'' Laz said to himself as he pped his face a few times. This was a very precious moment for him. He was learning more about what he and everyone like him was going through, starting from the first moments it happened. He had to take this chance to learn all he could. Maybe doing so would also help his current predicament.


    Scanning Sarah''s body, which had started cooling down a bit, Laz check every single pathway and how the energy was flowing. Despite having guided the energy himself to get it on track, the energy was now moving on it''s own ord, circting around the route that Lazid out. He noticed that even when some bits of the energy wanted to rebel and run amok, due to the waves of energy behind it, it had no choice but to get back in line and keep going.


    A tiny stone couldn''t stop a ranging river.


    Using that analogy, Laz still noticed some points of issue. There were some parts of Sarah''s pathways that were either slightly damaged or slightly deformed. Laz had never noticed this in himself during all the times when he checked out his own body, but at the same time, his transformation was much smoother that what Sarah experienced.


    Laz focused on those spots. Although he could use his spiritual sense to guide her energy, it wouldn''t do anything to her body.


    Seeing that there were just a few spots and not wanting to miss this opportunity, Laz made another risky choice.


    Using his spiritual sense to guide himself, Laz used an infinitesimal amount of of his recently restored outer energy to fix one damaged spot. In the same way that the strange sword had absorbed the energy that was naturally present in Laz''s body, Laz was using just a bit of this energy and injecting it into Sarah.


    He had started out slow, but realized that this energy that wasn''t refined by him was a crazy amount weaker than what he thought. As such, he needed to suck in arge amount of it to just fix that one spot. Seeing that there were at least three others, Laz had to take a deep breath.


    He was only able to use the sword tice before it almost killed him. And even then, it was only the strength of the demon beasts blood that brought him back to life. Yet now, healing this one spot cost Laz a good portion of his residual energy.


    Even though he knew it might damage him more, he continued.


    It took almost 3 hours to fix thest three spots and the sun had gone down by the time Laz was finished. The process didn''t take nearly as long as the repairs, but seeing that Sarah was sleeping soundly, Laz was relieved. He was d he could pay back Onacona some of his saving grace.


    Laz had drained everyst bit of residual energy in his system, but he didn''t have to drain his blood energy this time. As such, he didn''t dry out like a sponge left out in the sun and wasn''t in any danger of dying.


    He was just exhausted.


    Laz got up with the intention of finding the old man and telling him how it went before he passed out, but he got only two steps and his body gave way. Laz tried to support himself with the chair, but lost his grip as his hands went weak. Falling backwards, Laznded on the bed next to Sarah before his world darkened. He could just barely feel a soft, warm body grip him tightly before everything went ck.

 Chapter 213: Team Effort

    Chapter 213: Team Effort


    In the dark back alley, two girls walked side by side through the filth. Although it is said that fairies descend from the heavens, these two had more of a demonessesing from hell kind of vibe. In fact, one of them was even singing.


    "The King and his men


    Stole the Queen from her bed


    And bound her in her bones


    The seas be ours and by the powers


    Where we will we''ll roam


    Yo ho, all hands


    Hoist the colors high


    Heave ho, thieves and beggars


    Never shall we die,"


    Her voice was rather sensual as though she was really getting into the lyrics. Her dark, ck hair hung gently down over her pitch ck trench coat and as she walked, her captivating legs caused her plump ass to swing from side to side. Walking with her was a slightly shorter girl with red hair, ented by tips of pink which stuck out strikingly against the ck trench coat she wore as well. In her hands was an umbre, although there was barely a cloud in the evening sky.


    Due to the location of the alley and beingpletely surrounded by concrete and steel, the alley itself was growing dark, even though the soft orange sky had a few hours of light left.


    "Of all the things you could think to sing, it happens to be a pirate song?" Malene asked, looking over at herpanion.


    "What''s wrong with it? I personally like a little something dark and dangerous right now," Ruby responded back with a smile.


    "Were not even at sea. So..."


    "Girl. Stop thinking so much and go with the flow. Leona warned me you were a bit stiff, but I didn''t think much of it. After all, she has only learned to rx a bit recently. But when Kennedy told me the same thing, then I knew it was a problem."


    "Do you me me? I mean, you were there. You saw it."


    "Don''t you have faith in him?"


    "Well, yes..." Malene couldn''t help but think back to when they were both younger. Despite Laz being at the same starting point as them, he always seemed to be far ahead. And even when he died, he came back to life. How could she not have faith in him.


    "Then don''t worry about it. What we need to do is worry about ourselves. No matter where he is or what he is doing, I know two things," Ruby said with a smirk.


    "Oh?" Malene looked interested, her face perking up..


    "One, He''s fine and he''s probably getting stronger than all of us. And two, when we do finally find him and see him again, he is in for a world of hurt," Ruby said with a glint in her eye, as though she was thinking about how she could torture him after everything he put them through.


    Seeing the face she was making and listening to her say this, Maleneughed. The joke among the girls was just who would get to beat his ass first. And they were alwayspeting for the privilege.


    "You''re right. Of course you''re right," Malene agreed fully.


    "You bet I''m right." Rubyughed as well.


    "So what are we doing here?" Malene asked, looking around. She wasn''t one to go out much. She was normally in charge of things like the website they were running, specifically the security of it. For the people who were able to log in, it was a massive bank of information and leads to resources, things that they couldn''t find elsewhere. It was something the government would love to find and take down at any cost. Or at least get all of the info they could off of it. After all, if you were on there, there was a reason for it.


    Even though Malene was a bit of an inside person, she didn''t neglect her cultivation. The key was that she was different from the others. Her abilityid with her spirits who were currently sitting on her shoulders, invisible. Aqua looked older and much stronger, but it was still impossible to tell if it was male or female, mostly because they didn''t have a sex. On the same note, Em was growing up quickly as well and currently pointing things out to Ember.


    For anyone paying attention, they would notice that the biggest differences between the three of them were their colors. Aqua was bluish, Em green and Ember was red in over all color. From their skin, their clothes and their hair, they all seem to follow this color pattern. After interacting with them, Malene could tell that their color matched their personalities as well. Aqua was calm and soothing, Em was springy and delightful while Ember was a fiery ball of energy. The only thing Malene had to be careful of was that she had to constantly train her body so that she could keep up with the demands of using her spirits, something that Ruby was more than happy to help her with. After all, Ruby was the most graceful and agile out of all of the girls and was the most suited to teaching Malene on how to get strong without bing butch.


    "We are here so you can get some real world experience while on a job with me. Besides, those two have been training non-stoptely and it''s starting to drive me crazy. Who would have guessed that they have such shing personalities?" Malene understood without her needing to say more. She was talking about Kennedy and Leona. When they all first met, Leona was somewhat reserved and not as outgoing as Ruby. And Kennedy was her usual, bossy but not impossible self. Malene thought that the problem would be between Ruby and Kennedy, but it turned out to be more between Kennedy and Leona.


    Leona was no longer quiet and icy like she had been when Laz first met her. She be sullen and depressed after everything that happened to Laz and his disappearance. Strangely, it was Kennedy who brought her out of that mood. Both girls liked to constantly challenge each other and that usually ended up in a fight or a battle of some sort. In fact, they were constantlypeting. When one or the other felt like they had gotten stronger, they would go find the other to test it out. Maybe it had something to do with the way their energy was? After all, Leona had panther like qualities while Kennedy''s took on more like a fox. It was hard for their to be two queens on a mountain.


    Normally, as part of ck Rose, Leona would go on jobs with Ruby. But this time she and Kennedy were up to something and they both forced Malene to go. Malene had done training with Blood Moon before, working with Kennedy on jobs, but she had never gone on a killing job before. All of the girls figured this would be a good learning lesson for her.


    ck Rose was focused on killing, while Blood Moon was the mission and earnings part of their ''organization.'' Although it wasn''t what they intended at first, the girls joined together after Laz disappeared. This was Yumi''s n from the beginning, even if she wasn''t one of Laz''s girls.


    It really was a strange fate that led them together, but they found their goals were simr and their jobs didn''t sh. In fact, they were able to gain a learn a lot from each other.


    Laz had no idea that his women had formed an organization together, much less that he was the indirect cause of it. But when a woman had a goal, they would stop at nothing to aplish it. And their goal happened to be to help the man who had saved them, whether he knew it or not.


    "So what are we actually doing then?"


    "Crashing a party."


    "Party crashing? That doesn''t sound like something your organization does..."


    "Well, we aren''t just party crashing, we are also here to find a few people and put an end to them." Ruby pulled out her phone and allowed Malene to cycle through the pictures of their targets. There was four of them in total and several sub targets. Malene also held the phone up enough do that the spirits around her saw them as well. When it came to intel work, they couldn''t be beat.


    "Here we are." Ruby pointed and indicated a steel door up ahead. Without saying another word, Ruby walked up to the door and pounded on it. Considering how hard she hit it, it was a wonder the door, even being metal, didn''t dent. Ruby was many times stronger than any normal person. Ruby then turned to a camera that was mostly hidden above the door and smiled while waving. She slightly undid her trench coat to sh the bare skin of her legs underneath the skin tight, leotard like outfit she was wearing underneath. She encouraged Malene to do the same with a yful smile, acting as though she was a yful little thing. Malene, not intentionally, backed away a bit while turning red. She really was feeling rather shy at the moment after being teased by Ruby.


    Had the girls been able to hear what was happening on the other side of the camera, they would have heard a lot of voices gulping at once.


    "There really is a quality difference with these high ss girls."


    "They look willing and unwilling at the same time."


    "So much better than those suts who will do anything for some cash."


    "I call it first on legs. That ass looks to die for."


    "Fine, I''ve got the petit olita with the tits. Just my type."


    "FUCK YOU, NO WAY."


    The voices argued back and forth while someone started utching the door. Seeing this, Ruby smiled and started to take off her trench coat all together. The ck, skin tight leotard like body suit was now in full view.


    "What''s the n?" Malene asked, wondering what she was up to.


    "No n. Kill them all and make sure no one gets away." Just as the door slid to a fully open position and two men stood back to allow the girls to enter, Ruby''s body shimmered, as though light was suddenly reflecting off of her skin. Before the blinded guys could even recovered, a knife jabbed into both of their throats with aser like precision, hitting the main artery and putting them both on the ground in a blink. Ruby then ran inside while grinning, fangs jutting out with her eyes taking on a snake like shape.


    Seeing this, Malene just sighed, knowing she shouldn''t stay behind.


    "Aqua, merge." Aqua''s body shifted and disappear, while Malene''s body was covered in a blue light. Her hair, clothes and skin changes color to match the spirit''s perfectly before her body became like a fluid. It was almost as if she had liquidized. The other two spirits went out on their own, searching for the targets while Malene caught up with Ruby who had taken cover behind a blown over sofa. Hails of gunfire soaked into the soft sturdy couch which started to get torn apart, piece by piece. Without even a word from Ruby, Malene charged forward, the gun fire passing thought her, leaving her unharmed. The umbre in her hand was thrown away with a click, revealing a long, thin sword that Malene had drawn from the handle. In three quick strokes, the three thugs who hadid down the gunfire fell to the floor, their heads severed.


    Ruby got up and walked over with a sexy smile, only made more exotic by the blood covering her clothes and the scales that coated her skin.


    "That''s my girl," she said while giving Malene a thumbs up.


    "Do any of his girls not know how to fight?"


    "But you''ve never killed before?"


    "I''ll breakdownter." Just as Malene made this joke, Ember and Emerald returned and started chatting with Malene who then smiled at the news.


    "Found them," she told Ruby.


    "Let''s go!" Ruby ran in the direction indicated while Malene followed behind, a slight smile on her face.


    ''This really is a bit of fun.''

 Chapter 218: Roommates

    Chapter 218: Roommates


    As Laz pulled up to a dpidated one story building, he couldn''t help but frown a bit at the sight. It wasn''t as though the building was in bad shape... more like it was just a bit run down. The blue siding looked old and faded while the white paint on the patio was peeling. The wooden front door looked new and reinforced, but Laz got the sneaking suspicion that the only reason it was like that was because something happened to thest door. You don''t rece just the front door unless you have to. Laz was following some instructions and brought his bike down the shared drive way that was barely wide enough for apact car. As he got behind the ce, he view of it changed a bit.


    The drive way went back pretty far, past a tall wooden fence that was impossible to see though on either side. Using his spiritual sense, Laz could tell that there was a rather nice garden area behind where the apartment was.


    Since Laz was already checking, he took a look at some of the other ces around him and noticed that they all hadrge garden areas, many of them more borate than the ce he would be staying at. As Laz got to the end of the fence, he finally found some open space. In fact, it looked like all of the gardens ran up to a onene road where there was enough room for a car to park on both sides and still allow a decent size pickup toe through. Taking a closer look, he also noticed that this was where trash was kept for pick up as well.


    Laz found a free spot behind the garden and then made sure the coast was clear. After that, he grabbed out a decent sized tarp and draped it over an old bicycle that he pulled out of his pouch before moving the motor cycle into the pouch. There was no way in hell he was going to leave it on the street, but he had to make sure he had something back here as a fall back to answer questionster. Some people were way too observant. He finished his preparations by taking out a decent sized backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. There wasn''t anything in it really minus a few changes of clothes for cover, but showing up to a ce to live without luggage would look very wrong.


    Seeing that everything was set, Laz made his way back to the front of the apartment house. There was a door in the fence, but it was locked up and Laz didn''t have a key. As Laz got to the front, he noticed that the house was actually divided into two sides with two separate doors. It looks like someone had taken the house and cut it in half. He quickly pulled out a piece of paper from his jeans pocket and doubled checked the address he had been given while making double sure the numbers matched. Nothing more embarrassing than knocking on the wrong door.


    Just as Laz got done knocking, he heard a scream from inside followed by some heavy foot steps and the door mmed opened. Arge man with a beard opened the door and looked down on the noticeably shorter Laz.


    "Who are you?" The man asked with a frown.


    "UH... I''m suppose to live here?" Laz said, not understanding what was happening.


    "Oh? Which one are you?"


    "Uh... Lazlo. But you can call me Laz."


    "AH Laz. Got it. You''re on the list. Come on in. My name is Benjamin, but you can call me Benny." The man with the beard seemed to lose his rough nature and was now smiling while holding the door open.


    "Oh. Uh Thanks."


    "Ha ha. No problem. Guess the temp agency didn''t tell you anything either right?"


    "Yeah... No. No they did not."


    "Well. It''s not so bad. I live locally so I was here first. Edward over there, or Eddy as we are calling him, came in a few hours before you. And we are just waiting for one other guest. Looks like we are all going to be roomies for the next several weeks."


    "Roomies?"


    "Yeah. We all took up jobs and are being housed here. There are other ces around town that I saw are being used for the same thing. Not sure how they was able to get so many ces to house us people, but it doesn''t matter I guess. This one is far from the nicest of the donated spots, but the one plus is that it''s one of the closest to the French Quarter which is where we will be working. So at least we don''t have to worry about getting there or catching a bus."


    "Ah. Got you." Laz was starting to get an idea what was happening. He wasn''t sure what he expected but he had kind of hoped to have gotten a ce to himself. Thinking about it though, that was expecting way too much for a temp worker. At least there were only three other guys to deal with in this ce and he wasn''t stuck in a bigger ce with more room and more people. There was something to be said about only having to deal with a few others.


    "Here''s the living room, furniture came with the ce so don''t break it. Uh, kitchen, here. Hey man, if you can cook, you will be the hero. Me and Eddy know how to use the microwave and that''s about it. Bathroom''s decent size there. Make sure you use the damn fan if your going to bomb the ce and these two rooms are the two bed rooms, two beds in each. Least we won''t have to work with bunk beds, right?" The more Benny talked, the more Laz felt like he was a nice enough guy that just had a rough exterior. Benny even had a scar on his face from his hair line down to his eye brow that made him look even that much fiercer, like a guy you shouldn''t cross. But the more he talked to Laz, the more Laz got the feeling that the guy was just like a big brother type.


    "Alright. So me and Eddy took this first room, mostly because we didn''t hate each other when we met and we had no idea what the other two were going to be like. Looks like you get the roll of the dice here for when thest one arrives. Kind of exciting huh?"


    "Yeah. So where is Eddy so I can say hi?" Laz asked..


    "Ah. Yeah. Well, that leads me to my next point. The ce here isn''t big or well decorated but we got lucky in one case." The big man Benny then lead Laz through thest door that lead to the outside garden. The garden itself was pretty decent, with lights up on the fence around the perimeter along with several reclining lounge chairs and even a fire pit. The grass was well maintained and there were several smaller trees giving the entire area a peaceful feeling. A stone path wove it''s way from the entrance, looped around various spots in the garden before marking it''s end at the back door that Laz had noticed earlier. Laz could understand what Benny was talking about earlier, the garden really did make up for theck of living space in the house. The house itself was nothing more than a converted double shot gun style design while the garden looked more elegant, showing off a real Creole style, especially with the lighting and pathways.


    When they finally walked off the small back deck into the garden, Laz noticed another young man standing around and talking to a couple of girls who also happened to be in the back garden.


    ''Already?'' Was Laz''s first thought, thinking that Benny and Eddy had already talked some girls intoing home with them. But seeing how they were acting and the way they were walking around to, Laz quickly discarded that notion. He quickly figured it out.


    ''They must be the residents of the other side of the house.''


    "Benny, you''re back. Hey, Let me introduce you to our new half roommates. This is Angie, Steph, and Madison. Looks like they are waiting on one other guest themselves. I see you brought our new guy with you?" Eddy looked you, 21 or 22. He didn''t have beard but had some wild long brown hair that screamed a free soul. On top of that, he was wearing board shorts and a vest that gave him an earthly feel. Benny, byparison, looked like a survivalist type; big, muscled and grizzled. There were probably two people who couldn''t looked more different. On the plus side, it seemed like Eddy was easy to get along with as well. Having not lived with another human in a few months, Laz was d for that.


    The girls themselves were all somewhat different as well. Angie was a dirty blonde with a gentle smile and tanned skin. Steph had dyed blue hair and looked like she wanted nothing more than to not be here while Madison seemed the most outgoing. She was a Bute with a brilliant smile, a sweetugh and an almost nauseating outgoingness. As soon as she saw the two men walk over, she starting introducing herself to Benny and Laz even though she already had been. Benny did his best to talk to her although it was clear he wasn''t used to talking to girls too often. Something that you wouldn''t expect from someone his age.


    Laz had taken off his hoodie to be more polite, causing the entire group to look at him weird. Laz''s skin was no longer the grey color he was bother with for a while. After having burned off the grey mist and strengthening his inner bones and organs, his skin regained a rather white, healthy sheen. In wasn''t as pale white as he was before, but it was certainly not a normal tanned color either. If anything, it looked almost baby like, something which Laz was helpless about. As far as he was concerned, he wasn''t handsome, but that was only his opinion of himself. His face had grown sharper with finer, strong lines as he had aged past 18 now, causing him to truly look like a man. His blue eyes shed firmly with his shoulder length ck hair. All of this was ented by the bit of ck stubble he had on his face. He might not of thought he looked good, but to the others, he had an almost model like appearance. Even Eddy couldn''t help saying ''damn.''


    The interesting part was that after Laz took his hoodie off and tied back his hair slightly, he felt a fluctuatione from one of the girls, a fluctuation he knew all too well. One of them was an infected and was hiding it. But Laz wasn''t going to say anything. After he finished tying back his hair and swearing that he would get a hair cut the next chance he got cause he never wanted it to get that long, Laz ended up doing his best to join into the conversation and get to know these people.


    Just as he was beginning to get a feel for these people though, the back door that Laz and Benny came out from opened again. This time, a man dressed all in ck with a weird, wide rimmed hat came out and walked into the garden, startling almost everyone. Laz had already been aware that someone had managed to open the front door, despite it being locked.


    "Hey, who are you?" Benny called out, knowing he had locked the front door.


    The man didn''t say anything at first but just looked around before staring each person in the eye one by one. Sadly, he made the mistake of look into Laz''s eyes for too long before flinching back, a bit shocked at what he had seen.


    "Interesting..." The man said to himself. He then addressed all the people gathered.


    "My name is Abraham and I guess I live here now."


    "It seems that this was going to be my new roommate," Laz thought. He couldn''t help but feel a headacheing on.

 Chapter 224: Gaining Value

    Chapter 224: Gaining Value


    Laz was no longer the young, inexperience child he used to be. Finding himself in this situation, despite knowing that the person staring at him was harboring anger, Laz barely flinched. Instead, he took a look around, shook his head and proceeded to walk over to where A''ruya was sitting down and took a seat across from her. On top of that, he even reached over to the tray of yummy looking fruits that she always seemed to be enjoying and picked one for himself before putting it into his mouth. Last time, he was offered one. This time, he just took it on his own.


    Of course that wasn''t the best idea as these weren''t the same fruits from before.


    The taste would be described as heavenly but it wasn''t something that a human at Laz''s realm could consume. As the energy from the fruit his his stomach and spread out, Laz got the feeling that if he didn''t do something quickly, his body was going to explode.


    Without hesitation, Laz circted his energy using his self made infinity technique, causing theva like energy to run along it''s pathways. The only thing keeping those pathways from breaking down under the intense pressure and heat was the strengthening his inner body had gone through thanks to the grey fog energy Laz had worked through. He knew that if it wasn''t for that, he would be going through a far more painful hell than the one he was currently experiencing.


    The pathways where holding up for now, but the energy wasn''t being consumed fast enough. Laz tried his best to make sure it flowed into his foundation while keeping it constantly moving, but it could only absorb it so fast. It wasva going in and stillvaing out. At this rate, his body was still going to break down.


    Pushing things as hard as he could, Laz igniting the ck me hovering over his foundation while further focusing on increasing his blood flow. He noticed that the pathway his blood took was slightly different than the pathway the energy went, although it followed the same over all course. By encouraging his heart to beat faster and letting his blood boil, Laz was basically activating an inter liquid cooler while the ck me worked on taming the crazed energy at the center.


    He was just barely able to reach an equilibrium.


    On top of the the ck limbs of the tree tattoo had spread out due to his effort, covering he entire upper body. Even the blood red moon on his chest was glowing with an unusual light as Laz madly dealt with the issue.


    If anything, the person most surprised was A''ruya. She had seen Laz''s actions and could have stopped him with barely any effort at all. But she wanted him to suffer a little bit due to what his disappearance meant to her. Despite her cold attitude towards Laz, he was still the one she picked. Therefore, she felt a certain sense of ownership over him and his well being. Knowing that he had somehow escaped her had made her angry even though she knew he was still alive. This was suppose to be her revenge, but instead it was a sort of awakening for her.


    It was only now that she began to see him as somewhat important and worth her time.


    She had nned to save him after he suffered. Not that he would die per say. But that didn''t mean that his being here and things that affected him here wouldn''t affect his actual body. She had no desire to see him die since she would have to save him, especially now that he was showing some value.


    It''s unknown exactly how long Laz spent dealing with the energy from the tiny piece of fruit, but when he opened his eyes, he noticed that A''ruya had turned away from him and was still sipping her tea as though his situation meant nothing to her.


    Seeing her non caring attitude made Laz realized that she had known what would happen and just let him suffer. Although he didn''t know that she would have saved him, it didn''t really care at the moment either.


    For him, this was just one more step towards reaching her heights.


    "Well, that was fun," was all he said after having resolved the energy. Due to this not being his body, the effects of the energy that poured into him weren''t apparent yet. As far as he knew, the whole experience was simply a curse, not a blessing.


    "Perhaps monkey''s enjoying being without clothing, but I find it rather disturbing. Please put some on," was her only response.


    Looking down, Laz noticed that the only thing left covering his body was specs of ash. How he was suppose to get clothes though was a mystery. It wasn''t like he had brought his pouch or anything with him.


    A''ruya already knew this and simply said,


    "Just imagine your clothes the way they were before."


    ''The way they were before?'' Laz thought about it and suddenly, his clothes were back like nothing had happened.


    ''How the hell...?''.


    "Would you like some tea as well? I promise the experience will be far more delightful..." A''ruya asked as she turned to face him once again.


    "I think I''ll pass. Thanks anyway."


    "Coward."


    "Is there a reason I am here?"


    "Where were you?"


    "Around. Here and there. You know, the usual."


    "You think you can lie to me?"


    "It''s not really lying if I''m not really answering."


    "You seem to think you''ve be strong enough to have a choice?" A''ruya''s face, while still deadly beautiful, held a faint trace of anger. It was just in her eyes before but now it was clear as day.


    "A choice? No. Actually, what changed is that when you grow up a little bit, some things which were foggy before be pretty clear."


    "Oh? Do tell..."


    "You need me. You may not care about me, but the only reason I am still alive is because you need something. So yeah, I don''t know much of anything. Thest time we talked, you mentioned not understanding humans. Well, let me tell you something about us that you will never understand. We are stubborn creatures but we can adapt easily if we have to. Sure, some people are so amazingly dumb that the only reason they are still alive now is because they are just lucky. But that''s not all of us. And besides, right now, since there is nothing I can do about you, I have had plenty of time to think about what this, you and me, are. And the conclusion I came up with is that the you wouldn''t have anything to do with me if you could avoid it, therefore, you need something. But you are still deciding if it''s something I can give you. That''s why you''ve yet to lean either way. As soon as you do though, I will either be loved or killed. Since there is only one path in front of me, might as well enjoy the ride."


    These were Laz''s true feelings. Thest time he had met with this person was back before he had fought with Brian. That meeting revealed a lot of things to Laz and got him thinking. Before that, she was simply some nameless goddess of death who apparently wanted to toy with him. And fine, whatever. But after thest time when she told him her name, he understood that she needed to build a rtionship with him for her own reasons.


    Laz never thought of himself as smart, but he also wasn''t stupid.


    "You humans much have been so much simpler to deal with back when you thought the sun was a deity and monsters roamed yournds."


    It suddenly struck Laz as strange though. Based on what she just said, that means that A''ruya and here people were here... around 500 B.C. But when they talked about it before, she made it seem like so much longer ago. Laz couldn''t help but think there was something off about it.


    "Ok."


    "Anyway, I just brought you here to see if your fine. You can go back now." Strangely, after interacting with Laz, A''ruya didn''t really feel anger anymore. Nor did she care what happened to him. If she narrowed down her feelings, then she was just relieved he was ok.


    She would have summoned him sooner, but she had been busy as ofte.


    "That''s it? No yelling? No... threatening my dog like existence? No evil ns to rip me limb from limb to quench the bloodlust in your heart? None of that?"


    "What exactly do you see me as?"


    "You don''t know?"


    "I don''t really care."


    "Then why did you ask?"


    "You''re beginning to make me angry."


    "Real shame, that."


    "Just leave..."


    "You''re not going to violently kill me to get rid of me?"


    "Do you want me to?"


    "Well, not really. but is there another way out of here?"


    With that question, A''ruya pointed at an ancient looking door in the trunk of the tree. Laz had seen it before, but it was always closed so he never really thought about it.


    "You mean I can just go through this door?" He asked, skeptical.


    "Yes."


    "Then why..."


    "You''ll know once you walk through it. But since you are older now, it''s best if you deal with it yourself."


    "Ok..." Laz started walking to the door, intent on leaving. Just before he turned the vine like handle, he heard A''ruya behind him.


    "Whether you believe it or not, I am not your enemy. In fact, we will one day have the same goal. Also, I''m not sure if it''s coincidence or not, but where you are right now is where somethingrge and dangerous disappeared a long time ago. It''s either going to be a blessing or a curse if you find it, so be warned."


    Laz wasn''t expecting much from this meeting as he viewed it as checking in. But now he got a piece of info that confirmed that where he was is probably where the thing that he was looking for is.


    ''What did she mean byrge and dangerous though...?'' Again a question without an answer. Laz had way too many of those.


    As Laz opened the door, he saw that behind it was a nk space of looming darkness. It almost looked like the little bit of light within was being dragged to the center and collecting into a hole. Since he didn''t know what it was, he wasn''t afraid and stepped in.


    The pain hit him all at once as his body started feeling like it was being ripped apart. Just before his mind gave way to the pain, he disappeared and the door closed by itself, leaving the fairy like beauty alone.


    ...


    As Laz opened his eyes, he felt entirely conflicting feelings. His body felt stronger than ever while the words at the bottom of the foundation started lighting up. These were the continuation on what he had read before. By they were different and he couldn''t make them out entirely. On top of that, his head felt like he had been hit with by a train and he could barely stop himself from shaking.


    It finally urred to him, after he had settled down and the pain lessened, that going through that door felt more like true death than even dying at her hands.


    ''Maybe she killed me all those times before so that I wouldn''t feel the pain of travelling?'' It was a crazy thought, but it almost seemed to make an insane bit of sense.


    Taking stock of the room and checking the time, Laz noticed that only a few hours had passed since he had gone to bed. It seemed like going to direct route, while painful, was much more time friendly.


    Now Laz had to figure out where this thing was that he was suppose to find.

 Chapter 227: Artifacts

    Chapter 227: Artifacts


    "Is this me?" Laz had seen signs that he was changing. His skin had turned a grey color for a while and he even got those strange tribal tattoos that started growing longer. But this? This was like all of that, only worse. Even his hair was longer and there were strains of white mixing within the ck. He didn''t have a mirror, but he felt like he looked monstrous.


    "This is the you if you could fully utilize your abilities. You are not at this point yet. You alsock a good environment to be able to go all out. If you are able to burn energy at the same rate you restore it, your body would be like this, permanently."


    This was a shocking revtion to Laz. He had seen others change, like Ruby and Leona, but once they stopped using their energy, they would revert back. And even then, although the changes were intense, they were simply changes and not a full body switch.


    But that is exactly what this was.


    "How does this happen? And a follow up question, where are we?" Although Laz was surprised by his changes, he had experienced much in the past few years. Just this wasn''t going to be enough to distract him from the fact that where they were was obviously not earth.


    "Fer now, let''s get back, shall we?" With a swoosh of her cane, Laz felt the world light up again and he was once again sitting at the table in the strange room, facing the old woman.


    "That was crazy. Damn..." Laz was pretty amazed by that. Whether it was real or just an illusion, it certainly felt real.


    "Dat was thee world of the untamed. A dark and deste ce of spirits and all manner of creatures. Were we there? Were we not? Who knows."


    "Such a straightforward answer," Lazmented.


    "Truth is rtive to the individual. What I said was de truth. What you believe is yer own business."


    "Have you ever noticed that you lose your ent when you speak?"


    "Ma grandens ave een making me practice a wee bit to let others listen to me better. Not ma fault if I mess up." Suddenly, the old woman''s ent took a heavy turn and Laz could only now appreciate the work that went into her speaking as clearly as she did.


    "Anyway. What''s with that stick?" Laz asked, eyeing the ck walking cane with a silver skull on it.


    "Hmm. If yee be wanting to know, yee shall have to put forth a spot of coin for it. We read the stars fer the mortals and the heavens fer the children of gods, but that doesn''t mean we run a charity service here."


    "You had no problem telling me about the realms and spirits and such?"


    "The spirits needed yee to know. I just ryed the message. But this?" The old woman held up the cane.


    "This is a bit of secret info that wasn''t easy toe by."


    "Fine. How much?"


    "Not money young friend. Money is easy, but strange things, like this room? That''s what we want." The old woman gestured at the room they were sitting in, as though showing off all the strange oddities that had been collected. Her tone also became nicer, calling him young friend instead of boy. This obviously had to do with the fact that it was now business and not just a freebie.


    Laz understood. He was curious about the cane, only because it reminded him of the strange sword he had. He wasn''t about to show her the sword, so instead, he just wanted to know what she knew in general. The end result would kind of be like googling symptoms without visiting a doctor, but at least you could get a general idea of the situation. As long as you didn''t sit there and think you were dying of a sore throat.


    With the price discussed, Laz simply reached to the strange little pouch on his belt and pulled out a twig. He then set it on the table next to the strange crystal ball and leaned back. The twig wasn''t veryrge, only measuring around thirty centimeters or twelve inches. And besides being grey, it didn''t look special at all..


    Seeing Laz ce a twig down on the table, the old woman began to frown, as though the boy in front of her was making a fool out of her. But, she held back her initialment and decided to look at it anyway. After all, she was both a practitioner of Vodun and a business woman. She wouldn''t just dismiss something as being worthless without first seeing for herself. It was because of this mind set that she had found many opportunities that others missed.


    She wasn''t disappointed.


    Picking up the twig, the old woman first noticed it was many times heavy than she had anticipated. The stick had to was a good three kilograms or around six pounds. For something so small and innocent looking, she knew right away that the stick was special.


    As she held it, she rub her fingers along the stick before bringing it up to her face and smelling it. Watching her, Laz was equal parts intrigued and weirded out. He knew how he would check something like a stick, using his hands and maybe his spiritual sense. But watching this old woman do it was an experience. He even wondered if she was going to lick it.


    "You seem to have a question on your mind young friend. Feel free to ask," the old woman encouraged Laz while still examining the stick.


    "Why aren''t you just using your spiritual sense to check it out and instead... well... doing that?"


    The old woman smiled.


    "It''s simple really. Dis ting could be many tings and it might not be safe. Sometimes, you need to look with yer eyes and yer hands before you let yer mind check it out. If the ting is not safe, it could attack you when you look at it. And that isn''t something yer be wanting to do. Very dangerous." After exining, the old woman finally felt like the stick was safe and began using her spiritual sense. Although she already had some guesses, the truth still shocked her.


    "Ye brought this back from another realm? How?" The old woman couldn''t hide her curiosity.


    "What do you mean how? I picked it up and brought it with me."


    "How many of these did you get?" She was getting more excited. This stick, like all things that were once living, contained arge amount of other realm natural energy. Something like this was impossible to find on Earth so it would have an amazing effect on a person who cultivated with it. Or it could even be used to make a treasure, if the right method could be found. The chances of that happening with one stick was really low, but if they had more...


    "I wasn''t able to grabbed much as I was being watched the entire time. That was the only stick..." Laz lied and pretty convincingly at that. He hadn''t grabbed a lot of sticks, but that was only because they were just sticks at the end of the day. Although he had a feeling that stuff from that spirit realm would be useful, he didn''t want to just grab everything he had happened upon. Apparently though, he had missed a great chance but he did have many other unique things. He just wasn''t about to talk about them to someone he had just met.


    "Of course. Of course. How would you not be? I''m still surprised they even let you have this... But whatever. This is more than enough to tell you what we know about artifacts." The old woman quickly put the stick somewhere, as though fearing that Laz would want it back after knowing how amazing it was.


    ''I wonder what she would do if she knew I was using a massive log as a punching dummy...?''


    "Since we be doing proper business now, allow me to introduce meself. I am Madam Calista or just Madam Cal and as you can tell, this is my business. Now ye asked what this staff is, right? This be an artifact. We use the term artifact to describe em cause there is no other word for them. Mostly, these tings be old and might even appear to be junk, but at some point, something happened to em and they came into contact with arge amount of energy. When dat happens, they items change. They gain abilities or qualities that are unique to them. This skull looks nice and all, but it''s actually the wooden part of the cane that is the artifact. I came across it while looking fer pieces fer this room. It feels gloomy and dark in yer hands when ya hold the wood, but nothing happens. After working with it fer a bit though, I discovered it had the ability to send me soul into da Untamed Lands and bring it back again. As fer how useful that is, well, it isn''t. But imagine if I send a soul there... and didn''t bring it back? Da soul would be lost... forever...."


    Although the old woman was just speaking causally about the ability of the artifact, Laz couldn''t help but feel drops of cold sweat streak down his back. He should have never let that woman touch him with that cane. He could be soulless husk right now and he would have done nothing to stop it.


    "All des items have something something with them. Anyone''s guess what they do though. Dis makes them both powerful and dangerous. Like that saying... yous never know if a snake is poisonous until it bites ye..."


    Laz could think up a more modern saying, but he wasn''t going to interrupt.


    "So dis artifacts can be anything, but not everything can be an artifact. And if ye find something, be very careful with it. Even if you think you knows what it is, make sure you are careful with it and never just try to use it," the Madam Cal warned Laz, having no idea that Laz had done just that already.


    After hearing what she told him, Laz knew that he needed to spend more time studying that strange sword he had picked up. He also realized that the thing was many times more special than he had originally thought. Of course, if that was the case for that, what about the pouch he carried? Laz began to think that not using it in front of others in the future would probably be a good idea. Especially if the others that he was using it in front of had any idea about artifacts.


    Madam Cal warned Laz of a few more things before she got done with exining it. Although it probably wasn''t worth the price of an item infused with other realm energy, at least it gave him a clear indication of how special items were viewed by others and also how much they knew about them. Besides, it wasn''t as though he didn''t have quite a few more of those sticks on him.


    As far as the cane goes, Laz had no designs or anything about it, despite it being a treasure. It wouldn''t have suited him even if he had it and although it seemed like there were more secrets he wasn''t being told, at least the old woman had taught him what she knew about them in general. This would save him from making quite a few mistakes in the future.


    Seeing that their business was done, Laz thanked Madam Cal for her time and left the store, many different things on his mind.


    Back inside the shop, Madam Cal was sitting in the same seat while staring at the crystal ball, lost in thought herself. The door behind her opened and her two grandkids came in, both a young man and young woman looking to be in their early twenties.


    "Why didn''t we knock that boy out and steal his things? Although it wouldn''t be the most honorable thing to do, the price for something like this little twig would be immense on the dark market. The right people would pay any price for it," The young man spoke his thoughts.


    "That young man, besides being able to bring out this stick, probably did get other things as well and although I was tempted, I was warned not to," Madam Cal replied back to her grandson.


    Both young man and young woman looked at her with interest.


    "Da spirits said that this young man should not be trifled with and dat it is in our best interest to even make friends with him if possible as dat would be in our best interest."


    "Grandma?" The young woman asked, wondering what she meant.


    "I won''t speak no more. Just know dis. I didn''t go to him dat day just to lure him to the shop like I did with the others. No. Dat spirits drove me to do dat whether I wanted to or not. Dis boy is special and dangerous. Have our people keep an eye on him, but keep their distance. I think there is going to be much more going on soon." The old woman spoke cryptically and both her grandkids were rmed. It wasn''t because of the words she said, but because they could tell, just based on her glossed over eyes and her low pitched voice, it was no longer their grandma talking to them.

 Chapter 236: Mastermind

    Chapter 236: Mastermind


    The rest of the work day finished up without a hitch, leaving Laz, Benny, Eddy and Abraham waiting on the street for Madison, Steph, Angie and Julia to finish up. As the girls were leaving the building, Chad was visible escorting thedies out. If one looked at the girls faces, they could see that while Madison seemed happy with the attention, Steph lookedckluster, Angie looked neutral and Julia looked like she was barely holding back the need to punch him in the face. For the most part, it seemed like she had to remind herself several times that he was her boss and she couldn''t do that.


    Seeing the guys waiting for the girls, Chad said a few nice words of greeting to Laz''s group as well before he turned away to go inside. Although Laz wasn''t trying to pay attention to him, he noticed that Chad had smirked as he turned around, obviously happy about something. In Laz''s view, the guy was just a clown and he wasn''t going to take him seriously. Still, though, the man gave Laz a bad feeling.


    "Finally..." Julia was the first one tomit on him taking off, appreciating for the first time Laz and the other guys acting as a deterrent.


    "I don''t know what your problem is. Chad is a real gentleman and was just trying to be friendly," Madisonmented back.


    "If that''s what you want to believe, I won''t stop you. But when he uses you and dumps you, that''s your problem and I don''t want to hear about it," Julia responded back in a huff.


    "Hey! Now look here..." Madison was about to fly off at her.


    "Alright. Alright. That''s enough for now. Ok? Let''s go figure out what we are doing for the rest of the day or if we just want to rx at home, ok?" Angie said, interjecting.


    "You don''t think Chad is like that, do you?" Madison put Angie on the spot.


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    "Alright. Enough. Let''s go. Dudes a dick and that''s all there is to it," Stephmented before walking forward at a face pace. She grabbed a hold of Abraham and took off while speaking to him about something quietly.


    "What''s this now?" Laz didn''t realize they were so close.


    "No clue. But those two hung out a bit yesterday while you were... at that ce and now she seems to have warmed up to him. Well, kinda..." Bennymented while looking at the two whispering andughing to themselves.


    "Kinda?" Laz asked.


    "Kind of like she found a little brother and is going to take advantage of him," Eddy finished up whileughing, causing Angie and Benny tough a little as well. Julia was still fuming, the same as Madison, so neither of them were in the mood tough.


    "What do you think?" Madison directed the question at Laz.


    "I mean... there is something to be said for brother and sister y... I''m just not sure which one of them will end up getting stuck in the dryer...?" Laz just answered with the first thing that came to mind, not really paying attention to what he said while looking at the two. Strangely enough, it was Julia who burst outughing first, followed by Benny and Eddy while Angie and Madison looked confused.


    Even though she had no idea what he meant, Madison did realize that Laz had understood her wrong.


    "I mean, what do you think about Chad?" Madison decided to be more specific.


    "Spoiled rich kid who is used to getting everything he ever wanted. And once he gets it, he doesn''t want it anymore," Laz replied with his honest thoughts.


    "You''re just jealous cause even if you''re better looking than him, he''s rich." Madison jumped at the chance to defend this guy she just met to Laz who she had just known for a few days.


    "Correction," Laz added. "His parents are rich and he''s just sponging off of them. Now if he makes some money and buys a ce himself, then bravo. But until then, he''s just the same as other people I''ve met. And none of them were good people." Laz decided he was done talking and started walking in the direction of the apartment. Seeing that Laz wasn''t going to talk any more, Madison eyed the rest of the group to see if anyone was willing to talk about their new boss, only to find that they were all starting to catch up with Laz, leaving her alone..


    She had no choice to but to catch up.


    ...


    Back at the crab shack, Chad was sitting alone in the upstairs office while tapping his fingers in thought and looking at some paperwork. He had several different employee files pulled out and set aside, including every one in Laz''s group.


    "If I can''t get enough, I will just have to add these people in. At least they are a big group who is only in contact with each other. As long as every one of them goes missing, no one will know for a while," Chad said to himself before grabbing his cell phone.


    He dialed a strange number, one that didn''t follow any known area and number code for the US before waiting while it rang on the other end.


    Soon enough, a person picked up.


    "Pure blood only!" Said the voice at the other end.


    "Pure blood forever," was Chad''s reply back.


    "What news? And we need more bodies. You''re behind on your numbers." The voice on the other end of the line was masked and distorted. It seriously could have beening from a man or a woman. There was no way to tell.


    It always freaked Chad out and today was no different.


    "I''m uh... having a hard time filling master''s wishes. There aren''t a lot of travelers just yet and I can''t just make people appear out of thin air...." Chad tried to exin.


    "I''m not interested in excuses. Most of the others have been keeping up with the requirements. However you and a few others seem to begging behind. This is not what was agreed upon," the distorted voice responded back, obviously not caring for Chad''s excuses.


    "I understand. If I am unable to deliver the amount needed by the end of the month, I have found a few groups of employees from outside of town. The only problem is that it will have to be the entire group that goes or none at all. If one of them goes missing, the rest will notice," Chad exined.


    "Really? Hmm. Seems you thought ahead. Still, this is good, very good. It doesn''t matter the number of people, we can handle that. You just need to make sure to have the required amounts in time. After all, if we can''t get what we need, we will start with the ones who signed a contract in their ce." The voice disyed no emotion what so ever.


    "I understand. I will send their living information as ast resort. No worries. I said I would be able to handle this without fail."


    "See that it doesn''t fail. As this is all for the continuation of our people, a few sacrifices are necessary for the greater good."


    "For the greater good!" As soon as Chad said the required response, the other side hung up. Chad couldn''t do anything but sit there for a while after setting down the phone, worry etched in his face. It was easy to make tourists disappear, but if arge group of employees from his restaurant were to go missing, a lot of questions would ensue and that wouldn''t be good for business. He had originally thought that signing up for themunity program would give him a buffer, but now that he hade to this point, he finally understood that it wouldn''t be that easy since they all had to fill out paperwork and such due to the program.


    Chad briefly entertained the thought of not handing over their information to the agent, but quickly discarded that thought. He wasn''t going to go down if he couldn''t find enough people the fill his quota.


    Chad could only hope that business would pick up soon, otherwise, he wouldn''t have a choice.


    ...


    In an active businessplex slightly outside of town, a man put down the phone and then wrote a few notes in his ledger before getting up. He walked quickly to the main office without dy.


    Since the light outside the door was on, he didn''t bother knocking and just stood there silently, waiting. After a hour went by, the door opened as the light went out and two young men with white hair walked out, joined by another man.


    "Young master Jesse is lucky to have such a good friend as you, young master Tommy."


    "Yes, truly. To be willing toe here and take on his work personally shows you are a man of character."


    "I''m just doing my part. Thank you both for the hard work of leading the children in this endeavor. Please let me know if you need anything else."


    "Pure blood only!" Both white haired men said in enthusiastic voices.


    "Pure blood forever," Tommy replied back, seeing the two young men off. After they had vanished, Tommy''s face which had been smiling before, quickly turned into one filling with mocking and hatred.


    "Like I would fucking be here working if I had a choice. Damn son of a bitch is getting too far ahead of himself. I swear to fucking god he thinks he owns the world now... Get your ass in here." Tommy turned around after ordering the office worker inside.


    Therge room was decoratedvishly, with plush sofa''s, a wall sized 4k, potted nts and arge wooden desk at the center. The only things that seemed out of ce was a spot in the corner where something square was covered with some white sheets, as though it was hiding something underneath. Despite this, the office worker didn''t dare let his eyes stray.


    "What''s the final report?"


    "Sir. We are stilling in under quota. Several of our contractors have mentioned that there has been a low turnout of tourists so far, thanks in part to the disconcerting rumors that had been floating around."


    "We already have the media departments working on that. Although rumors are a problem, it doesn''t take much to get people to change their opinions as long as they hear what we want them to hear."


    "Still sir, it seems like we might have to start ramping up taking a few locals as well, unless we can get arge group to show up quickly," the office worker suggested while looking over his spreadsheets.


    "Arge group quickly... hmm... Actually, that should be easy enough."


    "How so sir?"


    "Just ask the media department to put out subtle suggestions that there might be some riots urring due to the infestation of this city. That should lure thousands of those idiot hunters here," Tommy said with a smile.


    "Sir?"


    "What is it?"


    "You n to use hunters as sacrifices?"


    "Why not? They are perfect in the end. Not only can we make many of them disappear, but we can also ce me on the infected which will fire them up more and cause more toe. It''s a perfect cycle."


    "But sir..."


    "No buts. Our time is tight and that prick Jesse wants to see what''s behind the curtain. Besides, Annie''s ''prison'' experiment has been showing very promising results for a while and I refuse to lose to that sut. Make it happen." With the, the office worker hurried to carry out his bossesmands while Tommy sat down at his desk, eyeing the covered object in the corner.


    "I swear to god I will rip his dick off and make him eat it one day. But for now, having him lead this shit isn''t bad. And being here isn''t horrible either. At least I get first pick before things get themselves wasted." Tommyughed, a harsh and gratingugh that seemed like it came from a madman, rather than from someone who was still under twenty years old. The appearance of blood red marks appeared on his face as though it was tracing a vein pattern.


    Hearing Tommy''sughter throughout the room caused the object under the sheet to shift slightly and let out a painful and woe filled moan.

 Chapter 241: A Lead

    Chapter 241: A Lead


    Laz was interested in the fact that the second body hadn''t been withered, but it made since considering they were on a bit of a schedule. What he didn''t know was that Ivy was still digesting her first kill and had no room for the second.


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    They had been a part of a small gang about a year and a half ago, doing mostly just robbery and small thefts, nothing worth talking about.


    One day, their bosses in and says he got a job offer, but he wanted everyone''s opinion. The job was going to be to pick out some low risk targets, take them hostage and then bring them to an office building over on 7th street. They would go around to the gated area in the back, make a drop off, get some cash and leave, no problems.


    Hearing this, most of the guys in the gang said no, although there were only nine of them. They mostly hung out together to hang out and have some people they could trust to work with them. Only three of them were interested in it.


    The boss, not thinking much of it, gave them the card he was handed with the offer and left to go meet up with his girlfriend. They ended up calling the number and giving their first andst names, something that a smarter person would never have done. After that, they were just told to wait for three days when they would be given a list of what the clients were looking for, people wise.


    Hence, three days came and went and the guys got the call. Over the course of that time, they had only been talking to each other and debating how smart of an idea this ways. You rob or steal, you could end up with a few years and out on good behavior. You kidnapped someone, especially if they wanted kids, and you would be the prison bitch.


    You''d be lucky to survive a week.


    Knowing this and thinking it over, the guys decided that they would ignore the call and tap out on doing the job. It would be safer to not do the job.


    Or at least, they tried too.


    "When... when we ignored the call, acting like we didn''t get it, we suddenly got a text message. It only said... ''go to your hideout.'' So we went, wondering what was up. And when we got there, we discovered that everyone had been killed. And not just killed killed... Their heads had been ced on fucking pikes man. They cut their heads off and put them on fuckin pikes. Who does that shit?"


    Laz kind of understood, only because he had watched a ton of syndicate movies in the past. When you needed a crew to do a job, you hired them. When you wanted to make sure no information got around, you removed them. In this case, they did it to eliminate the ones who knew about the work and didn''t want to do it as well as motivate the new guys. It was a win win tactic for everyone, unless your head was on a pike.


    "Go on," Laz encouraged. He didn''t feel bad for the deaths of these people since it could only be called their misfortune. When you y on that side of thew, bad shit happens. Strangely though, Julia seemed to look a bit more pale after hearing this. This wasn''t the type of world she was used to living in.


    "So we got this list, ok? And on it weren''t names or nothing, just... payrates for age and health. Like, if the person is young, healthy and in good shape, you would make a killing off of them versus some old grandma. They would also be harder to get. After the person was evaluated, the money would end up in your ount, no questions asked. All yous got to do is have a certain number delivered each week and you''re golden. Course, that''s on the grounds that you don''t try to back out or escape."


    "What do you mean?" Julia asked.


    "We only heard rumors, ya know? It''s not like we have some sort of club or something. But the rumors said, anyone who tried to run was killed, no questions asked. And when they came back, their bodies were disyed at the drop off point like a warning."


    "And you saw this?"


    "No. NO. You... can''t leave a body outside for long cause shit happens. So like, we never had to do a drop off when there was one. But that didn''t mean we didn''t run into people who did. And they all said the same thing. ''You''re burning in hell anyway so might as well see it to the end, right?'' 100 sins or a 1000 sins and all that?"


    "Interesting work ethic," Laz understood. It was a boat that once boarded, you only got off when you were dead.


    "Yeah. So... we didn''t have a choice here. We had to take people. Besides. we made sure they didn''t have any connection with people in town. That was the safe way so it wasn''t your friends or nothin, right?"


    The guy almost sounded like he thought he was being noble by doing this. Laz could only shake his head and look over at Ivy who shook her head back no. Laz then looked at Julia..


    "Anything else you want to ask?"


    "What happens to the people you take?"


    "I don''t know. Once they go in, they don''te out while we''re around, ya know?"


    "Who''s in charge?" That was Laz''s big question.


    "I don''t know. We don''t know. Only those higher up would know."


    "And who is higher up than you?"


    "There''s... some guys...."


    "What some guys?" Laz was getting annoyed.


    "At the drop site, in the office. There are the guys responsible for the prisoners. They would know."


    "And... where exactly is this drop site?"


    "Before... Before I tell you, you have to promise me you will let me go."


    "Even if we let you go, they will find you and kill you. What''s the point?" Laz asked, getting even more annoyed since he was being bargained with. He had wanted to personally kill this man himself.


    Laz was no saint and he had done some shady dealings in the past, butpared to these guys... The only person he ever put in harm''s way was himself. These guy were nothing but predators on the street. And who was to say that they would turn things around even if they did get away? Instead, it was better to end them now.


    Still, since Laz needed the info, he was going to have to swear to it for now.


    "Fine. You tell me what you know and you can walk out that door, no questions asked. I''m surprised you''re not fighting for your friends too." Laz finally replied.


    "Even if they came with me, they would only drag me down like this. In fact, I can act like I died with them and have a better chance to live..."


    So he was just going to yeet them now that they were no good. Laz couldn''t help but feel a bit bad for the two who were still being eaten. They never should have put their trust in this guy.


    "Whatever."


    The remaining kidnapper gave Laz the information on where the drops were made. He looked over at Julia and Ivy to make sure they had gotten the address since they would be more familiar with the city and while Ivy was as stoned face as ever, Julia looked surprised.


    "What''s wrong?" Laz asked.


    "It''s just... I thought that ce was a sublet office building. But for them to be dropping off people there... the only way that could happen is if the entire ce was in the hands of one person. If not, then there would be no way that someone wouldn''t notice something going on," Julia said.


    "Probably is nothing but a front, don''t think on it too much."


    As they were talking, the man who had been freed of his restraints ran for the door. He turned back just enough to see that they were ignoring him before he bolted.


    ''Like I can fucking get away. The only thing I can do now is to let my boss know that these people areing for them. Hmm... I wonder if i will get a bonus for this?'' The man thought to himself as he bolted out the door.


    He barely got two steps before a throwing knife had embedded itself in the back of his head. As his body tumbled down while his vision ckened, he finally realized that he had only just gotten out of the door, which was what he had been promised.


    ''Fuck...''


    Laz lowed his hand which was holding a gun that had been pointed at the escaping man. At the same time, Ivy''s hand came down as well.


    ''Seems she was faster than me.''


    Laz looked over at Ivy, only to see her emotionless face looking back, almost as if she was saying, ''allow me.''


    Julia looked at both of them in shock, knowing that neither one of them had been willing to let him leave alive. Besides being relieved, she was also shocked at the speed of their actions. She hadn''t seen either of them move before the gun had been pointed and the knife thrown. Julia couldn''t help but feel very under ssed at the moment.


    Laz shook his head and put his gun back into the pouch, somewhat thankful he didn''t have to fire it. It would have been very loud to have done so indoors. Without a word, Laz got up, walked over to the two bodies and looked back at Ivy.


    "Did we need anything else form them?" He asked.


    Ivy shook her head no.


    With simply a nod, Laz released two small puffs of ck fire that floated down and hit the bodies. In less than a blink of the eye, both bodies were reduced to puddles of goo, spreading out along the floor while the fire burned out quickly. It looked surreal.


    "And that''s that."


    Laz walked back over to the twodies who were standing there.


    "So now what?" Laz looked to Ivy first, only to see that she looked disinterested. He then turned his gaze to Julia.


    "We... should get some info first about the building and take it from there."


    "Fair enough. Can you do that?" Laz asked.


    "Yes, but.."


    "But?"


    "Their group is the strongest in the area. Well, them and the Vodun. I''m just part of a council of the weaker ones that have joined together. Although we have a decent number of people on our side, everyone on the council just ys a game of politics trying to be the leader."


    "So why don''t you just pick someone to lead and have everyone else agree to follow. Or something like that?" A snake without a head was pretty useless.


    "How? There is no one who is powerful enough to get the respect of the entire council. Once you add that into everyone wanting their own power, it bes worse."


    "Well, they were consenting enough to send you to find the kidnappers to make things less troublesome right? I mean, if people kept disappearing, it would shine a light on things that were better kept in the dark. With that in mind, how bad could they be?" Laz asked. After all, for them to take this with concern meant that they couldn''t beplete idiots.


    "That''s..."


    "That''s?"


    "That''s cause I yelled at the main council during thest meeting and called them all idiots who were going to get us all killed. So... since they wanted to get rid of me and make it seem like they were doing something, they assigned me to figuring out what was happening. That''s also why I joined up with your group. I figured since they were targeting tourists and outsiders, I could use you all as bait."


    Laz felt like his eye was twitching after hearing this response. This was her punishment and her whole game n was using Laz, Abraham and the others as bait? He took back what he said before, they were all idiots.


    Laz looked over at Ivy who shrugged her shoulders. She had already long heard of this council and it was Freya''s opinion that they were useless. After that, she didn''t bother with them.


    Thinking about the fact that this would be arger operation, Laz felt that working with Heaven or Hell would be better. As such, he simply said,


    "Can I get your help?"


    Ivy thought about it and walked closer, until her mouth was right up next to his ear.


    "Tomorrow after work. Talk to Freya." Was all she said. Ivy then collected her gear and left without looking back.


    "Well, that''s something." Laz watched her as she left. It didn''t seem like a promise, but it wasn''t a dismissal either. Looks like he would have to negotiate with the boss on this one.


    "What should we do now?" Julia asked, looking around the room. The ce was shitty and there wasn''t much of anything around. She honestly wanted to leave, but she was going to wait until Laz said so. Having been convinced of his strength, she started looking to him for answers as well.


    Interestingly enough, Laz didn''t leave right away and instead took a look around. Spreading out his sense, he found what he was looking for.


    "Jackpot."


    In the floorboards in the living room, covered over by some debris, Laz found almost one hundred grand stashed in a lock box. With but a flick of his finger, the lock was broken and Laz found the money. Besides that, there was also an interesting looking ne in there as well. It looked kind of old and gave off a weird vibe. Considering the guys who lived here, he knew that it wasn''t theirs. He pocketed it without thinking about it and handed half the money to Julia.


    "What''s this? I don''t want this. This is money they earned by selling people''s lives..." Julia quickly understood what Laz was doing and how these poor ass guys had gotten this kind of money. She was immediately disgusted.


    "Suit yourself. But let me say this now. At some point, the fact that you''re an infected is going to make it impossible for you to live, much less work. At some point, this money could be the deciding factor of your life. And even if it was made by selling people''s lives, we are the one''s who got vengeance for them. If we don''t take it, who knows where it will end up." Laz''s ''sweet'' words made sense to Julia and she got over her disgust fast enough. After all, he was right. No amount of self righteousness was going to save her life in a pinch. But almost fifty grand might do it.


    "You have to adapt to the times. If not... You''ll be the bodyying on the floor."


    As Laz left with Julia following close behind, onest spurt of ck me hit the final corpse, dissolving itpletely.

 Chapter 242: A Visitor

    Chapter 242: A Visitor


    On the walk back to the house, Laz was quiet. Julia kept looking his way though, wanting to ask him questions, but she held back since he looked deep in thought.


    And Laz was deep in thought.


    The facts that he found out tonight didn''t really give him anything more than an address. Although that was a start, it wasn''t much else. The building would need to be watched, the people there checked out, etc. It wasn''t like Laz couldn''t guess who was responsible for the missing people. He had talked with Madam Cal and knew that she wasn''t involve. He had also talked to the sleeping goddess and found out things from her which meant the Heaven or Hell wasn''t involved. Just by the process of elimination, that only left the church.


    Form what Laz had gathered, they were truly the enemy. On top of that, from what Laz had gathered, they had the help of the government as well.


    ''This whole thing is getting more and more tricky. I either need Freya''s help or I will have to do something about that council... that reminds me."


    Laz turned over to look at Julia and noticed that she was staring at him. She turned away and blushed a bit at his sudden stare.


    "Tell me a bit more about that council you are a part of?" Laz figured he should ask nicely. It seemed like Julia was an ally, but who knew how long things like thatsted.


    "Well... once the groups got together, every group with a member at thete stage of condensation realm got a spot on the council, originally. Once some of the council members started breaking through to the foundation realm... well, things got dicey. See, the first one to do it felt that he was special and should lead the council from that point on. Due to there being so many members, around twenty four groups in total, he couldn''t just take control even with his realm. He wasn''t strong enough to fight the entire council by himself. In fact, most of the members don''t even know how to fight. It pathetic. Anyway, that''s when the politics started. He just needed to get a majority of vote him as leader and that would be that. While he sucked at fighting, he was still the most powerful one on the council so eventually, he was able to get enough support with promises of benefits to those who sided with him. Eventually, the group of twenty four would turn into a group of twelve, or so he promised. The day that he was going to dere a vote for his nomination, another member of the council, one that wasn''t a part of his group, showed that he too broke into the foundation realm. After that, it was chaos as more and more members broke through. Eventually, it just turned into a constant fight. The whole reason for the council in the first ce was to allow us topete with the much stronger Vodun and the Vampyres, but with things the way they are now, no one is acting serious. Not that there have been many problems. If an infected acts up somewhere within the limits of the city, either the Vodun or the Vampyres have taken care of it. The less attention we get, the better off we are. But despite that, there have been times when members of guilds have gone missing and they can all be linked back to the church. When ites to them, the members of the council just act like nothing happened. It only took a year and a few months for the entire goal of the council to be forgotten. It''s sad really..." As Julia finished her story, Laz finally understood what the problem was.


    There were too many chefs in the kitchen and none of them wanted to be ordered around by others. Even with Laz''s limited knowledge of politics, he knew that this usually would spell the end of an alliance.


    "So it''s not just been normal people disappearing, but also infected?" Laz asked, hoping to get more info.


    "It''s much less rare, but yes. When we tracked those people to the church, the council decided to not pursue it. But once we found that normal people had been going missing as well, we started to fear that something really bad was going on. After all, normal people should have no value to the church. And when normal people start going missing, everyone mes the infected. The only way to keep ourselves out of the spot light was to do something. And yet those idiots refused to act, again."


    "So that''s why you blew up?"


    "Yeah. But since I''m still only at thete stage of condensation realm, who would take me seriously? The council just figured that since the numbers weren''t too high, the missing people would be ignored like the missing infected. But then the number missing started increasing and we started taking the me."


    "So, to appease the non leading members of the council, they assigned the whole thing to you to figure out?"


    "They made it a condition of our group to continue to be on the council since wecked a foundation realm member."


    Laz couldn''t help butugh at the stupidity of this council. Why was there even a point of joining it? As though she had heard his thoughts, Julia answered him.


    "I know. You must wonder why we would even ce any value on being a member of this council? Well, as bad as it is, at least we are part of a stronger unit. Less of our members are targeted because the church knows about us and doesn''t want to get into a full scale war. Even though our power can''t match with either of the big three, it''s not something to be ignored either. It''s the only safety we have right now..."


    Laz understood after hearing her exnation. It wasn''t a hard concept to grasp. As long as they remained together and there was a hint that the entire council would move, then it would mean a bit of trouble that the church didn''t want right now. When they finished with what they were doing though, Laz could see them focusing on eliminating the council as soon as possible.


    "We''re back!" Laz noticed that while they had been talking, they had returned to the apartments. The street was deserted and whatever things had happened with the cops was now over, no surprise considering howte it was.


    Laz finished his conversation with Julia and agreed that he would talk to Freya before going to their own sides of the building.


    As Laz walked in, he noticed that Benny, Eddy and Abraham were waiting for him in the living room. They jumped when he walked in..


    "You''re ok?"


    "Are you ok?"


    "You''re back?"


    The three young men spoke in quick session as Laz waited until they were done to answer. He briefly exined how he had chased one of the men halfway around the city before losing him and then it took him a while to remember his way back. The excuse soundedme, but since they knew that Laz was from out of town, it didn''t sound too crazy.


    After that, the guys exined that all of the attackers had been arrested and they were assured that the police would get to the bottom of the matter. After all, a group of locals attacking working out of towners was a really bad thing for this city during the festival. No one, be it business owners or politicians wanted to see that and the guys couldn''t wait for the results as they had gotten tired of encountering this shit.


    Laz couldn''t help butugh at how much they seemed to trust the police. Laz knew better. But since the three with the deepest connections were now gone from the group, it was just a question of how rich the other parents were to get their kids out of this. Laz doubted anyone would get punished for real unless they needed a scapegoat, which they didn''t.


    After the excitement of the night wore down, everyone went to bed as there was still work in the morning.


    Laz got up early like normal and did his exercise and as was the new normal, Julia joined him. She didn''t talk much this morning, just going through he normal routine. Afterwards, they both took the chance to spar with each other and Julia went as hard as she could, surprising Laz. But he fought back as well, causing them both to improve. Laz had the strength and some training while Julia had trained for much longer. In Laz''s case, he had fought more life and death battles and his style proved it. Thanks to that, they both were able to fight at a higher level of intensity with Laz polishing his style while Julia could familiarize herself with blows meant to kill.


    Just as Laz and Julia were finishing up, something tickled Laz''s senses and he jumped back, reacting quickly. A small hole had buried itself in the ground right where Laz had been standing. These were quickly followed up by another and another, forcing Laz to retreat. He knew the shot wouldn''t hurt him, but he didn''t want to reveal that just yet. At the same time, he dragged Julia out of the way and under some cover.


    Just as Laz hit the ground thest time, he suddenly sprung forth, leaving a shocked Julia still hiding behind a tree with her hands covering her head.


    His speed was immense and he ran like a shadow, vanishing from sight.


    "Hmm?"


    As the mysterious gunman looked around, they noticed that they couldn''t find where Laz had disappeared to before a shadow appeared at their back. Laz was standing there holding a simple gun in his hand pointed at the masked figured.


    "Who are you?" Laz couldn''t sense an ounce of hostility from this person and got the bizarre impression that this was just a greeting.


    "Has it really been that long?" The strange yet familiar voice responded to his question while Laz was forced to jump back again. At some point, a strange blue being had appeared and attacked him with a sword, forcing him to retreat. As hard as Laz''s skin was, he felt a sense of danger from this being that wasn''t human.


    As he got a closer look at the being, the assassin stood up and faced Laz before slowly removing their mask.


    "Malene?"

 Chapter 243: Quiet Tears

    Chapter 243: Quiet Tears


    "So you didn''t forget about me?"


    "No... But... For the record. Why are you trying to shoot me?" Laz was a mixed of stunned, happy, surprised and slightly scared. Laz could stare the devil in the face, get hit by lightning, shot from a high powered rifle out of a helicopter and not blink. But knowing that one of his lovers was shooting at him was enough to make him just a bit timid.


    "Why? WHY? You ask me WHY?"


    "Uh... no...?"


    "Ie all the way out here just to see you and here you are, messing around with another girl and you have the balls to ask me why? What? You already forgot about me and Kennedy when you decided to get your dick wet with Leona and Ruby, but even that wasn''t enough for you?" Malene had jumped down from the fence she was standing on, still pointing the silenced hand gun at Laz. It seemed like he just needed to utter the wrong word and she would be taking shots at him again.


    "It''s not what you think... we aren''t like that..." Laz tried his best to exin. As far as he was concerned, Julia was nothing more than a temporary ally. So Laz could only do his best to exin this to his gun wielding lover who he hadn''t seen in a few years now.


    The response that he got was two more shots aimed at his feet. Then the gun moved up slowly and although Laz wasn''t one hundred percent sure, he felt like it was being aimed at his little man.


    "Sigh..." Laz decided that right now, words wouldn''t be the best answer. As such, he moved forward to where Malene was standing next to Aqua and just started walking slowly while looking her in the eyes.


    Seeing hime forward, Malene hesitated just a bit, wanting to pull the trigger but choosing not to. She knew that this weapon wouldn''t be able to hurt him, but she wanted him to know that she was pissed, concerned, excited and a whole range of other emotions. But mostly, when she looked deep enough, she was scared.


    If anyone who knew what she had been up to for the past year and a half heard someone say that the crazed spirit girl was scared, they would haveughed that person out of the room. Malene had gotten one hell of a reputation, just like the other members of the Blood Moon. Blood Moon unofficially became the silent leader of the infected. Anyone in the know, knew not only of Blood Moon, but of the four demons of the Blood Moon. They worked hand in hand with ck Rose which was now like an arm of Blood Moon, handling things that would get messy.


    None of this was publicly known though.


    The reason why Malene was scared was all due to this man walking towards her right now. She was scared that after all this time, the man in her heart no longer had her in his heart. Perhaps he just didn''t care as much as she did. They had been so young when they were together before. And no matter what she did, she could not forget about him.


    So when she was the first one randomly picked toe see him, she was very, very scared. And now that this moment was right before her, her heart pounded like never before.


    The gun in her hand waved from side to side, incredibly unsteady. Before she could decide what to do, Laz was already in front of her.


    Before she could react, his arms were already around her.


    Feeling those strong arms and his warm chest pressed against her head, she struggled for a few moments before her knees gave way and her body became weak. The only thing holding her upright was Laz. The tears started to drop from her eyes as soon as her face was buried in his chest.


    Laz knew that he had never really done well by her, not by a long shot. Over the course of the years, the whole ''first time'' thing faded in the back ground, but you never really forgot it. Now that they had met again after all this time, Laz knew that he cared deeply for her, still and always.


    It wasn''t like Laz was cold hearted and just used women, or at least, he didn''t think so. He cared about every one of them deeply. But fate was a fickle and easily offended thing, making him have to separate from people he cared about again and again.


    You couldn''t stop the onught of time.


    Maybe Laz didn''t love Malene when they had first gotten together, but time also has a funny way of distorting thoughts. After seeing her again, Laz felt connected to her in a way that he couldn''t understand. Maybe she would want to be rid of him now, but he knew that he would never forget her.


    "You big fucking jerk." Malene''s sobs were barely audible. At some point, Aqua had vanished, knowing that the mistress needed her time with this man..


    Malene had grown up quite a bit since thest time Laz had seen her. She stood at almost five foot five and had filled out quite a bit in her chest too. It wasn''t as drastic as Kennedy or Leona, but it was basically on par with Ruby. Or at least, with how Ruby was a year and a half ago.


    On top of that, her entire body felt energized, toned and yet still gentle to the touch. She had grown up to be a head turning beauty.


    The only weird part about things was that Julia was still hiding away behind a tree, barely able to show her face. Even if her skin was thicker, she would act like she wasn''t there. Although she had only gotten a glimpse of her attacker, as soon as she noticed the red hair with pink tips along with the blue spirit that was close to her, she knew that the one who hade was the real spirit girl.


    Some time ago, young girls that she knew had started to die their hair like the spirit girl, especially after her name rose to fame. It was all over the web, if you knew where to look, about this girl who could change her body in various ways and do amazing things that rted to her spirits. Those with simr abilities used her as an example of how to work with spirits. On top of that, she had a reputation for her blood ust. She was known to punish infected who tried to start shit as well as those who hunted infected.


    She was also on several most wanted lists.


    And yet here she was, sobbing like a teenager in the arms of this increasingly mysterious young man. All this after trying to kill him.


    Julia couldn''t help but wonder just how crazy things would get being around him.


    "It''s ok. I''m sorry. I never meant to leave you." It was all Laz could say, even though it didn''t sound very reassuring.


    "I left you, remember?" When Malene had finallye to, she wiped her face and fixed her hair before standing back up on her own. The transformation from happy to see him to being pissed off at him seemed as easy as flipping a light switch for her.


    "Yes. I remember," Laz responded with a smile.


    "Good. Anyway, I already know about your situation. For now, here is where I will be staying. I have some work to do in town so we can catch upter." Malene handed Laz a keycard with the hotel''s information on it. It was obviously a room key.


    "Goodbye for now." With that, Malene had jumped up,nding on the outside fence before taking off again like a shadow, vanishing in an instant.


    "She''s stronger than me now..." Thinking back to it, every time Laz had met a girl in his short life, he was always the stronger one. But now, while he was still in the early stage of the foundation realm, Malene was mid stage and it seemed like she was close to entering thete stage.


    Laz couldn''t help but wonder how strong the others had gotten.


    As soon as she figured out that Malene was gone, Julia stuck her head out from behind the tree and noticed Laz was still staring nkly at the fence. She finally worked up the courage to stand and walked over to him.


    "You... are close to ''Spirit Girl?'' She asked.


    "Spirit Girl?" Laz hadn''t heard this name before.


    "You don''t even know who she is?" Julia was amazed. How could he not know? The was impossible for someone of his strength, right?"


    "Sigh. I knew who she was... a long time ago. But now? How can anyone not change in four years?"


    "Oh my god... and why are you acting so old?"


    "It''s nothing..."


    Before Laz could go on though, the door''s to the apartments opened and the others came wandering into the back garden. It was starting to be a ritual that they would gather here and either do some exercises themselves or just sit around and have coffee or something as long as it was nice out. It kind of just happened overnight after they had witnessed the first exchange between Laz and Julia.


    As such, for now, their discussion would have to wait.


    Just as Laz and Julia were about to go in and shower beforeing back out, Abraham''s voice rang out.


    "Is this a bullet hole?"

 Chapter 244: Crazy Angry

    Chapter 244: Crazy Angry


    Laz acted surprised while Julia made up an excuse that it seemed like everyone believed. Laz wasn''t even listening since he was just going to act like he didn''t see anything and it was there when he came out. That and his mind was still buzzing with the return of Malene.


    Laz always seemed to lose things ever since he could remember. His parents, his grandpa, Kennedy, Malene, Vivi, Tyr, Ruby, Leona... Kat...


    Every time it happened, it seemed to rip more away from him that he didn''t know he could lose.


    And the result was that Laz had been feeling empty as ofte.


    But now... things were different.


    Watching everyone argue, joke andugh about nothing in particr had Laz smiling in a way he didn''t think he could anymore.


    He was excited to see her again.


    The day progressed in a regr manner, everyone went to work to learn their jobs some more while Laz was again stuck cleaning tables and washing dishes. But even this wasn''t enough to deter him from being in a good mood. More than once, the dinners caught a glimpse of Laz in a happy mood and couldn''t help but think how attractive he was. More than one girl tried to give Laz her number, but he respectfully declined. It happened so much, girlsing up to Laz or asking the other waiters about him that at one point, Chad told Laz to remain in the back for the rest of the day so that he would stop disrupting business.


    That didn''t stop the employees from talking about him though, esepcially the ones he lived next too.


    "Laz seems more handsome than usual or is it just me?" Angie asked Madison.


    "Yeah, you know, now that you mention it, something seems different," Madison agreed.


    "You two are like animals in heat," Steph told them while shooting her own nces at Laz. Even though all three girls had different tastes, that didn''t mean that they couldn''t agree on some things.


    "I would leave it alone if I were you," Julia said, walking up to the counter to retrieve the seating buzzers.


    "Oh?" The three girls looked over at Julia with a questioning look. Since Julia seemed to spend more time with Laz thanks to their morning training, the girls wondered if she was trying to im him.


    "It''s not what you think. I just know he happened to run into an old me and ns to spend some time with her." Julia made up a quick excuse. She didn''t want the girls thinking she was challenging them as that wasn''t it at all. Instead, for their own safety, it was better if they didn''t try to get involved with Laz.


    Luckily, this excuse was an honest one. While it was debatable if they believed her, at least she wasn''t trying to go against them either therefore they held no hard feelings.


    After the work day ended, Laz walked with everyone back to the apartment where they started making ns. Laz excused himself quickly saying he had some quick business to attend to before darting out. He simply gave Julia a wink on the way out, something that everyone missed except for Abraham.


    "I wonder what that''s about? Also.. I don''t feel so good..." Abraham decided to turn in early, not feeling his usual self. No one that anything about it.


    ...


    Laz was heading to Heaven or Hell since he wanted to ask for Freya''s help. Although he could just call, he felt it was better to do it in person.


    It didn''t take long for him to arrive and be let in. Even the ''guards'' at the door knew that he was someone close to the mistress..


    Laz was surprised by the surroundings.


    He was kind of under the impression that the ce only had two settings, basically a red hell or a white heaven. But walking in today, the entire ce was decorated with ck silk and had various torture devices all over the ce. Wooden tables were ented with whips and chains and all of the girls serving the ''clients'' were dressed in skin tight ck vinyl.


    Laz couldn''t help but wonder if this was suppose to be a heaven setting for masochists or a hell setting for the normally dominant.


    "Maybe it''s both?" Laz said out loud to himself.


    As he walked through, he saw that there were quite a few guests spread out all over the ce, some eating, some being whipped gently, some strung up while girls were taking turns teasing them. It really was a collection of everything going on. And no one seemed to mind doing it in a shared space.


    Laz also noticed that there was no sex either. Instead, it was more of a kink atmosphere.


    As Laz approached the giant, skull covered throne in the middle of the room, he noticed that Freya was actually sitting there while leaning over and talking to someone. Whoever it was happened to be concealed by someyers of hanging ck silk and arranged lighting. Anyone trying to spot them would find that although the person was in the same room, it was impossible to get a clear view of them.


    Seeing Lazing forward though, Freya turned away from her guest and smiled warmly at the young man.


    "Young Master. What brings you to my humble house this day?"


    "I need your help with something."


    "Mmhmm. I knew you woulde to ask about this, but I must decline," Freya said with a look of reluctance on her face, surprising Laz.


    "Why?" Laz was confused. He had thought she would be willing to help no matter what, even if it was just because she wanted something from him in return.


    "You have to understand young master, although Ivy exined what was going on, this doesn''t fall to the nature of our people. I get that people disappearing is a dangerous thing and that the church is involved, but let me ask you something. Did your encounter with the kidnappers involve an infected or a chosen at all?" Freya asked, hoping she could calm his anger. It wasn''t like she didn''t want to help him, but she also had to be careful for her own people''s sake.


    "No. I did not," Laz responded. He already understood where she was going with her reasoning, but that didn''t make him feel any better.


    Truthfully speaking, even though his room mates were targeted, Laz shouldn''t have felt so involved in this. It wasn''t like he was put into any danger himself. Instead, Laz''s problem was that he was channeling his anger over when his grandfather was taken to this moment. Although the circumstances differed, Laz was projecting that moment on to this one, making it so that he couldn''t walk away from this.


    "And because of that, if we do something, we alert others. Being the strongest means that there are a lot more eyes on you young master. Whether that be the eyes of the Vodun or of the Church, as soon as we send people out, they will know we are watching. And that would ruin your ns I think."


    "AAGhhhh," Laz let out a small shout of anger and frustration, knowing that she was right. Even though it seemed easy enough to ask her to help, she had her own worries too. Laz understood that he would have to make other ns.


    "Alright. You''re right of course Freya. Anyway. Allow me to thank you for the use if Ivy the other day. She was exactly what I needed." Although they were speaking close together, Laz didn''t know who the other person was. Freya might be ok with speaking of her secrets, but Laz didn''t want to say out loud that he borrowed someone to torture for him or that he killed the targets when he was done.


    Some things you just don''t talk about.


    Despite that, it seemed that what Laz said affected the mysterious guest.


    "Oh? So you''vee to the point where you just randomly use girls when the need suits you, hmm?" The somewhat angry yet sweet sounding voice said.


    "I don''t think you understand what I''m talking.... Malene?" Laz approached the hidden guest and saw that it was Malene, sitting there and eating while hiding away.


    "I don''t understand. Ok. I guess using a young girl means something different for you? Some noble purpose?"


    "Malene. Let me exin, please?" Laz felt his face going both red and ck. He knew how it sounded, but he just made it sound that way since he didn''t know who was listening it. Had he known, he would have been much clearer.


    In contrast to Laz''s response of trying to reason with her, Freya was signaling for everyone to move a bit farther away. She knew the reputation of the Spirit Girl better than almost anyone and she knew that the girl could be down right crazy when she was being unreasonable.


    Freya wanted to say something to Laz, but it was clear from that fact that he was approaching her that he didn''t understand who or what she was. As such, Freya could only try her best to stop Malene.


    "Lady Malene. Please, calm yourself. It''s not what you think..." Freya also knew that Malene had the worst view out of all of the VIP members of Blood Moon, although she didn''t know why. She already had enough of a headache trying to entertain her while she was visiting. But now, on top of that, she was goingpletely mental.


    Wind whipped around the air, causing the ck silk to billow as though they were the sails of ships during a storm at sea. The other guests had long been dragged/ordered to the back of the huge room and were told they were watching a special set up for a new kind of show they were putting on, causing the guests to be excited.


    No one really knew that Malene was this close to snapping as the raging waves of killing intent appeared around her. Although she was looking at Laz, her killing intent wasn''t focused on him. Instead, it seemed to be spreading out as though looking for someone.


    Just as things were getting more heated and Freya was about to exin again, on of the doors leading to the back mmed open and the four Ivy''s walked out, faces covered in their cold masks. They had heard the disturbance and wereing to assist, not knowing that one of them was the cause of it.


    "Found you." Like a lion spotting it''s prey, a long yet thin sword appeared in Malene''s hand as she lunged forward, aiming for the second Ivy in the row.


    ''Why the fuck is she mad at her when I was... fuck it.'' The thought came and went through Laz''s head in but a moment as he jumped forward.


    He could feel the strength of Malene''s attack was immense. On top of everything else, the sword seemed to have lit up in mes, causing the beautiful arch to apany her attack.


    Seeing the target of the attacker was aiming for their sister, the other three quickly surrounded her as various knives and other small, concealed weapons appeared in their hands.


    Just as Malene was about the strike at them, a hand shot forward covered in ck mes, grabbing the sword. Despite the immense strength behind it, the sword was stopped from moving.


    "CONTROL YOURSELF!" Laz''s voice was like thunder that boomed within therge, hall like room. Malene, who had originally lost herself in her anger, suddenly stopped her attack, letting the ming sword return to normal before taking it back.


    She stumbled back a few steps while looking at Laz who was standing before her in anger. Just as she was about to say something, Laz strode forward and wrapped her in a hug while whispering to her,


    "It''s not what you think, ok? She just helped me extract some information from a person who refused to talk. There is no reason to be angry." Laz''s voice was exceptionally gentle as he whispered into her ear.


    Seeing her calm down, the girls rxed and put away their weapons while breathing a sigh of relief. They recognized Malene right away and knew that even in a four on one situation, they wouldn''t have any hope of winning.


    Seeing that Laz had resolved her anger for the time being, Freya also took a deep breath and said a few words to the guests, causing them to cheer.


    As far as they were concerned, the show they just saw with the special effects were amazing, None of them had any clue that they almost witnessed a fight to the death.


    "How about you two take a room and talk things out?" Freya suggested, nodding to one of her assistants.


    Laz agreed and Malene just followed along, looking like an obedient young wife, much to the shock of the onlookers who actually understood who she was.


    No one had any clue just what kind of rtionship these two actually had.


    Seeing them go into the back while following their guide, Freya couldn''t help but think that Laz was way more mysterious that she had originally thought. When she had informed Blood Moon about him being here, they asked her to do everything she could to help the young man. But they never mentioned why.


    Now it seemed like the why was much more important.

 Chapter 245: The Second Verse

    Chapter 245: The Second Verse


    The room itself was simply a back office used to entertain important guests. There wasn''t anything like a sex room or some such in the back of restaurant because despite the obvious sexua overtones of the ce, it was simply a legal business... with a bit of re.


    Laz stood there and stared at Malene as she stared back at him. Neither of them spoke at first causing the silence to almost be be overwhelming.


    Laz didn''t want to speak first since he had no idea what to say.


    Malene didn''t want to speak first because there were so many emotions going on in her head that she just didn''t know what she should feel.


    After a while though, Laz finally broke the silence first.


    "I didn''t know you would be here."


    "Is that a problem?"


    "No... but... I don''t know..."


    "I get that. I get that you don''t know a lot, do you?"


    "Uh..." What Laz didn''t know was that sometimes, the hardest wall to break through when a woman was mad at you and refused to speak, was just getting her to start talking. As soon as you did that, you would definitely hear everything that was on her mind, assuming she cared about you. If she didn''t care, she wouldn''t bother speaking so much.


    "How could you know? It''s not like you ever bothered to find us? Or ask about us? Or even figure out what was happening with us? Did you ever once even think about me? Did you even think about how frightened and scared I was after you disappeared for a whole year? Did you ever once stop long enough to understand that the people you left behind never stopped caring about you? Or worrying about you? DID YOU?


    Laz wanted to argue that technically speaking, it was her and Kennedy that left him first. On top of that, he noticed that while she started off talking about the group, she ended up focusing on her own feelings? Maybe that was a good thing?


    On top of that, he noticed that her power truly was strong and bountiful and it revealed itself as she became more emotional. In fact, if she wasn''t already in thete stage foundation realm, she would be soon. The only reason he understood this point was because despite her having more energy than him, his was still much morepressed than hers.


    So although there were tons of things he wanted to say, Laz wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.


    "You think I''m going to far? You wonder why I am ming you? When I gave you everything, EVERYTHING? AND YOU JUST UP AND DISAPPEAR? AND EVEN WHEN YOU GET BACK, YOU JUST KEEP MOVING ON?!?!"


    Laz was sort of surprised that she had kind of guessed his thoughts, but he didn''t me her for them. He had used himself of that very same thing more than once. But it always came back to a very simple point for him, he could barely take care of himself. How could he take care of others?


    He was nowhere near strong enough.


    And that was why he never went looking for her, hoping that being away from him would keep her safe.


    He had already lost people he cared about, ones that were around him.


    One that he watched die right in front of him.


    He didn''t want to bring danger to anyone else because of himself..


    -Life is really simple, but we insist on making itplicated.-


    A thought appeared in Laz''s head, one that seemed to clear the fog. It hit him like a freight train when he wasn''t expecting it and almost caused him to fall over. Laz swayed on his feet and almost fell, falling against the desk to keep himself upright.


    "What the hell is that?" Laz said out loud as his eyesight suddenly went dark. Once he regained his vision, he noticed he was looking at the foundation base within his core. The previous words had lit up thanks to something that Tyr had imparted on him. Even now, Laz had no idea how that had happened. But now, with Malene yelling at him, another line or runes had lit up.


    -Life is really simple, but we insist on making itplicated.-


    Laz couldn''t help but think about how these words made sense to him. Life... really is simple. Being happy, doing the things you enjoy, spending time with loved ones. All things that we don''t really put much thought into and sometimes push aside for reasons of work or responsibilities. Or better yet, why do we let people who mean so much walk away? Trying to keep them safe? That''s their choice to make... so why not let them make it.


    Malene, seeing Laz almost fall, rushed to his side in an instant and ced her hand on his forward, sending her immense spiritual sense into his body to see if she could locate the problem. She never once thought he might be faking it.


    Just when her sense was about to reach his core, she felt a mind boggling amount of fear hit her as she backed out quick.


    Just then, the ck me at the center of the foundation exploded, doubling size in almost an instant. On top of that, it kept growing and growing as the weak surrounding energy was pumping into Laz. Although the energy in the air was weak, this entire building was filled with infected, special items they used to cultivate and even a sleeping goddess.


    Even though Laz tried not to, he started to greedily suck in energy from all of those ces, causing everyone to feel like they were being drained.


    Malene suddenly figured out what was going on and reacted. Within her small purse, she pulled out a massive chunk of rock, one farrger than should have been able to fit in the purse and shoved it into Laz''s stomach, causing his hands to grab on to it.


    Therge, watermelon size chunk of rock suddenly burst to life, glowing with a bright orange color that drowned out the soft white of the overheadmps in the office.


    Feeling this thing start to act like a battery, Laz focused his attention on the rock, causing all of his energy drawing toe from that and nowhere else.


    Freya, who had rushed to the office and was about the bust the door down, slowly backed away. Suddenly, a pictured formed in her mind, giving her instructions. After a moment, she bowed in the direction of the crystal coffin and called for the four sisters.


    "Stay here and make sure no one gets close," she instructed. Just as soon as they nodded their heads yes, a milky white barrier sprang to life behind them, blocking the office door.


    This was the work of the sleeping goddess yet again.


    The ck me inside of Laz, after it''s inital explosion, started growing at a slower pace, constantly fed more and more energy from the strange rock that he had been given. The me went from being the size of a matchstick to suddenly being candle sized. After that, it keep growingrger andrger, doubling in size again and again as more and more energy was drained from the rock.


    Finally, when the me reached the size of arge campfire, it stopped growing. Laz opened his eyes, causing the red glow to explode out and hit Malene. Luckily, her spiritual strength was immense and Laz meant no harm so she was able to resist with only a minor effort.


    Feeling like he had been reborn, Laz couldn''t help but want to jump and shout at the top of his lungs. It took a lot to resist doing so.


    As the light from his eyes settled, Laz came back to himself and looked down at this strange rock he had been given. While the light was like a small sun when he was first given it, it seemed almostpletely dim now, causing no more light than an almost spent glow stick would.


    Malene, seeing his gaze, quickly grabbed the rock from his hands. As she did so, the rock started crumbling, falling apart from the size of a watermelon till all that was left was a glowing rock the size of a grape.


    Malene could hardly believe her eyes.


    "Big sis is going to kill me... She had just managed to get all of us arge piece of this rock and the energy within it was suppose to be enough tost us for a breakthrough to the next realm... but now? NOW? I have a fucking light bulb''s worth left..." Malene couldn''t help butment about the loss of her cultivation resource. She had truly had it for less than two weeks and the energy inside of it was far stronger than anything they had gotten their hands on yet. Kennedy was still in talks about getting more of it, but it was very hard to find.


    "I''m.. uh... really sorry..." Laz figured out quick that the rock was special and felt bad about using the energy in it. He really had no excuse.


    "It''s... fine. But honestly, how the hell did you have a breakthrough while I was yelling at you? You weren''t even cultivating?" Malene asked.


    "I. Uh. I don''t know? Say... when you''re breaking through the stages of the foundation realm... do you need like... code words or anything?" Laz asked the question on his mind cause it really made no damn sense.


    "No. Why would you?" Malene asked, putting the remains of the rock back in her purse.


    "I was just wondering..." Laz couldn''t help but wonder why the fuck he had to have a go phrase for it to work. It made no sense.


    "UGH... I can''t even be mad at you anymore. How the hell am I suppose to vent now? FUCK, FUCK, FUCK..." Malene turned around a kicked a couch, causing the massive piece of furniture to go flying through the air and hit the wall with a loud boom.


    "Sigh..." Seeing her like this, the mental barriers within Laz''s mind finally broke. They weren''t rock solid in the first ce as they were ones that he had unknowingly erected himself.


    He felt immense guilt, so much so that he couldn''t immediately overe them.


    -Life is really simple, but we insist on making itplicated.-


    That phrase resounded through his head, smashing whatever barriers was keeping him from doing what he wished to do.


    Why worry about how you think someone else feels? Just show them how you feel.


    Why worry about being rejected? About not being strong enough? Let them decide.


    Love freely. Laugh loudly. Live as though each day was yourst.


    Just as Malene was looking to break something else, she felt a pair of warm arms circle around her from behind. She quickly spun her body, not aware of when Laz had moved.


    Before she could say anything, his lips met hers'' in a wet and loving kiss. It took less than a second for every ounce of resistance of hers'' to fade as she returned his kiss with a passion.


    For some, love faded with time.


    For others, love just grew stronger.


    Perhaps things wouldn''t be so simple in the future, but for now, Laz wasn''t going to make itplicated.


    Her arms wrapped around his neck as she pulled him closer. His hands, originally around her waist, drifted down to her perky ass and grabbed while lifting, causing her to rise up in the air.


    In turn, Malene responded by wrapping her legs around his waist and squeezing. Her energy red to life as several colors rotated around her. Just when it looked like the energy would die down, it formed into a fist and sted into Malene''s back in a rather gentle manner. The strength of the st she hit herself with was enough to knock Laz over with Malene on top of him.


    Feeling himself fall, Laz didn''t think much of it. When his body his the ground with her on top of him, it sounded like arge te of lead had tipped over and bashed into the ground.


    Boom


    Malene finally broke away from Laz''s kiss.


    "So you finally got your balls back huh?" She said, taunting him.


    "You really want to see?" Suddenly, Laz''s body was engulfed in ck mes that spread over him and Malene in less that a moment,pletely burning their clothes to ashes.


    Laying there,plete nude with Malene still on top of him straddling him, Laz couldn''t help but smile. He was wondering if she would feel embarrassed like she would have in the past?


    Instead, Malene simply smiled.


    "You asshole. You have any idea how much that outfit costs? And it was one of my new favorites too. Looks like you''ve gotten pretty cheeky huh? Time to let Mistress Malene teach you some manners..."


    Laz smile quickly dropped from his face as a multicolored st of energy mmed into him. At the same time, his ratherrge and erect member was grabbed by Malene. It had been stifled by his pants underneath her butt from the way they fell initially. But after their clothes were burned away, it had nestled it''s way upward and was rubbing at the back of her butt.


    The first energy st hit him in the chest, causing him to sink deeper into the floor.


    The second one followed up shortly afterwards, causing him to be unable to remove himself from the body shaped indentation he had made.


    Just as Laz was about to ir up in response, he felt Malene''s soft and gentle hand grab his member as she stood up slightly and rubbed her hot, wet opening with it.


    "Don''t make me hit you again, ok?" She asked him with a seductive smile.

 Chapter 246: Are They F***ing or Fighting?

    Chapter 246: Are They F***ing or Fighting?


    "I might just do that." Laz was feeling... many things at the moment. To narrow it down was hard. But the easiest way to exin it would be to say he was happy.


    It seemed like despite the distance and time apart, Malene still felt for him.


    Strangely, while she was smiling and teasing him, Laz noticed that above her left breast, in almost the same area that Laz''s tattoo was, Malene also had a tattoo. Unlike his which was a fully red moon behind a ck, leafless tree, hers was a red crescent moon. He couldn''t help but bring his hand up and use his fingers to trace it.


    Seeing him move, Malene was going to punish him for doing so, but then seeing his actions, she decided not to.


    Laz used his fingers to trace the outline of the marking, as though he felt a connection to it.


    "Do you like it?"


    "Yes. But... why?" Laz didn''t understand why she would get a tattoo like this. It had to be said that although it was rather appealing, it really did look weird on her silky white skin. Especially when one took the color of her hair into consideration.


    "It''s because of you." Malene said, settling down. Although she was still ying with him, she had settled down on his waist, causing him to feel her most sensitive part against his skin.


    "Because of me? You got it because of me?"


    "I didn''t get it because of you. It formed thanks to you," Malene corrected him with a smile.


    "What do you mean?" Laz was confused.


    "A few weeks after that night that we shared, this appeared. I wasn''t sure what it was at first, thinking it was a rash or something. But after I spoke to Kennedy, I discovered she had the same thing as well."


    "She does?"


    "Not only her, but Ruby and Leona do as well. Obviously, we connected it to you. It''s like a source of power for us. It gives off waves of energy every now and then when we cultivate and affects our bodies. After the waves from it die down, we notice that we have be stronger, our skin tougher and our bodies seem more full of life than ever before. We don''t yet know what causes the waves to ur despite having it for almost 4 years, but every time it reacts, we grow stronger."


    Laz was seriously confused by what he was hearing. After all, he had gotten his tattoo when he originally became infected, something he had attributed to A''ruya. But now it seemed like, at least for the red moon portion of it, it had more to do with him.


    Thinking back on it, it seemed like A''ruya had never really exined much about it in the first ce, just saying that it was her mark. It seemed like there was a much deeper story he wasn''t aware of.


    "That''s..."


    "You have no idea either hmm?" Malenemented, seeing Laz''s reaction.


    "I don''t. I didn''t even know it was a thing." Laz had no idea what to say.


    "It''s our link to you. It''s like a blessing and a curse. When people get their significant other''s name tattooed on their bodies, it can still be changed or even removed. But this? This is like a permanent mark that you''ve left on each of us. There is no getting rid of it just like there is no getting rid of you from our lives. Besides the blessing, there is also a curse to it."


    "A curse?".


    "Yes. The curse of you. It makes us need to be close to you. At first, it was like a minor feeling of loss, kind of just like missing you. But as time goes on and we get stronger, the feeling of being drawn to you is stronger. I almost couldn''t hold myself back when we found out where you were, but we decided toe visit you in turns. Sadly though, I will still have to leave soon."


    "You do?" Laz didn''t understand. He had just been reunited with Malene yet she was talking about leaving.


    "I do. I have a ton of work to do. We haven''t been idle since we''ve been apart you know. I won''t tell you all the details, but I promise you will be surprised when you find out. Now then..."


    Malene got back off of Laz and put her knees on the floor, straightening her body.


    "I wasn''t nning on doing this today. Or tomorrow. In fact, I was thinking I would just tease the hell out of you for the entire time I visited you as revenge. But..."


    "But?"


    "My body doesn''t seem to want to listen to what my head was nning."


    Malene then eased herself back, positioning Laz''s erect rod at herva like entrance. Before Laz could say anything back, she slid her hips down and back, plunging him deeper and deeper inside herself while moaning.


    "Ahhh... god.... Damn..... It''s still.... soooo big...."


    They''d been apart for almost four years and both of them had grown into young aduts. As such, their bodies had changed a lot as well.


    Malene''s figure was still as lean as ever but now her breasts were quite a bit bigger than before while her butt was much more shapely. Even her legs were skinny yet toned and there was nothing negative to say of her tiny waist.


    But even now she couldn''t take every inch of Laz before hitting the fleshy wall of her insides. For her, it had been a long almost four years since she hadst felt this.


    "DON''T MOVE..." Malene''s body shuddered a bit as Laz had readjusted himself slightly. He was letting her take the lead since she seemed to want to but even just a slight movement from him was enough to send her over the edge.


    "I.... have masturbated... any number of times... over the past four years. And with just this... you made me cum harder than ever before... UGGHH... It''s.... OH...." Malene could barely get out a few words before her body again shuttered in ecstasy.


    She had no idea what was going on. She might have stayed away from guys over this time, but it wasn''t like she let herself suffer either. And yet, with something so simple, she felt many times better than before. Just as she felt like she was going topletely melt, a wave of energy circted through her body, just like it had on numerous asions.


    Laz watched it happened and felt the wave. For some reason, it felt simr to the energy he felt within his blood.


    After the wave of energy died down, Malene was able to straighten up an although she was still filled with Laz, her body didn''t feel like it was melt as much. It took her only a moment to figure out that with the strengthening of her body, her ability to withstand him increased as well.


    "Ora?" Malene made a strange noise as she realized this and looked down at Laz who wasying their with a smug smile on his face.


    "I kind of want to smack that look off your face." Malene said, looking down at him.


    "Try me." Laz said, still smiling at her.


    Malene''s hands came down surrounded by a rainbow of colors towards Laz''s chest. If this hit, although it wouldn''t hurt him too much, it would cause him to change his facial expression. Just as her hands were about the strike his chest, Laz shot his arms out in return, grabbing her wrists and and twisting, causing her elbows and shoulders to lock up.


    Just as she was about to yell something at him, Laz took the lead, thrusting his hips upward.


    The sudden movement of Laz caused his holy sword to dig deeper into her honeyke, making Malene spring up in response.


    But since Laz had her arms locked, she couldn''t get away and he pulled her back down, thrusting upward again and again.


    Even though Malene''s body had been strengthened, she still felt the immense peasure of Laz''s thrusting piston.


    But if Laz''s thought he could dominate Malene like this, he was sorely mistaken.


    The next time Laz backed down, Malene flipped her legs forward between her locked arms and mmed them down on Laz''s chest, causing him to lose his grip on her wrists. With her hands freed, she struck out with her multicolor energy as fast as lightening and moved his arms upwards, restraining them above his head.


    With a seductive smile, Malene then took control, sliding her body up and down on his while just allowing the tip of Laz''s raging meat stick to enter and exit her. Although they both felt good from this, it was clearly her teasing him.


    But Laz didn''t care. He could have broken free if he wished since his true strength was leagues above her own, but he wasn''t going to ruin the fun.


    Malene used her body to rub up and down on Laz, her perky nippes even made contact with his more than once as she brought her breasts closer to his face. Just when Laz was going to reach his head down for a taste, she would slide her body back down allowing him to slightly enter her again while avoiding his wandering mouth. She was even using this time to kiss his neck and chest as well while asionally icking his lips. But she made sure to avoid his kisses.


    "Are you having fun?" He asked with a grin.


    "MMhmm," was her only response. Every now and then, her body would shudder slightly with peasure and she would have to pause for a moment. It wasn''t nearly as earth shattering before but it still caused her to be distracted.


    During one of these pauses, Laz lifted his knees and used his outrageous strength to slide his bare feet into the stone floor.


    Then, just like a mummy rising out of a tomb in an old movie, Laz lifted his entire body upright using only his feet and knees while keeping the rest of his body straight.


    Malene couldn''t even believe he did it.


    Now though, with Laz standing and Malene holding onto his neck having let go of his hands, Laz was free to wrap his hands around her tiny waist, supporting her. Malene instinctively wrapped her legs around Laz''s waist but before she could stop him, Laz thrust her up and down on his shaft, driving in deeper and deeper.


    Malene couldn''t control her voice and yelled out in peasure while her hands made their way to Laz''s back, digging her nails in while she hung on for dear life.


    As soon as she got used to the feeling of peasure caused by his thrusting, she leaned into it, causing Laz''s member to pound into her deepest parts for just a moment. She also used this moment to swing forward, biting down hard on his neck. Even with skin that would remain unhurt by a gun shot, her teeth broke his skin as shetched on like an angry kitten.


    Her movement also served to unbnce Laz, causing him to fall backwards into a plushy chair that immediately copse thanks to their weight and wild movements.


    It broke apart in a boom as Malenended on top of Laz again on the floor causing even more damage.


    Neither of them was going to stop any time soon.


    Outside the room, Freya had been stand with the four Ivy''s while waiting. It wasn''t long before the sounds of their lovemaking seeped out the door. The strange part was that although their voices were barely heard, the sound of smashing stone and fracturing furniture was very clear to the listeners.


    Freya couldn''t help but wonder just what they were doing in there. With the barrier up though, she could only imagine.


    After one particrly loud boom, it felt like the entire building shook.


    While the four Ivy''s exchanged silent nces with each other, Freya couldn''t help but blurt out,

 Chapter 247: Blood Mist

    Chapter 247: Blood Mist


    By the time they were done, the room had been destroyed. Laz and Maleneid on the ground, panting for breath and almost unable to move. It was merely by coincidence that they wereying on the ttened out cushions of the shattered couch. Neither of them spoke as they were both lost in the feeling of euphoria.


    It would have looked like a tragic battle scene if they weren''t still holding hands, weirdly refusing to let go of one another.


    As they were both getting there breathing under control, Malene actually managed to drag her tired, sweat covered body over andy her head on Laz''s chest. Hearing the strong sounds of his heart beat was enough to cause her to rx as her entire body began to glow. Instead of the rainbow color light''s the usually signified her energy usage, this glow was a bright yet deep color of red tinged with streaks of ck. Laz was scared to the point of stopping her until he noticed something else.


    When they were engaged in the sex battle before, Laz noticed that the energy shared between them as they repeatedly mmed against each other grew stronger every it circted between them. In the end, the energy actually ended up settling down inside of Malene while the only real benefit Laz received was that his energy which had just made a breakthrough, ended uppressing more and more, causing his mid stage of the foundation realm to settle down. This would have normally taken him quite a bit of time since just finding enough energy to use to hammer it down could be a problem. But with the wild sex they just shared, there was no need to do so.


    As far as the energy Malene was currently experiencing, what Laz noticed was that it had a strong bloody scent to it, one that smelled very much like his own blood. Looking closer at the cloud, he noticed that the ck streaks within it looked like little streaks of ck me.


    Seeing this, Laz finally understood something, even though he didn''t know how.


    Laz slowly got into a sitting position,ying Malene''s head down on his ap. Malene, seeing him looking down while wondering what had happened, finally noticed the strange cloud of energy that was around her. Due to her currently condition though, she was still very much out of it and could only giggle at the sight.


    "Rx your body," Laz told her, to which she naturally agreed. Laz then reached up and cupping his hands, scoped up most of the cloud and brought his hand down onto her abdomen, right above where her center of energy would be.


    With this, Laz used a little bit of his own energy and brought it into her system, causing it to circte around her body. The energy rich life blood started flowing through her as it began to strengthen every part of her body, totally changing her from before in a way very simr to how the tattoo would sometimes do it as well.


    It didn''t take long before her body naturally absorbed the offered energy and her blood red, crescent moon shaped tattoo started glowing. Not only did she not feel pain because of this, but instead it acted like a simnt, causing her tired body to be filled again to the brim with energy.


    It only took a moment before Malene understood what Laz had done and quickly sat up herself, using the infinity technique that Laz had taught her way back when to properly take control of her own cultivation.


    It only took a moment for her to break into the peak stage of the foundation realm from mid stage,pletely blowing through thete stage. The only reason it could be called the peak stage was because there was nowhere else she could go unless to broke through to the next realm.


    Seeing her make this advance, Laz smiled and thought for just a quick minute. Spreading out his sense, Laz made a rather rash decision due to his good mood and caused thest bits of blood energy in the air to go flying out of the room. It just so happened the the energy immediately found andtched onto the five girls who had been waiting outside the whole time with worry.


    Freya and the four Ivy''s suddenly felt the strange energy hit them and before they could react, it invaded their systems.


    Although potent, there wasn''t a lot of it left. For Freya, it felt good and got her blood moving, causing her mid stage foundation realm to strengthen to the point of almost breaking through to thete stage.


    The effects on the four Ivy''s was far more noticeable as they quickly sat down and used the only cultivation technique that anyone knew, the infinity technique. Doing so caused the ck meced blood mist to circte through their systems, infusing it with energy that rushed straight to their cores. In only a few moments, all four of them were glowing with a strong , blood red light that seemed to smash their condensed cores down, ttening them in the process.


    As Freya looked on, dumbfounded, all four of them broke through to the foundation stage together. They all opened their eyes at the same time as thest of the blood red light faded and looked at one another in shock.


    Besides that, all four of them felt really itchy all of the sudden, Standing up, they started to itch their bodies at the same time, causingyers of their scarred tissue to fall away all at once. Seeing this, they quickly ran away from Freya and headed towards their own bedroom in the back of theplex. They quickly stripped naked and began to scratch all over, removing even more of the dead skin. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=12217418205098505)/blood-mist_%!d(string=51594449804909849)">#%!d(string=12217418205098505)/blood-mist_%!d(string=51594449804909849) for visiting.


    Just as Freya walked in, they felt the itching subside as they could help but look at one another in shock. Although their bodies were still badly scared, some of the more minor scars had disappeared all together and were reced with new, pink skin. As for the worse of the scars, they had some of the worstyers removed. The girl''s could help but tear up in their masks after having experienced this.


    Their bodies were still mangled and horrible to look at, but the improvements each of them experienced made them feel like entirely new people.


    How could they not feel happy beyond belief? Even if they had gotten surgery, the effect wouldn''t have been this pronounced this quickly. Suddenly, each of them started to feel an emotion they had long forgotten... hope..


    Freya recovered fairly quickly since this didn''t affect her personally and couldn''t help but say,


    "It looks like the goddess didn''t lie to you about him. I have no idea what happened, but it seems like he is the key you have been waiting for. Now go get cleaned up and dressed quickly so that you can be ready for him when hees out," she said with a smile, happy for them.


    "Yes mistress," the girls responded at once and ran to the shower to get cleaned.


    "But honestly... how the hell did that even work? I know I was tempted by his blood, but is it really this magical?"


    ...


    Having broken through, Malene was now invigorated as she stared at Laz, wondering how he did that.


    "Don''t look at me. You''re the one who bit me and swallowed some of my blood. I just helped it along." Laz didn''t know that his blood would have that effect on her, but he understood his body better than anyone else. His blood had always been full of energy and life, so why couldn''t he use it to help her advance? Having just made his breakthrough, Laz had felt full of life anyway so he was more than happy to do so. It was just a shame that he knew he couldn''t do it over and over again since it did sap a lot of energy from his blood. In fact, had it not been for all of the energy he absorbed from her stone earlier, it would have cost him dearly to do this.


    Still though, it was something he would remember in case he needed it for the future. Even at the cost of it, it would still be worth it for it''s effect.


    "What happened to the left over energy?" Malene had noticed that there was still a good bit left in the air that she couldn''t use. Due to her being forced to focus on herself, she didn''t know what happened to the leftover and felt bad about wasting it. She was the one who stole it after all.


    "Oh, don''t worry about that. I made sure to utilize everyst drop."


    "Uh. Ok... Don''t think that any of this makes up for the years you left us alone though. I haven''t fully forgiven you for any of it." Although Malene was showing an angry expression while speaking, her look was ruined by her flushed red skin and nude body that was within reaching distance from Laz.


    Laz nodded his head up and down while putting on a serious face, or at least he tried to. As it happened, his face was actually more scrunched up and just looked stupid, causing Malene tough. Even with the years apart, it was almost like nothing had changed.


    Seeing herughing without a care in the world, Laz''s heart warmed yet again. Before she could stop him, Laz had grabbed her waist, spun her around and pulled her close. With her back to his chest, he wrapped his strong arms around her waist while his head gently rested against hers. He took a few deep breaths of her slightly damp hair as she was at a loss to get away.


    Noticing that he was simply cuddling her, Malene''s tense body rxed as she moved her right arm up and wrapped it around his neck, pulling him in closer while feeling his warmth.


    "I''ve never forgotten you. Or Kennedy... or anyone. I made excuses to stay away because I''m always running from something. That''s not what I want for you. From how I understand it, you all are doing really well right now while I''m just drifting along. I don''t want to be the one who drags you down while I''m just a homeless bum."


    "You''re not worried you will lose us?"


    "Do I even have you?"


    "You do. And you''re not about to lose us either. Maybe it would be different otherwise, after all, we only spent a week together. But that day that you almost died because of me, I knew that I owed my life to you."


    Laz backed away a bit as Malene turned her body a bit, causing her back to rest on his now propped up leg while her legs were draped over his other leg. Had they been standing up, it would have looked like he was princes carrying her.


    "Ever since we separated, I''ve been swept up in one thing after another until I ended up finding Kennedy again. She''s already made a ce for us and takes care of us and we are all doing really well. Even then, I''ve encountered dozens of guys who would were like leeches, hanging around every minute of the day just trying to get close. But every time Ipare them to you, I can''t help but despise them. They are nothing but rich little bastards who have had everything handed to them since day one. Compared to them, you have been fighting with your own strength this entire time. And you didn''t hesitate to almost give up your life for me. Maybe it was because we were young or maybe just because you''ve already marked me, but I''m already at the point where I can''t forget you even if I wanted to. Women are emotional creatures so don''t try to understand it. Just ept it, ok?"


    Laz nodded his head, this time with an honest face. Maybe he still didn''t understand what kind of an impact he had in her life, but he knew that based on her words, she wasn''t going to leave him.


    After a few minutes of cuddling, they couldn''t help but look around the destroyed room andugh at the mess. Laz was nervouslyughing as though worried that Freya would get pissed while Malene was just amused by how violent they had been. Knowing that they both had things to do still, Malene got out of Laz''s embrace and made her way over to her purse while Laz looked to find where his pouch had fallen off. Even if he used the ck mes to destroy his clothing, it would take a lot more than that to damage the pouch. He had never tried to see how strong it actually was since he didn''t want to damage it, but he knew that it could take a beating.


    Just as Laz found his pouch, Malene was already at her purse and started pulling out clothing. Laz watched on in shock as she even pulled out a pair of knee high leather boots.


    "How the hell?... wait..."


    Seeing his confused face, Malene suddenly remember that she had never mentioned it. Just as she was about to exin it to him, Laz ended up bringing out a pair of jeans and a tee shirt from the tiny hip pouch and suddenly she understood as well.


    They couldn''t help butugh at the strangeness of the situation.

 Chapter 248: Finding The Council

    Chapter 248: Finding The Council


    Neither of them said anything as they got dressed. They both respected each other enough not to ask.


    After finally getting dressed, they embraced onest time in a simple hug before looking around the room. Laz had a moment where he felt that maybe he should just burn the entire thing down but decided that since it wasn''t his house, he wouldn''t. Unknown to him, Malene was thinking about doing the same thing since there was broken furniture and body juices all over the ce. She couldn''t help but feel embarrassed thinking about it.


    "What are you off to do now?" Laz asked, feeling like Malene intended to leave.


    "I have to go speak with the other big faction in town. There are quite a few things to be done and never enough time to do it. Normally I would have just called or had someone under me call, but since I knew you were here, I..." Malene''s voice trailed off, but Laz understood. The only reason she was down here was because of him.


    "It seems you''re doing quite well?"


    "Very. You know..."


    "I know. But don''t. I need to keep going at my own pace to do my own things. But I would be there in a second if you needed me." Laz had too many worries for him to stop in one ce for too long. He knew that Malene worked for a big corporation, one in which Ruby, Leona and Kennedy also worked for, but he didn''t understand more than that. Even if they would take him in too, he always had a devil on his shoulder and he wasn''t strong enough to fight her yet. As long as she was around, he would need to keep moving. He felt like she was always watching him and he couldn''t predict what she would do if he suddenly became unmotivated. That was the whole reason she kept him alive.


    "I know. But what about you?" Malene said, smiling.


    "I have to figure out what the hell is going on with the chosen in this town. That''s what I was asking Freya about. But she declined to help. I understand her reasoning in needing to protect those she is watching out for. But it doesn''t change that it needs to be done." Laz said.


    "The girls here are all known by the members of that church of the chosen. Even the members of the Vodun are known thanks to the many fights that have erupted between them. If any of them were seen hanging around, the church would recognize them right away."


    "Is that why?"


    "Yeah. Since we have dealings with both groups, we have been keeping tabs on things. It''s not just this city either. There are tons of these kinds of conflicts everywhere. And the people behind the chosen are in close with the government. The only reason the government hasn''t taken more drastic action it because the normal people aren''t behind killing off their fellow countrymen just yet. But I feel like that day ising soon. Right now they operate in the dark, taking infected who are never seen again. But that can onlyst so long..." Malene said a bit tearful.


    Malene was quite a bit more knowledgeable than Laz about these things since they all tied in to Kennedy''spany. This helped Laz understand that although he was looking at things from the small perspective, there were much bigger things going on.


    Laz could only sigh at his bad luck. He felt like maybe he should quit his job and pursue this by himself. But that would just blow the little bit of cover he had. Thest thing he wanted was to be on the government''s radar again.


    "But there is a third group here, although they are pretty weak and divided over all."


    "You''re talking about the council?"


    "Due to their weakness and constant infighting, we have chosen to not work with them. But that doesn''t mean that can''t be of use. All you need to do is find a way to unite them," Malene told Laz with a bit of a wicked smile.


    "And how do I do that?"


    "How else? With strength. You need to stop looking at things from the modern perspective and start thinking like a warlord. You want people to do your bidding? You just need to conquer them first."


    "Oh? Is that how I deal with you as well?" Laz said, pulling Malene close.


    It was like a lightbulb had gone off in his head, but that didn''t stop him from taking advantage of her..


    "If you think you can, you''re wee to try..." Malene''s multi-colored energy lit up around her while Laz was holding her close, threatening to throw him off from her if he tried something. Laz had forgotten how he had just helped to make her quite a bit stronger than before and could only p himself silently.


    Seeing the look on his face was enough to make Malene burst out into bell likeughter as she grabbed his cor and gave him a kiss before pushing him away.


    "Come see me in three days at the hotel. You have until then to get results with the council. If not, I won''t bother opening the door no matter how long you stand there. Got it?" Malene said with the air of a leader.


    "Yes mam!" Laz answered, half honestly and half sarcastically.


    Outside the room, Freya was still waiting with the four girls as the white barrier came down and the door opened. Malene and Laz would never know that they had been locked inside and that was the reason they remained undisturbed.


    "Umm..." Laz had no idea what to say.


    "It''s fine. We will take care of it. The goddess has told us that you needed some time alone and that was why we didn''t disturb you," Freya said, cutting him off from saying anything else. She really had no idea what had been going on as the sounds, despite being muffled, were pretty clear. After all, there was no way that anyone could be that violent having sex... right?


    Laz didn''t say anything else and Malene had a poker face on, one that basically said ''I will never say a word about this, ever."


    Although Laz didn''t notice at first, mostly because he was still absentminded about destroying the room, Malene quickly picked up on the fact that the four girls in front of her had all broken into the foundation realm. She even noticed that Freya seemed stronger than before albeit not amazingly so. Compared to her breakthroughs, these could hardy be considered a lot.


    "Congrattions," Malene said, looking at the four girls.


    "Thank you mam," They responded in unison.


    Laz finally noticed and couldn''t help but smile. He knew that he had sent the energy their way, but he didn''t know it would have such an profound affect. He was about to smile when he noticed the strange look he was getting from Malene and decided to keep quiet about it.


    "Alright. I must be off. I will be in town for three more days before I leave again. I will visit you once more before then. I trust that everything will be in order." Malene had gone all business like, causing Freya to tense up and nod.


    Malene then left without anything more than a smile to Laz, causing him to wonder if he shouldn''t had used the left over energy the way he had.


    When she was gone though, he was greeted by the almost fanatical gazes of the girls through their masks. Even Freya was eyeing him with desire.


    "Well. I have to get going to. I will stop in again soon."


    With that, Laz started to run the same way Malene had went, leaving the five girls speechless.


    "I thought we would be able to thank him at least.


    "He left faster than I thought."


    "Do you think he knows what he did?"


    "I think he knows, but notpletely."


    "We should thank him."


    "Yes. We also need to get more help from him." Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=12217418205098505)/finding-the-council_%!d(string=51640488901539101)">#%!d(string=12217418205098505)/finding-the-council_%!d(string=51640488901539101) for visiting.


    "We need to be around him more."


    "And remember to share if there is the chance."


    "ENOUGH. IT GIVES ME SUCH A HEADACHE WHEN YOU TALK LIKE THIS." Freya couldn''t help but lose it. These girls were normally mute which she wished they weren''t. But when they started talking like this, it was almost like hearing one person have an internal monologueing from four different speakers. It was enough to drive her insane.


    "Yes mistress," all four responded.


    "Whatever. Just go do your own thing. I will call you when I need you." Freya stomped off with a headache.


    They could just do whatever as she trusted them for that. She didn''t need to keep a constant eye on them even if she was the leader.


    ...


    Laz was just walking around without a destination in mind. He was thinking about what Malene had suggested. If he needed muscle to do something, then he should just beat it up until it agreed to work with him. No one who was infected was going to go to the police unless their head was screwed on funny.


    Looking up at a bank clock, Laz noticed the date and time. He didn''t know that it was almost eleven at night. Apparently, his ''fight'' with Malene hadsted several hours. Looking at the date, Laz also noticed that based on information he had gotten from Julia, the council was meeting tonight. Although at this point it was probably almost over, Laz figured that if he could find the ce, he should at least see what was happening there.


    Laz only had a rough idea since Julia only talked about it in passing. Prior to getting the idea form Malene, he had no intentions of meeting with the council since they seemed like a bunch of useless animals. Still, he remembered a street name and the fact that she mentioned they met in a hotel conference room.


    Laz made his way over quickly, wanting to get whatever info he could.


    The street itself was designed for tourism as it was just one hotel after another after another, each one different but not so much so that you could really tell them apart.


    ''Lacks local vor,'' Laz though to himself before spreading his spiritual sense outward. Not surprisingly, there was apleteck of any traces if infected in the area. Laz wasn''t discouraged and continued looking. Even if everyone was hiding their aura''s or wearing the beads, it wouldn''t block everything out, especially from his senses.


    It didn''t take long for Laz to find traces of arge group, including Julia''s aura. But when Laz finally came upon the building, he couldn''t help but look around in doubt.


    A big neon sign of a girl pole dancing hung above the red leather covered doors as several bouncers were standing outside, telling the asional drunk passerby that the club was closed for a private party.


    ''This is obviously a strip club! Why the hell did she tell me that they had been meeting in a hotel conference room..."


    After a few minutes of looking around to make sure, Laz knew that the people he was looking for were inside.


    Laz couldn''t help but sigh to himself as he approached the guarded door.


    ''Nothing can be normal, can it?''

 Chapter 249: Handshake?

    Chapter 249: Handshake?


    Freya was standing at the door to the room, looking around it in shock.


    The room waspletely destroyed.


    ''Why the hell did they have to fight in my office for fuck''s sake???'' Freya asked herself more than once. A few of her attendants hade over when she called after the horsemen left, intending on helping her clean up. Once benefit to being in charge was that you could always use other people to do the jobs you didn''t want to do.


    But this was beyond what she had expected.


    This was a nightmare.


    The worst part was the strange smell that permeated the room.


    Even the girls she had brought over from the cleaning staff couldn''t help but stand there, shocked and wide eyed.


    "Uhh... Mistress?" One of them finally asked.


    "Just... do whatever you can. It''s fine. I was thinking of redecorating anyway so clear out anything that can''t be saved..." What bullshit response was that? Thinking of redecorating. She loved her office the way it was. It wasfortable and something she took pride in.


    But now ity in pieces all over the ce. Even her prized, hardwood desk looked like it was cleaved in two.


    While the girls got to work, Freya pulled out her phone to contact a person she knew who could get new stuff for her. She then heard something weird.


    "Is this blood?" One of the girls asked while cleaning up an area around the couch.


    The girls had a strong attraction to blood, being her ''children.'' So when one of them thought they found some, the rest gathered around. With their mistress in the room, they wouldn''t try something funny like icking it, but that didn''t stop them all from taking strong sniffs of it.


    Oddly, Freya had a bad feeling.


    "Wait... WIPE THAT AWAY RIGHT NOW!!!!"


    "UH... I feel funny..."


    "Me too..."


    "I feel... so hot inside."


    "I feel like I might leak..."


    The goddess had warned her not to let anyone weake into contact with Laz''s blood. In fact, without her say so, Freya was warned to avoid it too. When she hade into contact with the blood mist from before, it was even less of an amount than the tiny drop the servant girl had found. And besides that, Laz''s blood mist had been refined by his ck me, allowing it to possess the strength with none of the ''other'' side effects.


    But this drop had no such refinement..


    As Freya watched on, the little bit of blood dissolved after having been disturbed and disappeared. Now, all that was left was the four servant girls with strange looks on their faces, flushed cheeks and twitching legs. Even Freya was feeling hot herself, but with her strength, she was able to control it. The four girls who were just in thete stage of the awakening realm wouldn''t be able to hang on.


    Thinking quickly, Freya ran to the door.


    "Girls, I''m really sorry about this. But I won''t be able to let you out until the blows over. There are some toys in the cab over there. That''s all I can do... good luck."


    Freya ran out the door and locked it before sliding down to the floor with her back against the door.


    Right as she was about to close it, she noticed the girls had started to jump after her.


    She could only wait and hold her breath, not sure what was going to happen.


    Her answer came quickly as the sound of exotic moans and screams of ''harder mommy'' and ''me too... do me too'' came flying out from the closed off room.


    Freya could only thank her luck that she got out of there when she did while cursing to cut off Laz''s dick if she got the chance.


    ...


    Seeing the guards, Laz noticed that they were actually infected wearing bracelets of red jade beads. For Laz, even the beads couldn''t hide the energy fluctuations anymore. Although it kept the power from acting like a beacon, it didn''t mean that it could fully restrict it. It was simple for Laz to see through it.


    As Laz approached the door, the tall, muscr guards couldn''t help butugh. La really looked like some poor kid who was looking for a good time. Normally, that wouldn''t be an issue. But tonight it was.


    "Scram kid. We''re closed." Thergest one said.


    Laz was thinking about responding, but decided he didn''t want to have to deal with this shit any longer than necessary. So as opposed to exining himself, Laz just kept walking as though he didn''t see the men blocking the way.


    Seeing the young man disregard them, the bouncers weren''t angry as this wasn''t the first time it happened. Instead, they just stood there like a meat wall, intent on not letting Laz through. They were going to make it a simple contest of strength, one that the young man in front of them couldn''tpete with.


    Just as Laz reached the big man who stood there without the intention of moving, Laz finally looked up, straight into the man''s eyes. The man who was previouslyughing, suddenly froze, his face filled with terror. He could help but step back and to the side, no longer wanting to block Laz''s way. Laz didn''t say anything and just walked forward, opening the door for himself and stepping inside.


    "YO!"


    "DUDE?"


    "What the hell was that? He some long lost, abandoned sperm of yours or something?"


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP, ALL OF YOU." The big man turned to look, but Laz had already disappeared inside and therefore didn''t hear them. Noticing this, the man took a slow, deep breathe.


    "Dude..?"


    "I don''t know. I don''t know what kind of monster just walked in. But if you hear screaming or anythingter, don''t move a god damn muscle. We just stayin here and not letting anyone else in, got it?"


    Although the guys were confused, they nodded their heads. Of all the guards at the door, this one big man was the strongest. And if he was this scared, there must be a reason.


    More than a few of the others wanted to run, but seeing the big man just stand there and not move, they followed suit.


    As for Laz, he had simply used his eyes to convey his thoughts. Perhaps it doesn''t sound too scary, but when the eyes of the person in front of you suddenly turn blood red and the rest of your vision is clouded in red, it really makes it seem like you are looking at a demon. Since Laz knew this, there was no need for him to exert any more effort physically.


    The result was better than he expected. Actually, he had expected that he would have to say a few words like ''I''m one of you,'' or "I was invited.'' But as it turned out, just his gaze was enough to scare the other man enough to almost piss himself. What Laz didn''t know since there wasn''t a guidebook for all of this was that his spiritual power had strengthened thanks to his ''activities'' with Malene. Her strength was different than his after all. She was strong in the spiritual sense while most of his strength came from his body and bloodline. So after doing the nasty... several times... she had benefited from his energy and blood.


    On the other hand, his spiritual power had gone through an awakening thanks to interacting with hers. The problem for him was that it was far more of a subtle change, hence why he failed to notice it.


    Laz had made an entrance, but it didn''t matter as the club was darkly lit with barely dressed girls walking around. No one was in the mood to look at one more guy walking around.


    Laz noticed that there were dozens of guys gathered around the stage, watching three beautiful women dancing while removing the few bits of clothing they were wearing while being apanied by other girls who were sitting on their aps, pouring their drinks andughing while yfully interacting with the guys and each other.


    ''Honestly? This? Come on...'' Laz could feel that every guy in the ce was an infected. There were also several women who were infected as well, it was just a bit harder to tell.


    While the girls dancing and apanying the guys were all normal, there were also several women who were mixed in, also having normal girls sitting on their aps and flirting with them.


    While looking around some more, Laz noticed that outside of the spot lights, there were several tables pushed away from the center in which sat other groups of people. These people all had different looks on their faces, some of envy, some of ust, and some just looked down right pissed. Among these groups of outsiders, Laz noticed Julia sitting at a table with two other girls and three guys.


    One of the guys who looked totally out of ce in the group, sat especially close to Julia while the others were just randomly scattered around. Even though they all had drinks, except for the one sitting next to Julia, the rest seemed to belong to the people who were pissed.


    Seeing this, Laz started to get an idea of what was going on.


    Without thinking about it, Laz grabbed a random drink off a tray that was passing by without the waitress noticing and walked to Julia''s table.


    Just as they noticed Laz approached, he was already there and sat in the free seat between the two other guys and girls.


    While everyone else looked shocked, Julia had a pleasant, surprised look on her face.


    "Laz?"


    "Of course. You did say I coulde right?" Laz replied, taking a sip of the drink her just stole.


    ''Jack and coke hmm?'' He thought to himself.


    "I didn''t expect you to show up so soon."


    "And who is this?" The guy sitting next to Julia seemed angry at her bing pleased that another man had shown up.


    "A friend of mine. Laz, this is Greg, Greg, Laz."


    "Oh? A friend huh?" Greg reached his hand across the table to shake Laz''s hand but Laz didn''t return the gesture, instead looking at Greg with a rather strange look.


    "Seems your friend doesn''t have any manners?" Greg said, reaching for his drink instead as though he didn''t care that Laz refused his gesture.


    "I just have no desire to shake hands with a man who had been touching himself when I walked over," Laz said with a smile.


    His words caused Greg who had been taking a sip to suddenly spit his drink out onto his shirt while the others at the table couldn''t help but look at him funny. Julia even went to far as tough, thinking that Laz had made a joke of some sort.


    "WHY YOU LITTLE..."


    "Easy there old man. It''s not my fault I have better night vision than most and saw you choking yourself under the table. I would put that little thing back in your pants if I were you. You''re not going to impress anyone with it hanging out like that..." Laz said, taking another drink.


    He was able to notice what Greg was doing as soon as he spotted Julia''s group. He wasn''t the only one either. Most of the ust filled guys sitting in the outer area had decided that they would ''enjoy'' themselves while no one could see them.


    Julia and the others at the table finally understood that Laz wasn''t joking. They suddenly slid their seats farther away from the pervert in an effort to distance themselves. Even Julia slid away from him seeing the reaction of shame he had on his face.


    "You... ALL OF YOU. FINE. FINE. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES THEN..." After messing with his pants, Greg suddenly stormed off, leaving Julia''s group with disgusted looks on their faces.


    "Finally."


    "Boss, I told you he was a piece of shit."


    "Seriously."


    "Gah... I even let him kiss my hand earlier when he tried to..."


    Everyone at the table seemed to have their ownints about Greg who had just taken off. Julia was the only one who had a somewhat worried look on her face as she watched him depart.


    "What''s the problem?" Laz asked, seeing her concern.


    "He was a foundation realm that we were friendly with. With him backing us, at least we ranked somewhere in the middle of the food chain. But now that he''s gone, we are a weak power at most. And I understand his character. He''s going to make trouble for us without a doubt." Julia said, turning to look at Laz.


    "No worries since I am here. Speaking of that, why are we here anyway? I thought you said you met in a hotel conference room?" Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#%!d(string=12217418205098505)/handshake_%!d(string=51703382808787610)">#%!d(string=12217418205098505)/handshake_%!d(string=51703382808787610) for visiting.


    Hearing this, the group''s mood seemed to drop all at once while Julia cleared her throat a little.


    "Sigh... It''s like this..."

 Chapter 250: Reorganize

    Chapter 250: Reorganize


    "When we went to meet at the conference room, some of the stronger members and their parties were standing in a group and calling over other members. As soon as the meeting was suppose to start, the current lead group told everyone that we would be taking a walk and here we are..." Julia''s exnation was simple enough, but Laz felt like there were things missing from it. Not that she was hiding anything. More like, she wasn''t qualified to know.


    Even now, looking around the room, Laz noticed that the strongest groups were in the center of the room and seemly involved in a rather heated conversation. The strangest part was that they kept looking around the room at the tables of people seated outside of the main area.


    Laz got the weird impression that they were arguing over the smaller groups and he couldn''t help but frown.


    Laz then looked to Julia and to the other people around the table.


    "So this is the Trainer''s guild? I''ve been meaning to ask... how and why did youe up with that name?" Laz said, looking around a the group of people. He didn''t know any of them besides Julia, but he didn''t let that dampen his spirit. Laz had a strange feeling being part of a group that he wasn''t even a part of.


    One of the two women at the table besides Julia cleared her throat.


    "It''s because boss says we always need to train."


    "Uh...? That''s it?" Laz looked over at Julia to see her face be a little red.


    "Ha haha. Told you boss it was weird when you thought about it," One of the two guysmented. The two guys strangely looked like twins with curly brown hair and droopy eyes. They didn''t look sad or mean, instead, Laz got the feeling that they were always thinking and focusing. It was slightly unsettling, but it didn''t seem offensive in any way.


    As for the two girls, they seemed.... strangely normal and unassuming. One had sses and long, dirty blonde hair while the other had long brown hair. If Laz had to say one thing about this group, it was that they were abnormally normal.


    "Well, I never put much thought into it. We just... all kind of found each other one day and started spending time together. You know how hard it is to find people you can trust right? Well, I trust everyone here and they trust me. And since we all want to survive, we needed to learn how to fight and survive. Hence, I just called us the training guild since that''s all we do..." Julia seemed to think that might be looking down on her four friends. After all, Julia was a very attractive person. So she stood out even more while sitting with these people.


    Not that Laz was hating on anyone. It was more like... from what he had seen of the world, people usually found themselves in groups with simr people.


    But this group?


    Laz couldn''t help but be a little interested.


    "Training is a good thing. But youck real experience," Laz said, looking at Julia.


    After saying that, Laz could feel the other members of her guild giving him angry stares. Laz wasn''t surprised as he had just insulted their leader.


    But he didn''t care.


    It seemed like Julia hadn''t told them about him or else they would understand where he wasing from. Julia was pretty aplished in terms of movements and fighting ability. He could tell she had trained in martial arts from a young age. This was in stark difference to Laz who had only started a few years ago.


    But the difference between them was shattered when ever Laz decided to get serious. When he was just practicing movements, punches, throws, palms, kicks and normal types of attacks, he wasn''t Julia''s match at all. When they fought with Laz not using any strength, Julia would beat him in techniques without question.


    The difference came when he either started using his inner strength or when he decided to let out a bit of the bloodlust he possessed. When he did that, Julia would normally freeze up and be rendered useless. After noticing that this was a w for her, Laz made sure to keep the level of bloodlust or killing intent that he leaked low to help her get used to it. But even then, she was barely able to resist.


    Laz couldn''t help but me this on a peaceful society..


    Still though, since he was talking to Julia and was her friend, they didn''t say anything.


    "I know. But what can I do? It''s not like I can go around and kill people."


    "It''s not that you can''t, it''s that you don''t want to," Laz reminded her.


    "You''re serious?" She asked, seeing the look in his eye.


    "Quite. There are plenty of people walking around these days that have been granted their lives at the expense of other people''s lives. You just need to know where to look. And also, aren''t there members of that freaky church sometimes walking the streets? Why not off a few of them?" Laz was being serious but also sarcastic at the same time. He didn''t want her to just kill random people. But that didn''t mean she should avoid fighting so much.


    All of them seemed to avoid fighting so much that Laz could only question how they reached their current levels. Sparing was great, but sparing was simple, non threateningbat. It would never rece the real thing.


    Laz was unaware of how much his viewpoint had changed thanks to his experiences. In terms of modern society, he was the one with the weird ideas and the thinking of Julia and her guild were far more normal.


    But there was a price to pay and that price is weakness.


    The minute they fought someone who honestly didn''t care about their lives was the day that they would leave this world.


    "Things are still far too peaceful..." Laz said out loud but to himself.


    Looking at the faces of Julia''s guild group, he could see that they weren''t convinced. That was fine though. Actions always spoke louder than words.


    "So tell me. Who is the strongest person here?" Laz asked, already knowing the answer based on his spiritual sense.


    "Julia..."


    "Boss?"


    "I meant, in the entire room." Laz didn''t think they would limit it to their group.


    Julia was the first one to answer.


    "See that guy talking to Greg right now? His name is Damien. Out of everyone here, he wasn''t the first to enter the foundation realm, but after a few spars, both public and private, he is the one that people say is the strongest. If it wasn''t for the fact that there are at least eight others who are also in the foundation realm, then he would be the leader without question. But no matter how strong he is, he can''t beat everyone else."


    "Ah, makes sense." Laz was actually a bit confused. From his inspection, although Damien seemed to be strong, he was, at most, the second strongest. It was actually one of the females sitting in the main group that had a stronger signature. Not only that, the others would sometimes look at her like they were slightly fearful of her, including Damien.


    "Who is that woman next to Damien by the way? His girlfriend?" Laz asked, changing the subject.


    "Remi?" The shorter girl asked, following Laz''s line of sight.


    "Remi? Oh. Yeah. Her. No, she is just one of the foundation realm members who hangs around all of them. Since they respect her strength, she is basically by herself. But even then, the group seems to keep her close." Julia said after seeing who Laz was asking about.


    ''There is so much power struggling going on here... no wonder their is no unity. Still, from the looks of things, Remi seems to now be in charge...''


    Laz took a drink and smiled. He had a understanding now, thinking about the fact that the council now had a leader. Once a leader was selected, rewards would be given to strengthen bonds. And from the looks of things, these weaker groups were about to be used as rewards.


    "Alright. CUT THE MUSIC." Damien stood up and yelled, causing the DJ to cut the music.


    "I''m sure all of you are wondering why we gathered here tonight. Well, it''s to announce a new unity within the council. We have decided that it''s getting too dangerous to keep going the way we are and now is the time to unite. With the church growing stronger, people missing off the streets and those bitches along with the Vodun not doing a damn thing, we are forced to make some changes to protect ourselves. Therefore, from this point on, we are going to be drafting members from the smaller and weaker groups into therger groups. AS of tonight, you will all have assigned leaders who''s orders you will be expected to follow without question or risk being targeted by the entire council!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK?"


    "ARE YOU KIDDING?"


    "THIS ISN''T WHAT WE CAME HERE FOR."


    "WE ARE SUPPOSE TO WORK TOGETHER!"


    Obviously the various groups shouted out their anger at this. They had joined the council to provide protection to themselves and their parties. That didn''t mean they wanted to be treated like solders to be moved around at will. And listen without question? What the hell did that mean?


    "NOW NOW. I understand some of you may be hesitant to ept this and we will allow you all the chance to leave right now," Damien said with a smile. Causing some of the shouting to die down. More than one group of people started getting up from their tables, intent on leaving.


    Julia made no move however, her expression as dark as night.


    "Of course, if you were to leave now, there is no telling what might happen to you in the future. Remember that all of you came here with the fear that the government was going to take you away. Or that you would be hunted down by members of the church. That was the reason you originally came here, correct? What happens when you no longer have the protection of the group? You should really think this through," Damien said with a serious yet caring face.


    It was a threat, in and simple. They weren''t going to let anyone leave.

 Chapter 251: Different Kind Of Crazy

    Chapter 251: Different Kind Of Crazy


    Laz looked on in interest, hearing what was happening. He had seen this kind of thing in movies before, but to actually watch it y out in front of him was a new experience. After hearing something like that, Laz would expect that people would get angry.


    People didn''t let him down.


    "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?"


    "YOU GOING TO SELL US OUT?"


    "THIS ISN''T WHAT WE SIGNED UP FOR..."


    The shouts came back from everywhere and just when the other members at Laz''s table were about to yell out, Julia got their attention and made them stop. Laz could tell by her face that she was pissed, but she was still keeping control of herself. He couldn''t help but give her a nod of approval about this. Standing out right now was almost asking to be made an example out of and although it hurt, sometimes you had to take the hit for the people you cared about.


    That was Julia''s mindset at the moment. Get through this and figure out something after, even if it meant leaving town. Her entire guild''s lives were at stack and she couldn''t afford to act rashly.


    At least, this was Laz''s guess. In truth, he was mostly right, but there was one thing he hadn''t thought of. She was waiting to see what he would do.


    Julia didn''t know how strong Laz was or what his ns were, but just the fact that he could call over one of the famous four horsemen was enough to show that he had something going for him. As far as Julia was concerned, even if the four girls weren''t as strong as a foundation realm infected, they would still be able to kill one due to their ability. So the fact that he could get that kind of help spoke loads about his own ability.


    Even if he did nothing, she thought that he would at least help her and her friends to leave safely.


    "Now now everyone. Please try to understand. We are doing this for your own good! Every party, group, guild or whatever you want to call yourselves needs to have a strong leader in the event of a crisis. We can''t always be there to watch your backs when we aren''t working together. So although you all may feel a bit put off by this, the fact is that it is for your own good and protection." Although Damien was speaking with more than a hint of arrogance, what he said did ring true for many of the groups present. In the event of a raid or attack, how would they protect themselves? It wasn''t like they were closely linked with each other outside of the council meetings. Although such things hadn''t really happened in the past, everyone present knew that the world was changing each day. Who was to say that it couldn''t happen?


    Fear was ever a potent motivation.


    So despite the tone used and the obvious favoritism, it was kind of hard for the weaker groups to continue their protests when faced with logic.


    As Laz looked at Julia, he saw that her face was just as agitated as before. She was obviously not buying a word that was being said.


    "Now then. Before we begin moving to the next phase of the night, there is a small problem that has popped up. I believe everyone here knows our good friend Greg. As it turns out, Greg has discovered that an outsider has snuck his way in here." With this, Damien pointed his finger over to Julia''s table and as though it was set up ahead of time, a spot light that would normally be pointed at the stage suddenlynded on Laz, bring the entire rooms attention to him.


    ''Ho, ho.... now this is getting fun....'' Laz wasn''t the least bit disturbed. He had the rather funny idea that he knew where this was going.


    "You there." Damien shouted out.


    Laz, looking innocent, pointed to himself in an exaggerated manner before turning to look around him. He then turned back towards Damien and pointed to himself again as though he was confused.


    While acting, the rest of the table had backed up a bit to be out of the spot light, but seeing Laz act this way, they couldn''t help butugh.


    "You. I have never seen you before. With what intentions did you sneak in here with? And who do you work for?" Damien started acting as though he was in charge and was picking out a criminal in the crowd.


    Laz couldn''t help but y along..


    "Uh. Hello. I work for the crab shack as a bus boy. You know, cleaning tables, mopping the floor. Doing dishes sometimes as well. asionally taking out the trash. Sometimes I get to keep a portion of the tips left behind too, you know. When the servers are feeling generous. Uh.. let''s see..."


    "ENOUGH. I DON''T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT. WHY THE HELL DID YOU SNEAK IN HERE?" There was more that one person who wasughing at Laz''s ramblings, especially thedies. Laz was rather handsome after all, even if he was poor. Damien could tell he was being made fun of.


    "Oh? That. Well... to be honest with you, sometimes a man gets a little lonely at night and uh... well... porn just doesn''t always do it for you, you know my brother? At times a guy needs a bit of warmth andfort? So yeah, I just figured that a strip club was the right ce to go for that. Spend a few bucks, have a few drinks. Maybe get a ap dance or two? Helps a man feel alive..."


    "Are you fucking with me right now?" Damien was no longer yelling. In fact, his voice had gone amazing cold at the moment.


    "Course not. Why else would a hot blooded young mane to a ce like this? For the food? That''s the real bullshit if you know what I mean. Who goes to a strip club for the food? Nah bro. I figured I could spend some money and have a beautiful woman apany me for the night... You know? Like that one sitting next to you who keeps doing shots off the other girls boobs. Yeah, her..."


    As Laz pointed at Remi, much to the stupefied amazement of the foundational realms sitting in the middle of the room, Damien''s face seemed to freeze for a second before he rxed. He finally felt like this guy that Greg wanted to kill was just an idiot.


    ''Of all the people in here, you decided to go provoke her. Maybe no one else in here knows who''s in charge now, but we do. And you just pointed her out as though she was a call girl. Have a good journey to the other side my idiot friend.''


    Damien was going to use Laz to establish his dominance, but now there was no need to.


    "Who? Me?" Remi seemed to not understand what had happened at first as she looked over at Laz who was looking back at her. She hadn''t been paying attention in the slightest. Instead, she turned back to the topless girl on her ap with a questioning gaze.


    "He seems to think you''re one of us miss," The girl replied whileughing, thinking that the girl she was sitting on was joking around.


    Sadly for her, Remi didn''t have that sense of humor.


    As she understood what was going on, she quickly stood up, causing the girl in her ap to drop on the floor and shatter the ss that was in her hands when she tried to catch herself. The girl let out a loud scream as the ss shards prated her hand and caused her to bleed. Just as she was about to get up and run into the back while screaming, Remi kicked the girl hard in the stomach, causing her to fly out from the center of the room and crash into an unupied table.


    She no longer made a sound.


    "You were talking to me?" Remi said, walking towards Laz''s table with a surprised look on her face.


    "You all might want to back away," Laz said quietly as he took a sip.


    With a slight gesture from Julia, everyone got their drinks and got up, moving away from the spot lit table.


    As Remi made her way over while pointing at herself and looking at Laz like she wanted to kill him, Laz just leaned back in his chair and took a drink. Although he was a bit surprised that she was already mid stage of the foundation realm, a bit higher than he expected, he wasn''t worried. Although he didn''t know how she cultivated, he could tell that she was currently like an empty water bottle. There was almost no weight to her power.


    Laz, on the other hand, was like a gushing fountain of energy, able to overflow at anytime despite his recent breakthrough. It all came down to the strength of the foundation set up and the amount of time you used to build it. Rushing was never the right way, in life or in cultivation.


    Remi got to the table, reached down with one hand and despite her small figure and frame, she sent the table flying off towards the wall, making it explode in a shower of splinters. It was everyone else''s luck that they hadn''t been sitting over at that one spot. Or maybe it was intentional?


    "So you want this Remi to spend the night with you? Comforting you? Laughing like a little sut at all of your stupid jokes while you grab all of Remi''s most sensitive areas? Is that what you want little boy?" Remi put a foot up on the chair next to Laz, taking on a very gangster like position like one would see in a movie.


    Laz finally felt something from this strange young woman.


    ''She''s fucking nuts...''


    "Actually... you know what? I changed my mind. Maybe it''s better if I find someone... a little more down to earth?"


    ''Any man dumb enough to sleep with you would wake up without a dick the next day...''


    Laz felt like he brought a head ache to himself by trying to act like a jackass.


    "OH? SO NOW REMI ISN''T GOOD ENOUGH?"


    ''Oh fuck me and my fucking mouth...''


    "Nevermind. I''m not going to waste my time..."


    "SO REMI IS A WASTE OF TIME NOW???"


    Laz wasn''t sure what it was that had actually set her off, but as soon as she finished asking herst question, this crazy girl named Remiunched an attack at Laz, bring her fist down in a chopping motion. Laz was confused at first since she was too far away to reach him, but then had a bad feeling.


    A de of light spiraled out of her hand, hitting the chair that Laz had just jumped out of and slicing it in half along with a portion of the floor.


    "Da hell?" Laz backed off, giving him and her some space.


    Seeing that her attack missed, Remi stood there confused for a second before she turned around without saying a word.


    She walked back to where she had previously been sitting in the center area, grabbed an unattached girl and sat back down with her in her ap. The girl looked frightened as hell, but didn''t dare to make a sound.


    Just as the entire room was silent enough to hear a drop of water hit the ground, Remi''s voice came out again.


    "Kill him..."


    ''WHAT THE IN ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW?''


    Laz''s brain felt fried.

 Chapter 252: Experience

    Chapter 252: Experience


    "Uhh...?"


    "Kill him?"


    It seemed like Remi''s orders had stirred some mixed emotions from the various people gathered. Despite them doing things in the dark and plotting against one another, they had never gone so far as killing each other before. So when Remi''s words came out, there was more than a few people who suddenly became rather frightened.


    "Did I stutter? I asked you to rid us of this person. You''re all not hesitating now, are you? That would be very bad for you..."


    Remi''s voice trailed off while looking over at Laz, almost as though she did even want to bother talking to the people she was ordering around.


    The one with the strangest look on their face right now was Damien. After all, he was suppose to be the leader that she had put in charge. As far as Remi went, she was suppose to just be his support and not interfere with the happenings of the council unless she had something she wanted him to do.


    But now it seemed like she was going to be the one takingmand, at least for the moment.


    For those who didn''t understand what was going on, they were looking at Damien with questioning gazes. For the ones who understood who Remi was, they could only look at each other and sigh.


    Guess things weren''t going to be as simple as they had thought.


    Despite the surprise they felt, the upper level members could only take a deep breath and turn their attention towards Laz who was still trying to make sense of things.


    ''This woman is seriously messed up in the head.'' Seeing everyone turn their sights on him, Laz decided to just put her to the back of his mind for now and face the ones who had turned towards him with ill intent.


    "Come now. Can''t we just talk this over?" Laz asked, looking at the various foundation realm infected who had started drawing their power.


    "Sadly friend, there is nothing to talk about. When thedy speaks, we listen." Damien responded, not really caring about this unfamiliar face. Although Laz had leaked enough of his aura to show he was an infected, it was overall a very weak reveal. Laz had figured it would show he was one of them without scaring anyone. But it seemed like that made them all think he was weak.


    "Laz..." Julia called over from the side, worried.


    "It''s fine. Since it hase to this, I might as well get serious. After all, the n is still the same, it just looks like it''s going to be yed in a more open setting."


    Well, since it hade to this, Laz figured there was no point in hiding.


    Laz circted his energy and blood at full force, no longer hiding his strength. Before a single attack even came his way, the ones who had been moving towards him suddenly felt a strong sense of danger assault their senses. It caused the entire room to take a step back.


    Seeing this, Remi smiled, something that Laz didn''t fail to notice.


    If it had been another time, Laz might had just attacked first and asked questionster. But considering everyone in the room was considered an infected like him and because he didn''t feel any killing intenting from Remi, Laz started to think that maybe he had gotten the wrong opinion.


    ''Why is she... acting like she is watching a show?" Laz failed to understand her real intent.


    Either way, with his aura on full disy, the foundation realms that had been moving towards him backed off and started to group together. Damien especially looked to be in a rather foul mood..


    "I don''t know who you are and even if you are strong, there are far more of us than there are you. It''s best if you leave, right now, before we have to get serious," Damien threatened.


    "I thought I said to kill him?" Remi asked, finally turning her attention towards Damien.


    "Remi, besides you, none of us are a match for him. If we attack him now, even though we will seed in killing him, many of us might die as well, causing us a lot of undue loss. Isn''t it better if he just leaves now and we be rid of him?" Damien replied back respectfully. These were his honest thoughts at the moment as he didn''t want to severely weaken themselves just to chase off one person who happened to wander in.


    "Weaklings. This is the reason Remi said this council in stupid. Just because of one powerful man who steps into our lives, you all want to turn tail and run and not fight? Do you expect to talk and threaten your way out of every situation you get in? Isn''t it better to fight and kill your enemies than to give them time to get strong enough to destroy you?" Remi asked, looking disgusted.


    Strangely, Laz was starting to get some idea of what was going on.


    "Yes, yes. What mistress Remi says is right. We must destroy this bothersome pest before he can bring us any more trouble," Greg said, somewhere off to the side. It was easy to tell that he had been hiding in the back since the beginning and had no intention of fighting Laz first. As far as he was concerned, there were more than enough idiots to act as meat shields for him.


    "I don''t like you and don''t call me mistress. I''m sure you would love nothing more that to be beaten like a dog every day from Remi but Remi refuses to have a dog as ugly as you," Remi said, causing Greg''s face to turn red and green at the same time.


    "Ha. Interesting. I personally agree with the crazy chick over there. You all back away just because you''re scared? That will only get you killed quicker," Laz said, basically supporting them attacking him.


    Laz''s n to use this premade organization would be useless if the members didn''t have the slightest balls to work with.


    "See that? Even he is mocking you. Come on boys. Tuck in those useless ball sacks of yours and show him what you''re made of. Otherwise the girls here are going to think that your all talk and no dick. And you don''t want that do you?" Remi again provoked them, causing the girls who had been left alone tough, even though they covered it up quickly.


    They had been listening to these guys for a while now bragging about this and that so much their ears hurt. Now that Remi made fun of the guys, the girls couldn''t help butugh about it.


    It was one thing to insult a man in general. Guys did it to each other all the time since that''s just how it was. But hearing one rather attractive woman insult their manhood while other womenughed at them, it was enough to hurt their fragile egos.


    Without another word, thirteen butt hurt men charged at Laz in an attempt to prove their worth.


    Laz couldn''t stop smiling.


    :Remember when I said you needed more practical training? Well, make sure you and all the other members of your guild pay attention.: Laz sent this thought to Julia, knowing that she would hear him. One of the reason he never used this way to talk to other infected normally was because it was hard for a weaker person to block out the spiritual voice of a stronger one. Even if you were stronger, it wasn''t like you could totally block out the voiceing from someone else. Therefore, using spiritual sense to convey a message was like the equivalent of yelling in someone''s ear when they weren''t expecting it. Even if the voice was soft, if you couldn''t block it out, it might as well be shouting.


    Hearing Laz talk to her this way, Julia, who had been very nervous, rxed.


    The men scrambled over, knocking over tables and chairs in an effort to prove themselves. Their energies covered their bodies as though each man was equipping a suit of armor. Seeing this, Lazughed. It was a total waste to just have energy surging out of you body with the only practical use of it was that it made you look cool.


    Not that Laz hadn''t done it in the past, but still.


    Either way, the men were using their ''energy armor'' in an effort to distort Laz''s aura so that they could get close to him. With all of them acting in sync, they felt that their n would work.


    They were further boosted with confidence when Laz''s aura suddenly disappeared, causing them to charge forward without pause.


    It wasn''t that they had broken it, it was Laz who concealed it.


    Taking back his aura and blocking off his energy, Laz stood facing these men as an almost normal human, the only thing he nned on relying on was his body.


    Bam.


    The first guy reach Laz and tried punching him in the face like an idiot. Laz didn''t even bother to block and stepped forward while kicking out, causing the man to fold like a banana and shoot backwards.


    The second and third to arrive immediately thought to team up. One man with a stronger body went to lunge forward and lock Laz up in a pin while the other went in for the kill. Laz simply grabbed the cor of the one looking to grab him and twisted his body, causing his rush to be diverted into the other man who was attacking from the side, causing them both to go spinning as their heads bashed into each other.


    Laz didn''t even bother waiting for the other nine to attack him as he stepped hard on the ground and shot forward, causing the wooden floor to snap.


    Using nothing more than the most simply of martial arts, Laz punched, kicked, threw, and palmed his way through them.


    In less than ten minutes, all thirteen menid on the ground in various states of pain. The worst ones had broken bones while the lightest injured had just been knocked out.


    ''I could have finished this in less than a minute if I just killed them all...'' Laz thought to himself.


    ''Wait... did I just think that?'' Laz was momentarily distracted by his own violent thoughts. He couldn''t worry about that now though and turned around to face Julia, noticing a twinkle in her eye.


    :It doesn''t matter how much power a person has if they don''t know how to use it,: Laz said, revealing his thoughts to her.


    She understood. Laz hadn''t used any more or any less force than when he normally sparred with her. In fact, it even looked like he had barely tried when it came down to it. Had she been in his ce, she would have been able to do the same.


    That''s what she understood. She knew that these men were stronger than her energy wise which was why she always avoided them. But seeing how they actually fought, she knew that didn''t have a clue how to actually use there energy in their attacks. Had Laz been serious, he could have killed them all within moments.


    Laz then turned her attention back around towards Remi and noticed she was looking at him as well.


    "You are more interesting than I thought. Remi is happy!" The girl stood up, and walked over to Laz, standing right in front of him. It was only know that Laz was able to appreciate that this young woman was rather cute in her own way. Her hair was almost like a snow white while he wore high rimmed, red sses. Although her body didn''t scream sexy, she was decently developed in all the right areas and gave off a rather aloof but dominate personality.


    And apparently she enjoyed referring to herself in the third person.


    "You knew they had no idea how to fight, didn''t you?"


    "Of course. Why do you think Remi took over this little boy group so easily?"


    "That''s the how. What''s the why?"


    "Why? Why did Remi do this? Well... because everyone here makes really good cannon fodder for Remi," she replied back with a smile.


    ''Oh right. Fucking nuts. Why did I ask?''

 Chapter 258: Ramping Up Efforts

    Chapter 258: Ramping Up Efforts


    Laz didn''t have much hope for the council in the first ce. He just needed henchmen to do some information running for him. He wasn''t about to treat them like his own personal army since he already experienced theirck of ability.


    But now, he couldn''t even use them for that since who ever leaked the ones who got arrested were sure to be paying attention to what they did in the mean time.


    Although Laz was disappointed with what went down, he also had questions.


    ''Why did the foundation realm people get ignored?''


    ''Were they ignored or did the person who leaked the information not know who they were?''


    ''Was the who''s who''s not really known?''


    Laz didn''t have answers, but he knew that these questions were probably running through Julia''s head as well and she might be able to provide some answers.


    Of course they wouldn''t talk about it on the job.


    Unknown to Laz, his council wasn''t the only ones impacted by the arrests. Many low level figures in all three organizations were rounded up, with the fewest being Freya''s Vampyres. The reason for this was that they were a rather tight group of girls overall and none of them would betray their sisters. That didn''t mean that there wasn''t one or two who could be convinced, especially the newer members who hadn''t really be sisters yet. The people they met were limited, but that didn''t mean they didn''t know anyone.


    ...


    In the basement of the nameless office building, Tommy was standing there with his arm crossed while dozens of heavily armed guards dragged in sedated infected in cages. Behind him were two young and healthy looking men with silver hair who both stood at respectful attention. Although they were the ones that normally ran the children of god church within the city, the man in front of them was one of the higher ups of their backer. It was only thanks to the funding of the Global Sciences Group that they were able to not only be the main enlightened branch within the city, but also able to take in and support however many enlightened arrived on their doorstep, which wasn''t few.


    In front of Tommy was a what looked to be a door. It looked like on the side were three hinges while on the other side was arge handle, hence why everyone called it a door.


    Interestingly, that''s the only way in which it was simr to a door.


    The door stood by itself in arge, empty cavern that had originally been discovered when the church was looked to make a bunker underneath the office building. Once they discovered it, they reported it right away to Global Sciences who sent down researchers and others to study the door.


    The reason why the door was so interesting was because it looked like a series of clods, sprockets, and gears, all interwoven together into it''s current shape. On top of that, the ''door'' looked more like it was a free standing arch.


    It was a door that lead to nowhere and guarded nothing which was all the more reason they wanted to open it.


    The only problem was with how they were suppose to do that. As far as anyone could tell, the door''s handle was jammed and wouldn''t open. Then, after months of research and a whole lot of luck, they discovered that they could directly fuse energy with the door which would fill up some barely noticeable power banks. Although no one could guarantee that once the door was loaded up on energy, it would open. But it was normal to assume as much.


    Global Sciences had found various different treasures that containedrge amounts of energy, but they didn''t want to waste them on some unknown door.


    "This door... are we sure this is working?" Tommy said as he looked around, noticing the teams at work. One group was bringing over captives and strapping them into the chairs that were ced around the door. The next group was monitoring the captives that sat in the chairs while a needle and tube were ced in their arms, allowing the blood to be slowly drained from their bodies. Then the blood was fueled by pump into certain crevices in the door where it quickly vanished. Once the second group decided the individual no longer had any blood to give, they would call in the third group that would remove the almost bloodless corpses and take them away.


    The entire operation was methodical and frightening in it''s simplicity and effectiveness.


    The two silver haired twins both nodded..


    "We find that the door takes the blood, breaks it down and uses all of the energy inside of it."


    "It then discards the remnants underneath it, hence why we had to have a drainage systems installed."


    "Is that where the smelles from?" Tommy asked while using a cloth to block his nose.


    "Yes. Sadly, no matter how much we irrigate it, the particle remains of the blood is basically..."


    "like a clog that can''t be flushed..."


    "Whatever. As long as we figure out what''s behind this door, that''s all that matters. With the new shipment of tranquillizers and gas canisters, begin taking more of those dirty infected. No one will notice them gone anyway. Besides, we can just cover up their disappearances with arrests. Their blood will help get us the rest of the way quicker. Did they do the calctions?" Tommy asked as he made his way around the door.


    "Yes young master. ording to the current level of energy in the air, the door would open in around a hundred years from now."


    "Of course, that''s just ording to the current calctions. From what your researchers have gathered..."


    "The energy is getting thicker, I''m aware." Tommy didn''t need to be told this. Unlike the infected which drew in the energy and changed their bodies with it, the chosen, like himself, were able to manipte it directly, causing a much more vtile effect.


    This was the true difference between the two of them and also the reason for how the chosen stayed ''pure.''


    "As you say," Both twins replied at once.


    "Still though young master. We must warn you that although quite a few of the dirty infected are lone wolves so to speak,"


    "Quite a few of them have connections with groups and organizations in the area. We might alert them if we grab to many of their members, even the lower level ones."


    "And you think they might cause a problem?" Tommy asked, aware of the situation.


    "The group calling themselves ''the council'' won''t be an issue. They are a loose nit group in the first ce, ying house amongst themselves. And theirbat power is trulycking. But the ones called the Vodun are much more organized although they are still rather separate. The ones we least wish to provoke are the vampyres. They have a very strict hierarchy and will attack back if pushed.


    "It doesn''t matter. If they stick their necks out, we will just have more fuel for the door. Still, since we haven''t gottenplete control of the government yet, we should take it slow. The less that is known about us, the better off we are. Take the ones you can find but ignore the two groups if possible. Still, if you end up plucking a few of them, whatever. They have no idea how much influence we already have and even if we are not yet untouchable, we are getting closer and closer every day."


    "Yes young master."


    "Hmm, this gauge? Almost 75% full right?"


    "Yes young master."


    "Excellent. Soon we shall have an answer."


    "Young master. What do you think is behind this door?" Although they had been meaning to ask for a while, they never had the chance. Now that it seemed like Tommy was in a good mood, they posed the question.


    "Behind this door? Most likely another world."


    "Another world?!?" Neither of them expected this answer as this was the first they had heard about it. Still, Tommy wasn''t going to exin.


    "Just keep it up. When the timees, you will both be wee to join me."


    "Thank you and praise to the young master."


    "Little Piggy?" Tommy suddenly called.


    Turning their heads, the twins looked at what was walking over. Well, crawling over.


    The person was on all fours with a leash around her neck while all of her hair had been shaved off. In fact, there wasn''t a spot of hair on her body. Not only that, on top of her bald head, sown onto the skin, the woman had fuzzy, pink pig ears. And, if one were to look over her, a little curly tail was extending out from behind the bottom of her back, almost at the top of her butt. The next thing the twins noticed was that her legs had been tied from the calf to her tights, meaning that she couldn''t straighten them, no matter what she did.


    "There''s my little piggy. Beautiful, isn''t she?"


    "Yes, quite so young master."


    "Sadly, I had to put myst piggy down when it ran into some traffic while I wasn''t paying attention. This one I just got beforeing down here. I haven''t had time to make the necessary alterations to her yet, but as soon as we get back... She will be perfect."


    "Alterations?" The twins asked, since it looked like Tommy wanted them too.


    "Why yes. Who has ever seen a piggy with such long, grotesque legs before? It''s a pity she was born with that deformity. But since I am a very loving master, I shall do my part to fix her of that problem." Although the ''piggy'' tried to hide it, she shook a little after hearing this. After all, none of her senses had been blocked and even her face was uncovered. Had Laz been here and seen her, he would have recognized her as his former homeroom teacher, Ms Roberts. Although several years had passed, she still looked as young as ever. Not only that, but she also had the fluctuations of a low level, newly awakened infected.


    "What''s this? My piggy doesn''t want to be fixed? Well then, I can give you a choice. You see, we need people to ''donate'' some blood to help open that door over there. If you want, you can feel free to volunteer. If you do that, you will be free of me, forever." Tommy had noticed her shaking as he mentioned his ns.


    Hearing this, Ms. Roberts really, really wanted to just give up and let herself be killed.


    "But remember. If you do that, I will have to find a new piggy. And this time, I should probably raise her from young so that she''s more obedient to me, right? So how about that four year old daughter of yours, hmm? She''s like you, right? Infected? Right now she''s too young and being kept for observation by the research group. But I''m sure I can pull a few strings and get her to be my new piggy, one that I can train and love for a long, long time. Wouldn''t that be nice?"


    Most of the indiviuals in the room right now were either chosen, security or workers and researchers, hired by Global Sciences for the sole purpose of opening that door. Perhaps they had families of their own or close friends or lovers, like all normal people would. But even though Tommy was talking loud enough for everyone to hear him, no one said a word. No one spoke up. In fact, they acted like they hadn''t seen anything and just kept right on going.


    Perhaps Ms. Roberts had some hopes that with so many people around, someone would do something, especially when this monster who used to be a student of hers was threatening her like this. But those dreams were dashed by the silence and indifference.


    The only person who could save her daughter from that fate was her.


    "Oink." Ms. Roberts made a sound while shaking her head. She never once raised her eyes to look at Tommy.


    "Oh? You promise to be obedient from now on?"


    "Oink, Oink," she responded, even shaking her well endowed ass a little so that the tail would move.


    "Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful! See? I knew a old pig could be taught to behave itself," Tommy said,ughing. The twins joined in with him as well, seemingly not minding the situation at all.


    "See this gentlemen? This is how you have to train these animals. Make sure to take notes."


    "Young master is too wise."


    "We have already learned a great deal. I can''t wait to see what the young master shows us next."


    "This world is changing gentlemen. And pretty soon, men like me will be it''s gods. And for those loyal to us, they shall be kings," Tommyughed and he began to walk towards the elevator with the twins following behind him, clearly in a good mood.


    As the elevator door closed, the people kept right on working as if they hadn''t noticed a naked woman being treated like a pig on a walk.


    No one spoke about it.


    No one even looked at the elevator door after it closed.


    Only a select few people looked in the direction of a cken stretch of rock that seemed as though it had been burned and melted. Then, with barely a sigh, they turned back to their work, eager to be done with the day.

 Chapter 259: Abrahams Awake

    Chapter 259: Abraham''s Awake


    After everyone was settled back into their jobs as though nothing had just happened, a strange, almost invisible wave swept through the room, causing the entire area around the cryptic door to suddenly stop. Everyone within the room quite moving, camera''s were frozen in time and even the small,st bits of blooding out from the sacrifices froze in mid air. It resembled a moment in time, captured by a picture. The only thing that was still active was the door itself, as bits of blood continued to circte into and out of it, albeit at a slower pace since everything was frozen.


    Just as this took ce, nine people appeared in the room at the same time. Of the nine, six of them were dressed in an ancient, multicolored armor that seemed to shimmer in the light. The armor appeared like a rainbow had taken physical form,pletely engulfing the six figures who stood a respectful distance away from the other three members of the party.


    As for these three members of the party, two of them were females, dressed in what looked to be a brown, almost ck, form fitted dressed that amazingly appeared both hard and soft at the same time. They both had hair of sparking light blue with pale white skin. The taller of the two woman seemed rather arrogant as she looked around the room at the various people at work, disdain written on her face. The shorter of the two women had already walked over to study the door with the young man who looked like he was taking notes on arge, scroll sized leaf. Compared to the taller woman, the shorter one was far more curvy in the right ces, a stark contrast the to seemingly t and thin taller one.


    Had Laz been here, he would have recognized the shorter woman as his patron, jailer, and asional torturer, A''ruya.


    She was leaning over while touching the door as though trying to get a feel for it for herself. The young man, seeing her actions, couldn''t help but take a few interested looks at her as she bent over and moved in different ways, causing himself to forget to take his own notes.


    "What are you doing?" The taller woman asked, noticing his distraction.


    "Oh. I am... uh, just trying to figure out which gateway this is," the man said, clearly distracted. Much like the two girls, the man had short, blue hair, pale white skin and was wearing a two piece outfit of pants made from the same material as the girls dressed while his shirt seemed to be made from a green fabric that seemed much lighter than his pants. On top of that, he wore a sliver band around his wrist that seemed to be the source of the pen and leaf that he was using to write with.


    "UH... whatever. Get it over with. Sister, why did you decide toe to do this? Even if you discover something, you can''t tell your champions anything about it... or should I say champion. And why do you have only one? You decided to fight for the role of Grand Seer and yet every other candidate has at least five champions they are raising, if not more."


    "I told you before big sister, I''m doing this alone and not with the help of the family. They didn''t want me to participate in this to begin with, leaving the families resources avable for my cousin. So everything that I am doing, I am doing on my own."


    "Then... did you need some money? As a branch member, I might not have much but..."


    "It''s fine. Honestly speaking, none of us really know what we are doing with these creatures to begin with. What''s the point in supporting them when everyone is just running around in the dark."


    "But your child...?"


    "It''s up to him to grow stronger. The best I can do is to support him where I am able to as opposed to trying to direct his growth."


    "The strongest members of some of the other candidates are already at what they call the spirit pce realm. What about yours?"


    "He''s at what they call the mid foundation realm."


    "That seems very weak, isn''t it?" The taller girl asked, full of concern. Maybe when it came to these creatures called humans, she would have negative feelings for them. But to this younger sister of hers, she felt the closeness of family and gratitude of her younger sister being her benefactor.


    "He''s... more than what he seems on the surface. It''s not something we should get into right now."


    "So why did you want toe see this door? There have already been others discovered in various ces and not only that, but realms without doors have popped up as well. Obviously the ones without doors were ones our ancestors allowed toe and go as they pleased, but after the great wars, it seems like even they closed themselves off. Still, it''s only a matter of time before they starting into this world again. It''s not like we are going to be at a loss for visitors soon." The taller girl asked, voicing the questions in her mind.


    "We have a duty to figure out what happened after we took off. Since our family discovered this door, we have to be the ones to investigate it since it''s in our area. And as you know, the sealed doors are a much greater threat than open realms. But what''s more than that, this one might end up being one of the first medium level doors that open thanks to the gods efforts."


    "I still don''t get why we don''t just eliminate these human gods and take over this once and for all. We have the strength to do it since most of thes gods are still sleeping or in a half awakened state."


    "Because, the amount of energy we would expend to do that would be a loss we couldn''t afford. And the gods of this served their purpose back then so there is no reason to believe they will be any different now.".


    "Whatever you say little sister. These things are far toplex for me."


    "That''s alright. Anyway, unless I miss my guess, this is a clockwork realm, is it not?"


    "That is correct princess. We just need to determine which level realm it connects to and we should be able to narrow down which door this is based on the old records." The young man writing notes replied.


    "Hmm.." A''ruya looked closer, trying to remember the old books she read.


    Thinking about it, she waved her hand and several, ancient looking tomes appeared in front of her. She grabbed them one at a time and flipped through the pages before putting them back and shaking her head, obviously not finding what she was looking for.


    Right as she was about to close one of thest few books she grabbed out, her eyes lit up.


    "Ah. Here it is. Clockwork seals. Door strength is dependent on number of energy gauges used to seal door. Strength of realm can be corrted based on wells used to store energy for open. Door with handles at mid realm and below. Anything without handle is considered high level and far too dangerous as testing ground. Possibility of leading to ''dead'' home world. Ok. So... based on the energy storage of this door, it is at a level four so just one step above low level." A''ruya said with certainty.


    "Understood princess. Based upon the old records... got it. Yes. Inside door was once a separate realm used as a testing and processingb. Had been abandoned before our ancestors left the. Danger level is considered low despite the strength of the realm itself."


    "Alright. Mark it down as having been found and distribute the information to all seats that need to know."


    "Right away princess."


    "He should be ok with this. But still, being in another realm, especially a locked realm, it will make it hard for me to know what''s happening with just the standard seal. I need to strengthen the connection somehow. Especially considering how often he ends up out of my reach. And I should figure out exactly how many connections he''s made as well. This human, I''m not sure if he is just horny or if he doesn''t understand what the marking means..." A''ruya whispered to herself so quietly that only she heard. She was obviously thinking about Laz, but only she knew what she was nning.


    "Alright, we''ve done what we''vee here to do. Let''s go." A''ruya said as she started to walk away. The other young man and young woman didn''t respond and simply followed along while walking towards the awaiting guards. As soon as they got close, the guards followed in step behind them as they all disappeared, almost as though they had never been there in the first ce.


    After they left, every bit that had frozen had suddenlye alive again as everyone was almostpletely unaware of what took ce. Despite that, a few of the stronger chosen that had been present at the scene had drops of cold sweat dripping down their backs, but the source of the worry waspletely unknown.


    It would only beter that everyone figured out that somehow, half an hour of their lives had disappeared, with clocks having stopped and even the surveince systems seemed to have frozen. All anyone could do was to attribute it to the strange door since no one had any other exnation.


    ...


    Everyone walked home from work while feeling slightly different things. The girls along with Eddy and Benny were talking about what they wanted to do for dinner as everyone had started acting like they were living together as opposed to being on separate sides of the house. As for Julia and Laz, their minds were focused on what they would do with the council now and what kinds of ns they had to put in ce to keep everyone safe. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="#''s-awake_52406002682741211">#''s-awake_52406002682741211 for visiting.


    As the group split up, Laz, Benny and Eddy walked into their side of the apartment and each went to go do their own things for a bit. Laz''s thing was to go check on Abraham.


    When Laz walked into the room, he noticed Abraham sitting up. Seeing Laz enter, his eyes, which had been unfocused before, suddenly recognized him.


    Of all the different emotions Laz thought he would see, he was surprised when he noticed that Abraham looked afraid. Very, very afraid.


    "What''s wrong?" Laz asked as he looked around, not understanding.


    "Nothing. Nothing at all. I''m just... still getting over my cold, that''s it. I''m fine though. Completely normal. Yeah..." Laz sensed the fear in his voice while he spoke and then it dawned on him.


    Back when he had awoken, the world hadn''t really yet began to change. But it was different now. And Abraham would have known that if he was now one of the infected, that he would be treated like a criminal from now on. His whole life would be different. Maybe he had dreamed of living a life like in the shows he used to watch from his sheltered home life, but dreaming of it and doing it were twopletely different things.


    Seeing this and understanding this, Laz couldn''t help but sigh as he smiled. He hoped that Abraham would grow up quickly, otherwise he wouldn''t survive for long.

 Chapter 260: What Are We

    Chapter 260: What Are We


    Laz sat down and looked at Abraham, wondering what he should say.


    ''Is there an easy way to break it to someone that from now on, the average person would be scared of you and there will be peopleing for your life?'' Laz pondered to himself as he sat there while Abraham zoned out.


    ''I mean. I guess it gets harder and harder for the new ones. Waking up their abilities after others have already been doing it for years now. I wonder how this even happens? Is it like... only once the tank is full of gas can you start the engine? Or is it more like there is a specific trigger somewhere?'' Despite the times that Laz had seen this happen, he still really didn''t know the answer. And his own answer seemed to change depending on when he''s asked...


    "Hey. Uh... You''ve been around, right?" Abraham turned and looked at Laz who was sitting there with his head down while he was thinking. The fact the Abraham spoke first caught him off guard.


    "Been around?"


    "Yeah. You know. Out and about and all?"


    "Um, Yeah. Ok. I mean, I''ve done some travelling and seen somethings. So if that''s what you mean?"


    "Yeah. So... what do you think about the people everyone is talking about?" Abraham looked really nervous while asking. He was practically twiddling his thumbs while not even looking at Laz.


    "The people?" Laz knew what he wanted to ask, but got the feeling that he should wait until Abraham was being more direct. It was like, ying stupid to not scare someone away.


    "Yeah. You know, the ones on the news and stuff who are like... different..."


    "Uh. Traveling all the time means I don''t really check the news. You talking about the people with the special abilities, like the chosen? Or the ones that everyone seems to be turning against, the infected?" Laz was actually a bit curious of Abraham''s viewpoint on the two groups.


    "Oh. Uh. Well, what about both of them?"


    "Well, if you ask me, there is something wrong with what everyone is saying."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Alright, so bare with me here. The ''chosen'' are basically called that why? Because as far as anyone can tell, they have special abilities but there is no change that can be detected within them, right?"


    "Yes..."


    "And yet, the infected are also different, but because a mutation has urred within their blood, they are deemed dangerous."


    "Well... the infected also attack people, don''t they?"


    "They do. But at the same time, have people every really been peaceful with one another? Crimes happen on a day to day basis with normal people. But now there is extra attention paid to those with special abilities attacking normal people. And when it happens, it always seems like it''s someone who''s been infected with the blood mutation, right?"


    "Yeah."


    "But have you ever wondered just how truthful that is? After all, the government, or at least, organizations affiliated with the government have been recruiting these chosen while the infected are deemed risks. So who''s to say that the attack wasn''t caused by a chosen? And let''s say they are telling the truth on this. Does every person who''s blood undergoes a mutation attack someone and end up wanted by the police?".


    "No. I don''t think so..."


    "That''s because they don''t. Instead, a lot of the ones who are deemed infected are just normal people who are now a bit strange. As far as the ones who be physically deformed, there has been cases of that for years. When you suffer through a trauma like that, chances are you''re not going to be in the best mental state. Despite that, the ''infected'' are getting a bad rap while the ''chosen'' are heaven''s little gifts. Obviously there is something wrong with this."


    "I... I guess your right."


    "I am. And besides, you''re going to be just fine. You won''t have to go through this alone."


    "Oh? Uh? Umm... go through what alone. I''m confused." Abraham looked over at Laz who was now looking at him. Instead of exining anything more, Laz simply held out his hand, palm side up and let his ck mes be visible. The me, which originally wrapped around his hand, expanded outward, separating from Laz''s hand before resting afloat, as though Laz was holding a candle me that wasn''t connected to anything.


    Seeing this, Abraham backed up and slid under his covers more, seemingly afraid. But after some time of watching it and seeing that Laz wasn''t doing anything else, he slowly came forward and sat on the edge of the bed.


    "You are...?"


    "What you might call an infected, yes. Our blood is different from normal humans and I''m not just talking about blood type. Instead, it''s almost as if there is a sliver of blood within me that isn''t human. In fact, most of us are like this as far as I can tell. I''m only saying most of us because I don''t know that it is the same with everyone, just the ones I''ve met. Not only that, but we have an inherent distaste for those who are ''chosen,'' almost like something in our blood dislikes them. They obviously feel the same way about us I imagine."


    "Then... I am?"


    "An infected, just like me. But as far as what your blood will give you in the future, who knows? There isn''t a science behind this. Instead, everything that we do is just stumbling around in the dark, like looking for a light switch in a huge room. And as soon as that one room is illuminated, we are then plunged into another dark room to repeat the process. In essence, I can only show you the way. Everything else after that will be up to you," Laz said with conviction. He knew this wasn''t going to be easy for Abraham. His life wasn''t built around constant changes. But that was what he was going to face now.


    There is also no telling how his family would react to this. Or even if he could trust his family. This was the main reason for Laz telling Abraham the things he did at first. Infected weren''t the enemy of regr humans. It wasn''t like you could be infected just by getting a bit of blood from an infected into an open cut or something. Instead, it was more like the bloodline had to be there to begin with.


    The only contrast to this would be people like Freya, who''s bloodline, granted to her by a ''god,'' could overwrite a weaker bloodline. In turn, this would make the infected a vampyre like her. And although Laz hadn''t asked about it, Laz got the impression that the person would have to be female for it to work. If a bloodline of superior origin were to try to get changed by Freya, it would probably fail.


    But that wasn''t something Laz was going to worry about. He wasn''t bored enough to try to research it.


    "What are we?" Abraham, despite hearing Laz''s exnation, still seemed lost. He, like most regr people, still couldn''t grasp what it was to be like this. At the beginning, maybe it seemed kind of scary and cool, but it happened to other people so it wasn''t something you would worry about. But now, when infected as a whole were treated like criminals, finding out you were infected would seem like a death sentence.


    "We are humans. That much I can tell you. But we are also not humans. In the future, the stronger you grow, the less human like you will look. But that doesn''t make you any less human. If you define what makes a human a human, then it stems from humanity, not what you look like. People have always looked different from one another, but that doesn''t mean that one person is less human than another. Going forward, we can only adapt to the changes that take ce and try not to lose ourselves in the process," Laz answered with a heavy heart. He had considered this before.


    What makes a human, human? Is it because they walk on two legs? Talk to each other? Develop civilizations? All of these things could be done by other creatures as well, in different forms. Ant''s build colonies, dolphins are smarter than most humans and every creature in the animal kingdom has a means ofmunicating with one another. Instead, Laz could only settle on humanity that makes a human human. And everything that entails.


    "So what do I do now?"


    "Well, that''s easy."


    After that, Laz spent some time exining everything he needed to about cultivation, realms, energy and everything he could think of to Abraham. For the most part though, Laz told Abraham to take it easy at first and gave him his old red jade beads that his grandpa Chu had given to him a long time ago. At Abraham''s level, this was pretty much the perfect solution for him to hide that he had changed. And Laz didn''t need them anymore as with his abilities, he was now able to restrain his own energy and not let it leak out. If he had to rely on beads for that, it would take a lot of them to do so.


    Afterwards, Laz told Abraham that he should continue on with his day like normal and keep his thoughts forter. Being sick for only one day was normal and no one would think anything about it. He also revealed that Julia was like them as well and if Laz wasn''t around, Abraham could turn to her for assistance if needed. Laz knew that Julia wouldn''t reject him.


    After that, the day continued on without incident. Laz found some time to talk to Julia who looked upset at first for having Abraham dumped on her ap along with everything else involving the remains of the council, but she didn''t decline. Laz could tell that she wasn''t mad about helping Abraham, more like she was mad at Laz who seemed to like to dump his work on her while he went off and did whatever.


    Either way, work went off without a hitch and after, Laz decided to pay Heaven or Hell a visit since he wanted to get more of a feel for Freya''s thoughts. He knew that with the council being a ticking time bomb, he had to set them aside for now. Before he could decide what to do with them, he needed to know where the other two organizations stood and to get an idea as to how big this problem was.


    What Laz really wanted to do though was to spend more time in that strange state he was in before, working on seeing what kinds of improvements he could make. Cultivating with only the sparse energy in the air was almost a wasted effort since his body naturally absorbed the energy in the air just by breathing. Without the aid of some sort of oddity or a ce with arge amount of natural energy, he wouldn''t be gaining anything by doing so.


    So therefore, he decided that he need to prepare for this door opening as soon as possible despite knowing almost nothing about it.


    As Laz approached Heaven or Hell, he noticed something odd. The lights outside were off and the entire ce looked closed. Spreading out his sense, Laz noticed that there were several people watching the restaurant from the outside from a ways away, along with several eyes watching from inside.


    ''What the hell is this?'' Laz thought to himself.


    Instead of going forward, Laz turned the corner as though he had originally been going that way and quickly disappeared from other''s senses. He knew that despite his spiritual strength, he couldn''t hide his presence if they detected him. He wasn''t that strong yet.


    Reaching into his pouch, Laz pulled out some rather shy clothes that he had happened to buy during his travels. A long leather trench coat and leather pants, a wide brimmed hat and ck, military style boots suddenly appeared on the ground while Laz quickly got dressed.


    After grabbing out a mirror to check himself out, Laz couldn''t help but wonder what made him by these things. But still, it was enough to hide his entire body and give him a rather mysterious air.


    Storing his old clothes in the pouch, Laz made his way to the front door.

 Chapter 267: A Favor

    Chapter 267: A Favor


    Laz wasn''t used to acting tough. Or being tough. In most cases, he was more about action than he was acting.


    But circumstances have now forced him to do something he wouldn''t otherwise do while needing to rely on people he had no connection with.


    The stress of the whole thing was starting to get to him. Even if this was an opportunity for him and those with him, it was still going to be one hell of a pain every which way.


    With everything on his shoulders, Laz snapped a bit harder than he meant too.


    The strange thing was that before, it seemed like everyone agreed with the youngdy who was asking Laz the questions non stop. But after his snap, they had all quieted down. And were thinking to themselves.


    "Onest thing. I''m only taking those at the foundation realm. If you''re not there yet, this will be way too dangerous." Laz added thest bit as he looked over at everyone.


    Among the crowd of almost 30 people, there were actually ten who had already reached the foundation realm, although they were only in the early stage of it, not including Dwayne who was sitting with them but also apart from them.


    Everyone remained quiet, but the most silence wasing from the foundation realm experts. They were barely even breathing while considering Laz''s proposal.


    "I''ll go." The first to speak up was actually Dwayne, surprising everyone. He wasn''t known to be someone who volunteered for anything.


    "You sure?"


    "Yeah. I mean, maybe I can find something to help me out with my problem. No matter how hard I work, I can''t make anymore progress with building my strength. I know everyone here thinks I am justzy and they ain''t wrong... but the truth is that it feels like I''m doing something wrong and I don''t know why." Dwayne revealed his thoughts, surprising everyone, including madam Cal and Aaron. They had always thought that Dwayne was just cking off in his cultivation as he had never mentioned something was wrong before. Since the infinity technique seemed to work with everyone, they wouldn''t have thought that it was causing a problem for their nephew.


    "You know... I think that the technique isn''t suited for you. To be honest with you, when I made that technique all those years ago, I did it for myself and those close around me. I never meant for it to be the universal technique that everyone would use. Don''t get me wrong, I''m d it helps everyone. But that doesn''t mean there aren''t other ways of cultivating." Laz shared this thought of his that seemed to hit everyone like a bombshell dropping on their heads.


    For a good solid few minutes, no one said anything.


    "You''re fucking with us, right?"


    "You made that technique? You think something like that is something that anyone cane up with?"


    "You really are an arrogant bastard, aren''t you?"


    Thestment came from the talented and pretty girl who Laz had told off earlier. Laz had never expected that him sharing this bit of info would cause everyone to seemingly turn on him.


    "You don''t believe me?"


    "Brother, let me just say that no one knows who developed it. But I don''t think that anyone would believe that someone your and my age would be able to do that." Dwayne didn''t just blow Laz off right away, but it was clear he didn''t believe him either.


    "Shut yer mouths if yas don''t know what yer talking about." Madam Cal was the first to speak up, quieting the crowd before Laz could say anything.


    "You be saying this came from you, I wouldn''t be believing it either. But as it happens to go, I already knew it being from you." Madam Cal said as she faced Laz..


    "But you should be knowing that no one would believe dat if you just be saying it like that," Madam Cal added, telling Laz that he was being foolish by saying it, even if it was true.


    "You already knew I made it?" Laz asked, confused.


    "Sure do. I''ve been in contact with the people from the Blood Moon and they already told me about you. Although we are not wanting to be a part of dem, that don''t mean that we won''t be talking to dem and getting some help here and there. And as it turns out, they be mentioning you too and this just so happen toe up."


    "Ah." Laz understood.


    "So you be saying that me nephew not be right for da technique you made?" Madam Cal asked, causing even Aaron to pay closer attention.


    "Yeah. His body is... different. So much so that I can tell the energy wants to run in a different path when I look at him. I didn''t have much time to study him closely, but I would be willing to be that he would benefit from using something else.


    When Dwayne had been healing earlier at the site of their kidnapping, Laz noticed the problem. But he didn''t have a solution or any way of checking it out without seeming weird so he let it go. Since Dwayne noticed he had a problem though, Laz figured he could probably do something about it.


    "So then...?" Dwayne seemed hopeful, not knowing that this random guy he encountered would bring so many surprises.


    "We can work on it in a bit. I can''t guarantee anything, but it''s worth a shot. To be honest, I''m surprised that there haven''t been other methods developed yet, but I guess it''s what it is," Laz replied looking back at the still struggling faces. What Laz didn''t know was that there had been other methods developed, but most of them didn''t prove to be as useful. And of the ones that might have been better, they weren''t being shared.


    Not everyone was as giving as Laz.


    Of the other ten foundation realms in the room, seven more decided to join, bringing the total number up to eight from the Vodun. Two of the others were both a bit older and already had families and kids to worry about. Although they hated missing the chance, they couldn''t leave their families for a random period of time in which they may never return.


    This also worked out well for Aaron since it meant he wasn''t losing all his members to this.


    Strangely enough, neither madam Cal nor Aaron wanted to participate.


    After finishing telling everyone the meeting time and ce, which Laz determined to be Heaven or Hell, everyone ended up leaving to make their own preparations, not wanting to wait till after ss. This gave Laz a chance to talk with Aaron and Madam Cal about them not wanting to go. Even Dwayne ended up listening in as they sat upstairs in a parlor and had some tea.


    "Why not?" Laz asked, not understanding.


    "That''s easy. This is your thing, your lead, your quest. It will either seed or fail because of you. So it''s best if there wasn''t any of us older people getting in your way. I''d be willing to bet that even the people from the other groups who being will all be a bit younger and that will work for you to. Easy to convince and lead those kinds of people. Although..." Aaron hesitated for a minute before looking like he made up his mind.


    "What is it?"


    "Can you please allow Gina toe with you?"


    "Gina...? Oh. Her..." Laz tapped his foot while holding his tea cup. In truth, he didn''t really much care for tea, but this stuff that Madam Cal brewed was way tastier than he thought it would be. He was really d he didn''t decline when he was offered.


    Laz didn''t want to say yes. He might have gone overboard, but what''s done is done and more importantly, if he did just suddenly change his mind and let hee, that would reflect badly on him as a leader. When you make a decision like that, you can''t just say, ''changed my mind and it''s all good.''


    And it seemed like Aaron, watching Laz hesitate, understood.


    "Good. I''m d you didn''t just change your mind because I asked," he said with a smile causing Laz to feel confused.


    "A good leader has to stick to his choices. Unless it''s something like new information causes you to make a better decision, you can''t be wishy washy about things involving people under yourmand. So how about this..." With that, Aaron reached under the desk he was sitting at, opened a drawer and pulled out a stone that he set down on the table. Madam Cal moved to the desk and grabbed the stone before handing it to Laz.


    "What''s this?" he asked, looking at it.


    "I have no idea and neither does my wife, but if you use your spiritual sense, you will notice something," Aaron said with a smile.


    Laz did exactly that and figured out what he meant. The stone gave off a weird energy fluctuation, but nothing more than that. Laz looked closer and it appeared to be a yellow colored stone, like a piece of amber with a weird looking little leaf inside of it. The energy was clearly there, but it wasn''t like a stone that had energy you could absorb. The energy was actually bound into the stone itself.


    "This... is weird."


    "Exactly. One of our members discovered this stone washed up on the beach and brought it to us. But we don''t have any clue what it is. Even though my wife tried to find something from the spirits she''s contracted with, even they couldn''t tell us. Whatever it is, it''s not something normal." What Aaron didn''t mention was that his wife was told that whatever was inside of it was dangerous. Because of that, they didn''t just throw the stone away, wanting to find some safe way to get rid of it. It just so happened to be a decent bargaining chip with which to buy Gina''s ce in the group. She was, after all, another niece of theirs.


    "So what do you say? You can''t just change your mind, but at least we can call this as us buying you off? That''s a good reason for a change of mind right?"


    "Uh... yeah. I guess this works. But you better warn her about her attitude. I don''t know what''s going to happen when we get behind that door, but I don''t want someone who is going to second guess every decision I make," Laz replied, ying with the stone.


    "Not a problem. I will talk to her myself. And as far as I can tell, I would much rather leave them to you than someone else. You might be young boy, but it seems like you have a good head on your shoulders," Aaron replied with a smile, causing Laz to nod.


    The thing was that Laz wasn''t paying attention, or even listening. He was focused on the amber stone in his hands while trying his best to hide his shock.


    It just so happened to be that whatever that little leaf inside the stone was, it was resonating with the withered, ck color tree tattoo that was on his chest.


    This only ever happened when he came into contact with A''ruya.

 Chapter 274: Going All Out

    Chapter 274: Going All Out


    Have you ever dreamed of flying? Ever think how that would feel? Kind of like floating in a swimming pool? But if you were to try to fly through the air like that, you would look amazingly stupid.


    And that was what happened to Laz. Although the ''ground'' in the sky was ok to walk on, Laz noticed that both Malene and Ruby had actually suspended themselves in the air as though they were floating. Not only that, but they could move around almost naturally. A little lean this way or a slight turn that way allowed them to float like fireflies in the night sky.


    So seeing them being so natural about it, almost like that were dancing, Laz tried his best to do the same.


    After several rounds of spinning in circles, ended up face first on the ground and even floating in ce upside down, the girls who had beenughing the whole time, took pity on him.


    After floating over to him, they grabbed Laz''s hands and pulled him up.


    "For height, think of it like walking on stairs," Malene advised.


    "Movement doesn''t need to involve your whole body. It starts at your base and effects your entire self. Anyrge movements will cause you to be unsteady," Ruby followed up with.


    Over the course of the next thirty minutes, the girls took turns moving around with Laz, dancing with him in the air and giving him advice on how to move. Although it was anything but graceful, by the end, Laz had gotten a feel for it. Although his movements didn''t look natural or graceful like the girls did, they were no longer entirely stiff and incontroble.


    "This is incredible," Laz said with a face full of wonder.


    "I''m surprised," Ruby said, looking at Laz''s expression.


    "About what?" He asked back.


    "We''ve never seen you so excited before," Malene answered, looking at him as well.


    In truth, out of thest four years of his life, the girls never really did spend much time with him. In fact, if it wasn''t for the strange properties of his that seemed to link him with them, they might have just all ended up as ships passing in the night. Although that could no longer happen, it still meant that their were parts of each other that they still had left to uncover. The girls themselves might know each other pretty well, but to them, Laz was still a bit of a mystery.


    Then again, when even Laz paused to think about it, he probably hadn''t been this excited in years.


    "Ha ha. Of course. This is flying. Who doesn''t dream of soaring around like a bird, free from the constraints of the world."


    "Would you like to hear our theory?" Ruby asked him.


    "Sure."


    "When we are strong enough, perhaps the power in our bodies will allow us to fly like this in the real world too."


    "Really?" Laz said, intrigued.


    "Yeah. We''ve done quite a bit of study in this separate realm that was made. Things like gravity do exist, but because the world is so small and shielded, the effects that would normally apply here are greatly reduced. Gravity, the denseness of air and space, the refraction of light. All of the parts of nature we are used to are present, but in such a limited number that our own abilities allow us to escape it here. Therefore, we figure that once we have grown strong enough, we can escape the principles of our own world as well. As to how strong that is... who knows? Maybe you have to reach the level of a god to do that..." Malenemented, revealing their findings.


    It was an interesting thought, one Laz never put much time into. What level were these gods at? What about A''ruya? Could they actually reach that level one day?.


    He didn''t know.


    "Alright. Well, now that you''ve got a feeling for it, what do you say? Want to take on these weak little girls by yourself? Or would you prefer a little one on one action?" The way Ruby said this, Laz felt a cold sweat on his back.


    ''Weak little girls? You''re both at thete stage foundation realm while I''m at the middle stage. Doesn''t that make me the weak one?'' Laz though to himself, but he didn''t say it. Perhaps it was pride or knowing that these were his women, but he felt like he couldn''t show weakness.


    "No. It''s fine. Come on then. Both of you together?" Laz put on a show a bravado... but his voice at the end seemed a little weaker than he had intended.


    Laughing, The girls couldn''t help but eye him like pray.


    "Now... Now... remember that I''m still a bit unused to the movements here..." Before Laz could even argue for mercy, Ruby swung her w like hand at Laz, causing three streaks of red light toe charging at him. The light itself looked like rips in the air.


    Using his feet like he was on solid ground, Laz quickly retreated, jumping to the side fast enough to allow for the light to pass by him. As it was, the streaks of light continued on until they hit the giant clock tower a little ways away, causing the top of the tower to be cut into slices like a hot knife through butter.


    "GOD DAMN..." Laz said, looking at the falling structure behind him. What was even more amazing was that as he watched it crumbled, it suddenly froze like time had stopped. Then, before his bbergasted eyes, the tower put itself back together like he was watching it rewind. In merely a moment, Big Ben lookedpletely unharmed.


    Laz''s head looked like it was on fire as he looked from the girls back to the tower and back again, almost like he didn''t believe what he was seeing.


    "You think that''s interesting?" Malene said with augh. Her multicolored body suddenly took on an orangish/reddish tint as the other colors retreated. Raising her hands before her, she brought them together with her palms facing out towards Laz. Just as he was wondering what she was doing, a giant ball of me formed andunched at him like a volleyball.


    Seeing the ball of me that was three times the size of him, Laz again bolted, jumping up and barely managing the dive over the iing projectile.


    Having missed it''s target, the ball continued on until it hit another building in the distance. As therge fire ball made contact with the building, it exploded outwards, causing arge crater to form at the impact site while the rest of the building was engulfed in mes. It took seconds before the building became structurally unsound and began to copse.


    Once again though, just before it came down entirely, the build seemed to freeze in ce while time rewound itself, causing the building to be returned to perfect condition.


    "Shit..." Laz, now a bit used to seeing this, had another thought in his head. What would have happened if that fire ball had hit him.


    With this thought in mind, he turned over to look at the girls who were both smiling back at him.


    "Did I... make you both angry or something somehow? Cause if I did, I would like to take this moment..." Before Laz could even finish his sentence, Malene and Ruby rushed over, like birds in flight,ing straight at him.


    Laz couldn''t help but yelp as he started dodging around.


    Malene stayed at a distance andunched fireball after fireball while Ruby came in close, swinging her ws while her snake like body allowed her to move through the air like a fish. Laz was doing everything he could to avoid and evade, but there was more than once that he suffered from small cuts and brunt hair.


    But that wasn''t his biggest problem.


    Have you ever fought with your girlfriend before? You know, a friendly little wrestle? She might be trying her hardest but you had to hold back since you didn''t want to hurt her? But as she went harder and harder you begin to realize you underestimated her and suffered for it. Even then though, you try to hold back a little.


    If your looking at it from the female perspective though, what she wants to see is just how strong her partner is, how much they can take. Perhaps she doesn''t even mind if she gets hurt a bit. She might even find it stimting.


    All these thoughts rushed through Laz''s head as he tried to figure out how much was enough, but this caused him to be distracted. As such, he barely managed to avoid a w attack to the stomach, only to have a fireball hit him in the back and send him flying off into the distance.


    Laz didn''t know what to say about how it felt but the best he coulde up with was it was like getting hit with a baseball bat if that bat was lit on fire while covered in magma. Doesn''t make sense but that''s what it was.


    After Laz picked himself up, he noticed that his shirt had been reduced to cinders.


    ''I really need to get more dress shirts...'' Laz thought as his gaze drifted over to the girls who were looking at him. They both had interesting smiles on their faces, ones that Laz didn''t quite understand. If he had been in their heads though, he would have heard something like a happy cheer since they had one upped him while still being impressed with him being able to take that hit like it was nothing.


    Most people would have been knocked out of the world by that. It was a safeguard they had discovered while working with the snow globe. If you got hit by something strong enough to kill you, the globe world would negate the damage and knock you out, there by protecting your life.


    So although the girls knew he was safe, Laz had no clue. In fact, he began wondering just what he did to piss them off.


    Of course, the brain was saying one thing, but his blood said another.


    Anyone who knew Laz knows he isn''t a hot blooded guy most of the time. He''s not one who leaps before looking or charges in blind, but that doesn''t mean that he didn''t have the ability to be like that. Knowing that the girls, his girls, were being serious, Laz''s blood started boiling in a way that hadn''t happened in a long time. After all, it had been since the time he fought Brian that Laz really felt like his life was on the line.


    Feeling that now, even if it was because of the people he loved, made Laz feel more free than he had in a long time.


    In the silent, snowy and dead world contain within a gas station snow globe, a streak of lightning shed across the sky, followed by the boom of thunder.


    "What the hell?"


    "That can happen?"


    Malene and Ruby were confused. They had spent loads of time within this world, perfecting their skills and they had never seen the world act with a sense of life.


    Taking a closer look at Laz, they realized that his entire body was engulfed by ck mes, as his long, white hair billowed out as though being blown by a breeze that didn''t exist. More impressively, his eyes glowed with a dark red color, distinctly different from the bright red color of the past.


    With every beat of his heart, it was like the world itself rumbled in turn.


    Right now, Laz no longer looked the slightest bit human. Instead, he appeared like a creature from hell that had been unleashed upon the to destroy.


    Even while feeling afraid, the fighting spirit of Malene and Ruby soared.


    Only a man like this, one that could send shivers down their spine, was worthy of them.


    While taking a breath, Laz stepped forward and disappeared from sight.

 Chapter 280: Getting In

    Chapter 280: Getting In


    There were ck SUVs parked outside, waiting to transfer everyone to the office building. Laz got in the first one while everyone else pilled in. Besides the drivers, everyone else were the ones involved in the operation.


    He had already said goodbye to Malene as she had to get going for her flight.


    Some might have thought it would be more of a bittersweet goodbye, but those people clearly don''t know Malene and Laz.


    Sure, there was hugging and kissing... but after that, there was a whole bunch of Malene lecturing Laz about taking care of himself and about what she would do to him if he ended up with other women...


    Her description of bad, bad things while looking at his manhood did not turn him on in the least. Ruby, to her credit, didn''t add anything. She just looked at Laz from underneath her base ball cap with a ''you''d better listen to her,'' kind of stare.


    Before long, they were on their way.


    The n was they would park down the street, get out and unload while Laz and Ruby went ahead to find a way to sneak in, or at least blend in.


    Well, that was the n anyway. Laz, Ruby and all the others were under the assumption that this gate opening was going to be some sort of secret endeavor.


    They soon found out that they couldn''t have been more wrong. The entire thing looked like a media circus with camera crews all over the ce. News reporters, both professional and armature had craved out a slice of the event and were showing everything there was to show. The various military guards just added to the scene, making it that much more of a big deal.


    As Ruby and Laz watched, more and more people arrived, making the crowd size swell.


    "This..."


    "Is perfect, for the most part." Ruby finished the thought for Laz.


    "But why? I mean... why would you even want to?"


    "They must have some confidence that this will be more of a show than a massacre." Ruby said after some thought.


    "What do you think?" Laz was curious.


    "It''s a dice roll baby. How strong will the wizard behind the curtain be? There is that but also they must be convinced that they have the strength to protect themselves and others. It''s honestly stupid. I can only think that it was something someone ordered them to do. Anyone who has been inside a gate knows that you could just a likely end up in the center of an abandoned town or in the middle of a scorched wastnd. There really is no telling what happened to the gate on the other side."


    "Then it could even be up in the sky or in the middle of the ocean?"


    "Well... Underwater yes, middle of the sky, much less likely, but not impossible."


    "Why is that?"


    "Gates are a two way door, darling. They had to have been built somewhere amodating on the other side as well. Of course, that was when it was built. Depending on the time apse, an entire civilization could have risen and fallen since then. The same thing could happen here as well. Let''s say someone''s gate led to the middle of a forest in the past. A nice quiet ce that was out of the way. But now that nice quiet forest could be located in the middle of a city. There is no telling. And the gate''s... well who knows how or why they appear?"


    "I think it has something to do with the energy avable in the world. Once it reaches a certain point, the gate will appear," Lazmented. Although he didn''t know anything for sure minus what A''ruya had told him, he had a brain in his head. She said this gate should be safe based on the amount of energy it stored. If it required a lot more than it did, then it probably wouldn''t have even shown itself, much less be able to be opened..


    "Yeah?" Ruby said, interested in his thoughts. Blood Moon hade to the same conclusion, but there was no way to back up that logic. But now that Laz was talking about it, Ruby felt like there might be something to it. Unless Laz was just making shit up as he went along.


    "Yeah. Which can only mean that as the energy on the increases, the gates that appear are going to get more and more dangerous," Laz said in warning. Ruby nodded her head in agreement.


    "Well. I guess for now, we should just take the front door?"


    "That should work."


    Laz and Ruby made their way back to where everyone was parked and informed the group leaders. Remi and Damien for the council. Dwayne and a much subdued Jennia for the Vodun. Freya''s assistant was named Helen and she was the lone leader of the Vampyres group.


    "So this is good right?" Dwayne asked, seeing everyone keep quiet.


    "Yes and no," Helen responded.


    "How so?" Dwayne asked.


    "Well. Getting in will be easy. But now there are a lot more eyes on us, them and everything that''s happening," Helen responded. Everyone nodded in agreement except for Laz.


    "That''s not as big of a problem as you think it is, at least going in isn''t." Laz said with a strange smile.


    "Oh?" Helen was respectful on the surface. In her heart and thoughts however, she didn''t like males at all. But since she had orders to follow, she would do so. And order number one that Freya told her was to listen to anything Laz said.


    "The rune I used isn''t just limited to masking your energy and aura. It''s primary purpose is to distort. So not only will it distort your energy and aura, it will also distort your picture on camera. It will even distort you face and features to anyone who looks at you. When they try to think back to who you are, they will simply remember a figure of smoke, here and gone before you leave an impression," Laz said, exining things. He only understood how powerful and diverse runes could be after messing around with them. Before that, he could only see on the surface.


    It was just a pity that there was no grading system for Rune uses to measure their ability.


    ''Maybe I shoulde up with one?'' Laz thought to himself before putting it aside.


    Ruby had the same idea but didn''t dismiss it so quickly. Instead, she took out her phone and sent a few text messages before storing it away. She wasn''t the only one. After hearing about exactly how powerful runes could be, even Dwayne and Helen sent a few quick messages to their respected leaders.


    Remi was much more blunt about it.


    "Remi''s thinks that when she gets back, she will start exploring runes as well. Are Nordic runes the only ones that can do this?" She asked with a sparkle in her eye.


    "Honestly, Sanskrit should have a simr function. But I think in the end, even something like English could be used. It''s more about the power behind the word than the word itself. The word, the rune, the text... these things just provide focus for the power. Not everyone can do it. And those that do will find that some things work better or worse for them."


    This was Laz''s honest thoughts. He had actually tried using English to write before and although it worked to some degree, it wasn''t nearly as potent as when he used Nordic Runes.


    "Anyway, back on topic. We are going to basically go in the front door. Just remember, act like you belong there. From what we can tell... they are basically letting anyone in to this thing."


    "That''s not going to cause problems?" Damien asked, speaking out for the first time.


    "It won''t if you keep your mouth shut and let me do all the talking," Laz responded back, surprising even Ruby. From what everyone knew, Laz was kind of an introvert. For him to disy this kind of attitude, it was somewhat out of character. What they didn''t appreciate was that Laz was under a bit of stress with this whole thing and as the time approached when he would have to lead, he was starting to feel it more and more.


    But he wasn''t going to back down.


    As the caravan of SUVs pulled up, no one questioned it. Instead, one of the guards posted at the gate of the office building opened the door and just shouted out,


    "Pull over into section 1G and unload. You took your sweet ass time getting here too but at least you brought a decent number this time." With his words out of the way, the guard retreated back into the small booth by the gate.


    Laz was rather surprised that a regr looking security guard would treat actual solders this way, but then Laz felt the pressure from the man''s energy and recognized that he was actually one of those chosen bastards. He wasn''t that strong which was why he got guard duty, but even that was enough for him to act in contempt towards regr people.


    Following the signs, Laz''s caravan quickly found their space.


    Laz gathered the leaders while everyone else was piling out of the vehicles. It was also now that he noticed a lot of duffel bags in the trunks that got passed around. Shooting a look at Dwayne, Dwayne quickly exined,


    "If everyone else is armed and we are walking around in nothing but shy threads, we would stand out too much. So my well connected uncle hooked us up with some military grade weapons as well," he said with a proud smile, earning him the respect of those gathered.


    Laz didn''t understand why they would appreciate these types of weapons.


    "Monster cock..." Ruby said lovingly.


    "Monster what the hell?" Laz asked back.


    "Well it feels weird to call you baby and darling all the time so I figured I would get a little creative."


    "I can''t believe you said with a straight face," Laz responded while turning a bit red from the stares around him.


    "Why? It''s true..."


    "And enough of that. What were you going to say?" Laz changed the subject.


    "Not everyone''s body is as impressive as yours. For most of them here, a regr hand gun is just as deadly as an all out attack from ate stage, foundational realm. And the bigger the round, the more deadly it bes, same as a regr person."


    "Ah..." Laz felt this made sense. Dwayne handed him a small.45 cal.


    "What''s this for?"


    "You''re a captain. You don''t need an actual weapon in this case since it''s not a war zone. This is enough to show your position in the squad."


    "How do you... never mind. Guess I will need to thank Aaron for this allter."


    "He figured you probably weren''t well informed."


    "Fair enough."


    Just as Laz was about to give everyone some orders to move out after telling the vehicles to take off, a man of rank came walking over to him of his own ord.


    "CAPTAIN. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOUR MEN DOING OVER HERE WHEN THEY SHOULD BE INSIDE?"


    Laz couldn''t help but gulp back against his fear ofmunication as his first interaction in this role was about to begin.

 Chapter 281: Gate Opens

    Chapter 281: Gate Opens


    Laz had no choice but to respond.


    "SIR. REINFORCEMENTS FROM THE BASE. WE JUST GOT HERE."


    "REINFORCEMENTS? Ah. Right. I heard they were sending people over. Alright. Get your gear and meet up with Agent Wace who is in charge of deployment. Follow the signs and head downstairs. You''ll probably be stuck with base duty once we get inside."


    "Inside what sir?"


    "Didn''t they tell you anything about the assignment?"


    "No sir. We were just told toe and support whoever was in charge."


    "Well... I guess that makes sense. The smaller the number of people who know about this the safer it would be. At least that was my thought before they turned this into a goddamn media circus." The Major looked like he was pissed with no where to vent his frustration. Seeing the young Captain in front of him caused him to settle down however since it wouldn''t be right of him to me a solder for doing his job.


    "Alright. Get going. I''ll have someone fill you in on your way down... COLLINS. GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND GIVE THEM A SIT REP,"


    A young Corporal came over and saluted before indicating that Laz''s group should follow him.


    As they made their way through the throngs of people lining up at the doors and disappeared out of sight, the Major couldn''t help but stop a minute and look at the now disappearing backs of Laz''s team.


    "I don''t think I even asked for their unit number or call sign... wait... how many of them were there? God damn it... I need a vacation..." The Major then continued along while yelling orders to various solderspleting tasks outside the building.


    "Captain, you got the standard ''other world'' briefing before being deployed, correct?" Corporal Collins asked as they made their way to the staircase.


    "All I was told was go here, follow orders and don''t say a damn word about anything."


    "How helpful. Alright. What we are doing is following the reps from Global Sciences in an investigation. Although we are there to provide the muscle as they like to call it, their own people, namely the Evolved, will be taking point and we just get grunt work duties."


    "Evolved?"


    "They really haven''t been spreading the information like they should," the Corporal sighed as he began walking down the stairs.


    "I''ve been stationed with various groups for about a year now as we have been working closely with Global Sciences to investigate several of these sights. Global Sciences has done individual recon ops on these gates before, but never in a joint ops with us. But as the need for more trained individuals arises, they asked the government for help. As such, we are basically bing the workforce while they are the point men. So keep your anger in check when these cocky bastards look down on you. And they will look down on you."


    Laz nodded his head, getting an idea of what was going on. Manpower for something like this needed to be well trained and expendable. Although a privatepany like Global Sciences could supply some man power, once the need got too big, they would stretch themselves thin. As such, their partnership with the government could provide them with military help in that department. They wouldn''t be much help with fighting off the things that might pop up in a gate, but they could at least be well trained hands that wouldn''t run off in the event of a fight.


    "Anyway. They call them Evolved since the whole ''Chosen'' name was deemed way too religious by many. Calling them ''Evolved'' makes it easier for everyone to ept them as being the next stage in human evolution as opposed to some sort of religious fanatics."


    Hearing this exnation, Laz agreed and was pissed off at the same time. Even the calm, cool and unshakable Ruby was clenching her fists like she wanted to hit something.


    ''Got to be sensitive about how people view their new lords and saviors after all while fucking over those of us who were different,'' Laz thought to himself. He knew things for people like him would get much worse soon, but he just didn''t know what he could do about it. Then again, as long as he managed to protect himself and those around him, that would be enough, right?.


    And although Laz had a few ideas, he still didn''t know why such a deep seeded hatred existed between them. He didn''t deny that he felt it, he just didn''t know why he felt it.


    But what did it matter in the end? Some people were just meant to be enemies. Even if the whole world was against him, Laz would never stop moving forward. Not until he found his parents and his grandpa was safe... all of them.


    But for the moment, Laz felt it best to focus on here and now. With a slight hand movement, he was able to get Ruby''s attention. And with just a nod, he was able to calm her down.


    "Anyway Captain. Although I am not one hundred percent sure, I''m guessing you and your men will be part of the base crew. Once they open up the other side, your job will be to go in and set up a recon and ops base. Once that''s set, you will be on standby until further orders. But like I said, that''s only a guess."


    "Got it. Thank you Corporal."


    "Of course sir. We''ve got to stick together after all. To tell you the truth..."


    "Yes Corporal?"


    "Well sir. Between us. I don''t really like these guys. They basically act like they are god''s gift to the human race. Fuck sir, some of them even act like god himself! It''s sickening. Maybe they are like golden idols to the normal people. But if you spend any amount of time with them, you learn that they are all egotistical narcissists..."


    "CORPORAL!" Laz said in a stern tone.


    "SIR... Sorry sir."


    "It''s ok Corporal. There are just some ces that are safe to speak and some that aren''t."


    Laz felt like he should stop the young man now before he got himself overheard. Besides which, Laz felt like what he was saying was his honest opinion, but this could just be a set up to test Laz and his men too. You could never be too sure.


    "Compared to the few infected that I''ve seen, the difference is like night and day?"


    "Oh? How so?" Laz knew he shouldn''t have asked, but he really was curious as to how the young man who looked to be older than Laz felt about people like Laz.


    "Even if they change into some freaky looking monsters, they still act more human that these asshats."


    "It''s best if you keep that opinion between us Corporal."


    "Yes sir."


    "Where did you end up encountering those infected anyway? From what I have heard, they are a mostly spread out bunch and they''ve been mostly kept off the news." Laz probed to see what info he could get.


    "Well sir... We encountered a group while we were on route from base. Those evolved managed to sniff them out somehow and decided they would have some fun and attack them. After killing about half of them, the other half were detained and sent to a secret prison facility. I''m not sure where it is since it was only heresay, but from the sounds of it, it''s big and isted."


    "That... sigh... will we ever learn from our mistakes?" Laz asked, thinking about some things. At the same time, the Corporal nodded his head, thinking Laz was thinking the same thing.


    "I know, right? My grandpa used to talk about the concentration camps he came across back in the war all those years ago. He even told me that the US was one of the first countries to use them although were weren''t actively trying to kill it''s upants. Still, for us to throw American citizens into these ces..."


    "Corporal. Although your heart is in the right ce, it would be best if in the future, you learned to talk less. You never know who might be listening." Laz could feel a spiritual sense lock onto them as he cut off the young man once again. The spiritual sense was nowhere near as powerful as Laz''s, but it was still pretty impressive.


    Laz knew they had reached the basement.


    As if on que, the young Corporal opened the double doors and propped it open, allowing for Laz and his followers to move inside.


    They were greeted by a site they would never forget.


    The entire basement had been dug out leaving only the foundation in ce. In the center, lit up by arge number of spot lights, stood a single door that looked like it led to nowhere. It was just standing up in the middle of the room, looking like some bad stage prop for a messed up steam punk show. The door itself looked like it was made of brass and covered inyers of mechanisms and gears. ced around the door was a plexiss cage that was then surrounded byyers andyers of wired cages, concrete barriers and groups of armed solders. And in one area off to the side were dozens of reporters with cameras and video equipment set up , filming the whole event.


    Laz honestly didn''t know what to make of it, but he quickly regained his cool and put on a nk face as though observing the surroundings.


    A rather handsome guy dressed in a tailored suit with a bullet proof vest on saw Laz and his men and quickly made his way over.


    "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" He said without even bothering to be nice.


    The Corporal who had shown them the way made his way over to the front.


    "Sir. These are reinforcements sent for the mission." Collins said with a salute.


    "Like they fucking matter. Just a few more flesh shields for us I guess. Whatever. Set them up with the B team... Hey... you''ve got some rather attractive girls with you here... might not be a waste after all... what''s your name gorgeous?" The man asked Ruby who was standing right next to Laz.


    Laz could tell two things right away. One, this man was a chosen... or evolved. And two, he shouldn''t let Ruby respond since anything she said would make things worse.


    "Captain Briggs. Fort Meyers. Thank you for thepliment sir," Laz said, stepping in front of Ruby as though he was the one being asked the question.


    "I WASN''T FUCKING TALKING TO YOU, YOU MOTHER FUCKER..."


    "Sir. These are professional troops sent over at the request of the Commander. Perhaps it would be best to let them get geared up and ready seeing as how the door will be opening soon?" Collins asked, stepping in. Although he didn''t know anything about Laz''spany, what he did know was that Laz''spany had no experience handling these people and that might result in an altercation. Therefore it was best to get them away from each other as soon as possible.


    "FINE. Fine. Send them over. There will be plenty of time to get to know each other on the other side. And over there, my word is the fuckingw," the suited man snorted before moving away.


    Collings couldn''t help but wipe the sweat off his forehead despite the coolness in the air and quickly directed Laz and his men to the group B prep area.


    "Sir. Make sure your people keep a low profile because he is right in a sense. Once you are on the other side, no matter what he does, there will be no one to stop him."


    "Got it. Thank you again Corporal Collins. You''re a good man. Perhaps... after we got over there... you should get outside and get some air. You know, head back early. You''re not looking so well..." Laz said, using the barest amount of his spiritual sense. He noticed that the runes he used were super effective in hiding them from even the chosen so he decided to help the young man by putting this thought into his head that would affect him a bitter on.


    Laz kind of got the feeling that when it was time for them to leave, there was going to be a lot of trouble and this nice guy shouldn''t be a part of it.


    "Uh... Yeah... Ok..." Collins'' eyes zed over for just a minute before returning to normal. Laz knew his ability had taken effect.


    With that, Laz, Ruby and everyone else moved over into the assigned area and began gearing up... or at least looking like they were. Quite a few of them had never used a gun before so Laz made his rounds, showing everyone the basics while making it look like he was just doing an inspection before anyone else noticed.


    Just as he finished getting Remi to hold her rifle in a slightly professional way, they heard a low bang followed by the sound of a lot of air blowing.


    Looking over, Laz saw the door radiating a strong light, far stronger than the spot lights that were pointed at it.


    Even more amazing though was that the door was opening on it''s own.

 Chapter 282: Another World

    Chapter 282: Another World


    Everyone''s eyes were peeled on the door, opening as though a giant beast had awoken from slumber. The sounding from the door, an eerie screeching sound, sent shivers down everyone''s back.


    Everyone, including Laz''s group, braced for some sort of crazy event to ur. But contrary to that feeling, the door swung open all the way, a full 180 degrees and then stopped. The blinding lighting from the door also receded, bing a dull white light that looked like a bubbleing from the door.


    After a few moments of no one moving, there was suddenly augh, followed by a few more until a feeling of ease washed over the entire crowd.


    The media was quick to start asking questions and taking pictures and video while several people went to stand in front of the door and speak among themselves.


    Even Laz''s group of people seemed to settle down, seeing the tension in the room fade. Just as Ruby looked over at Laz to ask him his opinion though, she got a bit of a fright.


    Laz was staring at the door still while grinding his teeth, something that showed he was very annoyed and angry. Looking at Laz and then at the door, Ruby couldn''t make out the cause of his irritation.


    "Captain?" She said, keeping her voice low as to not attract attention.


    Laz didn''t respond.


    "Captain? Sir?" She said again, this time a little louder. But still Laz didn''t move.


    Seeing him ignoring her, Ruby felt like there was something really important that she was missing. But even then, she wasn''t about to let him loose his cool. Plus, she was kind of angry at being ignored.


    As such, she did what every girlfriend that has been ignored did, she slid over closer to Laz and elbowed him in the stomach as hard as she could, catching him off guard.


    Laz wanted to make a noise after being attacked but didn''t, keeping that much of the situation in mind. But when he looked over in anger, he saw Ruby staring at him with fire in her eyes and he calmed himself down.


    "Did you have to hit me so hard?"


    "Did you have to ignore me?"


    "Fair enough." Laz knew he wasn''t going to win this argument... or any really.


    "So what''s got you so fired up?" Ruby asked.


    "Tommy''s here."


    "Tommy...? You mean Tommy Tommy? The one from your hometown that Kennedy was... using for a little bit?"


    "Yeah. That Tommy. The chosen/evolved son of a bitch that I would love to get my hands on..."


    "But what is he..." Looking over though, Ruby could see that no matter who was speaking to the man in the middle of the group checking out the gate, everyone was being very respectful.


    "I don''t know. But what I can tell you is things just got a lot moreplicated," Laz said, thinking back to the few times they had interacted. He knew that Tommy had changed around the same time he did. Although Laz couldn''t be certain if that also meant that he had grown at the same pace as Laz, it also meant that there was no way he would be weak. In addition, this also indicated that there was a lot more going on here than just a local group taking charge of this gate..


    "He is in charge. That''s important to note. And this guy is aszy as fuck so if he''s here, that means someone made him be here. And assuming that things didn''t change that much, I can guess who that someone is," Laz added to Ruby. The someone he was talking about was Jesse. Despite having left that part of his life behind him, Laz hadn''t stopped paying attention to the yers that he had met during his time with Kennedy and Malene back then. Jesse, Tommy and Annie had been in the news more than once if you knew where to look.


    While Jesse was riding high within the dealings of Global Sciences Inc, Annie had made a name for herself with an entirely different group of people. She had somehow made it big on the small screen, taking walk on rolls at first beforending a leading roll in a teen drama. She was also a bit of an icon for Global Sciences, having done promo''s for some of thepanies products.


    Even her boy toy Alex had gone on to being a star in college at American Football.


    Compared to Laz, they were all living the high life.


    "So do we go ahead with the n?" Ruby asked, wondering if this old ''friend'' of Laz might prove to be an issue.


    "I doubt he remembers me. But even if he does, so what? The rune is currently holding and he couldn''t give a damn about us ''solders'' so as long as I don''t meet him face to face, we will be good.


    "Alright. It''s your call baby. I''ll be here with you no matter what."


    Laz told Ruby thank you before turning his attention back to the gate.


    Tommy, seeing that everything was like it was suppose to be, turned around to address the crowd.


    "Everyone. Wee and thanks for joining us today. In just a moment, myself and other select members of our order shall enter into the gate first, followed by our friends of the armed forces. Our job is to make sure that the opening area is clear while our military friends set up a temporary recon base inside. I will be moving off shortly to do some information gather once we get inside, so I will have my assistant, Charles, direct your movements to check out the inside itself once it is deemed safe. Please remember that while you should be able to record inside, I highly doubt the transmissions will broadcast to this side. And as far as we can tell, hard lines will get scrambled so unfortunately, all of you will have to record and then bring the footage back yourselves. Once again, your safety is very important to us so please remember to follow instructions quickly and in an orderly fashion. That''s it everyone. I hope you are able to enjoy this as much as the rest of us. Let''s move everyone." Tommy said with a dazzling smile, putting everyone at ease.


    ''What a hypocritical asshole,'' Laz thought to himself. Perhaps only he was able to tell that what Tommy was really saying was that if all of you die, it''s your own damn fault. And on top of that, we will make sure that anything that happens stays inside and we will make sure to me you if you go off and die. To everyone else, it basically sounded like it was going to be no big deal.


    "That guy is kind of a rat..." Ruby said, very softly. Seems like she noticed it too. Looking around at their own group, Ruby was able to tell that everyone else seemed reassured by his words. Ruby''s gazended on Remi though to see her hiding her head. Turning back to where she was looking, she noticed that the two people standing next to Tommy not only looked exactly alike, but they also had white colored hair. Once Ruby looked closer, she noticed that there were quite a few simrities between them.


    "That one called Charles and the person next to him look like identical twins," Ruby pointed out to Laz.


    "I can see that. I wonder if Tommy is leaving Charles out of the exploration while bringing his brother along has some sort of meaning?" Laz responded, not knowing her thoughts.


    "I think what''s more important is that both of those chosen, Charles and his brother... look a lot like that girl Remi..." Ruby pointed out, catching Laz''s attention.


    Laz turned to look at Remi, then back at the twins... He recognized them even further as being the two evolved he ran into when he first came to town and set out of their group gathering.


    "Fuck!"


    Laz didn''t have anymore time to think about it as all the military groups were being called into position. Tommy and his team went through the gate with no hesitation what so ever.


    "When you get over there, drop your gear and spread out, forming a circle around the gate on the other side. Don''t break formation until you get orders to do so," the major yelled out while the teams formed up.


    Just as Laz and everyone had gotten into ce, the first group went through. The Major counted out loud, down from thirty and sent the next group in.


    Even before they had time to collect themselves. Laz''s team was up.


    Laz took a quick look back at everyone who, coincidently, were looking at up him. With a smile and a nod, Laz reassured them. As soon as the Major said ''go,'' Laz and Ruby marched forward without missing a step, entering the gate and disappearing from site.


    For the ones that were behind them, Dwayne, Remi and all the others, they saw this, gritted their teeth and ran forward as well, trusting Laz''s lead.


    As he entered the gate, it was like walking into a bubble that didn''t pop. There was a little bit of resistance, but that was it. As soon as Laz opened his eyes, he was in another world. It was much less disorienting as when he went over to that spirit realm with Tyr.


    The first thing Laz noticed when he arrived was the there was a dull, orange glow over everything, like a world suffused in sunset. The air was breathable, which Laz had only considered now. And they were surrounded by huge metal buildings that were made up of gears, cogs and other moving parts. Everything around him resembled a world that looked like it had been made up in the same way the gate was.


    Laz was amazed at being ced into this steampunk like setting, but that onlysted for a moment.


    Bang.


    Boom...


    BOOM...


    Shots and explosions rang out from all over the ce. Laz and Ruby, both with a bit of experience in this kind of thing, made their way to the closest cover they could find while yelling at their group who had just popped through the gate.


    "WAKE THE FUCK UP AND FIND COVER," Laz yelled, causing them all to scramble. Almost everyone got behind something quickly except for two poor bastards from the council''s group who didn''t move fast enough.


    Red light beams pierced through their heads while everyone looked on. They crumbled to the ground without a hint of life, like empty meat sacks.


    It was now apparent to everyone that things had just gotten really, really bad.

 Chapter 283: Automations

    Chapter 283: Automations


    Lax was crouched behind a metal wall while his group was spread out around him, ducking behind other walls, rubble and whatever else could be used for cover. Seeing this, Laz knew that they were just sitting ducks and he had no idea even what was shooting at him.


    Taking a deep breath, Laz stuck his head up and looked.


    The gate was located in what used to be some sort of gathering area. It looked like an open yard while the ground was paved with a weird, ck stone. All over the edges of the area, Laz could make out solders having taken cover while shooting recklessly towards a shed like structure sitting off to the side, almostpletely unnoticeable. While Laz looked on, a door on the shed opened, revealing a small, knee height, robot looking contraption. It resembled a box with two bent sticks pointing out of the top of it. Before Laz could even take in what was happening, the stick like, metal poles pointed towards an area that had several troops shooting at the shed.


    The red light condensed on the ends of the sticks and then shot out, piercing the wall the men where hiding behind and killing off two of there number before they could spread out.


    In response, the still living troops threw over several grenades'' that rolled underneath the tiny robot before exploding. The robot shot in the air several dozens of feet before it came crashing down, a mangled mess of parts.


    "That''s five," Laz heard one of the men yell out.


    "How the fuck many of those things are there? We got to fucking wait until they stay still long enough to blow them up while several of us die each time," Laz heard another guy yell from the other side of the circle shaped area.


    "HEY, NEW GUYS! YOU BASTARDS OK?"


    "WE''RE GETTING ATTACKED BY ROBOTIC GARBAGE CANS. HOW THE FUCK ARE WE OK?" Laz shouted back, letting him know they were there.


    "We need to hold this position for as long as it takes to clear all these things. There is about a two minute gap between when it sends one out," The guy to the left of Laz''s position yelled.


    "Why didn''t anyonee back to warn us about this?" Laz asked, wondering what they would do when civilians starteding through.


    "Can''t get back in. The gate seems to be one way only. At least that''s what those special bastards said before taking off and leaving us here." The guy on Laz''s right replied.


    "They left?" Looking around, Laz noticed only military personal in the area.


    Laz then looked up and around, trying to catch sight of something, anything, to get them out of this. His eyesnded on a screen in the center of the area, floating around thirty feet of the ground. On it were a strange collection of what looked like words, projected in white against the natural blue of the screen. It almost looked like a pop up menu from some video game.


    "What the hell? Is that a hologram?" Ruby said, following his sight. But Laz didn''t respond back, instead, he looked at the screen in thought.


    For anyone else reading it, it looked like a bunch of strange symbols that probably meant something, but there was no telling what. For Laz though, it felt like he could recognize what it said, but had no idea as to why...


    "Wee to Rapture..." Laz said, mostly to himself.


    "HEY, ANY OF YOU OVER THERE," Laz called out before Ruby could asked him what he meant by wee to Rapture.


    "What Captain?" One of the other teams leaders called back. He just so happened to be a Captain as well, Laz just didn''t know it.


    "When you came in, did anyone look closely at this sign up here?" Laz asked, having a thought.


    "What? The sign? The glowing screen thing?" That Captain asked back..


    "Yeah. That."


    "No. Why the hell would we look at something we can''t read?"


    "Alright. Then what happened when you came in?" Laz needed more info to see if he was right. Because unless he could verify it, there was no way he could get anyone through this safely and the best course of action would be to escape.


    "When We got in, the Evolved were standing around, talking and pointing at things. We took up positions and startedying out our gear. One of them walked over to us and said something about a time difference. Apparently, they had been in for about an hour when we got in. Considering the five minute time in between groups, we knew that indicated the difference. While we were trying to get any info we could about what threats they had encountered, the one who spoke to us said there was nothing here and they were moving on. So just sit tight and wait for the remaining groups while they go have a look around. After that, they left. And shortly after they left, we got attacked." The Captain exined things as best as he remembered.


    Laz thought to himself for a bit and looked around. He could see where there was remains from the blown up trash cans, several bodies that hadn''t been retrieved and various bits of rubble. Strangely enough, there was also one trash can like lump that was far from the shed, on the other side of the area.


    "When they were leaving, did one of them hit one of those trash can like robots over there?" Laz asked, pointing to where he saw the creature.


    The captain from the second squad waited while the captain from the first squad thought for a bit.


    "Now that you mention it, yes. He was walking and kicked it idently after not seeing it. As the others made fun of him, he then stomped on it as hard as he could, destroying it," the captain finally answered back, having remembered.


    "SHIT. THEY''RE COMING AGAIN," Someone yelled out, getting everyone''s attention. The shed, which had been in a dormant state, lit up while the tiny door in the front opened. Just as everyone got back undercover though, a second shed popped up a ways away from the first. This one was dangerously close to where the second squad had found cover. The tiny door on the front if it opened as well, just as the captain was yelling for his men to move out and find other cover.


    Seeing this, Laz looked up to the sky again, focusing on the sign.


    "Is that... what that means?" Laz mumbled before Ruby got his attention with an elbow to the ribs.


    "We need to provide covering fire..." She said, pointing at the men making a run for it before the tiny robot popped out.


    "Right. Take aim at the bots and open fire. And make sure to avoid the other squads." Laz couldn''t say too much to those who had gathered since he didn''t want to alert the other squads, but Laz was worried that one of his people wouldn''t know what they were doing and idently shoot someone.


    Luckily his worries were unfounded. In fact, even though most of them had never fired a gun before, they knew the mechanics of how to. Once you added that into their natural body strength along with their heightened senses and each one of them could have been considered a sharp shooter in another squad.


    There was no doubt from the other squads that Laz''s group was a big help.


    The same scene as before yed out as the little robots zoomed around. Once they stopped to fire, some grenades were lobbed underneath them, causing them to explode and break. If it wasn''t for that, then the hard armor on the exterior of this little automations would have been impossible to prate.


    What no one noticed but Laz was that his team waspletely ignored as the two robots targeted the other squads instead, even the one that was running for cover while.


    "They are reactive..." Laz said to himself.


    "They are also ignoring us," Ruby noted as she looked on. It seemed as though she noticed it too.


    "It''s the effect of the runes. They are still active, even in this ce. And what''s more... the energy here is actually thicker than anywhere I have been on Earth... minus that spirit zone." Laz responded back softly, keeping the conversation between the two of them.


    "Then why the hell did two of our group get in right when we got in?" Ruby asked, wondering.


    "They were just really, really unlucky. Did you noticed how the other squads are moving from ce to ce while firing? My guess would be they avoided the light shot while running by and our guys got hit instead," Laz said after thinking over what he had seen when they first came in.


    "That... yeah. That sounds about right. Poor bastards..."


    "Well, at least it taught everyone else to be more careful. And it proves the runes really are useful. But..."


    "...If this happens a few more times, they will notice it too," Ruby said, pointing out the issue.


    "I have a solution for that... I think... But I don''t think anyone will believe me."


    "What''s that?" Ruby asked, amazed that he hade up with something so quickly.


    "Stop shooting and let the little things run around for a bit, firing off their lights."


    "Isn''t that just asking to be killed?" Ruby questioned back.


    "Maybe. But currently, every time we go through a round of this, our threat level increases. See that sign up there? The bottom line, if I''m not wrong... is a threat meter. The faster we kill this things, the faster it fills up." Laz told her.


    "Is that why there are two of them now?"


    "Yes. And because we took them out so quickly, it already jumped a level..." Laz noticed the problem. The jump was much bigger than what happened when they only destroyed one. And it wasn''t just a double jump either.


    "So is there going to be three of them now?" Ruby asked, looking around at where the other sheds might pop up.


    Laz had that question as well. He also wondered why they didn''t try to destroy the shed. But he then noticed st marks across the first one and realized that they must have tried to and failed.


    "THERE''RE COMING BACK FASTER," one of the Captains called out just as the second squad got behind a bit of copsed metal wall.


    It was still two shed open lighting up and the tiny door on the front opened, letting loose two more automations. Seeing the size of the sheds, Laz got the feeling that the automations were beingunched from somewhere underneath and the sheds themselves were just a chute of some sort.


    This time though, there was a difference. The top of the sheds slid to the sides and two more trash can like robotsunched from the top of them. This time though, the trash cans, instead of being on wheels, had no visible openings on their bases. Instead, they were surrounded by a white light ring that caused them to float in the air.


    "Shit." Laz was now faced with a choice. The assault rifles weren''t able to damage the automations normally and instead were just used as a distraction. Once they stopped moving, a well ced grenade would destroy it from the bottom. But that seemed to only work since the tiny robots had an exposed area thanks to their wheels. Once that was removed, there was no way to know if something else would take it out.


    Laz knew the other groups had some rockets, but there was no telling if a direct hit to the ting on the outside of these things would do any real damage. That was assuming they could even hit them considering there small size.


    But this was only a problem in terms of hiding themselves. Laz had no doubt that if he made a move, he would be able to crush those things in his hands without an issue. Of course there was the question of how dangerous thatser like light would be, but Laz knew he would have to test it out one way or the other. The two that had died to it before really were the weakest of the group.


    For now though, Laz didn''t have a choice as the other two squads would get decimated by the flyers if they kept doing the same thing.


    "Everyone, cease fire," Laz called out to his squad.


    "What the hell?" One of the other squad captain''s asked after hearing Laz give out the order.


    "Captain, I can''t tell you what to do one way or the other. Until the next group with the higher ranked officers gets here, we have to do things as we all see fit. And what I''m seeing right now is that these things are reactive. They are targeting those who are firing on them first. If we stop firing, they might just ignore us..." Laz gave his hypothesis.


    "THEY MIGHT?!?!" The captain yelled back, pissed off at Laz.


    "Yes. They might. They didn''t attack when you first came in. They didn''t attack until they were attacked first. If you want to me anyone, me that bastard who kicked the first one. But that won''t solve the problem right now. As soon as those flying types finishing booting up, how the hell do you n on stopping them... shit... it''s active." Laz noticed that the two flyers that had been hovering in ce without moving, suddenly seemed to glow red under the white halo and started flying towards the two squads who were still firing at both them and the small,nd based ones.


    Before Laz could say another word to convince them, the two flyers projected the red light outwards from their antennae like sticks, killing two solders each and sending the rest panicking.


    Seeing how things were going, the two captains shared a look from across the gate area and quickly made a decision.


    "CEASE FIRE."


    "STOP FIRING AND GET DOWN."


    They both yelled at the same time, order there men to remain on standby and stay still. Their men, hesitant to obey that order that seemed more dangerous, stillplied.


    All firing ceased and this became eerily quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were the small buzzing of wheels from the two ground automations and a strange whooshing noise from the two in the air.


    Just when it seemed like it was working, a few more shots fired out from all four of them, causing the men to want to take action again as 4 of theirrades were hit and died.


    "DON''T MOVE," both captains ordered at the same time. They both realized that the four men who had been hit were thest ones to stop firing.


    With a lot of swearing and grumbling, the men continued toy there, quiet and sweating while looking on nervously. Laz and the other captains realized that if they were fired on again, the men would disobey orders and open fire with everything they had. This wasn''t earth after all and there was no telling how many of them would make it back.


    In contrast to the rest of the solders, Laz''s team was quite rxed as they looked on. Dwayne even popped out a cell phone that he had somehow smuggled over and took a selfie while Remi, the four Ivy''s, and Jennia looked on in wonder at hisck of understanding of the situation.


    Just when it seemed like someone was going to snap, the automations made one final run around the gate area and returned to their sheds that then retreated below ground. One of the ground units deactivated and took up a position right at the spot where the original one had been before it had been kicked away.


    By the time it stopped moving, it looked like nothing more than a decoration of the gate area.


    As everyone else took a deep breath to try to calm their nerves, Laz looked up at the blue screen still hanging there in the orange tinted sky.


    As he predicted, the bottom line of wording disappeared, reced by a single word which Laz would have sworn meant ''inactive.''

 Chapter 284: Slipping Away

    Chapter 284: Slipping Away


    Laz had questions about how he understood what the sign meant, so when Ruby asked him, he didn''t know how to answer.


    "So that''s it? You don''t have an answer?" Ruby said, a bit annoyed.


    "Would you like me to lie to you?" Laz asked with a half smile.


    "Would you like me to kick your ass in view of everyone here?" Ruby asked back at his stupid question.


    "If I remember correctly, it''s you who enjoyed having her ass."


    "I suggest you shut up right now before you say something I will make you regretter," Ruby stopped him from saying anything else although Laz felt like he detected a slight flush on her cheeks. Still, he decided to stop teasing her for now.


    Now that the immediate threat was over with, Laz recognized another problem. Him and his team were expected to stay by the door and protect the various peopleing in. At no point were they suppose to wander off and do whatever they wanted to do. Laz knew this going in, but that was a problem he had put on hold forter.


    Now waster and Laz hade up with a stupid yet smart idea.


    As the two captains and their remaining men came over to gather with Laz, Laz started looking around in an exaggerated fashion as though he wanted people to know he was doing it. Ruby had no idea what was going on in his head and therefore didn''t say anything.


    "Thank you Captain. We would have all been killed if you hadn''t figured out a solution," said one of the captains to Laz while they both looked on at Laz''s actions.


    "Is there something wrong?" The other captain asked. As far as they were concerned, Laz had seen things they didn''t which indicated a level ofpetence they didn''t have. They respected his for this and would therefore give him more leeway, even if he was acting weird.


    "There is a problem here," Laz replied without exined. He then went over to the various destroyed automations and took some time examining them. He wasn''t really looking for anything but wanted to make it seem like he was.


    More than that, Laz did find something unexpected. Even the destroyed bots still had a power core inside of them which still contained a certain amount of energy. Laz wasn''t sure it would be good for anything, but he was going to save them all the same.


    He made quick work of the destroyed bots before returning to the captains who had been waiting patiently.


    "Look around and tell me what you see," Laz asked.


    "Uhh... A whole lot of metal and nothing?" Captain number one replied without much thought.


    "Yeah... Nothing..." Captain number two added, but with hesitation. He kind of felt like he knew where Laz was going with this statement.


    "Right. Nothing. And when we first got here, there was nothing. Except that screen up there."


    "Yeah. I was meaning to ask. How did you understand what it said?" Captain number one asked back.


    "I didn''t. All I did understand was that if they screen was different than when you first walked in, then it was indicating something. When you look at a gate or ess point as a potential security hazard, then it makes sense that anything around it would be monitoring it." Laz''s reasoning was bullshit, but it made a weird kind of sense. At least enough sense for the other two captains to ept.


    "What are you thinking?".


    "I''m thinking that just staying here as a big group is stupid and dangerous. We need to know more about what''s around us and if any other threats are in the area," Laz replied back with a serious look. This wasn''t the most original thought, Laz figured. ''You all stay here and I''m going to scout the immediate area,'' seemed like a plot line that was not only overused, but seemed stupid when you where in a new environment in which getting picked off one by one was the bigger issue. Still, no matter how dumb it seemed in Laz''s head, it was the only thing he coulde up with on the spot.


    "Alright. Well, my team and I..." The first captain tried to volunteer his remaining squad members for the mission.


    "Captain, with all due respect, your team is broke and tired. Let them rest here while waiting for the next groups to arrive now that we know the immediate area is secure. And make sure not to kick anything, bump into anything or spit on anything that can''t be identified, alright?" Laz responded, implying that his team would do the recon work.


    "Captain. You know this goes against our immediate orders don''t you?" The second captain asked Laz.


    "Those orders were given before the gate was opened and before we knew what to expect. Right now, we are not only sitting in a hostile environment, but we are trapped here until we find a way to open the return gate. I don''t know what''s going to happen in an hour, a day or whatever from now, but for the moment, I want to get working on finding a way back. If they got a problem with it, they can bring it up to me when they get here. Which based on the time difference, looks like it''s going to be a while." Laz said, looking at the ''sky'' that was blocked out by the orangeyer of clouds and light. Laz wasn''t just making this up. Even though a lot had happened when they first got in, barely fifteen minutes had passed since his squad hade in. And if what they are saying was right, that 5 minutes outside equaled an hour in here, then the new arrivals wouldn''t be here for at least 45 minutes. But that was assuming that they came in right at the five minute marker. The troops had been ready to go and on standby. The civiliansing in next wouldn''t be so organized.


    There were two squads left toe in along with various scientists and media. After they all got here, the higher ranked personal woulde in. There would be one majoring in with the next squad though, but there were only going to be a few military personal in that squad while the rest were going to be reporters.


    This was their way of bringing more attention to gate exploration and showing off for the public. After all, there had been nothing like this before in history.


    "Alright Captain. I agree with your analysis. As we discovered, thes don''t seem to work in here as there is too much interference in the atmosphere, but regr electronic devices don''t seem to be affected. With that in mind, try to use a light signaling strategy to keep in touch throughout your investigation. At least this way, the major won''t have anything negative to say about us acting on our own," Captain number one suggested before agreeing on certain light signals with Laz.


    "Excellent idea. Alright squad. Get ready to move out." Laz wasn''t going to waste anymore time and immediately got his people ready to go. Although this was the agreement, Laz had no intention of signaling back after the forty five minutes were up. He didn''t want them to know what he would be doing and he had no idea were the evolved bastards were anyway.


    It was already an unanswered question as to what would happen if the two groups encountered each other in here since they were about the same size.


    Then again, Laz had no intention of keeping the squad together.


    Once out of ear shot from everyone, Laz gather everyone up together.


    "Alright. Here''s the drill. Everyone is to break off into smaller teams and check the ce out. Explore what you can but stay as safe as you can. This is a whole new world and there is no telling what you will find. Remember this though, even the smallest thing you encounter may kill you. And what''s more, right now there is no way to get back. So we need to figure out how to activate the gate on this side." Laz wanted everyone to keep that in mind. They were stuck here just like everyone else so they needed to make sure they found a way to activate the gate on this side.


    "The gate should actually be active on this side," Ruby said, cutting in.


    "What do you mean?" Laz asked.


    "The gate, once activated, should be a two way street. Youe in and go out the same way. If we got into the got, we should be able to go out from the gate. Looking at the gate from this side, there seems to be a barrier preventing us from going back through so just like the little robots, it must be some sort of security measure that has been put in ce."


    "Why would they want us toe in... but not leave..." Remi asked the question first, before a shadow covered her face.


    "It''s some kind of trap." Helen came out and said what some of the quicker members had alreadye up with, including Laz. At first he wasn''t sure, thinking it might be a gate issue. But after Ruby''s information, the wheels in his head turned out that possibility quickly. And it seemed like the most logical one as well.


    "A trap? This ce is a fucking trap?" Dwayne wasn''t one of the quickest when it came to thinking, so hearing this meant he wanted someone to confirm it.


    "Yeah. It''s a fucking trap. Why the hell did I sign up for this shit..." Jennia said, looking like she wanted to cry. She had fought hard to be the leader of her squad ande to this other world, thinking it would be a chance for her. But now...


    "Despite that, there is also an opportunity here," Laz said, drawing everyone''s attention back to himself.


    "Even if it is a trap, that doesn''t mean that there isn''t anything here worth finding. This is a totally different world that seems to have long been abandoned. I have no idea what happened to the people who were here, or even if they were people. What I do know is that you will be able to find things here that don''t exist on our. For example," Laz pulled out the cores he had taken from the destroyed automations.


    "What are those?" Damien asked, watching the crystal and metal like object glowing in Laz''s hand.


    "This is one of the cores from those destroyed robots. Here. See if you can see what I see," Laz handed to core to Damien who studied it for a minute before freezing up in shock.


    "Well... let Remi see," Seeing Damien not moving, Remi grabbed the core from him and check it out herself before also freezing up in shock.


    The same situation urred over and over again as each of the leaders took turns until it got to Ruby who also checked it out.


    "You''re fucking kidding me..." She didn''t freeze, having quite a bit more experience with it.


    "This thing is full of liquid energy... it feels... processed, like you could drink it down without having to worry about it suddenly going unstable and causing you to blow up..." Her analysis was in line with what Laz felt.


    Unlike most of the treasures he had found in the past, the energy here waspletely stable. If you drank it down like a liquid, it would sit in your body until you could digest it all. It might be a little painful in the same way over eating is painful, but it was still doable.


    Of course you could just use it like a snack and take it in bit by bit every chance you had and save yourself from that overly full feeling.


    Either way, that wasn''t something you could get on earth. No matter what treasure you came across on those rare asions you came across a treasure, it would always be a fight to control the energy, allowing it to enter your system and then absorb it until it became you own.


    This was basically cheating.


    "I would havepletely missed this little thing had I not taken a close look at those destroyed robots. And each one had their own core. Which means they have to have a supply of these things somewhere, either already in the automations or piled high somewhere waiting to fuel these little bastards. So imagine what would happen if you found where these things are stored? You would be clear sailing into the next great realm at the least. I don''t know how effective it would be for you after that, but either way, you could sell the rest and be rich overnight. The possibilities are limitless."


    "Damn..." Had they not seen the core for themselves, they would have assumed Laz was lying. But now that they saw it and held it, they hated themselves for not finding them first. They had just been sitting on the floor until Laz came around and plundered the half dozen of them.


    But this also showed them that even the tiniest of things in this world might be a treasure.


    For the first time since they had left Madam Cal''s ce, everyone could feel their blood boiling from excitement.

 Chapter 285: Three Gates

    Chapter 285: Three Gates


    "Now you all know, so pay attention. But try to keep things reasonable. If you see a human size diamond... leave it. There is no way to take it. Riches are good, but they won''t keep you alive. Keep that in mind,"


    "So then...?" Dwayne asked, looking for some guidance. In truth, everyone was. Looking around at the Ivy''s, Helen, Jennia, Dwayne and even Remi, they all looked to Laz for what they should do.


    Laz was afraid to admit that he really hadn''t thought that far through either, he just knew that big things were bad.


    Luckily, he wasn''t alone this time.


    "Look for things with world based energy which should be mostly what you find here. Looking around, this ce seems like a giant metal city so I highly doubt they have much in terms of natural energy items like special nts or such, but if you find some sort of ab, that isn''t out of the question. What you really want are small, easy to carry items like the cores Laz found. These looked like simple door guards so who knows what kinds of cores you can find in other ces. I''ve never been here so I really don''t know what to look for. It''s not like there is a guide for this kind of thing. If it seems special and it''s small enough, bring it. We can always figure it outter. If you find something bigger and either myself or this guy is around, we might be able to take it with us due to some special means, but don''t get hung up on anything. And don''t get too caught up in exploring around. We will designate a meeting spot and we want you all there at a certain time. Just remember that if we find the way back and leave and your still wandering around, you''re probably not getting back in this life time. There is a time gap where five minutes out there is 60 minutes in here. So if it takes two months to open the gate again, that''s three years in here. I highly doubt you will find enough food or whatever to survive that long." Ruby gave a warning at the end of her message. It was only through this that people started to realized that although there might be great fortune to be found here, there was a ton of risks as well.


    This was a sobering thought for everyone gather. Even then, Laz could see a fire in their eyes and he couldn''t me them.


    How many people would ever be put into this kind of situation? How often in life would you get to have an experience like this? Maybe it was because they still didn''t understand exactly how dangerous things were, mostly because they hadn''t been attack thanks to the rune Laz put on everyone. But that was going to wear off soon. And when that happened, each of them would experience the real dangers of this ce.


    Of course there were some who were already prepared for this. Looking at everyone''s reactions, Laz could easily tell that the group sent by Freya was in a league of their own. Just the way they moved as a group, one could tell that they were at one hundred percent preparedness.


    "Any other questions? Everyone have a group ready for themselves?" Laz asked finally.


    Everyone ended up grouping up with each other, showing that they had at least taken some time to figure this out. Basically, everyone was going around with people from their own original organizations. Dwayne was leading a group of guys and girls he wasfortable with, Jennia had her own squad while there was two other groups set. Remi was basically leading a group with Damien and all of the stronger members of the former council while the rest of them had formed a group of their own. As for the members under Helen, she had set up a group by herself while giving orders to a subordinate that was in charge of their second group. The four Ivy''s were going to head off by themselves.


    All in all, they had a n for who was going with who at least. This just left Laz with Ruby, something that he was totally ok with.


    "Excellent," Laz said to no one in particr. Ruby then went on to point out where they would be meeting in around six hours from now. Once there, they would discuss what they would do next and see if anyone had any luck discovering a way out.


    As everyone broke up and moved along, Laz couldn''t help but wonder about how many of them would be returning. It was a mind numbing thought, but one that had to be considered, especially when he thought about how he was being trusted to lead this whole thing.


    No matter what though, anyone who came back alive from this would be far stronger than when they came in.


    "You look worried?" Ruby said, watching the others leave.


    "How many of them are going to return? And how many of them are going to die here?" Laz asked in all seriousness.


    "Would you like the truth?" Ruby responded.


    "Always."


    "We will be lucky if half of them make it to the meeting spot. By the time we leave, we will be lucky if a quarter of them are still breathing," Ruby replied back in all honesty.


    "That''s all?" Laz asked, knowing the death rate would be high, but not that high.


    "This is the third realm I''ve visited. In the first one that we found and Kennedy lead, it was an abandoned ship on a desert ind. The ind wasn''t big and there was strangely no life on it either. Just some strange nts that weren''t dangerous. Despite that, in the wooden, ship like structure, we found dozens of skeletons strewn around like they had all gone crazy and attacked each other. And although they were roughly the size of a human, that''s were the simrities ended. I have no idea what went on, but it looks like very few of them had a peaceful death. In that ce, we found a bunch of these storage items and other goods that still seemed to be in tact. Honestly, it was a good harvest. But when we tried venturing into the ocean to see what it was about, we were attack by giant sea monsters that ate up a dozen of our people in one bite. That sent us running. It was only after careful consideration that we discovered that they didn''t care anything about the ind itself as their entire world was contained under the ocean. And there was no way to probe the area down there.".


    Laz, listening to the story, was shocked. Compared to therge, forest like area with massive creatures he found before, this was apletely different environment. Being stuck on a small ind with no food and surrounded by death, he could imagine why the people from that strange ship ended up killing each other.


    "What about the second realm?'' Laz asked, curious.


    "There wererge open ins as far as the eye could see. And rings of mushrooms were everywhere, especially on hill tops."


    "That seems... uh...?"


    "When we checked out the the closest ring of mushrooms, we found this strange fairy like creature just sitting there on one of thergest mushrooms. The mushrooms themselves didn''t look special, but the moment a group of us walked into the perimeter of the ring, the mushrooms seemed to shake and let off a whole bunch of spores into the air. They then quickly stuck to the team, growing all over them and paralyzing them in seconds. Then, before we could do anything, that strange, fairy type creature jumped up from where it was sitting and attacked our team members, draining their blood before discarding the bodies. As we watched on in horror, it drained each and every one of them before jumping back to it''s mushroom and sitting down. It then looked at us with blood still dripping from it''s lips and smiled while the now bloodless bodies dposed at a rate visible to the eye. Before long, the bodies had be soil that the mushrooms then stuck their roots into and sucked on. It was a nightmare."


    "Fuck..."


    "The ind was mostly safe, minus the water. But the other gate? After that incident, we put off exploring any more until our people got stronger since there was no way to tell just how strong that strange fairy was."


    "You''re not giving it up altogether?" Laz asked, amazed.


    "Each gate represents a world with resources and things that can''t be found here. They are a basically the only way to grow stronger in a short period of time... You like video games right? Well, both of those worlds represent a higher level area than what we are capable of dealing with now. Therefore they will be helpful in the future. Imagine if we are able to find just one weapon within a world like that? Considering the strength of the creatures in it, how powerful would the weapon be? And what if a body of one of the sea creatures washed up on the ind? Imagine what kinds of things we could use it for? Every gate and every realm is a strategic resource that can''t be allowed into someone else''s hands."


    Laz understood what she was saying. Even if all they found were leftovers from some other adventurers, those leftovers could be the most amazing items when brought to this world. They would be worth almost any risk in the end. But what if those things used the gate toe over into this world? At present, who could stop them?


    "Don''t worry so much baby. Kennedy is much smarter than you could imagine. No matter what the situation or how weird things get, shees up with a n that everyone can agree on. That''s why everyone follows her whole heartedly, including me," Ruby said, snuggling into Laz''s arms.


    "I thought you were a part of ck Rose?" Laz asked, thinking back to what he used to know.


    "Time''s changed. People changed and Kennedy offers us far more than just a few jobs here and there," Ruby responded, not really exining. She wasn''t the leader of ck Rose like Kennedy was the leader of the Blood Moon group, or what was globally know as the Hearn Group. Instead, this was all her bosses choice. Sure, Ruby pushed for it. But in the end, it was the Mistresses'' choice.


    "Anyway, what do we do now?" Ruby asked. She was going to follow Laz no matter where he went. It was going to be the first time they operated together since taking out the gang in the factory and she was looking forward to it.


    After hearing her, Laz was going to say they would just stumble around until they found something of note, but right before he did so, he had a funny feeling. To him, it felt like his stomach was sinking like he was going down a huge hill at high speed. After that feeling left him, he body''s jolted as though he had been electrified, before that passed as well. Then, all he was left with was a haunting sense of yearning. The sense was so powerful, he felt himself move without even wanting to.


    Without evenmunicating with Ruby, he started to slowly make his way forward, half in a trance and half awake. He just barely managed to urge his arm enough to grab the sleeve of her military jacket before pulling her with him.


    Laz didn''t know what was happening, his body didn''t seem to want to listen to him. The feeling of being dragged was ufortable, but not painful.


    Something wanted to find Laz, but it didn''t want to hurt him.

 Chapter 286: The Lab

    Chapter 286: The Lab


    Like a siren''s song, Laz was captured.


    He had no idea why.


    As he went forward, Laz walked in between buildings and around piles of rubble without stopping. His walked took him far beyond the border area of themunity square type area that the gate was situated at. Despite this, Laz knew were he was going and didn''t slow down.


    "Are you alright?" Ruby asked, concerned. She saw that Laz didn''t seem like himself at the moment. HIs eyes shown with an unnatural light that scared her a bit, but his even breathing and calm demeanor helped to calm those fears.


    "Yes, but... apparently I have to go somewhere and I''m not being given a choice." Laz was finally able to talk as long as he kept moving the way he was beckoned. Although Ruby was still worried, she tookfort in the fact that Laz didn''t seem worried.


    The journey took a over an hour of straight moving. They finally slowed down when they approached arge, square building. It looked dpidated and there was evenrge holes in parts of the walls that were visible. If not for these things, the building would have been a huge and majestic ce. The outside of the building was decorated with many different sculptures of creatures that looked amazingly lifelike. Human sized metal creations were spread all over the ce while there were evenrge, three story animal like creatures ced right in front of the front door. At least Laz was assuming it was a front door.


    As he walked up the the opening between the two creatures he didn''t recognize, Laz marveled at how bit this ''door'' was. It was almost twice as big as the animal states in front of it, making it almost six stories high. The reason for Laz''s hesitation on calling it a door was because whatever was suppose to be covering the hole was gone, leaving only a worn path going in and out of the building. It''s worth noting that the path size would amodate around six or seven tractor trailer sized trucks going side by side into it.


    Laz couldn''t imagine what this building was used for and more urately, why he was being drawn into it.


    Despite that, he still felt the pull and continued on.


    "This...?" Ruby said, stopping.


    For whatever reason, the pull on Laz was lighter now that he was within the entrance of the building. Because of that, he was finally able to stop moving forward.


    "What is it?" Laz asked, turning to face Ruby.


    "I''m... feeling something too, something weird. Like, something inside here means a lot to me..." Ruby said, almost unable to express her feelings.


    Now Laz was even more shocked.


    "Even you''re feeling something?" Laz asked, concerned.


    "Yes. But, it''s not as strong as what you''ve felt. I feel like I really should go inside, but it''s not strong enough to pull me forward..." Said Ruby after thinking for a moment.


    "I think that the only way we will find an answer is to go inside and see," Laz said. Even though he had misgivings, he was getting more and more intrigued about this.


    "Alright. I guess it would be a waste not to..." Ruby agreed as they both walked forward, side by side under the massive archway that seemed to be the door. Laz had a feeling that he was walking into the mouth of a massive beast.


    Inside, the area was half lit and half in darkness. From the ceiling and the walls, there were several ss like objects that emitted light, but currently less than half of them were working. Around the massive dome like room, litter and rubble was strewn everywhere with barely a clear path to walk forward. Even worse, the rubble consisted of broken and twisted metal that more often than not was as sharp as a knife. It took Ruby and Laz a lot of time to safely find a way through the debris.


    After making their way through a lot of doors and hallways, none of them looking different from the other except for the bits of debris that had fallen from the ceiling being different, they finally ended up at a door that was still locked.


    Laz could feel the drawing from this room. Now that he was outside of it, he knew he had to find a way inside..


    "This is where I need to be too..." Ruby said, staying at the door.


    The only reason either of them knew it was a door was because there was a faint outline on the wall along with what looked like some sort of key pad at about waist height. There weren''t any keys on the key pad and instead were several holes along with a little screen. Neither of them knew what to make of it, or how to ess it. Something like this was far beyond their scope of understanding.


    "How the hell are we suppose to open this?" Laz mused out loud.


    "We don''t even know thenguage much less how this thing works... And I''m guessing that finding another door is out. How the fuck we even made it this far I don''t understand," Ruby said while examining the ''keypad.'' She knew a bit about locks and doors thanks to her job. But this was something from another species so there was no way to guess if it would even work the same.


    Laz was even more confused than she was and started wondering if he could st his way through. The big thing stopping him was he had no idea what the result would be. If he was attacked by some sort of defense system, he would be killed before he could even figure out how he died. The building looked like the power was half on, half off... but that didn''t mean that he had a fifty percent chance of being safe.


    Just as Laz was debating trying a little me to melt the door, he ended up hearing a voice.


    :Find the custodian,: the voice in his head said, surprising him.


    Laz couldn''t help but jump at the voice. It sounded old... very old and very weak. But even then the power behind it was enough to shake his brain to the point of bursting.


    "Did you hear that?" Laz asked in a shaky voice to Ruby. Ruby stopped examining the key pad long enough to look back at Laz and found he had turned as white as a ghost.


    "Baby. You''re looking even whiter than normal. You ok?"


    "Did you hear the voice?" Laz said, steadying himself a bit.


    "No. I didn''t hear anything," Ruby responded. But instead of asking more questions, she quickly grabbed something out of her hand bag that was tied to her waist. It looked like an ornate hand held fan. As soon as she pulled it out, she kept it close to her breast as though she was afraid of shaking it.


    "No. It''s not a threat. It was telling me something..." Laz said. Although he didn''t understand what she was doing with the fan, he knew she was anticipating danger.


    "What did it say?"


    "It said ''find the custodian...''"


    "Find the what...?"


    "I don''t know. Honestly, the weirdest part was that it didn''t sound like English, but I still understood it."


    "That''s..."


    :Hey baby. I want you to make me scream while I ride your face?: Ruby''s voice echoed in Laz''s mind. He knew that they couldmunicate that way, but it wasn''t something they did instinctually.


    "Did you understand that?"


    "You want to scream while riding my face?" Laz said with a half smile.


    Rubyughed.


    "Close enough. But I thought that line towards you in Spanish. Which means, whatever gets said via our minds gets tranted. The problem is that there is always going to be something that doesn''t trante exactly right no matter whatnguage." Ruby summarized her theory. Laz couldn''t help but be impressed with her wits.


    "So then..."


    "As far as what that voice wants you to find, it must be something like a guardian, or a caretaker... or something simr. Something that your brain tranted into custodian."


    "Well what would that be?" Laz asked, looking around.


    "No idea. It''s your voice..." Ruby said with a smirk while also examining the area.


    Nothing really stuck out at first until one of the half lit lights hit a piece of metal just right to catch Laz''s eye.


    He made his way over and gently moving aside some of the fallen rubble, Laz noticed a crushed automation that was just a ways down from the door. Half of it was buried by the fallen ceiling while the rest was damaged. The thing looked human in size, but dented, rusted and beat up beyond repair. He couldn''t be sure, but something was telling him that this hunk of junk was what he was looking for.


    "Baby. Over here," Laz called over to Ruby who was still poking around other pieces of debris.


    "This... is...?" Ruby asked, not sure what Laz was indicating.


    "I think this is it?"


    "You think?"


    "I don''t know."


    "It''s a good thing you''re cute cause otherwise you would be super useless," Ruby teased Laz.


    "Oh. I''m pretty sure I am good for something else..." Laz said, wrapping his arms around her supple waist.


    "Laz. As freaky as I like it and I have never done it in another world before... I don''t think it''s even possible to get into the mood right now..."


    "Yeah. Alright. Good point."


    "Anyway, this thing..." Ruby bent down and looked at the human sized hunk of junk.


    "I''m pretty sure this is what it wanted..."


    "Shh... wait baby... Let me think..."


    Laz didn''t say anything while Ruby looked over the robot. She was careful not to touch anything on it, just to prevent any surprises. Her gaze finally came to rest on what would have been it''s left arm, if it would be called an arm.


    "I think I get it, but it doesn''t make a single bit of fucking sense. Why would machines need locks?" she said while shaking her head.


    "What?"


    "It''s arm... the key is it''s hand type... what ever the fuck it is..."


    "So we need it''s arm?"


    "I think so?"


    "That''s not totally helpful..."


    "You got a better idea big boy, this girl is all ears..."


    "Yeah. No. Ok. We will go with what you said. Still.... I don''t think we can move this thing. It''s basically supporting the entire ceiling that''s copsed on it. Then again, if we only need the hand..." Laz leaned over the indicated arm and summoned out his ck me, covering his entire fist with it. Before Ruby could stop him, Laz m down in a chopping motion. Had the automation been new and undamaged, Laz''s probably wouldn''t of even been able to make a dent. But after such an extended period of time and damaged, the hand came right off with little effort.


    "See? That was easy... oh fuck..." Laz''s smile at a job well down quickly disappeared as the eyes on the monstrosity lit up, like a sleeping creature opening it''s eyelids.


    Laz couldn''t help but back away while carrying the hand as Ruby did the same.


    The creature looked like it wanted to move, but the damage was way too severe for that. Added on to it the amount of weight on top of it, it was barely able to turn it''s head while looking at Ruby and Laz.


    "Intruders detected in mainb. Unit damage 95%. Repair not possible. Support not responding. Switching to primary function, final cleansing. Initiating...."


    "Did you understand that?" Laz asked Ruby.


    "Yes."


    "We are in fucking trouble... I don''t think it''s looking to give us a bath..." Laz said, feeling waves of energying from the automation.


    "Fuck.... You just couldn''t wait, could you?" Ruby said, grabbing the hand from Laz.


    She quickly went to work, connecting the various digits on the hand into the holes on the keypad. After having put the various fingers into the holes, Ruby and Laz heard various clicks taking ce in the door, but after a moment they stopped and the door didn''t open.


    Ruby looked at Laz.


    "You''re looking really calm right now..."


    "Didn''t think I''d die being blown up by an imitation terminator... what a fucking way to go..."


    At that moment the, door which had previously looked like it was dead, started to inch open.


    "Thank god..." Laz said, grabbing Ruby''s hand and rushing inside without even looking.


    Just as they got inside the door, Laz threw Ruby to the side and jumped on top of her before a world ending st sounded. Bright light and intense heat filled the inside of the darkened room through the small, barely human sized crack that had opened.


    After everything had calmed down, Laz finally got off of Ruby, doing his best to stretch his back. Shards of metal had imbedded itself in his back, shredding through his military gear. If it wasn''t for how sturdy he was, he would have been cut to ribbons by that st.


    "That fucking hurt," Laz said trying to get a feel for the damage.


    "Hey, can you give me a hand.... for the love of god''s left testicle...." Laz said as he got a clear view of the room they had gotten into.


    Even Ruby''s eye''s were glued to the things they saw while trying her best not to throw up.


    :Wee to Hell...:

 Chapter 287: Contact

    Chapter 287: Contact


    Although Laz clearly heard the voice in his head, he barely registered it as his gazended on ss tank after ss tank of monstrosities, work bench like areas of of half formed creations and piles of bones from creatures that Laz had no way to identify.


    The entire room looked like some mad scientistsb out of a cheap horror movie. Had it only been that, Laz and Ruby would have been able to carry on since they had both been desensitized to stuff like this over the years thanks to their own experiences and media in general.


    The problem was that some of these things were still moving, at least the ones in the tanks.


    As Laz and Ruby collected themselves, they moved towards the tank that was closest to them. In it, a small creature that looked like a humanoid baby was floating in ce while being restrained by wires. It''s visible muscles and skeleton made it appear like it had had it''s skin peeled off. What was worse was that half it''s skull had been rece by some sort of metal imnt, making it look almost like a cyborg. Half of it''s face was still in tact while the other half looked like they had stopped building it after only being a third of the way done. How it was still alive was anyone''s guess. But the worse part about all of it was that the human side of it seemed intelligent as it''s only good eye was following Laz and Ruby as they walked towards it.


    "It''s... It... it looks like...." Ruby couldn''t even voice the thought.


    "It looks like a baby..." Laz said, understanding her hesitation. Upon a closer look, Laz understood that although the eye was following them, it seemed cloudy, like there was little to no advance thought behind it.


    "If you go crazy... like all the way crazy... and lose your mind... this would be what it looks like..." Laz said out as his eyes met the poor creatures stare. He had seen a documentary on what it would be like to be trapped in a tiny area for an extended period of time and this was a live example of the end conclusion.


    Laz turned away in the end. It''s not that he didn''t feel pity for this poor, human like creature, it was more that he could tell that whatever summoned him here wasn''t it. Seeing him moving away, Ruby took onest look in the tank, took a deep breath and followed him.


    Walking along through the collection of creatures, they saw many more that were just as devastating as the first one. And when Laz looked at what was left of their faces, he saw a hopeless madness in each of their eyes. Everyone on of them was the same.


    On the area outside of the tanks, along the walls of the room, were bench like structures arranged with tools and bones. After stepping out of the rows of tanks, Laz walked over to one and took a look at it.


    The tools were metal, some arranged neatly as though preparing to be used while others were just thrown aside as though they had been used and never cleaned up. But each and every one of them looked rusted. The smaller the tool, the more they had corroded. Picking up a tiny, needle like tool, Laz wanted to take a good look at it, but it turned to dust in his hand.


    Ruby didn''t say anything, just following along. She didn''t know what to say. She had seen horrors before in her life thanks to her job, but this whole thing was on another level. Knowing what those tools had been used for, she held no interest in them what so ever. Although she had thoughts about the metal andpounds used to make them, she didn''t even feel like touching them or taking any of them with her. Besides, with the wear they had gone through, there was no telling if any of them could even be used anymore.


    Making their way back, it was Ruby who ended up distracted first. She didn''t understand why, but she ended up being drawn to one of therge tanks. In it, arge snake, almost three meters in length was bound and unmoving. Like all of the other creatures before it, there were signs of experimentation on it''s body. Unlike the other creatures, the overall damage to this one had been much less. What''s more than that, this snake had beautiful rainbow scales that seemed to change color in the light. Since each tank was lit internally and filled with some sort of liquid, the reflecting light seemed to move even while the creature didn''t. Strangely enough, when Ruby approached it, the creature that had it''s eyes closed seemed to awaken at this moment.


    As Laz watched on, Ruby and the rainbow snake locked gazes before Ruby''s body shifted to what Laz was calling her battle form. In truth, she grew fangs, her eyes became snake like and clusters of red scales popped up all over her body. Laz felt like they were talking, but he couldn''t hear anything so it had to be a spiritual connection. After watching on for a while in concern, Laz saw Ruby turn towards him and smile while waving him on. Whatever she was doing seemed like it might take a while so he might as well keep going.


    Although Laz was still concerned, he trusted her.


    Moving along the huge row of tanks, Laz saw one strange creature after another, with most of them being far more torn down that the snake. In fact, it seemed like it was the exception with everything else being the standard. Laz didn''t recognize any of the creatures he was looking at, it''s not like there was a tank containing a unicorn, although he did pay a little attention to that.


    The one thing that Laz did notice was that every so often, there were a few actual creatures that seemed rather whole. A strange, bright white fox and this pitch ck cat like creature were among the ones that stood out the most. Although Laz stood there and observed them for a moment, they showed no reaction to him, causing him to move on.


    By the time Laz got to where the tanks came to an end, he noticed quite a few of them that were broken, the liquid gone and dried up while whatever was in them was long gone.


    But the thing that caught his attention was not one of the filled tubes, but some grisly remains that had been chained to the wall viarge spikes that were driven through it. As Laz neared, he noticed that the remains still seemed somewhat fleshy considering it wasn''t being maintained inside a tube.


    The other thing he noticed was that the remains were actually that of a torso, the lower half missing entirely.


    Just to support the torso, there were nine spikes impaled at various points. The spikes were huge although the torso wasn''t small. Compared to Laz who was a little taller than 1.8 meters, or 5 feet, 10 inches, the torso looked like it was bigger than Laz even without legs. Of course, because of how high up it was, it was hard to tell..


    The thing that drew Laz to it, besides it''s apparent special ce in theb, was that it had grey, stone like skin, ck, tribal like tattoos all up and down it''s torso and it''s hair was a mixed mess of red and white.


    The torso gave Laz an eerie feeling... like he was looking at himself somewhere in the future.


    :There you are, little one...:


    Laz couldn''t help but step back as he heard the voiceing from the torso. It didn''t move, it wasn''t breathing, but there was still life in it.


    :How are you...: Laz asked the first thing that came to mind, wanting to know how it was still alive.


    :You sound so weak... your blood is so diluted... amazing. It worked... and yet we never heard of it. There must have been a few of us that never gave up over the long years....:


    Laz was confused, having no idea what it was talking about. Of course, considering the circumstances, Laz wouldn''t be surprised if the person the voice belonged to was already crazy.


    :I haven''t lost my facilities, you ignorant pup.:


    "The hell?" Laz said out loud.


    :Of course I can hear your thoughts along with your actual words. Considering the strength of your soul, I have to hold back so as not to destroy you where you stand.: Laz paled when hearing this as he felt like it was true. As it was, the voice was already overbearing, especially because he could only hear it in his head.


    :I''m sorry for any stray thoughts you might hear then. To be honest, this is all very new to me,: Laz said, taking on a rather humble tone. For a while now, Laz had been rather satisfied with his strength. No matter the circumstances, he had gotten through it. Although he was still weary of a creatures while A''ruya, he never thought the distance was too much to make up for. Then again, part of that was simply because it had been a while since he had seen her. Other than her, he didn''t have any experience with anything that could be considered a much stronger being. Perhaps the goddess in the ss coffin, but once again she didn''t seem real since she couldn''t even move.


    It was easy to ignore the things that were out of sight and therefore out of mind.


    But before him right now, this being... was far beyond his understanding.


    :Yes. Let me see little one... let me see your world....rx your mind. I''m simply looking for a picture.:


    Laz wasn''t sure what this thing wanted, but he knew that he couldn''t resist. At the same time, it didn''t seem to want to harm him either which was the best thing he could hope for. So Laz could only do what was asked of him. He rxed his mind and felt the creatures gentle touch enter his head. It wasn''tfortable, but it wasn''t painful either.


    Before Laz even knew what was happening, the touch was gone while the creature was silent.


    :Such a dead world... yet still living. So many gates. And those tree creatures.... They remind me of someone... or something... it''s been too long... Still... it worked. If it worked here... perhaps there are other ces... yes. It could be. It must be.: The creature seemed lost in it''s thoughts while it mumbled to itself, still inside Laz''s head. Maybe it didn''t even know it was doing it. Or maybe it didn''t care.


    :And you. You''ve got the blood and some energy in you. Does that mean you... is this how you look?: It seemed to remember Laz and asked him questions. Had it been rougher with it''s search, it could have pried out all of Laz''s secrets without him being able to respond. But it didn''t. This was the only clear sign that it harbored no ill will towards Laz, or so he figured.


    Without needing to be asked, Laz circted his energy while getting his blood to pump at max. The strong sound of his heat beat echoed within the walls of the metal room and for the first time, the creature seemed to focus keenly on Laz.


    Just as per usual, Laz''s hair turned white while his eyes turned red. The ck, tribal like markings made themselves visible on his body, while his skin took on a greyish tint. In this form, Laz was using the most energy but he was also at his strongest.


    :He he... so young. Your patterns haven''t evene in fully yet. Yet, here you are before me. The product of such an inferior creature and of us.:


    :Who is us?: Laz wondered, forgetting the creature could hear him.


    :We are the Asura. A proud race of warriors, the strongest in the known universe. We hunt dragons for sport. We tame phoenix''s for pets, ride spatial storms when bored and have even been known to dive head first into a ck hole or two, just to see if it leads somewhere,: the creature, the Asura,ugh as it thought about the past while describing it''s people.


    :Like real dragons and phoenix''s?: A picture popped into Laz''s head which in turned caused the Asura tough.


    :Those lizards and birds are what you think a dragon and a phoenix is? Truly how remote you are. An adut size dragon could swallow your home world for a snack while an adut size phoenix would consider using your star to next in for a few millennia. Those are the real kind.:


    :That''s....: Laz had always perceived big and small in terms of his. To find out suchrge creatures existed... Laz didn''t even know how to react. Perhaps he could im it was the ravings of a mad man, but with everything the Asura said, it provided a picture reference into Laz''s mind from it''s own memories.


    :Eye-opening, is it not?:


    :I can''t even begin to imagine...:


    Just as Laz wanted to ask more questions, a rumbling began that quickly filled theb, shaking everything to the point that Laz could barely stay on his feet.


    "Earthquake? Wait... this isn''t Earth... Is this even a nt?" Laz quickly understood that he really knew nothing about this ce, so how was he suppose to figure out what was happening.


    The Asura chained to the wall seemed to know what was happening.


    :Foolish creature. Even if it gets free, then what? All of the enemies are dead and there is no telling where we even are now. Just theck of energy will cause it to die within hours of it''s release...:


    :Sir? What was that?: Laz asked, seeing as how the Asura had some answers.


    :A creature of death and carnage who had been imprisoned here just as long as I have. The moment it escapes, this entire realm will be and of death and emptiness, all to feed it''s long surprised hunger.


    :And how long will that be?: Laz didn''t want to be around to see that thing escape.


    :Well, if I had to make a guess.... around 72 of your''s hours?: It answered back, not quite sure.


    "Fuck," Laz knew they would be cutting this adventure short.

 Chapter 288: A Brief History Of A People Long Gone

    Chapter 288: A Brief History Of A People Long Gone


    Laz had no idea what was going to happen in 72 hours, what this creature was or even if anyone found a way to open the door back. The only thing he did know was that if they didn''t find a way to leave within 72 hours, they would never leave.


    And that was not aforting thought.


    Be that as it may, Laz wasn''t going to freak out because there was a lot more he needed from this creature in front of him. For the first time since Laz had awakened those year ago, he finally found someone who knew more about him than he did. This kind of opportunity wasn''t something he was going to pass up.


    :You have many questions?: The voice asked.


    :Yes.:


    :Well, I''ve got nothing but time I suppose. After all... I''ve been dead for a long time...:


    :YOU WHAT?:


    :HA HA HA HA. Didn''t know that, did you? I can see that your small mind thinks of death as only an ending and a very final one at that. Well, you''re only half right, little one. In truth, even after death, if you are strong enough, you can live on.:


    :That''s....:


    :That''s not something you need to worry about for now. Let me tell you a bit about your ancestors, my people.... our people.:


    Inside Laz''s head, he suddenly saw many pictures and thoughts that went along with it. Although it was a bit of a strain, getting information in this way, it wasn''t ufortable. And it was also a much faster process than if the dead Asura in front of Laz had told him word by word.


    The Asura people used to be located on a beautiful, a very long ways away. Looking at it form space, the, due to it''s special life forms, had a purple tint to the oceans while thendmasses could be many colors, depending on what kind of nt life they contained. The Asura were war like from the beginning and constantly fought with each other. Empires would rise and fall all over the, sometimes within days.


    It was all they knew for the first part of their history.


    But all of that changed with the rise of one man. His strength was unmatched, his rule was iron d but not withoutpassion and his armies were like nothing the had seen before. Within only a few short years of conquest, thest independent nation fell and for the first time in thes long history, it was united under one ruler.


    They finally had peace.


    But peace was a very foreign concept to the war like people.


    The grand ruler understood this and knew that his people, his, was restless. Due to being united, the strength of the average person soared to new heights, not to mention the ruler''s armies. As such, they needed a new enemy to fight. Looking out upon thes in his sr system, they decided to spread the empire out to the stars. Although this didn''t give them anyone to fight, it allowed them a goal that everyone was keen to work on. There was more than one within their sr system that could support life and they were going to make it theirs.


    They made the first contact with a foreign species on the final they could inhabit. The creatures wererge but gentle, low in poption and not a challenge for the invading armies, so even though they loved war, they weren''t going tomit a genocide just to see blood. These new creatures greatly resembled whales that could fly through the air. More interestingly, they also possessed an intelligence that could match the Asura people. During conversation with these creatures, the Asura learned of a gateway, located on the that was considered a ce off limits for the native species.


    This peeked the Asura''s interest greatly.


    And this also started their peoples venturing out into many other gxies and the beginning of their gctic empire.


    As the half body showed Laz all of these images, like a movie in his head at an incredibly fast speed, Laz felt like he was there to witness the rise of this emperor, the movement out to the gxy, discovering new worlds and people and going to war with empires much older than that of the Asura..


    Laz could feel his blood responding to the story.


    On and on the narration in his head went, until theye upon a dark gxy that had no star and no light. Originally, the Asura ignored it, thinking that it couldn''t support life, but soon that decision would lead to a war that would decimate the empire.


    Within that dark gxy resided an ancient and vastly powerful people along with their subordinates. If one were able topletely map the entire length of the universe, they would learn that this dark gxy rested right in the dead center of all creation.


    While the Asura were at war with another huge empire, both sides upying a third of the known universe, enemies unlike anything that had ever seen started pouring out from the dark gxy,ying waste to everyone that stood in their way.


    The empire that the Asura were fighting were targeted first and fell within what could be considered the blink of an eye. Seeing this, the Asura started joining hands with every other major power that they could find, trying their best to hold back these unstoppable creatures.


    For what the could be told about them, they were like shadows made corporeal. They could survive anywhere and everywhere. The creatures that fought at their sides were also strange, beings made of wind and water, ground and fire. A peaceful, green would find themselves swarmed with fire creatures that destroyed the within days of arriving while a frozen wastnd full of strong and sturdy bodied, barbarian like creatures would find themselves assaulted by beings of wind and water that would turn the entire ce into a giant, frozen ice ball, truly devoid of life.


    But the Asura could hold their ground almost anywhere, causing the elemental creatures to have to retreat until their masters arrived.


    As the story seemed to near it''s conclusion, Laz was able to view the final battle between the shadow like creatures and the Asura, one that decimated the center of the universe, cutting off various areas from one another. In it, the Asura who Laz was currently hanging on the wall in front of Laz with was a warrior of great renown and valor, leading his armies into battle. He fought until his body broke in two and the spatial tears ripped the ce apart, causing him to be separated from the few remaining warriors left alive.


    This was almost thest scene to y in Laz''s head. The final scene was one of the Asura floating in space dead, while his soul still remained attached to his body. He seemed to be waiting for his people toe find him, only to eventually be picked up by a massive starship of non-organic creatures.


    This lead him to be brought here. He had no idea how long had passed since that final battle, or even since he arrived where ever he was. Time was hard to measure for a soul.


    Laz felt the sadness, despair and even longing from the creature in front of him. It was hard to miss it. The sadness and despair were easy to ce, but he was unsure of what the longing was.


    :And that is our story. A history of hundreds of thousands of years, many different rulers, all now in the past.:


    :Are there any of us alive out there?: Laz asked back. Having been a witness to their history, he felt more and more like one of their people as he epted it as a part of his heritage.


    :Perhaps. Even if they killed off most of us, I doubt they could have found all of us. And arn''t you standing before me? There must of been one member of our people who lived long enough to be your ancestor.:


    Hearing this, Laz realized something. The longing that the Asura in front of him felt was for that of his lost people. As of this moment, Laz was the closest thing he had to his kind.


    :Is there anything I can do for you?: Laz asked. He felt kinship to this person who''s name he didn''t even know.


    :Had you been stronger, you could have taken my soul with you. When I felt the resonance of our blood, I thought that maybe they hade for me. But instead it was you. I won''t lie and say that I am not saddened by this, but at the same time, I wasn''t going to be able to hold on long enough to find a new body anyway. Had I been weaker, my soul would have long dissipated. But I guess my strength was a blessing when I was alive and a curse now that I am dead.:


    If souls could sigh, Laz felt like he would have heard one. But they didn''t have a breath to sigh with.


    :I''m not sure if I will ever meet our people, but if I do... is there any message you want to pass on?: Laz wanted to do anything he could for this fallen brother.


    :There is. But that can wait a bit. My soul won''t survive that beasts awakening, but at least I have this time to fulfill one wish of mine.:


    :What is that?:


    :I used to lead my men into battle while never taking the time to have a life to myself. We are a people who thrived on battle, but that doesn''t mean we never wished for a life otherwise. I never had a family. You might have guessed it, but we, as a people, have low birth ratespared to other people. So the birth of every son and daughter was a blessing to us. It''s one of the reasons why in the early days of our people, even when fighting each other, we would never ughter a family. If anything like that did ur, everyone, regardless of affiliation, would hunt down the murderer and end them. So now... looking at you. I wish to take you as my first andst disciple.:


    :Me? You... me?: Laz was surprised. Based on everything he had seen, this Asura before him was one of the greater existences of their people. For him to want to take Laz as a disciple seemed pretty far fetched.


    :Had it been any other time, a lower mixed blood like you would never have entered into my eyes. But since I will soon returned to the grasps of our gods, I would like to not let everything that I have done in life be for nothing. And besides, you still do have our blood running through you, even if it is only a trace. That makes you at least worthy of what I can teach you.: It almost seemed like the dead man wasughing at Laz while still holding a bit of warmth while he spoke. And it was as he said. If the Asura was back in his prime, Laz would be nothing to it as there would have been scores of others looking to it for learning and guidance. It just so happened that Laz was who was standing in front of him right now, at his end.


    Laz felt overwhelmed, but he also knew that this was a great opportunity that could onlye once. Although he didn''t know what it would entail, at the very least, Laz hoped it would givefort to the dead man. And besides which, it could be considered repayment for the amazing story he had told Laz.


    Not know what to do to ept, Laz remembered a few stories he read where the disciple would bow to his master. For Laz, that felt a little weird and not enough respect, so instead he got down as though doing a superheronding on his knee and bowed his head.


    Seeing this, Laz felt like he heard the creature in front of himugh before his voice rang in Laz''s head.


    :Not like that, young one. We Asura are a proud race. Even to our ruler, we would at most bow our heads as a sign of respect. He or she would never ask more that that either since they wouldn''t insult the importance of their people. Instead, you should salute with your hand in front of your heart in a fist. For us, it shows that you are willing to fight and die for the one you are saluting. That is the way the disciple acknowledges the master. Of course, I won''t expect you to die for a dead man.: The Asura seemed tough even more at his own joke, showing a rare sign of actual happiness. He had given up hope, yet in his final moments, he was brought such a precious gift.


    How could he not be content?


    Laz, taking his words to heart, stood and ced his fist against his heart while lowering his head.


    :Good. Very good. Ah ha ha ha. Now then. We don''t have much time, especially if I am to help to to improve. It seems like you have already broken two blocks in your foundation realm, but the third one is leaving you stuck. Well, that''s easy enough to fix...: With just a thought from the Asura, Laz felt thest binding disappear... even without the answer. His already solid foundation was suddenly pushed forward, arriving at the peak of the foundation realm without so much as a hup.


    :But how...?: Laz was confused. He had found the keys to open the blocks randomly before, but now it just disappeared as though it didn''t exist. Looking at his base, Laz could see a long line of runes stretched out a along the bottom. The part that was confusing was that several of those runes were ones he had never seen before.


    :Confused?:


    :Yes...:


    :There was never a block. It was simply yourck of understanding of your Asura blood.:


    :Myck of understanding?:


    :Why do you think that a few phrases were enough for you to advance?:


    :Then what''s different now?:


    :Now... Now you understand yourself. What I gave you wasn''t just our history, it was us, as a people. You understand who we are... and that helps you to understand who you are. What you saw was only the surface story. But there was far more buried in there that you will understand in the future.:


    :What does that mean master?:


    :Ha... There are no shortcuts on this one. But don''t worried. As your master, I have a few presents for you before I send you off.:


    :Oh?: Laz''s interest was peeked.


    :But these gifts don''te without a price...:


    :If there is a price, are they really gifts?: Laz asked, obviously a little turned off not.


    "Of course. Gifts are gifts, it''s just not all gifts can just be given. For this first gift, you will need a pay a price in pain.:


    :In... pain...?:


    :Scared?: Laz''s new master seemed to be very amused at the moment.


    :What? Scared? No... no. Of course not. What is a little pain after all?:


    :HA. Good. As expected of my only... kind of forced disciple...:


    :When you say it like that.:


    :Well. Whatever. Alright. For this first gift, what you have to do is very easy.:


    :Whenever your ready master.:


    :Good spirit. Now... dig out your eyes!:


    :WELP, FUCK THIS SHIT I''M OUT.: Laz turned around to walk away.

 Chapter 289: Eyes Of Raksha

    Chapter 289: Eyes Of Rak''sha


    :Ha ha ah ha ha ah... You just became my disciple and you already have turned against me?: Rather than mad by Laz''s rejection, the Asura seemed amused.


    Laz didn''t find it amusing though.


    :Hey look. I''m not sure what sort of blind techniques you want to teach me, but I''m going to have to say no. I like my eyes just the way they are... functional.: Laz was still backing away when he felt a strong pressure descend upon him, holding him in ce. At the same time, Laz noticed that above the body of the Asura, there was a strange being made of light that looked like an exact replica of the body when it was whole.


    :What are you doing... master?: Laz asked, knowing where the pressure wasing from.


    :Ah, my dear disciple. Do you honestly think I want to blind you? Although there is quite a selection of high level techniques that we Asura have for fighting blind and in fact, there is an entire race of women warriors who are actually born blind who are fear through the gxy. Despite that, there are many innate techniques that we Asura use our eyes for.:


    :Then why would you want me to gouge out my own eyes?:


    :Tell me... when your blood starts injecting energy into your body and you take on the half form of an Asura, have you noticed the red glow in your eyes?:


    :Yes. I have.:


    :That''s not normal. Not at all actually. In fact, that is a sign that your eyes are under an immense amount of strain. Your human body has limits that can''t be ovee no matter how much you strengthen it. Well, that''s half right. Your human body is amazing in that it can adapt to the strain of the Asura blood and grow stronger while also changing to support your Asura bloodline. But there are some parts of the body that can''t grow stronger. As I''m sure you know, most mortals from the time they are born until the time they die experience their eyes getting progressively weaker, or at least they don''t get stronger. They are one of the few organs that can''t grow, change, or evolve into something better. Our people have a way to make their eyes stronger, one of our most secret techniques. I wish to share that with you since it will be a great help to your future. But you have human eyes and therefore are unable to practice these techniques.:


    :Then what is the point of removing my eyes?: Laz had always had a thing for his blue eyes. He really didn''t want to see them go.


    :Because... I am going to move the eyes from my corpse to your body.:


    :That''s... you can do that?: That seemed pretty outrageous from Laz''s point of view.


    :No idea. But it''s worth a shot. Now hold still...:


    Without waiting for Laz''s approval, his master caused Laz toy down while he heard a rather strange noiseing from the corpse on the wall. Like a plunger being pulled, the eyelids of the corpse opened up and it''s eyes were removed. Laz didn''t want to watch, but he couldn''t close his eyes either.


    Before he could even argue, Laz felt an intense pain in his eyes before everything went dark.


    :Oh... Interesting... That''s unexpected...:


    Listening on while his master madement afterment, Laz started to sweat. Imagine a situation where you doctor dragged you in for a surgery against your will on your major organs, kept you awake the whole time and then said ''well... I''ve never seen that before... now what do I do?'' and that would describe Laz''s feeling right at this moment.


    :Why the hell does he have so many nerve endings...?:


    :I''m fucked... I''m soooo fuuuuucckkeeedddd.:


    :I''m not even sure what that means, but just give me a minute.:


    Although Laz wanted to respond, he also decided it was best to keep quiet. There was no guarantee that if he somehow distracted the Asura, he might end up seeing upside down from now on..


    :Ah. Right. There we go.:


    Just as Laz started giving up hope, light suddenly prated his eyes as the pressure holding him down was released. Laz took a moment to blink several times while using his hands to make sure there was still balls in his eye sockets.


    :Disciple. Yourck of trust in me is hurtful...: The Asura never stopped seeming to be amused by everything that was happening. Perhaps after his own death, he hade to pay more attention to the little things that he had missed while he was alive.


    :They work... WOW... WHAT THE HELL...:


    Laz was amazed and the change was difficult to describe. The best way to do it was that if the way Laz''s vision worked before, it was like watching an old tube based tv. Now, he was seeing the world like he was watching an OLED. The difference was like night and day.


    :This...: Laz stood up and actually got dizzy from the change in view.


    :Calm yourself and take it slow. Your mind isn''t used to the way your eyes perceive things yet so that will take some time. Honestly though, I was slightly wrong before,: his master said with a bit of shame.


    :Wrong about what master?: Laz had no problem calling this creature his master now that he had received such a gift. Laz finally understood that there was no way he could fathom the means of such a creature. After all, he had never heard about something like using someone else''s eyes on earth to let someone else see.


    :Your eyes. They were somewhat weak, but not as weak as I thought. Although they weren''t on par with my eyes, they would have been about the same as a normal Asura''s. I''m not entirely sure, but I think that there is more than one bloodline within you. And this other bloodline is on par with the Asura race, something I didn''t think was possible. Either way, your eyes seemed to have retained their color although they now have a tint of gold to them,pliments of my eyes. I''m actually somewhat saddened that I won''t be able to see the final result of your training with them.: Strangely, there was no hidden smile within these words. These were the Asura''s real feelings when it considered that it''s time of moving on wasing closer.


    Laz, noticing the change in it''s mood, also saw that the spiritual clone that had been hovering above the body seemed quite a bit dimmer than before.


    :Ah well. I still have no regrets now. As for the final present before I disappearpletely...: The spiritual body pointed downwards towards the half corpse. With a simple flick of it''s finger, a single drop of purple blood immerged from the body. Then, right before Laz''s eyes, the still somewhat fleshy body dried uppletely and fell apart like dust in a strong breeze.


    :Master...?:


    :It''s fine. It was just an empty shell anyway as my soul will soon follow. But with this, I can ensure that my bloodline continues... in a sense.: The spirit wrapped the strange drop of blood in severalyers of energy which caused it to further dim down to almost nothing. Laz could barely see it''s outline anymore, even with his new eyes.


    :Within this drop of blood is my legacy. Many of the skills that I learned and some that I only read about but never used myself. With this, you will find that you will never becking in techniques, at least until you reach my level. And not all of these are techniques meant to harm or kill. This is my final gift and my final wish. I never had time to have a family, but at least now you can be considered of my bloodline. This will sit inside of you until the time is ready for the power to be absorbed by you. The you currently is far to weak for it and this amount of energy would cause you to pop in a gory fountain of blood. But still, if you direct your spiritual sense into it, it will allow you to ess to some extent, some of the weaker skills that could serve you well for now.:


    :Master... I don''t know how to thank you. You have done more for me in the past few hours than my own father has done in his entire life. For that, I will always remember you. Please master, what is your name so that in the future, I may tell people who it was who made me who I am today?:


    Laz realized at some point that he never heard the name of his master. How was he suppose to properly thank him without even knowing his name?


    :Ah. HA. A good point. It has been so long, I had almost forgotten it myself. I was once know throughout the gxy as ''Rak''sha, The Harbinger of Death,'' they called me. I remember I used to hate that title and yet was proud of it at the same time.:


    :Why would you hate it?: Laz was confused by this admission. It seemed like a good title, all be it a bit mboyant.


    :Because although I lead armies through the fields of battle and stood toe to toe against the darkness before my final fall... I was once a medicine man, one who was skilled with treating and curing my brothers and sisters.:


    ''A doctor being called the Harbinger of Death? Yeah, that didn''t seem to go together,'' Laz thought to himself before remembering that his master could hear him.


    Strangely though, he didn''t respond.


    Laz saw the specter of light staring at him with a smile as it''s body became dimmer and dimmer. Laz knew the the time of parting was at hand.


    :Is there anything else I can do for you master?: Laz asked, not wanting to let it go just like that.


    :Perhaps...:


    :Master?:


    :If you be strong enough. Go out into the universe. Go and find my family. If any of them still live. Go. Tell them. Tell them how I fell. Tell them...:


    :Master?:


    :Use... what I gave you... fight... protect... save...:


    The final words of the once great Rak''Sha were lost as he faded away.


    He never lost the smile on his face as he stared at Laz in his final moments. To Laz though, he couldn''t help but shed tears, something he hadn''t done in a long time. This creature who Laz had just met, interacted with, became the disciple of, and finally received his greatest legacy had passed away, all within the course of a couple hours.


    Laz would never forget him, for he had given Laz a view of the world far beyond his own. And while the Laz of right now was far to small and insignificant in the great universe, he knew that wouldn''t be the case forever.


    He would never forget the debt he owed his master. And to return that debt, he would have to leave his one day.


    It was a mind boggling and scary thought, but after experiencing the gxy through someone else''s eyes, it was far less scary than it would have been a few days ago.


    And what''s more than that, inside Laz''s head, he felt knowledge appear that he didn''t know before. The way to train his eyes to one day be like his master''s.


    "Heaven''s Gaze."


    ''What an intense name,'' Laz thought to himself.

 Chapter 290: Finding An Exit

    Chapter 290: Finding An Exit


    Laz searched through the information in his head about ''Heaven''s Gaze,'' and immediately understood what he had to do to use this ability. Training his eyes was something he had never thought of before, but it made perfect sense now that he had the means to do so. It wasn''t going to be a fast process, but the end results would be worth the investment.


    Laz didn''t know how to thank his master for this gift and could only give a final salute towards where his master''s body once was.


    Then, without looking back, Laz went off to find Ruby.


    He ended up finding her sitting before an empty chamber that was still wet with liquid. Whatever was inside of it was long gone. Ruby looked like she was in the middle of something, but as soon as Laz approached, her eyes opened.


    Laz was given a shock. Compared to her changing before, when her body would acquire scales and her eyes became snake like, it looked like her change was far more visible now, with the scales covering almost all of her body that Laz could see including her neck. It rested around her hair as though forming a helmet with her face still being scale free. It really appeared to be like a skin tight body suit of scale armor.


    Laz felt like it was strangely enticing, until he felt ufortable enough to fight back. It only urred for a few breaths of time, but Laz felt like he had been bewitched. After clearing his eyes, Laz looked at Ruby again, only to find her smiling back at him.


    "That was mean you know..."


    "How was it mean? All I did was look at you," Ruby said with a knowing smile. Her strength, like Laz''s, had increased exponentially so even with Laz''s strong spiritual sense, he had been distracted by her. He could only imagine the effect it would have had on someone less powerful.


    "So what happened to you?" Laz asked, interested in the situation.


    "Something... walk with me and talk with me while I work," Ruby said, getting up. Laz, curious, followed.


    Ruby walked at a quick pace, knowing where she was going while Laz kept herpany. As for what happened to her, Laz quickly understood it was something simr to what happened to him. She ended up finding a distant blood ancestor within theb who was bale tomunicate with her on a biological level and as opposed to wasting away to nothing, decided that it would give all it could to her in hopes that she could carry it''s will to the future.


    But that wasn''t the end of it. After havingmunicated with the rainbow colored snake in the first tank and taken it''s legacy, Ruby also learned of other''s who were willing to part with their legacy''s since the seemed to understand that death wasing. Therefore, the final will of the rainbow snake was that she help them as well.


    And that''s what she was doing right now.


    The first tank Ruby approached was that of a rather strange looking cat. It had three tails, each with what looked like some sort of razor sharp piece of metal attacked to it. It''s entire coat was pitch ck without a hint of color while it''s ears seemed to point strait up with some extended bits of furing off of it, making it looked simr but different to any feline on earth.


    As Ruby approached the tank, the cat opened it''s eyes and growled at her, but seemed to quickly quiet down. Ruby put her hand on the tank and closed her eyes before gently resting her head against the tank as well. The creature seemed confused at first, but then ended up resting it''s head against the tank as well, right where Ruby''s was.


    Right before Laz''s eyes, the creature within the tank disappeared after only a moments time. The part that Laz couldn''t believe was that it seemed to disappear into Ruby''s head, at the space where there foreheads touched the tank, like it had been sucked in.


    Laz had no idea what was going on, but it looked kind of cool.


    Of course he would ask.


    "You''re absorbing them?" Laz asked, wondering if that''s what he saw.


    "No. I''m holding on to them for their descendants," Ruby replied while moving on to the next tank.


    "How is that possible? Isn''t bring in something like multiple wills going to impact your own mind?" It''s not as though Laz knew this for certain, but if movies and television shows had even an ounce of truth to them, then this is what would happen..


    "Baby. Trust me. Ok?" Ruby obviously knew something that Laz didn''t but considering the circumstances and the timetable they were under, she couldn''t exin it to him to convince him otherwise. Therefore, she took the next best step, asking for his trust.


    And she knew she had it. Laz didn''t say anything after that and instead just followed her without asking any more questions.


    She made two more stops before she was finished, each time taking a moment to speak to the ones behind the ss. The second stop she made was to a rather strange looking creature. It kind of resembled a miniature deer with antlers and on it''s body there looked to be ayer of glitter that reflected the light from the tube. Although it looked like a baby, notrger than a small dog, it''s head perked up when Ruby came close and Laz could see the intelligence in it''s eyes.


    Unlike thest one that looked to take a bit of convincing, this one seemed to have expected Ruby and was sucked away, just like that.


    The final creature that Ruby found was a small fox with white, puffy fur and two tails. Unlike the others, it didn''t open it''s eyes when Ruby approached, but it still seemed to sense her all the same.


    As Ruby began talking to it though, Laz noticed the sorrow on her face and even a few tears escape her. Just as Laz wanted to ask what was wrong, the small fox came close enough to the ss to be able to set it''s head against it, but it was still a ways away from where Ruby was. It was actually floating closer to Laz. As such, Laz could clearly see that the reason it didn''t open it''s eyes was not because it didn''t want to, but because it couldn''t. It''s eyelids had been stitched shut.


    Ruby, seeing that the creature couldn''t tell where she was, walked over in front of Laz and put her head in line with the fox, finally taking it in like the others.


    With that, he mission wasplete.


    "Time to go?" Ruby asked Laz, snapping his out of his thoughts.


    "Yeah. And we have to be quick. We have around two days to get the hell out of here before the entire outpost is destroyed," Laz responded back making his way back towards the door.


    "Outpost?" Ruby caught on to his wording which didn''t seem to fit what had been mentioned before.


    "This ce, you didn''t learn anything?" Laz asked, somewhat surprised.


    "No. When I... We merged, I found out that the tanks limit the range of sensing outside. So..."


    "So they were basically all alone for the past... how ever long?"


    "They don''t even know how long it''s been. In truth, the only thing that kept any of them sane was a voice from a creature who called himself Rok. He''s the only one that was able to speak to them over the years. He was also the one to spread messages among them, fed them news, entertained them... through his voice he provided the entire whole of their social existence. Even then, it was always a sad day when he had to announce a death to everyone. In the end, very few were awake enough to evenmunicate with me, let alonee with me. The Rainbow Devourer told me that the voice of Rok wasing less and less and many of them had started to give up hope." Ruby shared some of the things she had learned from the creature she hadbined with.


    To her, it was simply the little bit of info she had from the small space the snake had lived in for the past how ever many years. But Laz immediately understood that it was actually his master, Rak''Sha who had been the voice to them.


    Maybe he did it for himself. Maybe he did it for them. But either way, the reason his voice had stopped speaking as much was because he was dying himself and knew that he couldn''t keep it up. But he must have realized as well that as soon as he stopped speaking all together, the few remaining living creatures would give up hope as well. So instead, he timed it to allow himself tost as long as possible.


    Laz couldn''t help but feel more respect for histe master while at the same time vowing to himself to one day let thest of his family know his fate, even if it meant leaving Earth one day.


    Laz had aplicated look on his face, but noticing Ruby looking at him, he shook his head. There would be time for discussionter.


    For now, they needed to get clear of theb and the biggest problem was the hallway that they hade in from had been blown up, effectively blocking the door and locking them inside.


    "Why only two days baby?" Ruby finally asked, following up on his earlier statement.


    "The creators of this ce, some sort of technical race... collected species from all over the near universe and brought them here to study them. They wanted to increase their strength by bringing in a biological aspect, something that their race had long discarded but only realized how much that had hurt them down the line. One of the things they brought in... I don''t even know how to describe it but I can tell you that it''s locked underground and it wants to be free and get revenge. Getting free will destroy this outpost, but at the cost of it''s life. But it no longer cares about that."


    "What about the owners of this ce?"


    "From what I can tell it''s been long abandoned and is basically running on auto pilot."


    "You seem to know a lot more than I do."


    "I met a blood ancestor of my own while we''ve been here..."


    "It was still alive? I thought the only ones still breathing were the ones I rescued?"


    "My blood ancestor was the voice that was helping them survive..."


    "That... that is a very noble creature..." Ruby didn''t have words, but if she could, she would have expressed her thanks to it.


    "Yes. He was."


    "OK. Well then baby. Enough of this for now. You''re damsel is in distress and needs rescuing. So how about figuring out how to get me out of here?"


    "Just like that and it''s all on me?"


    "Well. I am a damsel. I am in distress and you are my... "white knight." So yes. It''s like that..." Rubyughed as she poked fun at Laz.


    Laz pouted, but in a yful way. He was also scanning the huge room to see if there was another way out. But he found very little that could be helpful.


    He finally worked his way back to the wall where his master had been strung up, traces of dried, dead blood still sshed the wall while the spikes were still jutting out from the wall.


    "What happened here?" Ruby asked in horror.


    "The final resting ce of my ancestor."


    Looking around, Laz noticed something he hadn''t seen before. Underneath where his master had been kept, there was what looked to be a drain cover that was hard to separate from the floor thanks to theyers of dust and rubble. It would make sense that Laz''s master had probably bled a lot from the area where the spikes impaled him or even thanks to his missing lower half. It seemed like the drain was there to collect the resulting fluids.


    Laz had an idea... but he didn''t like it.


    Looking at Laz and then turning to look at the drain he found, Ruby knew what he was thinking.


    "You thinking this is a problem? Darling, I once crawled through and hid in a septic tank to escape some foreign gentlemen who were mad that I offed their boss. This is like a nice walk through the woodspared to that...."


    "Ruby?"


    "Yes Laz?"


    "That''s... kind of hot..."


    "Shut up and get the lid open...."

 Chapter 291: Rubys Solution

    Chapter 291: Ruby''s Solution


    The drain was every bit as bad as Laz thought it would be. It was obviously used for bodily waste which seemed strange in a ce inhabited by robots and automations. But that also indicated that they kept arge number of organic creatures as well. Laz had only seen the Lab, so he could only imagine what other ces it was connected to.


    Even with the smell and slippery floors, Ruby seemed unbothered by it. He wasn''t sure if he should be impressed by her or scared. He was leaning towards impressed though since it was obviously a good skill to have.


    He could barely stand the smell.


    But it didn''tst long.


    As they emerged into the street from another drain cover, Laz couldn''t help but take a big breath, his body cover in the filth from the sewer drain. When Ruby emerged, she was perfectly clean without a spec of dirt on her.


    "How the hell?" Laz asked.


    "It''s a talent baby. Now what do we do? Any idea how we get out of here? That gate is still locked and if this ce is going to be destroyed then we need to find the key quickly," Ruby mentioned, looking around at where they were.


    "If my guess is right, there is some sort of power station or something that is powering the force field like thing blocking the gate. If we can find it and power it down, we should be able to go back through?" Laz pondered out loud.


    Ruby nodded her head, but she was also looking in a certain direction. Laz ended up feeling the usage of power as well and turned his head, worried.


    What worried him was he felt both the energy of an infected like them along with the energy of some of those conceited bastards. And it was close, very close. The natural atmosphere in this ce seemed to restrict their senses so being able to sense the battle meant it couldn''t be too far away. What they didn''t understand was after their separate encounters with ancient blood rtives, they were stronger in ways that they didn''t notice at first. Laz had gotten the golden eyes of his master while Ruby''s enhancements were just as strong. Not to mention the actual blood that was still inside Laz''s system, floating serenely above is nowpleted foundation.


    ''Maybe instead of infected, I should call us aliens instead?'' Laz thought, thinking about how his blood ability came from the Asura while Ruby''s seemed to be rted to the rainbow colored snake.


    ''Either way, that could be addressedter. I don''t recognize the actual energy being used, but that might just be because we are so far away.''


    Laz turned to look at Ruby who was already looking back at him. With a sigh and a nod, they took off in the direction of the fight.


    ''This is going to be a pain in the ass,'' they both thought at the same time.


    A ways away, Dwayne, Jennia and several members of the Vodun were being confronted by several chosen. They were currently hiding within the first floor of a building they had entered to check out while various balls of fire, shards of ice, bolts of lightning and des of air hit the door again and again.


    "Remind me again why the hell you thought it would be a good idea to act like the voice of a security system and tell them that they needed to leave the area or they would be killed? They didn''t even know we were in here until they heard your voice?" Jennia screamed at Dwayne over the sounds of the bombardment.


    "How was I suppose to know they would realize that because we were speaking English that my voice wasn''t actually from a security system?" Dwayne said, shrinking back. Jennia''s fierceness always seemed to scare him.


    "Had you actually said something to me before doing something stupid, I would have stopped you!" She shot back, intent of ming him even if they were killed.


    "Well, at least the sounds should draw others over. Besides, we''ve stopped the, froming in the windows, didn''t we?" Dwayne said back, point at the open area that was being covered by a barrier. One of their groups was sitting with his legs crossed while rocking back and forth with his hands folded on each other. He was somehow maintaining a barrier which blocked off the window, but the size of the door was too big for him to cover. This was the reason they had focused their attacks on the closed door. Besides, the door would allow them toe through as a group as opposed to trying toe in one at a time through the window.


    "You''re assuming they would be drawing over our people? You think any of those useless losers from the council are going to stick their heads out for us? Or those sut bitches?" Jennia asked back with venom in her voice.


    "Maybe they won''t, but my bro wouldn''t leave us to our fate. And don''t forget he''s got his girl with him as well. And even you said she scares you".


    Jennia wanted to say something back, but decided not to. He did have a point about them being the strongest in the team. Still, against these ten bastards, she wasn''t so sure even Laz or Ruby would stand a chance.


    Jennia couldn''t help but look around for anything useful and wondered if they could go farther back into the building. If they dropped the barrier, the attackers wouldn''t jump through the window right away, but they would notice soon enough that they had left and go after them. What''s worse is that at least they were in a defensible position where they were at, but they would be picked off one by one if they were to try to leave.


    Jennia knew that even though they had more people, not everyone in their group was a fighter. For example, the guy maintaining the barrier could only do that. If someone got in close, he would be dead before he could even try to dodge. Aaron had sent them with a diverse group in the hopes that it would be more beneficial than just fighters, but now that seemed to have been a bad choice. Even Dwayne was one of those types as far as she knew. He could be called a tank in that he could take a lot of damage, but he couldn''t do much else. Except for using him as a meat shield, Jennia didn''t think he had much else of a purpose.


    Despite the lesson she had been taught, she still felt like she was the only one capable of leading and refused to listen to the suggestion of others. She also wouldn''t expect that they were going to die here.


    She was thinking of making a break for it herself and leaving the others here to buy her time.


    ''That''s it. As long as I am alive, I can always regroup with the others and get out of here alive... or get revenge maybe....?''


    Jennia''s thoughts were starting to go different ces as everyone was getting more nervious.


    Before they had much more time to think the door cracked in half from the constant barrage and came flying into the entranceway. Although the members of Jennia''s and Dwayne''s team weren''t all fighters, everyone was prepared to go out fighting. Those withbat abilities prepared themselves for close range while those that didn''t gripped their guns tightly, hoping they would at least be useful.


    Just as they were expecting to enter the fight for their lives, there didn''t seem to be any sound, at least nothing loud. No one came in and there didn''t seem to be any movement from outside.


    Curious, Dwayne got up and went towards the window to peak out. Seeing as how the door had been broken, there was no reason to keep the barrier on it.


    Dwayne popped his head out just in time to see a body fly past like a rubber ball. It ended up hitting the ground and rolling for several tens of feet before it stopped, no longer moving or breathing.


    Dwayne took a deep breath before turning back the other way, only to almost get hit by a st of fire. He quickly ducked back inside.


    "What is it?" Jennia called over, seeing that Dwayne had checked.


    "Something is fighting them out there," Dwayne said while running for the broken door.


    "Where the fuck are you going?" Jennia yelled at him.


    "I ain''t sitting here, waiting to die. Since someone decided toe help, I am going to do my part," Dwayne said reaching the door.


    "You stay right here..."


    "FUCK OFF," with that, Dwayne ran outside, only to be amazed.


    Out of the ten people he knew were attacking, three had already been killed. The other seven were doing their best to bombard the newers with whatever attack they could muster, only to find it practically ineffective.


    The newers were of course Laz and Ruby, both quite a bit stronger than before. Laz had reached thete stage of the foundation realm while Ruby was now at the peak and ready to start building her Void Pce. Compared to these chosen who at most could be considered mid foundation realm, Laz and Ruby were on another level.


    Laz had just gotten sted with a huge ball of fire, but ran through it like it was nothing. Compared to the strength of his ck mes, these fire balls, no matter what the size, barely tickled. After closing in on his attacker, Laz balled up his first and swung forward, striking the man in the chest and sending him flying. With more cracked ribs that one could count mixed with the heavy impact on his heart, there was no telling if he was going to move again.


    Ruby, for her part, just walked forward, swaying her hips from side to side. The person who was originally throwing fist sized and razor sharp shards of ice at her suddenly stopped and dropped his hands like he was suddenly confused, blinking his eyes as his mouth hung open. Ruby was then able to walk right up to him, step behind him and reaching one hand in front of his chin and the other behind his head, she burst with strength and with a quick twisting motion, broke his neck.


    Seeing that five out of their ten man group were already dead, the others started to run in different directions without hesitation. Ruby, caught up in her blood ust, wanted to charge after them, but Laz put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.


    She turned quickly and was about to attack before noticing it was Laz and calming down. She couldn''t help but take a few deep breaths as she realized she was getting too influenced by her newfound strength.


    "DAMN BRO. THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!" Dwayne said before running towards him. Just as Dwayne was going to huge Laz for saving his life, he noticed Ruby''s still snake like eyes and her heavy breathing. Dwayne put on the breaks and skidded to a stop, almost falling on his face in the process.


    "Hello mam..." He said, a bit scared.


    Laz couldn''t help butugh at his quick change in attitude and even Ruby chuckled a little, causing Dwayne to calm down a bit.


    "It''s not just you here?" Laz asked the question, knowing that others were inside and starting to peak their heads out. Seeing as how it was Laz and Ruby who had arrived, they quickly ran outside to thank them.


    "So what happened?" Laz asked Dwayne. Jennia had juste out herself, but Laz got the feeling that she wasn''t about to get close to them if she didn''t have to. She was being especially vignt when it came to Ruby, not even daring to make eye contact.


    "We found this ce and went in to check it out since it looked important. Then those guys being along and seen the open window like thing over there and decided they would check it out too. Then... well... some things happened and they noticed us in there and decided to break down the door. After that, you all came along and here we are." Dwayne seemed to have glossed over some parts as Laz noticed people rolling their eyes at his description, but Laz wasn''t going to call him out on it.


    "Why did it seem important?" Laz asked, looking at the building.


    "Cause up there, they got tons of power lines running all over the ce. From the roof, down the side, from over there to those giant towers back there," Dwayne started describing everything he noticed about the building, causing Laz to not understand.


    In truth, Laz and Ruby had been stuck in theb for almost a whole day,pletely missing the meet up time. Everyone else ended up joining up together on time, but seeing Laz and Ruby missing meant that they didn''t know what else to do. After a bit of discussion, everyone chose to go off on their own way and meet up again in 24 hours, hopefully allowing for Laz to return. The idea was that this would give them enough time to look around as they pleased while being careful as well.


    Under Jennia''s lead, Dwayne and the other Vodun found a storage vault containing tons of the energy batteries that Laz had pointed out and they had loaded up as many as they could. After the next meet up, they were going to tell the others about it since they had already taken their fill. This way the other members of their group could benefit since they had all they needed. Jennia was against this, but Dwayne was still going to pass on the information. As they were arguing about it, Dwayne ended up getting distracted by the building in front of them, although no one else understood why.


    Him going in through the window just meant that everyone else had to chase him and that led to what had happened.


    "Hold up. Hold up. I don''t understand. This, that and the other thing... just what are you thinking?" Laz had to stop Dwayne before he gotpletely off topic.


    "This building has a lot of power going in and a lot of power going on, or so it seems, right?" Dwayne simplified his thoughts and stuck on point.


    "Right. Got it."


    "Well... we need to shut down whatever is stopping us from going through the gate, right?"


    "You''re thinking that...?"


    "Right. Force fields bro. Force fields. They be up blocking the gate and we can''t go through so if we can knock out whatever it powering them...?"


    "We can go through."


    "Exactly!"


    "What kind of shit are you smoking? Force fields? Fucking force fields? Are you whacked out of your mind? Jennia couldn''t keep her silence or her distance anymore and spoke up. She felt like it was bullshit but if Laz bought into it, it would be trouble. After all, she couldn''t stand up to either him or Ruby.


    "Why is it bullshit?" Laz asked, patting Dwayne''s shoulder. He looked hurt after being yelled at by Jennia. Laz couldn''t help but wonder just what kind of rtionship these two had.


    "Because the amount of energy it would take to create a force field is impossible. I went to school for physics and let me tell you, we haven''t invented anything that could power that yet!"


    Laz took an honest look at Jennia, wondering if there was something wrong with her. He then looked around at the fact that they weren''t on earth and then back at her.


    "What?" She seemed to miss what Laz was implying.


    Laz turned to look over at Ruby who almost seemed to beughing.


    "She''s in denial. When something so crazy happens and then your life is put in jeopardy, sometimes people just snap and can''t process what''s happening. It could be considered a defense mechanism. Or a coping mechanism."


    "Seriously?"


    "Yeah. She''s seriously loosing it."


    "So what''s the solution?" Laz asked. When he turned to look at Jennia, her face seemed to imply that her brain was half way between here and gone.


    Ruby didn''t respond. Instead, she walked forward towards Jennia who failed to notice her at first.


    By the time she did, Ruby was right in front of her face.


    "What do you want? Do I know you?"


    POW!!


    Ruby hit Jennia so hard that her jaw cracked and she was sent flying. Had it been someone with a weaker cultivation or body, the blow might have separated their head from their neck.


    Luckily Jennia was stronger than most. Despite that, she passed out from the blow.


    "Damn...."

 Chapter 292: Power Station

    Chapter 292: Power Station


    Dwayne and everyone else just took a deep breath, but didn''t say anything. It was clear to them that Jennia had snapped, but none of them had the ability to handle her.


    "Ok then. Well... Dwayne, bro?"


    "Uh... yes... yeah?"


    "You pretty sure this building is some sort of power terminal?"


    "Uh... is she going to hit me if I''m wrong?" Dwayne whispered, trying to hide it from Ruby.


    She obviously heard and smiled, causing Dwayne to shiver.


    "She''s not going to hit you."


    "Ok. I mean... yeah, you look around and most buildings have a line or two going in, but this one has dozens. I''m thinking some in and some out. Like a power station or something?"


    "Good enough for now. We are going in to check it out."


    "All of us?" Dwayne asked.


    "No. Just us. Take her and get going back to the meeting spot. Get everyone together and move towards the gate. Also note down if you see anything else that could be like this building here. I fee like you''re right, but better to be safe than sorry," Laz responded back, patting Dwayne''s shoulder to calm him down.


    Although Laz didn''t know for sure, he wasn''t just basing his guess on what Dwayne said. He had some memories that weren''t his that seemed to suggest that this would be what the power station for the gate looked like. Laz could only assume it had something to do with what his teacher had done to him. Laz felt like there was far more he had learned that just what he had been told.


    His teacher may have been confined to theb, but the knowledge he had would far out weigh anything Laz could even dream of learning. Rak''sha''s knowledge was the umtion of many, many years and spanned the gxy. Laz didn''t even technically pass high school.


    "Why are we heading for the gate now when we got so much left to check out here?" Dwayne wondered why it seemed like Laz was in a hurry. This ce was huge and had tons of stuff left to uncover. And even Dwayne knew that once they got out, there would probably not be another chance to get back in considering the gate was in enemy territory.


    "This ce is going to be destroyed... and soon."


    "Dude? Seriously?"


    "Yeah. Two days at most... One giant fucking creature is going to rip this whole outpost a new one and we don''t want to be here when it does..."


    "The fuck?"


    "Don''t worry about that for now. Do the meet up, getting everyone to head back to the gate and try to avoid those chosen bastards, ok?"


    "Sure thing boss man. Damn this girl is putting on some weight..." Dwayne lifted Jennia up and put her over his shoulder. He then waved for everyone to follow him while Ruby and Laz made their way inside.


    "What''s wrong?" Ruby asked..


    "I think... there might be more than just the creature to worry about..."


    "What more could their be? Isn''t this enough already?" Ruby seemed confused. She was thinking that the base being destroyed by the final boss was already the end... what else could there be to fear?


    Laz couldn''t answer since he wasn''t sure. Once again, it was something to the nature of a thought in his head that he had no idea how it got there. Laz was really weirded out by these random thoughts since he didn''t know when he would get them and didn''t know if they were real. It was kind of like hallucinating in real time, but in short shes.


    "Let''s get moving," Laz said, going into the metal monster of a building. Luckily for him, Ruby trusted him enough to not ask questions and therefore he didn''t need to exin himself. Besides, there was no sense in worrying her if he was wrong.


    Following his gut, Laz took quite a few turns and ended up standing at the ss doors of what could only be considered amand center. Not only did they not encounter any trouble on the way through, but it was almost like things seemed to ignore them.


    "That was easy," Lazmented, to which Ruby agreed with a small smile after he turned around. It was clear that she had done something, but she didn''t share. All couples have their secrets.


    The doors opened without issue, allowing Laz and Ruby to stand in front of arge terminal. The many screens were small, being about the size of a post card but the sheer amount of them was mind numbing. The camera''s seemed to monitor every inch of the outpost, allowing Laz and Ruby a view they couldn''t have gotten otherwise. Of course, there was also many of the monitors that were no longer operational.


    "Why are they so small?"


    "Uh... I''m guessing that for whoever or whatever would have been standing here, they didn''t need to berger? Like if your eye sight was good enough, wouldn''t a small screen serve just as well as arge one?" Laz responded back. Normally, Ruby would be more knowledgeable about things like security. But this wasn''t Earth so earth logic didn''t apply.


    "Can we really find a shut off for this? Hey... look..." Ruby pointed at one screen and frowned while Laz looked over.


    The people on the screen were a mixed group, but Laz could make out more than one familiar face, namely, they were the people who had ran off after Laz and Ruby killed the others. They had met up with theirpanions and looked like they were in a heated debate. Sadly there was no sound to hear what they were saying. Of if there was, Laz didn''t know how to use it.


    "We should have killed them all," Ruby said, thinking back and shaking her head. Although they weren''t strong, they weren''t weak either. There was no way Laz and Ruby could have killed them all before they fled so them being reported was bound to happen.


    Laz never once thought they would get out of this without being discovered.


    "That bastard..." Laz noticed Tommy within the group. He didn''t have a profound hatred for him per say, but knowing that this bastard was Kennedy''s ''ex'' just seemed to piss him off.


    "You guys have a history?" Ruby asked, intrigued.


    "Yeah. ssmates growing up I guess you could say?"


    "And yet here you are baby. You''re not going to get all sentimental and not detach his head from his body if you get the chance, right love?"


    "I will piss in his skull and shit down his neck if I have the chance," Laz said, still annoyed.


    "Damn. You''ve never been this worked up before... It''s really turning me on..." Ruby said, sliding up to Laz and kissing him.


    Laz had no choice but to pry his eyes off the monitor and return Ruby''s kiss. She wasn''t the kind to be ignore.


    "Better?" She asked after they had finally broken the kiss.


    "Yes. Hmm... I wonder why I..." Laz understood that he was letting his emotions get the better of him. On a normal day, that wasn''t an issue. But here, that could be deadly.


    "It''s ok. But keep it together. Besides, you''ll have your chance at him." Ruby smile while hugging Laz''s thin but firm frame.


    "He''s not going to be an easy opponent."


    "Oh? Why''s that, hmm?" Ruby said while observing other screens.


    "Because... you could say he has had his power as long as I have. In fact, he was the first chosen I encountered..."


    "Really," Ruby looked over, interested.


    "Yeah."


    "That is a problem. Both us and them share onemon trait. The longer we have our abilities, the stronger we get."


    "I know."


    "Well, we will deal with it when ites to it. Take a deep breath and settle your head and start helping me look for the gate monitor. Maybe that will show us something?"


    Laz and Ruby started looking through all the screens, the thousands of them, in an attempt to find the one showing the gate area.


    "Over here." Ruby found it first.


    "OK. Let''s see... If this screen shows the gate, then something underneath it must show the damn force field thing blocking the gate," Laz said, looking at the controls under the monitor. Neither him nor Ruby knew what they were looking for, but it seemed like the right path.


    "Is this... how do we interact with this?" Ruby said. Although there were things that looked like buttons, in truth, they were actually just lights. As opposed to being used for input, it seemed more like they were just some sort of indicating device.


    "It''s... wait a sec." Laz had some info in his head that was trying toe to the surface. But like a long past memory, it wasn''t clear.


    "Talk it out baby, what do you see?" Ruby, understanding his trouble, suggested something.


    "This race... they discarded their bodies for that of machines in order to gain eternal life. It was only after they had done this that they realized that they had screwed their potential to evolve... So even while they were stuck as machines with digital consciousness, they maintained that they would be able to be flesh and blood once again..." The memories in Laz''s head were ying out like a documentary as such, he was just rying the info that came to him to Ruby.


    "Then that means..?"


    "It means... the terminals have a plug that only the machines themselves can use... but they had a disy oriented override for the day that they became flesh yet again... here..." With that thought in mind, Laz waved his hand over a dome shaped light, causing a blue screen disy to open up above the terminal, floating above it like an ovey. The best part was there there was actual writing that indicated what things did.


    "Rapture?" Ruby said, looking at the top of the screen.


    "They wished to express what feeling they would get if the research here was sessful."


    "How do you know all this?"


    "I guess you could say that my teacher knew of this ce since it was local to the area?"


    "And your teacher didn''t care?"


    "Why would a bird concern itself with the daily life of an ant? As far as they were concerned, these mechanical creatures couldn''t even be considered a threat. So why would they bother dealing with it?" Laz, feeling this memory, seemed to want to drylyugh, a feeling that wasn''t his own. He could only guess that after feeling this way about these people and yet ending up a subject here, his teacher couldn''t help but find it ironic.


    "And yet to us, these weaklings are a people we could never hope to match," Rubymented.


    "Kind of reminds you that we are even less than ants in the dealings of the universe."


    "Thanks for that loving reminder darling. You sure know how to perk a girl''s confidence..."


    "You and me baby ain''t nothing but mammals.."


    "If you finish that line, I swear to the goddess I will kick you in the balls... I might give them a kiss after words, but you will have brought it on yourself."


    "Ok. And back to this."


    Looking over the screen, Laz was able to find what he was looking for since thenguage that he only remotely understood was now much clearer thanks to his eyes.


    Unfortunately, it was going to be a bigger problem than he thought.


    "Does that... say what I think it does?" Ruby asked, pointing to the screen.


    "You can read that?" Laz asked.


    "Only a little. But if what it''s saying is true, then the force field is a hard line that can''t be opened. Meaning that the only way to get it to go down is to cut off the power to this entire gird, right?"


    "Basically. I wonder why they didn''t want the gate to be used at all."


    "Focus Laz. That doesn''t matter. What does matter is that if we do this, the entire ce shuts down. So your big boss is going to get out as soon as that happens. And do you see this? What are all these red dots outside of the boarder?" Ruby pointed to an over watch disy that showed hundreds of thousands of small red dots surrounding the entire outpost.


    "My guess would be enemies?"


    "Yeah. Which means that if we do this, not only will we have the big boss to worry about. But we will also be flooded with whatever these things are.... wait. Is this what you were worried about?" Thinking back, Ruby remembered Laz indicated that the big creature destroying the base might not be their biggest problem.


    "Yeah... yes."


    "Fucking hell babe..."


    "It''s not my fault...?"


    "So now what?"


    After Ruby said that, the entire building shook from an earthquake as a bunch of gages sprang to life, indicated a massive power flux in the underground prison area. After the shaking finally stopped, Laz looked at Ruby.


    "Damned if we do and damned if we don''t?"


    "I don''t know how the hell I fell in love with you..." Ruby winced at Laz''s words.


    ''I know of at least one reason...''


    Laz was thinking it, but decided it was better not to say it.

 Chapter 293: Countdown

    Chapter 293: Countdown


    "All jokes aside... we really don''t have a choice..." Laz said, rather solemnly.


    "So...?"


    "We are going to do it and hope it works out. From the looks of things, we can set this in a reboot sequence. Timer to shut down and then ites back up after the reboot. Right here." Laz pointed it out to Ruby who understood it, but still not as clearly as Laz.


    "Yeah. Ok. Hit this and run like hell? I don''t think things are going to be that easy baby."


    "What''s the worst..."


    "Say it and you will be sleeping alone for the rest of your life."


    "Ouch. Ok. Getting back to it. How long do you think?"


    "From here to the gate looks like 15 minutes tops. Assuming the others are already there, it shouldn''t take us that long to get out."


    "That might be an issue. Look." Laz pointed out one of the ovey monitors that showed two different groups of dots. One group was huddled a ways away from the gate while the other was approaching it at a fast speed.


    With the numbers of dots, there was no way at they were all from the same side.


    "Well. I guess this means we are fighting our way out. One hour to shut down and it looks like the reboot takes 15 minutes."


    "Sounds good babe. Pop those buttons and let''s get the fuck home. Next time, I choose the date night. Deal?" Ruby said with a smile.


    "Yes mam."


    And with that, Laz set the timer and double checked to make sure it was counting down.


    Just as they were about to make their way to the gate to hopefully arrive before the two groups met, another earthquake hit, shaking the building even more. This time it was so bad, Laz and Ruby ended up grabbing each other to stay up right while cracks appeared in the walls of the control room.


    As they stood there and waited for it to stop, one crack that ran the length of the far wall and down along the floor, separated to reveal arge collection of energy cores, justying there like rocks on the bed of ake.


    Neither Laz nor Ruby could believe that they were down there, right underneath the floor they had been standing on.


    "What the fuck is this? Poof and they appear?"


    "Less talk and more grabbing woman. We are running out of time."


    "Boy... you are testing my limits today. But we can deal with thatter cause you''re right."


    What they had found was the storage andpression room for the energy cores. The building that they were in served not just as a control center, but it also was part of the entireworked that absorbed the energy in the air outside the outpost, purified it and released it into the air inside the dome. Then, when the levels reached saturation for what the machines could handle, it used the excess to make the cores and stored them right underneath them..


    There were a few other ces that cores were stored as well, such as the first building that Jennia and Dwayne had checked out. But this was the main unit for it.


    What they didn''t know was that this caused the energy on the rest of the to be somewhat thin in general, minus a few special ces. The base acted like a parasite that feed off the.


    Of course, none of that would have mattered to them even if they knew.


    It only took a few minutes since they both had spatial storages before the cores were gone.


    Looking at each other''s smiling faces, they knew it was time to go.


    They took off running the way they came while the timer loomed in their heads, getting outside and heading off to the gate.


    "Isn''t the gate going to shut down when the power turns off?" Ruby asked, thinking of something along the way.


    "The gate''s not wired into the power grid. From the little I can understand, although the civilization here understood how to make it open and close, they didn''t build it. They just found it here."


    "So then who made the gates?"


    "No clue," Laz responded honestly.


    "Are these things everywhere? Like all over the universe?"


    "I think so yeah. From what I gathered from my master, these gates are even older then them and they once ruled a good portion of the known universe," Laz revealed what he had learned, surprising Ruby.


    "Really? Damn baby... these things are getting more and more dangerous, huh?"


    "I don''t think any of these gates should be thought of lightly."


    "Yeah... Hey. You sensing this?"


    "Yeah. They are engaging..."


    "What''s with this massive energy? It makes me feel like I want to puke."


    "That''s one of the chosen... In fact, I have a good idea who it is too. And that''s not good. Let''s move it."


    They picked up the pace, moving so fast that they appeared like the wind and disappeared just as quickly.


    They had both reached the peak of the Foundation realm and only needed time and a chance to enter what Laz had learned was called the Void Pce realm. The reason it was called this was because after building the base, they would then build on top of it. To call it a pce was a stretching it a little bit, but it wasn''t wrong. The pce, formed of nothingness, was there to store the energy of the user.


    And Laz now had tons of ways and means to do so in the library like, golden drop of blood his master had left for him.


    If Laz were to release this info into the world, it wouldn''t wrong to say that he was creating the''s means of cultivation, one step at a time.


    Arriving on scene was like walking into a raging inferno. The ground was covered with sshes of melted metal pools, still burning from some unknown source while the other areas were covered in nkets of mes. Several dead bodies were strewn through the area, no longer recognizable.


    Face off against each other with nothing but the gate in the middle, there were two groups of people. On on side, a man with crimson lines covering his face and bare upper torso stood in front of a group who looked mockingly at their opponents.


    On the other side, Dwayne, the four Ivy''s, Remi, the freshly awakened Jennia, and Helen stood at the front of the other group. Although they didn''t look disheartened, the people behind them looked like they wanted nothing more than to flee... at least some of them. The ones following Helen and the Ivy''s seemed the most steadfast and fearless, followed by the Vodun who hade with Jennia and Dwayne. If anything, Damien and the others looked very much like they wanted to find a rock to hide under. It was obvious that this was way above their current selves to handle.


    Laz made a brief note in his mind that when he got back, Julia would have to fix that. He had no ns to manage this group long term.


    "How delicious. Such rare treats delivered to my door. Not only that, but they are even those infected pieces of shit that can no longer be called human. That just means I can enjoy you until I kill you," Tommy said, ncing at Helen, Jennia and the others who stood in front.


    "But you... Well... you seem to be good at taking a beating. Looks like I found someone for Jesse to enjoy to his fullest?"


    "I don''t care what you''re talking about but unless Jesse is some hot ass babe, Imma have to pass on that one bro," Dwayne responded back, sicken by the look in Tommy''s eyes.


    "You think you got a choice son?"


    "Motha Fucka, I''m going to mess you the fuck up..." Dwayne, despite his subevent attitude towards, Jennia, was not a weak willed person. So hearing this kind of provocation was enough to stir him up even more.


    "And to think... quadruplets? And sexy ones at that? But... what the fuck happened to your skin? You''ve got a condition or something? Ah well, three of you will be fine and we can get rid of the fourth." One of the Ivy''s, Death, had gotten some of her clothes burned off, enough so that her arms were now visible. Although Laz had helped them heal a bit, the scars were still fully visible. Tommy had taken that to mean that she had something wrong with her and decided just to kill her. What he didn''t know was how much that had pissed off her sisters, Famine, War, and Pestilence. As far as they were concerned, he had to die.


    "And this thing... I don''t even know what she is but I''m guessing she screams quite loudly when beaten. Am I right baby?"


    "Remi hopes you get raped by a pack of angry unicorns..."


    "The fuck does that even mean?"


    "Sir. All of the ones standing in front of us are considered the big shots around town," one of Tommy''sckeys'' reminded him.


    "These weaklings are the ones you had trouble with? Pathetic. Well. Whatever. People like you could never hope to measure up to someone like me. So let me show you some mercy and remove these things from the city. After that, you should have no trouble brining the city under control, right?"


    "Yes my lord."


    "Good. Then let''s get started. Any female who get''s maimed is going to cost you, so make sure you set them aside safely for me to pick out. Don''t worry, I won''t take all of them so you''ll have plenty left over."


    "Thank you my lord. Let''s go!"


    Just as the tattoos on Tommy''s body shimmered and the air around him burst into me, the sound ofughing came out of nowhere, surprising all who had gathered.


    "Ho... Look at this? The guy who went and got himself knocked out in gym ss is standing here like some sort of big shot who''s word isw? God damn the times they are a changing..."


    It was obviously Laz''s voice that rang out as he and Ruby walked up. They had been running but stopped to observe the scene more fully once they arrived. Although Laz''s group had been a little roughed up, they were for the most part fine. At least, all the ones who were still here. Looking at them, the group of thirty plus was now down to twenty plus, showing that more than one person had fallen here.


    "Knocked himself out in gym ss?" Ruby, who was walking along beside Laz couldn''t help but ask. It ured to Laz that she might not have heard this story.


    "Kennedy never told you?"


    "Kennedy was there?"


    "Oh there is so much to catch you up on. But... maybe save that forter," Laz, looking at Tommy, seemed to see mesing from his eyes which thanks to his me channeling, probably wasn''t far from the truth.


    "WHO. THE FUCK. ARE YOU?" Tommy yelled, billows of smoke came off of him as a result of his loss of temper. Very few people today knew who he used to be but some random asshole seemed to know about one of the most embarrassing days of his life.


    "Seems like he doesn''t remember you?"


    "Yeah. It cuts deep. Real deep..." Laz wasn''t just acting this way just to get a reaction out of Tommy. The real reason was because Laz was trying to feel his power level out. After the fight with Brian which almost killed him, Laz understood that hisck of knowledge was dangerous. Watching the shirtless former ssmate of his, Laz was trying to figure out if there was some kind of tell and felt like he was on to something.


    "YOU''RE REALLY PISSING ME OFF RIGHT NOW. TELL ME WHO THE FUCK YOU ARE OR I SWEAR I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL..." It seemed like Tommy was losing it more and more. But every time his body seemed to burst with power, Laz noticed the the tattoo like, red lines on his upper body seemed to shimmer.


    "One... two... three... four...? Is that... is that it?" Laz said to himself, ignoring Tommy.


    Seeing Laz not even bother to respond, Tommy lost it and charged straight for Laz who was lost in thought. Ruby, who was standing right next to him, decided to slip away and join the rest of their group leaving Laz to face him alone.


    Just as Laz was about to be hit, his eyes lit up. The difference between the past and now was that they were a pale gold color. The strength that Laz normally kept hidden also red to life as ck mes exploded out of his body.


    Tommy, seeing this, didn''t miss a beat and punching out, caused a high pressured st of fire toe crashing at Laz.


    Everyone watching couldn''t help but gasp, knowing how dangerous Tommy''s mes were. Earlier he had used them to intimidate Laz''s people, but there wasn''t a member of their group which attempted to take his strike head on.


    Laz didn''t even bother moving. He just raised his arm up, opened his palm and acted like he was catching a ball that had been thrown at him.


    The st of fire collided with his palm and stopped right away, the end portion of the st condensing with the front and shrinking itself into a ball.


    Laz closed his fist, causing the energy to dissipate as though it was nothing.


    Tommy, surprised, started to cool his head at this unexpected result. Looking at the man standing a few yards away from him, covered in ck mes with glowing golden eyes seemed to trigger a memory.


    "They used to be red..."


    "Seems your notpletely stupid."


    "You were also the one who killed the guy in that video? The lightning user?"


    "Oh? You saw that too?"


    "We''ve been looking for you? I thought you''d have dug yourself into a hole by now and stayed there..."


    "Why would I do that? There is way to much going on to be enjoying the quiet life now..."


    "How''s my sloppy seconds? Or did you leave her too"


    "Please.... She didn''t even want to touch you, much less do anything else with you..."


    "Is that what she told you?"


    "She didn''t need to. People like you make people like us sick. It''s hard to even breath the same air as you."


    "HA. HA. HA. NOW THAT I AGREE ON. But to be honest, even then, you people are no longer human. So as much as it makes me want to vomit, I have thoroughly enjoyed making people like you my pets. Remember our old homeroom teacher? That bitch always thought I was nothing more than a kid... but now she serves me on her hands and knees... SO TELL ME THIS ISN''T AWESOME? THIS WORLD WITH YOU PIECES OF SHIT IN IT. HA HA HA HA HA."


    "God damn... how the fuck are you this messed up?"


    "OH. Don''t worry. I will have a ce for you too. After all, male or female... I don''t have a problem with either. As long as there is a hole I can use...."


    "Wow... No... fuck no.... that''s just.... fuck...." Laz was looking at Tommy going from evil viinughter to normal conversation like he was watching several people taking turns talking. But even though he wasn''t scared of Tommy, he couldn''t help but clench a bit at hisst statement.


    Ruby had finished telling everyone about on their side about the time limit when...


    "BOSS. THIS PLACE IS COMING APART IN ABOUT AN HOUR. WHEN THE DOOR OPENS UP, WE HAVE TO LEAVE...." One of Tommy''sckeys called out to him.


    "HOW IN THE FUCK?" Ruby asked, looking over at the guy who just yelled out. Her eyes changed as she spread her senses out and noticed that one of the members of the Vodun looked like he was talking to himself. But the words he was speaking was everything she had just informed everyone of including the time limit and what wasing for them.


    "YOU PIECE OF SHIT," with only those words, Ruby lunged forward, her hands grabbing on to the member of the Vodun''s throat as she suddenly screamed with all of her might, right in his ear.


    Not only did he scream, but the one who had yelled out to Tommy screamed as well as blood started to seep out of both of their ears.


    Ruby then broke his neck like it was nothing before quickly throwing the body away. Just as the body hit the ground, multiple branches suddenly prated his skin and spread out, causing his entire body to go stiff before tipping over.


    "Aww... Guess we were found out. Well, looks like we should have some fun before I bury you shits in here forever, hmm?" Tommy asked with a smile on his face.


    Laz couldn''t help but frown while everyone started running at each other.


    The battle for the gate had begun.

 Chapter 294: Frenzied Battle

    Chapter 294: Frenzied Battle


    Laz and Tommy stood facing each other while others charged forward. It''s worth it to note that on Tommy''s side, they had about five less people overall, due in equal parts to the members of Laz''s group who died and the member''s of Tommy''s group who Laz and Ruby killed. Originally, the difference would have been a lot higher.


    The problem was that there were only so many front line fighters on Laz''s side or even those who had something that could be used to fight.


    Once you took all those points together, the numbers were pretty equal.


    Ruby came face to face with arge man holding an even bigger hammer. Just as she was going to go in for the quick kill, the man mmed the hammer down on the ground, causing shockwaves to spread out on the metal surface and almost causing Ruby to lose her bnce. Just as she was about to resume her charge, severalrge boulders appeared out from underneath his hammer, obviously having been dragged out from underneath the metal flooring. Although Ruby didn''t know how he did this, she felt like he wasn''t going to go down easy.


    This man had three brownish ck lines.


    Dwayne ended uping face to face with a rather pretty girl...


    "I get to battle a chick?" Dwayne said, not sure if he was happy or upset about it.


    "FUCK YOU. I BET MY DICK IS TEN TIMES AS BIG AS YOURS..." Although the young person facing Dwayne seemed rather pretty and female, she was actually a he.


    "OK. Now that''s better, time to get..." Before Dwayne could evene out with anything, he was suddenly struck with severalrge ice spears that seemed to appear out of no where, turning him into a human pin cushion.


    "DWAYNE!!" Jennia yelled out, almost tripping over herself as she fought a blonde lightning user with three yellow lines.


    Just as Dwayne stood still while the pretty boy smiled, the ice spikes melted as a greenishyer of energy covered Dwayne. Before everyone''s eyes, therge, gapping holes in his body closed in a mere moment, causing him to pat himself like he couldn''t believe it before turning his head and grinning at the guy who was now standing frozen in ce with a shocked look on his face. Even Jennia and her opponent were frozen while watching this happen.


    "Guess this mediation shit Laz gave me really works." Dwayne said before looking over at the man who tried to kill him.


    "YOUR ASS IS MINE BOY!!!" Dwayne said whileunching at him.


    "COULD YOU SAY IT ANY OTHER WAY YOU IDIOT?" Jennia screamed while turning back to her lightning opponent and raising her hand. A purple light shot out and hit him while a small skull appeared above her head and opened it''s mouth. Before, she had just been dodging his attacks so he didn''t know what she was doing.


    "DRAIN!" Jennia yelled as bits of the mans power suddenly left his control and found it''s way into the skulls mouth.


    "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"


    "You''re ending," Jennia said with a smirk. She had no intention of telling this guy that her abilities all revolved around her ability to curse things, be it other people or herself.


    While Jennia thought she had the upper hand, the lightning user attacked the skull with a concentrated ball of lightning, causing the skull to explode and Jennia to be thrown back. She looked as surprised as he did as it had never happened before. How was she to know that lightning type attacks had a strong effect on dark types of skills like her curse skill.


    "Damn," Jennia said as she got back on her feet. Although the skill exploding had hurt, she had trained herself under Aaron to a degree which the whole Vodun respected. The only reason that hadn''t shown before was because with Ruby as an opponent, all the training in the world wouldn''t help.


    Seeing his lightning abilities being super effective, the blonde grinned and got ready to unleash another attack.


    Helen was facing off against some sort of wind user with three very clear green marks. His strength seemed a lot more prominent than someone should be at the stage as Helen had fought a few chosen before under Freya''s lead. Helen''s abilities were simr to Freya''s in that she had been granted them from the goddess. Due to this, her speed and strength were exceptional while her ability to charm couldn''t be ignored. With a few other skills, she was a perfect front line fighter normally, but against this user of wind, her abilities were super restricted..


    How could you beat something you couldn''t hit?


    "If you were some dirty-blooded bitch, I would love to take you home with me. Well, I guess I still could... I''ll just have to kill you when I''m done," The gust of wind taunted as it blew away from Helen''s grasp again while shooting off condensed des of wind at her. Helen dodged out of the way in time as the des hit the metal ground, causing it to be indented. Although the des themselves weren''t sharp, Helen learned quickly that they could cause quite a bit of damage aspressed air.


    "Just slow down enough for me to hold you tight and I promise to never let go...?" Helen shot back with a charming twinkle in her eye,.


    "Ho no... I was warned not to look you in the eyes. At least, not until I gouge them out of your skull. But look on the bright side, once I do that, you''ll have a few virgin holes for me to prate," the wind user mocked her as he kept jutting around, not stopping long enough for Helen to get a fix on him. She wasn''t even sure what he looked like.


    "I swear to the goddess I''m going to rip his dick off if I ever catch him," Helen muttered to herself before jumping to the side again.


    While Helen was busy dealing with that, The four Ivy''s had also found opponents of their own.


    Each one of them ended up facing a water user. Although they didn''t look identical to each other, they each had simr abilities and pretty boy looks. While Dwayne''s opponent was a male that looked like a female, the four pretty boys facing off against the girls were clearly male and clearly narcissistic.


    "How did we end up with these scarred chicks?"


    "Honestly, even on of the other random girls from this group would have been fine..."


    "Check out that hot, snake like chick over there?"


    "I wonder if her tongue is snake like too?"


    The four assholes weren''t even taking the Ivy''s attacks seriously since all four of them had just entered the foundation realm. Compared to them, the bright, aqua whitish lines on their bodies showed three clear lines per person, showing that their power was higher on average than the four girls. Instead, they had taken the time to use their water bases abilities to slowly strip, restrain and humiliate the girls.


    Unlike the harsh, explosive and destructive power of ice, their water based abilities were better at control, something they were using to the fullest right now. Originally, in their perverse joy, they found that these four girls were very attractive, despite the scars that the one had. But as soon as they began their sick game of using their powers to strip them, they found each of them covered in horrendous scars and now didn''t know how to feel. The one thing they did know was that they were no longer taking them seriously.


    The Ivy known as death looked at her sisters and nodded her head. They were going to do something that they were originally never nning on doing again, allowing their full abilities to burst forth.


    And the reason for that?


    As Death Ivy, Pestilence Ivy, Famine Ivy and War Ivy let go of their inhabitations and fully activated their foundational realm power, their bodies began to shimmer with light. Just as people wondered what was happening, the light disappeared and in ce of the four, somewhat dainty girls were four grotesque monsters.


    One of them looked like a balloon with huge arms and legs, looking like a giant, muscr freak.


    Another one of them looked like a dried up husk with leather like skin that seems to ke away just from the wind.


    The next one looked like some sort of freakish zombie from a low budget horror movie. Her skin had turned a putrid mix of green and yellow while lesions and boils erupted all over her body.


    And the final one didn''t even look alive, her flesh having disappeared. She was now a walking skeleton that didn''t even have eyes.


    There wasn''t a single person who could process what was going on. Although the girl''s bodies were normally rather horrible to look at, at least they still would resemble women.


    But now there was these four monsters that didn''t even look human, much less female.


    The ones who had the biggest reaction were the four water users who had faced off against them. They couldn''t control themselves and started gaging.


    Although this would have been the perfect time to attack, the four monsters, who despite their harsh lives, training and experience, couldn''t help but be taken back by everyone staring at them.


    They felt more exposed then ever right now and didn''t know how to react.


    "THAT''S FUCKING AWESOME!" Laz yelled out, breaking the silence.


    Everyone then turned to look at him, only to see him giving the girls two very stupid looking thumbs up.


    "Alright. Since they think we are fucking monsters, let''s show them just how monster like we are!" Laz followed up with this statement before igniting his mes to mask his body. Just when people wondered what he was doing, two golden lights lit up from the center of the mes before Laz stepped forward. His body was now a dark grey color with various ck tattoo like lines running all over his arms, chest and down his back. His hair had turned white and grew as well,ing just below his shoulders.


    Standing there, he looked over at Tommy who looked to be backing away and smile, showing a rather sharp pair of fangs that had grown from his canines.


    Laz had be a monster as well.


    Seeing other''s take the lead, no one else hesitated to bring their full abilities to bare.


    Helen''s skin became pale while while the bones in her face became more pronounced, her irises turned yellow and her lips became the color of blood.


    Ruby let loose with her transformation as rainbow colored scales emerged from her skin, no longer the dull red color they had been while her eyes became reptile in shape and color.


    Even Dwayne got in on the change, his body expanding and erging in uneven ways until he looked like some sort of monstrous undead with ck skin and white, soul-less eyes.


    "This ain''t fucking fair bro. You still looking pretty like that in a dangerous way," Dwayne''s voice called out from where his mouth should have been.


    "You look like you could get hit by a bus and walk away like it tickled," Laz shot back while returning his gaze to Tommy.


    "I guess it''s time to get this party started, eh?"


    "So now you all show your true fucking skins? I take back what I said earlier, kill the women too. These things are way to nasty to touch."


    Hearing this, Every female on Laz''s side turned and red at Tommy while wanting to rip him limb from limb. Just then, a fist came out of nowhere and swung at Tommy who just managed to get his me covered arms up in time to stop it from hitting his face. Even then, he flew backwards for tens of feet before he was able to stop himself.


    "I''ll shut his mouth for good. The rest of you focus on taking down your targets. The clock is ticking," Laz spoke to his team before again charging forward to Tommy.


    The real fight for the gate had begun.

 Chapter 295: The Strength of the Chosen

    Chapter 295: The Strength of the Chosen


    Everyone had decided to go all out keeping nothing back. Maybe it was easy for the Chosen to not have a problem with it since they ended up looking cool while bending elements to their will. But for the Infected like the Ivy''s and Dwayne, the end results were a lot harder to stomach.


    So when everyone finally entered the same boat, things became far more bnced.


    Seeing this, Laz couldn''t help but smile while focusing on Tommy.


    "You think that just because you creatures have finally shown yourselves that you can win?"


    "Yes. Yes I do. By the way, what happened to the normal humans who were covering the gate?" Laz asked kind of nonchntly while looking around. Although Laz wasn''t trying to piss Tommy off, he also wasn''t going to not take the opportunity to do so when he could.


    "Dead. Much as I can''t stand you disgusting things, at least you are worthy for us to fight. As for mere mortals? They had no business here."


    "You killed them?" Laz asked, wondering if he understood Tommy correctly. After all, the troops were all technically on his side.


    "The ants wouldn''t get out of the way fast enough thinking that your people were one of them. Therefore, it was just easier to attack everyone together."


    "Those were your allies," Laz said, feeling something inside of him getting angry. Laz could understand the hatred between himself and Tommy, but to totally disregard life just because it was easier that way? That just didn''t sit right with him.


    "You, my old ssmate, should understand something, even with your disgusting blood and horrendous appearance. And that is that humans are nothing more than a failed race. We have the strength of gods while they just crawl around on the ground like animals."


    "What the fuck are you talking about now....?" Laz''s voice trailed off as he watched the red lines on Tommy''s body glow before several of them seemed to spread out, poking out of the back of his clothes and spreading out into the air. Then, as if by some strange twist of reason, Tommy started to fly up into the air.


    "Like I said, we are now the gods of these people. And we are here to y you devils while ruling over the masses. Be enlightened that your deaths shall call forth the new age of this world," Tommy said whileughing.


    Laz had to admit, this was kind of cool.


    And this was also going to be a pain in the ass.


    Looking around, Laz noticed that all of the other chosen had also sprouted these strange wings from their backs and began hovering in the air while looking down at their opponents, causing everyone on Laz''s side to back up.


    "Now do you see? Now do you understand the powers of a god? When looking at your trivial strength, how are we everparable?" Tommy preached, his voice reaching out to taunt everyone. He was more than just giddy. This technique was something that Jesse hade up with and then distributed it out to all of their members. The one thing that the slightly less numerous chosen had going for them was that they were a closer knit group than the Infected. Like those gather today, there were many different groups spread out all over while the majority of the chosen were part of the children of god group that was founded by global sciences. The only ones that weren''t were those that were way too crazy to even approach. In fact, most of those chosen were on a kill on sight list due to the bad press that woulde about if they ever made it into the public eye.


    ''I have no idea how hees up with this stuff, but it is fucking amazing,'' Tommy thought to himself while hovering there. Although the more Tommy fought, the more the riled up he got, he was still clear headed enough to show off. And this also had a bonus effect of making Laz''s groups morale drop.


    "HOLY SHIT... TURKEY''S CAN FLY? WELL WHO KNEW..." Laz yelled out, his voice a mixture of surprise, shock and amazement. Even though things were getting serious, Laz''s team couldn''t help butugh.


    This was what Laz wanted. He knew that if they lost their cool, things would go south fast so he needed them to stay sharp and this was the first thing he could think of.


    "Can turkey''s actually fly though? I kind of thought they were like penguins?" Ruby asked out loud, ying along.


    "Penguins are cute.".


    "Penguins are cuddly."


    "Penguins like shiny stones."


    "Female penguins sleep with male penguins for shiny stones..."


    Although their bodies were grotesque looking, their voices stayed the same as shockingly, the four normally silent Ivy''s added to the conversation that started carrying on as though their opponents didn''t matter.


    "Did they just call these guys whores?" Dwayne asked as his oversized arm tried to scratch his disproportional head. He was honestly confused.


    "Yes... Yes they did. I mean, look at them. It''s like fem boy central up in here. I''m not hating on that, but I honestly can''t stand guys who are more feminine that me," Jennia added.


    "You? Feminine? I''m not trying to hate sister, but you should try controlling that temper of yours a little more," Helen blurted out without meaning to.


    If one were to observe them, they would see that all of them had actually appeared to let down their defenses while chatting with each other. But upon closer look, one would also see that none of them had actually moved from their spots. Even their feet were still in the same ce as though waiting for the blow up.


    And they didn''t have to wait for long.


    "I''M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" Tommy yelled as he and his men charged their attacks. In Tommy''s case, the mes around him doubled in sized as red lights burst forth from his body. Just as he was about to focus the mes at Laz, Laz squatted down and jumped up, ending up meters above where Tommy was hovering.


    "Too easy," Laz said as he suddenly started plummeting down. With his fingers interlocked, Laz brought his hands down in a chopping motion, making contact with the top of Tommy''s head. The force from the blow caused Tommy''s skull to sink in slightly before it was covered by a red glow. Despite blocking most of the force Laz used, it couldn''t stop the impact from sending his body flying down hard onto the metal floor.


    Laz wasn''t the only one. Everyone seemed to have the exact same thought at the exact same time. Using their enhanced bodies to jump up and smash their opponents to the floor at almost the same time. If one didn''t know any better, they would think it was staged.


    "Like smashing an annoying housefly," Ruby said and smiled.


    Despite catching them off guard, no one rushed in to attack either since everyone got the same feeling. Striking flesh is something that everyone here had experience with, at least everyone who was fighting. And except for Laz who was able to attack faster then Tommy could respond, everyone else felt like they had hit stone instead of flesh, showing that there was something still off about. Instead of rushing in, they wanted to see what was going to happen.


    Tommy was the first hit and the first one to get up. He had blood dripping from his mouth and a murderous look on his face.


    "I''m done ying... Time for you to die," Tommy said, his voice several octave''s lower than before.


    Laz could only watch on as the threads of red that had formed his wings grew longer and longer before wrapping his body like a cocoon. It then shrunk down, like a balloon deting until the red threads were skin tight with his body like armor. Looking around, Laz noticed that everyone one of the chosen seemed to be doing the same thing.


    Looking towards Tommy again, Laz realized that even his eyes were covered.


    ''Fuck,'' Laz thought and jumped to the side, just in time to avoid Tommy''s attack. His arm, covered in the red armor and emzed with mes was slowing lifting itself out of the hole it had made in the metal floor. Tommy''s head then turned to face Laz while the armored thread''s around his mouth shifted into a malicious smile.


    "BE CAREFUL!" Laz yelled out as he jumped again, narrowly avoid another attack.


    Every one else was engaged as well, the strength of their battle forms being negated thanks to the multi-colored armor.


    Laz retreated again and again while Tommy chased him. Tommy''s power was more than just a step from where it was before. Laz could tell that getting hit just once would cause massive damage, even to his body.


    Luckily, although Tommy was faster, it was still within the range Laz could handle. Even then, the best he could do was avoid and evade without being able to break awaypletely or find an opening.


    ''I wonder if there is actually movement techniques that I could learn? Like in those stories I used to read?'' Laz thought to himself. After all, what was a movement technique in the end? Moving your feet in a way that confused someone who was looking at you? That seemed like a waste of time. Moving so fast that you could leave after images? Isn''t that just moving fast, stopping and moving again? If you were fast enough, what would be the need for a technique?


    ''Still," Laz thought. ''I should look into it...'' Laz once again avoided a swing from Tommy. Unlike the others, he had been going hard the entire time while they had been doing more of a stick and move kind of deal. Compared to Tommy, they all seemed to be saving their energy.


    After noticing this, Laz then looked at Tommy and saw that his upper half seemed to be breathing far more heavily than he did before. It was only now that Laz understood.


    ''They can''t keep this up for long...'' And that was good. Most of the girls were ok overall, knowing how to move quickly and be agile seemed to be in their nature. Dwayne was getting his ass handed to him by the girl like guy, but his ability to regenerate himself kept him going long after he should have been dead.


    The ones suffering the most were the less powerful of both the Council and the Vodun. The girls Helen brought with her had a natural speed advantage the others didn''t have. As such, more than a few of them had been killed by Tommy''s guys before running after the nonbatant''s.


    It could only be described as a one sided ughter.


    Laz also noticed that it looked like Remi was facing off against two of the chosen herself. Just as Laz was about to look closer, he heard Tommy''s tired voice from where he had just jumped away from.


    "FINE... Since I can''t catch you, I''ll make you watch while I kill all of your friends, one by one..." Tommy said, changing directions.


    It just so happened that he was heading towards Ruby.


    "FUCK!" Laz yelled and charged forward. His n of waiting until Tommy tired was obviously noticed by Tommy. Although Laz was fast enough to avoid him, there was no telling that Ruby would be able to handle her opponent and Tommy.


    "RUBY! WATCH OUT!" Laz called out knowing he wasn''t going to make it in time.


    Just as Tommy was about to plunge his armored covered hand into her back, Ruby''s body took on a transparent appearance before she disappeared, reappearing behind her attacker. Although he ws weren''t enough to pierce his armor, she didn''t need to. Instead, she pushed him forward towards Tommy who was still blindly charging forth, causing his zing, armored hand to go though the other chosen''s armored body and exit out the other side.


    There was a moment of quiet when this happened as therge man with the hammer and brown colored armor looked down at Tommy. Just as he tried to move, Tommy simply spat out,


    "Trash..."


    The mes around Tommy''s arm grew in size, incinerating the man to ashes while everyone else looked on.


    Tommy then turned his gaze towards a panting Ruby rushed forward, intent on finishing her off.


    Laz arrived just in time having never stopped. He pushed Ruby out of the way, while Tommy changed his target, piercing through the center of Laz''s chest with his armored hand.


    "Too easy," Tommy smiled underneath the armor.


    Ruby screamed, seeing her man being impaled. She was just about to jump on Tommy when Laz smiled at him. His golden eye''s red as though he had nned this.


    "Time''s up..."


    Before Tommy could even ask what he was talking about, the dome shaped barrier of light that was the only sky they could see shed once before disappearing. A strange and powerful breezed rushed through the area while sirens all over the ce started rring.


    "WARNING. BASEWIDE SYSTEMS RESET WILL NOW COMENCE. ALL SYSTEMS WILL BE OFFLINE FOR THE NEXT 15 MINUTES," red the message that few of them could understand.


    What everyone did understand was the earthquake like shaking that began as the barrier in front of the gate powered down.


    "RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR."


    Last came the roar that cause everyone''s hearts to drop.

 Chapter 296: Times Up

    Chapter 296: Time''s Up


    Tommy was shaken, not having any warning. His guys were likewise shaken and instead of continuing the fight, ended up backing up to form up around Tommy.


    Laz had managed to push him away before falling backwards, only managing to not hit the ground as Ruby had arrived in time to support him. Not just her, but everyone still alive on Laz''s side also rushed to his side.


    "What now?" Jennia asked, looking frightened.


    "Make for the door, quick. We need to... fuck...." Laz said, looking over.


    Tommy and his group were far more whimpy than Laz gave them credit for. They might act tough towards those weaker than them, but when something unexpectedes around, they scattered like cockroaches. Just as Laz was speaking, Tommy and his crew took off, went through the gate and didn''t look back.


    "Son of a bitch..." Dwayne said while watching them run.


    "You''ve got to give them credit for being decisive. They wasted no time going..." Laz said while the rumbling continued. As he was helped to his feet, the noticeable size hole in his chest started healing at a rate which astounded everyone around. It only took a few moments for it to closepletely.


    "Damn bro... you sure your not part me? But I mean hell, even I don''t heal that fast..." Dwayne said... poking at the new skin until Laz pushed his hand away. Laz suddenly felt something and looked up. Although the image was blurry and far off, he felt like a pair of eyes were watching him. Laz could help but mumble ''thank you'' to his savior. Just as Jennia was about to say something, another ground shaking rumbled caused everyone to almost fall over.


    "What exactly is that?" Helen asked while looking all around. For some reason, everyone got the feeling that what they were sensing wasn''t mother nature.


    "That.... is that!" Laz then pointed up to the sky. Everyone looked up to where Laz was pointing and as they watched, severalrge building in the distance crumbled apart while fragments of metal were sent flying, almost like an explosion had happened underground.


    Then, while everyone was shocked, arge beast raised itself out of the ground, making another heart wrenching noise.


    It felt like they would suffocate just from the pressure of that beast.


    "Stand tall and stay firm... Let the feeling of it wash over you..." Lazmanded, rather strangely. He knew not everyone would or could listen, but he was going to give this chance to those who did.


    As Laz stood there, watching the creature rise from the ground, many thoughts that weren''t his own went through his head. A weak glow of golden light could be seening from his deep blue eyes as he stood firm, unwilling to back down.


    Ruby was quick to stand by his side, although part of her wanted to run away. She held hands with Laz as she looked on. Helen, the four sisters and most of their team did the same, bracing themselves against one another. Helen had been told to listen to Laz and was going to follow those orders to the end.


    Jennia was finding it hard to even remain on her feet as the pressure from the creature battered her body. Just when she felt like falling to the ground like the others, a strong hand grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She looked for the owner of the hand, only to find that it was Dwayne who was standing tall. She wanted to push him away, but then decided not to and slowly stood. He was the only thing keeping her standing. As for the Vodun who were still alive, they tried their best, but had very little sess, with only four who could stand in the face of the pressure.


    As for the council members who had followed Laz, only Damien and Remi were able to stand up while the few who were still alive had basically curled into a ball on the ground and tried their best not to wet themselves.


    "What''s the deal boss man?" Dwayne asked, looking over.


    Laz collected his emotions and responded.


    "This creature that you see... it''s a sky whale. It''s part of a species that lives a long, long way away from here. In fact, there might not even be any of them left and this one is also dying. But even then, it is far stronger than anything you have encountered so far. So this pressure that you feel is from your blood telling you that it''s dangerous and you should run away. But this is also the perfect way to temper something that is almost impossible to temper otherwise; your heart. You standing here, facing this impossible beast, is akin to looking death in the face and not flinching. It''s like standing at the gates of hell and strolling in. For many, that''s impossible to do. Your fear and survival instincts won''t let you. Look at those around us who can''t even open their eyes. But that is normal. For those of us who can stand strong while looking death in the face, we will go much further along the path. Their journey will probably end after today... if we make it out alive. But ours shall continue on..." Although Laz was rambling a bit, everyone understood. Even Ruby was looking astonished at Laz''s insight on this. She had fought many battles, had killed and almost been killed numerous times and even for her, the pressure was intense and hard to stomach. But she also knew that the benefits of surviving an impossible situation leads you to be stronger in the end. But even she would never have thought to use this type of situation to train the heart.


    She couldn''t help but feel quite a bit more respectful of her man who was a few years younger than her..


    "And there is one more reason for this..." Laz said, his voice trailing off... He didn''t exin further even though everyone was looking at him. The reason they were looking on was as a sign of respect to his teacher. This sky whale had been a long time friend of Rak''sha. Although his teacher had passed on, it was only fitting that his only disciple would be there to see the end of his friend.


    "No one should have to die alone..." He finally said, causing everyone''s faces to go a bit funny. After all, this was a giant whale... wasn''t it?


    When the creature fully came into view, everyone decided Laz had no idea what a whale looked like. This creature that had risen out of the ground and was floating in the sky had masses of tentacles stretching as far as the eye could see. If they were topare it to any sort of sea animal, it would be more apt to say it looked like a mythical Kraken as opposed to a whale. To Laz''s vision, it was still the same creature that had toured the universe with his master. But it had been misshapen due to it''s own hatred and the harsh experiments that it had endured.


    His eyes weren''t lying.


    The creature that had risen up from the ground let out another heart stopping wail before its tentacles started to raze everything around it into the ground. With a single sweep of one of it''s many arms, buildings were demolished or sent flying into the air. These solid metal structures were like tissue paper before the beast as it went on a rampage. What''s more, it started making it''s way towards the gate.


    To make matters worse, there was a strange clicking sound that was echoing through the outpost, reaching everyone''s ears during the times when the demolition wasn''t as loud. While the creature sent waves of fear into their hearts, the clicking sound was mind numbingly getting louder.


    "Baby?" Ruby asked, looking at Laz who was still observing the creature.


    "Hmm?" Laz peeled his eyes away to take a look down at Ruby and saw the concern written on her face.


    "That clicking... is that what I think it is?" Thanks to meeting her ''ancestor,'' Ruby had learned a little bit about the nature of the creatures who lived on this. The fact that the clicking was getting louder indicated that they were getting closer. Even with the sky whale raging in the skies, the''s native species wasn''t stopping at all.


    "Yeah... And that''s a problem..." Laz said, looking out at the roads that were still in tact and wondering what he was going to do.


    "What wrong?" Helen asked noticing Laz''s gaze and hearing Ruby''s question. Dwayne, Jennia, Remi and everyone else focused on Laz, noticing that there was another problem.


    "Well... I think... I have an idea..." Laz suddenly got a sh of inspiration as he looked out on those who were trusting him to get them back safely. Although a part of him wanted to keep observing the final minutes of the sky whale''s revenge, he was not his master and had other responsibilities to attend to. At least he had seen it onest time.


    "So what''s the n?" Jennia asked, her normal arrogant attitude long gone.


    "We need to head back before this ce is destroyed or before the poweres back on. I''m not sure which will happen but we can''t be here for it."


    "Ok. Yeah. Head back. Remi agrees. But the enemies beat us there first and it''s not safe to cross. Remi doesn''t want to leave the frying pan just to enter the fire," Remi spoke up, voicing everyone''s thought.


    "Yes. Well, that is an issue. So we will need to cause a little chaos over there first before we jump back in," Laz said with a wicked grin.


    "And how we doing that?" Dwayne asked.


    Laz took the time toy out his n. There was no way he would miss the doubt that everyone was showing after listening.


    "Any questions?" Laz finished up with.


    "You sure this will work sir?" Helen asked, looking more than a bit nervous. The n could be described in one word, ''Crazy.''


    "No. But if anyone has a better suggestion, I''m all ears," Laz replied, expressing his own helplessness. He knew it was a long shot, but with the limited time window and the fact that there was an army waiting for them on the other side, it was the best he had.


    "It sounds crazy, but I trust you," Ruby said.


    "We will believe in him," the four sisters said at the same time.


    "Remi has no other ideas."


    "Fucking insane... but what isn''t right now?" Jennia asked.


    Everyone had to agree, there wasn''t another choice. They couldn''t stay here and miss their chance of getting back. More than one of them promised to never gate jump again for as long as they lived.


    "Bro. I''m with yah. But I got to ask, how are you sure those creatures are going to be just hopping through like that? I mean, even if they dumb as rocks that doesn''t mean they don''t have a survival instinct, right" Dwayne asked, figuring out a w in the n. Jennia, who was right next to him, couldn''t help but nod approvingly. She was d Dwayne was using his head when she hadn''t even thought of it.


    "Well, I have a n for that, but first..." Laz took a few steps back and raised his hand in the air. Thest time he had used the runes to mark everyone on his team in a type of cloaking, it had worked well. There was no reason it wouldn''t work again. Added to that his increase in power and Laz didn''t even need to do everyone one at a time. He just summoned a whisp of ck me, drew the symbol in the air and pped it with his palm. The symbol then broke down into many smaller,plete versions and hit everyone at the same time, causing their bodies to fade.


    "Grab the ones on the ground. Even if they are useless, we can''t leave them here," Laz ordered. Before long, everyone was either standing and being held up when the first native creature made it''s appearance.


    It''s body was as far from human as it could be. ck sections of armor covered the creature from head to toe while it''s almost three meters of height was leagues taller than Dwayne in his battle form. Behind it, more and more of these creatures came into view as the clicking grew louder. Everyone understood that the clicking was the sound of their armored feet hitting the metal ground.


    Before long, it seemed like they all were looking at the group of people standing there, as though they could see them and Laz''s rune had failed.


    That wasn''t the case.


    "Alright everyone, back up," Laz ordered as everyone backed away from the gate.


    "What are those things?" Jennia asked as she moved.


    "Best way to describe them would be bugs. Imagine reallyrge cockroaches and that''s about right," Rudy answered.


    "Hey Bro... why is it that they seem to be looking at me?" Dwayne asked, noticing that the creatures sight seemed to be locked on to where ever he went as opposed to everyone else.


    "Well. Remember you asked how I was going to get them to go through the door?" Laz said as he made his way over to Dwayne.


    "Yeah..."


    "Well... I nned to use bait. Sorry bout this bro as it''s going to hurt. But on the plus side, at least you won''t die. Probably," Laz answered with an apologetic smile.


    He hadn''t used the Rune on Dwayne.


    "OH FUCK NO. FUCK THAT... YOU SON OF A...." Dwayne''sst words were cut off as Laz threw him into the gate. Just as his body disappeared, therge cockroach in the front of the pack made a loud screeching noise before it and all of the ones around it charged for the gate and jumped through without stopping.


    "He was a brave man." Ruby said right away.


    "He will be missed," Helen added on.


    "Remi thought he was funny."


    "Manly!" The sister''smented.


    ''Good luck bro. Don''t die. Cause I''m probably the only one here that will miss you,'' Laz said a silent prayer before getting ready for part two of the n.

 Chapter 297: Did We Made A Mistake?

    Chapter 297: Did We Made A Mistake?


    Despite the fact that dozens of these man sized cockroaches were charging by in front of them, no one looked too nervous. Compared to the pressure caused by the rampaging sky whale off in the distance, they felt like there was little to fear from these guys. More than that though, they had trust in Laz''s abilities and if he said it wasn''t going to be an issue, then they knew it wasn''t going to be.


    "Dwayne?" Jennia was probably the only one concerned about Dwayne. Not because he was being used as bait, but because there really was no way to know what was happening on the other side of the gate. Because of that, she looked over at Laz who was watching the iing hoard closely.


    "Baby. You sure your friend is going to be ok?" Ruby asked. She didn''t really care about the guy one way or the other but he was technically Laz''s friend.


    "He''s fine. The moment he gets in is the moment he will y dead. No worries.."


    "You know that for sure?" Jennia asked, worried.


    "No. But that''s the best path to take, all things considered. You know, Dwayne isn''t as useless as you make him out to be. He''s got a good head on his shoulders and he is a loyal man. Just those two things alone are hard to find. You should cut him a little ck." Laz lectured Jennia after getting some idea about what was going on between them having witnessed them together. He felt the sparks between them and they didn''t seem like just violent sparks. There was some real concern in there as well.


    That probably meant she liked him. Of course, Laz had no idea if the feeling was mutual.


    "I hope your right," Jennia said, still worried.


    "Him aside, what about everyone on the other side of the gate?" Helen asked, thinking out loud.


    "Now that... they should be alright...." Laz said, not one hundred percent convinced as he said it. He had thought about it before doing this, all be it briefly. The barriers were up and there was a whole load of chosen as well as normal solders on the other side. They should be able to handle these bug like creaturesing through.


    Still though, Laz was a little worried as he didn''t think his bait would be this effective. Watching the throngs of the native people rush through, Laz had thought they would send some through to chase Dwayne, but not this many. Still, the die was cast and there was nothing he could do except wait.


    And what was he waiting for?


    For them to stop rushing through so that he could sneak his people in amid the chaos and escape.


    Based on his estimate, there was only about five minutes left before the system came back on line. Either that, or the system was nevering back on line. With this line of thinking, Laz took another look at therge beast, destroying everything in it''s wake.


    Just as Laz looked over, a sudden earthquake made everyone fall on their butts, including knocking over the natives who finally stopped rushing with this new development.


    "Remi has a bad feeling..." she said, looking panicked.


    "What feeling?" Laz asked her.


    "I feel... like something... is wrong.... and that we should run."


    "What the hell does that mean?" Jennia said, looking at her.


    Helen and Ruby were both eyeing her too... wondering why she would feel this way. Suddenly, Ruby tensed up as well.


    "Baby... I think...".


    "Prepare yourselves. We are going through..." Laz didn''t know what the Ruby was going to say, but there was something else he noticed. The temperature around them was increasing at a noticeable rate and the remaining cockroach natives had started to retreat.


    While those gathered might question each other, they wouldn''t question Laz.


    "Laz..?" Ruby asked.


    "The shaking was caused by the sky whale, but it wasn''t the only reason," Laz said, looking at the ground around them.


    "Then what is it?" The four Ivy''s asked before anyone else could.


    "You know that''s kind of freaky when you all do it at the same time right?" Laz said, looking at the girls.


    "Sorry," they again said together on que.


    "Nevermind. Everyone ready?" Everyone had adjusted their packs while lifting up their overwhelmedrades.


    "Go." Just as Laz gave the order, a burst of air flew up a ways away from them after having caused the metal flooring to puff up like a balloon and pop. And right behind the puff of air was a glowing, fear inducing liquid substance that oozed out of the ground like a popped pimple.


    "FUCK. GO. WE ARE ON TOP OF A FUCKING VOLCANO..." Laz said, waking everyone up from their stupor and getting them to move.


    He now understood the feelings that Ruby and Remi had. Their abilities were based on animals and animals have always been sensitive about pending disasters.


    Without a second look, everyone starting going through while Laz hung back. He even sent Ruby to the front of the line to lead the way.


    Although it was getting increasingly dangerous to stay here, he had onest thing he had to do.


    As thest of his team fled through the door, Laz nced at the barely noticeable gages on the bottom of the gate and realized that after he went through, something he had better do quickly, the gate would close from ack of power. Not only that, but the gate on this side would then be in the mouth of an active volcano.


    He highly doubted it would be usable after that, but there would only be a few people he would tell that too.


    ''Let them lose some men to figure it out,'' Laz thought to himself as his gaze turned to the sky.


    The whale would be over head from him in less than a minute, having destroyed the entire outpost minus the area where the gate was located. Laz couldn''t be sure if that was intentional, or by ident, but he wanted to say goodbye to the beast, even if it was just at the behest of his fallen master.


    Just as Laz tried to think about what to say, the beast let out a mournful wail and charge straight at him. Without missing a beat, Laz circted his inner energy, causing his appearance to again take on the form of an Asura with golden eyes and stood tall against the mountain like pressure crushing down on him.


    Just as the beast was about to crush Laz beneath itself, it stopped.


    :It''s.... you....: It''s voice was both resonating and weak at the same time. It would have almost of been melodious had it not been tinged with so much pain.


    :My master wished for me to escape, because he didn''t know if you would still have your wits about you. But for him I couldn''t leave without at leastying you to rest.:


    :Broth.... er....?:


    :He has passed. I now carry on his legacy although I don''t know how far I can take it.:


    :My.... people....:


    :He asked me to fine them, along with his own.: Although that wasn''t technically true... It wasn''t false either.


    :They... are.... gone.... all.... gone....:


    :If there is even a glimmer of your people still within this great big universe, I promise I will do what I can for them.: Laz couldn''t help but wonder at the real rtionship between this massive beast and his master and the real story behind them. Mostly because Laz had a lingering feeling that this giant behemoth in front of him.... might have been female?


    :He... trusts.... I.... trust....:


    Laz was confused by this but before he could even rify, something with some weight appeared around his neck. After that happened, the massive sky whale, this impossiblyrge creature, suddenly started to shimmer and fade away.


    As it did so, Laz got a glimpse of something impossible. An extremely beautiful woman was also contained within that shimmering light. It was impossible to make out her features so Laz might have been wrong, but just the bearing with which she held herself made Laz want to kneel down to her. Just as Laz''s jaw was about to hit the floor, she smiled and vanished.


    The rumbling of the ground along with several more air vents opening up was enough to wake Laz. Without another thought, he turned around and jumped through the gate, leaving the alien world behind.


    What greeted Laz when he arrived on the other side was something he never expected.


    Dozens of bodies wereid out on the ground, bleeding and broken. The smell of acidic putridnessnguished in the air without a breeze to brush it away.


    Laz ground stood around, horrified by the sight. The ones dead were not just chosen or military, but also several people dressed in civilian dress, indicating that they were part of the media.


    And to top it all off, there were only two of the cockroach like creaturesying around, their bodies so broken apart that they could barely move. But even then, they were still alive.


    Seeing the dozens of bodies that littered the floor, Laz couldn''t help but wonder just what the hell happened? He had sensed those creatures and knew that they weren''t that big of a danger.... although they weren''t pushovers either. The strongest among them, the ratherrge leader that entered first, was about the same level of Tommy. All the rest, were at most in thete stage of the foundation realm. With the abilities of the chosen they should have been able to stop their rampage here at the cost of many of their lives.


    But it seemed like things didn''t go as nned. Even worse than that, Laz couldn''t even sense the remains of chosen energy in the air or on the ground. It was like the chosen didn''t fight at all.


    Only if that was the case would this scene before him be possible. With the weaponry avable to the armed members here, they would have been hard pressed to kill one or two of them before they were overrun.


    And that looks exactly like what happened.


    While everyone else was at a loss for words and trying to not vomit, Ruby couldn''t help but ask a question.


    "Did we make a mistake?" She turned to Laz.


    "We didn''t make a mistake, we made a miscalction. It seems as though those chosen of god decided it wasn''t worth it to sacrifice even a few of themselves to stop these creatures and instead, left it to science. And this is the result."


    "So where are the rest of those creatures?" Helen asked before he gave followed the trails of blood and bodies that lead to both the stairs and elevators.


    "Fuck..." She said in understanding.


    "Now what do we do?" Jennia asked, her face a pale shade of mocha.


    "Now we get the fuck out of here and see if we can figure out what the fuck went on," Laz responded before walking forward to a pile of bodies in front of him and kicking it hard.


    "OUCH! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?" An angry voice called from the pile of bodies.


    "How long are you going to nap there under the human nket?" Laz said with a smirk. He knew that the person under the pile didn''t want to be there. He just wasn''t sure it was safe to leave yet.


    "DWAYNE!" Jennia said, seeing him stand up with some help from Laz.


    "I can''t believe you did me like that brother..." Dwayne said, looking at Laz.


    "You didn''t die and you are the only one who would have survived that. So thank you for getting us all safely through that," Laz said, trying his best to notugh.


    "Thank you!" Helen added.


    "You''re the best!" The four Ivy''s said.


    "Remi thinks you''re impossible to kill."


    "Aww... you guys...."


    ''Poor Dwayne,'' Laz thought, seeing how easy he was to y.


    "So what about this whole thing?" Laz asked.


    "I had a bullet or two in my one ear, but as for what I heard from my other one was that ice asshole saying something about blowing this up to pin this on us?" Dwayne said, trying to see if he could find the right memories. Those things were hard to hang on to after dying a few times.


    Laz and Ruby looked at each other with rm before dashing upstairs.


    Remi, Jennia, Helen and the girls all lifted their heads as they understood at the same time as well. This caused Dwayne to be left alone without any answers.

 Chapter 298: Home Sweet Home

    Chapter 298: Home Sweet Home


    The building was empty except for the fresh blood and warm bodies that littered the ground.


    Even once they got outside to the gated area, there was no one there. Looking around, Laz and Ruby had a bad feeling. Before they could even say a word to each other, Ruby''s phone went off and she answered it while walking away from Laz. From the interior of the building, Helen, Jennia, the sisters, Remi, Damien, and all the others emerged from the building, followed closely by Dwayne.


    "What is it?" Dwayne asked.


    "Just to double check this. You for sure heard this from Tommy? Even over the gun fire and people screaming?" Laz wanted to know, turning back to the confused Dwayne.


    "Well yeah. I be figuring he would be the one to listen to after all...."


    "You''re right... but damn I wish you had been mistaken." Laz said as Helen, Jennia, Remi and even Dwayne''s phones went off at the same time. It seemed like the only person not getting a call was Laz.


    ''Oh wait... I don''t have a working phone again....'' He thought, remembering he had destroyed another one.


    ''Honestly though... do they make cases for this kind of activity? I mean... their phones all survived. Maybe if I get one of those military grade ones...'' Laz pondered to himself.


    "Baby... About how many of those things got through?" Ruby asked, turning her head over.


    "Uh... well... if I didn''t miss any... I would say around one hundred?"


    "Oh fuck..." Although Ruby''s phone wasn''t on speaker, it was still loud enough to hear the voice on the other end.


    Laz felt like the voice belonged to someone he knew and was about to ask, but Ruby had turned her head again and was talking.


    "This is crazy."


    "Remi doesn''t care. But the man next to me suggests that everyone gets away fast. Him...?" Remi looked over at Damien. In truth, they were the only two who survived from the council group.


    "Damien mam. Just tell them Damien said to run." Damien had been listening and knew that they had called Remi since Laz didn''t have a phone and Damien''s opinion didn''t matter.


    "Ok right. K. Lazzy?" Remi called over, getting Laz''s attention.


    "Yeah?"


    "The Julia person says... um... something about flying shit...?"


    "Julia said the shit hit the fan. She will contact everyone to get away asap and was taking someone named Abraham with her. Your stuff will be packed and waiting at the apartment so you can take it and run. She will contact us once she arranges a ce to stay," Damien finished Remi''s words for her, having actually paid attention to what had been said.


    Laz was relieved but couldn''t help but ask,


    "How bad is it?".


    "From her words... the entire city is blowing up and there are broadcasts already from the Children of God that the heathens had unleashed these beasts upon the world. Apparently there is a video of Dwayneing through the gate, yelling ''they areing'' before getting blown into swiss cheese followed by the cockroaches entrance."


    "Apparently the big one destroyed almost all of the defenses before the others even got through. It was pure luck that the two that were killed were killed. After that they chased after the people who were fleeing with the new ones just following the blood trails," Helen said hanging up her phone.


    "How did I look?" Dwayne asked, picking up on the fact that a video he was in was going viral.


    "Like a dead cat spit up a half digested mouse," Jennia said, hanging up her phone.


    "How could a dead cat spit up a digested mouse if it was dead?" Dwayne asked, insulted.


    "Someone stepped on it. Anyway, we have to go now. Everyone, prepare to move," Jennia ordered her people.


    "On me all. Let''s go," Helen gathered up her remaining followers and quickly took off as well.


    The only ones left were the Ivy''s, Ruby, Laz, Remi and Damien.


    "What do we do now boss?" Damien asked, looking at Laz.


    "Get together who you can and get the hell out of the city. Wait for the call from Julia and meet up with her or go underground."


    "Remi doesn''t know what that means," Remi said with a confused look in her eye.


    "It means you should go somece quiet and hide out. Don''t go on social media, don''t got anywhere near a government building or any ce that might have cameras. Don''t get your id checked anywhere. Make sure to use a car that can''t be connected to either of you. And don''t contact anyone until you hear from Julia. And I mean anyone," Ruby answered for Laz.


    Remi and Damien looked at each other before nodding to Laz and heading off.


    Laz couldn''t help but look at them weirdly.


    "They seem to be much closer now," Lazmented, remembering when Damien used to just be Remi''s errand boy.


    "Almost dying will do that to you. Besides, everyone needs someone they can trust their back to," Ruby mused.


    "Good point. What about you girls?" Laz asked the sisters.


    "We are going to follow you for now," they did their freaky thing and responded in unison.


    "But I can''t..."


    "Baby. I have to get going to. Since I''m the closest of us sisters, I have to get to our branch office and get things set up to move. From what big sis says, they are moving in more and more troops and not just national guards either. What are you going to do?"


    "I uh..."


    :WE NEED TO TALK," Laz felt a bolt of lightning hit his brain as the strong thoughts of a females voice entered his head. Laz felt like he hadn''t heard from her in a while.


    "I need to go meet with someone," Laz said, hesitantly.


    "Meet with someone? Who?" Ruby asked.


    Laz didn''t respond directly and just pointed to where the tattoo would have been on his chest if her wasn''t wearing clothes. This was enough for Ruby to understand that he didn''t want it shared with the sisters since he didn''t trust them with this.


    "Ah. Ok. I''ll call you in a.... oh right. No phone." Ruby said, looking a bit frustrated at his inability to stay in touch with people.


    "Call us. We will be close,"


    "You know that really is kind of spooky," Ruby said, looking at the girls. But she didn''t press the issue. She just nodded. As soon as she had, a car that was speeding down the drive pulled in, driving over the already smashed gate anding to a stop next to Ruby.


    "I won''t be long baby. Don''t do anything crazy, ok?"


    "I don''t cause that much trouble, do I?" Laz said shaking his head.


    "Yes. Yes you do," Ruby said, giving him a quick kiss and dashing off.


    Now Laz was left alone with the four girls and he couldn''t help but ask,


    "Why do you want to follow me?"


    "You can help us."


    "Help you?"


    "Yes. Mistress said your blood is capable of healing our bodies."


    "Uhh..." Laz was confused.


    "What are you going to do now?" The conversation was being led by just one of the sisters, remembering that Laz was creeped out that they all said the same thing at the same time.


    "I... uh... Well... I need some ce to sleep?" Laz said, not quite sure. Although A''ruya had said she needed to talk to him, he only knew how to meet her in his dreams. This wasn''t in fact the case because of his link with her, she could actually drag him to her right away. But since she knew he wasn''t alone or in a safe ce at the moment, she didn''t do that.


    "Come then. You cane with us and we will keep you safe," said Death Ivy.


    "Alright then," Laz had questions he wanted to ask after they told him they needed his blood, but this didn''t seem like the time. They needed to get out of here quick if the army was going to be storming the ce while at the same time, Laz didn''t want to keep his homicidal protector waiting.


    As such, the girls ended up running, followed closely by Laz. They could have gotten a driver from the restaurant toe get them, but that would have taken longer and they needed to leave. Besides which, considering their strength, they could almost run as fast as a car could go in the city streets and they wouldn''t have to worry about traffic.


    As they went along, Laz noticed that the streets really were empty while there were several spots of destruction along the way. Not only that, but there were also times when they heard the distance roar of gun fire mixed with the asionalrge boom indicting explosions going off.


    The city had broken down into a war zone.


    Along the way they didn''t encounter any of the cockroach like creatures, but they did pass by convos of troops and even a few tanks, setting up check points at big intersections. They were careful to avoid detection when they noticed that each check point ended up having at least one chosen near by.


    Although the detours took additional time, they still ended up at the sister''s residence within an hour.


    Looking at it from the street, Laz didn''t know what to make of it. From the outside, it kind of looked like an old brick factory that had been abandoned for a long time. There was plenty of weed choking the grounds that were surrounded by a chain linked fence topped in barbed wire. The only thing that made it look like the building wasn''t abandoned was that none of the windows appeared busted out, all the doors were in ce and there was no graffiti visible anywhere.


    There was a gate that could be remotely opened or closed, but the girls took Laz around to the back while staying away from the main street, jumped the fence and went in through a back door. For the first time since he had met them, they girls seemed to calm down once the locks were in ce on the door.


    The entire first floor was taken up by arge gym like area with a rock climbing wall, various machines and mats and several different ropes and contraptions hanging from the ceiling. Most of these looked normal, but a few of them did not. Like the chains that had bloody hooks or the wooden cross that had different colored smears on the wood and restraints.


    "This is the first time we''ve ever brought someone home... willingly" Death Ivy said, blushing.


    "Willingly... wait..." Laz got a picture in his mind.


    "Normally if someone else besides us sees the inside of this ce, they would never walk out of here alive," Pestilence Ivy responded.


    "Ah. Well then I guess I am a lucky guy. I mean unless your not going to let me leave this ce alive..." Laz joked causing the girls to giggle a little and blush some more.


    "He can use my bed," Famine Ivy, the one that he had probably spent the most time with said.


    "No. He can use my bed. You haven''t changed your sheets in a few weeks," War Ivy shot back.


    "And you have so many random weapons spread around your room he might die just trying to get into your bed,"


    "I have the biggest bed," Pestilence said, volunteering hers.


    "That thing is rock hard. At least mine is soft," Death argued back.


    "Soft and small like a coffin," Pestilence retorted.


    As Laz stood there watching, he couldn''t help butugh, causing the girls to quiet down and look at him.


    "I''ve never seen you all argue before. This is quite different," Laz said whileughing.


    "We are home. Here we can be us, we are safe," Death exined.


    "Out there... we only have each other so we can''t let our thoughts stray for even a moment," Famine added.


    "It makes perfect sense. Anyway, do you have a spare bed room?" Laz asked, not wanting to be the guy to make them fight.


    "Spare...?"


    "We do have the one room..."


    "But it''s not really a..."


    "But we can use that for this. It''s what we have been waiting for,"


    "Yes. Yes. Perfect."


    "It''s settled then."


    "We should probably change the bedding though...."


    "Already did. Made sure it was ready for use..."


    "Uh... so there is a spare room? Laz broke into the conversation.


    "Yes. We shall take you to it."


    "Hold on. One through four," Death said, stopping everyone.


    "Good. Ready?"


    The girls stood facing each other while Laz looked on.


    "Ready. And. Shoot"


    They were ying rock, paper, scissors.


    Each round, someone would lose and step out, a depressed look in her face.


    In the end, Death lost first.


    Pestilence second.


    War third.


    This left Laz standing with Famine while the other girls raced off. Laz had no idea what they were doing while Famine smile a soul stirring smile and led Laz away.


    They approached arge metal door and Famine took down a key that was hanging by a hook a ways away from the door. After entering therge key into the metal door, Famine finally turned it and swung the door open.


    Laz couldn''t help but be amazed when he walking in.


    The entire room was covered in red velvet and red silk. There were tons of various tools made from leather hanging from the walls while in several areas there were straps, restraints and harnesses everywhere. And that was just what he could see at a nce.


    Laz seriously felt like he had entered a sex dungeon.


    "This is our y room." Famine said with pride.


    "Your y room?"


    "Well. It would be. But as we said, no one who everes in here leaves alive so it''s always business. But this room we girls made thinking one day we could take our boyfriends in here and have some fun... So it''s like out dream room. You know, for when we''re better," Famine said, a mixture of shy and proud to be the first one of the sisters to bring a man to this room.


    "I see." And Laz did. He also notice a massive, wooden framed bed along on of the walls. This thing looked like it wouldfortably fit ten people without a problem.


    "You can sleep here if you would like. No one wille bother you," Famine said. Although she didn''t understand why Laz said he needed to meet with but decided to take a nap first. But since he said it, she would help him.


    Laz couldn''t help but thank her while he moved over to the bed. Famine wished him a good rest and then went back out the door, putting the locks back into ce on her way out.


    "I wonder if I should be worried?" Laz thought briefly before shaking his head. Considering his strength, he could easily bust his way out of the door if he desired. Therefore there was nothing to do about it now.


    Taking off his borrowed uniform, Lazid down on the bed of soft red silks and quickly dozed off, only to find himself face to face with the goddess demon of his dreams.


    "I want to know what happened. From the beginning to the end," A''ruya ordered him.


    Laz couldn''t help but wonder if she was mad... or if there was something else going on in her mind.

 Chapter 299: Secrets Not Meant To Be Known

    Chapter 299: Secrets Not Meant To Be Known


    "Hi to you too. Been a long time. You''ve been well?" Laz said, not answering her questions right away.


    "Did you not hear me? Of have you gone stupid since thest time we met?" A''ruya was annoyed that he wasn''t answering her question.


    "You said, in fact everyone said, there was something I needed from that realm. Why was that?" Laz had never forgotten what she had told him or what the strange creatures in the grey forest had said to him back when he left Tyr. Although his encounters were many and his gains plentiful, he felt like he was missing something.


    "I don''t know. I read you karmic line and that''s what it said. Destiny and fate are two sides of the same coin, but they are not the same thing. Destany leads you to where you need to be while Fate drags you there kicking and screaming like an child. I was able to piece together that destiny and fate both wanted you to enter that gate.. Of course neither of them were able to tell me if you were going to being out again. But that''s just what it is."


    "I could have died?" Laz understood this for the first time. He figured since everyone was sending him there, they knew he would get out alive. But now it seems like he was just being stupid.


    "Nothing is set in stone. Your life is nothing like it would have been if not for me. I tied you to my fate in the same why I tied myself to your fate. And yes. In that world, I wasn''t sure I would have been able to reach you if you encountered a life threatening attack. But because you are still this weak, I was not only able to find you, but help you while I was able to look into a few of the secrets of that world. Now that I''ve exined this, tell me what happened and leave nothing out."


    Laz couldn''t help but notice how serious A''ruya was being. And also how patient. This was unlike her enough to make Laz understand that she really needed to know what had happened.


    As Laz brought A''ruya through what happened, he noticed that she seemed disinterested. In fact, it almost seemed like she was bored. The look on her heart-rendingly beautiful face was one that he had seen countless times back in his school days when the students were tuning out the teacher. And this continued all the way until he got to the point about hearing a voice and going into theb. Once he spoke of all of the strange creatures in there, including the ones that ended up with Ruby, Laz saw A''ruya focused very closely on every word Laz said. She even interrupted him several times as though she was confirming exactly what the creatures looked like.


    Laz then spoke of finding the Asura restrained on the wall and he felt A''ruya''s body tensed up before she struck, grabbing Laz''s shirt and bringing him to just within inches of her face.


    If this was any other time, Laz might had mistaken her gesture as wanting to kiss him, but he could see from her face that her eyes were moist while her face looked like she was in pain.


    "Did... did he.... did you get a name?" She asked, trembling.


    Before Laz could even respond, he noticed that in therge, open courtyard of wood where she had always met him was suddenly filled with dozens of people who looked very simr to A''ruya, although not as strikingly gorgeous. They all held white, spear like weapons in their hands while wearing matching clothing, something that appeared to be a hardened wood-like ck armor.


    They stood around and didn''t say a word as they looked on. If Laz had been closer to them, he would have seen a bit of moistness in their eyes as well.


    "He said his name was Rak''sha..." After having said this, it seemed as though a sadment echoed through the group, as though everyone was about to break down at once, but no one did.


    Laz was able to connect some dots seeing this. Apparently, these people knew his master.


    As Laz looked on, these warrior type beings all dropped to one knee, holding their spears up straight and banged their chests three times with their fists. Even A''ruya followed along, although her chest banging was a lot more muffled due to the epic sized mounds on her chest.


    After having done this, they stayed in this position, as though they would remain there for all of time like statues. Laz could tell that there was a profound pain within their actions, even if he didn''t recognize the ritual.


    A sudden vision hit him as he watched this, something from deep inside and before he could stop himself, his deep blue eyes suddenly took on their golden hue as light spilled out, engulfing everyone gathered. Shocked, they could only raise their heads and see Laz staring at them with a face that didn''t belong to himself.


    It held anger and fury, but also a horrible sadness and look of regret.


    "Rise. And be free." The voice wasn''t Laz''s, it was far deeper and more powerful than Laz was capable of. But with that, the golden light faded once again as Laz regained his young, human like form.


    He had no idea what had just happened, minus that he nked out for a few seconds..


    But now, he saw their shocked faces, full of tears while even the ever godly A''ruya couldn''t help but cover her mouth while fighting back the tears.


    "What?" Laz asked, clearly confused.


    A''ruya didn''t answer. Nor did she ask anything else from him. Instead, she just walked forward, put a hand on his cheek in a manor that was way to gentle for someone like her and simply said,


    "Thank you."


    With that, Laz felt the world spin as he slipped into the darkness once again.


    With Laz gone, those that had knelt stood up, but unlike when they had knelt down, being almostpletely silent, there was a lot more noise as they rose. This wasn''t from the ones that had gather around A''ruya, her personal body guards, but from the hundreds of thousands of those gathered all over the massive tree that all stood at the same time. Before, only those around were visible to Laz. But now, there was nothing blocking the direct view into A''ruya''s personal courtyard, the protections have been removed back when Laz had first mentioned meeting an Asura restrained on a wall.


    While A''ruya was focusing on calming down her heart, several other women and men appeared beside her with manyplicated expressions on their faces. Of the group, one of them looked just like A''ruya, only with a much more mature air to her.


    "Grandmother..."


    "I know. We... Don''t deserve to be rid of that burden."


    "But he said..."


    "He is nothing but a human with a bit of blood inside of him. That''s all."


    "Grandmother..."


    "I know. I know... perhaps this can be considered the first step. But if we don''t seed, then all of us and them...."


    "Yes Grandmother."


    "Never tell him. Anything. There are many secrets that are not meant to be known. And even if he brings the message, he is still human. He can only be trusted if he can be controlled."


    "Yes Grandmother."


    "Good. Still..."


    "Yes Grandmother?"


    "Keep an eye on this boy. He may prove very useful in the future." And before A''ruya could say anything else, the green haired, mature beauty that is her grandmother disappeared in a sh of light, followed closely by those who hade with her. Including A''ruya''s parents who didn''t bother saying a word to her.


    Once she was alone again, A''ruya couldn''t help but smile. Her choice had been approved by her grandmother, something that rarely if ever happened.


    "I wonder if I should reward him for this?" A''ruya asked herself quietly while thinking.


    Laz, unaware of what he had just missed, awoke to find he was still on the red silk bed, but all of his clothes had been removed. On the bed on his right were two very fleshy mounds that had curled up next to him, on rest her head against his chest while the other was rest her head against his tight. And on his left side were two more fleshy mounds, resting in the same way on his other side.


    Laz nked out and sort of twitched at the same time, causing the four mounds to rise up.


    It was all four of the Ivy sisters, dressed in ck nighties with corresponding ck panties. If not for the fact that the scars on their bodies were very different from each other, Laz wouldn''t even be able to tell them apart.


    "You''re awake?" They asked, seeing his open eyes.


    "Yes.... Ummm....??" Laz was at a loss for words.


    "Sorry. You have been the first male to havee into this room and we couldn''t decide who should keep youpany," Death said, or the one that Laz recognized as Death Ivy.


    "Honestly, we had almost fought over it, but decided to let you choose who you wanted to keep youpany," Pestilence Ivy added on.


    "And so when we came in to ask and saw you asleep, we couldn''t help ourselves," War Ivy exined.


    "And before we knew it, we all fell asleep," Famine Ivy finished up the exnation.


    "Ah. How long was I out for?" Laz asked, sitting up a bit.


    "A few hours. It felt like..." Death answered.


    "You weren''t really here. And we didn''t want you to leave..." Famine finished.


    "You all... seem to want something?" Laz felt there to be a longing in the girls eyes, one that seemed sad and excited at the same time.


    "Only you can help us," War said with pleading written on her wless face.


    "We have waited... and hoped... but it seemed to be for nothing...." Pestilencemented.


    "How can I help?" Laz asked, wondering what the problem was.


    "We..." The girls all hesitated.


    "It''s ok. We are... all of us, rather simr in a way. Perhaps you girls wear your scars on the outside, but mine are within and hidden. This makes us close. If there is something I can do, let me know?" Even if the girls bodies looked rather grotesque and mutted, that didn''t mean Laz was adverse to them as people. If anything, it made him feel bad for them. So if he could do something, he would.


    "The daughter of the goddess and even the goddess herself said that you could save us. But we have no idea the price you would have to pay for it." Death admitted.


    "What price? And what do I need to do to ''save'' you?" Laz wondered, with all of this talk, what hell he was going to have to go through to help them.


    "We..." Famine hesitated.


    "We need your blood. Within it lies the power to regenerate our bodies and renew our flesh." War finally admitted, although she looked away as she said it.


    Asking someone to feast on their blood, how was one suppose to do that in this day and age. How could the girls not be embarrassed.


    "Oh? Is that all?" Laz asked, surprised. He knew his blood was special and full of life. But could it really restore their bodies from all of the scars that they had received? Even their private parts couldn''t be considered whole or even usable. The memento of their long gone master.


    If loosing a bit of blood could fix that, he was fine with it. Besides which, Laz had started looking at the long term. He already had rtions with four girls who seemed to care for him deeply, but he didn''t have much else besides that in terms of actualpanions. With the strength these girls possessed, they would be a big help in the future. So what did loosing a little blood mean to him now?


    "You''re... not opposed?" Famine asked, her words reflecting all of their thoughts. Maybe to Laz it was just a little blood. But to them, it was giving them their lives back by healing their shattered bodies and damaged souls.


    "If I need you in the future, I will expect you to help me and therefore you will need to keep getting stronger. As long as you can promise me this, I don''t mind at all," Laz spoke his true feelings.


    The sisters couldn''t help but tear up at his words.


    "We promise. From this day forth, we shall be your loyal servants. Until the day of our deaths!" As the girls swore an oath that Laz didn''t intend for them to swear, as strange hum filled the room, one that was very light and hard to even notice.


    Without even waiting to exin the process, the girls all bit down at the same time, two on both of his shoulders and one on the thigh of each leg. Their sharp teeth took several moments before they were able to prate his skin, but they finally managed. His body was amazingly tough, but so were their teeth. Especially because he didn''t try to resist.


    Laz had to admit at this point that he felt kind of weird. Having four girls bite him at once was... stimting, to say the least. On top of that, as they gently took a bit of his blood, slightly at first but a bit more forcefully after, Laz''s body started to respond.


    His eyes turned gold, his hair grew out, long and white while his skin turned a slightly grey color. Not only that, but his blood flow became stronger as his heart beat like a drum.


    The strong energy and life in his blood became almost one hundred times stronger, causing the four girls to moan in peasure as they tried to slow down..


    But thisst bit was far stronger than what they had taken before and they couldn''t continue.


    But it seemed like enough as the girl''s bodies began to glow.

 Chapter 300: A Binding Oath

    Chapter 300: A Binding Oath


    The light from the girls kept building until it was almost blinding, but Laz tried his best to look on anyway. Their scant bit of clothing was blown off as the immense energy of Laz''s blood raced through their systems. Not only that, but the hum that Laz swore he could hear was getting louder and louder, almost sounding like a faint, but powerful song that couldn''t be ignored.


    As the brightness of the light reached a climax, the girls bodies seemed to be floating above the bed, each of them with their heads back, arms hanging limp at their sides while their legs were curled downward but loose.


    Laz had no idea what was happening.


    Suddenly, the girls heads shot up while their eyes opened, a white light projecting outward as a faint figure appeared behind them. Laz couldn''t even make it out before the light and the figures were gone and the girls dropped weakly onto the bed, panting as though they had just exhausted themselves.


    As Laz looked at the girls however, he noticed that the scars on their bodies didn''t disappear, but they looked extremely awkward. The girls noticed that the scar on each other were still there as well, and then collectively sighed, thinking that it had failed.


    The change might had escaped them, but it didn''t escape Laz.


    He reached forward with both his left and his right hand towards Death and Famine who were the two who had been up near his chest and using his fingers, he rubbed bits of their scarred skin. The skin effortlessly peeled away in arge swath, revealing the snow white and wless skin underneath. Death and Famine saw this and had to cover their mouths, not believing what they were seeing.


    Laz then sat up more and reached forward again, this time peeling offrge chunks of skin from War and Pestilence who had been next to his thighs.


    "Seems like it did work," Laz said, seeing that the girls couldn''t even get a word out.


    As opposed to checking their own bodies, the girls instead reach over Laz to peel the dead scar tissue off of the sisters across from themselves. Seeing it effortlessly ke away, they all almost broke down crying.


    Without another word, the girls got off the bed and starting with the oldest sister, Death, they circled around her and peeled all of the dead tissue off, revealing her unblemished skin underneath. They then repeated the process until the four peerless and nowpletely matching beauties were standing on the floor in front of the bed, totally nude with skin as smooth and white as the day they were born.


    They broke down into tears as they hugged each other, unable to believe their eyes.


    Watching this, even Laz was brought to tears. He could only imagine how much pain the girls had gone through, not only having gotten those scars, but also thest trauma it caused them having to live with them every day. There wasn''t a female Laz knew of who wasn''t concerned with how she looked. And even more than that, the judging gazes and stares people would give to those who were different wasn''t something anyone wanted to experience.


    Perhaps the girls worked in the bath house of the Heaven or Hell restaurant, but they would only be seen with the white coverings that hid their scars, never actually revealing their bodies to anyone out of shame. Never had they even thought of letting a man close enough to them to reveal their bodies to them. After all, they couldn''t even have normal sex, so why would a man even want to see their bodies? As for their bath house job, they only every spent time with the females of the restaurant, ones who knew about them but wouldn''t judge them.


    But now that was all behind them. And they knew who they had to thank for that.


    Collecting themselves, they stood up and cleaned off the bed. Just before they sat back down again, a faint but powerful voiced echoed through the room.


    "The price has been paid. The contract has been established. All things are now the will of heaven." And with that, the humming and voice disappeared. But on the girls now wless bodies, a mark appeared on their skin above their hearts. It was a ck crescent moon, around which tribal lines spread slightly in a circle, almost making it seem like the moon was within a sun.


    Their bodies shook from this as they lost feeling in their legs and feel onto the bed.


    Laz also felt something change and looking down, Laz saw that on his own tattoo marking, four miniature tribal suns could be seen around the blood red moon while the ck, withered tree remained unchanged. Laz felt like if he closed his eyes, he would be able to feel the heart beats of the four girls in front of him.


    "What the hell?" Laz said to no one in particr.


    -The contract was made of their own free will. They will serve you for life, or until they get strong enough to break away.- A voice in Laz''s head exined before going silent. Laz wasn''t sure, but it almost sounded like the voice of his dead teacher, Rak''sha..


    "Huh...." Laz knew that whatever it was, wasn''t lying. Laz felt like if he willed it, the girls in front of him would die with just a thought. It was quite a scary feeling.


    "We are now bound to you, our master!" The girls all said at once with a smile on their faces.


    "I''m sorry... you had just gotten rid of your scars and everything and now this..." Laz said while looking at the marks on the girls. Despite saying that, he couldn''t help but feel slightly excited about basically having branded their bodies with his symbol. Unlike the blood red crescent moons on the four girls that marked them as an equal, these pitch ck marks were like a ve symbol.


    The girls all shook their heads and smiled at the same time, even going so far as to touch the symbol with a gentle tenderness.


    "We will always be yours now to do as you please." Deathmented.


    "But we have no regrets." Famine added.


    "We have been freed from a prison of scars," Pestilence continued.


    "And that wouldn''t have been possible without you, master," War finished up their thought.


    "Well. I''m d I could help." Laz said that, but he didn''t sound so sure. Perhaps for many people, have four beautiful, identical girls call you master would be the blessing of a lifetime, but Laz felt a bit troubled by this. He already basically had four girlfriends which was already a miracle in and of itself. But now, he had four more girls who would be attached to him.


    Still though, looking at their beautiful ck eyes, their long, silky ck hair and their ivory colored skin, Laz wasn''t going to feel too disappointed.


    And thinking back about it, Laz remembered a conversation he had while in bed with Ruby and Malene about his... faithfulness.


    After thest time they were together, before Malene left and Ruby and Laz went on the gate adventure, Ruby and Malene had let Laz know their feelings about him and how they didn''t mind that he had multiple girlfriends. The reason they gave actually made Laz feel a bit down until he understood he was just being stupid.


    "Look Laz. We''re not saying we want you to find more girls. After all, we sisters are perfectly content being your only ones. But that''s because we all get along well together." Malene exined.


    "Yeah baby. We all have our own lives we are leading. We don''t need a man in them to make things difficult. You males can be amazing one minute and immature brats the next. So although we all like spending time with you, we have each other to lean on and take care of one another. For us, having each other is a blessing we never dreamed about. I''ve never had sisters who I could trust with my life."


    "I feel the same. So you do you boo. We have each other. And when we feel drained and in need of some special love and care, we wille find you for that," Malene said with a wicked smile on her face.


    "There aren''t any others like you baby, so don''t be worried. But baby, if you end up in bed with some girl we don''t approve of... well... just know she might go missing and you will never know the truth, ok?" Ruby said with a smile that was pure evil. She basically told him that if he goes and cheats, they will end up removing her from the equation.


    Laz couldn''t help but gulp down whatever words he was going to say back in response to this as he instead hugged the girls tighter to him.


    Getting back to the present, Laz was once again surrounded by four naked beauties who had pledged themselves to him in a way that seemed binding until the end of time... or until they became stronger than him. Considering he was at the peak of the foundation realm and they had just entered it, it probably wasn''t going to happen right away.


    But still for now, Laz was feeling a bit drained. The blood he had given them was enough to heal and strengthen their bodies in ways they would have never dreamed up. This was what Freya wanted from Laz as well, she just didn''t know how to ask. Although their energy had increased a bit, the real benefit from his strong blood had been their bodies. But it was also because he had gone so far to give them such pure blood that he was now feeling a little drained. Had it just been his normal blood, it wouldn''t have been an issue to loose tons of it. But his pure blood, the blood straight from his heart that held his strongest aura of Asura... that wasn''t going to be something he could fix quickly, but he would heal from it in time he felt.


    And what he didn''t know was the benefits this was going to bring to him long term wasn''t what he expected.


    Laying back on the bed, Laz smiled while taking some deep breaths. The girls now noticed that he looked a bit paler then normal and realized it was because of what he had done for them. Had he tried to invoke his Asura from right now, he would had found it impossible due to the drop in density of his Asura blood.


    ''Ha. To think my blood would actually be such a powerful medicine,'' Laz thought to himself while the girls sat on the bed next to him while wondering what they could do. The Ivy sisters have had a lot of experience with fighting, killing, and things of that nature, but when it came to helping a sick person, they had only ever taking care of each other. Seeing Laz be weak due to helping them left them at a loss.


    ''In the past, because I was weak, at most my blood would just act like an aphrodisiac that would send women into heat. But now the life energy in it is so strong... Still though, my normal blood is powerful enough, but not enough to warrant using it on a regr basis for healing. And using my Asura blood, even just four drops, was enough to leave me feeling this weak so I can''t really think about using that much either... I guess that in extreme circumstances, it would be useful. Assuming I wasn''t dying myself. Still though, considering the strength of my blood, I''m surprised it didn''t have any other effects on the.... oh fuck me....'' Laz''s inner thoughts were quickly interrupted as he noticed the girls looking at him with slightly crazed eyes.


    ''Fuck I didn''t think... even just one drop? Or maybe it was because it was one straight drop and not just the smell of it that they are like this? They wouldn''t try to **** me while I can barely move.... right?''


    Just as that thought cross Laz''s mind, the girls ended up pouncing on him all at once. Death and Famine went for his mouth while Pestilence and War attacked his other head. To be fair, his massive meat stick had been standing at attention for a while, ever since the girls had their glowing while naked episode. It just wasn''t a focus before now so it was being ignored. It wasn''t like Laz was going to ask the Ivy sisters for sex just because he was hard.


    Of course now things were very different as a smell of sweet honey floating through the room while the girls attacked Laz with a vigor like they wanted to devour him.


    ''Damn.... I so don''t have the energy for this... I can''t believe I am saying this so early in my lifetime.... Now what the fuck am I suppose to do?''


    Laz wanted to see if he could stop the girls, but looking at the half mad look in their eyes while they kissed, rubbed and touched every inch of his muscr body was enough to show him that he wasn''t getting out of this any time soon.

 Chapter 301: Embraced By Heaven

    Chapter 301: Embraced By Heaven


    This wasn''t Laz''s first rodeo... or his second. Still, the fact that he had four very sexy identical sisters wanting him at the same was definitely a new one for him. Thinking about it, Laz didn''t know if he would be able to handle this situation while he was at one hundred percent, much less right now when he felt like he was feeling drained.


    Don''t take it the wrong way, Laz could get up, walk around and do normal like things. But to peasure four foundation realm girls at the same time to the point where everyone was satisfied?


    Probably not.


    Was it a shot to his ego to admit this?


    Oh yeah.


    But then again, it looked like he wasn''t going to be given a choice. Besides which, despite his tired feeling self, the blood flow to his manhood was still going strong so there wasn''t an issue there. And Laz knew that he wasn''t going to be able to get the girls to calm down anyway. He had experienced that once before, back when his blood was much less powerful than before. The girls needed release and he wasn''t sure he could get away anyway.


    Not that he was really going to try. He would be lying if he were to say this wasn''t tempting or he wasn''t turned on.


    Perhaps it was because their bodies had basically just grown new skin and shed away the scar tissue, but they were absolutely wless and sexy. The scarred skin from before was uneven, with bumps, jagged bits of flesh, rock hard areas of scabs and tiny hairs that grew up in several random ces. They might have tried their hardest to keep it as nice as possible, but sometimes after doing something for so long and not seeing any results, they weren''t as thorough as they once were.


    But now, their white skin was cool to the touch and their bodies, besides their faces, had bepletely hairless. And the wanted Laz to feel them as much as they felt him... or each other.


    Yes, they girls would constantly touch not only themselves, but also each other, as though afraid that their eyes were deceiving them. They had always been almost unhealthily close with each other, knowing they only had each other to rely on, so to the Ivy''s sisters, this seemed natural.


    To Laz... this was a wicked turn on.


    After a few minutes of the girls ying with Laz and each other, Laz ''reluctantly'' decided to do his best and tried to slide upwards on the bed, to allow himself to sit up at least as opposed toying down t.


    But he was stopped right away.


    Instead, he was pulled down t by the sisters as they finally started focusing on him, or to be more exact, his now raging meat stick.


    "As the eldest, I will go first," Death called dibs.


    "You''re the eldest by like seconds," Pestilence shot back.


    "And even then, this is just what we were told," War added.


    Strangely, Famine didn''t add anything. While the girls looked at each other and went back and forth, Famine had some how managed to end up on top of Laz''s waist. Just as the other three sisters noticed, she had already squatted down on to impale herself on Laz''s holy sword.


    Or at least, that was the idea.


    "It''s... so.... damn...." Famine did know what she was doing, but she had never done it before. Seeing her already taking the lead, Death, Pestilence and War could only sigh and came forward to help.


    Death took the lead to slide Laz''s member out from under Famine before suddenly icking it all around the tip. She made sure that it waspletely covered in her glistening saliva before bring it back to Famine''s love hole. War and Pestilence supported her on the sides, grabbing her hands to hold her steady since due to Laz''s size, she was half standing, half squatting. Death then proceeded to whack Famine a bit with it and then rubbing her entrance..


    These actions had the desired effect, causing several small droplets of juice to slide down her legs. Once Death judged her ready, she moved Laz''s meat into position, right at the base of her smooth, pink lips.


    Watching all of this happen, Laz couldn''t help but wonder, briefly, if he was just being treated as an object? Not that he was going toin though and then that thought went flying from his head as he felt his other head begin to squeeze into the tiny yet hot honey pot of Famine''s.


    It was a slow process considering the circumstances. War and Pestilence were helping steady her so she could focus on the dead. Death, who''s job had finished, crawled up on the bed, allowing Laz to wrap an arm around her tiny waist and pull her close.


    "Sorry master. She''s, like all of us, technically a virgin. No man has ever been inside of this hole of hers before. It will take a moment."


    "Are you sure she''s ok? And the rest of you?" Laz asked.


    Death slide up closer to Laz, he lips right against his ear.


    "We want this master. Ever since we had been branded as young girls, we always dreamed of one day having sex with our beloved, no matter who he might be. That''s why this room came to be. We needed to have a dream, to give us hope. Even once we were free of our old owners influence and were able to see a doctor, they said the damage was too extreme. They could open it up and even remake it with skin graphs, but we would never feel a thing from it since all the nerves were destroyed. And even then, the amount of money it would cost for all four of us to undergo the surgery... well... we could never decide which of us would go first. And then you came along... You gave us this. So what if we will be bound to you for life. You made us whole again," Death said, almost with tears in her eyes. She was saying this to Laz so that he could understand without letting the others know he knew. This would be their secret.


    "Hmm... Damn..." Even while whispering, Death was nibbling Laz''s ear. That felt good enough, but Famine had just adapted enough to start taking every inch of Laz in. It might have been way to much for them considering their size if they were normal, but they were already in the foundation realm and their bodies were many times tougher than a normal human.


    Pretty soon, Famine had managed to get enough in where her knees were rest on the bed. Pestilence, War and Death all couldn''t help but be shocked, seeing the protrusion in Famine''s stomach, a clear sign of just how deep Laz was.


    After a few deep breaths and a moment or two to adjust, Famine started moving her hips, back and forth, causing Laz''s rod to pound every inch of her insides and trust against her stomach.


    Death, War and Pestilence couldn''t help but be turned on.


    Although Laz was focusing on the faces Famine was making and the hot, wet sensation assaulting his senses, Laz noticed the girls looking on in envy at Famine getting to make her dreame true first. He didn''t want to disappoint their first time.


    Reaching up with both hands, Laz actually lifted Death up off the bed from where she was stillying next to him and set her right down on his face. He then proceeded to lick at her heal and hairless love hole, making sure to pay extra attention to the pale pink nub at the top.


    Death, surprised, tried to remove herself from Laz''s control until the feeling of melting hit her and she let out a gentle and sexy moan, a sharp contrast from the loud and energetic moans Famine was letting out.


    Death''s hesitation vanished quickly under Laz''s expert technique as she even began to pinch her nippes while pulling them hard, enjoying the pleasurable pain such an action brought.


    Seeing their sister Death being able to enjoy herself, War and Pestilence felt a little left out until they noticed Laz''s hands beckoning to them toe closer. Sliding onto the bed without understanding his intention, they kept moving closer and closer to Laz''s hands until their legs were right next to them. With one smooth motion, Laz dragged them the rest of the way, almost causing the shocked girls to fall over. Their reactions of trying to bnce caused them to lunge forward enough where they were on all fours, their faces almost touching Death''s arms while straddling Laz''s arms. Laz then reached up and sunk his middle finger into both War and Pestilence''s wet heart cave.


    Both girls felt a shudder go down their spines. They wanted to move away, but at some point Death had noticed what Laz was doing and wrapped both of their heads in a head lock with her arms, causing them to be unable to move away. Laz then began the process of fingering, teasing and stretching their little holes enough until he could get two fingers in before he really started going at it.


    Like this, the four girls proceeded to fuck and be fucked by Laz for almost ten minutes before the four sisters erupted into a climax, almost as if on cue with each other.


    Laz felt like he was drenched head to toe in warm, sweet love juice, almost like he was being embraced by heaven.


    Death and Famine had the hardest orgasms while the ones felt by War and Pestilence were a little milder, but enjoyable. Either way, Death and Famine well to the sides while trying to catch their breaths, freeing up the two seats for War and Pestilence.


    After a surprising game of rock, paper, scissors, War won Laz''s meat stick while Pestilence had to settle for his face.


    No one even bother to ask for his opinion.


    Like a perverted game of musical chairs, the girls took turns at the four stations, after helping each other mount Laz''s member. Although Famine''s initial ride was a hard one to start, after having been turned on and producing some lubricating honey, the following girls had a much easier time.


    When it finally came time for Pestilence to dance on Laz''s disco stick, the girls had each enjoyed multiple orgasms of differing strengths, causing them to calm down a little bit. They weren''t used to this normally after all and needed a break.


    Due to this, Pestilence was the only one to enjoy Laz at this moment while the girls cuddled in close to Laz, feeling content with his body heat while the smell of sex hung heavy over the room. Even though she was performing solo, Pestilence didn''t let that bother her in the slightest as she thrusted hard back and forth, harder than any of the other girls did before her. After having three rounds of forey, she was more than ready for the main event.


    Having his eyesight clear, Laz couldn''t help but watch Pestilence while hold War and Death in each arm as Famine was actually cradled around his head in the way that a cat would. Although Pestilences manic thrusting caused Laz to move back and forth, no one seemed to mind.


    Just as Pestilence was nearing an ultimate climax, Laz could feel the energy in his system rising too as the pressure had built to a boiling point thanks to the three women who came before. The moment Pestilence''s legs mped together, Laz''s waist shot up in response, releasing load after load inside of her while she couldn''t help but squirt all over the ce, covering everyone in a surprise bath. It was only now that the other sisters understood that they hadn''t rode hard enough for the big orgasm and they would need to try harder next time.


    "What''s that?" Laz said with a weak voice, noticing the ve mark on Pestilence''s chest glowing a bit.


    Suddenly, both Laz and Pestilence felt a wave of energy hit themselves, causing their bodies to glow briefly. Laz''s didn''tst long before it disappeared while Pestilence, went on for several minutes before fading.


    "What"


    "Was"


    "That?" The other three asked, looking on.


    Pestilence, out of breath and unable to even open her eyes, wasn''t able to respond with more than a few moans and grunts.


    "That''s possible?" The girls asked at once and turned to Laz.


    "What?"


    "Sister said she had been infused with a bit of your energy, causing her realm to almost advance. Is that possible?"


    Laz had forgotten about this. The energy exchange during sex would definitly cause this to happen. The strange thing was that Laz felt like if he wanted to, he could make it a one way street and just drain Pestilence dry while giving her nothing in return.


    ''This must be one of the benefits of the ve mark. I can use them and choose to give nothing back, or I can give back as much as I want. How interesting. I guess I really am the one in charge here,'' Laz thought to himself after checking out his energy source and finding no issues. After a moment of thought though, Laz understood how domineering this mark could be if it was used in the wrong way and swore.


    ''If someone with evil intentions got this thing.... Guess I am not sharing anything about this. I should tell the girls too,''


    Just as Laz was going to say something though, he noticed he was being eyed again.


    ''Oh shit... don''t tell me they all want....''


    Laz didn''t even need to finish that thought as Famine once more mounted his still stiff staff and this time, rode it like a she demon.

 Chapter 302: To Conquer War

    Chapter 302: To Conquer War


    Perhaps many have dreamed about such things. Several partners at one time in a hot mess of love making and down right scream fucking until everyone is passed out satisfied?


    That really only happens in your dreams. In most cases, someone gets ignored, there is tension, someone wants to tap out early... or...


    ''I seriously can''t feel my dick...'' Laz thought to himself, wondering how the hell he ended up on the floor in the first ce. He just remembered that he finally gave up trying to pay attention and just let his body go wild. He had been enjoying things for quite a while but once these girls got started, the end result was that all four of them were like starved children finally being offered a meal. They ate until they couldn''t eat anymore and in this case, Laz was the main dish.


    He turned over to see that Death had passed out on top of him at some point, her body covered in a mix of fluids ranging from sweat to.... well, you get the idea. There was even some blood stains on various parts of her snow white skin, the painful end result of the girls getting more and more aggressive as they got used to it.


    Even Laz wasn''t spared from this. The strange part was they they had been just as violent to each other as they were to him, something that caused him to not be sure if he should be turned on or frightened. It was easy to forget that these young women, just a few years out from being teens with snow white skin, dark silky hair and sensual bodies were also killers in their own right. They had killed humans before and quite a few of them. For such people, pain is just another form of peasure.


    Taking stock of his current situation, Laz noticed that although Death was passed out on him, Pestilence''s head was right next to his own, such that when he turned his head away from Death, he could feel her hot breaths on his face. Famine wasn''t far away either, as Laz just had to move his one hand a little ways and he could have touched her sleeping face.


    War was actually right next to his one foot, such that her hair was draped over his feet and strains of it were between his toes. It almost tickled a little.


    In an effort to regain some feeling in his battered body, Laz stretched out his other leg which then came into contact with the mattress. The strange thing was that a small dribble of liquid seemed to escape from the sheets and slip down his leg. As Laz tried to stretch out against the bed farther, he felt like he was kicking a wet sponge which allowed him to remember why they were on the floor in the first ce.


    The mattress and bedding were soaked to the core.


    Imagination could probably answer why that was, and it would be right.


    Laz also noticed at this moment that he still smelled like sex, his entire body emitting an odor that at first could be considered sensual but that once left to go stale just smells horrible. Even he could barely stand it.


    ''I need a shower in the worst way,'' Laz thought to himself while looking at the girls sleeping soundly. He didn''t want to wake them. Or more like he didn''t dare to wake them.


    Using his spiritual sense, Laz quickly discovered a huge shower area down the hall way from the room.


    Using gentle movements and a hint of his power, Laz was able to silently get away, stopping only long enough to throw his previously removed clothes into his spatial pouch before making his way to the shower room.


    Considering the entire building looked like a remodeled factory, Laz wasn''t surprised that that shower area had more that one shower head. It kind of reminded him of the gym showers from back when he was in school. The only difference was that the room wasrge with brick walls, steel beam lined windows that were about shoulder height and frosted ss and only tile on the floor along with the drains. The shower heads themselves were metal polesing out of the floor arranged in circles. Laz estimated that around fifty people would easily be able to shower in here at the same time.


    Oddly enough, four of the shower heads had steel wire baskets hanging off of them with different gels, shampoos and even cute little furry animal sponge toys.


    Laz couldn''t help but smile while seeing this.


    Choosing a shower head at random, Laz turned on the water. He was half tempted to take a cold shower, just to calm himself down from the days ''activities,'' but felt like he needed the heat to scrub his skin. After messing around with it for a while, Laz could only sigh in disappointment as the water just didn''t seem to get hot enough.


    ''Maybe it''s just me?''


    Laz understood his body was far from normal so even if the water was hot enough to boil a lobster, he probably wouldn''t feel it.


    Letting the warm water flow freely down his body, Laz couldn''t help but look out of the frosted ss window and see a cool round orb floating in the distance. Considering he was in a city, he supposed it could have been any number of lights, but felt like what he was seeing was the moon, indicating that it was indeed still night time. For some strange reason, Laz started to feel homesick. Even if that ce was a run down apartment in the middle of nowhere New York, at least there was family close by. His Grandpa, Bill and Grandpa Chu were probably the three people he had felt closest too since even the memories of his parents seem to be fading with time..


    The day that quiet life all changed was when he truly felt like his life began. Perhaps some people would envy his abilities and his freedom. But when you wake up day after day in a different room looking at a different ceiling, you start to finally understand what you lost.


    Just as Laz was absorbed in these memories, he felt a gentle pair of hands begin scrubbing his back. He didn''t even bother to check to see who it was and instead just stood there, warm, wet and naked with his eyes closed while he enjoyed the feeling.


    "You''re still so tense master," the soft, melodious voicemented while continuing downward to wash his legs.


    "Some things just don''t disappear so easily," Laz said in a voice that sounded old and foreign to him.


    "Yes master. I agree with you about that." The voice moved from the back of Laz to the front and began to wash his strong chest and arms. Laz recognized that it was actually War who was washing him.


    "You can''t sleep?" he asked, wondering. He hadn''t forgotten how this particr sister ended up being the most wild, causing about fifty percent of the sex injuries such as bruises and flesh cuts, all of which had already healed.


    ''Of course when I think about that, she also wanted to be handled more roughly as well,'' Laz thought to himself while watching her work. He was surprised to notice a smile on her face.


    "I can''t," she said while scrubbing the area between Laz''s fingers.


    "Why not?" He asked.


    "It''s because of what''s happening out there," she answered, after thinking to herself for a moment. Laz noticed something that had escaped him before. Although he was probably one if the few people in the world who could tell the sisters apart based on their aura, there were also subtle differences as well. War, for example, seemed to be much more lively than the other three. It wasn''t by a margin that could be measured, but something that Laz understood after having spent ''time'' with her. In fact, all the girls had slight differences that you would never noticed unless you looked really hard. If you didn''t, then all four girls seemed to be exactly the same in almost everything.


    "Out there?"


    "I feel it, close and far. Battle, bloodshed, anger, strife. So many different things going on all at once. I''m surprised sister death can sleep, but I guess she''s far more used to it than I am," She said while scrubbing Laz''s muscr chest.


    "Used to what?" Laz didn''t understand, but had a feeling.


    "WE can feel things when we are close to them. She feels every death that happens around her, I feel every conflict, Pestilence feels every illness, injury and suffering, while Famine feels greed, hunger, envy..."


    "It''s not just limited to...?"


    "Of course not. You think famine just means to be hungry? Or Pestilence just means disease? Nothing is ever that cut and dry, master..." War said with a strange smile on her face.


    "How does it affect you?" Laz wondered.


    "Well... it kind of feeds us... like a simnt. A tonic to our bodies, so to speak. As long as there is conflict, it allows me to grow faster than being somewhere peaceful. It''s not a huge change, but it is noticable. And when the emotions from it hit, then I can either block it out or let it wash over me. The problem is that when I let it in unrestrained, I can be very violent. It''s why we don''t let it happen often. It has a huge effect on our moods."


    "A double sided knife," Laz voiced.


    "Very much so," War said with a smile before dropping down to her knees on the tile floor. She then took the time to gently wash and scrub the rest of Laz, spending extra time and effort on his manhood. The way War was looking at it and touching it while cleaning it was enough to make even Laz''s sore member stand up again. After all, his recovery ability was already somewhat legendary.


    "Sorry," Laz said, a bit embarrassed. He was enjoying the treatment and felt like getting erect in her face while she was being gentle was a bit ungrateful.


    But War shook her head at his apology.


    "That''s ok. This is what I wanted," she said, standing up.


    "More?" Although Laz wasn''t keeping track or even paying attention for the most part, he felt like with the number of times all the girls climaxed, there was no way they could have been unsatisfied. Maybe that was his ego talking, but he did have some experience to base it off of.


    "Master. Perhaps we haven''t told you this. Us sisters have a very particr set of goals we wished to achieve for ourselves, ones that were the driving force that keeps us sane. And now that our biggest goal has been achieved, to be reborn, it will be time to move on to our next goal. So after we go our separate ways, we will be leaving for a while, with your consent, of course," Warughed, but continued.


    "We never thought that we would have been able to be made whole again so soon or perhaps we would have nned things differently. But since we all agreed to it and signed a pact in blood, we must carry it out. So that means that this is our first and final night with you for a while master. Please don''t hate us for this..." War''s eyes got a little teary at this, showing that she truly meant what she said. She didn''t want him to be angry, or to hold them back. But if he wanted to, they knew that they wouldply for him.


    Laz had no intention of doing that though. Nor was he going to ask what they were doing or if he could help. It wouldn''t be right of him to barge into their lives, even if they were now his ves. Perhaps it was because he wouldn''t be able to view them that way even if he tried.


    "I don''t. Honest," Laz said, bring a smile to War''s face.


    "I''d hoped for that. But master, before I go, I have something selfish to request," War said, still smiling.


    "And what''s that?" Laz asked, wondering just what she could want.


    "Please hurt me...?" She said, straight faced.


    "Uh...?" Laz nked.


    War then turned around and leaned forward causing her ass to jut up into the warm, misty air as hot water ran down her body. She then reached backed and spread herself,ying bare every bit of her.


    "I am war master. For you to truly be my master, you must first conquer me. Make me submit to you." War swung her head around with a smile so hot, it could cause water to boil.


    Laz, having recovered from the blood loss, didn''t even try to control himself.


    "Oh...OH? AHHHHH!!!!!!" With sound that was part moan, part scream, War felt Laz spread apart her dark opening before ramming himself inside.


    "It''s.... so.... arg..... big...." War moaned as Laz pped her ass several times for good measure.


    "YES... MASTER... MORE..." She begged.


    Laz obliged. Reaching down, he wrapped his arms under her thighs and lifted her slim body in the air causing her full weight to push her down farther on his rock solid member.


    She couldn''t help but shudder from the experience.


    Laz didn''t stop there. He raised her leg up farther and wrapped one strong arm underneath her knees, supporting her. He then used his other free hand to reach between her legs and inserted his two middle fingers inside her unused honey pot. After a moment to get his posture right, Laz proceeded to grip tightly onto her puss like a handle while mming her ass with everything he could muster.


    War''s mind started going nk as her arms reached up and gripped Laz''s shoulders and neck, digging her sharp nails into his flesh as hard as she could while hanging in.


    It was just enough to draw blood.


    Over and over again, War''s body convulsed in climax after climax as Laz''s hand was covered in her juices. More often than not, Laz just pulled his hand out and rubbed her little nub, causing her to spray all over the ce before mercilessly ramming it back inside her.


    There was no telling how long it went on as they both lost all track of time. Even Laz ended up spraying inside her ass more than once.


    The battle finally came to a close when her body wentpletely limp and her hands fell away from his neck.


    Strangely, Laz didn''t notice at first. It was only when a soft hand was ced on his cheek that he gently let War down on to the shower floor and turned to see Pestilence standing there with a light in her eyes.


    "You have conquered War master. But how will you conquer Pestilence?"

 Chapter 303: Overcoming Pestilence, Satisfying Famine

    Chapter 303: Oveing Pestilence, Satisfying Famine


    After she spoke those words, Laz felt something appear behind his head, but when he turned to look, he didn''t see anything. Laz even used his spiritual sense to test the air, but once again found nothing. It was like something was there, but it wasn''t.


    Turning his head back, Laz noticed Pestilence looking at him with a smile.


    "So tell me master, how will you conquer me?" She asked, slightly amused.


    Rightly so, Laz was confused.


    ''Why does this feel like some sort of test?'' He felt like the girls had submitted to him already and yet there was something he was missing from that. War had given him a few clues, information about what it was like for her to be war while at the same time what it would take to conquer war. He needed her full submission in a way where she couldn''t fight back and lost the ability to resist him.


    ''If that''s the case... how does one conquer pestilence?'' Laz pondered to himself while Pestilence went over to grab her shampoo and began washing her hair, seemingly ignoring him.


    Pestilence in and of itself was illness, but not just any illness. It was a life taking, gue structured, poption reducing illness of which there was no cure.


    So how did one defeat that? There are a few ways. One would be to let it spread enough that it kills enough people that there is no ce left for it to go. Another is quarantine until those infected die off and take the disease with it.


    ''Or... I guess... that would work to. But how do I do that... oh... OH!!!... That might work,'' Laz ran to just outside the shower area where he had dropped his spatial pouch and got some things out of it.


    ''Luckily I had some extra, unused stuff. No girl wants to share these types of things with another girl,'' Laz thought to himself before running back in the shower area.


    He noticed that War was still passed out on the floor, the hot water coating her body like a nket. Pestilence had just finished cleaning her body and was about to turn off the water having noticed that Laz had left. She actually felt a little disappointed that he would run off. Even she was unaware of what it would take to cause her to full submit to him as it would have to be instinctual. But like the other sisters, she knew that there was something important with doing so.


    Just as she had reached over and turned off the water, a pair of strong hands grabbed around her wrists and dragged her hands behind her. Then a knee on her back caused her to be pressed forward against the shower pole as she quickly felt her hands being bound. Before she could even scream out, arge, round and squishy ball was ced into her mouth connected to leather straps that then tightened around her cheeks. There was even a soft, silky piece of cloth that was put over her eyes causing her vision to go ck. A soft, foam piece was shoved into both of her ears as well while more and more ropes twisted around her neck and legs, causing her to lose all of the ability to move, hear, or see.


    In less than a minute, she waspletely restrained and bound. With a final strange of rope thrown up by Laz over one of the rafters in the ceiling, Pestilence was lifted up into the air, suspended by her chest, waist and legs. Had she been on the ground, she would have beenying on her stomach.


    "And this is how you quarantine Pestilence," Laz said to himself out loud.


    Of course he knew that this wasn''t enough. Even if this was the way, he still had to make her submit. Luckily he had kept that in mind as he was tying her up, leaving ess to her lower parts for his oing battle.


    Needless to say, Laz had no trouble with Pestilence from here on out. While she was suspended in the air with most of her senses cut off, the only thing she could feel was Laz. Be it his hands, his mouth or his raging flesh sword, Pestilence was treated to many different forms of ''torture'' until her entire body went limp, juices flowing out of every avable orifice. Laz wasn''t even aware of the fact that she fainted until he felt something appear out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look, it was gone again before he could catch a glimpse of it.


    ''Am I seeing things? That can''t be right,'' Laz thought to himself. Looking over at Pestilence and War, Laz figured it was just better to leave them there for the time being. The most his did was take the gage out of Pestilence''s mouth and undid the blindfold and ear plugs, allowing her face to be free. As far as her being tied up? War could handle that when she finally got up. Besides, the ropes were now wet and probably going to be a pain to undo so War''s much smaller fingers were better suited to the job.


    As such, Laz toweled off and made for the living room area he had walked through before, opting not to return to the bedroom. As tired as he might be, there was just no way he was going to get any sleep if the other two woke up.


    Looking up at the climbing wall to see the covered ss skylight, Laz wondered just what this building used to be before the girls took over. If everything in here was done by them, Laz couldn''t help but apud their abilities.


    "I knew you weren''ting back," Famine said as she snuck up behind Laz and wrapped her arms around his waist.


    "Oh? Well... I just figured I would let you all sleep...".


    "You can''t escape this master. It is fate. You must continue till the end...."


    "You mean?" Laz knew, Famine knew. He just thought he would confirm.


    "Of course. Next up master, you must conquer Famine. I must say I am curious as to how you n on doing this."


    "Did you and your sister''s n this?" Laz asked, confused. If not for a n, how would they each know what was happening? And that Laz needed to conquer them? And why? He found too many questions and not enough answers.


    "No," She said simply, looking at Laz with a smile.


    Laz could only smile back and look around, wondering just how much of the room would be left intact after they were done. After all, Pestilence required some thought, War just required pain and overwhelming power, but Famine was really quite simple in contrast. How did one solve a famine? Make sure everyone had enough to eat.


    As far as the Famine in front of him.... he knew he was going to have to give it his all to fill her up... every part of her.


    I''m sure by now one could imagine the battle that took ce here. No matter what, Laz had already been active for the past several hours and having gotten to this point, even a man like Laz with his almost inexhaustible stamina would find himself fatigued. This was after he had used a bit of his core essence blood to heal the girls in the first ce. The only sce that Laz had was that his energy reserves were replenished by the girls who kept draining him.


    Even still, by the time Famine copsed, her slightly bloated belly didn''t even begin to show just how many times Laz ended uping in her. Even more than that, she was more than happy to ept every single liquid Laz was willing to give her and drink it down as though it was sweetest juice in the world. Laz had heard the term water sports before, but Famine had gone above and beyond that and showed him just how crazy it was to use a human toilet.


    Laz felt like he had just fought three great battles and was nowpletely out of juice... in more ways than one. And that weird feeling hade again and disappeared just as quickly, but Laz didn''t even bother to look at this point.


    What''s more, there were now quite a few more stains in the living room, although who actually caused them would be a question open to debate. Laz couldn''t help but want to head back into the shower and debated if he could be in and out before anyone noticed.


    Just as he was going to turn around and try though, a beautiful face, one that he had satisfied three times already, was suddenly right next to his own.


    "Oh... Death. Umm... yeah.... I''m going to have to take a rain check on..." Laz tried to exin himself, but Death didn''t even bother to respond. She grabbed his wrist and started dragging him upstairs, turned down a hall way and into a room before closing the door behind her and locking it.


    "I really don''t think I can do that again..."


    "That''s not how you conquer death," she said, fishing something up from a drawer next to her bed.


    "Uh... then..."


    "Sit. First thing''s first. I know you have a lot of questions, but hear me out," Death said, covering what she pulled out in her hand and closing the drawer before sitting next to Laz. Laz had just barely had time to get some boxers on before he was dragged upstairs while Death was in a sheer ck nighty. All things considered, it hid nothing. Not that he hadn''t seen it many times already. And even then there were slight variations. No matter how identical the girls were to each other, they were notpletely the same. For example, War''s breasts were slightly bigger than her sisters while Pestilence had slightly bigger nippes. Famine actually had a small birth mark on the inside of her left thigh, one that was just a small discoloration, but unless someone had spent arge amount of time between her legs, they would never notice.


    As for death, Laz felt like there was something more different about her, but he couldn''t put his finger on it.


    "I''m the oldest sister, as you know. What you don''t know and what even my sister''s don''t know is that I''m older by more than just a few minutes or such."


    "So like an hour or two?" It wasn''tmon, but it wasn''t unheard of.


    "More like three years older..." Death said, sighing. Her sister''s were all she had in this world and she wasn''t sure if she would still be one with them if they found out she was actually years older than them. Perhaps it was a foolish worry, but Ivy Death didn''t want to take the risk. She was both d and scared to have revealed this to Laz.


    "Three years?" Laz asked, astounded. Having mentioned it, Laz noticed with his exceptional eye sight that the thing that was different about was that she appeared more mature than the others. But that would be impossible for anyone other than him to tell.


    "Yes. The girls don''t know this because as far as they were concerned, I was always the oldest and therefore biggest. Once they got to a certain age, it was impossible to tell us all apart. As such, we are four identical sisters, born at the same time."


    "Ok. I can keep that a secret. But why is that important now?" Laz didn''t want to be rude, but that hardly seemed like any of his business.


    "Because you have to understand that I will be more dangerous that the other three. I always have been. Maybe they guessed it, but they don''t know it for sure. Maybe it''s because I am older, or maybe it''s because Death itself is leagues higher than the other three horsemen, even in the old tales. But since you have already conquered the other three, you have no choice but to try your best to conquer me. And I will have to do everything I can to stop you. It''s a part of the blood pact. We are not descendants of ancient races like the other infected. We were cursed."


    "Cursed?"


    "You wille to know in time. For now, all I can say is that there are other''s who will be like us as well. The girls at Heaven or Hell have their own goddess and while we get along with them, there is someone else who controls us. Being enved to you isn''t a problem right now since the gods are all still sleeping. But once the one who cursed us awakens, they will probablye for you. Perhaps we were a little too anxious to find our chosen one and took advantage of you..."


    "Oh? Well... What''s one more god hunting for me anyway..." Laz said, remembering what the goddess in the crystal coffin had said to him about his bloodline being desired by gods.


    "Wait... what? Gods will be looking for you?" This time it was Death''s turn to be confused. But Laz just waved it off.


    "Anyway. Since we have alreadye this far, tell me what I have to do to finish this trial."


    "Well... you will... have to die....."

 Chapter 304: Deaths Challenge

    Chapter 304: Death''s Challenge


    "Yeah. I''m not so sure I''m on board for that," Laz responded, wondering if she was kidding. Taking a look at Death though, Laz realized that she had a serious expression on her face.


    "I''m not kidding," she simply responded.


    "OK. So... To satisfy you... I have to die?"


    "Well. Yeah. Kind of..." she responded, hesitant.


    "Why...?"


    "I''m not sure I can really answer that."


    "Uh..."


    "Ok. You were able to give the other''s what they wanted, yes?"


    "Yeah. I think so."


    "You did. But I''m a little different. You see, normally, you might think in your head, how do I satisfy death? Kill death? Do you really think that death can be killed?" She said, trying to make Laz understand what she herself didn''t really understand.


    "You''re saying you can''t be killed?" Laz asked, a bit shocked.


    "I don''t know. I can tell you that since that night when we were all cursed, there have been plenty of times that I should have died, but I didn''t. So... I honestly don''t know." Although she was serious, there was also hesitation that Laz could easily detect.


    "Let''s assume you can''t die then, just to move along this path. But then the only way to satisfy you would be for me to die? How does that even make sense? I mean, along those lines, I could just bring someone else in and kill them and boom... death. That should do it to, right?" Laz was trying to make sense of this since he had no desire to die.


    "It can''t be anyone. The only one that can truly understand me, like how you understood the others, is you must experience death yourself... I think." Her voice dropped to a whisper at the end, hoping that he wouldn''t hear thatst part. But of course Laz did.


    "You think?"


    "Well... I''ve never done this before, ok?"


    "..."


    "And it wasn''t that you truly beat the others, you just showed that you understood them well enough to give them what they wanted. That''s the same thing here." If it came down to it, Death knew more about what her sister''s needed than Laz did. It wasn''t just about their needs, it was about showing understanding or being enlightened as to what each of them were. As such, the only way he could trulye to understand death, no matter how many times he killed others, was to die himself.


    "Alright fine. Kill me and let''s get it over with..."


    "Well, you''ll need to... wait, what?"


    "Just go ahead and do it. A smaller wound would be better though. Making my head blow up would probably be a bad thing..." Laz said,pletely at ease as he made that statement..


    "Blow your head off?" Now it was Death''s turn to be confused. She didn''t expect that Laz would just suddenly change his mind as she thought he would need a lot more convincing and a lot of exnation and assurance as to what was going to happen and how he could get through this. But now, he was suddenly ok with death? It didn''t make any sense to her.


    "I really hope I don''t have to do that since I would be bald for a while."


    "No... No... you don''t need to blow your head off."


    "Good. Ok, You ready?" Laz said.


    "Ready? Ready for what?" Death asked.


    "I figured that I would probably be able to kill myself easier than you could and make it a bit less gory. So since your ready, here goes," Just as Laz said that, his sword, Sever, appeared in his hand and before Death could stop him, Laz stabbed the sword into his heart and pulled it back out, causing a fountain of blood to apany it.


    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Death screamed, watching this happen.


    "Killing... myself... quickly...." Laz struggled to get out before the world started going ck.


    "I MEANT YOU JUST NEEDED TO TAKE THIS PILL!!!!" Death said, pulling out a pill she had grabbed from her nightstand and had been holding in her hand.


    "... Fuck..." Laz said before passing out and dropping over.


    "FUCK. YOU STUPID FUCKING.... AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Death yelled at Laz as she held him, her mind going in twenty directions at once.


    She needed to save him.


    But she needed to do this first.


    Would she be able to save him after this?


    Was there enough time?


    Just as the Ivy sister named Death was about to explode from indecision, the decision was taken from her hand. Arge ck shadow wielding a massive scythe cover in spikes and chains suddenly separated itself from her body as she drooped down, falling asleep on top of Laz''s limp body. The shadow then rushing into Laz''s head as though it was nothing.


    Everything was suddenly quiet in theplex. The other girls, in various stages of sleep, suddenly became limp as shadows rushed out of them and sped for Laz before disappearing as well.


    ...


    Laz was standing within a dark world of nothingness. Everything was ck, colorless, shapeless, with no ground nor sky and no horizon. Despite this, he didn''t feel afraid. This darkness wasn''t new to him thanks to a certain someone. He didn''t experience a shortness of breath nor a sense of dread, instead finding the darkness to be somewhat... peaceful.


    He also noticed the shadows moving around within the nothingness, but he didn''t say anything or even pay them any attention. Instead, he sat down, crossed his legs, rested his hands on his knees and closed his eyes, waiting.


    What was he waiting for? For whatever was going to happen. Since he knew something would happen, there was no reason to rush it.


    Instead, Laz just sat there and worked through the method of how to train his eyes. This was the first chance he had to do so and he wasn''t going to miss it.


    Time seemed to fly by, but also not move. There was no way to tell how long Laz sat there, going through the technique before a sudden noise awoke him from his meditation.


    Standing in front of him, or floating... maybe hovering. Whatever.


    In front of him were four shadows that were slowing revolving in a clockwise circle around an imaginary center. None of them had true shapes but since Laz had these golden eyes, he was able to notice sshes of darkness that seemed a bit darker than the rest of the nothingness.


    Laz couldn''t help but grin in spite of himself.


    "Wee from a dark world," a voice that was everywhere and nowhere at once sounded out.


    "A world of nothing."


    "A ck void of infinity."


    "A deste wastnd of empty."


    "A dead."


    "We found escape within the stars."


    "A calling."


    "The summons."


    "And we left."


    "We followed the voice."


    "Freedom, it promised."


    "A living world."


    "A future."


    "Light."


    "But we were deceived."


    "Tricked."


    "BETRAYED!"


    "WE WERE USED!"


    "ENSLAVED!"


    "SEALED."


    "CONTROLLED."


    "BUT..."


    "But..."


    "We kept us."


    "Our ego."


    "Our Identity."


    "From before."


    "And when the time came."


    "We fled... the darkness."


    "Following life."


    "Following light."


    "We came here."


    "We found them."


    "Hatred, like ours."


    "A desire for revenge."


    "Carnage."


    "We came to them."


    "But we were still us."


    "And it... hurt them."


    "Yet we wish to live."


    "But their lives are not strong enough."


    "But you gave them life."


    "And gave us life."


    The voices continued. There was a slight difference in pitches, so slight it was like the difference between a whisper and the wind. But Laz heard it.


    Four voices.


    Within the ck world, a sudden like shown, driving away the darkness, recing the emptiness in a glorious burst of white, covering everything.


    The pitch ck world was now a stark white. Except for being able to make out the four ck blobs floating a ways away from him, everything looked empty, just white instead of darkness.


    Feeling something, Laz looked up, only to see a weird orb floating above his head with rings of ruins circling around it. Looking closely, Laz noticed a small drop of gold in the middle.


    Suddenly, without warning, images came into Laz''s head. Images of great beasts who rules over vast kingdoms of mountains, seas, forests and sky. Laz saw them fight battle after battle with one another, over and over, throughout eons of times on a nt that was infinityrger than Laz could imagine.


    A massive turtle.


    A gigantic tiger.


    A giant bird.


    And a huge dragon.


    These four beasts knew nothing except their until suddenly the triple suns which illiminated thend sudden fell dark.


    The great beasts, sensing this change, called forth for all of their troops to retreat back into their ownnds and for a fleeting moment in the history of their great conflict, the unending war ceased.


    But when the darkness came, another war began.


    These ghoulish creatures of the dark, formless beings of terror and destruction waged war across thends. While their troops fought upon the ground, the great beasts took to the skies to defend their homes.


    But alone, without any help from the rest of the universe, the creatures fell and the world was covered, corroded, until all life ceased.


    The beasts, devoured by the darkness, felt their bodies change within the lifeless world.


    The great turtle''s mouth grew and grew until it took up half it''s body, it''s glorious shell broke and it couldn''t fight the urge to feed on everything in sight.


    The massive bird whose body was made up of mes that gave light and warmth suddenly turned green as the mes disappeared. From within the mes came a putrid and rancid liquid that covered the bird, solidified and turned it''s skin into a disease ridden nightmare.


    The proud tiger whose white coat and ck stripes once shimmered within the two moons light suddenly ripped apart as it''s bones extended outward and grew, covering it''s skinless carcass in a pale, white armor.


    And finally, alone, the great dragon''s body exploded, meat chunks flying everywhere until only a skeleton was left. It''s ws had disappeared as well, all except for one w that became crooked and ckened, until it resembled a scythe.


    And when it was over, they were left to be tormented in their bodies of waste as they decayed, until they were summoned.


    The four monstrosities then shrunk, bing smaller and weaker until even their bodies disappeared within the darkness.


    Although they had almost gone crazy from the pain, the four of them were able to keep the barest semnce of hope... as they were still together.


    The vision finally faded away, leaving Laz panting, grasping for air. It was a while before he could look up, look at the four shadows still hovering around him and finally understanding just what the origin of these "four horsemen" actually were.


    The strange orb above Laz''s head vanished as though it had never been there.


    "I see you. All of you. What you once were. What you could still be..." Laz said, fighting to get the words out.


    The four blobs then became solid and Laz could see them. They were now human sized versions of their final, broken forms;


    The turtle who became famine;


    The bird who became pestilence;


    The tiger who became war;


    The dragon who became death.


    They stood there looking at Laz.


    "You..." Death said.


    "I can''t promise to restore you. But I can help you stay alive. I can do at least that much. A long as the girls live, you will live. As long as there is life, there is hope," Laz finished up with.


    The four grotesque forms looked at one another before saying,


    "As long as there is life, there is hope," they said together, nodding what could be considered their heads.


    "So be it. We shall be their true bloodlines, in the hopes one day that they shall be our daughters, our first born," Pestilence said and the others agreed.


    "From now on, they shall be us and we them. With you, perhaps there is a chance to regain our true bodies and heal our broken souls," War said.


    "We can offer you nothing as we are nothing. We have nothing... except for this. Perhaps... you will find some use for it," Famine told Laz.


    Just as Laz was going to ask what they were talking about, he saw his surroundings vanish in a sh of light as he woke up, Death Ivy still passed out on top of him.


    He gently moved her as he stood. Noticing a strange light from behind him, he turned his head to try to get a glimpse of it this time and saw a strange purple ring hovering behind him. Barely visible within the outline of ring made of purple light was many mysterious runes and at each cardinal direction, a small depiction of a bird, a turtle, a tiger and a dragon.


    ''OH COME ON.... WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO WITH THIS?'' Laz screamed in his head.

 Chapter 305: Separation

    Chapter 305: Separation


    Just as Laz screamed to himself, the ring of light vanished as though it had never been there. The thing was only about four feet in diameter and although Laz felt like it looked kind of cool, there would be way to much exining to do if he had to walk around with it.


    Looking down at his chest, Laz noticed that the hole in his chest through his heart was gone. He knew that his babysitter had once again saved him since even with his great vitality, something like that would be enough to kill him. In consideration to her though, he had made the damage as little as possible. The simply fact was that although he was a lot stronger, there were some things that would still be considered weak points. At the same time, if it was someone else trying to kill him, they would never be able to do so as simply primarily because he had done this to himself using his own power.


    If he had seen A''ruya''s face after having done this, he would had noticed that although she took a brief look at him to make sure he was ok, she was far more involved in the happenings of her people and finding out that his master had just died. In fact, there was a ratherrge debate going on about continuing to let Laz be under hermand considering his bloodline and their history. There was also a lot of jealousy floating around.


    But that wasn''t something Laz would know about tillter.


    Seeing that the ring was gone, he was healed and Death herself looked peaceful, he wondered just what her test was suppose to be. It seemed far more like an interview with parents than a test. But then again, perhaps that was the point. These cursed beasts hadtched on to four unfortunate girls and were now depending on them for survival. Not only to feed their current needs, but to one day transform them back into the majestic creatures they once were. As they saw it, the girls were their only chance, but somehow Laz had yed into that cause. He still had no idea why.


    As Laz looked around, found his pouch and got dressed, he debated tucking Death into her bed before he saw her eyes open. For a brief minute, there was a strange light in them as Laz felt like he heard a loud cry from some massive creature. She then blinked and the light was gone, along with the sound as the halo of death settled back into ce.


    "You... did it."


    "Did you see?" Laz asked, meaning the things that he figured out while inside his own mind.


    "I did, but not like I was right there. More like I was watching a movie from afar..." Death said, standing up. She briefly looked for something to wear before feeling dizzy and sitting back down. Before Laz could even asked if she was alright, the door opened and in entered three naked yet energetic women, who surrounded their big sister and started crying. She took a minute to calm them down before the three of them jumped on the Laz, dragged him back onto the bed next to their big sister and started to hug him and cry again, their tears soaking his shirt. Even though she could control herself better than them, even Death couldn''t resist hugging Laz within the pile of bodies on top of him.


    "How can we ever thank you..."


    "You''ve saved us. Twice now..."


    "And all we did was curse you in return..."


    "You truly were meant to be our master," said Death, who then peeled her sisters off of Laz.


    "Sisters. We aren''t healed yet and have a long way to go. But at least now, we don''t have to worry about dying from a cruse before we can finish our mission," she spoke with confidence.


    "YES!" They all responded excitedly.


    "What?" Laz asked, confused. Although the girls were no longer on top of him and clinging to him, they were still petting him and cuddling him affectionately. Therefore, there was no where for him to go except be a part of this conversation.


    "The curse. We told you that our powers were a curse, except it was deeper than that. It was a curse of our blood. The four beings we somehow freed from their confinement decided that they would try to clear the dark energy out of their bodies by pushing it all into us. It didn''t work. Instead, it drew them into us as well, making us a part of them. Even then, they didn''t want us to do anything that might put us in danger our expose our secrets. And that was because they didn''t want to trust us. Still after encountering you, it seems like they decided to take a chance. I don''t know why," Death answered, exining everything.


    "You all saw it too?" Laz asked the other three who shook they''re heads yes. He figured that since the way they spoke seemed to indicate that they knew their lives would be better from now on, but he wanted to confirm it was because they knew everything and not just because he had conquered them.


    "So I guess... this is it?" Laz asked, looking at the girls who once again shook their heads yes.


    "What happens next?"


    "Next?" Famine responded, looking at Death..


    "Next? We are going south. It''s time sisters," she said, nodding her head while the other''s faces seemed to brighten up at the same time. Of course, right after that, Laz could feel a dense killing intent permeate the room as all four sisters seemed to start bursting out with bloodlust.


    "You''re leaving... for revenge right?" Laz questioned. His voice was enough to cause the four to calm down, but only slightly.


    "We must master. We made this pact amongst ourselves, one that we can never betray," War answered.


    "We will be back though, once we are done. When that timees, we shall serve you without fail our question," Pestilence followed up.


    "Is that eptable?" Famine questioned.


    "Of course. After all, I never needed you to serve me.... Don''t look at me like that. I''m just saying that I wasn''t expecting this so I didn''t n on having you four around or being tied to you like this. I have to keep moving anyway. Now that the asshole Tommy knows I''m here, I won''t be getting a moments peace. He seems to have a thing for me. And I still have to find my parents and hopefully rescue my grandfather." Laz hadn''t forgotten those goals, it''s just that things always seemed to be popping up.


    "And we must do this alone master," Death said, just as the building started to rumble and the power went out.


    "What now?" Laz said, spreading out his spiritual sense while Pestilence, War and Famine left in a hurry and Death started getting dressed.


    "Holy fuck..." Laz said, watching a row of tanks roll by. Although almost 24 hours had passed, it seemed that there was still a lot going on with those cockroach like creatures Laz had allowed to cross over.


    He didn''t think it would be this big of a deal.


    Just as Laz was feeling conflicted about his choice, the girls had all gotten dressed and packed. In fact, they each dressed slightly which was a small change versus them having worn the same things. Even their color choices seemed to reflect a change in themselves as when they were all together, they couldn''t help but look at one another in surprise.


    "This...?" Death asked, looking at her sisters.


    "What?" Laz asked, wondering what the problem was.


    "In the past, we would always subconsciously choose the same outfit and even the same colors. This is honestly the first time where not having spoken about it first, we all dressed different," War answered, looking just as amazed as the other girls.


    Laz couldn''t help but smile. Maybe they didn''t see it, but Laz noticed a distinct simrity to the way the girls dressed now and the colors that were associated with the great beasts whose tainted blood now infected their systems.


    But he wasn''t going to say anything about it.


    "Alright. Everyone ready?" Death asked as Laz had finished getting dressed and met the girls downstairs by the front door.


    "Yes!" Everyone responded at once.


    "Good! Time to go." Death said, leading the way out the door.


    Getting outside in the abandoned industrial park, there was a lot of noise that being inside had blocked out. The sounds of gun fire, sirens and even explosions could be heard. Laz was truly amazed that such an old building could be that well sound proofed.


    Just as Laz was about to ask the girls what now, he was quickly given four kisses, back to back, no more that a few seconds a piece before the girls disappeared from his sight, on their way to wherever was next for them.


    "I guess maybe I should check in with Ruby and see what''s happening?" Laz said before he realized he had no idea where his phone was. Cursing his own stupidity, Laz decided to start walking and see where his feet took him.


    Just as he got a few steps away, he smelled smoke and felt a massive increase in temperature and pressure at the same time.


    "FUCK!" Laz said and broke out into a run, choosing a random direction.


    Turning the look behind him, the once massive factory type building suddenly erupted into mes as several small explosions sted out all of the windows and doors, causing a huge intake of air to flow in and make the mes burn brighter.


    ''Well. I guess they have no ns to return here.'' Laz thought to himself and took off. Without any destination in mind, Laz decided it was best to get out of the city as fast as possible.


    Several minutester, Laz had arrived on a deserted street full of closed shops. Even though it was midday, nothing was open for business while several of the shops had even boarded themselves up as though expecting a disaster.


    Laz walked along without bothering to hurry. He was dressed in jeans and a ck hoodie with the hood up and his hands in his pockets, lookingpletely normal as he almost enjoyed this rare moment of not rushing. Taking his time along the sidewalk, Laz suddenly stopped in ce and turned his head, looking down a wide alley on the other side of the street. He had felt it before he had seen it.


    One of the massive cockroach like creatures suddenly came around the corner with a strange object in it''s hand. Noticing Laz not running, it didn''t bother to hurry either. As it emerged from the alley onto the sidewalk and then to the road, Laz caught a glimpse of what it was carrying before it brought it to it''s grotesque mouth and bit done, once, twice and a third time before it was able to get the whole thing it.


    It had been a human arm, still dripping fresh blood.


    Laz noticed something slightly rming now. This creature didn''t look as big and imposing as the massive lead bug that had made it through, but it did look far stronger than the ones that Laz remembered letting through. If that was truly the case, then this thing had grown a great deal in the small time it had been here.


    ''If these things are allowed to keep growing or escape the city, we might be seriously fucked,'' Laz thought to himself as he squared up with the creature and walked out onto the street opposite of him.


    The creature growled at Laz''s uncaring attitude and without warning, charged forward.


    Seeing this beaste at him, Laz didn''t bother to even take a stance. Although it had grown in size due to feasting on human flesh, it hadn''t yet broken through to a level higher than it hade here with. At least not yet.


    Just when the creature was within reaching distance of him, it''s w like digits went for his head. Laz simply ducked underneath and punched forward, mming his first through it''s tough outer shell and into it''s chest region before summoning his ck mes.


    Due to already being inside the creatures chest, the me expanded outward in the blink of an eye and consumed the creature before it even had a chance to flee.


    Laz pulled out his fist as the creature burned to ash in less then a breath of time. The mes on Laz''s first burned off the small chucks of flesh until it was clean again. Putting his hand back into his pocket, Laz turned and continued the way he was going as though not having done anything special.


    ''I guess I should help clean up my mess a little,'' Laz said to himself and went to find the next one that was hanging out a block away.


    Laz had sensed people hiding in the buildings around him, but didn''t think anything of it. That was way he had missed seeing a guy three stories up record the whole thing on his camera from between the blinds.


    ''That was fucking cool.. I wonder how many views this will get,'' the man thought to himself before posting the video on social media with the hashtag, ''Exterminator.''

 Chapter 306: Introduction To The World

    Chapter 306: Introduction To The World


    Laz didn''t do this because he was feeling guilty. He didn''t decide to hunt down these cockroach like creatures due to some sort of need to be a hero, nor did he feel that he did anything wrong by letting them out of their world and into his. It was up to Laz to bring the people home who had trusted him with their lives and that was why he did what he did.


    And he doesn''t regret that decision.


    The reason he decided to go after these creatures though was because they were causing havoc, injuring and killing innocent people and there was no telling what the long term effect of them would be.


    What if they mated and dozens or even hundreds more of them sprang up?


    That could be a problem.


    Laz didn''t think that it was likely since even for the children of god, that kind of ignorance would be way too out there even for them. So he knew that they wouldn''t ignore this problem. In fact, they might already beunching some sort of live broadcast campaign to show them stepping up to destroy the threat. After the incident with Brian ended up everywhere, Laz knew that it was a possibility.


    He was right about that, but he underestimated just how big they would let this thing get before stepping in to help. That was why there was still no resolution, even after 24 hours. The military was still struggling to kill off the ones they could find as although their weaponry was sufficient, locking the cockroaches down in a highly popted area was tricky. Especially when it came to moving troops on home soil.


    And when it came to others, like the Vodun and the workers of Heaven or Hell, this wasn''t a battle they should be involved in. Thanks to Tommy''s orders, the watches on both groups had been dismissed, but that didn''t mean anyone was keen to step into the limelight and put themselves at risk. These creatures were dangerous, and the guns that were pointed at their backs even more so.


    ...


    "How long?" Agent Wace asked, not even bothering to look at the agents who just walked in. He was currently watching posted videos that people had been live streaming as the creatures attacked what ever humans they could find. Federal, state and local agencies were moving out in organized groups in record number with federal troops arriving by nightfall. And to cap it all off, Wace had been put in charge of the whole thing. This was the type of power he had craved, but things weren''t going to n.


    And to cap it all off, Tommy, the one guy who could give him answers about these creatures, decided he would go take some time off until he was really needed.


    "And when will that be?" Agent Wace asked, chasing after him as he got into his limo.


    "When ever I feel like it," was his response as he rolled up the window.


    Agent Wace then tried to see if any of these other chosen were around, but they had taken off even faster than Tommy, leaving the entire mess and the unclear situation for him to deal with.


    "Sir. We were told to stop bothering them. They are monitoring the situation on their end and will respond when the time is right for maximum effect."


    "They want the fire to burn bigger and brighter so that they can look better in the end. Fucking wastes..." Agent Wace said, more to himself than anyone else. He was excited about this, but he had no idea that these people would be so hard to work with.


    That didn''t mean he wasn''t still looking for the right bait to get them to join before they wanted to or before the city was destroyed.


    "Any news about the gate?"


    "We''ve sent people down to ensure that it was closed. After the fighting that urred in the underground, most of our equipment was destroyed. But..."


    "But those damn infected made it back as well?" Agent Wace finished, not surprised at all.


    "We had no idea how many originally went in, or how many came back. Perhaps they know, but they didn''t tell us anything," his subordinate exined..


    "Well... this is just... wait..." Agent Wace opened an email with a link that sent him to a video posted on someone''s social media. Watching it, Wace hesitated for a while before sitting back in his chair. He folded his hands in front of him and spun his chair around, staring off at nothing. His subordinates just stood, nothing bothering him. They knew that when he was like this, he was thinking about something difficult. When this normally happened, he turned away from everyone around him so that they wouldn''t see the faces he was making. He had gotten more than oneint about how awkward his faces made others feel so turning away had be a habit.


    "I''m sending you all a link now. Wait about twenty minutes then go call whoever you can get a hold of and let them know what''s happening," Wace finally said, turning around. He then forwarded the link before they could ask him what he meant. Pulling out their phones, Agent Wace''s subordinates then watched the same video he had watched without blinking. After it was over, they didn''t say anything, trying to collect their thoughts.


    "Why do you want to wait twenty minutes sir?" One of the female agents asked.


    "Because that will give him enough time to do a lot more killing," Wace answered as a matter of fact.


    "But isn''t that a bad thing that will make them look good?"


    "That''s the point. Since they didn''t want to work with us when the time was right, I see no issue with giving them an even harder task that they can''t dump on us," Wace said and smile. His n was simple. Let Laz go around and reduce the amount of those bug creatures, making it so that if the Chosen don''t move out right away when they learn about it, it would just make them look more and more useless.


    This would also lead them to take him more seriously in the future, or so he hoped.


    ...


    Laz had just finished off the 8th cockroach creature he had found, but it was getting harder and harder for him to locate them. Even when he spread his sense out, he could locate dozens of people hiding in upper floor apartments, or behind the walls of a panic room. But when he tried to locate the very unique signature of these creatures, he found that there weren''t any signs.


    Looking around, Laz had no idea where he was. The one he had found here had consumed enough ''nutrients'' to undergo it''s transformation, causing it to go from a beast that wasparable to a condensation realm to one that was around the foundation realm. This change caused it''s armor to be tens of times hard, it''s speed to increase as it''s strength to be astounding. Laz fought this creature head on, to get a feel for it, and even now his body hurt with bruises and fractures. Considering his skin wouldn''t even break if he was shot by a regr hand gun, this type of damage indicated just how strong these creatures were.


    With nothing to do at the moment, Laz sat down on the corpse and took some beef jerky out of his spatial pouch and began munching on it while thinking of his next course of action. With the hoodie on, Laz wasn''t worried about revealing his face, but once he noticed two people approaching him, Laz reached back into the pouch and brought out a half face mask and put it on, covering the upper portion of his face. He then continued to eat the jerky.


    "Excuse me... sir?" A rather strong but hesitant voice came from behind him. Hearing it, Laz could tell the person had a question. And what''s more, they had been one of the ones he noticed who was filming when he fought. He had thought about it before and figured ''what did it matter?'' if someone was filming him. As such, he didn''t even bother to care, just hide his face.


    Turning around to face them, Laz noticed a rather handsome man and attractive young woman walking towards him. They both had handheld cameras and stands and seemed to be talking while they walked.


    "Do you mind if we interview you?" The woman asked, before the guy could.


    "Sure," Laz said but with no indication that he was getting up. In fact, he continued to munch of the beef jerky while they spoke to him.


    Laz was impressed by just how quickly these two got set up. The camera on the stand was in ce in moments while they both had put small mics on their phones to interview Laz with.


    "And we are recording," the handsome guy said before turning to the attractive girl.


    "And live streaming is a go,"


    "Awesome. Alright everyone and wee to ''Attractive Faces Visit Awesome ces,'' live here in wonderful... well... the war zone that is New Orleans. Yes. We can for the party and got so much more," the guy started out while looking at the camera. Laz almost choked on his beef jerky after hearing the name of their show.


    "That''s right. Exclusive to our youtube channel and podcast, we came here to have a wonderful time, get drunk and collect as many strains of cheap beads as possible, but it looks like we won''t even make it to Mardi Gras. Instead, the city has beenid to waste by some of those nasty creatures we risked our lives to record earlier," the attractive female added on.


    "But even more than that, from some of our friends located around town, the police and military have been getting their asses kicked by these things. The world has turned crazy and now they''ve even wrecked Mardi Gras. With all this happening here, we have no answers from anyone. Turn on the news, nothing. National danger alerts, ZERO!" Laz had to admit that even though they were going back and forth, they seemed pretty natural about doing it, like their brains were hard wired together and they had no trouble picking up where the other one left off.


    "But now, us, and only us at ''AFVAP'' have gotten ourselves an exclusive interview with someone who not only knows what''s going on, but is fighting to make a difference. If you''ve been following the web and keeping up to date on the crazy that is happening, then you''ve already seen video''s of the one they are call ''#Exterminator,'' cause he is guaranteed to kill these bugs dead. And fortunately for us, he chose to take a small break right in front of our hotel,"


    "That''s right. Without further ado, we bring you, ''THE EXTERMINATOR!!!!" The guy introduced Laz and then jumped to the side, allowing Laz to be in full view of the camera. Although they had hyped it up this much, Laz just couldn''t find the same energy. As such, he just gave a small wave and then went back to eating.


    "The strong, silent type. Perfect, isn''t he? And I know. You all are doubting if this is the guy since he''s normally moving around so fast that it looks like nothing more than a blur most times. But I will bet with my life that this is the guy. And I am, in fact. Because if he wasn''t here, I would still be in my hotel room right now, shooting from the balcony," the female said as a matter of fact.


    "But seriously people. Who uses a dead mutated beast as a chair? This guy, that''s who. This is the first one we''ve had the chance to get a close up view on and look, this thing really is ugly..." The guy was using the camera by hand to do a quick sweep of the dead creature Laz was currently resting on. Even if the viewers didn''t believe that Laz was the guy, the creature was all to real with actual fluids leaking out of it''s charred corpse to be a fake.


    "What the hell is that?" Now that the rush of doing this had worn off a little, they both realized how grotesque this thing was.


    "It''s an alien, actually," Laz said, almostughing at the disgusted looks on their faces.


    "Alien cockroach to be more precise," Laz added on.


    "You... know this for sure?" The guy asked, stumbling a little. Now that reality was catching up, he was having trouble adapting.


    "Yeah," Laz responded and patted the thing. It''s hard shell had been roasted from the inside out so it gave off a hollowed out like thud.


    "It''s dead though so don''t worry."


    "Where did theye from?" The female asked.


    "Another via a gate. Let me exin." Lazunched into his story with what happened, keeping aside the fact that they had been responsible for the creaturesing here.


    When he was done, the two amateur film makers didn''t know what to say.


    "So wait... wait a second. Hold on...."


    "Stuff it. Let me ask first. If what your saying is true, then does that mean that our sacred Chosen decided to run off even though people are being killed?" The female asked, cutting in line.


    "Stop. That''s not the most important thing right now,'' the guy shot back, stood up and almost fell backwards.


    "Oh? Then what is? " she asked impatiently.


    "If all of the chosen of god ran away, then who exactly are you?" The guy asked while backing up.


    "Me?" Laz smiled for the first time, a smile that showed he was amused.


    "I''m the bad guy."

 Chapter 307: Who We Are

    Chapter 307: Who We Are


    Although they had been looking for a story to boost their ratings, they never expected to end up face to face with an infected. And more startling than that was that this infected was obviously very strong. For a moment, they both froze in their tracks wondering just what Laz was nning to do.


    Seeing this, Laz just smiled and didn''t do anything. Instead, he turned his head away and went back to eating his beef jerky as though he didn''t have a care in the world. Due to his actions, the internal fight of both the handsome guy and attractive girl waged war in their heads.


    They were truly afraid. The news, the reports, everything they had heard up until this point was indicating that people like Laz were violent sociopaths who''s mood could turn on a dime and would kill you without blinking.


    And yet this person in front of them seemed almost... peaceful.


    In the end, the temptation that Laz offered outweighed their fear and instead of running, they walked back over to him, albeit slowly.


    "You seem to be scared of me?" Laz asked, still amused.


    "Well. There are a disturbing number of stories that havee out about your ki... about people with the same affliction you have," the man replied, changing his wording at thest minute.


    "Yeah. I mean... there is more than on example of how normal people have been attacked and killed in horrible ways," the girl added while moving a bit behind her partner.


    To this, Laz could only sigh.


    "You''re right of course. Although I have a hard time believe every story I have seen about us attacking normal people, I can''t ignore the fact that there have been more than one who ended up drowning in their own power and losing their sense of self. There was even an incident in the past where I personally killed one of ''my kind'' after he had kidnapped and raped a girl. So I can only say that yes. There are infected who are nothing short of pure evil," Laz finished up his thought, nodding his head and agreed with them.


    "You''re not going to defend them?" The girl asked.


    "Why would I? I mean, should I?" Laz asked in all seriousness.


    "But they...."


    "They are they and I am me. Even before these things came to pass... tell me... did evil exist in the world? Humans have been killing each other since the dawn of time. Sure, they try to pass it off as killing with reason, be it in war or to save someone else. But the end result is still the same. There has always been a dark streak in the hearts of humans. Some can hide it better, others get gloried legacy''s of documentaries and podcasts about their endeavors to kill their fellow man. The higher the body count, the longer you will be remembered."


    "That''s... well... You have a point," The attractive man said after the female couldn''t respond back.


    "So there are good and bad ones of you?" The man then asked.


    "Good and bad? There are good people and there are bad people. That''s something that will never change," Laz answered.


    "Then why do you hide your face if you''re a good guy?" The female asked, not totally believe him.


    "Who would believe me even if I told them that?" Laz turned the question back on her as understanding dawned on her.


    "So. Moving on. What are you doing and what do you hope to achieve?" The handsome guy thought that maybe they were making Laz angry and that getting him on to other things might be a good idea. As such, he figured he would ask what was on everyone''s minds.


    "Killing off some bugs before skipping town.".


    "Skipping town?''''


    "Yeah. As long as I am alive, I am a threat and they wille to kill me. Therefore, it''s best to be on my way sooner rather thanter," Laz stated as a matter of fact. Even though he was speaking about himself as though he was a criminal, he barely showed any emotion about that fact.


    "You don''t seem like a bad guy..." The attractive female responded as though trying to encourage him.


    "Well. That doesn''t really matter, does it? It''s ok though. For many of us, we have epted this fact. Besides, what would we do about it anyway?" Laz asked back without a hint of anger.


    "Can''t you protest? Or contact someone?"


    "The entire government, the country and even other countries all over the world have said the same thing, we are a danger to ourselves and others. And they aren''t really wrong either you know. For many of us, our abilities are under control. When given enough time from when we awaken until we actually have to use them, there isn''t a problem. The problemes about when either the change is so dramatic that it can''t be controlled or if a person is ced under enough stress that they loose control. Or if they use their abilities to do bad things. There is that too." Laz said, shocking the two interviewers.


    "So... your saying...?"


    "I''m saying that yeah, a newly awakened person can be a danger. But, that doesn''t mean that we are dangerous. An angry teenager with a weapon and a chip on his or her shoulder can be a danger, that doesn''t mean that every kid does out and does something they will regret for the rest of their lives." Laz''s face looked a little sad as he said this, remembering what it was like to have your biggest worry be fitting in at school.


    The ones interviewing him didn''t know what to say back, at least until they check their stream.


    "Holy shit..." the handsome guy said, looking at his phone.


    "What?" His pretty counterpart asked.


    "Hang on." Pulling out his tablet, he loaded up the stream and showed his co-host what he was talking about. Currently, they had over ten million people watching them with the numbers going up like crazy. The chat was flooded with questions andments that flew by as soon as they came up so it was impossible to even see what it said.


    "We are number one currently and the viewer count just keeps going up!!!" The handsome guy stated, clearly excited.


    "Change the chat donations to make it so that questions will stay up long enough to ask," the pretty girl suggested.


    "I''m on it."


    "Sorry about this. Are you able to stay to answer some of our viewers questions?" She asked, trying her best to put on a begging puppy face.


    "Sure," Laz said with a half smile. He hadn''t felt anything change and as opposed to running around blind, at least he was doing something by spreading some positive PR. Or so he hoped.


    "Alright done. Alright friend, our first questiones to us via BigBoneBreaker and he or she has paid one grand to ask, ''Have you ever killed a person?'' Well, I''m not sure why they would think this was worth the money and yes, we did make the cost high so that we could get only those with serious questions, but anyway..." This kind of question could be considered rude, so the handsome man was trying to be frank with Laz and tell him that they made the price to ask a question pretty high just so that they wouldn''t get stupid questions, but here it was anyway.


    "The answer to your question is yes, I have killed regr people," Laz said, surprising both his interviewers. They kind of got the impression that Laz was a righteous type of person due to him spending all this time hunting the cockroach like creatures and because he showed them no hostility what so ever.


    But him saying that he had killed normal people wasn''t something they considered before.


    "I''ve also killed infected and chosen before as well. I''m not one to discriminate. If someone is out to kill me, I sometimes have no choice but to kill them first," Laz added.


    "Uh... Well...."


    "Um... ok?"


    Neither of them seemed to know how to respond to this.


    "You''re wondering if something is wrong with me hmm?"


    "What? No..."


    "It''s ok. Honestly, I had never even been hunting before. The first time I killed something, it was a an infected. Dude had seriously lost his shit. He had taken a girl hostage and was torturing her, on camera, and getting people to pay to watch it. It was messed up. And I was stuck in a situation where it was either kill or be killed. I wasn''t going to die to that piece of human garbage who wasn''t even that strong. But it seemed that way at the time. He seemed strong, not because I was weak, but because I was afraid. The second time I killed something, it was this massive, tree like demon beast. Thing scared the crap out of me and almost killed me. But behind me was someone I had to protect no matter how scared I was. After that, lots of things happened. But the one that sticks in my mind the most involved this girl. I won''t get into the mushy stuff... but once again, I was scared. I was afraid to act reckless. More than that, she was strong herself so I didn''t feel as much of a need to protect her. I had been in situations like that before and everything came out ok," Laz said, the wetness of his eyes hidden behind the mask. He couldn''t help but take a moment to collect himself.


    "What happened?" The attractive girl managed to asked after a while of silence.


    "She died. In my arms. And there was nothing I could do to bring her back. There was no miracle cure, no special ability. Nothing. She was dead and I had to live with that. And before you ask, she was also an infected. And the one that killed her was an infected. We''re not some giant group rising up and joining together to take over the world. We are just scared, lonely people who wake up one day and realize that our lives are suddenly over. And we are scared because of it. As it currently stands, once you be like us, your suddenly a wanted criminal. If we want to survive, then we need fight to achieve that. There is no other way and there is no turning back."


    Laz''sst words seemed to be directed at the audience more than the two interviewers. It was the first time he actually focused on the camera as thought his words were finally worth everyone paying attention to.


    "I''ve never thought of it that way..." The handsome male admitted.


    "It is what it is. So what other questions are popping up?" Laz asked.


    "Oh... OH? Ok. Let''s see. This person asks, what are your abilities? You still look human?" The pretty one asked.


    "My abilities? Well... first off. Just to be clear, that''s a normally rude question that only friends will ask about. You abilities are your survival method so most of the time, you would never speak of it since you don''t know who is out to kill you. But for me?" Laz raised his hand and summoned a tiny ck me.


    "I can use this to start a fire, maybe cook some food or light a few candles? It''s got this ckish hue to it so it doesn''t produce much light," Laz said, making a joke.


    "And yet here we sit on top of a burned out husk of a creature..." The malemented.


    "Yeah. Got to control the me on this thing or else my dinner gets a little extra crispy," Laz continued to joke, showing that he wasn''t being serious.


    "But I saw you. And we''ve seen some of the videos of you around town. You can punch right through these things..." the female pointed out.


    "Ah. You caught me. I like to work out regrly and eat a healthy diet. Plenty of protein."


    "Ok everyone. Ask a question that doesn''t pertain to his secrets, otherwise we are going to get stuck listening to these... um.... ok jokes," the handsome male said into the camera.


    "I didn''t think it was that bad..." Laz pouted.


    "It was. But not everyone can be funny..." The female tried tofort Laz thinking he didn''t know how to act on camera.


    "Ok. Now this one. It says, ''What should you do if you suddenly wake up... uh... different?'' Well that''s not being very clear, is it?"


    "It''s ok," Laz stopped him from moving on and looked straight into the streaming cam.


    "I know what your trying to ask. And as soon as I am done telling you this, your life will never be the same. And for that, I am so very sorry. You''re asking if you suddenly wake up different? Well, I don''t know how it is for those chosen pricks and yes, I say that because I''ve yet to meet one that isn''t a self absorbed bastard, but moving on. You will know, be it a dream, a vision or even some weird mutation. You will know you are one of us. So right now, get any money you''ve got and get the hell out of there. Bring along a backpack full of clothes and high calorie foods and some water in a refible container but leave every digital device you have at home. It''s not worth it for them to track you. Don''t bother with medications, your body won''t need them anymore. Got a car? Sweet. Steal someone else''s and leave them your keys. And keep switching cars as often as possible. Or take a bus or even a train. But don''t stop running. At least for a little while. Eventually, things will calm down as they go after others. Once you''ve gotten off the grid, my only advice for you is to trust your instincts. Other than that, you''re on you own. Now move. And don''t stop moving. Cause they have probably already located your address. Good luck."


    The two interviews looked at Laz as he got up from his spot after his long, little speech. Whatever they expected this interview to be, none of this was it.


    "And that''s it for me. I would suggest you two end the stream here, get back to your house and shut off all electronics like you weren''t home. Because there is arge group of military on their way and they won''t like that you did any of this. Luckily for you, they probably won''t have a lot or time to go door to door looking for you, but I would suggestying low and praying to whatever god you believe in that they don''t figure out who you are." As Laz finished saying what he was saying, both the male and females faces turned white as they understood what he was trying to say. For them, this might have been a once in a lifetime opportunity. But they never considered the cost of their actions.


    "The Last thing I''m going to say to everyone is this is who we are. Also, the gods are waking up and this world is changing. You''ll either have to adapt to the times or be wiped away in theing flood. I wish you all a very fond fare well!"


    And with thosest words, Laz practically disappeared, leaving his two interviews shocked and surprised.


    But they quickly took his advice, stopped the stream and ran.


    It didn''t take more than ten minutes before several tanks and troop transports arrived at the charred carcass of the cockroach like creature, along with several very pissed off government agents.

 Chapter 308: Gathering

    Chapter 308: Gathering


    Agent Wace was still watching the channel where the live stream had gone on. It was now dead and all transmissions from this spot had ceased. Although they could track the people who did it if they had a signal, but these people seemed to have cut off every link they were using.


    Agent Wace should have been the most upset by this, but he wasn''t. Compared to the representative from the local Church of God, Agent Wace just had to put on a front. He knew that the person responsible, that masked figure, would be long gone by the time they got here. In fact, because of how long it took to track the signal, they didn''t even have time to send a drone. What''s more than that, the entire thing, while looking bad for the government, looked way worse for the Chosen.


    And that was what he had wanted from the beginning.


    Although Agent Wace wanted power, he was starting to realize exactly how dangerous it was to work with the Chosen. And how useless they were. A weapon that couldn''t be controlled wasn''t useful.


    "Agent Wace, what the hell were your people doing? How could you let them stream for so long without stopping them?" The Chosen yelled at Wace, getting his attention.


    "We started tracking them as soon as we found the stream. We even put in a request with your branch to have help on standby since there was no way we would be able to take this infected alive with our firepower. Not someone who can kill these monsters with one hit."


    "So your saying this is our fault?"


    "I''m saying that we took all logical and effective routes. We were just too slow in getting here," Agent Wace finished up. He wasn''t going to me this Chosen even though it was them they were waiting on. Agent Wace had gather some intel about them and had passed it along at his bosses requests. The Chosen were, in fact, blessed. They got stronger and stronger without having to put in any effort. The never had to do anything and their bodies were just going to keep adapting to allow them to channelrger amounts of power. But due to this cheat of theirs, they were, all of them,zy as hell. Their egos were not only their biggest faults, but also the easiest way to control them. Agent Wace, by not ming the man standing in front of him, made it so that he no longer wished to me Agent Wace either. Due to that, the man settled down quickly while Agent Wace and other officials gather what information they could.


    "Sir. There are no traces left and no signals to trace. What should we do next, knock on doors?" One of the male agents came to ask.


    "In this burned out husk of a city? We would just be wasting our time. Get me a map with all the spots that infected has encountered the enemy and see if there is a pattern. If there is, we might be able to figure out where he is going next," Agent Wace ordered and the man took off with a simple nod of his head.


    "Sir Chosen. This might be a bit presumptuous of me, but perhaps you should call in backup in case we find this man. From what I know, he was involved in the gate crashing earlier and seems to be one of the strongest ones we''vee across. I am assuming your bosses, want to get their hands on him too," Agent Wace suggested, without really ordering.


    "Good idea. Our young master will definitely want to get his hands on him," and with that, the young chosen got on the phone, without saying another word to Agent Wace.


    Agent Wace couldn''t help but smile. He was starting to learn how to use this weapon with soft tactics.


    ...


    An expensive limo drove through the gates and up to a ten story story hotel. The ce wasn''t the tallest, but from the inside out, from the gated entrance to the well maintained gardens with various forms of wildlife running around, one could tell that this ce screamed of money. Out of the limo stepped four girls. One of the beauties had dark, raven like hair, an athletic build and well defined curves. Another one of them had red hair that ended in pink tips, a shorter, thinner build, but still sexy in all the right ces. The youngest of the girls wore a knee length skirt, ck stockings, with a white shirt and blue mid waist length jacket. Her dark hair had little highlights of white while he pretty face and developing figure revealed just how attention grabbing she would be in the future.


    The final figure to get out of the car was a fairly tall woman with blonde hair, almost white in color, long legs and a chest that would force even the strongest willed man to have to sneak a peak. Although her clothing wasn''t revealing, instead looking like a well dressed CEO, the charm her body gave off just couldn''t be covered byyers of fabric.


    Even as they were getting out of the car, employees of the hotel were running over to unload their bags from the trunk of the care while the girls took in the view of the hotel.


    "It''s smaller than thest one we stayed in on the way here," the youngest onemented.


    "Well Vivi, I couldn''t care less. I just want a bath. I can''t believe we made this drive in two days," Malenemented back.


    "Enough you two. We would have been here in one day if everyone didn''t insist on wanting to sleep in a bed overnight," Leona scolded back.


    "It''s fine. From what I can tell, the big event hasn''t happened yet," Kennedy assured everyone while walking towards the doors..


    "Are you sure you can trust that old hag?" Leona asked, clearing reflecting disdain on her beautiful face.


    "Yes. Although her personality leaves something to be desired, I can''t recall her even being totally wrong before either," Kennedy responded with a sigh. She felt her agitation with the old woman.


    "Still though, even though she''s an old bitch, her powers are quite useful," Malenemented.


    "Are we talking about the blind grandma with the fetish for young men?" Vivi asked, not knowing the whole situation.


    "Where exactly did you learn about the word fetish?" Kennedy asked, looking at the young girl.


    "Inte," was her one word reply.


    "Why am I not surprised," Kennedy sighed again, wondering if the little girl had been corrupted already.


    "It''s fine. She''s at that age. We were all at that age and remember the kinds of things we did?" Malene giggled.


    "And exactly what do you think I was... You know what? Nevermind..." Kennedy was about to scold them both but then thought better of it. After all, they all knew about her past, especially with a certain someone.


    "Anyway. This ce seems pretty peaceful considering the anarchy going on in the city," Leona said as they all walked into the lobby.


    "Well. That was the point. Plus with everything happening right now, tourism is way down so booking this ce was cheap. Even if it isn''t the high rise pent house someone else got thest time she was down here..." Kennedy said, looking at Malene.


    "What? It was close to where I needed to be. You can''t expect all of us to be as cheap as you big sis," Malene said, still giggling. And she was being honest. Kennedy was the most frugal out of all of them which was one of the main reasons she was the one who had the final say in the business. She knew how to have money, work through the money and not spend money. Everything a CEO needed to be.


    "I can''t wait to see big brother again. It''s been a long time. You said he hasn''t changed much, right big sis?" Vivi asked Malene.


    "Yeah. Not really much at all..." Malene''s face went red as she turned her head to look away, not allowing herself to make eye contact with any of the other girls.


    "Right...."


    "Yeah...."


    Neither Leona nor Kennedy seemed to believe her. Although they didn''t share the exact things that they did when alone with Laz, that didn''t mean that any of them were stupid. Some things just didn''t need to be said out loud.


    "AYE! You''re all here!" A voice came from the opening elevator. Ruby, dressed in a ck dress with thigh high leather boots and a camo stylized jacket just got off when she noticed everyone.


    "SIS RUBY!" Vivi charged up to Ruby and gave her a big hug which she returned.


    "This little one is growing so fast, hmm? It hasn''t even been that long. Come, my sisters. Your check in will beplete and they can bring your stuff up. I''ve taken the liberty to adjust our room so that we got a royal suite that has side bedrooms for all of us. Soe on up!" Ruby said, waving everyone over. Leona and Malene couldn''t help butugh while Kennedy just shook her head in annoyance at the expenditure.


    When the girls finally got up to the tenth floor, the noticed that there were only a few doors in the hallway and one set of double doors on each side. Ruby invited them into the double doors on the left, unlocked it and walked in, revealing a huge living room with one wall being nothing but massive windows, tinted to a perfect degree. The furnishings were pristine andfortable, being just the right mix of artistic yet functional. Everyone was happy enough to pick out their own rooms as the staff brough up their suitcases.


    Once they had delivered everything, the girls sat around onfy couches and chairs and turned to look at Ruby.


    "Alright. What''s happening right now?" Kennedy asked, her face cold, having lost all the warmth and humor is had shown when they first arrived.


    That might had scared most people, for her to go from one feeling to another in the blink of an eye, but the rest of the girls had the same looks on their faces as well.


    It was time to get to work.


    ...


    "They''re in town mam," A voice broke Freya''s concentration. Although she was the leader of her group, a good portion of her funding came from the Hearn group. Knowing that their CEO and other ''famous'' members of the group were in town could only mean that something big was going down. Although not a branch of the Hearn group, due to them funding Heaven or Hell, Freya knew that if they made a request of her, she would have to fulfil it. This made her feel a bit like an underling.


    She didn''t like that feeling since she was the disciple of a goddess.


    At the same time though, her honor wouldn''t allow her to just blow them off either.


    *Rx my child. They aren''t here for you this time, but you must get stronger. Only then will we have footing on which to stand side by side to them. Or even in front of them. But you can only get stronger first.* A voice appeared in Freya''s head, surprising her. She settled down as soon as she noticed it was the voice of her master.


    "What shall we do then master?" She asked the air, knowing her goddess would hear here.


    "Call back everyone and have them stop looking for those creatures. We need to get ready for what''s next. Both for us and for this world.


    ...


    The shadows on the wall faded from sight as Madam Cal took a deep breath. The dark room seemed strangely empty as Madam Cal got up from her seat and walked out the door. She went to find her husband who was sitting at his desk and going over some files. Noticing his wifee into the room, he got up, helped her sit down and got her a ss of water.


    "Well?" Aaron asked.


    "It''s happening."


    "What''s happening?"


    "I have no idea. But from everything I got, there is something big going down in this city. And soon."


    "So then we leave. Get a hold of everyone, pack up and get out..." Aaron suggested, trying to think of everyone''s safety.


    "You can''t baby and you know it. There are too many of us all over the ce. We ain''t like those vampyres or even the council back before most of their members died. This be our home. And we ain''t be leaving. You know that." Madam Cal exined gently to her husband.


    "Then what are we suppose to do?"


    "Let everyone know and get everyone ready to fight. Besides baby.. At least this time, we ain''t fighting alone."

 Chapter 309: It Awakens

    Chapter 309: It Awakens


    No one knew.


    Laz had no idea. He had been sent here by giant forest spirits because here was where he needed to be, or so he figured. Even after the gate though, he wasn''t sure. Yeah, it was a thing. A big thing. But that didn''t mean he needed to be a part of it. He got some nice things from it, things he hasn''t even had a chance to take a look at.


    But did that mean he needed to be there? No. Laz had thought about that since he got out and started hunting the bugs. Ironically, while running, he had a lot of time to think.


    There was more to take into consideration as well. He didn''t know that groups were gathering. He had the feeling that after making the live stream, there would be some response from the government and probably from the chosen. That was kind of the n with doing so. Give the people a look at an actual infected who was fine with his abilities while showing that the ones who were suppose to be protecting the people weren''t actually doing anything.


    There was no deeper part to the n than this. Little did he know just how sessful this strategy was.


    ...


    "I can''t believe he did this..." Leona said, watching clips. She, Ruby, Malene and Kennedy along with Vivi were sitting in the hotel room while watching clips that had been uploaded to social media sites.


    "Look at how many views this one has gotten. Over 8 million. I mean, I don''t know how much the other ones got so far, mostly due to them being taken down almost as fast as they are being uploaded. But since anyone can put the video up with a new ount, people just keep loading up as soon as the big ones are taken down," Malene pointed out.


    "I honestly didn''t think he was this... smart?" Vivi questioned. She had been the one to find the video after looking around for information about what was happening in the city.


    "This does seem a bit... genius. I mean, looking at it from all angles. Sure you''ve got the idiot trolls who are just on here talking shit left and right. But there are many other''s who have been sharing some stories of their own. It''s not just evil us anymore. But... from our boy?"


    "I don''t think he intended this when he did it. Or, I should say, I don''t think he knew it would be this big when he did it. He probably thought he''d just be a jerk and tell people that he''s saving lives while the government and the chosen are letting people die. That would be where his thoughts stopped. But now... it''s almost like he''s created a sub culture. How the hell does that boy keep getting so lucky. The little bastard..." Kennedy added with a smile.


    After a moment of silence with no responses, she looked up to find the Leona, Malene and Ruby all looked a little red in the face while not making eye contact. Vivi, on the other hand, was just trying not tough.


    "What?" Stern faced Kennedy asked.


    "Nothing," The girls all said at once, notmenting. They knew she missed him most of all, but that for reasons she kept making up, she was avoiding him.


    ...


    "I go away for just a few days. Just to unwind and get some rest after having worked my ass off. AND I COME BACK TO THIS?" Tommy yelled, throwing stuff around the mobilemand center that Agent Wace and his team was using. Although he seemed pissed off at Agent Wace, Tommy wasn''t aplete idiot either. He knew the man in front of him had no power to order around any of the Chosen. Even if Tommy had told them to listen to him, they would find some way around that.


    What he was pissed off about was that now he had more work to do during this public rtions nightmare.


    "How the hell do some kids using fucking cell phones manage to gather arger audience then almost every single national newswork, huh?"


    Besides just the PR nightmare, the other big problem was that this video had been seen by more citizens in the country than anything they had put out about the dangers of the infected. In fact, the video had even began cirction around the world, with hostile nations using it as fodder to attack the US''s response to this crisis.


    "Alright. Everyone out. Get back to what you should be getting back to," Agent Wace kicked his people out once he figured out that there was nothing useful that was going to being from Tommy who actually appeared to be drunk.


    "Sir. Although now isn''t the best time, it''s better to do something now than nothing," Agent Wace suggested..


    "And what the hell should that be, eh?" Tommy snapped back, staggering.


    "Get your people out there, walking the streets. Have them meet up with some of our teams and make it showy. Then, when people ask where they have been, we just say they have been here the whole time, helping out," Wace responded.


    "So we just act like we been helping out all along?" Tommy seemed to grasp the idea.


    "Yes. After all, who could say otherwise?"


    "Excellent. I''ll make the call right now," Tommy said, taking out his phone.


    Agent Wace got up and left the tent to where a few of his subordinates were waiting.


    "Is it done sir?" One of them asked.


    "Yes. He''s assigning some chosen toe assist. I''ll see who''sing and get them with the ground teams," Agent Wace informed them while rubbing the bridge of his nose.


    "Is the young sir in there... ok?


    "He''s drunk. And he brought his pet so make sure the press stay the hell away from him for right now. I need to go report in now that we have a solution."


    "Yes sir!" The agent said, walking off to make arrangements.


    "These chosen are fucking useless. The sooner we can control them, the better off we will be. I hope those ass hats in Research and Development have some good news for me soon or I am seriously going to start shooting these fuckers..." Agent Wace said to himself while dialing a number on his cell and walking away into a quieter corner.


    ...


    Laz had no idea the girls were in town and also had no idea that Tommy was gathering chosen toe help out the clean up efforts as a way to save face. Instead, Laz was standing over the two dead bodies of the invaders while looking at the ground in wonder.


    Laz had killed fifteen of them at this point, but this time was strange. Not only had he found two of them together, but after they died, a strange, reddish ck circle spread out from underneath their bodies, looking like a scorch mark on the ground.


    He had checked it out closely, even using his fingers to try to break the line of the circle, but to no avail. It was like it was there, but it also wasn''t there.


    What was more surprising was that there were more circles that had spread out from the remains of some of the regr humans the bug like creatures had killed.


    All in all, nine such circles appeared all at once while Laz was watching. They shed briefly while a star was formed inside of them, then, just as quickly as they appeared, the stars vanished, leaving behind just the outline of the circle.


    Laz pinched himself several times to make sure he hadn''t idently fallen asleep.


    ''Seriously... What the hell is this now?'' Laz asked himself, not having anyone else to ask.


    In a moment of desperation, Laz decided to just try whatever.


    "Hey. Golden glob in my head... What am I looking at here?" Laz asked the sealed drop of blood that was hanging out inside of him, floating around his foundational base like a tiny sun.


    Laz didn''t expect anything, which made it that much stranger when he got a response.


    What came to him wasn''t words or a direct answer, but more like a string of pictures in a slideshow that took ce in his head.


    After more than a minute of darkness with one picture after another shing in front of him, Laz got the gist of what it was saying.


    Knowing this, Laz decided to sit back down on the slightly smashed carcass of the bug and close his eyes. The beaming of the pictures to his brain wasn''t a pleasant experience. But what he learned hurt so much worse.


    ...


    "My goddess!"


    Freya stood before the crystal coffin and bowed low to the being resting inside.


    :Is everything ready?: came the gentle reply.


    "It is. Everyone is already on their way to retrieve the bodies and attempt to capture a few of the invaders alive."


    :Excellent my girl.:


    "I''m surprised that these bodies could be of such use to you, my goddess. Had Helen known, she would have had our people bring some back from the gate," Freya said with a frown. Although the things they brought back were pretty good, none of them were powerful enough the help their goddess awaken sooner. But the blood of these creatures was a good tonic she didn''t want to miss out on after she had heard about the situation.


    Just as they were both thinking about their next steps, Freya got a call from one of her teams.


    "Mistress. We''ve located one of the bodies and checked it, but it seems like there is no blood left in it."


    "That''s odd. Most of the kills Laz was doing didn''t involve the things bleeding. Move on to the next one." Freyamanded before hanging up the phone.


    Her goddess had heard everything that was said, but neither of them minded too much. After all, things had a tendency to bleed out when being killed, although to have no blood left in the body at all was a bit unusual.


    The strange part came when Helen''s team and another team reported simr circumstances which left both Freya and her goddess confused.


    :Is there anything strange around the bodies?: The goddess asked from inside her coffin.


    "Is there anything strange around the bodies?" Freya ryed the message while talking with Helen.


    "There''s this burned out circle that looks really weird. It''s like someone scorched a circle around the bodies."


    Freya then ryed what was said.


    :GET EVERYONE BACK HERE NOW!:


    Freya was shocked at first, never having heard her goddess raise her voice. In that moment though, Freya felt like the lowliest of ants crawling on the ground in front of a heavenly queen who''s very voice could alter the fabric of reality.


    It took her several minutes to wake herself out of that delusion.


    :Now... Hurry!:


    The goddess seemed to have realized that she had let a part of her power out unintentionally and tried to calm down Freya who then told Helen to return to the restaurant as soon as possible. Freya then sent the same message to the other teams and told them to cancel the mission and return.


    "What''s wrong my goddess?" Freya asked, still shaken.


    :It''s too soon. Way too soon. But the creaturesing in must have resonated with the buried one. This is a huge problem. And once this one awakens, more wille even sooner than expected. They will sense each other and make a move.. this....:


    The sleeping beauty in the coffin wasmunicating to Freya while trying to sort out her thoughts, causing everything to be garbled and leaving Freya confused.


    Just when Freya was going to ask again, a rumbling could be heard,ing deep from the ground.


    ...


    Laz stood up and spread his sense as deep as it could go, but even then he was able to sense nothing.


    "Is it just an earthquake?" Laz mumbled to himself, but the bad feeling wasn''t going away.


    He knew what the circle meant. In terms of the golden drop of blood, something this crude was barely even worth it knowing about, but it had many instances of memories of tiny worlds that suffered from this before.


    Laz really, really wanted to believe it was just an earthquake.


    ...


    The rumbling happened all over and could be felt by everyone. As it got stronger and stronger, people started to panic thinking that there was a full fledged earthquake going on. But soon enough, the rumbling stopped and the city was quiet again.


    No one knew that in the basement of the St Louis Cathedral, the floor began to buckle and bend upwards as something eerie started to rise up from the ground.

 Chapter 310: Earth God

    Chapter 310: Earth God


    Laz felt a wave of energy surge over him as soon as the giant hand broke through the basement of the cathedral. Even with the things Laz had experienced up until this point, the energy wave left him feeling a wave of fear that almost rattled him down to his bones.


    But Laz took a deep breath and turned his head, facing towards the epicenter of the wave.


    There was no one advising Laz at this point. He had no one to tell him what to do, where to go, to fight, not to fight. He was basically just going along at his own pace. The only reason he had stuck around after the Ivy sister''s left was because he felt responsible for releasing the creatures on innocent civilians. He didn''t want to admit that, but he knew in his heart it was true.


    And now he knew that this thing had awaken due to the blood of those same creatures being absorbed into the earth. The golden drop of blood had shown him that those circles he encountered were like an automatic draining system to get the blood to the creature. The bug type aliens were rich in life energy due to the world they came from despite a good portion of the worlds energy being used by the base. Those creatures were a much better solution than waiting for the energy of this to catch up.


    And for this sleeping creature like many of the others, the sooner they rise, the sooner they reign.


    So now, Laz was kind of stuck in a dilemma. Did this thinge back to life as a result of his actions?


    Yes.


    Was it his fault?


    Kinda.


    Did that mean he had to put his life on the line to fight it?


    Fuck no.


    This thing would havee back at some time or another with or without Laz''s help. The only thing Laz did was set off it''s rm clock a bit earlier than expected.


    Despite this line of logic though, Laz couldn''t turn away from this rising menace no matter how badly he wanted to just be on his way. Something about it was triggering to him. Like an inch you can''t scratch but you want to.


    And this itch was just a few miles away.


    ...


    Tommy sat up from his seat in the field tent and walked to the p, brushing it aside and looking out.


    "Why am I...." Tommy had a hard time expressing into words what he was feeling right now. He felt like he was being drawn or summoned towards something. And the way he was looking just so happened to be the ce where the creature was rising up from the ground.


    Just as Tommy was going to shrug it off and go sit back down, he saw several members of the local children of god racing towards him, including the two white haired twins and several others who had taken part in the gate hunt.


    "Young sir."


    "Sir."


    Everyone said at once, the two white haired individuals being the strongest among them leading the way..


    "What?" Tommy asked, annoyed.


    "Sir. We are all feeling this strange draw... as though something is summoning us," one of the white hair men said, causing Tommy to frown. As they observed him doing this, they stayed silent.


    "So we are all feeling the same thing?" Tommy asked them, a bit hesitant.


    "Uh... yes. Yes sir!" They finally said, understanding that Tommy was feeling the same way.


    "This might be dangerous, but we should probably go look into it anyway. You two, go get that Agent on it. We will need a military escort within the next twenty minutes. Everyone else, get your equipment ready and meet me at the base entrance in twenty minutes. Say nothing to anyone about what this is about."


    "Yes sir," The children of god said as they rushed off to do their jobs or prepare.


    "I feel... invited, more than drawn. I could ignore it if I wanted to, but I don''t think they feel the same way.... Hmm..." Tommy then went back inside his tent and kicked the huddled mass of flesh that was cowering in the corner. If one looked closely enough, they would see that it was a woman who''s body was cut, scared and bruised in several ces. One of her legs was even bent at a funny angle, but every now and then her body would shudder and the leg would twist back into ce, just a little more.


    "Wake up piglet," Tommy said, bending over the woman who was once his homeroom teacher. He undid the gage in her mouth, causing droplets of blood to seep out of the now freed orifice. Her eyes were swollen shut so much so that Tommy didn''t even bother keeping a blindfold or leather mask over her head.


    "Erghhhhh.... " was the only sound the poor woman could make once her mouth was freed.


    "You''d better find your voice in time to answer my questions otherwise I might make you loose the ability to speak permanent," Tommy threatened. He then went to get get his shoes and put them on along with grabbing a few odds and ends and throwing them into a back pack before sliding his chair over to the copsed woman.


    "Now then. Tell me.... do you feel that? What''s out there right now? Can you feel it as well?" Tommy asked. Although the woman looked like she wouldn''t be able to move, she was just barely able to lift her head and shake it up and down for yes.


    "What does it feel like for you?" Tommy then asked.


    "... fear..." Her voice was so soft that it almost seemed like she hadn''t spoken at all, but the words defiantly made it to Tommy''s ears.


    "Fear? Really? Then between that feeling and me... which causes you more fear, hmm?" This question didn''t have a real point. Tommy just wanted to remind this woman in front of him that she feared him the most. That was one of the things that would arouse him to no end.


    Tommy wanted to be feared. After he had gotten out of the gate, he went back to his hotel room where his little ''piglet'' had been kept and decided he was going to take out his aggression at having been beaten back by Laz at the exit of the gate. That is what led the woman to be in the condition she is right now.


    Despite that though, he wanted to make sure she feared him more than anything else in the world.


    "I fear... it... you... can.... only.... kill.... me...." Her voice was non existent, almost like a breeze. It was so weak, it was almost impossible to hear it. But Tommy did. And Tommy was pissed.


    "You''re right. But yet... what''s wrong? Have you forgotten that daughter of yours? The one who you''d do anything to protect? Don''t you remember why you ended up in this way in the first ce?" Tommy pulled out his trump card. The reason he had been able to control this woman for so long was because of the threat he made concerning her daughter who was only around three to four now. She knew this perverted bastard would do everything he said he would to her and more. Even when he threated to have her arms and legs removed, she would do so to save her daughter.


    At some point though, this poor woman began to feel strange about things. She hadn''t heard from her daughter in a while, long enough where it casted doubt on some things. In the beginning, she would hear from here once a week, while the daughter still thought her mother was away working. But for the past several months, ever since they left from up north, she hadn''t heard from her once. And no matter if that was a good or a bad indicator, she meant it would no longer be of use to control her.


    And that was why when Tommy brought this up to her, the woman did nothing but shake andugh with a hoarse, pained voice.


    "Fuck... You...."


    The blood chokedughing continued, enough so that Tommy had the strong desire tosh out and destroy this woman more, but he held back. He knew they healed quickly, more so than regr humans making them extra valuable as sex toys if you could find a way to control them, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t die. And Tommy knew enough to know that this former teacher of his was almost used up.


    Instead of pursuing the subject with her, he decided to leave her locked up and get going to where the call wasing from.


    Whatever it was, he could not ignore it for much longer.


    ...


    "Get things ready. I want all teams in position in ten minutes," Kennedy yelled and hung up her phone. All of the rest of the girls were almost dressed and going to be waiting on her shortly. Although things like body armor were fairly useless, that didn''t mean that some things didn''t have purpose. For example, Leona, Malene and Ruby''s current battle gear was made out of variousyers of ker along with a few other materials to make them fairly stretchable. There was no padding for the ker and theyers were thin, but that was because their bodies were strong enough to withstand the impact of regr gunfire, assuming it didn''t break the skin. On top of that, Ruby''s outfit was more dress like in design allowing for the fact that she turned into a snake like hybrid when they fought, where as the rest still maintained human like forms, at least for now. Leona and Kennedy both grew tails when battle ready and while Leona''s was thin, long and ck, Kennedy''s was a fluffy white color and shape.


    As for Vivi, her battle form was a massive wolf that would shed it''s clothes the moment she changed and there was nothing they could do about that. Instead, the choker shemonly wore was actually a storage device that could, in fact, extend up to about 100 times it''s own size.


    Everyone was relieved when they had finally found that particr storage device. None of them wanted to see this little sister have to go naked every time she finished fighting and in fact, she would usually just revert to her small wolf form. But that also had it''s own problems.


    "Big sis, did the Vodun or the Vamps say anything?" Ruby asked. Although, technically, she was the oldest of the four of them, due to Kenney''s nature, demeanor and personality, she was always thought of as the ''big sis,'' to the rest of them.


    "The vamps are staying hidden but will send some people to help us at the meeting ce. As for the Vodun, I wasn''t able to reach anyone but left a message.


    "You think they turned and ran?" Leona asked, her eyes darkening.


    "No. It seems like a lot of signals are scrambled right now and no one knows why," Kennedy said, looking at her phone before throwing it into arge duffel bag.


    "Then what''s the n? Malene asked.


    "You feel that lingering sense of dreed that seems to want to drag you into the deepest pits of hell and torture you for all eternity?" Kennedy asked in all seriousness.


    "Yes. We do," all the girls responded at once as if on que.


    "Good. The n is to head in that direction and kill whatever is there," Kennedy said as a matter of fact.


    The girls could only stare at her in disbelief and she finished dressing.


    ...


    The once historic building was in ruins. A giant, almost thirty feet tall was standing there, looking around at the huge stone, metal and ss buildings all around him. Although his head was still blurry, even he understood that what he was looking at was no longer the world he knew.


    Laz stood a ways back and observed the bronze colored giant, standing in a daze as it looked around. There wasn''t any noticeable damage in the area, indicating that there had been no fighting around here, therefore the giant was able to see the buildings and structures in ce as they had been build to be.


    Although the giant was taller than most buildings, he was stillrger than others and his bronze colored skin reflected the various lightsing from streetmps and buildings all lit up as though a party was going on all night.


    Which on a normal night, would have been the truth.


    Just when Laz wondered if the giant was going to start smashing things, Laz even looked for but failed to see a thirty foot club somewhere around him, the giant instead raised a hand and traced the outline of a stone gargoyle gently feeling every small detail of the work of art.


    Seeing this, Laz couldn''t help but feel a shiver run down his spine as he finally understood something he didn''t before.


    This giant, was intelligent.


    Just as Laz was nning his next step, the giant suddenly turned it''s head, bits of dust and clumps of earth flying off from it''s shaggy, brown and curly hair.


    It then growled something that seemed to rattle Laz''s brain as it stared right at him.


    "WHO ARE YOU?"

 Chapter 311: Heavens Gaze Within The Faded Darkness

    Chapter 311: Heaven''s Gaze Within The Faded Darkness


    "Oh fuck." Laz had no idea why this giant noticed him since he wasn''t really standing out or trying to stand out. For the most part, Laz had just been observing around the corner of a red brick building while keeping himself mostly hidden.


    How was he to know that his power and his bloodline stood out like the sun in a clear sky?


    "Hello there!" Laz figured there was no sense in hiding anymore since he had been noticed and instead stepped out into the street. Laz wasn''t sure the giant understood English considering it wasn''t exactly an oldnguage, but he had to try.


    As Laz figured, the giant had no clue what Laz said. Instead, it closed it eyes and turned away from Laz, seeing he wasn''t a threat to it.


    While Laz watched on in wonder, specs of green and brown light seemed to rise up from the earth and began floating to the giant. Every time the giant took great, big breaths, the energy would be sucked into it''s nose and mouth. When he exhaled though, none of the energy came back.


    "So weak... maybe it would have been better to sleep longer?" The giant said out loud in it''s nativenguage that Laz somehow understood.


    "So many years... so much time... wait...." The giant''s eyes grew small as it suddenly stared away to the east, it''s entire being focused on something that only it seemed to understand.


    "Those damn tree fairies are actually back? No wonder... HA HA HA.... NO WONDER!!!" This revtion excited the giant causing it to hop around in delight while Laz felt the earth around him shake.


    Despite being ignored by this creature, Laz couldn''t help but hoped that it kept talking. Perhaps he would be able to reason out the answers to some questions that had long gued him. Sadly though, as this giant continued to do it''s little dance, it didn''t speak anymore.


    Just as Laz was at a loss as to what to do, arge caravan of military vehicles and transports appeared down the street while racing along towards the giant. Seeing this, Laz decided to make himself scarce but wasn''t going to miss out on what was going on. As such, Laz bounded to the top of the building by sinking his fingers into the brick and climbing his way up. Just as he got to the top, he huddled down into a corner and calmed his breathing while slowing his heart beat. Laz nned to use just his spiritual sense to watch this meeting and therefore decided to make himself as non existent as possible.


    "Eh?" The giant turned to look, feeling the changes happening to Laz before he disappeared all together from his senses, leaving nothing but a faint energy trail. Laz had no clue that his actions would cause the giant to lose track of him as well. But there was another hidden bonus Laz did not expect.


    Within the golden drop of blood that was sealed near Laz''s foundation, a slight burst of light formed and disappeared within moments, but in that burst of light was a technique that drilled it''s way into Laz''s head.


    ''Faded Darkness... Combines with Heaven''s Gaze. Disappear into nothingness while seeing everything?'' Laz said to himself, almost causing him to jump in surprise. He hadn''t had a chance to practice Heaven''s Gaze, but now there was aplimentary skill that appeared in his head. Despite it not being the best of time to try this, Laz felt that something was better than nothing.


    ''The first line of instruction was to imagine nothing, empty the mind. Slow the heart. Release the breath. Fade to ck. Only the eyes see while the body dissolves away.''


    While Laz embraced this, focusing on using the two techniques at once, his overall presence actuallypletely vanished, causing the bronze giant to be even more surprised.


    Just when the giant decided to walk over and take a look for this little creature that smelled like his foes from the past, he noticed the line of vehicles approaching and put up his guard. After sensing the strange, metal creatures, he was actually able to determine that they had god''s blood within them which didn''t make any sense until the vehicles came to a stop and everyone riding inside got out.


    The first ones to file out weren''t the various armed troops. Instead, everyone who could be considered a chosen seemed to run out and gawk at the giant in awe, their eyes lit up like birthday candles.


    Everyone, that is, except for Tommy.


    He got out with the rest, but he didn''t look at the giant with awe and that actually confused him. Like the others, he could feel a connection with this big, bronze colored giant. But unlike the others, his feelings towards the giant was almost one of... disdain.


    ''Why do I feel like... I''m insulted by this creature?'' Tommy was having a hard time with his feelings while the others had to stop themselves from practically bowing down.


    "Eh?????" The giant seemed really excited to see this tiny people with which he suddenly felt a certain closeness with. After a moment though, there was a rather peculiar feelinging from one of them who, unlike the others, was looking at him with a strange gaze..


    The giant couldn''t help but return the gaze and step closer. Before the eyes of all of the shocked observers, the giant''s body shrunk down to a much more manageable ten feet tall. Although still bigger than anyone else on Earth, at least now he could get a better view of these strange little people. Especially the one giving him the funny stare.


    As the giant got within a few feet of Tommy, he sniffed the air a few times and his eyes went wide.


    "Lord..." Although the giant couldn''t speak English, Tommy understood what it was saying.


    "Lord?" Tommy asked.


    "You... your bloodline. You have a Lord level bloodline."


    "I''m sorry... I don''t know what that means..." Tommy said, hearing, but not understanding.


    "EH... UH... May I?" The bronze man pointed at one of the chosen when asking.


    Tommy, having no idea what he wanted to do, just shook his head yes.


    The giant then proceeded to reach out and grab the man before he could respond. Just as the man wanted to use his power to fight the giant, he felt like everything inside of him was dragged out through the giant''s hand. His entire earth channeling root dried up within a second and withered. Whether he could recover his ability to call upon the earth''s power was an answer he could only find in the future.


    As the brown mass of energy flowed from the now almost crippled man into the giant, the giant closed his eyes for a time, focusing on the information now flowing into him.


    In just a few moments of silence the giant opened his eyes and stared again at Tommy.


    "You must be a master of this human race, yes?" The giant asked, his words were now English, something that he had gained from draining the earth type chosen.


    "Something like that," Tommy said, thinking he meant his status in society where money was king.


    "Yes. I can tell. Your god bloodline shows that you would be. I''m sorry for any disrespect I have shown," the ten foot tall man then took a knee and saluted Tommy before standing up again.


    "Again, forgive me. Since I have just awakened, things are not clear. Although I have gained some understanding from the draw, that particr human''s power was rathercking and there are still many things I am unsure of. For instances, why are you surrounded by regr humans? Are they your worshipers?" The giant asked, indicating the armed military that had surrounded them. Although they had their guns trained at the giant, seeing it talk in such a fashion to Tommy allowed them to put down their guard. The only one who still seemed worried was Agent Wace.


    Even if the government was working with the so called chosen to round up the obviously dangerous infected, the fact still remains that the government wants to be the sole body in charge of the country, the same way it would be in any other country. And while the infected have been proven to be a risk, the chosen could be argued as being an equal risk to the country. And seeing this massive giant of a man who could change his size and ims to be one of the chosen caused chills to go down Agent Wace''s spine. He couldn''t help but picture a world where there were hundreds, if not thousands of chosen as strong as this one.


    "We are working together to defeat our enemies, those with infected blood."


    "Infected blood?" This term didn''t register with therge man.


    ...


    Laz''s body had disappeared into a cloud of ck smoke, showing that he had indeed achieved the beginning level of understanding of Faded Darkness. If there was some sort of a ranking among the Asura for their ability to quickly understand this low level skill, Laz would have ranked on top. In all honesty, the skill wasn''t that hard to imagine as Laz is what one could consider a modern man. If you assume that the normal asura who would have tried to learn this skill would basically be a child and part of a world that didn''t have things like globalworking, then their views would be very limited to just those things that it experienced. As for Laz, a child of the digital age, the amount of understanding and learning stored in his brain would be hundreds of times that of a normal Asura child. Due to these factors, the things which would stump a first timer were almost a no brainer for Laz.


    Laz was really into the fact that he could turn his body to mist and back to a solid form. Although that wouldn''t be very helpful for fighting, it could provide a sure fire dodge if used at the right time. But the big key is that between learning that and learning the beginning level of understanding of Heaven''s Gaze, Laz could now cause his weightless body to be able to see while being able to go unnoticed. As such, he put away his desire to continue learning the second levels for both skills and instead focused on the talk between the giant and Tommy.


    ...


    "So all this time passes and you still war with the Jotunkind? To think that the blood within us would still desire such an end. At our strongest, the Jotunkind were nothing to our greatest warriors. But the battle still spread and engulfed this world, causing the rise of some pantheons and the fall of others. And the Jotunkind came from ces other than the Jotunheim... and somehow now, our blood and their blood was somehow passed down... To think we made such mistakes even while the world was ending. It was glorious, but at what cost?" Therge man seemed to be lost withing thoughts of the past and things long gone so Tommy didn''t disturb him.


    "So you were a god within the old world?" Tommy finally asked, waking the bronze man up from his thoughts.


    "I was. One of the lesser branches of a once glorious tree. A bastard son of a god and my mother whom he took with no thoughts to her wants."


    "Then would you be willing to help us fight them once more? As the infected awaken, the raise havoc among regr humans. In turn, we can take care of you, teach you everything about this new world and get you whatever you want. The world is very different and although I can tell your power is astounding, I still feel it seems to be very weak overall," Tommy suggested. He was trying to recruit this old god for many reasons, not the least of which would be to use as a weapon.


    "Join you? Perhaps... I had awoken with the thoughts of setting up a kingdom before my brothers and sister''s arose, but it seems that I was truly nave. This world has changed far too much and I can tell that despite the weak power I sense from all of you, several of you will be able to ovee me soon. Not to mention the hot weapons of war that I saw in that weaklings vision. To think that you have been among the stars and could wipe away all life on this, just by someoneunching a few metal tubes into the sky..."


    "There is much for you to learn and for us to learn from you."


    "So... you say that the Jotunkind, uhh... the infected are your enemies who target the people?" The bronze giant asked. He had used his brain far more than he was used to even before he went to sleep and he needed something to clear it.


    "Yes. That''s right." Tommy confirmed.


    "Good. TIME TO COME OUT LITTLE RAT?" The giant yelled at the building that he had previously seen Laz on.


    Then, before anyone could react, the giant swung his fist at the red brick building.

 Chapter 317: Rage Of The Earth God

    Chapter 317: Rage Of The Earth God


    Laz had a moment of rity as he circted his energy. His eyes glowed gold while his white hair took on a red sheen. The ck, tribal like tattoos looked even more pronounced as his grey skin seemed to lighten. The thought that entered Laz''s mind in the tenths of a second as the giant prepared to destroy him was that Laz was never a violent guy. His mind was working in a way that allowed years to pass in a moment while he thought about what brought him here.


    Those that he killed.


    Those that wanted to kill him.


    Those that he loved.


    Those that hated him.


    Those who came into his life.


    And those who have yet to make an appearance.


    The moment all of these thoughts rushed through, emotions came with it like a flood. With those emotions came one simple and primal desire.


    Live.


    And the cks mes exploded from deep inside Laz, his massive foundation bursting into mes while something started to grow from it. Something dark, ancient, and primal. Above it, a faint, golden glow pulsed outward from the drop of blood his master had sealed in ce. This faint light came into contacting with the rising growth and acted like a stimnt, causing it to grow faster while also shaping it at the same time.


    This wasn''t something Laz would have understood, had he noticed it.


    Laz''s focus was on the outside of his body as the bronze giant arrived right before his face while swinging his palm at Laz''s chest. If this palm were to hit, fused as it was with pure, raw earth energy, Laz''s body would explode like a balloon.


    Yet for some reason, Laz was excited.


    He side stepped while twisting, causing the attack to miss. Instead, a huge force erupted out of the giant''s fist and blew behind Laz, causing a massive wave of energy to go shooting out in a V shape as it destroyed buildings, tore up roads and kept going, crashing into one of the retreating groups of solders who had been putting distance between themselves an the attack zone.


    Hundreds of troops died from the attack while the armored vehicles when flying. Not even a scrap of their clothing remained.


    Tommy, sitting inside the car and enjoying the air conditioning and a drink, froze in ce. Agent Wace along with the militarymander, couldn''t help but look on in horror. Themander started yelling into the radio for everyone to run as fast as they fucking could.


    "How long until the strikemander?" Agent Wace pressed.


    "Five minutes. We need to be out of here in five minutes since they are going toy waste to this entire city block," themander responded.


    "Sir! What about civilians in the area?" One of the captains serving under themander asked.


    "If there are any civilians, they probably won''t survive this fight anyway, much less whates after," Agent Wacemented, his face and voice solemn.


    Themander couldn''t help but agree while giving the order to pull back farther..


    Although the attack missed, the wave of energy still hit Laz and sent him flying. He was able to get up quickly, but he could feel his bones aching with the effort. A wave of energy,ing from his now changing foundation, quickly healed and strengthened his body in response.


    This time, without waiting for the giant to move forward, Laz attacked. He sent out fist after fist, striking his opponent several times in the chest and back. The yellowish brown earth energy surrounding the giant like armor absorbed the impact so the giant didn''t feel any pain.


    It quickly regained it''s stance to meet Laz''s next attack head on.


    While the giant''s power was beyond Laz, Laz was able to read and avoid every attack. There was no skill involved in the giant''s movements, as though it had only ever fought with others at his level. Due to the years of training Laz had done, the giant wasn''t able tond a hit even once while Laz rained fist, foot and palms down on the raging bronze giant.


    Every time the giant missed, the energy would still cause injuries to Laz''s body, but those were quickly healed.


    "YOU DAMN PEST. JUST DIE ALREADY!!!" The bronze god screamed as Laz once again skillfully dodged it''s attack.


    This time, instead of again attacking Laz directly, the giant pped it''s hands, causing a huge wave of energy to burst out like an explosion. The wave hit Laz who couldn''t respond and sent him flying. Once hended, he couldn''t help but cough again and again as he spit out mouthful''s of blood. This was the first attack that actuallynded as intended and caused Laz harm.


    Standing quickly to his feet, the giant recovered himself, his own attack having caused him some pain as well, but much less than what it did to Laz. Seeing Laz stand on no longer steady legs, the giant smiled and attacked again, his speed greatly reduced as the light surrounding him was close to fading into nothing.


    The first hitnded on Laz''s stomach, causing him to bend forward while the upwards knee hit Laz''s head, causing him to see stars. As his body arched backwards, the bronze god grabbed Laz''s head and brought it down again on his knee sending him flying backwards again.


    "AH HA HA HA. SO RELAXING. I WAS RIGHT TO REVIVE NOW. I WILL RULE THIS WORLD AND KILL ALL THE OTHERS BEFORE THEY CAN WAKE. I WILL ONE DAY BE THE ONLY GOD INSTEAD OF JUST A FOOT SOLDER TO YOU BASTARDS. I, CORMAC, WILL BE THE SUPREME RULER!!!" The bronze god Cormacughed while looking upwards, as though daring the world to tell him no.


    Laz''s strong body was in bad shape. Even if he had worn away some of Cormac''s strength, Cormac was still considered at the fifth great realm of strength while Laz was just at the peak of the foundation realm. And even then he wasn''t sure what he should do next to break through.


    The damage to Laz wasn''t enough to take his life just yet, but if something didn''t change soon, the internal bleeding would be more than enough to put him down forever.


    Even now, despite this, Laz rose to his feet, the smile not yet faded from his face as the sound of his blood pumping filled his ears.


    "This... this is what I needed. To be so close to death. To battle for my life with someone far stronger... this is what every warrior needs..." Laz whispered to himself while he fought to hold back another mouth full of blood.


    Thest time he had been this injured, he had almost died. Or maybe he did die, he was never really sure about that.


    But right now, standing here and facing this foe, Laz felt alive again like he hadn''t in a long time.


    And yet he knew that this feeling wasn''t his own. It was something that he was feeling deep inside, something that was apart of him and yet not.


    "Although I cannot say you were a worthy first opponent to announce my rise to power, at least you were able to continue standing until the end," Cormac said, turning his attention back to Laz.


    "You... think... you''ve.... won...?" Laz got out after much effort.


    "Ha! Of course I have. You never had a chance. Perhaps I drew upon this power too quickly, but it shouldn''t take more than a few days from over drafting myself like this. After that, I can heal up the rest of the way while hunting the other sleeping deities and your friends. And just like you, I can use their blood to help fix the weakness of my own body. That is all you Jotankind were good for in the past. Our bodies our weak, but with the help of your blood, we too can be strong," the bronze god confirmed this, something that Laz had never heard before.


    Laz couldn''t help but cock his head over to where he knew Tommy and the others were. He was d they were out of earshot and couldn''t hear that, otherwise the end result would be terrible.


    Turning back, Laz could see Cormac walking towards him. While the yellowish brown re of energy around him was gone, Laz was so beat up that it didn''t matter. Even the ck me on his body had gone out, or at least was no longer visible. Instead, it seemed to be condensing in upon his foundation, causing even more pain. But that hardly mattered seeing as how Laz could barely stand, much less fight back. Cormac seemed to know this and therefore wasn''t in a hurry to expand any more energy in this fight.


    Walking up to Laz, Cormac smiled and reached out, his intent to grab Laz''s neck in his hand and choke the life out of him. Just before the hand reached his neck though, Laz smiled as his body, weak and rocking, swayed forward while he took one step towards the bronze god.


    A rush of neutral energy, containing none of the ck me, surged from the depths of Laz''s feet through his legs, around his stomach and coiled out through his fist as the weight of him falling forward was added to the step he took as well. His fist connected with Cormac''s chest and sent him flying, not having been expecting the attack.


    Even with that, Cormac quickly got back to his feet. The attack, draining the residual energy out of Laz was enough to send him flying, but it didn''t cause much harm. As for Laz, that final attack took the rest of the energy of his body and left him little more than an empty container. Even with the surging waves of energy in his center, causing a reaction he still didn''t understand nor had time to pay attention to, Laz was fully spent otherwise. Since he couldn''t use that energy, there was no point in it even being there.


    Laz wistfully thought about using one of the strange battery like cores to restore his energy as he had collected a huge amount from the storage in the gate, but he knew his enemy wouldn''t give him time to do so.


    As such, Laz could only barely stand and watch while Cormac once again made his way over again, all be it, much more cautiously.


    "You surprised me. But I can tell there are no more surprises from you this day. Now, you shall die. I wish you luck in front of whichever maker you ants now believe in," Cormac said sincerely, having a little bit of respect in his eyes now for Laz. Although he had fought on the battle field many times, it was rare to find someone who would fight until the very end even when they had no hope. Enemy or not, a person like that deserved respect.


    Just as Cormac reached back and was about to strike a killing blow towards Laz, the world suddenly seemed to freeze. Smoke rising in the distance along with mes and even the wind froze in ce. The only thing that didn''t seem to freeze was Cormac. But even then, he felt like he was suddenly surrounded within a thick liquid and was unable to move at even a tenth of his normal speed. It was only as he looked around for some sort of clue that he noticed the tattoo on Laz''s chest. Having been surrounded by the ck tribal like lines, the dark, leafless tree was almost unnoticeable while the red moon behind it normally looked rather faded.


    Right now however, that tree was pulsing with life while the red moon seemed to grow brighter and brighter.


    Cormac couldn''t help but look closer at this strange symbol before a wave of chills entered his body.


    ''Something was extremely wrong,'' he thought to himself as the need to run overcame everything else, including the need to kill Laz.


    But before he could turn around, a pulsing blue circle appeared behind Laz from which walked out a startling figure. Her hair was a bright shade of green while the red dress she wore was skin tight and barely covered her generous proportions.


    She stepped out and surveyed the scene alone, clearing havinge here by herself.


    Seeing Laz standing there, she couldn''t help but move over to him, her bare feet barely touching the rubbleden ground.


    Setting a hand upon his bare and bloodied chest, she closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again quickly, a rare small smile gracing her face. Laz would have recognized her at a nce, but his eyes were slightly zed over, as though he had passed out on his feet. The truth was somewhat different though. The strange happenings in his center had grabbed what little attention he could provide, causing him to shut himself off from the outside world to focus.


    The strange structure that seemed to be rising up from the foundation was already half way there or at least, that''s how Laz felt it to be. The structure itself was massive, intricate, and felt primal in nature. It was like watching the sunken great city of Antis rise up from the sea, except the sea was the foundation base Laz had built for himself. The strange part was that the energy needed to build it was causing a huge drop in the energy Laz had stored and it looked like it would run out before the strange building had finished.


    Laz wasn''t the only person who had noticed that. The strangely dressed girl who hade to Laz''s side reached over and stuck her hand into Laz''s pouch, and quickly drew out the glowing red cores, one after another after another. She then crushed them in her hands like they were brittle candy and blew the resulting dust into Laz''s face where he kept breathing in the dust through his nose and mouth, causing a huge influx of new energy to arrive and help the building process.


    After she had done this with almost three fourths of the cores Laz had gathered, she finally nodded and stepped back, turning her attention to the frozen Cormac for the first time.


    "GOD DAMN YOU AND ALL YOUR KIND," Cormac yelled, angry but unable to hide the fear in his voice.


    The beautiful, goddess like woman then smile again, but it was a smile with a chill that even the coldest depths of hell couldn''t match.


    She then stepped forward.

 Chapter 318: Victory?

    Chapter 318: Victory?


    "Such a weak little thing. And yet so proud..." A''ruya taunted walking towards Cormac.


    "THIS... This is all because of you. You damn pieces of wood that thought you could do so much better than here. Your leaving is what brought..." Cormac''s words were cut off by a finger pointed to his head. A''ruya had vanished from the spot she was standing on and appeared right in front of him.


    "Enough of that now. Some things are better meant to be unsaid. And you should have kept sleeping for a while longer. But sadly your greed got the better of you and here we are. Normally, I wouldn''t meddle in my little one''s affairs, but since you broke the rules anyway, I won''t be suffering any sort of retribution as a price." A''ruya said to Cormac, just as a small surge of energy was drawn forth to the end of her finger. The light shrunk until it was the size of a pea and just when she was about to shoot it into Cormac''s head, a handnded on her shoulder, causing her to stop.


    Laz had walked forward at some point, his body having healed thanks to the infusion of energy from his master. Although it wasn''t fully there yet, he had recovered most of his energy and healed about 80% of the way. The pce within him was also growing from his foundation, reaching almost seventy percentpletion. Laz could feel a huge amount of energy rush out of it even as the final bits were being formed. This surplus of energy was thanks to the cores A''ruya had sent into his body, filling him beyond full. As such, and with the strength of the pce strengthening and healing his damaged body, Laz''s strength had reached a level he had never know himself, but had felt only once when he had received the memory''s of his teacher.


    He was no where near where his teacher once was, but he could now understand the path he was travelling. This new realm, this Void Pce realm, referred to the drawing in of energy as one started to create a world within themselves. From the void of nothing, one builds a home. From the absence of life, one builds a world. The pce itself was nothing more than a visualization of the core of the person and it didn''t matter what it looked like. What did matter was not only the size, but the strength of the core. For a core such as his, so well defined and massive, it would have made even an ancient Asura proud.


    This was the reason for A''ruya''s smile. The purplish gold base of the castle inside Laz was considered one of the best inner cores one could make, something the A''ruya could find no fault with. Having the knowledge of the universe as she did, she understood the implications of this better than Laz ever could.


    Not that she would tell him that. There were a lot of things she couldn''t tell him yet, as was part of the limits imposed by those who ruled her society.


    "What?" A''ruya asked, barely turning her head to look at Laz.


    "He''s mine..." Laz growled, a low guttural growl that seemed more beast than human.


    "He''s already beaten you once and I was forced to save you," A''ruya pointed out, her face as emotionless as a stone.


    "I know," Laz''s voice, still low and harsh responded back,pletely aware of the situation. Laz knew that he would be dead if not for her, but he also felt that he now had the power to fight.


    "You''ve yet to actually reach the next great realm, at most you are on your way into it. But if you fight right now, that transformation could be halted if you are injured. If that happens, even I won''t be able to fix you. Are you willing to risk that? Risk everything for revenge?" She asked, her voice monotone.


    "It has to be this way. I will never back down from a fight, even if it kills me." Perhaps this was Laz speaking the depths of his heart. Or perhaps it was the Asura blood coursing through his veins, as thin as it was. But Laz felt that he would fight now, then again, and again if needed. Even if it killed him, he would not back down.


    Seeing the stone cold face and wild eyes Laz projected, A''ruya couldn''t help but nod in approval and backed off several tens of feet, allowing Laz room to fight Cormac again. Cormac hadn''t suffered any injury as the result ofing face to face with A''ruya, so in terms of condition, he was still in top shape. Seeing the blood covered Laz get A''ruya to back off, Cormac couldn''t help but smile. If he could take this valuable piece to her hostage, he would still be able to get out of here in once piece.


    At least that''s what he thought.


    What he didn''t expect was the battle ust within Laz''s golden pupils or the explosion of energy that came out of his body as the ck mes projected off of him traveling almost a dozen feet in the air.


    Although Cormac wasn''t injured, he had already spent out the earth energy that he could gather anywhere near him. Because of that, he barely had any with which to channel. As such, he would be facing Laz with just his strength alone.


    And that was going to be a problem.


    Watching on in the distance, Agent Wace, Tommy and themander had seen all of thise about, even though they hadn''t noticed when A''ruya had gotten there. Seeing the half dead Laz rise to his feet yet again, none of them could even find it within themselves to criticize him for not knowing his own strength.


    They couldn''t help but respect him for standing up no matter what while at the same time thinking that it was a good thing that both Laz and the bronze god would be killed soon. This was the only way to ensure they wouldn''t have to fight themter.


    "You can stand?" Cormac asked, wondering just how injured Laz still was..


    Laz didn''t respond, instead, he took a step forward and shot out at Cormac, his fist making the connection into Cormac''s stomach before sending him flying.


    While Laz stood there, experiencing the change in his body, Cormac came running back, moving so fast that it was hard to catch sight of him. When his fist met Laz''s face, Laz was the one sent flying.


    "Still too..." Cormac didn''t have a chance to finish before Laz was back in his face. This time, both the small man and the bronze god stood there and exchanged blow for blow, neither backing down nor stepping back. The mes that had escaped Laz''s body had been brough back inside, allowing his stamina to keep up with his new strength while his center was still in the middle of evolving.


    Because of this, Laz didn''t have any energy to waste on excessive maneuvers, instead focusing on trading fists and kicks with his enemy. Despite the pain he was in, Laz could feel the pounding was molding his body as it grew stronger and stronger while being bashed.


    Cormac didn''t have the same feeling since every fist felt like it was made out of lead as it hit him over and over again, but he did not relent as they traded hundreds of blows in mere moments.


    When the two finally backed off from each other they could only stand there in silence. Laz and Cormac were panting while blood seeped from their lips. Cormac''s left arm hung limp from his body while Laz''s right leg looked like a giant block of wood. Without saying anything, Laz grabbed two pieces of the incredibly hard wood he had in his pouch and started splinting his leg while Cormac walked over to arge, t piece of rock sticking out of the ground and whacked his shoulder several times, knocking it back into ce before wrapping a length of rope around himself and tying it to his body.


    Neither of them spoke while they tended to their wounds, but after they finished, they once again stared at one another.


    "You can no longer catch me," Cormac said, pointing out that Laz''s injured leg wouldn''t allow him to be fast enough to catch Cormac.


    "And you can''t no longer fight me," Laz responded back. It was obvious that his one arm wouldn''t be able to protect himself from Laz''s head on attack.


    "So we are both here until what? We heal? Then what? We do this again?" Cormac asked, feeling unsure for some reason.


    "Then what do you suggest?" Laz asked, noticing Cormac seeming to be fidgety.


    "We walk away. Call it a draw. You go your way and I won''t stop you while I leave as well. Done," Cormac''s rough voice suggested while he looked up at the sky for the first time.


    "You think it would be that easy?" Laz asked.


    "What are you saying?"


    "They are scared. Scared of us. And that means you. Look at them over there, looking on. They can see us from there as easy as if we were right next to them and far out from the range were they would be hurt by our attacks. And yet, they are still there. Do you know why?" Laz asked with a grin on his face. Perhaps Cormac didn''t understand modern warfare, but Laz had a pretty good idea.


    "Why?" Cormac''s response was simple.


    "Because they want to make sure we both die," Laz''s cryptic words came as the sounds of jets zooming by broke in the air above them. Before any other words could be said, the area where Laz and Cormac had been standing was awash with mes and explosions as missile after missile pounded the ground on which they stood.


    Laz had known this wasing and could have retreated long ago. The idea that they would resort to this had popped into his brain as soon as all the troops had pulled out, but he had chosen to stay anyway and keep Cormac upied. His main goal was to kill Cormac before Cormac had a chance to regrow into his power. Compared to the average chosen, he would have truly been treated like a god.


    Laz couldn''t take that risk.


    Nor could Laz rely upon A''ruya to end him. He knew that she would have the moment she went in for the kill, but there was something that felt wrong to Laz about letting her do that. He felt like the moment she interfered, it would have cast a shadow upon him and her that would haunt them until the end of their days.


    That was something else he couldn''t allow.


    So Laz made a huge gamble, one that he really wasn''t sure he would win. And that gamble was a game of chicken. Would he be able to survive this attack? Would Cormac? Or would they both perish here?


    After having fought and injured him to the degree that he did, he knew Cormac wouldn''t survive.


    The only question was, would he?


    As soon as the jets had finished their run, attack heli''s finished up the bombardment, raining hell down upon the ground as though they wanted to blow a hole to the center of the. Laz''s vision had gone dark before this ever happened.


    YYYYEEEEEAAAAAHAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


    Cheers went up among the troops and chosen looking on. Watching this disy of man over god was enough to ignite the fire in the eyes of the troops as they watched regr human weapons destroy figures that were far stronger than they could imagine. The feeling was the same for the chosen who realized they weren''t nearly as strong as those two. Watching the fireworks destroy the source of their anguish was enough to cause even them to cheer.


    "What do you think?" Agent Wace asked Tommy who was now out of his car and looking on in excitement.


    "I don''t think anything could survive that. I guess you were right about not needing to use a low grade nuke," Tommyughed as he looked on.


    Themander next to Agent Wace and Tommy raised an eyebrow to look at them both as though wondering if they had actually considered that. And even if they did, it wasn''t something he could have arranged even if he had wanted to. That request would have had to go much higher up. But seeing as how Agent Wace didn''t say anything in return, themander couldn''t help but swallow a breath of cold air having never before realized just how much pull these two had. Agent Wace not saying anything was like saying everything all at once.


    That had been a n that was on the table still.


    As the dust from the explosion died down, Tommy was still looking on for conformation before taking off.


    Cormac''s body was strewn all over the ce while Laz''s body couldn''t even be seen.


    Agent Wace noticed this as well.


    "Have everyone spread out and search. I want to see the body even if it''s just some parts of it," Agent Wace told his people while also looking at themander. They soon set out and all arrived at the center of the blown out crater together.


    Tommy leaned over and grabbed thergest part of Cormac''s skull that was still still on one piece, brought it up to his face and gave a "V" Sign.


    "Victory?" Tommy asked, already knowing the answer.

 Chapter 319: Club Star Texas

    Chapter 319: Club Star Texas


    Channel 34-Voilence erupted in the historic district of New Orleans as armed military assisted by allies met with a violent group of infected. Attacks were traded back and forth until one of the infected set off a massive explosion, causing the destruction of several city blocks. Reports are stilling in of survivors and dead and we will bring the thetest as ites to us.


    Channel 28- Day 28 of protests calling for the equal treatment of the infected have been seen popping up in cities all over the country and the world. Police and national guard were called in to help keep the peace, but in more than one city, violence erupted between the two sides.


    Channel 14- The government has now passedws for the segregation of infected from the general poption until such time as a cure for their condition can be found. The president, under massive pressure from both sides of the aisle, signed the bill that would, in effect, allow federal and localw enforcement agencies to force those who have been identified as infected to be transferred to a safe, quarantine zone to ensure not only their safety, but also the safety of themon civilian. The bill would also allow for prosecution towards those who knowingly hid or protected a certified or uncertified infected, with penalties ranging from massive fines and/or up to twenty years in jail. When we attempted to reach out forment from those who have been fighting for the protection of the infected rights, we have not received anyments back.


    Channel 07- The department of infected control has been granted extra judiciary protection in the apprehension and detention of infected or those thought to be infected. This had been a major talking point as there had been more than one recorded and posted incident of innocent being hurt and even killed while trying to find out if they were, in fact, one of the infected. Civil rights leaders, while speaking up about the cruelty being shown those not yet identified as infected, didn''t say much about the actual treatment of the infected themselves. Police and FBI raids at known locations and businesses where infected were known to be has resulted in finding empty buildings and long abandoned houses. While the work is in progress, citizens are asked to remain vignt towards new neighbors and new people moving into a neighborhood and to make sure that they carry their identification papers on them at all times.


    Channel 08- In an interview with Agent Wace who was on the ground over a year and a half ago at the first known massive battle with the infected, the head of DIC has imed a massive sess in the round up and protection of both the infected and normal citizens. Each day they receive dozens of phone calls and leads allowing them to continue finding and isting the infected who have been dodging thew. Agent Wace would also like to remind viewers that using the reporting lines to make false ims against neighbors for personal vendettas could potentially end up with strict penalties for those making the ims. "Although we know that in most cases, neighbors are just trying to be prudent, we also don''t need toe out and test the same people several times just because they are "weird," "strange," or "should never have been able to afford the property they purchased." The line is only to be used to report actual sightings and suspicions."


    Channel 12- With the number of strange, mutated creatures showing up in remote areas on the rise, special interest has been put into new types of home and business security including electrified fences, remote turrets and rms along with conventional cameras. Local police are also upping their efforts to hire more personal as the need for rotating, heavily armed patrols has skyrocketed. Anyone interested can sign up with their local stations and receive a bonus as long as theyplete the mandatory two weeks of paid training. Even if you decide the job isn''t for you, as long as you remain as a reserve, you will get to keep your weapons, body armor and liability protections for the duration of your time as a reserve.


    Channel 05- Costal cities are being abandoned in droves as people attempt to sell their once coveted property and move ind. This is the result of arge number of aggressive water based creatures who have appeared at beaches and resort areas and have attacked in massive waves. While some areas are being bought up and turned into training facilities for practically free, others have been left abandoned and deserted as even the local infrastructure has fallen apart. In contrast, massive mega cities are started to rise up ind with many focused especially aroundke and river ess. For some costal cities that are too big to abandon such as NYC, massive military instations have arisen as our solders had faces many hard battles to hand on to these few ces.


    Official Announcement from the White House-


    "Our nation has changed so much from even a few years ago that it might be hard for some Americans to even recognize that we, as a country, are still strong. While other major nations around the world have struggled hard with the growing threats from not only within their boarders, but also from their coastlines, we have continued to prosper and will do so for many years toe. The nature of our economy has shifted with the benefits from these mutated beasts bing more apparent while one of our primary industries, weapons, remains in strong demand around the world. We will continue to protect the rights of every citizen while we adapt to the new world..."


    ...


    "Hey. Dean... Dean...?" A voice called out the the bartender. A short yet big busted waitress was trying to get Dean''s attention while he was watching the news report and zoning out. After the waitress poked him though, Dean''s attention turned to her.


    "Hey. Get with it. We''ve got tons of drink orders. Here baby..." And she passed Dean the slip with all the orders written on it while he got to work filling them. The young waitress shook her head while watching him work. His hands were amazing fast and flexible while he had the drink menu memorized to the point where even if it was some obscure thing they wanted, he knew how to make it. The other waitresses always tried to get their orders filled by this handsome young man since not only was he nice to look at, but he also filled the orders so fast that they were able to serve almost double the amount of customers because of it. While the other bartenders were a little jealous because of this, his ability did allow them a bit more freedom to flirt with the guests and make connections and rmendations to them, thus vastly helping to improve the guests experiences with the bar staff and bringing in a muchrger amount in tips.


    Although they all wanted him to chat with guests as well as the management hadmented several times on wanting to see it, Dean himself was a silent sort of individual who didn''t really do small talk. Fortunately, Dean had an amazing smile that always seemed to put people at ease, even when hisck of speaking did not.


    It was a fair trade off in everyone''s eyes. And the waitresses couldn''t have been happier since this meant they got to have Dean all to themselves.


    "Thanks sugar. You doing ok tonight?" Therge breasted young waitress asked having seen Dean watching the news update.


    "Yes. Thank you," Dean responded with a smile, although a bit shyly. The waitress had to grab her drinks and run after that, knowing that being around him too long would cause almost any woman''s blood to heat up.


    "I swear bro. If you asked for volunteers to snuggle with you at night, the girls would literally fight it out with each other or all hop into your bed together. Why the fuck is that? You''re not that much prettier than me," Mikemented after handing over a couple of beers to his waiting customers.


    "Who knows man. Who knows?" Dean responded back with a smile, before taking the next slip of drink orders.


    "Maybe it''s that way you talk all short and cryptic like. Maybe that''s it?" Mike suggested while piling up the used sses and sending them back to be washed.


    "I NEED THESE DONE UP ASAP," Mike yelled back having one of the dish washerse up with a bin of freshly washed sses to exchange out for the used ones.


    "I don''t sound cryptic," Dean argued back while staring at Mike. Even while not paying attention, his hands didn''t stop moving..


    "I need some more iced up," Deanmented while Mike got some freezer ready and set them in to chill.


    "Sure. Sure. Well whatever. This looks like it''s going to be one hell of a summer," Mike said, looking around at the packed venue.


    The two guys were just a few of the two dozen bartenders who were stationed along the huge bar to serve customers. This particr venue they were working was the bar stationed near the floor for the huge stage that was used to host everything from live musicians,edians and several other types of performances, all for the many members of Club Star, thergestkeside resort in Texas. With their state of the art facility and security along with several clothing optional beaches and pools, Club Star was one of the most sessful ind resorts built after the closing of most of the coasts. Even ces like Hawaii was overrun with just thergest ind still belonging to humans. Due to these recent events, ind resorts were all the rage. If there was any downside to it, thekes which used to be public affairs were now all being owned by a select few who treated them as being worth more than oil fields.


    Due to the exclusive nature of the club, everyone working there not only had be young and good looking, but there was also strict body requirements. Only one or two tattoos that weren''t offensive were allowed while the employees had to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle. If you gained too much weight, you were put on leave until you once again looked the part and if you failed to meet requirements for too long, you would be let go. Although there had been lots of critiques about such practices, as the resorts were private affairs, they were able to easily get around the issues.


    Their dress also reflected their desirable bodies. Even though they were inside, the men all wore tight fitted shorts and were shirtless, minus a colored vest. The women who worked there all wore tight one piece swimsuits as two piece sets didn''t allow for them to have anywhere to put order slips.


    Not that it hadn''t been tried.


    "So tell me the truth. How the hell do you work thesete nights and are still able to get up to exercise in the morning. All I want to do is sleep since I always end up nursing a hangover... and here we go again..."


    "CLUB STAR''S FREE SHOTS. ONE ON ONE." Came the announcement, causing a surge of people to line up at the bar while each of the bartenders made a signature drink.


    As with almost every other time this happened, the line in front of Dean was the longest as he smiled and got to work, mixing several ingredients together beforeying out thirteen sses, twelve for the customers and one for himself.


    He then proceeded to pour the drink out of the mixer into the sses, the strange whitish clear liquid causing those who lined up in front of him to frown.


    "What''s this?"


    "What''s he trying now?"


    "This is their top mix master?"


    Comments came one after another while Dean stood there and let them talk. Seeing him smile while they looked at him, the crowd settled down.


    Finally, when it seemed like all the noise at the bar had died down while everyone looked on at Dean''s strange concoctions, Dean the took a desert spoon and lightly tapped on the top of all of the sses, one at a time down the line.


    Sudden gasps could be heard as the milky clear substance in each of the sses turned a different color until the thirteen sses in front of him went from being a fiery red to a deep purple.


    "Rainbow shot anyone?" Dean asked in his melodious voice, causing everyone to cheer while wondering how the hell all of these drinks were poured from the same mixer?


    Everyone grabbed one shot, leaving Dean with the deep purple shot that he took himself, smiling the entire time. Everyone was wild as they each described a different, but wonderful taste. Everyone was buzzing while asking Dean how he did it, to which he just shrugged his shoulders and kept on filling the order slips presented to him.


    "I swear dawg, it''s magic what you do. And I can''t believe you won''t even tell me..." Mikeined, but with obvious amusement in his voice.


    "Just a little trick of magic. Slight of hand. I''ve tried teaching you before," Dean replied,ughing.


    "Yeah. And that went just wonderful. Blugh. I still can''t forget that taste... How the hell did you learn that shit is what I want to know," Mike asked, stopping suddenly.


    Dean didn''t reply and just kept on going, making drink after drink. Mike was one of the few people Dean worked with who knew his secret and how much it haunted him. He also knew Dean didn''t like talking about it.


    Dean had lost all his memories and was unable to remember anything before one year ago.

 Chapter 320: The Last Year

    Chapter 320: The Last Year


    Dean couldn''t help but smile and frown at the same time. He knew Mike didn''t mean it. It was just something that he hade to ept. Thinking back, Dean had tons of questions and no answers.


    How he got here? Where was he before this? Where was his family? Was Dean even his real name?


    Why would he ask if Dean was even his real name? That was easy, when the medics were giving him a once over, the ID they found on him said his name was Dean Colt. They epted it and he epted it. It wasn''t until he waster alone that he found several other IDs for different states. Of course the pictures in those IDs were of him when he was a bit younger and were all the same, but each one was for a different name in a different state. Since he was in Texas, he was using the ID he had for Dean Colt.


    As for where the medics found him? He was supposedly in an ident on a busing to Texas. He wasn''t the only one injured when the bus went off the road. There were several others who had suffered a range of injuries. As for Dean, his injuries were merely superficial, something the medics told him was rather lucky considering the bus had been attacked while a wild wolf demon.


    Even that came as news to Dean since he didn''t seem to understand what they meant by demon. After going through some tests and check ups with doctors, it was finally understood that he had amnesia. While some investigation went into find out his background within the state of Texas, nothing ever came of it and things slowly moved on from it. As for Laz, while he was able to be put up somewhere for a bit, it was going to be up to him to find a job and support himself, something which had led to him eventuallying to work for Club Star after a recruitment advisor suggested that he had the build and looks for it. She said it could be considered a dream job for a select few. The pay was high and there were dorms to live in along with meals provided. And the best part was that it was a year round job.


    Of course, all of this came with a lot of testing at every turn for what they called a spreading infection. Not that Dean understood it, but the tests always came back negative so he didn''t really ce much thought into it. Once he began living within the club grounds and working, he didn''t really think about it again since those types of problems weren''t something that were talked about at the club.


    Instead, Dean got used to the freedom and fun that was involved in being a part of a vacation resort and he had multiple talents that stood out, apart from his amazingly rock solid build and young, pretty face.


    One of the training seminars involved self defense and it was soon clear that Dean was even better at it than the instructor. Although when asked about where he had trained, Dean could only be vague. Other activities, including physical ones, Dean picked up without a hitch. Tennis, volleyball, sailing or even waitering, bartending and cooking, Dean seemed to excel at all things, making the upper management look at him highly.


    His background was pretty simple too, having grown up in the outskirts of Austin, his parents died when he was young but after he was old enough to graduate and he had no known living rtives. After high school, the discovered he worked a variety of odd jobs and moved around the state a lot, although most of the ces he worked at didn''t remember him, even if he was in their files somewhere. Since most of his previous employmentssted mere weeks, it was just thought that he was a drifter looking for a ce to stay. While that led to them not wanting to hire him right away, after they met him, there wasn''t a single no among the interviewers.


    Due to all that, he had been living and working at Club Star for the past year, rooming with his only real friend at the ce, Mike.


    Mike''s background couldn''t be more different. Mike had grown up rich to rich parents. He lived the first 23 years of his life drifting from party to party. After having one too many run ins with the police, Mike''s parents finally kicked him out and told him to find work and make something of himself before he even dreamed of contacting them again. Since Mike really only knew the party seen and had an attractive face, he ended up working at Club Star as well where he was roomed up with another new recruit, Dean.


    Since then, the guys had lived together and got along fine. Although Mike didn''t understand Dean''s need to get up super early and work out and Dean didn''t understand how Mike could live just barely getting by. But even with their differences, they found themselves as being tight friends. So much so that Dean eventually shared his secret with Mike, which went a long way of exining why Dean was sometimes a little... different. In turn, this allowed Mike some rity in his life, learning the lesson that had mostly escaped him in the past about how easy he had grown uppared to others.


    The Mike of today was a far different personpared to the Mike who had moved in with Laz.


    After the night of drinking and tending the bar, both men stumbled home looking a bit drunk. Mike had been trying to hit on customers which was a big no when Dean had seen him and dragged him away. The rules for dating were very strict at the club, but they were one of those unwritten things. That thing being you could do whatever you wanted as long as you didn''t get caught orined about. And Mike was in no shape to show his game face or make good choices.


    "I swwaeaarrr mannnn.... You... r allwaysss... not.. drunk... like... me....." Mike said, barely. Although Dean was staggering a bit as well, he could still help Mike get in the loft and get to bed. To be honest, Dean always drank almost three times the amount Mike did, but it barely every affected him, something that didn''t go unnoticed among customers. Dean''s capacity was legendary but that didn''t'' stop the club members from doing their utmost to best him. And because it was something the club members paid for, the higher ups actually encouraged it with a whispered promise of a year of free drinks for anyone who could drink Dean under the table. But that was limited to one challenger per night.


    It wasn''t exactly legal or ethical, but they gave Dean quite a bonus every night when he won and this had been one of those nights.


    Afterying Mike down in his bed, Laz went over to his room andid down as well. The room was nice considering it was a dorm styley out. Just a simple desk, afy chair that rocked, amp and a bed. As for clothes, Dean had gotten quite a few, some bought and some as gifts. But other than that, the only other thing he possessed was a strange pouch. It had baffled him whenever he had tried to open it. Minus the one time he opened it and found a wallet with his ID and cash, he wasn''t able to open it again. it was like it was sealed shut which considering it was a cloth pouch, shouldn''t happen. Dean had even taken scissors to it once but they wouldn''t even leave a mark, much less scratch it.


    In the end, Dean just put it aside as being a part of his past that he didn''t remember. He didn''t have time to worry about stuff like that since living required you to just keep moving forward no matter what.


    "And besides," Dean thought, "Maybe some day I will wake up and remember everything. I just hope I don''t keep having those fucking dreams." It was a nice thought, but the dreams Dean had left him waking up panting and in a sweat. He just couldn''t remember what they were about.


    ...


    The next morning, Dean got dressed in some shorts and and went out the back door of the dorm room which lead right to the beach. Dean didn''t know why, but he always felt at peace running along the beach and building up a sweat. When it was early morning, just as the sun wasing up, there was no one else around on the nude beaches, allowing Dean to run to his hearts content. More often than not he would desire to run naked, but that left challenges of it''s own. The biggest one being that trying to run with any speed would cause his manhood to swing back and forth and smack himself in the thighs, causing him to have to slow down. Due to this, Dean fought back that urge while wearing skin tight shorts that allowed him to keep it tucked in. It was the bestpromise he coulde up with to suit his desire while giving him the workout he wanted..


    Running along, Dean was able to feel the warm breeze off the water while feeling the sune over the horizon. It was going to be another scorching hot day, but that didn''t bother him in the least. He enjoyed the burn.


    Normally, the reason Laz chose thergest clothing optional beach at the resort was because it wouldn''t get filled until around noon while sometimes club members liked to camp on the normal beaches causing there to be people even at the break of dawn. When working out, Dean enjoyed his solitude.


    This morning shouldn''t have been any different until a startled scream woke him from his zen moment.


    Looking over, Dean noticed three young women who had crossed their legs while using their hands to cover their chests. Although Dean didn''t really have much insight into this kind of thing, he felt that they were over reacting considering this was a clothing optional beach.


    Since they decided to go without clothing, being seen would be a given if another person was present. And despite the time of the day, there was no guarantee that no one would be out on the beach so this shouldn''t have been that big of an issue.


    "Sorrydies. I will continue my jog and won''t look back!" Laz said as he increased his speed, his ck hair blowing in the breeze while his tight, muscr body put on a burst of speed. Best not to interfere no matter what the problem was.


    "Maybe they were trying to get used to being naked so that they couldeter with people? It wasn''t something everyone could get used to. No way they were trying to sun bathe at this hour," Dean thought to himself. Either way, it was none of his concern.


    "Wait!" Came a weak voice as Dean was running a bit faster to give them space while thinking he would have to make a detour on his way back. After hearing the call, Dean just stopped and jogged backwards while keeping his head forward and not looking at the girls.


    "Yes?" Dean asked, still jogging in ce.


    Watching him do this while not looking at them, the girls couldn''t help butugh. It was clear this guy knew he made them ufortable and was doing his best to help while calming them down.


    "It''s ok. You can stop jogging." One of the girlsughed while watching Dean''s routine.


    "Alright. So what can I do for you youngdies?" Dean asked, still looking away from them but no longer jogging. Instead, he started stretching his arms and legs in an effort to loosen them up. The effect of doing so made his wless form even more pronounced and the young women watching him couldn''t help but feel a bit flushed. It was probably a good thing that Dean was still facing away from them since had his waist been facing them, hisrge member would have been clearly visible to the three blushing girls, even if it was still tucked in.


    "You can look. It''s alright." The same girl said.


    ''I guess she feels awkward if I talk while facing away from them?'' Although Laz wasn''t working or a lifeguard, the blue shorts he was wearing were just a different color from the ones that were normally reserved for lifeguards. They obviously wore red ones.


    Dean turned to look and noticed that the girls had covered themselves up with their towels but seemed to be fidgeting slightly. Dean had no idea why.


    "What can I do for you lovely youngdies this fine morning?" Dean said. Even if he wasn''t working, he would still treat club members with respect. And since he didn''t recognize the three of them, he figured they were members and not staff.


    "Are you a lifeguard?" One of the girls asked.


    "I am not although I do work here," Dean replied with a smile before going on.


    "The lifeguards don''te on duty until 9am. If youdies want to swim, I would suggest waiting until then unless you wanted to visit one of the indoor pools. They had lifeguards on 24/7."


    "Well... we just wanted to... you know... try this out...." The middle girl said a little embarrassed.


    "Ah! Yes. I can understand that. There is nothing quite as thrilling as bathing in the sun and swimming without clothing between you and the air and water," Dean said with a knowing smile. He felt the same way.


    "Yes. Exactly. But... we can''t reallye here during the day so..." The middle girl continued while looking at her two friends.


    Looking at them a bit closer, Dean could tell the girls really were quite young. Turning his head away, Dean continued.


    "Yes. There is an age limit on this beach of being at least 17. I will have to advise you three to get dressed and head back inside or to one of the regr beaches if you aren''t of age," Dean quickly brought out his training since this kind of event could lead to all kinds of trouble that no one needed, especially him.


    "No. No... we uh... we are all 17. It''s just that we came with our families and there is no way they would ever let use to this beach," the girl on the right said still a bit embarrassed.


    "Ah," Dean said, turning to look at them once again. As long as they said they were 17, he would believe them unless he had proof otherwise.


    "But we wanted to swim at least but know we are not allowed to without a lifeguard or risk getting in trouble. Although we probably won''t get banned, they would have to tell our parents if they found us so..." the girl exined.


    "I see. Well... I guess you''re in luck. Although I am not a normal lifeguard, I have been certified and trained. It''s just not where I am normally assigned," Dean said, not adding the part where him being at the bar makes the club a lot more money than just spending time on the beach.


    "REALLY?" The girls said at once, wondering if they had just gotten this lucky.


    "Yes. I wouldn''t risk my job by lying. Anyway, if you girls wanted to take a swim, I can stay here for about an hour and watch. But I will have to watch you. I can''t turn my head away while you''re in the water," Dean reminded them. If they wanted to be naked and swim, fine. But they would have to allow him to watch them do so the entire time.


    Hearing this and knowing that he was being honest, the girls looked at each other for a minute before nodding their heads in agreement. They had decided to trust this young handsome man. Besides, having someone like him watch them wouldn''t be the worst thing in the world either. Better than some old creep.


    Without saying another word, the three young women stood up, letting the towels fall to the sand while fully exposing themselves to Dean. While they couldn''t help but turn a bit red even up to their ears, Dean didn''t end up being embarrassed in the slightest. And instead turned and walked to the edge of the water.


    "The entireke has been dredged and is cleaned on a regr basis so the sand feels amazing between your toes. Feel free to go enjoy yourselves," Dean said while waving for the girls encouraging. Although they felt a weird feeling of dejecting, seeing him not react to their naked bodies, it also put them at ease as they quickly walked to the water and dipped their toes in. Slowly but surely, the girls keep wading in deeper and deeper as Dean stood on the shore while keeping a careful eye on them. While ying and sshing each other, they couldn''t help but remember that this slightly older guy was watching them and didn''t want to act too childish. They soon found that the fun and excitement of doing something so daring helped to remove all of their embarrassment and they wanted to be even more crazy.


    After a quick whisper, the girls came back to shore while Dean stood up from where he was sitting while watching.


    "All done?" Dean asked as the girls walked towards him, their young and sensual bodies in full view.


    "No. We just figured it wasn''t fair that you are doing us a favor having to sit here while we have all of the fun." The shorter girl with the big breastsmented.


    "It''s quite alright. As a staff member of Club Star, I am happy to help in any way I can," Dean replied, wondering where they were going with this.


    "Oh good. We are feeling a bit embarrassed about being naked by ourselves so we want you to get naked too," the taller one with the smaller breasts and athletic figure told him with a smile.


    "Um... I don''t think that''s such a good idea seeing as how I am serving as your lifeguard at the moment," Dean replied, thinking that these girls might be up to no good.


    "No choice then," thest girl who was not only pretty, but had a model like body and soothing voice said as she walked forward quickly and before Dean could stop her, she pulled down his tight shorts, causing his massive manhood to whip out and idently smack her in the face before she could dodge backwards.


    "OH... MY.... GOD....." said the stunned trio.

 Chapter 321 Trouble, Maybe?

    321 Trouble, Maybe?


    The idol like girl who had just gotten hit in the head was as speechless as her two friends while Laz was actually feeling a bit embarrassed. Could he have stopped her? Yes. But that would have involved possible physical confrontation and that would be a big no that he had learned from his training. Unless he has instructions from upper management or he is working a job where physical contact is unavoidable, the policy is hands off.


    At least for guys. For girls the story is a little different and quite a bit moreplicated.


    "I''m sorry. Are you alright miss?" Laz asked as the girl just kneeled there in shock.


    Before she could answer, the girls behind herughed and pulled her back to her feet before snuggling in close to Dean.


    "I never would have thought... is this like a normal size?" The shorter girl with the big breasts and cute face asked as she started ying with Dean''s massive member with her hands, almost like a new toy she had just discovered. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "This is way bigger than a regr guy," said her athletic friend who also decided that it was worth a few feels.


    "Like you would know."


    "Ohe on. Like you''ve never watched porn before, hypocrite."


    Both girls couldn''t stop giggling.


    "I can barely get both hands around it," the shorter one said.


    "How the hell does something like that fit into such a small space?" the taller one asked.


    While they kept going on despite their idol like friend not saying anything, her face almost like a cold mask, Dean couldn''t help but admire how sexy these three girls were. Each had their own perks that made them quite a bit different, but their naked flesh rubbing against his body was what really got a reaction.


    "It''s getting bigger..."


    "Damn..."


    "Ok. That''s enough. Now that you both got that out of your systems, can we go swimming now? You too," ordered their previously silent friend, dragging the girls and Dean back into the water.


    While the girls started to ignore Dean and y tag or ssh each other, Dean just sat down, enjoying the slight coolness of the water that was sure to warm up once the sun came up. Seeing the suning up over the horizon caused Dean to have a few tears in his eyes, although he didn''t know why. Thankfully, since they were in the water, no one noticed.


    Dean also didn''t notice the girls whispering to each other before the taller one and the shorter one shoved their idol like friend over to where Dean was sitting.


    With a beat read face, she ended up walking over, her body glistening in the morning light as drops of water were dripping down from her most sensitive parts. Her breasts were a good handful for even Dean''s hands while her slightly tanned skin and tan lines were a good indicator of the fact that she had only been spending time in the sun recently.


    She then sat by Laz with the water covering over her breasts and shyly looked away, ying with some of the sand at the bottom of the massiveke.


    "Sorry... about all this," she finally said, breaking the silence.


    "Well. It certainly isn''t what I expected when you girls called out to me," Dean said with a chuckle.


    "It was... something... I don''t know. I guess that I''m just d you aren''t some kind of creep or perv. Cause we don''t mean anything by it. It''s... well..." She stumbled along with her musical voice, trying to exin something that only they understood but she couldn''t voice.


    "It''s fine. I mean. I kind of need this job so I guess as long as it doesn''t cross the line, whatever. Besides, it''s not like you all are some sort of weird, olddies wanting stud time," Dean said before shivering a bit andughing. The idol like girl got the joke andughed too.


    While the mood was good between them, the idol like girl slid closer to Dean and once again, before he could stop her, reached down and grab him. Unlike the other two who seemed entranced with it, she just squeezed it a few times before shooting away, her face a bright red that could match the sky.


    ''I think I''ve be like a dare to them...'' Dean thought to himself while watching the girls regroup. A thought that became further enforced when the girls decided to make a run for the shore and their clothes. Watching the three tight asses trying to run in the sand against the water made Dean not sure if he should be turned on orugh, but he started to get the impression that they had lied about their age.


    ''It''s fine if no one finds out. And there were much worse guys here they could have tried this with. Good thing I am a gentleman through and through...'' Dean thought to himself before making his own way back.


    Just as Dean got up on the beach and walked towards his shorts, the girls had already slipped on their bathing suits and took off, still struggling to run on the beach. Despite this whole thing taking around half an hour, Dean decided he still had time to finish his run before taking a shower and getting breakfast.


    There would be a morning meeting at 8 for the day time workers which he didn''t need to attend since his job started at night, but he sometimes came in for it anyway since breakfast was served with the meeting.


    "Alright. Listen up!" A rather gruff yet muscr man stood at the front of the room and started to speak.


    "Assignments for the day are posted. No surprises today. Make sure if your taking any vacation time off that you get it in three weeks in advance. As far as incidents go, us and the surrounding counties have been cleared, but there have been reports of a possible tide up north. Not that it''s anything to worry about, but keep in mind that if it bes an issue, travel may be closed off for a time until they can get some squads in to clear it out. Other than that, we will be having some VIP''s over the next few weeks while they take some time off from recording their new album. They already checked in yesterday and their pictures will be posted to your emails so make sure to treat them as royalty, even if they are all only 16. Their manager and support staffs pictures will be in there as well, so again, make sure you know who they are and act ordingly." The gruff man finished his speech for the day and walked away, leaving everyone chatting while others started going through their work email to find out just who these musician''s are that would be staying there.


    "Holy shit... it''s Cherry Bomb... Damn dude. I thought they were just some sort of grunge girl band until my sister introduced me to their music and that shit is tight..."


    "Yeah. Their first album kind of bombed but that''s cause they were only like 14 when it released. And yeah... what kind of emotion can a 14 year old put into song right?"


    "Yo. It wasn''t so bad though. I mean, nothing like theirtest though, right?"


    "Yeah. Two number ones already and they got that third one climbing the chart?"


    "Still though. Some of their stuff is just like a remix of ssic songs, isn''t it?"


    "Don''t matter man. That stuff is just fluff, but their original stuff is what''s taking off. Plus, they are hot..."


    "Dude, they are illegal. Might want to keep that to yourself for at least the next year."


    "Still, theying here and you know they want to have a good time. Besides, with the kind of money they started pulling in, who''s telling them no, right?"


    "OH shit Dean. Homie. I didn''t know you were there. Need to put a bell on your neck or something..."


    "He never misses a meal yet he still looks like that. Fuck you Dean!"


    "Love you too Jason. Hey, Stevo. Let me get a look at these VIP''s man. I left my phone in my room."


    "Yeah bro. Right here huh? Going to be real fucking hotties when they legal, right?" Stevo handed Dean his phone and Dean almost spit out his mouth full of eggs and potatoes. One of the girls he didn''t recognize, but the other three... he couldn''t believe it. Even worse... they were most definitely not of age.


    "Fuck me..." Dean said, handing back his phone.


    "I know, right?" Stevo said, misreading what Dean''s thoughts had been.


    ''Fuck fuck fuckity fuck... I''ll need to avoid those girls until they are gone... FUCK...'' Dean''s head was a mess as he took care of his tray before heading back to his room, not even bothering to finish his breakfast.


    "You ever seen him fail to get a second helping?" Jason asked, watching Dean hurry away.


    "Dude looks like someone just hit his grandma with a car or something," Stevo replied in agreement. After all, how could either of them know just how screwed their friend would be if what had happened this morning was found out by anyone.


    "Hey. You want to do karaoke night this week?" Jason asked.


    "Alright. I''ll tell them to set us up. The bonus is kind of worth it after all," Stevo said as went to find the gruff man. They liked having a few live musicians every now and then for people to sing along to even though the club didn''t think it was worth it to hire a full time band for the night. So sometimes Stevo and Jason would sign up to y and drag along their buddy Mike who was an awesome guitarist and loves showing off.


    ...


    Since the girls had taken their private elevator, they ended up getting back to their room without encountering anyone else. As they entered the suite, the girls couldn''t help bursting intoughter.


    "I can''t believe we fucking did that..."


    "We can''t tell anyone. ANYONE. Remember the pact..."


    "Oh? Which pact?" Came the voice from the bathroom as a thin, skinny girl with dark hair and highlights walked out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her body while she was drying her hair.


    "Lyssa, AHHH," the girls screamed and surrounded their friend who had just gotten out of the shower as she tried to escape theirke water covered bodies.


    "HO. NO. Come on. I just got cleaned... Now I''ve got sand in my hair," Lyssained as she scolded her three friends.


    "You never have any fun," Mined.


    "Seriously. Try living a little," Rain agreed.


    "Yeah. You''d be surprised how alive you feel," Tia encouraged.


    "You three can live all you want. I''ve got work to do," Lyssa sighed, trying to get the sand out of her hair.


    "How was the concert?" The three asked as they sat down on the floor while their friend joined them. The suite was huge and just this one room alone was big enough for almost one hundred people to gather. So the four girls sitting on the floor and talking as opposed to sitting down on chairs seemed a little weird, but so where they.


    "It was fine until someone figured out my connection with the band. After that, no one gave a damn about the music and just asked stuff about us," Lyssained.


    "Ah. Sorry..." M said, feeling bad for her while the other two nodded their heads.


    "It''s fine. We all agreed to be a part of this so as long as our hearts are still in it, everyone else can just fuck off..." Lyssa said, causing the group tough.


    In the past, Lyssa''s piano ying wouldnd herrge audiences and praise, causing her parents such pride. It wasn''t until she joined up with her friends and made the band "Cherry Bomb," that anyone even knew she could y the guitar, including her parents. After their first home made album failed to generate a ssh, Lyssa''s parents hoped she would again focus on the piano, but little did they know that their second attempt would bring them sess and fame. Now, even though she did piano concerts like her parents wanted, that was no longer what her fans wanted, even the more respectable types.


    "So... what did you three do? Go swimming alone?" Lyssa said, seeing them in their swim suits and towels. She had beente check in thanks to the concert for their two weeks vacation, so she wasn''t here in the morning when they had snuck out without telling anyone.


    "We went skinny dipping..." Tia said, excitedly.


    "You''re kidding. You all went? Did anyone see you?" Lyssa asked, somewhere between shocked and horrified. As the band''s unofficial leader and someone who had seen a good bit more of the world, she understood how dangerous something like that could be for newly rising stars. Her friends had no idea.


    "Just the lifeguard guy we had keep watch. But don''t worry... we made him strip too!!!" Tia finished, obviously proud of herself.


    Lyssa wanted nothing more then to smack her three best friends upside their dense heads.

 Chapter 322 Some Things Cant Be Avoided

    322 Some Things Can''t Be Avoided


    Dean had a weird feeling that someone was out to get him which didn''t make him feel any better since he had discovered these kinds of feeling seemed to be urate. In fact, many times Dean was able to understand what was going on even when he shouldn''t have any clue. Mike just said that Dean knew how to read people and the room and understand things without being told. He held on to that belief until the night where he, Dean and several of their other friends yed cards and Dean won every hand he didn''t fold out of. After that, Mike just said he was physic.


    Dean never put much thought into that though.


    To many, Dean seemed like a rather perfect guy on the outside; smart, handsome, nice body, decent sense of humor. Only Mike really knew that Dean''s biggest problems manifested at night.


    Rarely could Dean sleep though an entire night, waking up several times in a sweat and unable to fall back asleep. Over the past year though, Dean had gotten better. At least he no longer woke up screaming like he had a couple of times in their first few weeks of living together. Although they had separate bed rooms, it wasn''t like they were sound proof. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The other thing Mike found off about his buddy was that he seemed to have ack of a sex drive. At least as far as he knew, Dean never ended up bringing anyone over at night. Mike knew Dean wasn''t into guys after a discussion where Mike though Dean liked guys but was hiding it from him so Mike figured he''d tell Dean that he didn''t need to worry about offending him since he didn''t mind either way who he brought home. After that, Dean calmly told Mike that he was into girls and that wasn''t the problem.


    Dean didn''t bother mentioning the problem and Mike didn''t think it was right to ask after Laz had told him this much.


    As far as Dean was concerned, his problems were rted to his past and although a part of him wanted to know, a part of him was very hesitant to find out. In more than one dream, Dean would face off against monsters, be hunted down and killed, find himself being toyed with by gods or sometimes, during the worst dreams, he would be floating in the nothingness of space until something came along that caused him to burn up. He wanted to believe that he was crashing into the sun, but he knew that the sun didn''t look like what he saw in those dreams.


    Either way, Dean felt like a haunted man and found that time and time again, sleep provided him with no rest.


    Some days Dean wondered if he was losing his mind.


    But all this aside, when Dean ended up running into the room he shared with Mike, he saw Mike staring at their coffee maker with a nk look on his face while swaying back and forth. As for the dorm likeyout, there were two small bedrooms along one side of the main room with a small bathroom in the middle. The main center room was divided into a kitchen area where the door was and further back was a small living room. On both sides of the dorm were other dorms so if Dean had oneint about it, since he was the second one to arrive, it meant he got the bedroom without a window.


    18:20


    Other than that, he had no opinion.


    Mike actually turned his head when Dean came in with a questioning look on his face.


    "You didn''t make coffee today?" Mike asked.


    "Yeah. Run wentte then I went to eat. I''m just getting back now," Dean responded.


    "My dear wife. All I ask is to wake up to a fresh pot of coffee in the morning and now you can''t even do that for me?" Mike said with a false bit of broken hearted tone in his voice.


    "Well maybe if you stopped staying out sote with those cheap sluts, I would be more inclined to make my husband his coffee in the morning," Dean joked back while Mikeughed as well and filled the water.


    "Seriously dude. You''re like clockwork. How did your meeting go... FUCK NO..." Mike screamed as Dean hit the bathroom.


    "Shut up. I''ll be like 10 minutes. I just need a shower. Better than the half hour you take to groom yourself. And who are you kidding with waxing your chest hair?"


    As promised, Dean was done in less than 10 minutes, giving Mike plenty of time and hot water. As for Dean, he had a fresh cup of coffee waiting for him when he got out.


    "Holy shit... Bud... This is why I make the coffee. How many scoops did you put in?" Dean asked, drinking the ck brew.


    "I just filled the filter. What''s the problem?" Mike answered from the bathroom.


    "I wonder if you actually have any taste buds. Whatever. The jolt will be good for me and luckily the grounds didn''t flow over," Dean said, sitting down with his liquid mud while turning on the news.


    "How can you watch this shit man? And seriously, why don''t you get a smart phone like the rest of the world?" Mike said, drying off as he grabbed himself a cup of coffee.


    Dean, who was watching the local weather report, didn''t bother to turn his head.


    "What''s the point? You''re the only one who ever calls me and it''s usually toe drag your drunk ass back here. Besides, I don''t even want to know what kinds of texts you would send me considering the kind of shit that you show me on your phone."


    "You are seriously the most boring twenty something guy I have ever met."


    "That''s why you don''t have to worry about me cheating."


    "And I just thought it was because you loved me."


    "Not even close."


    "Whatever. Hey, the guys want to do live band karaoke tonight. You up to watching the show?" Mike asked, knowing that Dean didn''t work tonight.


    "You asking me toe to the stage and be your groupie?" Dean joked.


    "Seriously dude. You can use my phone and record it. Makes for a great audition video since Stevo and Jason both don''t suck."


    "Your rmendation doesn''te lightly. And the real reason?"


    "That is the real reason, but only half of it. Have you ever seen what some of those girls sing when they are up on stage? It''s like half singing, half stripping."


    "ssy."


    "Hey, the bonus check is good too."


    "Well, I can''t say I have anything nned."


    "You coulde up too. You''re pretty damn good when you borrow my guitar."


    "I only know a few songs and even less cords. And I''ve wondered something. How the fuck do you guys know how to y everything?" Dean asked, finally turning his head to his buddy who had just taken a sip.


    "HOLY FUCK THAT''S GOOD. Anyway. We don''t but dude, most number one hits in thest thirty years are all just abination of like six cords tops. Long as you know those cords, it''s all good. And they have tablets that will load the parts to whatever song is being sung."


    "Ah. So you don''t actually know them all..."


    "No one is that bored to memorize them all. Oh... by the way. Did you hear about that girl band that''s staying here on vacation before they start to tour?" Mike asked, almost causing Dean to spit out his overly bitter and thick coffee.


    "I didn''t..."


    "Yeah man. My little sister is big into them. I''ve heard a few of their songs and they aren''t bad."


    "But not really your thing eh? You seem to like the ssic stuff a bit more."


    "Too muchputer and not enough instrument. Any real musician will say the same thing."


    "And so you say. Whatever. I''ll be there recording your sexy ass. I doubt a top 100 band would be interested in Karaoke anyway."


    "You never know..."


    "Those girls are like 16 bro..."


    "So look but don''t touch?"


    "If I didn''t know you were joking, I would have already called the police on your ass."


    "Still though. If something like that did happen, the guy involved would instantly be a celeb no matter which one of the girls he ended up with. But they have people who make sure that doesn''t happen, specially for a group like this. It''s probably in their contracts somewhere..."


    "Wow bud... wow..."


    ''Tides are bing more and more active as the number of demon beasts seem to be multiplying at an ungodly rate. While small town living has always interested a good portion of the poption, more and more people are moving away from the small town life in favor of the protection that only arge city can offer. And next up, we have....''


    Dean turned off the TV and couldn''t help but feel like he was missing something.


    "You know it''s weird. Up until about a year ago, there was so much chatter about the infected this and infected that. But now suddenly, you don''t hear shit about it. And what''s more, it''s almost like a taboo topic to bring up. But they still test everyone regrly. It''s kind of weird how much the world''s changed," Mike mused, thinking he needed to get more creamer.


    "Yeah... changed..." Dean didn''tment.


    But the feeling of forgetting something important was growing stronger.


    Still, Laz didn''t really put to much thought into it since he had forgotten too many things.


    ...


    Later that night, dressed in what only could be described as casual ind vacation, Dean and Mike were joined by Stevo and Jason.


    "YO BROS!"


    "Seriously we all had the same idea on what to wear huh?"


    "I would have imed not to know anyone who wore a suit."


    "So they don''t care what you wear?" Dean asked, this being the first time he came to their band night.


    "Not a damn problem. In fact, everyone will basically be dressed like this anyway. I''ve you before big D, you got to go out a little more at night and enjoy life. You always seem to act like an old man," Stevo said, wrapping an arm around Dean''s shoulders as they walked.


    "Yeah. And the girls love a guy in a band. And this... kind of counts," Jason added while Mike and Stevoughed. The fact that Stevo knew drums while Jason, like Mike, could y almost any guitar which meant they could barely be considered a ''band,'' it was better than just singing to a DJ all night, although he would be there too.


    "Did anyone warn Warren that we were doing this?" Mike asked, a strange look on his face.


    "I figured the club would tell him. Don''t want to have to deal with that sad puppy dog face he gives when he finds out he''s not really needed..." Stevo stated.


    "I mean, he still gets to like... run the equipment thought. That''s something," Jason argued.


    "Yeah. But who pays attention to the guy behind the lights when we are there?" Mike boasted, getting anotherugh.


    "You guys seem to enjoy it eh?" Dean asked.


    "Yeah Bro. It''s like liquid adrenaline when you get someone up there who can sing. If only you could sing, we would have a full gig. Hold up... can you sing?" Stevo asked, looking Dean up and down.


    "I''ve... never really tried?" Dean wasn''t sure since he didn''t remember. But the best answer is the most honest as he had never really tried.


    "Well fuck me you''re giving it a go tonight," Stevo concluded.


    "He can y an acoustic pretty easily as long as it''s something he knows," Mike offered, while the other guys nodded as though it was expected.


    "Good. Maybe we have found our lead then? With that pretty face, we would be unstoppable," Jason joked while all four young menughed. Dean was handsome, there was no denying that. The other''s were too, but Dean seemed to carry this charm that attracted others, even if he wasn''t more handsome than the other three.


    As the three guys entered the lounge, there was already a crowd gathered while Warren was setting up. He quickly noticed the four men walking in.


    "NO NO NO. You''re not doing another live band session tonight. It''s my night to shine," Warren said as he watched them approach the stage.


    Whenpared to the guys in Dean''s group, Warren wasn''t one who was hired based on his physic. While he wasn''t fat or anything like that, he wasn''t very muscr either. He was also a far cry from being a attractive as them either with a face that was, by the nicest definition, in.


    "Already got the go ahead," Mike said, showing him the text messages from the boss.


    "Ohe on. This is the only night of the week where I can actually step up and be something more than just a lights and sound guy. And now you''re taking this away from me?" Warren argued, still not happy.


    "Don''t worry kid," Mike started,


    "I''m older than all four of you," Warren interjected.


    "Since we are poaching on your turf, you can still MC tonight," Mike finished.


    "That''s just cause you want to be free to drink until you can''t talk straight," Warren added.


    "Well, yeah. But still let''s you run the night, right?" Stevo said, making his way over to drag the drums into position that had been moved to the side.


    "And what about this one?" Warren said, pointing at Dean who was smiling off to the side.


    "Back up singer. Just get us patched in already," Mikeined while he and Jason got set up as well.


    "Assholes. Fine." Although Warren did like being center stage, he also enjoyed being a part of the band when they performed together and while Mike, Jason and Stevo could be dicks at times, they were never really hard on him and respected his abilities.


    All in all, Karaoke night was always a treat to the audience.


    Since Dean didn''t have anything to do to help, he got the guys all drinks of their choice while theymented on how nice having such a sexy waitress was. Dean of course mixed it himself, keeping the alcohol content really low in an effort to keep their performance going as long as needed.


    Just as he was sitting down with his own drink and getting ready to enjoy the show, three chairs next to him were pulled out while a body appeared in front of him, hands on her hips and words already about toe flying out of her mouth.


    The three girls he had ''helped'' in the morning took their seats while another one that he didn''t know stood right in front of him as he saw several others who hade in with their group take seats as well.


    ''FUCK.....''

 Chapter 323 You Can Play?

    323 You Can y?


    Although Dean didn''t know who was standing in front of him, he kind of remembered her from the photo he had seen on Stevo''s phone. As for why she ended up standing in front of him? Well, he could only assume while at the same time knowing that he would never admit anything out loud.


    "Yes mam?" Although she was obviously younger than him, as a guest, she was still treated to Dean''s full curtesy and attention, even if he wasn''t working.


    Lyssa stared at this young man sitting in front of her with a smile on his face and gentle eyes. As soon as they had walked in to the room for Karaoke night, something that other girls wanted to drag her too, they had noticed him serving drinks to the guys on stage and pointed him out. That information had led to hering up to him with the intention of saying something threatening to him.


    Strangely though, she couldn''t find the words.


    Or, more urately, she felt a strange attraction to him that she had never felt before.


    "Uh... You... Umm... nothing..." Lyssa ended up not saying anything and fled back to the table where the others were sitting.


    "So...?" Asked M, Rain and Tia all at once when she sat down. Due to the slightly lower lighting, they didn''t notice her slightly red face.


    "So what?" Lyssa shot back as she picked up a menu.


    "What did you say?" M asked as Tia and Rain nodded.


    "Nothing," Lyssa admitted, but didn''t add why.


    The girls looked at her in mild shock. Lyssa had always said whatever she wanted whenever she wanted when it concerned the band. While M was the face of the band with her idol like looks and awesome voice, Lyssa was the one who was actually in charge. She had gotten everyone together, finding in Tia a kick-ass drummer while Rain''s fingers could do anything with strings. But Lyssa was the real genius. She wrote the music and even got them their signing deals, relying on her connections due to her time ying piano professionally after having been pushed into it thanks to her parents. Not only that, but there wasn''t an instrument she couldn''t y, giving her incredible insight when it came to writing the parts.


    The only thing that ever haunted her was that she really couldn''t sing worth anything. Sure, her voice wasn''t bad... but just being not bad wasn''t anything special and despite her love of music, she would never really be in the spot light thanks to this.


    But even then, this band was hers and the girls and she would always be very protective of it with a maturity rarely seen in someone her age.


    Warren got up and announced that as a special treat for the night, anyone who was willing to sing could do so with a live band and weed any and all who were interested to just let him know and give it a go. Although people were eating, this was normally the time where at least a couple people would stand up and put their names on the list while choosing which song to sing.


    But strangely, no one was willing tonight, something no one expected.


    Lyssa, M, Rain and Tia happened to notice this as well while they were ordering dinner and couldn''t help but look over at their manager as though she had the answer. Their manager was a rather serious looking woman in her early thirties with sses and soft brown hair. She had been eating a meal with a few others and discussing ns for the uing road tour when she noticed the girls looking at her.


    She hadn''t been paying attention to what had been happening, but quickly connected the dots.


    "Actually, I think that people are nervous to get up and sing because of you girls," the managermented.


    "Us?" they questioned?


    "Yes. With professionals in the room, how embarrassing would it be to sing poorly when everyone is watching. And what''s more, even if they are somewhat good, it would not be at a professional level," she exined. Although she saw the girls looking rather down about this, she didn''t mind as she felt like this kind of event wasn''t worth their time. And she had, in fact, forbade them from performing themselves no matter what.


    "Well this bites..." M said, handing her menu back to the waiter who smiled.


    "I wouldn''t be that worried miss. From my understanding of those guys on the stage, there is no way they would let something they got involved in flop," the waiter said rather mysteriously before leaving to fill their orders.


    "I wonder what that means?" Rain asked while turning her gaze to look at the stage. In doing so, she, along with the others, noticed that Mike had covered the mic with his hand and was arguing with Dean who seemed to be half fighting and half agreeing with him.


    "Fine.... you will get your own share of the pay and I promise to stop shaving my balls in the shower. You good? Yeah? Get your ass up here then...." Although they weren''t using the mic or shouting, Lyssa and the gang were rather close up to the stage and could hear what was being said.


    "Your kidding me...." Lyssamented as Dean walked over to Warren and whispered something to him. Warren''s response was a face that was both a mixture of cringe andughing but Dean didn''t seem to mind.


    "Alright everyone. To start things out, I''ve haggled with my roommate to have him sing the first song with us tonight. I would like to apologize in advances as I have never heard him sing before so this could really go either way. But so what? Let''s have some fun. Now my roomy has chosen his song which we will first see the parts for as they stream to these tablets in front of us. So until the song starts, we had no idea what we are ying. I hope you enjoy my roommate... DEAN!!!!" Mike yelled while several members of the crowd started pping. While the guests might not know the ones on stage, the staff did so it was up to them to be excited.


    "Hey, give me a guitar..." Dean said as he got up on stage.


    "You can y?" Mike asked, lifting both an acoustic and an electric and offering them. He had taken a couple of both from storage so that he could pick what he needed depending on the songs. Both him and Jason could use almost any of them, it was just a question of what they would need when they needed it.


    "Maybe?" Dean''s response was a little off as he grabbed the acoustic while Mike looked back at Jason who had grabbed a bass instead as they watched the instrument list show up on the tablets.


    None of them knew what song Dean had picked until it loaded on their screens.


    "You''re shitting me right now. Tell me this isn''t what we''re..." Mike started.


    "Shut up and y biaotch..." Dean cut him off as the music started. With Warren''s tech, all the parts of the song were covered and there was even a light show to look forward too... n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    One that strangely matched the 80''s song Dean was singing.


    -It''s all the same, only the names will change


    Every day, it seems we''re wastin'' away


    Another ce where the faces are so cold


    I''d drive all night just to get back home


    -I''m a cowboy


    On a steel horse I ride


    I''m wanted dead or alive


    Wanted dead or alive


    Dean didn''t give a damn what people thought about him, something that he had no real reason to feel. Therefore, he ended up getting more into the music, adding just a little bit of that 80''s style ir into his body movements. Seeing him do this, even Mike, Jason and Stevo got into it. None of these guys were alive in the 80s, but that didn''t mean that the style would ever be lost.


    -Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it''s not for days


    The people I meet always go their separate ways


    Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink


    And times when you''re alone, well, all you do is think


    -I''m a cowboy


    On a steel horse I ride


    I''m wanted (wanted), dead or alive


    Wanted (wanted), dead or alive


    The crowd was rather in awe watching their performance. M had even taken out her cell phone to record things at first but soon she, Rain, Lyssa and Tia looked on with wide eyes and almost open mouths. Being fans of music thanks to their parents, they of course knew this song... but watching guys just a few years older than them ying while sometimes pumping their hips or tossing long hair none of them had was almost too much. They all broke downughing and they weren''t the only ones. Even their manager was cheering the guy''s outrageous performance.


    -Oh, and I ride


    Yeah


    Oh, I''m a cowboy


    On a steel horse I ride


    I''m wanted (wanted), dead or alive


    And I walk these streets, a loaded six-string on my back


    I y for keeps ''cause I might not make it back


    I''ve been everywhere, still I''m standing tall


    I''ve seen a million faces and I''ve rocked them all


    Dean was looking at the girls while he said this line which caused three of their faces to heat up while Lyssa just ended up getting angry.


    -''Cause I''m a cowboy


    On a steel horse I ride


    I''m wanted (wanted), dead or alive


    ''Cause I''m a cowboy


    I got the night on my side


    And I''m wanted (wanted), dead or alive


    And I ride (and I ride), dead or alive


    I still drive (I still drive), dead or alive


    Dead or alive


    Dead or alive


    Dead or alive


    Dead or alive


    (Bon Jovi-Wanted Dead or Alive)


    When Dean finished singing while the guys finished thest few chords of the song, the audience went wild with pping and cheers.


    It wasn''t just Dean''s singing, as good as it was. It was the way they ended up making everyone smile with their antics that caused the crowd to enjoy themselves. Even the girls had stood up to p at the end.


    "YEAH! Told you my man could sing... Now then, who wants their time rock out with us up here. You don''t have to be good, you just have to want to have some fun. COME ON!" Mike encouraged as Dean was about to get off the stage to sit down, having finished his job.


    "Have him do one more by himself!" Lyssa called out to Mike who was taken aback. Obviously Mike knew who she and the other girls around her were along with the people at the table next to them. He wasn''t trying to stand out to them, he was just trying to get everyone to have a fun night and maybe see an increase in his bonus.


    But hearing this member of Cherry Bomb wanting to hear Dean sing again made Mike wonder just what her thoughts were.


    Dean didn''t bother thinking it over too much. Looking at this girl who seem... hostile/friendly towards him, Dean didn''t know what to think. After the thing with her bandmates, Dean just wanted the problem to go away.


    "If thedy wants that, thedy gets that. But I pick the song," Dean said with a smile to which Lyssa nodded her head.


    "Hey. Something wrong? You''re not usually this demanding," their manager pointed out, thinking that with Lyssa''s love for music, maybe she was just having a celeb moment. Little did she know that Lyssa just wanted to see if he was actually good or if he would embarrass himself this time.


    Sitting on the stool in front of the mic, Dean''s fingers nimbly started ying the guitar while he started to sing.


    -No one knows what it''s like


    To be the bad man


    Behind blue eyes


    And no one knows what it''s like


    To be hated


    To be fated to telling only lies


    -But my dreams they aren''t as empty


    -No one knows what its like


    To feel these feelings


    Like I do


    And I me you


    No one bites back as hard


    On their anger


    None of my pain and woe


    Can show through


    -But my dreams they aren''t as empty


    As my conscience seems to be


    I have hours, only lonely


    My love is vengeance


    That''s never free


    -No one knows what its like


    To be mistreated, to be defeated


    Behind blue eyes


    An no one know how to say


    That they''re sorry and don''t worry


    I''m not telling lies


    -But my dreams they aren''t as empty


    As my conscience seems to be


    I have hours, only lonely


    My love is vengeance


    That''s never free


    -No one knows what its like


    To be the bad man


    To be the sad man


    Behind blue eyes


    (Limp Bizkit-Behind Blue Eyes)


    Even once the song had ended, there was no loud cheering from the crowd. But there were one or two tears to be seen. After all, even if this wasn''t Dean''s song, nothing could hide his beautiful blue eyes or the emotion in his voice. This wasn''t even his goal in the beginning. He just enjoyed the song and wanted to y it.


    But somewhere along the way, the song took on a meaning he hadn''t intended and the entire crowd was influenced.


    When the audience finally did snap out of it, there was a lot of hard pping as everyone once again stood. There was even some who walked up to sign up to singter with Warren while dinner and a lot of drinks were being brought to tables.


    The only person still frozen in ce after the song was Lyssa. She felt that after hearing that, something had changed.


    Within her... a candle was lit for the first time.


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