《Alternate Dreams》


 Dream 1

    Sleep is very important, we need it to de-stress and re-engergize each morning. Sleeping is the time of dreams and rest. If you go to long without sleep you begin making mistakes and if you last too long you die. Some people go by this: Sleeping is my drug, my bed is my dealer and my alarm clock is the police. Without a proper night sleep most days start off terribly.


    Eian hated noise early in the mornings, especially while he slept. Chatter. Chatter. He did his best to ignore them, by covering his ear with his arm. Eian was either dreaming that he was on the damp floor, or he must have fallen sometime during the night. Someone lightly shook him awake and he grudgingly opened one eye, then quickly opened the other, shocked at what he saw. Staring down at him with concern was an athletic young man with dark hair.


    "Hey, you okay man?" - Dark Haired Stranger looked into his eyes with worry.


    "FUCK!?! Who the hell are you?"- Eian jolted and scrambled away from the stranger.


    To say Eian was confused was the greatest understatement of all time. Who was this guy, and why was he waking him in the middle of the night in his house? A burglar? He was tall probably a few inches shy of six feet, with toned-muscles clearly showing. He looked white but, sported a slight tan along with dark hair, dark eyes and a casual grey shirt and a long sports-pants.


    A quick scan of his surroundings however, told him he wasn''t in his house anymore. His worry grew to a greater intensity. This was clearly a cave of some sort, or some sort of creepy underdeveloped basement. Did this guy abduct him for some reason? He wasn''t anyone important, so that didn''t make any sense, he was pretty broke.


    "I''m Alex, well Alexander Faber if you want to be sure, and pleeeeease don''t freak out." Alex smiled and lifted his hands placatingly, as if to a child.


    All the while he was backing away slowly from Eian.


    "Why the fuck should I not freak out! Who are you?! What do you want with me and why?!" Eian grit his teeth angrily, found his backbone and began winding himself up to attack this ''Alex'' guy.


    "Hey! Hey! Please calm down your freaking me out! Someone might come back to get us here!" - A Girl''s voice shrilled almost hysterically behind him.


    Eian''s eyes almost flew out of his eyes sockets in shock.


    "Yes, please. Let''s get to what''s important and make a plan." A moment later a second girl''s steady voice was also behind him.


    Turning to look behind him Eian took note of the two girls situated behind him. One was a slender attractive girl that gave off a rich white girl vibe. She sported loose blonde hair, had blue eyes, wore fancy earrings, a bracelet on her arm, a fancy blue top and short-black skirt. All-in-all she looked like the ring leader of those cliche girl-groups you always see in high-schools.


    Normally Eian would instictively rolled his eyes at the sight.


    The other was a short curvy girl whom gave off a librarian vibe. She wore big glasses, she had her black hair pony-tailed, possessed light-brown eyes, a white long dress-shirt and a black pants the fell below her knees. Eian was now a jumble of confused emotions and thoughts. Why was he here? In a dark eerie cave with these three people?


    ''What important matters?'' Eian frowned and all sorts of crazy scenario''s passed through his mind.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Everything from a cannibalistic cult to a super secret military experimental facilty breezed through his head. Preferably the latter or better something safer and less crazy.


    Upon closer inspection the cave floor was damp, but more or less even. There were a few burning long-torches lining the wall. Various weird colored mushrooms littered the area casting a litany of colors, though the torches over-whelmed them. There was no furniture of any sort and the cave or basement was roughly squared in shape. There was only one tunnel exit, with no door. The ceiling was bare and almost even.


    "If you''ve relaxed now. I can tell you that I didn''t bring you here man. None of us did for that matter." Alex scratched the back of his neck, then included the girls and himself with a hand wave.


    "Then who did and why should I believe anything you say?" Eian narrowed his eyes and spoke slowly as he was trying to work through his growing rage.


    "I don''t know man, but I''d hoped you would know something. The girls say they don''t know either and Jessica, that''s the blonde by the way, clogged me on the face when I woke her, so I''m glad you didn''t do that." Alexander knit his brow, while nursing his jaw.


    "Hey! I said I''m sorry! And what the hell did you expect would happen?! A fucking guy wakes a girl up in a dark cave, gods know where. HOW did you expect me to react?." Jessica crossed her arms and pouted.


    She appeared to be a mixture of regret and anger.


    "Hi, I''m Sarah and I''d like to say ''it''s nice to meet you'', but I''m still not sure what to make of all this yet." Said the Dark haired glasses girl, while pushing her glasses back one handed.


    It took a while for everyone to get on the same page. Appearently all of them had no idea how they got here or where this place was. Alex was the first to wake and he took it upon himself to wake everyone else to get their heads together. Alex was from Arizona, while Jessica was from Florida, Sarah was from Canada and Eian himself told them he was from Honduras, but migrated to the USA at a young age and currently lived in California.


    "Okay what are we gonna do now? I''m not really comfy here and I wanna get home as soon as I can, preferably intact and sane." Eian kept looking about for clues, since he hadn''t seen any captors.


    "Well its been about Half an hour since I woke up man and nobody has come for us yet. I say lets go check out whats happening outside. Hopefully this is all some big misunderstanding." Alex grimanced and he didn''t sound too sure of the idea.


    The girls agreed saying there was nothing to be had waiting about. Alex and Eian both went foward after each grabbing a torch from off the wall with the girls slightly behind them. The only exit was wide enough for both of them to walk comfortably and not bump into each other while swinging their torch if anything happened. The exit did not widen and they kept going slowly afraid of whatever the limited darkness held. The cave mushrooms gave the whole situation a weird vibe.


    "Pretty creepy here huh? So dark, no sound and it seems we are acutally descending instead of going up" Eian walked stiffly and with caution while feeling very off put by the whole situation.


    "Yeah man. I''d like to say we''ll be alright and take care of it together. This whole place is weird and I can barely see." Alex scratched the back of his neck.


    He was far more physically fit than Eian, though he didn''t fault him. A single gun or knife and muscles won''t matter.


    "Shut up and keep going this has to lead somewhere since there wasnt any other exit in that cave." Jessica said with a slight tremor in her voice.


    "Guys try to remain calm. Breathe slowly through your nose and exhale through your mouths. Don''t let your heart rate go up or you''ll mentally fatigue yourself. Jessica is right this has to lead somewhere." Sarah said calmly with no overt signs of distress.


    Eian tried doing as Sarah said and found it actually helped calm him, not fully but beggers can''t be choosers. The cave descended slowly and it seemed an eternity to Eian and he was begining to worry about what they would do once the torchs went out and had to rely soley on natural mushroom light. Musingly he began to wonder about food and water. Eian quickly abandoned his train of thought, when he noticed something weird. A shuffling and chittering sound was just up ahead, where the tunnel curved. Eian placed his hand on Alexs shoulder and did a quick heads up notion with his head.


    "You hear that?" Eian felt fear grip his stomach, and whispered on a low voice.


    Everyone stopped for a breath and listened in.


    "Yeah.... Well the sooner we do this, the faster we can get out. On two, your count dude." Alex flexed his back and motioned for the girls to stay behind the curve.


    "Okay.....one.... TWO!" Eian licked his lips, as they both readied themselves, then charged.

 Dream 2

    We all make mistakes, some could be avioded though. Ever felt that voice in your head that tells you your about to do something stupid, but do it anyways? Later when it''s all over you realize you should have listened to your subconcious and been more careful. Some people pay dearly for their mistakes though and never get a chance to learn from them. As a wise man once said: " Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others."


    Eian and Alex both felt this after charging and screaming their lungs out towards the unknown. With their glowing red eyes, foul stench and six legs they couldn''t be anything else but spiders. Three giant hairy spiders, the size of dogs, thats what awaited them beyond the curve. Screaming with rightious fear the men swung their guttering torches towards the aracnids with all their might.


    "What the fuck!" Alex screamed as he pummeled the spider, which soon caught fire.


    Eian almost agreed as the spiders converged on them ignoring their threathening swings of firey death. Eian almost faltered a moment, he wasn''t ready for this shit! Seeing Alex he steeled himself.


    Soon the spiders were on them and they had to kick, shove and thrash wildly to not get biten by their fangs. Alex was unlucky as two were activly seeking him out and one temporarily latched unto his leg biting and burning him, while he fell to the floor. He kicked it away and it held off the other even as the flames licked at his arms, he managed to throw it off himself and sink the torch into its back. Eian only had one to deal with and managed to hold it down with his torch long enough to stamp it dead on the head killing it.


    He the proceeded to shove away the one Alex kicked untill it succumbed to the flames. The melee lasted a minute at most, but felt endless to the frantic male combatants. The girls peeked after a brief silence, darkness descended upon the cavern save for the sound of deep breathing and exhaustion. Luckily for them the cave emitted low lights which, though bearly, still allowed them a pinch of visibiliy. Eian was standing guard breathing heavily, watching for more spider monsters, while Alex was cradling his injured leg muttering obscenities to no one in particular. Upon closer inspection the girls noticed the both sported minor insignificant burns on their legs, hands and arms.


    "What happened?" Sarah stared at Alex, but was ignored in favor of patching his leg with a piece of his pants.


    "You blind!? Spiders! Giant mother-fucking monsters, thats what fucking happened!" Eian waved his arms about eyes wide, he was distressed and undergoing minor shock.


    "Geez calm down. You guys killed them didn''t you? Don''t go attracting more of them." Jessica frowned, as she went to help Alex.


    "She''s right Eian calm down man. I don''t think I can handle any more of them right now." Alex painstakingly voiced that through clenched teeth.


    Sarah cautiously observed the crispy remains remains of the spiders and poked them with Eian''s now extinguished torch. She concluded the beasts were dead and she went to attend Alex along with Jessica. Eian was busy calming himself down until he noticed something curious upon his forearm.


    "Guys... what the fuck is this?" Eian kept his voice controlled, as he pointed toward his forearm upon which he saw colored tattoos he hadn''t noticed before.


    "What are you talking about? Did you get burned there too?" Jessica looked over her shoulder, while helping Alex bandage his leg with part of his pants.


    "No these damn tattoos, I don''t remember having them before, maybe the people whom brought us here, put them there and I didn''t notice before?" Eian stared with trepidition, eyes confused.


    "Lemme see? I don''t remember you having anything there." Sarah moved closer, then grabbed hold his wrist lightly and inspected his forearm.


    There upon his forearm Eian noted three seperate tattoos sporting different colors. The first was colored red and boldly read "Body:2". The second was green stating "Mind:3" which was confusing enough to Eian. The last tattoo depicted a blue colored "Spirit:0" and left Eian throughly confused as to why anyone would lable him in such a way.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "I don''t see anything. Did you hurt yourself somewhere?" Sarah scanned his forearm again for any sign of what he said.


    "What do you mean you don''t see anything? It''s right there. You sure those glasses work?" Eian frowned at her a bit worried.


    He questioned her eyesight, perhaps she was blinder than he thought.


    "Hey! What the hell! I''m here worried about you and your being an asshole! I said nothings there, maybe your brain needs glasses! Also for your information these are reading glasses!" Sarah shoved him backwards hard, and was outright offended at his provocation.


    "Knock it off! We need to make sure Alex is alright, he''s hurt." Jessica shook her head at them while watching them bicker.


    Eian frowned deeper, what''s up with her.


    "I don''t know what her problem is, but this thing is freaking me out enough without her telling me I''m seeing things." Eian paced while showcasing his forearm about.


    "Eian stop it. Your making a scene out of nothing. Alex is hurt, there''s nothing on your arm." Jessica frowned after glancing at his bare forearm.


    "Jessica''s right Eian, Alex first. I''ll check you over later, maybe something is affecting your head. Sorry I yelled at you." Sarah breathed deeply, as she quickly mastered her anger.


    Eian felt as if his jaw would hit the floor. Never in all his life had he been treated as an unruly child by anyone, except his mother when he was little. Gazing at his forearm he wondered if truly the stress had gotten to his mind and he had lost it. He quickly went through a few senarios in his mind of what could possibly lead to this kind of situation, he couldn''t acutally be crazy could he?


    "Ummm... Not to be weird here girls, but I think I know what Eian is talking about." Alex said after finishing up with his leg injury.


    "You mean you see it?" Eian stared at Alex and perked up at the thought of not being crazy.


    "No man. Actually I don''t see anything on your arm...., but I see something on mine that could be what your talking about." Alex stared at his arm, while looking over his own set of markings.


    "Alex... are you sure you and Eian are okay? Maybe something has both of you imagining things?" Jessica played with her hair nervously, hoping both of the guys hadn''t succumbed to some form of disease.


    "Well if I''m crazy then its got both me and Eian seeing these things." Alex half-smiled, relativly calmly since he was certain he wasn''t crazy, Eian was seeing it too afterall.


    "What does it look like?" Sarah tilted her head at Alex, as her curiousity and mind got to work on the matter.


    "Well my one reads a red worded body with a number three , a green mind with a number three and the blue word spirit with a number zero." Alex read off his forearm with narrowed eyes.


    "Hey my one''s similar! I have a body reading two, a mind reading three and a spirit reading zero with the same colors on all of them." Eian fist pumped enthusiastic at not being thought of as an attention baby.


    It took some time to convince the girls they weren''t crazy, especially Jessica as she was a skeptic. Sarah deduced it was obviously the fact they had both killed the spiders while the girls hadn''t lifted a finger to help. Alex and Eian readily agreed and were quick to assume it had to reflect their own basic attributes. Everyone was preplexed as to why spirit was at zero as Eian went to church on occasion, while Alex attended due to his family tradition. They were also wondering when and how it possibly appeared.


    "I don''t want to sound crazy, but maybe spirit stands for magic?" Sarah frowned, as she puzzled over the implications.


    "Magic? You mean wizards, goblins, elves and that sort of Tv garbage?" Jessica swallowed, perturbed at the idea.


    "Well I was thinking more wizard magic than the other two. It also opens up some dangerous avenues of thought." Sarah folded her arms, excitement and fear warred within her.


    "You mean.... you think.... we might have been brought here through magic and not just abducted." Alex rubbed his head, distressed at the idea.


    "That''s all kinds of fucked up. I mean giant spiders, magic whats next? Werewolves?." Eian glanced around, unsure about everything inside the cave and how quickly he could get the fuck out.


    "You''re scaring me! I don''t like it! Please let''s just get the hell out of this cave, before more spiders come eat us." Jessica held herself, clearly spooked.


    Alex looked up at Jessica with worry.


    "Hey.....We''ll get out soon. I promise, Eian, Sarah and I are here with you too. Alright?" Alex looked straight at Jessica''s eyes.


    Eian ignored the rest of their conversation it was pointless anyways. Soon everyone went quiet to process this new development.


    "Eian, sorry man but I think you''ll have to go infront. I''ll need some help walking from one of the girls. I''ll still fight, I just have to stand carefully on one leg. So just buy time for the girls to retreat and then come over next to me so we take them." Alex looked down at the floor, uncomfortable at the idea.


    "Yeah I kinna figured. Can''t be helped, what are ''friiiieeeendz'' for ha.... Sarah hand over my torch to Alex and I''ll grab the other." Eian shrugged, while grumbling and sighing loudly.


    Bright mushrooms illuminated their path and large patches rendered the cave brighter on occasion, while some areas were almost in complete darkness. The occassional torch was freshly extinguished, which puzzled them as to whom placed them there recently. The caves occassional stalagmites glittered with the relection of lights granting them that eerie feel of discomfort once more. Now deep down to their bones they knew they were right to be afraid. Thus they set off once more towards certain danger, whilst praying for salvation.

 Dream 3

    Humans have an instinctual fear of darkness. Inexplicable in its complete hold over us, we seek to evade it as much as possible and seek the shelter of sweet light. Perhaps it''s a remnant of when man wasn''t atop the food chain, when our anscestors we mearly scraping by near the bottom? It could also be that we as a species are so dependent on our sight, so much in fact that we fail to realize we have five sense and not just two or three. Mayhaps a combination of both and perhaps other elements were at play with humanity and its phobia. Whatever be the case Eian was certainly extremely fearful of the cave passage he was now descending, despite it not being completely dark. Sarah''s breathing advice didn''t seem to work as well now as they had lost the luxury of fire and his palms were begining to feel sticky with sweat. He was fearful of trying to distract himself of it by thinking of other happier memories in fear he might miss something and be swamped by monsters. He paid close attention to his ears in hopes of even the slightest heads up warning, then he heard something.


    "Guys? Does anyone else hear that sound? I think....I think it might be running water." Eian closed his eyes to focus.


    He noted how thirsty and sticky he actually was now, he swallowed dryly.


    "Hey.........Oh lord please be water I''m dying here." Jessica licked her lips and her enthusiastic voice bespoke of luxary.


    A brief little while later Sarah broke the silence.


    "Not to be the bearer of bad news here, but water is something living things need. That means animals might be nearby as well as other things." Sarah took a deep breathe and spoke as the pragmatic one.


    Everyone stopped walking and looked at her with varying degree''s of fear.


    "Try to at least be a bit optimistic Sarah, it doesn''t hurt, also there''s no guarantee monsters exist. Big spiders are one thing, but who knows we might only encounter some measly bats." Alex lifted his head and attempted to cheer everyone up.


    Sarah snorted loudly.


    "We have to be ready for anything Alex. Your hurt and we can''t let Eian or anyone else get hurt or we could die. Deaths not some joke we can take lightly." Sarah shook her head decisively.


    "I agree with Sarah, sorry Alex, but I''m not looking to get bit or worse here. Best be ready for anything." Eian nodded to Sarah in agreement, Alex cast his eyes to the floor, then frowned at his injured leg.


    The group descended into morbid silence for a while, untill they fell in line and once more began moving slowly to mute the sound of their footsteps. They were all feeling some mental exhaustion by now, while both thirst and hygenie dictated the needed that water. Soon they realized the ground evened out, while the cavern began expanding slowly they could hear the sound of trickling water clearly. Apprehension gripped at Eians gut a mixture of fear, desperation and hope. Soon from a even from a good distance away they saw what awaited them four giant spiders, one of them was a definate alpha sized critter, taunt and ready to defend themselves from their would be invaders and protect the nest. Webs hung everywhere and clearly you could see a few eggs nearby.


    "Of all the bloody luck we could have! Why must there be four!?" Eian clentched his teeth and glared, feeling extremly out of his depth.


    "No helping it man. We have to kill those things. Girls, I''m sorry for saying this but I don''t think we can afford to have you both sit this one out." Alex sighed tiredly and tried not to look at them, ashamed.


    "You can''t mean that Alex! You expect me to fight those things?! They''ll eat me! Definately!" Jessica whispered low as she could while trembling with complete disbelief and fear.


    "Jessica, as much as I''d like to agree with you, Eian can''t fight those things alone. Alex might be able to kill one, but with his leg .......he might be the first to get eaten." Sarah weakly tightened her fists and a shudder ran down her.


    "Here Jessica use this. It''ll be safer for you that way." Alex smiled.


    Alex handed his torch to her, then rubbed his hands together feeling slightly nervous at the idea of fighting one bare-handed.


    "Hey...Ummm guys, I guess I''ll try to take out the big one. Each of you try to hold one off till I can help you. Sorry Sarah I''d give you my torch, but I don''t think I can kill the big one without it." Eian''s breathing quickened, feeling considerably shaky at the thought even with the damn stick.


    "It''s okay, I''ll just try to hold it off till you come help me. Please don''t take too long." Sarah smiled at Eian, trying to portray confidence, but it was ruined a second later as she bit her lip.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Jessica mumbled something under her breath, trembling while holding the stick close, extremely opposed to the idea, but aware they had a point, Alex patted her shoulder gave her a smile and nodded encouragement.


    As they approched the spiders visibly grew more agitated chittering to themselves. As they passed some invisible line the creatures attacked as one horde. Jessica let loose a terrified scream as Eian waited for the opportune time, gripping his weapon so hard it hurt, in preparation for a massive swing with all his might. Alex balanced himself on his good leg with his arm outstreched ready to tackle one, while Sarah did something similar while measuring her breath.


    As the vanguard of the horde neared Eian let loose his swing as it bound towards him in a single leap, the swing threw it slightly off course and Eian felt as if it weighed as much as a half sack of potatoes. Another leapt at him and he had no choice but to nearly toss himself to the side to evade, though it still partially collided unto him throwing them both off balance. Alex jumped and tackled the injured aracnid to prevent it from attacking his friends. Jessica fearful of what to do was frozen, with the second aracnid so close after the collision Sarah had no choice but to try to hold in down with her weight.


    "Jessica help Eian! Theres still another small one kill it! Eian''ll fight the big one!" Sarah screamed with all her lungs.


    Eian quickly recovered as the third smallest aracnid leapt at him, he rolled on instinct and then scrambled up to charge towards the fearsome alpha. Jessica swung the makeshift armament in a weak attempt to injure the third smaller aracnid, however the beast shrugged the attack off and leapt at her. She screamed once more and hastily tried to get the torch between them holding it with both hands, but ultimatly fell to the ground from its weight. Eian engaged the large aracnid swinging for dear life while it weaved and then suddenly it reared back in preparation for a leap.


    Alex managed to wrestle his spider unto its back and pounded his fist on its softer chitin till it cracked and finally caved in. He proceeded to dig his hand into the beast and tear the beasts disgusting squishy organs apart. With great inspiration Eian braced the thicker end of his weapon against his chest and let the aracnids weight impale itself upon the thinner end. The beast screeched at the injury and attempted to rear back, while Eian grunted from the pain on his ribs he pushed the assault impaling it further until it shuddered and went slack.


    Jessica sported a few lacerations on her arms along with several scrapes and bruises from her fall as she kept retreating while crying from the spiders assault. Sarah was still desperatly wrestling her beast, though neither could get the upper hand. Alex being the first to win scrambled up unto his good foot and went to aid Jessica as she was obviously on the losing end of her scuffle. He did a few desperate one legged jumps untill he could grapple Jessica''s spider. Eian after his win pulled out the sticky torch from the dead aracnid and proceeded to swing at the legs of Sarah''s spider. The spider Sarah was fighting went stiff for a moment before disengaging from her while Eian handed the torch to Sarah for protection.


    "I''ll try to hold it down. You kill it. Its safer for you that way." Eian nodded to Sarah, but his breathing was quickening.


    "Yes thanks. I dont want to touch it anymore than I need to." Sarah trembled from her traumatic ordeal, but steadied herself quickly.


    On their side Alex managed to convince Jessica to cave in the head area of the beast while he held it down with his body. Jessica took a few tries but succeeded after a long and thorough session of spearing it. Eian was cornering the injured beast as it slowly backed away and seeing its family dead launched itself at Eian in desperation. He braced himself and caught its legs and pressed it unto the ground for Sarah beat it to death.


    "Well.... that certainly couldn''t have gone much better." Eian gave Sarah a thumbs up, feeling slightly euphoric at being alive.


    "Yes... well Jessica could have done a better job at not getting so injured." Sarah rolled her eyes, then curled her lip at Jessica.


    She pointed towards the sniviling mess of a girl, while Alex consoled her, without touching her of course since he was filthy.


    "Hey calm down Sarah, she''s not used to these things. She''s scared enough as is." Alex frowned at Sarah and defended the poor girl as she was sobbing unconsolably.


    "I''m not angry at her, but she had a weapon and I didn''t. And she still got hurt worse than me. Also none of us are used to these kinds of things Alex." Sarah emptied her face of emotion, feeling a little miffed at the light scolding.


    "Hey, hey, look lets all just calm down okay? We''re all obviously tired and angry at this shitty situation, but we''re alive and thats really all that matters." Eian raised his palms trying to placate everyone.


    "Eian''s right, and I for one want to get all this crap off." Alex sighed obviously vexed, but eager to clean himself.


    Both Sarah and Jessica soon discovered they had developed the strange tattoo marks upon their dominant forearms. Jessica had a Body of one, a mind of three and a spirit of zero. Everyone was surprised to discover Sarah had a Body of one the same as Jessica, but a Mind of four, while spirit was still zero. Jessica managed to calm down enough for them to move on. Eian quickly crushed the three aracnid eggs with his stick as they neared the nest. Sarah motioned for them to stop near some spider silk and grabbing some.


    "Rub that on your injuries, after you clean the wounded area, it will help clot your blood." Sarah pointed as she took some, then moved towards the small stream, which waspassing through some cracks on the wall.


    "How do you even know that?" Eian cocked his head at her, as he too grabbed some and went to clean the scraps he accumilated from his fall.


    Jessica visibly crinkled her face, now that she had recovered enough to feel disgust.


    "I for one am happy I can treat this damn leg. Hopefully I''ll be able to walk better by tomorrow." Alex smiled at Jessica''s face, and he hobbled towards the stream to clean the filth from his body.


    They all took some time to rest and lick their wounds, as well as sate their thirst. The girls insisted the men head a bit foward. The other girl observed them to prevent any preverse thoughts they may harbor whilst one of them bathed. Eian and Alex rubbed water on their bodies, after asking for some privacy from the girls not really caring if they looked. Eian had however noticed something curious upon his forearm tattoo as he had cleaned up.

 Dream 4

    Do you like surprises? How do most people react to surprises? Most people dislike surprises, we all fit into our cozy lives and live life hoping everything goes the way we want. Surprises, however good or bad are a large part of life. Be it suddenly finding yourself without a job, getting a speeding ticket or finding a hundred dollar bill on the ground. Those are all normal things we experience throught out lives. How you adapt to what life throws your way determines your character. Will you adapt and evolve or stay the same repeating the mistakes of the past? Eian didn''t know how to react to the pulsing glow of the tattoos on his forearm. When they first appeared he was surprised, but gradually ignored it as he had other more important things to worry about. Such as staying alive.


    "Ummm guys my tattoos sort of blinking." Eian scratched his head with some trepidation.


    "What? What do you mean Eian? Does it feel alright?" Alex frowned with concern and looked at him.


    "Does it hurt?" Sarah lifted an eyebrow.


    "No actually it doesn''t hurt, but it''s making me super nervous. You guys think I broke it somehow?" Eian crinkled his brow at his arm, feeling anxious about the cause and effect.


    Eian proceeded to touch his tattoo gently, when suddenly the mark which read Body glowed brighter than the rest and the entire thing stopped blinking. An electric spike of electricity spiked through his body starting from his heart. The sensation was uncomfortable and very similar to how a numbed leg feels when blood rushes back into it. He fell to the ground breathing in ackwardly in quick short breaths, while his companions freaked out.


    "Eian! Dude! Buddy! You okay man?! What the hell!" Alex jumped as he watched him stumble to the ground, but unable to run to him due to his injured leg.


    Sarah raced over to his side to try to help and tried to feel vitals.


    "What''s wrong with him!?" Jessica freaked and shrunk back, worried he had suffered a stroke.


    "Hey. Hey calm down guys. I think I''m okay. That thing just caught me by surprise. My tattoo reading Body''s glowing brighter than the other two now though and I felt like I swallowed a thunderbolt. I just feel full of adrenaline now though." Eian rubbed his eyes while explaining, as he got up with Sarah''s help.


    After a short while of concern for his health the group calmed down. Eian felt weird his body was filled to the brim with unused energy and he felt he could run a thousand miles. Sarah and Alex kept asking him if the tattoo had changed and he replied the red Body part was just glowing, but nothing apart from that had changed. Jessica was more restrained as she was still emotionally drained from crying after her last fight and to be honest she didn''t particularly care all that much at the moment. They decided to keep moving and as they couldn''t store the water anywhere they decided to drink little over their fill.


    "I wonder if this thing''s permanent. I feel like my bodies on overdrive." Eian commented out of nowhere as he cracked his neck lightly.


    "Well good for you. I wonder why it was glowing in the first place?" Alex scratched his head and watched curiously.


    "Who cares? We can think and talk all day, but we won''t get any closer to getting out if we do it all day." Jessica slumped dejectedly and stared at the ground frowning.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "I think it has to do with him killing the big aracnid." Sarah assumed aloud, while ignoring Jessicas pessimism.


    "It wasn''t glowing immediately after I killed it thought. I''m one hundred percent sure." Eian shook his head, confident in his remark.


    "What if it''s because he broke the eggs too? Did you check it then?" Alex had a thoughful look while trying to follow along Sarah''s train of thought.


    "Actually.... now that you mention it. No I didn''t check it after the eggs." Eian stared up at the ceiling whilst remembering.


    "Hey back to my magic idea. You think it could be the marks altering you?" Sarah grinned excitiedly.


    "I''m not sure... I feel like somethings happening on the inside, but even if thats true how long will it take?" Eian shrugged.


    "Ugh.. Lets just get out as fast as we can and discuss this when we get out please. I''m tired and I''m sure we''ll be hungry soon too." Jessica announced aloud while playing with her hair.


    Silence once more descended as they once more thought of their food, or as the circumstances dictated the lack of it. None of them were keen on the idea of eating spider flesh, also they weren''t sure it was even edible. The glowing mushrooms were probably going to kill them if consumed, so that too was out. They also had other problems such as giant freaking spiders and freaky glowing arm tattoos, though the latter was probably not bad for them. Who knew how many of those things were in these tunnels and though they weren''t was difficult to kill as they had first assumed it wasn''t exactly something they wanted to keep doing. On that though Eian had more to say.


    "We all need at least one torch per person. I don''t like how both Sarah and Alex were struggling due to not having one." Eian looked at each of them briefly.


    "There I agree with you man. I''m definately not looking foward to getting covered in goo again." Alex shuddered with disgust clearly showing on his face.


    "Yes and I don''t want to wrestle with one like a monkey on a dog." Sarah shuddered remembering the feel of its coarse hair as she grabbed on for dear life.


    Jessica shivered and moaned remembering those horrible things.


    "We should have all grabbed one when we saw some back there before the first three spiders. Think we should go back?" Alex sighed sounding not too keen on the idea.


    "Hell no. The sooner we''re out the sooner I''m happy. We''ll probably find some more eventually or something better." Eian shook his head and the rest agreed readily.


    Slowly the cave shrunk back to a passageway and they stumbled upon a pair of regular giant spiders, if you could ever consider giant spider such. Eian dispatched one alone and Alex killed another with help from Sarah, while Jessica watched from behind. Alexanders tattoos also began to blink and he informed the others.


    "What do you guys think I should do?" Alex''s eyes darted about as he asked slightly worried over what occured with Eian.


    "Just get it over with man. I suggest you sit though. Don''t want to scrape your knees by mistake." Eian gave a shrug.


    "Wait! Wait! Try touching either the green one or the blue one." Sarah quickly intervened and was nodding.


    "Hold on. Please Alex be careful. Aren''t you guys being too hasty about this? Let''s talk it over. There''s no guarantee the same thing that happened to Eian will happen to Alex." Jessica frowned with worry in her voice.


    "Well that''s true Jess, but do you really think I can go on without ever touching my forearm? What if I do it by mistake when I sleep or worse during a fight?" Alex shrugged.


    "I still say you should try the green one or the blue one. It''ll show us if theres a different effect for each color. I think Eian touched the red part first thats why its glowing." Sarah explained carefully.


    "Your life your choice Alex. I''m not gonna tell you what to do." Eian said neutrally and shrugged again.


    "Well... I guess I''ll go with blue. I can''t say I''m not curious if it''s magic." Alex nodded after a split second careful decision.


    "Just be careful please and sit down Eian''s right. You guys are idiots enough as is without bumping your heads." Jessica sighed with worry and shook her head.


    Slowly Alexander sat down as to not hurt himself, especially his injured leg. He observed his fore-arm with caution and dwelled on the possibility of magic. He mentally asked himself what could have possibly lead him here debating this surreal chain of events. Quickly before he could second doubt himself he touched the blue tattoo which read Spirit:0. The world fell away from him in a flood of white.

 Dream 5

    Dreams are a curiosity and people use the term for a few diffrent ideas. We use the term dream for an experience or memory we percieve while asleep. It is also used to refer to your aspirations or goals in life. Curiously we usually don''t know when we are dreaming most of the time and we usually shrug off anything that doesn''t make sense in one. Some actually do know when they''re dreaming though and have even developed techniques to know when they are experiencing one. People invent many reasons as to why we dream what we dream. Among them people believe we see the future in dreams, while others believe higher beings speak to us through them and other simply think they are our minds concocting our past experiences with our imagination.


    Whatever be the case Alexander Faber had never felt such a life-like lucid dream. He was standing on a small round platform with three sets of steps going all around it for his descent. What really caught his attention however were the doors. Six distinct "doors", perhaps entrances were a better description, were arrayed around him. The first was a curtain of flame burning blue, red then green in an entrancing rainbow dance. Immediately to it''s right was the door of air with a raging whirlwind with wind so dense Alex couldn''t see past it. Beside the wind was a dense foilage of leafy vines and vibrant flowers which favored the approximation of a living door of nature. A frozen block of spiked ice made the next door, resembling the inside of an iron maiden, which was directly opposing the door of flame. The door of stone was a slab of solid rock decorated by a wondrous pattern of percious gems in the vague outline of a mountain, it opposed the whirlwind door. The last door was a door made solely of welded skulls giving an ominous feel to it, while opposing the door of vines.


    "Okay, now this is a little off putting...." Alex scratched his head and allowed himself to digest his surroundings.


    "I''m guessing I have to choose one? And this is some sort of weird magic dream?" Alex concluded after half-heartedly scanning the area.


    "Man this is driving me nuts. I wish Jess was here, or better all three and they could help me choose." Alex mussed aloud after a short pause and sighed.


    In his mind Alex concluded fire was out due to his unwillingness to be burnt by the door even in a dream. He wasn''t sure what would happen if he got hurt in here, but he sure wasn''t going to test it out. He quickly crossed out the door of skulls as well as it was creepy. The whirlwind held little appeal as he couldn''t envision any benifits and he wasn''t sure he wanted to jump through and take a chance at whatever may be on the other side. The icy spikes were also off-putting if the inside was anything like the outside he could slip and impale himself. That left the door of stone and the door of vines, both which were on the immediate sides of the spiky ice door.


    "I''d flip a coin if I had one...The stone doors looks pretty sweet, especially with those gems and if it somehow gives me magic over stone it could be useful in a cave." Alex had his brows furrowed and tried to decipher the situation.


    "Then again if the vine door gives me nature magic maybe I could grow food and stop us from starving or something." Alex tilted his head and scratched his neck, he was getting pretty good at speaking to himself.


    He stayed there for a minute debating the possible benifits. Until he decided to go with the vague chance of food.


    After all what use were gems if you die of hunger? He had to think of the group and who knows when they would find food in that damn cave. He approched and soon the other doors faded from the dream leaving him standing before the vines. He grabbed the wooden knob, twisted and pushed with all his might.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ********


    He blinked and came to himself.


    "Alex you okay?" Eian stared at him, rubbing his own jaw.


    Extruciating pain shot through Alexander and he let loose a primal scream.


    "ALEX!" Jessica''s voice pitched.


    The trio watched as in horror as Alexander howled, thrashed and suffered through the unimaginable. Eian struggled to hold him down to prevent him from harming himself, though Alex was stronger and frentic. Jessica was crying and hysteric, while Sarah sat with a pale face wondering if she sentenced him to death. Eian didn''t have much time to think at all as Alex was well built, but with his new surge of Adrenaline he felt he could at least hold his own.


    It felt like an eternity, the pain was beyond physical, worse than any migrane, something insubstancial within him was twisting, streching and growing within Alex. The pain lessened and Alex stopped screaming his throat raw and his body went lax his energy spent.


    "This is all your fault! Sarah! I told you guys. I told you to think it through!" Jessica stabbed a finger accussingly toward Sarah whose wyes were wide and breathing uneven.


    Sarah took a step backwards and she looked lost.


    "Hey calm down guys. He''s still breathing and he''s awake." Eian lifted both palms soothingly, hoping to evade an argument.


    "So what! That doesn''t mean something''s not wrong with him! What if he''s an idiot or if he has internal bleeding or or or ..." Jessica pulled at her hair and broke down into a snivling mess.


    "I''m.... Okay." Alex voice sounded small and week, he tried to smile, but his throat felt sanded downed and was obviously raw.


    "Alex I''m soooo sooo sorry. I didn''t think you would go through that. Eian was fine after a quick minute." Sarah stared at his eye and apologized sincerly.


    Alex shook his head in denial, coughing he continued shaking his head, but he didn''t want to speak anymore than he needed to at the moment, every word felt like it would tear his throat.


    "I think we need to move guys. We proably shouldn''t stick around after all that screaming." Eian said nervously and glanced towards the exit.


    The group agreed, though Jessica wanted to wait for Alex to recover. Alex shrugged it off as the pain receaded to a dull metaphysical ache. He would eventually tell them about his strange encounter, preferably when he could talk better though. They pressed onwards in hopes of salvation. They knew they would need food, though none felt anything resembling fatigue yet. The tunnel had many twists and turns and Eian focused on his hearing attempting to spot any oddities. A two sets of paired giant spiders were encountered but Eian and Sarah dispatched them as Alex was in no condition for a fight. Sarahs tattoo began to glow and this time the group wasn''t surprised.


    "Since Alex risked the blue, I''ll risk the green." She resolutely declared and nodded to herself.


    "You sure? You could just go with red. I didn''t feel too off from it and its obviously the safest." Eian rubbed his head and looked over at her.


    "Yes, I''m sure. It''s my idea that these things are magical and we have to learn what we''re dealing with. It''s not fair to Alex that he had to suffer for my idea." Sarah took a deep breathe to remain brave.


    Jessica glared, but remained silent obviously harbouring some animousity, while Alex gazed at her helplessly, but respected her decision and courage. Eian was worried, but if the other two colors were anything to go by nothing deadly occured from them, though he wasn''t too trilled about ever trying the blue. Sarah pressed down on the green which read Mind:4. Upon the top of her head she felt an ice-cold feeze, comparable to extreme brain-freeze, which sent shivers down her spine. She squeezed her eyeslids shut from the freeze so tight she began seeing vague flashing lights even with her eyes closed. The icy-sensation proceed to "melt" and pour down through-out the inside of her cranium. Shortly she was blinking as she stared around and felt mostly normal except the coolish sensation in her skull, which was rather refreshing.


    "Huh... That wasn''t so bad. I actually feel pretty good." Sarah avoided looking at Alex, and had a shy apologetic smile.


    "Hahahahaha!.... Looks like you got the shit-end of the deal Alex." Eian grinned and pointed at him, happy Sarah''s brain didn''t melt, though he was almost certain that wouldn''t have happened.


    Both Alex and Jessica gave him the stink-eye, as he devoled into a minor fit of childish giggling. Sarah remained with her apologetic smile towards Alex. After Eian gathered his wits, they once more set off.

 Dream 6

    Paths, so many of choices. Growing up people tend to ask you what career,or trade, your going to take and sometimes you don''t really know until last minute when your faced with the choice. Children especially will sometimes say they want to be what one of their parents are, wholly disregarding the fact they are ignorant of what it entails. Sometimes though we don''t have the luxary of choice and you are forced into something we didn''t choose. These four young adults were facing such a situation with heartache as the gazed upon the path denied to them.


    The cave split into three seperate paths, that however was not the cause of their heartache. The one on the uttmost left and the middle path led into further tunnels similar to the one they were traveling earlier. The path to the utmost right clearly led to a paved brick stairway leading upwards with visible light raidiating from it. It was also blocked by sturdy metal bars. No matter how much Alex and Eian heaved and strained they couldn''t bend it to cross through. They tried yelling and screaming for help, but no one came.


    "This is some fucking bullshit!" Eian was red faced and breathing heavily from exersion as he lay down from sheer fustration.


    Alex grated out a growl. He had lost his compusure at the brief glimpse of hope which was quickly and cruelly dashed. His throat itched and the growl caused his throat to tear and he spat out some blood.


    "ALEX? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? HELLO!! HELP PLEASE!! HELP!" Jessica continued yelling looking disheaveled and desperate.


    "Alex try not to talk too much your throat is still raw from your ordeal, and Jessica, stop yelling you''re hurting my ears. If anyone was coming we they would have by now." Sarah shook her head and spoke deadpanned.


    "Fuck! WHAT NOW?" Eian was trying to calm the burning rage he felt in his heart, it wouldn''t help him in anyway at the moment.


    "The only thing we can do. Try another tunnel and hope they lead to another exit." Sarah sighed even as she lamented the thought.


    They bickered over the details for a minute until it was decided they would go with the middle path. They had not encountered any spiders since Sarah''s tattoo blinked. That soon changed, but only one measly spider was backed into a crevice and Eian killed it easily as it had nowhere to escape. The problem came after as his tattoo once more began to blink. This time however only Mind and Spirit were blinking, while Body remained its abnormal highlighted color. He attempted to re-select Body, but nothing happened.


    "My tattoo started glowing again." Eian stated ominously and frowned again.


    "What did you pick?" Sarah quickly asked noticing his distinct lack of reaction.


    "Nothing yet. The red Body''s not blinking, just the other two. It won''t let me reselect the red." Eian had his eyes focus on his options.


    "That''s strange. I think you should chose Mind, we can''t afford to have you screaming like Alex right now." Sarah shrugged.


    Alex grunted at the graff and frowned slightly.


    "Shhhh.. don''t make sounds. Sarah stop it." Jessica murderously glared at Sarah.


    "Sorry. I''m not trying to offend you Alex. I''m sure what you went throught justified the screaming. I just don''t think it''s a good idea to have Eian do the same right now." Sarah wrung her hands and apologized to which Alex nodded.


    Discussion over Eian selected the Mind:3 on his tattoo and felt the same brain freeze effect begin at the top of his head and spread to his crainum. After quickly comparing the results with Sarah they confirmed it was the same effect they both endured. They still had many questions about the strange situation they found themselves in though.


    "At least now we know for sure, that none of the effects are lethal to us." Sarah had her index finger up and Alex grunted at her with a smirk on his face.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Yeah I''m not looking foward to selecting Spirit though. I''m hoping Body goes back to normal so I can reselect it. How long have we been here anyways?" Eian said with a frown on his face as his eyes darted about the place.


    "I''d say about four hours, more or less, since we woke up till now. We spent quite some time washing outselves. Feels like a lot more though." Sarah had her eyes to the ceiling, while thinking back to the beginning.


    "Four Hours? You sure? It feels like five or six at least." Eian''s eyes widened and he stared at her.


    "Pretty sure. I have a good internal clock." Sarah smiled with a hint of pride.


    "Wow, for sure I thought it was more than that. Anyways lets keep going. Want not, waste not." Eian shrugged and he didn''t even know how that applied right now.


    The group marched on through the dim lighting and eerie vibe. They had already grown used to expecting the minor danger the spiders posed and they had already discovered that they only posed a risk in big numbers. They could swarm you and the bites weren''t bad unless they caught something important, like an artery or a hamstring. They encountered something soon that had them cautious however. The skeletal corpse of a lone child warrior armed with nothing but a tiny spear, which couldn''t be much longer than two feet with just over an inch in diameter thick. It lay on the floor scattered in pieces and something had obviously picked the corpse clean. After a small session of swearing and saddness at the poor childs death they discussed what the corpse implied.


    "So... I''m guessing this means we''re not the only ones whom have been brought here." Eian frowned with narrow eyes, he believed he had his voice steady, though on the inside he was resisting the urge to vomit.


    "Why would anyone bring a child here? That''s so cruel and sad. Whomever is doing this is a murderer." Jessica was shaking.


    Alex nodded along with her, disgust written on his face.


    "Eian take the spear. Your the one in the best overall physical condition, give your stick to Alex." Sarah swallowed nervously, she wanted to get this over with.


    "Sure. Here Alex have my rod of glory. It''s drentched with insecticide" Eian smiled to which Alex rolled him eyes in an exaggerated manner.


    The continued walking for a while.


    "You think there may be more people here? Like right now?" Jessica eyes brightened with hope, despite the circumstances to which Sarah sighed.


    "There might be, but encountering other people could actually go very badly for us. Especially if the group is bigger than ours, maybe even if its the same size with the condition in which we''re in." Sarah shook her head with a sad face.


    "She''s right you know. We have no idea how long those people could have been here and I''ve watched enough cannibal movies to know people are sick." Eian looked over his shoulder as he rubbed his belly which felt a bit odd now.


    "Well there''s also the issue that they might be only, oh I don''t know, MEN. We have two girls here and we''re not exactly ugly." Sarah held her hips and leaned forward with extra emphasis, to which Eian winced and Jessica paled.


    "Thanks Alex." Jessica replied, while trying to smile at the consoling pat and smile Alex gave her.


    "I''m hating this more and more. It''s not like we need people problems to top everything off." Eian sighed dejectedly.


    As they continued onwards they began to notice more bones hap-hazardly scattered about the place. A tiny skull here, a pelvic bone there and so on. None of the bones appeared to be adult sized and a few thick strands of webbing were appearing more often. No other weapons were found however and the molty crew began to worry when they heard some crunching. It didn''t take long for them to learn what was making the noise.


    "Fuck me! That has to be the biggest fucker we''ve seen yet...." Eian remarked and grit his teeth.


    "I think... I think it''s eating another spider...." Jessica whispered fearfully, while clinging to Alex tighter.


    "It must be a female. I think......they eat their mates sometimes." Sarah lectured as she tried to peer deeper into the darkness for a better look.


    "Wow... talk about a man-eating cradle-robber. The bitch is almost thrice his size." Eian remarked shook his head.


    "Male spiders are always smaller stupid." Sarah rolled her eyes and waved one hand dimissively.


    Eian ignored her remark, he had a job to do and slowly he edged closer. Surprisingly Sarah followed shortly behind him for which he was grateful. As they neared the spider turnt and reared its front legs threatheningly. Eian felt conflicted by his new weapn while happy it had a metal pointy end, it was noticably shorter, which meant he had to get closer for a kill.


    The beast jumped at him and he realized he couldn''t dodge or Sarah would get hit. He reattempted his previous tactic and speared the spider with it''s own weight. The spear sunk in almost completely, but its weight threw him on his ass with the spider over head. The spider thrashed in it''s attempt to bite him. He bearly held it at bay bearly, by grabbing its upper torso and pushing upwards with all his might. Sarah being a saint with a heart of gold at the moment was bashing at the foul bitch. It succumbed to something eventually, but by then Eian didn''t care who killed it.


    ''I need a better job, maybe playing damsel in distress isn''t so bad.'' Eian sighed, shook his head and got up.

 Dream 7

    There''s a common saying which states you don''t know what you have till you''ve lost it. We never truly appreciate what we have, the convenience of toilets, showers or the miracle of soap and toothpaste. These things are all small and individually they don''t make much diffrence, but altogether wtihout them we would be little better than apes. These conveniences were all denied to this group and Eian personally was beginning to feel the after effects of the lack of convenience. How he ended up under a giant spider bathing in some of its innards, while attempting to extract his spear was a damn good question in his head.


    "This shit sucks. If I don''t get a proper shower by the end of the day I''m going to smell worse than pig-shit." Eian was feeling weary of all the combat he had recently undergone, he sighed and rubbed his face.


    "Ughh... Don''t remind me please, you and Alex already smell." Jessica turned up her nose at them and contorted her face, while Alex looked mildly embarrassed, she was helping him walk.


    "We''re all going to smell bad soon. Alex and Eian just smell worse becasue they''ve been getting covered in spider juice. Best get used to it, unless one of you happens to know how to make scented soap." Sarah rolled her eyes at her.


    "I''d give anything for a burger right now. Well,...... on second thought maybe not anything." Eian rubbed his belly and sighed after thinking what pieces he wouldn''t want losing.


    "Your covered in that, and you feel hungry?" Jessica lifted an eyebrow increduously at him, feeling only a slight tinge in her belly.


    "Killing the forces of evil is hungry work." Eian straightened up proudly, though he himself was wondering as to why he felt so hungry, he could usually go without breakfast and lunch for quite some time.


    "Pphhh. What evil? They''re just big spiders." Jessica teased lightly and grinned.


    "I don''t see you lining up to kill them. You want to try? Feel free." Eian frowned then glared, he didn''t appreciate her mocking his efforts.


    "Eian, we''re all stressed. Jessica, Eian''s obviously dirty, hungry and angry try not to aggravate him please. We have more important things to worry about." Sarah stepped between the group, trying to focus them.


    Eian continued to grumble under his breath about fairness, while Jessica quieted down. There were a few eggs laying about and Eian voted Sarah break as he didn''t want another glowing tattoo at the moment. She managed to crush a total of four eggs, but still didn''t get another glow on her tattoos, it was obvious the eggs gave far less than spiders. They got up and continued their trek, paying close attention to their surroundings. Eian being in front heard something crunching and quickly motioned them to stop.


    "Might be another bitch." Eian whispered apprehensively, though he thought perhaps Jessica fit the description as well.


    "It can probably hear us you know, animals tend to have better senses than people. Go on." Sarah narrowed her eyes at the monster.


    Eian began to suspect showing off her big brain helped her cope.


    "No use stalling then lets go." Eian breathed in, grit his teeth and resolved himself to a fight.


    Soon the dim lighting revealed the source. At first Eian noticed the it chewing down on one of the smallest of the large spiders he had seen in the cave to date. A snake was the first thing that occured in Eian''s head, but soon realized snakes swallow their food whole and then squinting he spotted what could have been some limbs. It was clearly a large reptile of some sort, and he had a healthy dose of deino-phobia to know he wasn''t too thrilled of getting close. Whatever it was, it halted its meal and was blatantly staring at them as if taunting them to come near.


    "What exactly is it?" Eian drawled out, while on the alert and looked at it funny.


    "Looks like a.......komodo dragon, but spikier. Maybe a big iguana?" Sarah squinted, then looked at the ceiling with a far off look.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    She seemed to be trying to remember something she read.


    "Sure.... why the hell not... Big spiders. Big Iguanas. What''s next big Bats? Just supersize everything in the damn cave why don''t you?" Eian sighed dejectedly.


    "That''s weird though, reptiles are cold-blooded. I''m not sure they can live inside this kind of cave." Sarah bit her lip and was focusing on what little she remember about lizards.


    "Eian, just hurry up and kill it. I want to keep going." Jessica pointed at the thing.


    "Yes! At once your royal highness! Your wish is my command. Want me to carry your handsome boy-toy on my back, while I''m at it?" Eian sneered and shook his head at her, he was beginning to grow tired of her attitude.


    Sarah shot them both a dirty look and Alex smirked at the banter, he hadn''t seen much of this since highschool. Eian quickly gathered his wits, its just an overgrown geko he thought. At least with lizards you actually know where the brain is. He recited a mantra over and over in his head, pointy end goes in the head. He edged closer and closer slowly building up his courage, but he knew lizards were fast bastards so he was extra-careful. The lizard had the gall to cock its head to the side as he was working his was slowly to him and suddenly at about five yards away the lizard sprung into action. It bolted in the opposite direction leaving a confused, but relieved Eian gaping at its absence.


    "Well... That was unexpected." Eian knit his brows and close his jaw after recovering his senses.


    "Not really. It''s eaten and we''re four against one. I''m actually surprised the spiders haven''t been doing something similar. Let''s keep going." Sarah shrugged.


    "Hopefully all the other animals will run too." Jessica breathed out a sigh of relief with what little hope she could muster.


    They followed the tunnel futher and heard something make noise directly up ahead. This part of the cave held less glowing mushrooms than usual imparing their vision, but Eian thought he saw movement up ahead. They snailed their way closer till they saw the outline of five children jumping and hooting at something. Suddenly the kids spotted them and went dead silent. Quickly as one they shreiked in an inhumane voice and rushed towards them holding armaments.


    "Holy shit! Goblins!" Eian hollered and his eyes went wide, even he knew what ugly little green people were.


    "What!?" Sara yelped bewildered by the turn of events; spiders and lizards were one thing, but little green people?


    "Kill them! Quick!" Jessica screamed at no one in particular, as she freaked at the unwelcome addition of those abominations and let go of Alex.


    "Mmmm" Alex nodded his readiness for battle as he gripped his torch-staff for battle as he hobbled foward on one leg.


    Eian held his spear as he would a bat and the first one to approach got a powerful swing to the skull with the pointy end of the spear. The second lunged his own spear at Eian and he was forced to scramble backwards waving his spear defensively to prevent getting impaled. Sarah in a valiant rescue effort jabbed her staff at Eian''s assailant catching it in the jaw sending it tumbling and defesively blocked attacks from a third goblin. Alex released the most powerful swing he could muster at the fourth goblin, while the fifth attempted to stab him. Faster than he thought possible Alex batted the spear away with sheer luck with one hand and then grabbed it on his second attempt.


    Eian stabbed the goblin Sarah threw to the floor on the head taking it out and quickly ensured the first wasn''t getting up. Sarah managed to dislodge the spear from her combatants hands and it fled in fear. Alex one handedly cracked the fifth goblin on the skull and caved in its skull with a few vicious strikes. The fourth goblin was dazed on the floor from Alex''s initial viking swing and was dragging itself on the floor pathetically, Sarah clubbed it on the head to death. Silence descended upon the group and retching sounds were soon heard in Jessicas vicinity.


    "I....What should we do?" Eian looked around quickly, eyes wide and confused, mind in turmoil.


    "Those things!... They were going to kill us! We did the right thing." Sarah screeched, though she was feeling a light headed and nauceous, while avioding looking at the aftermath.


    Alex was breathing heavily and rubbing his forehead. Jessica was wiping her mouth and trembling with the implication of their actions. Eian was trying to convince himself they were monsters, but they were vaguely human in shape and that in itself was disturbing. Sarah was the first to fully master herself.


    "Look, if they were people, they wouldn''t have just come at us like little monsters. They would have at least done a warning call." Sarah solemly declared and nodded, she had to reasure them or they would waste time.


    "How can you say that? They might have just thought we were monsters." Jessica''s eyes and tone implied the verge of yet another break-down.


    "IF?! If they thought we were monsters, they would have run away! That one I was fighting did after it lost." Sarah reasoned, while attempting to console them.


    "Sarah''s right. Those little shits wanted to kill us. Even if they were people, we have the right to defend ourselves." Eian had calmed down and nodded along with Sarah, he wasn''t about to just sit and wait for something to kill him.


    Eian got up and went to check the original spot the little monsters had congregated. He called the group over alterting them to the situation. Jessica once more supported Alex with walking and Sarah collected the weapons on the floor as they shambled over. There speared to death was the iguana they had first spotted , or at least one that favored it greatly.

 Dream 8

    Food''s an important aspect of the cycle of life. To eat is to live, yet most people don''t actually go out and scavange their own food. Children''s media likes to portray nature as animals running around wild and free, coexisting in peace. Well they''ve got the wild part right and if you consider a deer running for dear life then that''s true too. Coexisting is the problem. Some animals will devour their young if there''s no other food around, and some sharks begin canibalizing their siblings in the womb. We all want to live and to do so we need to eat, even if it sometimes curls the stomach.


    "Well... Do you think we can eat it? I think my grandparents once mentioned some family members ate iguana and called it bamboo chicken." Eian asked finding the idea repulsive, but not as much as he would have a few hours ago.


    "That''s disgusting!" Jessica yelled, once more feeling ill at the thought.


    "I think so. Your right, I think certain countries eat them as a delicacy and those goblins were probably going to eat it." Sarah observed, she didn''t mention they would have probably eaten them too.


    "Ugh" Alex sighed as his throat was still raw.


    "Well it''s either spider or iguana your choice." Eian taunted Jessica enjoying her discomfort.


    "Don''t get ahead of yourself Eian. How are you going to cook it?" Sarah asked.


    "Umm... " Eian stuttered looking for any combustable material.


    "Exactly. We don''t have anything to burn except these weapons and I wager its impossible without thin strips of tinder." Sarah stated, helfting their five new spears.


    "You want to just leave it here? This is perfectly good meat! Also we haven''t eaten since we got here!" Eian exclaimed feeling hunger pangs.


    "Of course not. Just cut it up into thin strips or something. We''ll carry it till we find something to cook it with. If we can''t find anything we''ll have to try the sticks on hand." Sarah reasoned, but she didn''t sound too enthusiastic.


    "Carry it in what exactly? We only have two hands each and we need them to protect ourselves." Jessica inquired nervously, unwilling to touch raw bloody meat.


    A brief silence ensued as they all debated the minor set-back. Alex grunted and pointed at Eian, which drew questioning looks at him. Sighing he pinched his shirt and pulled at it lightly a few times, then he pointed to Eian. The idea wasn''t Eian''s favorite.


    "You want me to go around shirtless?" Eian questioned and suddenly felt self concious, to which Alex shrugged and pulled at his as well.


    "Well I guess we can fashion something out of those." Sarah smirked noticing Eian''s nervousness.


    "Ughh... A few hours and we''re already reverting back to cave people. Are we going to use their pants next, because I sure as hell am never going to strip." Jessica fussed irritably.


    "Hey! What''s your problem?! Your the most useless one here and bitch the most!" Eian demanded, but reigned in anything more aggressive he had to say.


    Everyone stood stunned at his outburst. Eian calmed down and looked away in shame. Jessica huffed and looked away from him and felt both embarassed and angry. Alex patted her consolingly and stared at Eian frowning disapprovingly. Sarah attempting to evade more confrontations decided to move on.


    "Eian, sorry but Alex is right, please take off your shirts." Sarah asked kindly.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Alright. And....I''m sorry." Eian said redfaced, even as he struggled to get the words towards Jessica.


    "Hmpft." Jessica grunted and resolved to ignore the bastard.


    Both Alex and Eian took off their shirts and handed them over to Sarah. Eian as the sole uninjured male was incharge of butchering the lizard into large carriable chunks. He had a tough time carving it out with the little tip of the spear, not to mention the shaft was in the way. The last of Eian''s Adrenaline rush died down by the end. Eventually they managed to load up what they could carry and Sarah noticed something odd in Eian''s figure.


    "Eian were....were you also so thin?" Sarah tiled her head as she inquired, hoping it wouldn''t be taken as an advance.


    "Huh?.... Wow! I''m not exactly atlethic back home!" Eian was inspecting his figure noticing both a distinct reduction of fat and outlines of what could only be muscle.


    "That has to be an effect from the tattoo. There''s no way you could have changed so fast normally." Sarah said excited at vivid proof of her theory.


    "The adrenaline thing wore off though." Eian said as he inspected his tattoo, which read Body:3, Mind:3, Spirit:0, though the Mind was still glowing.


    "What''s it say?" Sarah inquired excitedly.


    "Body changed to three and stopped glowing and Mind is still 3 but its glowing." Eian replied eliciting a smile from Sarah.


    "That must be why you''re so hungry. Your body had to take the mass from somewhere and the glowing must be an indication of an upgrade." Sarah thought aloud, musing possible benifits.


    Though not as toned as Alex, Eian certainly had a more distinct figure now than at the start of their adventures. Sarah and Eian discussed how he was feeling and what each attribute could entail in total, but they lacked results to draw conclusive answers. Alex was extremely curious, but his throat wasn''t going to get better if he spoke. Jessica was intrigued by the possibilities, but refused to participate in discourse with the bastard Eian. Eian''s belly growled and he suggested they keep going in search of tinder. They packed the meat chucnks into the shirts and both Sarah and Eian carried them, but were ready to dump them incase of an emergency.


    Everyone was walking when Alex noticed his tattoo had also stopped glowing. It now read Body: 3, Mind:3 and Spirit:1. It left him feeling odd and due to his current speaking disability he had time to contemplate his strange experience. He wondered what that vine door could have possibly done to him and why he hurt so much afterwards. He tried a few crazy ideas attempting to perform magic staring at mushrooms willing them to grow bigger. Soon he grew tired of failure and gave up, whatever spirit did he couldn''t say. The group neared a crossroad''s with five diffrent turns frigthening the group.


    "We could get lost in here..." Jessica moaned sorrowfully.


    "Hey its another geko.. I mean..um Iguana." Eian called out as he saw the it near the tunnel between the middle and utmost right.


    "I don''t think they can live in here. They have to be able to get out somehow." Sarah hoped, the group visibly perked at the idea of another exit.


    "Let''s just not get lost please." Jessica said on the off-hand.


    "Don''t worry I''ll keep track of where we''re going." Sarah replied to her with a smile.


    They approached the overgrown Lizard and it visibly moved away from them a bit. As they near again it sped off and the team attempted to give chase. Alex could''nt keep up on one good leg unfortunately. They soon lost it on a curve which led to a split of two tunnels.


    "Fuck!" Eian hollered upset at losing their possible ticket to the outside.


    "Relax Eian. We might still find it." Sarah tried to remain confident despite the circumstances.


    "Not if we keep running into splits. This whole place is a damn maze!" Eian replied vexxed.


    "Let''s just pick one and try to see if it leads to an exit." Jessica stated, with fading hope in her eyes.


    Alexander stood silent with remorseful pain in his heart. He''d let them down, for all his effort they couldn''t keep up because of him. He felt helpess on one good leg. He was the fittest and stongest, he should have been contributing the most, not dragging them down. He looked at his injury, a haunting reminder of carelessness. He clenched his injured calf in depsonence and the pain began.


    "MRRGGH" Alex grit his teeth in agony.


    "What!? Alex?! What did you do? What did you do!?" Jessica screamed as Alex fell to the ground moaning.


    "Is he okay!?" Eian rushed over worried.


    "Did he pick Spirit again?! How?!" Sarah questioned.


    "I think it''s his injury!" Jessica said watching Alex hold his leg in pain.


    They quickly removed the rough bandage of spider silk and a strip of torn pants. Sarah, Eian and Jessica gaped at the injured calf. Alex looked down upon it and had his brows furrowed as if contemplating something profound. The injury had visibly healed far more than should have been physically possible in such a short amount of time.

 Dream 9

    Ever heard the saying "no pain, no gain"? The reasoning behind it doesn''t necessarily directly mean pain. To buy something at a store you require funds and to get those funds someone has to put in work for it. Do you want better grades? Well you have to study hard, either that or bribe the teacher. Even the rich whom don''t lift a single finger for their wealth, got there on the labour someone put in. Sometimes however the literal meaning holds true and to get what you want, you have to suffer for it.


    "He......he just got hurt a few hours ago?!" Eian questioned the miraculous healing.


    "We''ve already established magic is real Eian." Sarah bit her lip, she was attempting to keep her emotions in check.


    "Who cares?! Alex is getting better!" Jessica said with a happy smile on her face.


    Alexander was still contemplating the speed of the healing, he ignored their ramblings. He focused on his leg, felt his desire burn hot and directed it towards his leg. He was prepared for the pain this time, though he bared his teeth in agony. The wound slowly mended, which was disturbing in itself to watch in action. Flesh wriggled simliar to intense cramps, while blood visibly pumped out as blood vessels stretched and knit themselves together. Muscle fibers reconnected, elicting groans from Alexander. Finally hairless baby flesh washed over, covering the injury in its entirity. By the end Alex was sweating bullets and out of breath.


    "Holy Shit! That was the weirdest thing I''ve ever seen." Eian''s wide eyes declared his honesty.


    "Real Magic! I knew it!" Sarah enthusiastically declared, eliciting stange looks from the others.


    "Alex? Are you feeling okay?" Jessica frowned over him, with concern over his ragged state.


    "The healing must have been extremely painful. We don''t have pain killers here." Sarah theorized.


    Eian approached and tried to help him up, to which Alex shook his head. Alexander focused himself once more determined to be whole once more. He targeted his throat this time. Weird pain filled sensations crawled over his throat and he gripped his neck in pain. The group fussed over him in the background. The pain lasted noticably less than his leg and he breathed a sigh of relief at the small blessing.


    "I... Think I''m all better now. Help me up now please." Alex drawled out testing his mended throat.


    "Sure thing." Eian was staring at Alex, one eyebrow raised.


    "Are you sure you''re ready to be walking." Jessica expressed her concern.


    "He''ll be fine." Sarah smiled, strangely being the optimistic one.


    Getting up Alex tested his mended leg''s strenght. It felt a little stiff, but that might have been his imagination. The horrid itch in his throat was a bygone memory. He took a lungful of air and breathed relief.


    "YES!" Alex boomed joyfully, spooking his friends.


    "Do you think he can re-grow limbs?" Sarah asked excited at the implications.


    "Sarah! What kind of question is that?! He just got better!" Jessica scolded, alarmed at her insensitive remark.


    "I don''t think I want to test that until I have to Sarah. Thanks Jess." Alex said too joyful to be put off by minor mishaps and he knew Sarah didn''t mean anything by it.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Everyone went quiet and Alex stretched he felt much better.


    "Can you heal my ass?" Eian smirked, as he rubbed his lower-back, from when he engaged the largest aracnid to date.


    "Into that?" Jessica raised an eyebrow, Eian snorted and ignored her.


    As it turnt out, Alex couldn''t heal anything or anyone else apart from his own injuries. They theorized perhaps his spirit was too weak or the magic was solely for internal use. Alex took the time to relate his bizarre experience with the doors to the team. He explained his thought process and the living door of flowers and vines.


    "So you chose the vine door because you thought it was nature?" Sarah frowned and tilted her head at Alex, to which Alex nodded in affirmation.


    "Man that''s weird, I wonder if everyone would go through the same thing." Eian stared at his tattoo.


    Jessica trembled at the memory of Alex screaming his voice raw and Eian wrestling to subdue him, she wanted nothing to do with that.


    "I''m not so sure it was nature. Alex." Sarah reasoned, ignoring the antics of the other two.


    "Why? It had all the signs. Vines, flowers, even the knob was made of wood." Alex inquired, though her tone had him was begin to doubt.


    "If I''m understanding the picture right. Fire was opposed to the ice door. Air opposed the Earth door. What did the vine door oppose?" Sarah questioned, hoping they would figure it out themselves.


    "....A door of skulls." Alex replied remembering the creepy off putting door, understanding came to him.


    "Yes and everyone knows what skulls represent. Death." Sarah smiled at Alex mistake.


    "So your saying I won''t be able to grow food for us?" Alex said with mixed feelings, relieved at his recovery, but lamenting the lack of edible food.


    "Not nesecarily. We don''t have enough information. Maybe you can, but your spirits too low." Sarah reasoned with a smile.


    Silence descended as they contemplated the possiblities.


    "We have another important matter to consider now though." Sarah broke the silence.


    "Apart from food?" Eian gulped and licked his lips, he was starving.


    "Yes and no. Alex told us of the doors. We have to consider which ones we''re going to choose." Sarah caught their attention instantly.


    "Don''t you think, we should all choose the vine door? It would be a good idea if we got hurt?" Eian spoke thinking of his job as the vanguard and the dangers it entailed.


    "Your thinking too narrow Eian. Alex might be able to heal us when he''s stronger, and we don''t know if we get a second choice at the doors. Also I hate to say it, but we''ve been in here for hours. I think we should begin considering we might be in here for longer than we though." Sarah corrected him.


    "The Earth door might help us break through the metal bars!" Jessica joyfully yelled, Alex scratched his head thinking he almost chose that one.


    "Your thinking better than Eian, but still there''s no guarantee outside is any better than in here. It might acutally be more dangerous." Sarah said.


    "What are your thoughts?" Alex stared at Sarah confused, it was clear she was going somewhere with this.


    She looked them each in the eyes and resolutely declared her plan.


    "I think, I should choose the door of fire. We need to eat this lizard meat. Everyday we spend here, we will need to eat. We don''t know what parasites the meat may have, so we have to char it till it they die." Sarah explained, aware of the dangers of raw meat.


    "Well I for one am all for that." Eian his intense hunger began to cloud his judgement and weakness would soon follow.


    "Are you sure? What if it hurts you?" Alex frowned worried, while Jessica''s eyes widened comically and she backed away.


    "I don''t think any of the doors will actually harm us Alex, but we have to do something fast, before we''re starving to death." Sarah declared, she briefly looked at Eian''s miserable state.


    "Maybe I should take the Fire door then." Eian rubbed his belly, though he felt perhaps the vine door was better.


    "No. Eian, I think the door of Stone is the best one for both you and the group." Sarah said looking at him in the eye.


    "Stone? For the metal bars?" Eian asked, which perked Jessica up.


    "That and Earth magic might make you able to make armor, seal dangerous tunnels and a multitude of other benifits." Sarah quickly explained her ideas.


    "Ummmm... So what should Jessica choose?" Eian asked, which visibly made her pale and uncomfortable.


    "I think it''s best we not choose anything for her just yet. We might need another kind of magic later on and we can decide then what the best option is." Sarah said.


    The group continued conversing, but ultimately decided Sarah had a solid plan. They got up and Alex volunteered to carry the meat Sarah had been carrying. They chose the tunnel on the right as Eian said he thought he heard something there. They thus went off searching for either the lizards exit or something to kill to gain fire power.

 Dream 10

    You know what the funny thing about hope is? We somehow can''t help ourselves. We to grasp at it, despite any overwhelming evidence to the contrary. We see a building falling down on us? We close our eyes and pray it goes away. When your mom caught you with your hand in the cookie jar? Yep your hoping she just pats your head and tells you it''s alright. Hope can be a blessing or a curse. It can get you through the toughest moments of your life or it can drag you on along and prevent you from coming to terms with the aftermath of your loss.


    "Nothings here." Eian sighed after inspecting the blackish pool of water.


    "I''m sorry." Alex said still feeling guilty at the loss of their quarry.


    "It may still lead somewhere." Jessica persevered, refusing to give up.


    "You want to jump into a pool of dark water? With no light. In hopes it leads somewhere?" Sarah asked with her eyes-brows raised.


    "You said the lizards had to get out somehow! What if this is it?!" Jessica argued wanting nothing more than to exit the foul cavern.


    "Jessica... Do you know how long lizards can hold their breath underwater?" Sarah asked her calmly.


    "N... No." Jessica stuttered.


    "Well neither do I, but if its long enough for them to get out through that, then its definately alot more than us." Sarah replied.


    "Let''s just drink and wash ourselves a bit." Eain said deadpanned, he was beginning to feel extremely weak from hunger.


    They took turns with the pool and Sarah noticed her tattoo''s also stopped glowing. Her tattoo read: Body: 1 , Mind:5, Spirit:0. She informed the others, though she felt no overt benifit or change. Eian was almost too weak to even care; he was shirtless, hungry and tired of having to think what could be around the corner.


    "What do you think it does?" Alex asked.


    "I''d assume it just helps my memory? Or perhaps processing speed?" Sarah thought.


    "Let''s just go." Eian said gruffly, eliciting a look from Sarah, Eian wasn''t usually the one in a rush to leave.


    "Yes please I''m hungry." Jessica declared feeling a growling in her stomach, which earned her the stink eye from Eian.


    They exited the tunnel they had followed to the pool and attempted the second one which was to the left, which soon expanded into a larger tunnel. It parted once more into two tunnels, though one was the size of a venilation shaft, instantly disqualifying it in their eyes. The chose the other tunnel, which was wide enough for them all to traverse side by side. Eian''s tattoo stopped glowing, but he ignored it not caring. Suddenly they ran into a group of six little goblins whom immediately rushed them.


    "Drop the meat!" Sarah declared hoisting up her two spears.


    "Roger." Alex said with a spear and a stick.


    "Please don''t let them get me. Please." Jessica begged scared of the little monsters, holding unto a spear tightly.


    Eian remained silent and tossed a spear, in hopes of killing a little migit. The spear caught one in the chest, but bounced off due to his lousy throwing skills. Eian, igniting a rage he''d been bottling up, swung his staff two handed with all his pent up fustrations catching a little bastard and halting the second. Fully recovered Alex too released a mighty one-handed blow directly with upon the skull of another goblin whom fell to the ground on its knees. Sarah was holding at bay two goblins with her spears sending jabs threateningly, causing them to back away. Jessica surpisingly managed to stab one in the gut with her eyes closed, it soon fell to the ground cradling its belly taking the spear with it.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Eian swung at his second goblin, whom attempted to block, only to have its own spear clog it on the skull from the impact. Alex engaged one of Sarahs goblins and together they quickly disposed of both. Eian kicked the skull of the first goblin whom was standing up, after it attempted to stab his legs. Eian then threw another wild swing at the dazed goblin whom blocked. The goblin on the floor grazed Eian''s leg, on a second attempt, and he jumped away. Alex quickly speared the first goblin Eian sent to the floor in the neck, while Eian disposed of the one he was combating. The one Alex sent to its knees was ambling about disoriented and Alex finished it off lastly.


    "Everyone okay?" Sarah asked looking around.


    "It nicked me!" Jessica replied showing a thin line of blood on her arm.


    "Yeah we''re fine." Eian declared taking stock of the graze and dismissing it as minor.


    "Jess calm down it''s a little scratch. Your first spider hurt you worse." Alex said consolingly, but losing some of his patience.


    "Guys I don''t think I can keep this up much longer. I''m dying of hunger here." Eian complained.


    "My tattoo''s glowing Again!" Sarah said elated.


    "My one too, but I don''t know if i can wait that long." Eian complained once more.


    Sarah not one to lose time quickly selected Spirit. The world washed away in white and she saw the vision Alex described, but was taken aback by the vivid majesty of them. She observed the doors attempting to imprint them into her memory. She didn''t know if she would ever see it again. She approched the swirling curtain of flames and gazed at its enchanting dance of colors. Upon closer inspections the flames seemed to briefly form the outlines of a dragon, a fiery-bird and a horned-man with wings. She stood facing the swirling colored door, but felt no discomfort, almost as if the flames beckoned to enter its caress. She stretched her hand foward and the flames parted.


    The burn hit, right after her eyes blinked, and she fell screaming inconherently. Eian and Alex were too slow to catch her and she fell to the ground, dropping her glasses. She grit her teeth attempting to fight through the shearing pain. She did not want to tear her vocal cords, as Alex had. She ignored their chatter, even as she closed her eyes praying the shearing blaze would cease. An eternity of imaginery flame slowly passed and she found herself pinned by both Alex and Eian. In another scenario she would have reacted to the impropriety of it all, but weary as she was, she went slack with relief. By then the pain had dwindled to minor throbs on some meta-physical muscle she never knew she had, though she couldn''t pin-point the location in her state.


    "I am so not looking foward to that." Eian dryly replied.


    "Oh don''t be like that Eian. Think of the magic!" Alex said trying to perk him up at the idea.


    "Yes. I''m sure thats exactly what you were thinking right after it finished." Eian said, though he smiled at the attempt.


    "Well... Not exactly right after, but it''s worth it in the long run. You know that man." Alex replied getting serious.


    "Yeah Yeah. Don''t worry. I''m just starving. At least let me lay down so you hold my arms down easier." Eian said as he looked at his tattoo''s.


    Eian stood before the choices and he gazed around slowly. His intense hunger had disipated in this place and for a moment he was tempted to just sit and weep joy. His eyes wandered to the flowers on the vine door. Would it really matter? It was his life and he couldn''t depend on Alex to be able to save his ass later on. He approched the vine door and gazed at it intently, even as the others faded.


    Astonished he took a step back and the other doors remanifested. He breathed a sigh of relief and stared at the door of life once more longingly, before moving to the door of stone. He stood there observing the gem encrusted door, for any sign of powers it could grant. The door itself depicted a sparking image of a tall mountain. From afar you couldn''t see but beneath the mountain lay a single man with the mountain on his back as he strained against the monumental task. The slab had no knob and as he touched it nothing happened.


    Confused Eian lightly pushed and it budged not a single inch. Bracing his shoulder he once more pushed foward. Only for the slab to remain still. Eian took a step back and observed the would be door. Perhaps not everyone could choose every power he thought and once more gazed at the vine door. They wouldn''t blame him would they?


    Thinking over his friends Eian stared at the mountain door and looked at the image of the man as he struggled for power. Mulling over the implications Eian thought over his choices. Did he really want this? Did the room react to his desires? Was that why the slab of stone didn''t want him?


    Eian thought over it and set his mind that this wasn''t only his problem. Sarah had made a compelling argument, they needed the power the stone door held. He removed his shoes and planted his feet on the ground. He braced himself once more against the stone door and pushed. Leg muscles straining, he pushed. Arm Muscles straining, he pushed. Back muscles straining, he pushed. He grit his teeth, closed his eyes and heaved with all his might. Red-Faced and straining Eian focused. The image of the door, particularly the man under the mountain, appeared in his mind. The door gave.

 Dream 11

    Patience, strenght, endurance, these are qualities we assosiate with the earth. We live atop stone, dirt and gravel, but rarely pay it any mind, as we go about ourselves. Insects upon a mighty being, whom uncaringly ignores us completely and our complacency coupled with its uncaring nature we believe we have mastered our fate. We have not. Look no further than the result of any earthquake, tsunami, or volcanic eruption, so many lives are lost instantly. Gaze upon the destructive forces the earth unleashes on a casual whim and feel your sheer insignificance. The earth is alive and if it so desired it could quash us as the bugs and parasites. Yet we lay upon its back thinking ourselves gods.


    Eian lay paralized, his couldn''t see. He had never, ever, felt this miserable in his entire life. His hunger had not disipated, but compared to the soul-crushing sensation of all his bones, it was insignificant. As his bones were grinding to dust in an endless cycle of pain, he could not utter a word. He couldn''t even breath, his lungs felt filled with dirt and dry-heaved endlessly attempting to pull even the slighest whiff of sweet air. His bones were creaking, cracking and breaking from the intense pressure he was undergoing. The worst was when the coarse grinding rock was filling his marrow, bone-deep. They felt as if a chainsaw was filing away at them bit by bit. The pain receeded, over time, to a dull pulse from his bones and he sobbed in joy, tears and snot leaking. He opened his eyes to find himself facing the floor with a mouthful of dirt.


    "Hey man, no fair yours didn''t look so bad. You didn''t even scream." Alex frowned at the unfairness.


    "Fuck you asshole!" Eian cursed, now that his hunger returned with a vengence.


    "Hey what the hell man?! What did I do to you." Alex questioned taken aback by his tone, Eian wasn''t usually this agressive to him.


    "Relax Alex. Eian obviously just angry. That wasn''t exactly a good feeling for any of us." Sarah replied, as she cleaned her now scratched glasses.


    "You people are a real work or art!" Eian declared, cleaning his face, but attempting to calm down, they weren''t at fault and deep down he knew it.


    "Alex..... You could have at least warned us it felt as if being dipped in lava you know." Sarah chided Alex remembering the shearing intensity of the flames.


    "Lava?" Alex asked with a confused expression, it certainly hadn''t felt that way to him.


    "Yes scorching hot lava." Sarah said, but she instantly had sneaking suspicion due to the tone of his voice.


    "Sure didn''t feel like lava." Eian replied grouchily, confirming her theory.


    "What did it feel like for you guys?" Sarah inquired attempting to glean as much information as possible.


    Alex described his experience as if something were growing, streching and twisting within him. Eian quickly rehearsed his bone-crushing experience, with a scowl of course. Together they quicky deduced that each door had its unique sensation of imaginery pain. Eian in particular was pretty pissed at the lousy circumstances and vowed to make whomever brought them here miserable. Jessica was quietly watching them, hoping she never had to undergo such an experience. The quickly gathered the goblin loot, among them was a large dagger which could be conisdered a sword in goblin hands. They now had a grand total of two torch-staves, eleven short spears and one big dagger.


    "I think we need to at least try to make a damn fire. We have enough wood left-over." Eian said feeling his belly growl fiercly.


    "I had hoped that wouldn''t be the case. This is going to be hard, with this type of wood." Sarah relented due to Eian obvious beragled state.


    "I say we use the spears, we have more of those. The staves are also longer and give a good crack at a goblin skull." Alex put in.


    "This is really the worst." Jessica complained, thinking of the foul lizard meat, but everyone toned her out.


    "Eian cut the chunks into thinner stips. They''ll cook faster that way. Also Alex try to cut the wood into as thin strips as you can for tinder." Sarah watched over the boys working.


    "How long will this take?" Jessica asked, watching them work.


    "As long as it bloody needs to." Eian remarked testily as he worked.


    "Calm down man." Alex chided, eliciting a snort from Eian.


    "Try to get a thin stick and a larger area that we will use to start the fire. The tinder will be rubbed between that. Then we''ll add flakes of wood and add bigger parts slowly." Sarah explained.


    "This is alot harder to carve into smaller parts." Eian asked as he struggled with a spear.


    "Don''t carve it all. I doubt the fire will give long enough for use to cook it all. But we can stuff some left-over jerky into our pockets." Sarah deduced.


    The entire process took them alot longer than they would have assumed. Around an hour till everything was ready as per Sarah''s instruction, even as she explained they only had one shot at this. She knew the smoke would have been a problem and chose a good spot for the flames. They skewered the meat on the left over tips of the spears and tended the fire with reverence, never letting it out of site. The smell of cooked lizard was potent and Jessica labled it as terrible, nasty and disgusting. In all they managed to cook close to half the entire meat they were carrying. By the end they remained with two staves, two spears and the big dagger. Alex kept his little fire starting stick as a momento, and the fact that whilting it was such a pain in the ass.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    The meat was tough, chewy and held little taste, after thorough charring. Eian thought it was the most wonderful food he had ever eaten. Alex and Sarah were also happy at the food, though far less than Eian. Jessica chewed hers slowly, trying to ignore the fact it was lizard meat, imagining chicken. Sarah restricted them from eating it all, saying they had to ration what was cooked.


    They were thirsty and had to retreat back to the black pool for some refreshment. They also washed the smell of charred lizard and smoke, along with sweat from their bodies. They decided to take a short break from everything to relax a bit. Eian felt refreshed as he lay dow non the ground recovering from his ordeal. Alex was sitting next to Jessica, discussing what they would do once they got home. Sarah sat near Eian, not wanting to interrupt whatever Alex and Jessica were discussing. Eian was in his own world of bliss at the moment and Sarah was thinking over what her fire door could be granting her.


    The decision was made to keep moving in the direction they had encountered the second pack of goblins. They wanted to be as thorough exploring the cave system, so as to exhaust all their options of escape. At the next intersection they encountered another a pair of giant spiders, which Eian and Alex quickly took care. The decided to go right. They kept moving and the mushroom light in the cave grew to be at an all time high, which was a minor blessing as throgging through the darker areas was a pain.


    Soon they had a front row view of exactly what awaited them infront. Two fully leather-armored shortish-men, too tall to be goblins, but holding spear and shield. They guarded what appeared to be a makeshift wooden fence. The two were animately pointing at them with gestures which indicated they were speaking about them. They bared their long-spears and approched cautiously.


    "Hu..hello?" Jessica enquired cautiously to the men, she couldn''t see their faces under their helmets.


    "Careful Jess, stay behind us." Alex gripped his staff as if a bat.


    "They seem smarter than goblins and more dangerous, be careful." Sarah said to them, gripping her spear.


    "With our luck they''re cannibals." Eian replied holding his own spear at the ready.


    The armored guards halted a few yards away and were speaking in some foriegn language. The one on the right guestured his head towards Alex, then motioned towards his comrade and then towards Eian. Alex,being the most resilient, approched slowly bearing his staff and inquired if they spoke their language. Suddenly the right one sprung toward Alex. A quick stab towards his abdomen caught Alex, when the guard backhanded him in the face with its shield sending him to the floor. Jessica was the first to scream. Eian sprung into action, but the second intercepted him. Sarah sent a stab towards Alex''s assailant, but he blocked with his shield and she jumped away as he sent the long-spear her away.


    Alex, holding his stomach on the floor, kicked his enemy on the foot causing him to miss a step. Seeing oppurtunity Sarah sent a jab his way, but fast as a viper the enemy reoriented himself and blocked. Eian was blocking the second''s long-reaching spear with his own short-spear. Eian had to play defensively as he had no way of penetrating his enemy''s defense. Jessica was unsure of what to do, she approched Alex''s assailant with fear and dread.


    Eian was forced to retreat backwards and the guard pressed the attack. Eian blocked and wiggled out of the way of the second guards attacks. Soon they were well behind the rest of the group.


    "Guys! Gang up on him damn it!" Eian yelled holding the second in combat.


    The first attacker kept sending attacks at Sarah and she was backing away. Alex got up after staunching the intense blood-flow and rushed the bastard whom stabbed him. Alex sent a powerful blow at his assailant which was blocked with ease. Sarah sent a quick stab his way close to the same time, but was evaded by the guard as he nimbly danced away. Jessica was trembling as she gripped her staff looking at the trained guard.


    Alexander bull rushed the firstguard and the guard sent his long-spear to intercept him. Alex caugth the spear in the bicep as he avioded getting scewered in the face. It punched through the muscle and caught bone, eliciting a howl from Alex. Alex grabbed the spear lodged in his arm and pulled backwards, which caused the guard to stumble foward. Having Circled around the assilant Sarah sent another spear stab, at the assialants vunerable side, which was quickly defended by his shield. Jessica had closed her eyes, and in her famous blind stab caught the guard under his vunerable rib with her staff.


    The guard elicited a groan and hit Jessica''s staff to floor with his shield. Alex was still slowly losing blood, but desperately persevered. Alex pulled the spear again, causing the guard to stumble foward. Sarah stabbed it in its vunerable lower back, the spear punched through the leather and elicited an inhumane growl. Jessica retreated, while Alex yanked the spear from the bastard with his entire body. Alex and Sarah began spearing the bastard together and the guard was defending himself with his shield admirably. One shield cannot block two spears on opposite sides however, and shortly Alex scored a hit to its side.


    Together they wittled the guard down and Sarah got the kill with a stab to the neck. Gurgling in its death-throes the guard fell. Alex let himself fall, weakened from blood-loss he began attempting to heal himself and was soon groaning in pain. Eian had accumilated a few abrassions on his arms, though he was faring pretty decent fighting defensively. Eian''s opponent realizing he was alone attempted tactical retreat. The Sarah cut it off at the entrance of the wooden fence and bared her spear at him, halting him.


    Eian, having caught up, attempted to spear it in the back with a vengence. The guard spun and caught the spear with its shield on an angle, causing it to fly off Eian''s hands. Jessica claiming an assist yelled and threw Alex''s newly aquired spear to Eian as he retreated from the guard. Eian hastily caught the spear and once more began attacking.The guard proved it''s mettle however and with spear and shield barely held both Eian and Sarah at bay fighting defensively.


    Jessica emboldened by her new usefulness threw her staff as a spear towards the guard distracting him as he dodged out of reflex. Eian with the longer spear caught the guard under it''s rib and retreated.


    From there Eian and Sarah held it as bay, as it slowly weakened from blood-loss. Eian once more punched through the leather and caught it in the armpit, as it attempted a desperate attack over-extending. The guard dropped dead shortly and the crew breathed a sigh of relief.

 Dream 12

    Many sayings quote about defeat and victory. Some say we learn more from defeat than victory. Others say constant victory leads to slow defeat. I say if you live through defeat, then that in itself is a victory. It''s not over when you lose, its over when you quit. Be not afraid of defeat, for fear in itself leads to defeat.


    Alex was in agony. He was afraid of dying. He did not want to die, not yet. He wholely focused on that thought, he briefy thought on his parents. Then he quickly thought on his new friends.


    It had been less than a day, yet they had made such a grand impact on his life. Eian with his sarcastic sense of humor, he was quick to anger yet brave enough to risk the vanguard position. Sarah and her strange need to tell everyone how smart she was, coupled with her pessimistic attitude and how easy she fell into authority. And Jessica with her long-blonde hair, crystal-bue eyes, lushous pouting lips and how quickly she transformed into an angel when she smiled. He remembered when he attempted to wake her, laying there with a peaceful smile on her face.


    Funnily enough she had punched him. He remembered the moment fondly, strangely enough. Something about her general terrified demeanor made him just want to protect her. He''d never hadn''t had many serious girl-friends. They came and went, none sporting more than a passing fancy on him. They saw Alexander Faber, a well-built athlethic young man, partying with a playboy and thought him in the same light. He couldn''t leave it at that, he had too much to live for.


    Teeth-bared he ''squeezed'' his injured abdomen. The pain nearly blinded him and he felt fluid race up his throat.


    He lost concentration and vomited. He re-focused his desire and ''squeezed'' once more. As the pain faded he was left breathless. Still blood pumped out through his arm. Screaming defiance he sent a thought to the injury, willing it to heal.


    He felt something similar to muscle strings move and grip the bone. Wet blood coated his bare-chest as he finally felt the flesh reknit itself. He felt a little faded, but he let out a breath of exhilration.


    "Hey you okay?" Eian spoke the first question he could hear.


    "Alex! How are you!" Jessica sobbed, warming his heart.


    Sarah was simply looking at him with a smile, as if she expected the outcome. Well that was a vote of confidence. He remembered his grandmother''s smile and did his best impression of it.


    "Course man. What''d you expect." He told Eian faking confidence, glad at their relaxed faces.


    "Be more careful! Idiot! I thought you were spitting blood!" Jessica remarked with that siren voice.


    "No worries Jess. This is nothing." Alex consoled her, hoping she would smile at him again.


    "As much as I''m glad your fine Alex, we have to leave." Sarah intelectually.


    "He needs more time! What if he''s still hurt inside!" Jessica pointed out, which sent shivers down his spine at the possiblility.


    They chattered, as he checked his injuries. Nothing hurt more than it should have under the circumstances, though his belly felt empty. Yeah, vomiting hadn''t done him any favors in regard to food. He quickly got up and reassured them he was fine.


    "As I was saying. We have to leave. This fence is most likely a boundery for these creatures. We bearly survived against two. If any more come, we are dead." Sarah lectured them, quickly assuming the worst.


    "Damn, can''t catch a damn break. What are they anyways?" Eian asked as he looked over the guards.


    "Who cares?! Let''s go! That is of course, if you can walk Alex." Jessica declared, but by the end she softened into a question.


    "Course Jess." He quickly said with an almost giddy smile, feeling only slightly foolish.


    "Grab the weapons! And the shields!" Sarah interjected forcefully, Eian quickly got to it.


    It brought a smile to his face though, despite the circumstances, none of them were lonely. He rather liked this new molty crew. Especially Jessica, she was his exact type. Optimism never hurt. Look to the future that was what he was taught and that was what he would do.


    "Maybe, we should take the time to strip them. I''m not comfortable shirtless" Eian intoned admiring the leather.


    "I''ll help." Alex quickly interjected, perhaps some leather wouldn''t stop a spear thrust, but it couldn''t hurt against bruises and scraps.


    "Hurry then! Jessica help me collect the weapons we dropped!" Sarah huffed peering over at the fence.


    "Okay." Jessica responded in her usual scared manner, probably spooked at the possibility of more guards.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Quickly stripping down one of the guards. Alex was taken aback how close the resemblance was to a human. It looked like a goblin bred with a human to result into some hybrid-like creature. Still what looked an uglish green hue, but more muscle and at least a head taller than any goblin they had seen. Perhaps these were an adult version of goblins and the others were juveniles?


    "Eian! Don''t try wearing them yet! Let''s go!" Sarah ordered which spurred them into action.


    "Geez..." Eian complained lightly as he picked his share of burden.


    "Where are we going anyways?" Jessica wondered aloud, which brought up an important question.


    "Let''s go to the pool for now. Once we have a little distance from that place, we can plan further." Sarah reasoned.


    ****


    Reaching the pool, for what was the third time today, Alex washed himself of dirt and blood. He was extremely thirsty, he thought perhaps he had lost too much blood, too fast. A large reptilian head spooked him and he fell flat on his ass. The scenario elicited a hysteric laugh from Eian, which quickly spread to him. The large Iguana submerged and vanished under the black depths.


    "Well looks like you were right." Alex told Sarah after taking his fill from the pool.


    "Still it''s not a viable escape. No guarantee when it surfaces or in which direction we should swim." Sarah lectured sadly.


    "Ughhh. Every time we find a possible exit from this place. We reach a dead end. It''s like this cave is toying with us." Jessica miserably intoned.


    "Can''t argue with you there." Eian sighed as he attempted to wear the leather armor.


    "Doesn''t look like it fits Eian. Here cut it on the edges and try adjusting it." Sarah handed him the goblin dagger.


    The leather helmets were the only things that fit reasonably, though they felt a bit tight when Alex tried. Eventually it was decided Sarah and Eian would wear the armor sets, as they were more often in combat. In his honest opinion they looked ridiculous in them, Eian especially was clearly too big and the vest only covered around two thirds his torso. Alex was able to heal himself so he didn''t have as much need as the other two so he had volunteered to go without.


    "By the way Jess. Good job back there, I''m proud of you." Alex congradulated her efforts, she jumped and flushed a bit red.


    "Oh yeah! I almost forgot you threw that spear to me. Errrmmm... Thanks." Eian said awkwardly.


    "Welcome." Jessica responded just as akward at the attention.


    "Yes. You saved the day back there." Sarah smiled at Jessica and she reached the hue of a tomato making Alex smile.


    They all took a while to relieve themselves, though Jessica bemoaned the disgusting lack of toilet paper. Soon afterwards Sarah mentioned they should return to the five fork split and take the utter-most right tunnel. She believed they should methologically explore the cave layout and be certain they don''t miss an exit or become confused. They chewed on what little food remained slowly as they entered their new choice. The tunnel descended slowly. It was particularly dark and moist, which soon left them walking through small puddles of water. Stalagmites dripped droplets of water slowly soaking them to the bone.


    Alex noted that there was a split but the tunnel on the left was blocked off by cave in visibly, even as a trickling stream ran through a crack. The other tunnel on the right also had a trickling stream flowed onwards. Alex was begining to regret this path, as wet sock and underwear feeling was extremely uncomfortable. Glowing mushrooms were scarce and the cave was almost pitch black on occasion placing doubt in his mind if they could even navigate this part. Soon the tunnel opened into a wider space revealing a few large crabs ambling about. Their torsos were roughly the size of a microwave with pincers the size of two human arms.


    "Wow... Seafood." Eian said in awe.


    "They are fresh-water crabs actually, I don''t smell salt in the air." Sarah monotoned.


    "Those have to be better than lizard meat." Jessica said beeming.


    "I agree." Alex said remembering the tough chewy meat.


    The crabs moved quickly, but didn''t attack unless the crew attacked first. The team was easily killing the crabs, having Jessica land the final blows to have her tattoo''s glow. Jessica her first got a glowing tattoo on her first crab kill, she selected Mind, as she didn''t want to feel any pain. She got a second kill easily. Alex, however accidentally killed the third. His tattoo begun to glow immediately and with great trepidition selected Spirit.


    ***


    The cavern vanished, and he was standing in white room. The room contained a few wooden symbols at the center. They each favored a cross, but one had a loop at the head, while another was a standard cross shape. One was a knot which formed into a cross. Another was a cross with a circle near the center.


    "Interesting aren''t they?" - melodic voice


    Alex jumped spooked from shock. Turning around he found himself facing a scantly clad woman. She wore what looked like leaves stitched together, forming a bra and skirt with a crown of vines. Quickly he noticed she was extrordinarily beautiful. Perfection made flesh, she belonged in a mural or painting of some artists imagination rather than reality.


    Her pale skin held no imperfections and left little to imagination. Her auburn hair had a silky sheen glow about it. Her smile was radiant with crystal white teeth. Her eyes were vibrant, which formed something similar to a blooming round flower in varying shades of green. Her dark pupils stared at him with bemused humor.


    "Close your mouth, silly."- the goddess spoke with a hint of humor.


    "Oh.. Umm...So.... are you mother earth?" Alex ask taking a wild guess.


    His guess earnt him a frown of disapproval, which looked completely unfitting in such a surreal mythical creature.


    "For starters I''m not a mother of anything." The goddess spoke.


    "Oh?" Alex asked confused.


    "Secondly this is not the domain earth, I dont know whom the guide to earth is, perhaps your friend whom almost chose us could fill you in." She continued frowning as if she lost a puppy.


    "What?" Alex asked.


    "Such an unfair meanie, he got me all excited. Then he went straight for earth." The goddess replied sadly.


    "Are you talking about Eian?" Alex wondered.


    "Is that his name? It matter''s not, he chose another so let''s get to it." The goddess said.


    "It?" Alex questioned, wondering all kinds of ways this could get crazy.


    "Bad boy. He-he... No, I mean to advance the strenght of your spirit. The small gift-sample you possess is such a little thing compared to what you could wield." The goddess smiled almost predatory.

 Dream 13

    There are many sayings about power ''Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.'' or ''Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man''s character, give him power.'' Is that really true? Does power truly corrupt a person? Or were we all corrupt and power just brings us to light. A critical misconception however, is that every-one wants absolute power. Most people don''t run in politics or establish their own businesses. Some people are content with what little they have. Perhaps the reason we see power as a corrupting force is simply because the people whom seek power and achieve it are already corrupt to begin with? Following that logic these people in turn teach their children to seek power, stoking ambition for wealth and plant the seeds of corruption to a newer generation.


    "Like this?" Alex asked unsure, while laying on his back.


    "Yes. That''s right. Puuurfect" The goddess smiled alluringly.


    "This feels so weird." Alex said nervously.


    "Don''t worry, it''s always done like this." The goddess alluringly looked down upon him a bright smirk on her face.


    The goddess was moving swiftly and efficently calculating the positions intricately. Alex was laying down, with the various crosses on various parts of his body, stark-naked save for his underwear. The goddess informed him they had to perform a ritual to strenghten his spirit and quickly laid out her plan.


    "Alright. Now close your eyes." the goddess said seriously.


    "Okay..." Alex said closing his eyes.


    "Open your mouth wide, the power will flow through your mouth to enter your channels." The goddess instructed.


    "AHH." Alex opened his mouth.


    He heard her begin muttering in some forgien tongue. She performed vocals and did shreaking and shouting as if to the heavens. Finally she switched to a language Alex understood.


    "I hearby impart you....with a ....Pfhhhhh..." The goddess broke out into hysteric laughter.


    "What?!" Alex said opening his eyes and closed his mouth to see the goddess rolling on the floor.


    "HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NO! CAN''T....BREATH." The goddess wailed on the floor.


    Comprehension dawned on Alex and he reddened from shame. The goddess eventually calmed down, only to break out laughing when she saw his red face. The shame burned deeper and he struggled not to shout at the she-devil.


    "That...was...not...funny!" Alex spelled out, angry.


    "Hahaaha. I''m sorry. Couldn''t help it. It''s been so long since I''ve pranked someone like that." The goddess giggled, wiping an imaginery tear from her eye.


    "Are these even here for me to get stronger or not?!" Alex demanded holding the wooden cross symbols.


    "Sure you don''t want to put on your pants first?" The goddess said with her aggravating chuckle.


    "Ughhh..." Alex groaned, he had walked into a horrible joke of a goddess.


    He quickly pulled up his pants with some modicum of dignity, still red with shame.


    ''I can''t believe I let her con me like that.'' Alex thought to himself.


    She was visibly trying not to smile, but failing as she released a few infuriating giggles along with an involuntary smirk.


    "Can we please get to the actual ritual now?" Alex pleaded, wanting nothing more that to return to his friends and put this fiasco behind him.


    "PFhhh." The goddess snorted.


    "What? You''re not done yet?" Alex asked deadpanned, she was really something else.


    "Hehe. There is no fancy ritual silly. All you have to do is to completely focus of a single cross. Anyone will do. Then you try to pull power from the image." The goddess explained slowly.


    He quickly closed his eyes and began the process.


    "Wait! Wait! Wait!" The goddess stopped him.


    "What!" Alex got out.


    "The next gift of spirit will let you heal you comrades." She explained carefully.


    "Okay and?" Alex said tired of her previous antics.


    "As I said any cross will do just imagine it and push your desire towards the patient same as the first gift." The goddess continued.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Alright." Alex said ready to get this over with.


    "Be warned healing others is much more taxing than healing yourself. If you push too much too fast you can harm your spirit. Sometimes permanently." The goddess gushed out.


    "Mmm." Alex listened.


    "Your still weak, so stick to healing vital injuries first and if you can continue then do non-lethal ones. You have limited spiritual stamina and it recovers with time" The goddess monotoned.


    "That all?" Alex asked.


    "Well you won''t be able to use it till the infusion finishes. So for now yes." The goddess smiled, though this time he was aware of her vile-nature.


    Alex closed his eyes and focused on the image of a regular cross. No need to over-complicate things. He willed the image to send power to himself. He felt a rush and soon blinked. He was back with his friends and the surge hit.


    Once more he felt the viney or root sensation stretching and expanding within him. This time it wasn''t painful however, simply weirdish and uncomfortable, like an itch he couldn''t scratch. Everyone was watching him for any signs of pain and he smiled.


    "How are you feeling?" Jessica asked concerned, which made him smile wider.


    "Not so bad this time." Alex declared feeling much better to be away from that she-devil.


    "Cool, I hope it''s that way for all of us." Eian said feeling substantially less scared now.


    "Hmm... Anything peculiar happen?" Sarah inquired.


    "There was a.... god there, whom gave me a quick run down on what my next power will be." Alex replied slowly.


    "A god? Hmmm.... So?" Sarah continued.


    "Ummm you were right. I will be able to heal you guys." Alex said slowly.


    "Cool, thank him next time, if you see him." Eian remarked, causing Alex to remember the goddess'' remarks over Eian.


    "That''s wonderful news, Alex. But why are we here?" Sarah smiled at being right once more.


    "Huh?" Alex asked confused.


    "You forgot to ask him about our situation didn''t you?" Sarah asked dead-panned, he nodded and she stared at him like an idiot and shook her head.


    "Well I''m just glad you didn''t hurt yourself this time. By the way guys... Is it normal for the other two tattoos to have coninued glowing after you select something?" Jessica smiled questioningly.


    The group was surprised, but Sarah deduced these crabs gave more than they originally thought. Jessica sat down and chose Body. A spike of lightening adrenaline flowed throught her from her heart.


    "Well that''s a rush." Jessica blinked feeling odd.


    "Told you." Eian said rembering his encounter with the shock from Body.


    "Well lets continue hunting these crabs. We''ll need to find fire later to cook them. They seem easy enough. I want to see what happens if someone selects all three markings at once. Since, we don''t want Jessica to choose magic yet just be careful not to kill anything okay?" Sarah lectured.


    "Chop chop huh?" Eian remarked with a smile.


    "I think it''s best we split up into two groups and try killing them faster." Alex vouched.


    "Isn''t that dangerours?" Jessica asked.


    "They don''t seem hard to kill. These long-spears can both puncture their shells and these things on the sides hold them at bay." Alex reasoned, he had pointed at the lugs on spear.


    "Hmmmm... As long as we''re careful. Perhaps." Sarah thought.


    It took a bit of convincing, but the group decided to go with his idea. Eian and Sarah went in group while Jessica and Alex went in the other. The hunting was going well for a few minutes. Eian managed to kill one and Sarah quickly desposed one on her turn, as they were taking turns with the long-spear. Alex killed one and then saw a lone crab by the edge of a steep but large pool of water. Alex and Jessica approached the crab from afar and saw it dipping submerge it''s legs under water.


    "That seems a little steep, wait here for me to get it okay?." Alex said.


    "Sure." Jessica sending a smile his way.


    Suddenly a gigantic explosion of water erupted from the pool. The crab was no-where to be seen, and was replaced by a monster, with two tennis-ball sized red eyes. Alex was stupefied by the appearance, Jessica shrieked in fear.


    "RUN!" Eian screamed.


    "MOVE!" Sarah shouted at the same time.


    Alex pulled Jessica and they fled backwards towards the other two. The beast quickly climbed the incline and ran towards them. Eian and Sarah were waiting for them at the entrance where the cave tunnel was barely wide enough for two people. They were nearing the cave entrance and Eian and Sarah kept telling them to run, because the beast was following them. It spotted the dead crabs soon however and began munching on them.


    "Let''s get out of here!" Jessica gasped out of breath.


    "I agree." Alex readily agreed.


    "You guys are both fucking late. We already decided to scram." Eian said voice shaky.


    "Let''s go! GO!" Sarah ordered.


    They quickly fled up the tunnel like their asses were on fire. The didn''t stop till they arrived at the five fork split.


    "Did you manage to get a good look at what that thing was man?" Alex questioned Eian.


    "It was a huge water-crocodile of some sort or maybe an alligator. I''m not sure what the difference between the two are actually." Sarah replied in his stead.


    "I vote we never go down there again." Eian hastily replied, to which the group agreed.


    "Do all these passageways lead to mortal danger?" Jessica fearfully asked.


    "They might, if the these first two are anything to go by." Sarah said slowly.


    "I''m beginning to see why someone would block the bloody exit with metal bars..." Eian stated.


    "Yeah man. Compared to that thing, I think I''d rather risk those goblin-guard things." Alex said


    "Well. Look at the bright side." Sarah said as she thought of something.


    "What bright side?" Jessica asked unnerved by that monstrosity.


    "We didn''t jump in the first big pool we saw. That water might have had some of those croc...monsters." Sarah said slowly.


    "Holy Shit!. We were washing there!" Eian exclaimed, causing Jessica and Alex to pale slightly.


    "Yes. I think we should stick to the smaller streams from now on." Sarah mono-toned.


    "So....the middle path next?" Alex asked unsure if they were ready.


    "I...I don''t... I don''t know if I can do this." Jessica began to tear up and cry.


    "Hey... Hey .. Calm down....Shhhh." Alex gently held her wrists, as she sobbed.


    Eian and Sarah continued speaking, till Jessica recovered herself. Sarah noticed her burning sensation had stopped glowing. She felt normal and they both spoke about it, while Alex calmed Jessica.


    "Me and Eian agree... middle path it is, my old plan still holds merit." Sarah informed Alex and Jessica.


    They shortly set off through the middle path. This path was moderately bright, with a few brighter spots littered around. Eian soon noticed that his tattoo stopped glowing as well. He informed them and after a short discussion they kept going. Once more they saw movement and they saw a party four of goblins whom charged them.


    Well armed, Alex, Eian and Sarah easily dispatched the group. Sarah stole two kills swiftly wielding a long-spear with eerie precision, while Alex and Eian each killed one. Sarah removed the leather from the way then gazed at her tattoo, it was blinking again. She removed her helmet and swiftly selected spirit. The world washed away from her.

 Dream 14

    What is fire? The answer wholely depends on whom you are asking. A farmer might tell you it is the sun in the sky, which gives life to the world. A student may say it''s a common-form of energy, along with electricity and wind. A scientist will tell you it''s a super-heated gas which forms the state of matter plasma. A poet will tell you it is the flames of passion in our loins and desire in our hearts. A classic philosopher might say it is the spark of innovation, of creativity and the power of transformation. Fire is so much a part of our lives.


    Sarah gazed around. The floor was made of ash and a few saplings had sprouted about. Sarah felt warmth all around her, not scalding hot, but the cozy warm feeling you love cuddling in before night sleep. What really had her worried was the mountain face ahead of her. It had a cave entrance and she felt she had to go in to proceed. Of all things she couldn''t believe she had to go back into a cave. She ran through some thoughts over what god could await her in a cave.


    "Enter, time may move slow here, but to us it still moves." Powerful voice.


    Sarah instincually considered running, that voice sent chills down her spine. Logic however made her move foward. She passed the cave entrance and was astounded by the sight.


    Gold, Silver, Jewels, Treasure. Everywhere she looked she saw precious coins littering the floor, they were of diffrent eras with a million diffrent faces of kings and queens. The ocasional jewel the size of a baseball lay scattered amongst the treasure: Saphires, Emerald, Rubies, Diamonds, and many more she had no names for. Bejeweled chalices, pitchers of silver and chests of gold. Ornate glowing weapons lay in racks, knightly sets of armor were arranged as if standing guard. Complex crowns, which looked like three sets welded together beautifully. There was likely more wealth here than any single person had ever amassed in its lifetime. Sarah was extremely certain as to what awaited her here.


    "Do you like my collection? It''s real you know, not this one here, but its a construct of my memory." The Voice said proudly.


    Strangely the voice sounded a lot lower now.


    "Where are you?" Sarah shivered, unsure she wanted to know.


    "Are you not afraid?" The voice questioned with curiousity.


    "Yes... I''m afraid." Sarah replied honestly, feeling faint.


    Her response elicited a joyful laugh that rebounded the cavern.


    "Then you are well on your way to wisdom. Many come here and feign bravery. Fools." the voice spoke.


    Silence descended once more.


    "Why am I here?" Sarah inquired fearful, wanting to be gone.


    "Are you not here by choice then? Did you come here for nothing, spark child?" The voice said mirthfully.


    "I came here for power......... Why did you call me that?" Sarah tilted her head, confused and off-balance.


    "Well you came to the right place. And all humans are little children, compared to me." The voice said.


    "I meant the spark part." Sarah frowned, this person was skirting the issue.


    "Hmmm..... You are curious yes? Asking, learning and sharing are a part of you?" The voice said.


    "Well... I suppose yes. So?" Sarah scrunched up her face, even more confused.


    "Among my kind, we call that the spark, as we see it. Many cultures, in many worlds, have a similar comparison somewhere. It is a pleasant thing to see in any person, if only everywhere was filled with such people." The voice took on a dreamy quality.


    "Oh." Sarah took a step back, thrown off by the explaination.


    "At ease little spark, I mean you no harm." The voice continued.


    Using her a breathing technique Sarah calmed her heart.


    "Do you know why I and the group I''m with are stuck in a cave in real life?" It was the most important question Sarah had in mind.


    "How would I know that? I see only what I live and what is asked of me here." The voice was casual, but somehow Sarah had the impression it was having fun.


    "Don''t lie please. We were abducted .......somehow and we woke up in the middle of no-where. Now we are fighting for our lives, with magic against all these monsters." Sarah bit her lip and her gut was tight, she was desperate for answers.


    "Calm yourself little spark. Tell me the whole story, I''m not understanding your nonsense." The voice calmly spoke.


    Sarah detailed her experience to the voice, hoping it would know something.


    "So you knew nothing of spirit, save stories?" The voice questioned.


    "Yes, do you know where I am? Or why any of this is happening?" Sarah pleaded.


    "As a matter of fact... I do, but all guides have been told to not reveal this reason. ''It will only distract them from surviving'' they said." The voice answered slowly.


    "Please! God help me!....... and my comrades." Sarah begged, hope dwindling.


    "God? I suppose that''s flattering, but I am not a god. What led you to believe that?....... Also I''m sorry little sparkling, but even if it were not forbidden it is truly unfair to give you information which may lead to your early death." The voice responded.


    "Please! Help me!" Sarah was breathing heavily, losing composure by the second.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    "Shhhh.....I never said I wouldn''t render aid. I will, but not the way you think." The voice was cool and relaxed.


    "How!?" Sarah perked up at the thought of rescue.


    "Where you are I cannot follow. But I can gift you the power of knowledge, to best your trials." the voice responded.


    "Power of Knowledge?" Sarah''s eyes widened with wonder.


    "Metaphorically speaking child. I can tell you how to use your own power to save yourself and your friends." The voice once more adopted an amused quality.


    "Oh." Sarah sighed a second later, even as the last vestiges of hope crashed and burnt.


    "Ah youth. The young never seem to grasp the true potential of knowledge. Little spark, going about ignorant as you are, you are liable to die. Sooner, rather than later." The voice was clearly even more amused now.


    "What!?!" Sarah jumped, spooked at possible unknown dangers.


    "Tell me, your kills have unlocked much potential quickly within you, no?" The voice spoke as if she already knew the answer.


    "I suppose so..." Sarah frowned, thinking over the speed of the glowing tattoo''s.


    "All beings in magical worlds have these ''tattoo''s'' as you call them. The stronger their advancement, the more potential their deaths unlock." The voice mono-toned.


    "Oh... I suppose that makes a certain sense." Sarah thought, but shrugged, she couldn''t see how that helped her.


    "What you do not know. Is that there are limits to your growth." The voice said.


    "........What?" Sarah looked about lost, unable to find the sorce of the powerful voice.


    "Sparkling child. Both bottle-necks and eventually racial limits will hinder you." The voice droned.


    Sarah''s mind raced through the possible consequences of this new information. This meant every point the used should be used carefully and with much though. At least that was what she gathered from the voice''s explaination. Still she needed more information. She paid rapt attention.


    "It is possible to over-come both, but lets focus on bottle-necks. As I sense you will quickly encounter your first." The voice said.


    Sarah paid vivid attention to the voice, she and the others had been mucking about in the dark without light. This was truly the moment they could turn their situation around. Not the one she was hoping for, but anything, anything they could use was helpful.


    "The Bottle-necks are when a being reaches certain total sums of their attributes, these have been figured out by constant testing and comparison throughout races, each point regularly costs one more essence per point and each bottle-neck doubles the total essence required to gain a single attribute point." The voice lectured.


    Sarah scrunched her face, uncomprehending. Did that mean she had to kill one monster more each time? Or did different monsters grant different amounts. She quickly deduced the latter since they hadn''t quite been killing just one extra monster to gain an upgrade.


    "Okay and when do we hit them?" Sarah asked politely.


    "The first bottle-neck is encountered when a being reaches a third of their total potential. The second at half, the third at two-thirds and the final bottle neck is encountered at five/sixths total potential." The voice droned.


    "Are the bottle-necks the same for both genders?" To Sarah that was an important thing to know, men were naturally stronger than women after-all.


    "Yes, men of most species usually start advantaged in Body, but a devoted woman can match him eventually." The voice answered.


    "What are racial limits then?" Sarah asked.


    "Racial limits are how high a being can take their singular attributes through the ''tattoos''." the voice said.


    "So there is an overall limit I suppose?" Sarah


    "Once your overall racial limit is hit, there are a few ways to overcome it, but leave those worries for when you get there. Which won''t be soon, unless you manage to fell a being so great, even I would commend you." The voice droned.


    Sarah digested the news.


    "I would suggest focusing on a singular combat-attribute for now, advancing further along will become harder and thus if you spread youself thin will be a problem eventually." the voice recommended.


    "What do you suggest me and my friends do?" Sarah inquired.


    "My element is extremly potent at killing. I suggest you make use of it. As for the others. That life-boy you spoke of will be able to heal wounds, focus entirely upon that, that earth-boy will be durable focus on his Body and Spirit in equal measure. And The other girl? Well she sounds slightly useless for now, maybe focus her entirely on the Mind, there are some useful benifits on the higher numbers." the voice said.


    Sarah asked her about the benifits of focusing on mind, but the voice was vague, stating to wait and see what the girl developed, as it varied greatly.


    "Are you ready for my gift, my little spark?" The voice questioned.


    "What are the racial limits for humans?" Sarah asked.


    "Humans are a curiousity if I recall correctly, its the only reason I bothered remembering. Each racial attribute limit is a total of 10." The voice responded.


    Sarah did a quick calculation, if she was right then humans hit bottle necks at ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty-five total attributes. Oddly convient, it seemed ....almost predesigned. It gave her chills just thinking about it.


    "What does my magic do? My friend chose life and is able to heal himself and soon others. I can''t see any diffrence in myself." Sarah questioned.


    "Our gift prepares us for our eventual powers, imagine burning yourself to a crisp the first time you attempt a gout of flames. We also stay warm in even the coldest of storms. Our blood can become a searing intense heat when split searing any whom touch it unprotected." The voice said.


    "Oh. So fire Immunity, eternal warmth and fire blood? Is fire-control next." Sarah shrugged, overall it wasn''t overly impressive, but it sounded like the right choice for fire-powers.


    "In imprecise terms yes, you are simply fire resistant as of now. That will change with more power. And yes my gift will grant you power over fire." The voice said.


    "Is there nothing more you can do?" Sarah once more asked.


    "Well we could speak for an eternity, discussing history of various worlds, but time is passing on the outside, if slowly, and you need time to think. We shall meet again little spark." The voice said.


    "Very well. I''m ready for you gift." Sarah said, suddenly worried about any pain this could result in.


    "Approach. I''m here on the left behind the gold pile by the tall purple mithril armor-set." The voice said.


    Passing the gold slowly Sarah saw what was the first glimpse of the figure. Laying stark-naked atop a bed of gold was an enchanting womanly creature, fiery was the only word that described her. Her aurburn hair spilt downwards in curls, whilst a tail flicked back and forth expectantly. Pale white skin glistened as if she had just recovered from a jog, with a perfect curves on her rear any man would drool for. Perfectly erect pink nipples were clearly visible on large shapely breasts. She sported two curled horns protruding from her temples, which curled backwards. Her loucious lips peeled back into a dazzling smile, revealing longish canines. The woman''s hand supported her jaw as she gazed at Sarah.


    Sarah felt herself speechlessly mesmerized. Something about the situation was suddenly hot and Sarah felt herself breathing heavily. The sensual creature lifted her hand and crooked her finger, beckoning her foward. Sarah staggered foward slowly feeling faint, and reddening from the attention the creature gave. The creature outstrectched her hand asking for hers in turn.


    The touch sent sensual-erotic-shocks up her arm and into her spine. Her grip soon clamped around her wrist and pulled her foward gently. Sarah was soon laying on the bed of gold. Soon the womanly creature gazed predatorly down upon her with red-cat eyes, an erotic-smirk on her face. Her nose trailed her neck and a serpintine toungue flickered along her neck, tickling her ear. By now Sarah''s breathing were erratic and her heart was hammering inside her chest.


    The womanly creature purred straddling Sarah. She held her face on both hands and smiled lovingly at her. Soon her tongue found Sarahs and she passionately recieved the kiss. Sarah''s loins felt on fire and she melted. Sarah felt something warm flow down her throat.


    Blinking Sarah came to once more infront of her friends and she felt her face heat. That... that thing had just teased her and that kiss, sex didn''t compare. Suddenly she felt a warmth over-flow from her chest and felt slightly hot, reminding her of the passionate kiss.

 Dream 15

    Preparation. Many people prepare themselves for their day. Not so many do the same for their lives. A good plan is usually good to have though, at least in general terms. How many children do you what? What''s our budget for this month? What will we do in the weekend? Or in this case, how will these people plan their development?


    "So you''re saying we will have to be careful with our future tattoo selections?" Alex asked, which was the same question Eian wanted to ask.


    "Yes." Sarah nodded quickly.


    Sarah had shared her experience with them, over the mysterious voice she never saw. She skimmed what were the acutal steps to aquiring the second fire-stage, saying each was different for each person. She said she drank fire, which was distrubing in Eian''s mind.


    ''I just hope I don''t have to eat stones. I wonder why she''s flushed and sweating? Is it side-effects of drinking the dream-fire? Alex seems to ignore it.'' Eian thought to himself looking at Sarah''s flush.


    "You alright? Sarah? You look...." Jessica asked focusing on the poor girls condition.


    "YES! I''m fine! Really! The fire.....um just feels really warm." Sarah rushed out sheepishly.


    "Okay..." Jessica replied mystified.


    Eian had his doubts, but really he was never going to find out and they had other things to worry about. Eian noticed Sarah was taking deep breaths slowly.


    "The voice mentioned I''d be durable?" Eian asked thinking over Sarah''s explaination over the mysterious voice.


    "You think it''s a dragon? Piles of gold and it''s powerful voice seems to fit?" Alex wondered.


    "I don''t..umm...Ummm Maybe?" Sarah said seeming more confused than the rest of them.


    "Guys! The voice said I''ll be durable?" Eian asked again.


    "Again yes Eian. The voice said to focus on both Body and Spirit equally." Sarah replied.


    "Okay geez thanks." Eian replied.


    "And it thinks its best at least one of us focuses entirely on mind?" Jessica said happily, excited at the prospect of not selecting spirit any time soon.


    "Again. Yes." Sarah said.


    They talked over the implications and decided the voice had no real reason to lie. If it wanted them dead it could just let them muddle through and starve. They decided the advice would be their new plan. They spent a while discussing the other particulars of the encounter until Eian exlaimed he was getting hungry again.


    "Guys how long do these tattoo''s glow for anyways?" Eian said looking over his unlit tattoos.


    "Thats a good question man. With all the hassle we''ve been through I haven''t even been counting." Alex said shortly thereafter.


    "I''d say roughly three hours." Sarah proclaimed with absolute certainty.


    "Wow. We''ve been here pretty long haven''t we. I''m hungry again." Eian thought over the entire encounter.


    "Well don''t worry I''ll be able to cook that left over lizard-meat soon." Sarah said not feeling too enthusiastic at the idea of tough-chewy meat.


    "Stupid fucking crocodile stealing our well-earnt meals." Eian complained as his belly rumbled.


    "Let''s go. I don''t want to think about that stupid thing." Jessica quickly said.


    The group collected the four plain short-spears the goblins dropped and kept moving. They stumbled upon a one-man passageway that disconnected from the main-tunnel and veered to the right. The tunnel-entrance itself was soft-dirt and marked by many small bare-foot-prints going in both directions.


    "Man that looks like its well used." Alex noted.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "I think it faces more or less to the fenced off area." Sarah said after a quick inspectioon.


    "You think this is another way towards that place?" Eian asked eyeing the entrance with suspicion.


    "It might, so let''s leave it at that for now and continue the main passage." Sarah responded.


    "Sarah''s right. Lets not take that chance please." Jessica responded suddenly.


    They continued onwards and encountered a duo of goblins whom, after quickly screaming, ran away in the opposite direction.


    "That was so weird." Eian muttered, to which the others agreed.


    The tunnel curved left and slowly widened untill till the cave was visibly larger. The cave had slowly dimmed untill it was dark and harder to see. The previous goblins were no where to be seen, in the new wide cavernous area. What appeared to be large clusters of Stalagmites littered the roof and floor. Eian went ahead, with Alex following right behind, followed by Jessica and Sarah right behind Alex.


    "This place is hard to see in." Eian said feeling vunerable at the forefront and in such a wide open space with little light.


    "Go slowly and keep your eyes and ears open Eian, those goblins might try ambushing us. Maybe with friends." Sarah said from behind.


    He kept a look out anywhere around the corners of the floor stalagmites on the floor, incase the goblins were waiting for a chance. A few tiny bones, which Eian now assumed were goblin bones, could be seen scattered about the place.


    ''Do goblins kill each other? Or is it spiders?'' Eian wondered at the bones, feeling extremely leery as his heart began to beat rapidly.


    He began hearing movement and tearing-sounds up behind a stalagmite and he edged closer for a look. Eian heard the swooping sound just in time to place an arm in-between himself and whatever attacked him from above. It bit down on his leather-protected arm, sending stabbing-pain shooting up his arm. Eian screamed and heard the others shouting. It''s impact sent him to the floor sending pain shooting up his lower-back and his leather-helmet bashed against the floor shortly after, rattling him for a second. His spear had fallen to the ground. It''s ratty face was clamped down on his arm and he struggled, attempting to fight it off.


    "GET IT OFF! GET IT FUCKING OFF!" Eian screamed punching the general direction of the face with his free arm.


    "Stab it Alex! Quickly!" Someone screamed, though Eian couldn''t tell who.


    A tearing sound was swiftly heard from his right and the beast opened its mouth and, releasing his arm in the process, let out in screeching wail. The beast sucurried off him to his left away from his friends. Eian quickly grabbed his spear and saw his frightful attacker staggering hunched on all fours. A giant ratty face with large ears revealed a bat with long vicious bloody fangs. It was limping in the floor and Eian furiously stabbed at its head. He stabbbed and stabbed. Over and over again furiously. Eian felt blood seeping into leather around his arm, and the beast''s blood-splatters sprinkled his legs. Feeling its flesh give multiple times, Eian didn''t care.


    "Eian stop. It''s dead already." Sarah said slowly.


    "IT BIT ME!" Eian hollared staring down the the bat.


    "We know. Let''s see your injury, Eian calm down." Sarah said staring at Eian


    Some shrieking could be heard from up ahead and Eian glanced up to see three more bats jump and fly towards him. Alex quickly raced next to him, followed by Sarah.


    "Let them each collide on one!" Sarah warned to Alex, refering to the upheld long-spears they both held.


    "Roger." Alex quickly responded


    Jessica hurled a spear toward a random bat, only to shortly miss as it sailed into the darkness. Both Alex and Sarah got a quick kill, but the weight of the bat sent Sarah stumbling to her knees. Alex recovered from the impact much easier, as he had only been pushed back roughly.


    Eian also attempted to spear a bat, but his short-spear and injured-arm were inadequate. The spear caught it in the cheek. The short-spear jerked to a side and the bat shrieked. The bat barreled into Eian and he attempted to manuever upon impact to let the beast take the brunt of the fall. He had partial success only and they both landed on their sides. His vision was impaired by dark leather skin and he quickly heard stabbing sounds and close-up shrieks. He quickly shoved at the beast and scrambled to his feet. It was twitching dead on the ground.


    "THAT WAS SO FUCKED UP!" Eian said due to the sudden turn of events.


    "Let''s retreat a little back, while we check your injuries." Sarah suggested eyeing the dark ceiling.


    "Yeah relax a little man." Alex said slowly.


    They retreated to where the cave thinned back into a tunnel with more light. Eian removed the leather corvering his arm and they checked the injury.


    "Does that leather really protect you guys so much? Those things had pretty long teeth." Alex asked perplexed by light injury.


    "Impossible a spear punched through it when the goblinoids were wearing it. It''s the earth-gift definately." Sarah said inspected the centimeter-deep teeth marks.


    "Can you heal it yet?" Eian asked hoping to be rid of the pain.


    "No man, my tattoo''s still glowing sorry, but soon I promise." Alex solemnly declared.


    "You think you can heal it if it infects?" Jessica asked, which spooked Eian.


    "Probably. We''ll have to wait and see." Alex responded worried for his friend.


    Eian spotted his tattoo was blinking once more.


    "Um that voice-dragon said to try to keep my Body and spirit even right?" Eian quickly enquired, to which Sarah nodded.


    "Oh? You got another? I wonder how soon the first bottle-neck starts?" Alex asked.


    "If I understood correctly it should start when all our attributes reach a grand total off ten." Sarah declared.


    "Good. I''ll select spirit then." Eian decided quickly.


    Eian gazed at his blinking tattoo''s which read: Body: 3, Mind: 4, Spirit: 1. He quickly selected spirit and the world washed away in white. Shortly after he beheld a grand mountain that trailed off into the heavens. Problem was there were about a million stairs that zig-zagged and sometimes were obscured.


    ''Fuck. Life seems to think I''m its bitch.'' Eian thought.

 Dream 16

    To him that wills, ways are not wanting. A saying is like a nut, that juicy delicious meat must be broken out of its shell by our minds. Determination of mind to never give up despite obstacles are qualities we should all strive to achieve. Commitment and determination these are qualities can overcome what look like from near like impossible odds. Don''t only think what can happen in a month, don''t only think what can happen in a year. Focus on what you can get done in the next 24 hours and do what you can to be closer to where you want to be.


    ''Fuck. I''m dying here. Can''t believe this is how I go.'' Eian huffed to himself.


    Staring down the two-yard-wide stairway Eian saw the ground at the bottom. From all the way up here it looked eerie, with few landmarks he couldn''t determine exactly how high he had climbed. All he saw were was what he thought was a big tree favoring a shrub and surrounded by green fields. The occassional breeze blowing through the mountaian-side sent shivers down his spine and his ass clentched. He had encountered a three open-pavalions along the stair-way taunting him to remain near the seats. The pavalions had some full water-basins from which he had quickly drank, only to inmediately puke back empty. He drank slowly and little the second time, before shortly continuing his trek.


    ''Who knew you could get tired in a dream. Those guys didn''t say anything about this.'' Eian said as he lay on the stairway.


    He got up and continued the climb. Sometimes he would slow to exaggeratingly to crawl up the mountain. He began humming to himself thinking back of home. His shabby job his mother told him to get him to try to pay for college.


    ''I wonder what ma''s doing now that I''m not there. She''s probably hysteric by now. She might even call paps and mams and that can''t possibly be good for their health at their age.'' Eian thought worried about his mother and grandparents.


    Steeling his determination Eian stopped clowning around and began his trek earnestly again. Two pavalions later and his legs cramping he saw some smoke in the distance. Vigour he had thought long past surged through him fueling his weary body. He soon came upon an open pavalion, behind it was a sturdy but thin path of stone, no more than two feet wide. The path lead to another open space of solid stone floor. His heart clentched at the thought of the cross.


    ''Ohhh..fuuuuck'' Eian rightly thought.


    He took a quick drink of the water basin in the pavalion and approched the path. From here he could see a large plain stone-block building built into the mountain-side past the thin path. It was emitting smoke through some sort of funnel. He thought he could hear the occasional strike ringing from the building, though it could just be the wind and his imagination.


    He braced himself against the side of the mountain and edged alongside it. He quickly madde it to the other side.


    The ringing strikes were much more clearer here and he approched the building''s metal door.


    "Ho there come on in! I''m a bit busy! Just lemme finish up here!" - Rebounding Voice hollared strangely.


    Pushing the door foward he found himself in an extremly hot place. He saw the back of a black-metalic short-creature which was visibly holding an extended thick-chain, which was hanging off the roof, on one hand. It''s other held an unfinished sword towards the metallic mouth of a dragon-figurine. Pulling at the chain an intense burst of fire extruded from the dragons-mouth. Quickly the metalic creature banged a few times at the sword with a hammer as thick as his torso.


    "Okay all done." It said after a while, setting the sword down.


    "Ummm." Eian stared, short of words.


    "Lets go outside, boy. We''ll talk there." Its voice rang strangely.


    It walked towards Eian and shooed him out the door.


    Upon closer inspection Eian noticed the creature was entirly made of black metal.


    Like a mini-black metal golem.


    It was short, perhaps reaching up to his chest.


    It was thick, its two arms were thicker than his legs, with many grooves upon its entire surface.


    Suddenly it grabbed at its head and popped it off.


    Revealing a thick-haired grey-skinned face similar to a man.


    It was then Eian realized it was a little thick grey man wearing an entire suit of black metal.


    Eian felt quite foolish now.


    "Names Ul''Falar, clans Il''ksro." The thick grey dwarf nodded it''s head.


    "Oh... I''m Eian, umm clan Carillo?" Eian attempted to imitate the figures manner of speech.


    "Ha! Humans never understand. Ul''s my acutal name, Falar is my family name." The dwarf laughed.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Oh, I actually guess I don''t have a clan then." Eian replied.


    "Well clanless Eian Carillo lets sit over there by that bench eh? You can tell me of your situation there." The dwarf pointed.


    They quickly sat down and though the seat was a little low for Eian.


    Eian briefy detailed their encounters to the dwarf.


    "Well let''s start off with the major problems you''ll have boy." The dwarf said slowly.


    "Problems?" Eian asked dreadful.


    "Yeh. Problems. Ever heard of ''Slow and Steady''? Thats the principle Earth powers are based off." The dwarf said seriously.


    "Oh." Eian replied confused.


    "The door o stone is there to halt those whom don''t have the attitude for it." The dwarf said.


    "Does that mean I do?" Eian asked wondering what the dwarf was trying to say.


    "Weeellll. I suppose so. I made this here mountain to test yeh too. Two birds one stone. Gave me enough time to try out a few things with an alloy. But thats not the enitre problem boy." The dwarf said.


    The dwarf took a deep breath and began speaking.


    "I saw you go for the life door and I want to say this. I don''t care. Its a good door, life, and earth is a much harder path, both literally and figurativly." The dwarf smiled.


    "Okay. So what is the problem you were speaking about?" Eian asked slowly.


    "The problem is anyone else is probably going to be more useful faster than you right now. Earth is slow to manipulate and only the higher numbers give strong benifits." The dwarf said.


    Eian stared at the dwarf blankly.


    "Yes I know that''s why alot of humans and other short lived races choose to flow other paths instead." The dwarf replied seeing his look.


    "Is there anything I can do? To be more useful? The fire-voice said I should focus on body and spirit equally and I''d be durable." Eian stated begining to worry.


    "Fire-voice? And yes durable you will be. Problem is theres not much else you can do for now. Shaping earth will be slow, so you won''t be able to do earth spikes or turn the ground to quicksand untill a bit later." The dwarf lectured.


    "What about shaping metal?" Eian asked hopeful, remembering the metal bars.


    "Friad not boy. That''s much higher than where you are now and iron is near the end of human racial potential." The dwarf said.


    Eian digested the news, feeling bleak.


    "I do have an easy way out boy, its a little painful right now, but if you want faster advancement it''s the only way." The dwarf spoke slowly.


    "What?! What is it?" Eian said grateful for any oppurtunity.


    The dwarf gazed off into the open sky, away from Eian and the mountain.


    "I can break your spirit." He said ominously.


    "....That...That... doesn''t sound too helpful." Eian said fearfully looking at the dwarf for any signs of aggression.


    "I will be honest. It will be painful and your body will lose the gift of the earth as well as any benifits you would have accumilated from the earth." The dwarf spoke.


    "How is that helpful in anyway?" Eian wondered feeling sick at losing the power of spirit.


    "It''s helpful because you''ll be able to choose another door." The dwarf said facing Eian again.


    "Oh." Eian said feeling strangely devoid of feeling.


    The dwarf looked at Eian with concern.


    "Your spirit will become zero, so you''ll have to re-select those upon your ''Thsgra'', better you do it now than later when you''ve spent too much effort into power of earth." The dwarf spoke.


    Eian figured ''Thsgra'' was how the dwarf refered to the tattoos. He thought over the possibility of changing to another element. Fire and Life were out since Sarah said they needed diffrent elements. Water, Death and Air those were possible doors he could choose as well. But he thought over the metal bars, perhaps he just had to focus solely on earth first like Sarah and Alex.


    "If I stay with earth. And I focuss on only spirit will I get more powerful faster than splitting between body and earth?" Eian inquired.


    "Yes and no. It has been tried, but the earth gift requires a strong body to enhance it fully and many earth-attacks require you to be naturally durable to effectivly use them." the dwarf spoke.


    "Oh." Eian said simply.


    He looked at Eian closely.


    "If you want to stay on this path. I can direct you on how to make use of what you have as effectively as possible." The dwarf said.


    Eian thought it over. He couldn''t see how water and air could be more useful than earth. Death however sounded kind of awesome. Death the epitomy of killing things. He however envisioned Sarah and Alex''s reaction when they learnt his spirit became zero. The dwarf was right though, he shouldn''t devote time to this only to give up later.


    "I''ll stay with earth Ul." Eian decided.


    "Good. Good. As a bonus if you ever reach your full potential. I''ll give you a secret of the earth." The dwarf smiled at Eian friendly.


    The dwarf jumped of his seat and motioned for Eian to follow him to a section near the face of the mountain.


    "For now stone weapons and a few armor pieces. Stone will mold like hard clay. Tell me your attributes and where you are right now." The dwarf spoke.


    Eian told him quickly.


    "For your next attribute I suggest you go with Body twice. Eat alot, the earth gift will make you more durable as your body grows stronger. After that choose spirit trice, at three you''ll learn how to compress stone into harder material, at four you''ll be able to mentally lift a bit of stone, at five you''ll learn rock-armor, but its heavy so you need a body to match it. " The dwarf said.


    The dwarf rapped his metal guantlet lightly against the wall. A huge door-like slab of stone erupted from the mountain-side.


    "Now let''s get to teaching you. Grab some of that stone. Don''t worry normally you would not be able to shape it till after the infusion finishes, but this place follows my rules." The dwarf said.


    "Okay..." Eian said approching the Stone.


    Eian grabbed at the stone and attempted to tear a chunk off. It felt rock solid.


    "Will it to bend to your will boy. Desire it. Coax it." The dwarf instructed.


    Soon Eian felt the stone turn to something similar to hard-clay and he was able to pull a piece of it away after a short struggle. It was still as heavy as a piece of stone.


    "Okay now I''ll have you make a stone helmet and move on to stone tools and weapons. Those are always useful. They don''t need any complicated moving joints like most armor pieces to allow mobility. Be warned boy this will take a while." The dwarf said.


    They began working and hours passed as Eian learnt the limits of stone.

 Dream 17

    Team-work. There is no "I" in team. Alone we can do can so little, together we can do so much. No man is an island. We, humans, have always been social creatures. We have gathered together to ensure our mutual interest since the stone age. We formed tribes first, hunted together to feed our familes. Then we formed villages when we learnt to farm and live off the land, which grew into towns and bustling cities. We selected leaders whom became chiefs and mayors, then kings and emperors. Today we come together in corporations, governments and even unions. Together we have come far, and only together will we continue to do so.


    Alex saw Eian select spirit and then close his eyes. Eian stayed still. A minute passed. Worry shortly began to naw at Alex.


    "Why do you think he''s been like that for so long?" Alex asked Sarah seeing as she was watching towards what led to the dark bat tunnel.


    "I don''t know. The voice told me time passes in there really slow. So the only thing I can imagine is he''s taking his time." Sarah guessed.


    "Do you think he got hurt in there?" Alex asked recalling his earlier fears.


    "You can get hurt in there?" Jessica asked suddenly even more afraid of attempting spirit.


    "I don''t know." Sarah said looking at Eian with worry.


    "What do we do if he stays like that forever?" Jessica said begining to worry about losing one of their group permanetly.


    "Relax people. Lets wait a while longer before jumping to crazy conclusions." Sarah said as the voice of reason.


    "Yeah Jess. Sarah''s right. This might be normal for his element." Alex said unwilling to believe Eian would stay down forever.


    Alex waited for what was ten minutes and he began to feel a little dread. What would they do with Eian if he stayed in a coma for long. He quickly corrected himself, his powers could probably heal him, if that be the case. A few minutes more trickled by and suddenly Alex heard something.


    Turning to look he saw a single human-goblin dressed fully. This big human-goblin was staring at them intelligently from afar, wearing light-grey clothing. It looked at them and retreated slowly, facing them the entire time.


    "Sarah, what is that thing doing?" Jessica asked worryingly at the strange human-goblin.


    "It''s probably afraid of us." Alex said as he got up and held his spear and shield.


    "I''m not so sure. I think it''s watching us if we will attack. Why would it do that though?" Sarah pondered aloud.


    Once the creature was far away it quickly spun and ran the opposite way. Confirming his idea at it''s cowardice.


    "See it''s just afraid." Alex said, wholely confident at taking one human-goblin together with Sarah.


    "Alex grab Eian. Jessica grab Eian''s shield and help me grab everything essential." Sarah ordered.


    "Whoa...whoa... Whats up Sarah?" Alex said surprised at her sudden orders.


    "Sarah what''s wrong? Your scaring me." Jessica said panicking.


    "I think it might be a scout. Some of those big ones could be coming, let''s put some distance between us to see if Eian wakes up." Sarah explained.


    Alarmed at the idea Alex quickly grabbed Eian.


    ''Damn it. This is going to be hard.'' Alex thought as he struggled to dang Eian, while carrying a shield and the lizard meat.


    Sarah and Jessica were loaded with a shield, five short-spears, Two staffs, Two long-spears and one dagger.


    "Alex hurry up!" Sarah ordered.


    Alex set his mind to it and begun dragging Eian harder. Perhaps a minute later Alex felt Eian jerk.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "What? Whats up? Eian asked confused.


    "Get up man, your heavy." Alex grunted.


    Alex let go of Eian causing him to land uncerimoniously to the floor. Sarah quickly detailed her theory to Eian.


    "Shit! Why would you think that it''s a scout?" Eian asked scrambling up.


    "We''ve never encountered some of those big ones dressed like that. They''re probably looking into the deaths of the guards." Sarah detailed.


    "Gimme my shield and a spear then. Maybe this time I''ll remember to block with it." Eian said, though Alex heard Eian mumble the second part.


    Alex prepared himself, weilding shield and long-spear, ready for the bats. He followed right behind Eian. They were soon infront of the dark cavernous area.


    "Let''s edge along the right wall. Nothing will attack us from behind. Eian in front, Alex protect the left side." Sarah ordered.


    "Okay." Eian replied.


    "Roger." Alex agreed.


    There was a shriek and Alex got a glimpse at it as a bat was flying towards him. Alex braced himself shield ready and set his long-spear towards the bat.


    "Eian! Try absorbing the impact with Alex!" Sarah ordered.


    Eian swiftly came to his side and they took the impact shields-together. The bat fell dead on his long-spear and they both speared it a few times to be sure. They continued right-wards, the cave seemed oval in over-all shape. They were moving foward-right along its right wall.


    They heard more bat shrieks and Alex gazed around for the source. Four bats were flying towards them and Alex felt fear.


    "Do that shield thing again, but with a little space in-between! Jess get behind Alex with a spear!" Sarah ordered, as they both dropped their extra baggage.


    "Got it!" Eian obeyed.


    "Roger, boss." Alex smiled at her quick thinking.


    "Jess! Point a spear like me!" Sarah said lining up behind Eian.


    Two of the bats impacted heavily on their combined shields and spears. Alex grunted from the impact and felt himself pushed back, lightly bumping in Jessica. Eian seemed to absorb the impact better, but was still staggered a bit. The bats fell on the floor injured, while the other two breezed by them on each side.


    "Jessica lets make sure those two are dead with me! Alex! Eian! Again!" Sarah ordered setting her sights on the two other bats as they swevered to come back.


    Alex re-positioned protecting Sarah and Jessica, with Eians help. The bats charged at them and once more Alex felt the impact stagger him. Eian grunted and quickly stabbed at the one on his side as it was howling on the floor. Alex dislodged his spear from the other bat''s throat, which had almost flown out his hands.


    "They weren''t dead..." Jessica said voice-shaky, rejoining them shortly.


    Alex quickly spun and saw Jessica had managed to kill the second.


    "Good job Jess." Alex smiled, Jessica gave him a half-hearted smile.


    "Let''s go. Pick up everything. Alex change spears with Jessica. It''s easier to aim with a long-spear from behind you guys." Sarah ordered.


    They continued slowly, weapons ready. Another pair of bats flew towards them. By now Alex and Eian positioned themselves without any orders. Jessica and Sarah remained still as it was only a few. They easily absorbed the impact. Alex and Eian killed one bat each.


    "Right there! A tunnel veers off the wall." Sarah pointed.


    The tunnel was headed roughly at two o clock from where they entered. They quickly entered eager to be gone from the bat-infested open-space. The tunnel was still wide enough for them to walk side by side arms outstreched. Alex felt he could once more breathe. They began hearing dripping-water.


    "Careful. Remember animals could be near water." Sarah warned alerted.


    "Fuck." Eian sighed, which Alex understood wholely.


    "Why does this feel more and more like a horror movie." Jessica complained visibly distressed.


    "Relax Jess." Alex smiled reassuring her.


    There were a few stalagmites dripping water forming water puddle. There were also two big iguanas which were drinking from a small puddle, on the left side of the tunnel.


    "Try to kill it. Eian circle around it. Alex try to stop it from escaping with me." Sarah ordered.


    The Iguanas were ignoring them mostly. When Eian was edging along the right wall the iguanas were visibly moving slowly away from the rest of them. Eian burst into a sprint to cut them off. One managed to get away. The other smaller Iguana stopped its advance and when Eian doubled back to chase it. The Iguana ran back towards them. It stopped as they surrounded it visibly alarmed.


    Sarah and Alex attacked it. It released a sneezing sound as Sarahs longer spear caught it in the neck. Alex too soon speared it. It died thrashing and jerking to another of Sarahs stabs.


    "Eian clean it. Alex let''s start making a fire. I''m starving and you boys must be dying." Sarah ordered.


    Alex realized his tattoo has stopped glowing, but was blinking anew.


    "Hey Eian man! My tattoo stopped glowing! I can heal you now, come over dude. They''re all blinking again too." Alex proclaimed, happy to be able to help his friend.


    "Thanks bro! This shit stings worse than bees." Eian said elated.


    "Mine stopped glowing a while ago I guess." Jessica declared suddenly.


    Alex heard Jessica and Sarah conversing as he focused on a cross-image as he healed Eian.


    "What are you doing Sarah?" Jessica asked.


    "Checking if my tattoos are blinking. The leather is in the way." Sarah said.


    "Well?" Jessica inquired.


    "Yes they are, but spirit is still glowing so I''m not choosing anything for now." Sarah declared.


    By the end Alex felt his new "stamina" visibly drain a bit. Eians wounds had healed perfectly and Eian thanked him for it.


    "So, I guess I''ll be choosing spirit again." Alex asked Sarah.


    "Yes as you see, healing is essencial to our survival." Sarah agreed.


    "Be careful." Jessica told him.


    Alex quickly selected spirit as the world washed away in white.

 Dream 18

    Consequences. Actions lead to consequences. These can be good or bad, but they are always there. There are old sayings like ''You reap what you sow'' or recent ones like ''Karmas a bitch''. If you might regret it later, then you probably shouldn''t have done it in the first place. As a child we are protected by our parents, but as adults we must take the full brunt of our actions. Sometimes we end up behind bars or crippled for something that once you reflect could easily have been avoided. Essencially, try to have your actions bring as the least possible negative-consequences in your life. Next time wear a seatbelt.


    Alex gazed around the tranquil field of grass which was located in the middle of a forest, with a clear outstanding landmark streching before him. A long open structure of aged-stone, the forest seemed to give wide-berth to the structure. A large single tinted-glass depiction of men and animals could be seen near the top of the structure. Statues of scantly-clad women alined to make its outside supporting columns, they wore both skirts and bras of leaves and crowns of vines which reminded Alex of his guide. There were many entrances from what appeared to be many sides, which led to what appeared a massive courtyard or park. He could see the structure was rectangular from the open-view he had.


    He also spotted a massive tree stretching high up, coming from within the building. Sweet melodic music could be heard coming from within, along with flowing water.


    "Well this is certainly different from last time." Alex spoke aloud to himself, appearently he had not lost the habit.


    Alex entered the building passing the large detailed-statues, which were almost twice his size. The entrances were large enough to fit twice his height. Remarkable fountains of toga wearing children whom held jugs of pouring water could be seen everywhere. He examined the tree which stretched upwards, it reminded Alex of stories of the World-tree. Though certainly this tree was lot smaller since it didn''t reach the heavens.The sweet music stopped.


    "I apologize for your troubles."- Melodic voice.


    Alex spun quickly and faced a beautiful leaf-wearing woman. She stood at ease and was clearly a different now though, she also had a flute on one hand. Her voice was also different. She had the same green-flower eyes and aurburn hair, but she was slightly taller and slimer from what Alex remembered. She excluded a more mature charm to her this time.


    "You? Can you change your appearance?" Alex asked perplexed.


    "In here yes. But I am different from the last guide you met."- woman.


    "Oh." Alex replied, unsure as to the situation.


    The woman gave him a sad smile, but Alex was a little leery this was all some elaborate trick.


    "I understand your hesitation." The woman said with a lovely voice.


    "Really?" Alex asked still doubtful.


    "Yes, when my little sister returned and spoke of her experience giddy. I knew she had done one of her jokes again." The woman replied slowly.


    "Oh." Alex was still confused.


    "Shes over there." The voice pointed to a bench by a fountain.


    "Why is she just sitting down?" Alex asked as he spotted her.


    "I paralysised her. Come let''s fetch her. I''ll ensure she doesn''t do mischeif this time." The woman said.


    The whole situation felt surreal to Alex, and deep down he was still a bit doubtful. The first vine-woman he met was sitting down trembling, as if attempting to move from a restraining chair.


    "Vita." The second woman said and soon the first jerked foward and stumbled on the floor.


    "Is that a spell?" Alex asked surprised.


    "No. It''s her name. Mine is Vis." the second woman said.


    "Oh. I''m Alex." Alex said feeling strangely out of place, though the woman seemed to ignore him.


    "So mean! Why did you do that? It was just a little joke." Vita said pouting as she sat on the floor.


    "You have been lax. You agreed to shoulder this burden and so far you have made a mess of it. He was the first, but not the last. This ends now." Vis sentenced.


    "Hmpffh." Vita said.


    Alex thought he her mumble something like ''Can''t have a little fun.'' which almost made his eyebrow twitch.


    Vis turnt to face him.


    "Normally you would meet me much further upon your journey, when you needed a more experienced guide. But I had to put a stop to this nonesense. Our duty is sacred." Vis explained to Alex.


    "..... So what now?" Alex asked.


    "I will supervise Vita on this part your guidance, but later I will set someone to watch her." Vis said.


    "You can''t do that!" Vita shouted visibly upset.


    "I can and I will. Now teach the mortal properly or I''ll personally take more extreme measures. Apologize and get to it." Vis declared like an imperial judge.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "....sorry.." Vita mumbled under her breath.


    Alex was still feeling a little weirded out by the whole experience.


    Vis snapped her fingers and Vita jumped to attention.


    "...Okay?" Alex responded completely feeling unsure of what to say.


    "Okay? OKAY!? Vita said incredously.


    "Vita." Vis chided.


    "Fine. Come here." Vita said exasperated.


    Alex approched Vita and she pulled out a wooden eight symbol.


    "This is the symbol of continuity, of the never ending cycle of life and death. We can only pull from the life-side though." Vita said sounding like a grumpy child.


    ".....What does it do?" Alex asked.


    "It restores your bodys natural energy and heals stress-fatigue within the body." Vita explained, as if quoting a book.


    "....Sorry, What?" Alex said a little perplexed.


    "It makes you less tired and doesn''t have bad effects." Vita simplified.


    "Oh. That''s easier to understand." Alex said feeling alot better than last time.


    "You won''t be able to heal fatigue on your friends yet, that''s the next power. Your spiritual ''stamina'' will go up with each point in spirit." Vita explained.


    "Roger, Thanks." Alex smiled at them both, happy to not be a naked-fool.


    "Just like last time, imagine pulling power from the image." Vita said.


    Alex remembered Sarah''s disapproving look last time and remembered to ask at least one question.


    "Wait!... What is the best way to get stronger for me right now?" Alex asked unsure of what exactly to ask.


    "How should I know?" Vita responded sullenly.


    "Specify mortal. And Vita give his question thought." Vis responded, to which Vita huffed.


    Alex told them of his group and their problems.


    Vis glared at Vita and she visibly looked distressed, as she considered.


    "...I suppose it depends what exactly you want. If you want to be a warrior focus on Body a bit and protect your fatal areas, anything that doesn''t kill you will not matter afterwards. If you want to be a full-healer focus solely on spirit, then move to Mind." Vita quickly said.


    "I suggest you focus on spirit mortal. The earth-one will likely be a sturdy bulwark, so focus on keeping him and your allies alive." Vis seconded, which made Vita visibly pout.


    Alex stood there considering any more questions.


    ''Man, I wish Sarah was here.'' Alex thought as he gave up.


    Alex attempted to pull power from the number eight, but nothing happened.


    "Nothing is happening." Alex said confused.


    "Vita." Vis ordered.


    "Oh! Right!" Vita said quickly.


    She turnt the eight sideways, forming the shape of infinity instead. Alex felt a little dumb. He once more pulled from the symbol and felt the power rush to him.


    Alex was back with his friends. He blinked and the roots once more grew, and he felt little discomfort.


    "Faster than Eian." Sarah noted dryly.


    "Oh geez, don''t remind me please. I think I''ll dream of stairs and stone for a lifetime." Eian replied.


    "Why did you take so long anyways? Pretty girl?" Jessica teased Eian.


    Alex was still a little out of sorts with his experience and almost said ''yes'' in his place. Eian shared his experience with them and Alex felt a little bad for his friend. Sarah then asked Alex to share his experience and he did. Of course Alex ''edited'' a few parts.


    "So far our guides seem to agree with each other. Well doesn''t matter lets get to making this fire. We only have three expendably dry spears and two slightly wet staffs." Sarah declared finally.


    All their equipment they took from to the crocodile den was slightly wet. The four spears they got after were still dry.


    Sarah decided they would light the dry spears and cut the wet staffs and dry them by the fire till finally throwing them in small chuncks. In all it took them close to an hour and they only managed to cook less than half their previous batch of meat. Eian and Alex filled the newer meat in the red-bloody shirts, though it was crammed a bit. They remained with two long-spear, two short-spear, two shields, the dagger and Alex kept his lucky little fire-stick.


    "Don''t worry, lets eat it all. I''ll be able to cook the rest in a short while." Sarah said.


    "That will save alot of time and effort." Alex said, fire-starting was crappy.


    "I hate lizard-meat." Jessica compalined.


    "I love it." Eian shot back as he gobbled the food.


    "I can see why man." Alex smiled as he savored the meat, he had vomited much of his last real meal.


    "Yeah, don''t forget guys. I gotta eat alot." Eian reminded them.


    They quickly ate and drank from the dripping water.


    "Alright people. I think we should continue exploring this way. Jessica you need to kill a few things, your supposed to be focusing on mind and it takes really long for the effect to take place." Sarah lectured.


    "...We...We don''t choose what attacks us." Jessica argued weakly.


    "Pfh I wish." Eian grunted at the thought.


    "It doesn''t matter. You have to at least try to help more. You''re clearly stronger than me now." Sarah said looking at Jessicas body.


    "Hey now. It''s not exactly a matter of physical fitness." Alex argued in her favor.


    "If she can''t do it. We should at least hold something down for her to kill." Sarah relented tiredly.


    "I have to select body next." Eiam reminded them again.


    "Okay let''s keep going I want to put some more distance between us and the possibility of those human-goblins." Sarah said.


    "But what about the metal entrance? Eian can move stone soon. He can just dig around it." Jessica bemoaned.


    "I know, I want to get out too, but we have to wait. With my fire we won''t starve, as long as we find lizards. We can''t risk fighting too many of those things. Imagine a herd of ten." Sarah explained sadly.


    "I hate this!" Jessica wailed helplessly.


    "Jess calm down. We will find another exit." Alex attempted to cheer her up, though it clearly failed.


    Eian was begining to look miserable as well. Alex tried to put in some good cheer, but even he was begining to be worn down from constant abuse. They collected their things and began moving deeper into the tunnel. This tunnel wiggled left and right like a worm, slightly-curving constantly. They spotted a few lizards and Sarah ordered them to circle around and kill them. They managed to get Jessica to kill one, though nothing happened to her tattoo.


    "Guys...What are we going to do about a toilet." Eian asked.


    Everyone stared at him, comprehension dawning on them.


    "Again? How bad is it?" Sarah asked careful to keep her tone neutral.


    "Not bad now. But give me an hour and I think I''ll crap myself mid-fight." Eian said scratching the back of his head.


    "Ha-ha-ha. Man.The smell will probably drive everything away." Alex laughed friendly, to which Eian smiled shit-jokes were man-things.


    "Thats disgusting!" Jessica said looking at Alex with almost comic-horror.


    "No helping it. Lets search for an area to make a pit-stop. We''ll need to use a puddle to wash our hands." Sarah said slowly.


    "Ugh. How can you say something so gross with a straight face." Jessica was looked half naucious and half disgusted.


    "In the future. Eian can carve holes in the earth and we seal them with loose dirt." Sarah explained.


    "Great...Just great. Spider shit. Bat bites. Stairs. Now I''m a latrine digger." Eian said sarcastically.


    They selected one of the larger grooves on the cave walls. They all were told to try by Sarah, as they couldn''t take a pit-stop at any minute. Sarah recommended Jessica to go first since she would probably vomit if she went after anyone else. By the end of their ordeal Sarah noticed her own tattoo had stopped glowing.


    She looked over her tattoo''s and remembered her last ordeal. It was definatly uncomfortable, but what could she do, but go foward? She kept her helmet on this time and selected spirit. The world once more washed away in white.

 Dream 19

    Expectations. We usually know how an encounter is going to go down for us. If your friend threw a lousy party last time, he''s probably gonna throw another lousy one this time. If a series has been good and exciting for ten seasons, we expect it will continue to be so. If world war three hasn''t broken out since I was born, I''m not expecting it tomorrow. The problem is we are always operating on incomplete knowledge so while we can expect somethings. We can never expect everything.


    Sarah blinked and opened her eyes, her helmet and lether armor was gone. She found herself laying on the bed of gold. Back exactly where she left off last time, but alone. Sarah noticed the cave ceiling was high up and sported multiple silver chandeliers bejeweled and reflecting light.


    "My. My. Little spark. Eager aren''t you?" A sensual voice said full mirth, it sent icy-electric bursts down her back.


    "Ah!" Sarah said feeling a flush coming to her face.


    "You have probably not even enjoyed the fruit of my gift and here you are again, wanting more." The creature''s voice whispered enticingly by her ear.


    Sarah turnt and saw the lovely fiery-creature inches away from her face, staring at her with those remarkably lovely cat-eyes. Something in her chest beat erratically and she felt herself devolve into almost complete-primal lust. Staring at her lovely figure, Sarah felt faint and light-headed, unable to look away from those lovely lips, pink erect nipples and sheen sweat trickling down her perfect-curves. The creature stroked her cheek loving.


    Smiling the creature sauntered away from Sarah and each step was hypnotizing. Sarah stared at those hips swaying, with what could be drool leaking from her mouth. She stared at her tail as it flicked side to side, driving a surge down her belly. Blinking Sarah realized the creature sat down on a throne of gold.


    "Better?" The creatures sensual voice dripped like honey, snapping Sarah out of her fudge.


    "What? Why? What are you doing to me?" Sarah felt bewitched, by its beauty.


    "Men cannot be within my presence without feeling my aura." The womanly voice said.


    "Thats....Can''t you do something about it?" Sarah implored.


    "Little spark. You act as if I stole from you. My aura is a central part of my being." The creature said.


    "Aren''t you a dragon?" Sarah asked unsure and feeling slightly desperate.


    "Dragoness." The dragoness proudly puffed up, which gave Sarah a magnificent view of the dragoness'' breasts.


    Sarah breathed in and out attempting to wash away the surge of passion which nearly overcame her. Sarah felt her own nipples respond to the provocation, standing taunt at attention. She bit her bottom-lip hard, attempting to seize control of her body.


    "Can''t you please change to a more dragonic form?!" Sarah beseeched, feeling as if she were losing her mind.


    "If you desire little spark, but you will dissolve into a puddle of bliss staring at my splendor." The dragoness lectured, obviously enjoying her discomfort.


    "Never-mind!" Sarah spewed out, she imagined if it was any worse her heart would explode, along with other more embarrassing possibilities.


    The room went silent.


    "Questions? Little spark? You can''t, not have those." The dragoness started, startling Sarah for a moment.


    "...Y..Yes... I''m Sarah. What''s your name?" Sarah asked meekly, breathing slow.


    "Call me Adara, it''s what one of my favorite mortals once called me. Dragon names are long and reserved for family, it also means more or less the same thing." Adara answered as she looked away, as if to a distant memory.


    "Fire. How do I use fire?" Sarah asked in a brief moment of clarity.


    "For now your fire comes from your breath, which you must desire. You can breathe it into your hands and condense it into a ball for a while, which can be thrown. Careful not to burn your clothes, I hear humans are always adverse to that." Adara taught.


    "Is... IS there anything else you can tell me?... To benefit me or my group?" Sarah asked as she mastered some tenuous semblance of control.


    "Yes. In the short time you''ve been away, I have in-fact thought of what advice I could give you." The dragoness faced her again and performed a lovely smile.


    Sarah didn''t trust her voice to ask a simple ''what''. She shivered in what she hoped was the possibility of answers and not something else. She felt conflicted, half of her wanted to jump and kiss that beautiful work of art, the other wanted to run away in complete shame and never return.


    "Focus on survival. Become stronger. Risks are foolish as you are now. Advance with care and under no circumstances rush towards the unknown unprepared." The Adara lectured.


    "That''s all?!" Sarah attempted to close her eyes, but failed.


    "There are no short-cuts I''m afraid. When you are stronger I will have more advice, but I do not want to give you information which could lead to rash actions." Adara answered slowly with some semblance of sadness.


    "Please anything else can help..." Sarah begged.


    "Do not plan on escaping soon. Now hush little spark. If you want any chance of survival follow me." The dragoness got up and held out her hand to Sarah.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Sarah grabbed her hand and once more thought about the last fiery kiss, her knees suddenly felt weak. Somehow she followed along as the Adara guided her away. Anxiety, desire and fear all writhed in a tangle within her belly. They approached a brazier of green-fire, and soon they were before it. Sarah felt no discomfort despite being near what should be unbearable heat. Within the brazier was a miniature-burning green-sun atop a burning pentagram.


    "Stretch your hands towards it. Command it''s powers to obey you." Adara whispered in her ear, positioning herself behind Sarah, holding her waist.


    Sarah felt her mouth go dry, as those mounds pressed against her back. She slowly stretched her hands towards the emerald flames and gazed unblinkingly towards center. Her eyes dilated fully and she saw herself in it reflected at the center. As if in a trance Sarah beckoned the emerald flames to approach with her mind and will.


    Sarah blinked and just like that she was back. The image of green flames burnt in her mind and soon she felt their heat emerge from her chest and spread through her body warmly. Now that she was free of Adara''s influence, she breathed a lungful of relief. She was never going to get used to that.


    "So?" Jessica asked looking hopeful at her with blue-eyes.


    Her close proximity spooked Sarah and she jerked. Eian and Alex let out a short bark of laughter. Which sent a flame to her cheeks. Sarah put her hands on her face.


    She quickly detailed what little information the dragoness told her.


    "So it was a dragon." Alex said with a sad smile.


    "Thats not whats important! She said we wouldn''t get out anytime soon!" Jessica was wide-eyed and hysteric, she got up and begun to pace.


    "I was begining to suspect that." Eian said rubbing his eyes.


    "No answers." Sarah sighed sadly.


    "That doesn''t mean we won''t ever get out. There''s hope as long as we''re alive and I''m here to keep us alive." Alex declared, to which the others looked at him.


    "Well in that case lets get to work." Sarah said smiling lightly at his enthusiasm.


    "Right. That means I gotta become a better meat-shield." Eian sighed but felt glad Alex reminded him he wouldn''t just drop dead from a scratch.


    "Nonononono." Jessica was still pacing, mumbling to herself.


    "Jess calm down please." Alex called out to her, she stopped and sat down holding herself.


    "Well at least she''s full of energy." Eian smiled finding it a bit funny and Sarah snorted a small laugh.


    Alex went to talk to her and Sarah got to cooking the rest of the meat. Eian crammed as much as he comfortably could into his belly. Alex followed Eian example. Jessica was quiet and looked miserable.


    "Well I gotta get stronger let''s go kill something guys." Eian said.


    "That''s the spirit man." Alex was glad morale was up.


    The got up and followed the tunnel deeper as it begun to descend. The mushrooms were scarce on this part of the cave and so it was pretty dark. Sarah breathed a small patch of red flames and held it in her hand to provide more light.They discovered the tunnel ended in a short drop about five feet. Eian and Alex dropped down and then helped the girls by catching the equipment, the cooked lizard-meat, then catching them. Sarah warned them to be careful, if something caught them unawares it would be hard to climb back up quickly.


    "Guys I think I heard something up ahead." Eian warned them suddenly.


    "What is it?" Jessica asked afraid.


    "Sounded like it might have been a scream." Eian explained.


    "You think someone is in danger?" Alex asked worry clear on his face.


    "We can''t rush in. We have to move slowly. We come first." Sarah ordered, which clearly conflicted Alex.


    They continued foward for about five minutes till Eian spoke again.


    "Stop." Eian suddenly said, Sarah felt herself shiver at his tone.


    "Dude what is it? " Alex asked concerned.


    "I hear something.... mumbling?" Eian said, as if he wasn''t so sure.


    "What is it?" Jessica fearfully.


    "Sarah can you throw some fire ahead? I can''t see very well." Alex asked.


    "Okay. Hopefully this kills it." Sarah said as she condensed a ball of fire and chucked it like a baseball.


    The red-light shot foward and Sarah saw it illuminate a humanoid shape bent over further ahead. Whatever it was, it moved away from the flames and attempted to receed into a patch of darkness. It seemed to drag something along.


    "What was that?" Jessica said from behind fear evident in her voice.


    -''Hopefully she doesn''t pee herself.'' Sarah thought to herself, feeling her own bladder tigthen in apprehension.


    "Fuck! That''s definately a monster. Bet?" Eian asked to Alex and Jessica became more frightened, Eian was clearly uncomfortable in the lead position.


    "Lousy bet man." Alex replied dryly.


    "Whatever it is, approach carefully and together." Sarah ordered remembering Adara''s warning.


    "That''s what the movies always say, before the first idiot gets eaten." Eian mumbled.


    Eian approached it cautiously, shield-foward and speared pointing at it. Alex was right next to him approaching the same way. Jessica had her long-spear pointed at it as well, but stayed a bit behind with Sarah. Sarah prepared another red fire-ball. It got up as Eian approached and they could see the whiteish skin on its human-back, it was bent over another human figure.


    Suddenly it sprung around and attacked howling inchoherently in rage. Eian lunged his spear catching it in it''s human-like chest. With one of its four arms, it grabbed the spear pushed it out and then pulled Eian foward and shoved him hard enough to send him flying a few paces backwards. Alex attacked almost exactly the same time as Eian, but the spear only lodged lighly in its arms drawing blood. Two arms send a punch towards Alex''s shield resounding hard and sending Alex staggering sideways, with his shield arm flailing.


    Jessica seemed incapable of screaming and panicked. Sarah chucked her fire-ball at it, catching its chest. The fire-ball pushed it back slightly and fire spread quickly, it screamed but only partially caught fire. Charging foward it ran towards Jessica and Sarah. Sarah attempted to prepare another fire-ball, but she knew it was too close.


    Alex barreled into it''s side and they both went down on a tumble. With inhuman strenght it pushed itself off the ground and sent Alex backwards, his spear was still imbedded in its side. Having recovered Eian charged again stabbing its vunerable side, then jumped a bit back to dodge its retaliating swing. Sarah threw another ball of flame at it and it completely caught fire. It howled and dropped to the floor attempting to put it out. Sarah ordered Eian to hurrry and Eian took the chance to stab it in the skull.


    Sarah went and examined the creature. Jessica watched it fearfully. It had no eyes, hairless dog-ears, along with its abnormal four arms. Apart from that it could have been a bulky albino-human. Upon further notice, they saw it had been eating another of its kind, just before they approched. Its partly eaten guts were stretching outwards, from a hole in its belly. Its neck was clearly twisted in an unnatural position.


    "Cannibalistic monsters. Just fucking great." Eian declared.


    "It looks fresh, the one we killed must have just killed it." Sarah observed the body.


    "I think it cracked my arm. How''re you dude?" Alex said and he seemed to heal himself.


    "Well my poor ass is never gonna be the same. I hate to say told you so." Eian said, to which Alex snorted.


    "Ugh! Shut up Eian!" Jessica barked.


    "Shhh... We don''t want any more of them." Eian said evily, which cause Jessica to scream at him incoherently.


    "Eian dude, lay off man." Alex asked.


    "Yes Eian, you''re not helping." Sarah said.


    "Fine. Geez. Sorry." Eian said to Jessica and she calmed down.


    Eian checked his tattoo under the leather and selected Body once he saw it blinking. He was ready for the spike of lightening from his heart and its subsequent spread of adrenaline.


    They checked the bodies for anything of value, but came up empty. Sarah believed they were solitary creatures, due to them being cannibalistic. They couldn''t decide what it was and decided to proceed with more caution. If they encountered more than one they would retreat and try to find another path.

 Dream 20

    We all want to improve and be better. Through out our lives we learn more and more. We never stop learning and improving. We will never be perfect, but many say its the journey in itself that''s worth living.


    The cavern would have been almost pitch black at this point. Not that it wasn''t always at least a little dark. Only the occassional creepy-glowing mushroom could be seen here. Thankfully Sarah''s fire made the concern irrelevant, though the shadows it gave off made her jumpy. Jessica was farthest to the back and sometimes she felt vunerable from here. She would look behind herself every minute or so to make sure nothing was sneaking behind to get her.


    Thankfully she woke with her favorite wedge sandals, which were flat and so she had been able to run easily. Jessica was begining to feel the back of her heel a bit raw however, which would develop into blisters. That sweet-heart Alex should be able to heal her though, she made a note to ask him to do it next time they stopped. He was the only one, of the trio with her, whom actually understood a delicate girl like her wasn''t made for fighting monsters. The fact he was tall and handsome didn''t hurt either.


    -''I''d probably go crazy with just Sarah and especially with that jerk Eian.'' Jessica thought, she quickly peeked behind herself again.


    The constant danger had left her on edge and Jessica was thankful she had no make up on her face or it would have been ruined. She could see clearly all three from back here. Sarah was just ahead of her, with her slightly outdated fashion sense and mish-mash get-up of leather, though given the circumstances the latter could be forgiven. Alex''s muscular tanned back could be seen right after Sarah and she got a look at his short hair with messy curls. Eian was vanguard and was hidden beneath his shabby leather get-up. With those three in-front she had at-least a modicum of safety.


    "We need to try to get Jessica to kill something." Sarah said to everyone, causing Jessica to feel dread.


    "I can''t kill one of those things!" Jessica said feeling slightly hysteric.


    "She''s right Sarah, those things are too dangerous. You could harm it because of your fire, but she doesn''t have that luxary." Alex argued, bless him.


    Didn''t she see how much trouble they all had with that last one? Eian thankfully kept his foul mouth shut.


    "Calm down. Both of you. I know that, but I mean we should try to be on the look out for something easier. Maybe an Iguana or a bat." Sarah explained, making her feel slightly better.


    Jessica let out a small breath of relief. The Iguanas weren''t so bad, the bats we ugly but if they were hurt she could manage. She still didn''t like the feel of the spear-tip sinking through anything''s flesh, sometimes it made her want to vomit. She wasn''t some blood-thirsty barbarian from the stone-age after-all.


    -''Ugh now I remember what I ate.'' Jessica thought feeling a little sick.


    If she were honest, usually it was the worst when they encountered something new. After something was dead infront of her, she felt reassured they could die and it wasn''t that bad. She couldn''t handle the unknown. When they encounter the human-goblins it wasn''t so bad, because they looked human dressed up in leather. The regular goblins were tiny so they weren''t so scary anymore either.


    They continued onwards slowly, careful nothing would ambush them. They encountered a few bones littered about of both animal and those weird eyeless skulls. The mushrooms became more rare untill there wasn''t anything left. Soon the tunnel split in two: slightly to the left and the other went straight. Sarah said to keep going straight to ''map out the layout properly''. Jessica didn''t care this gods-forsaken place was hell.


    Soon after the tunnel curved a little to the right and the floor became harder. The space in the tunnel began to reduce untill they only had space for a single arm to properly stretch. Jessica began to feel claustrophobic.


    "Careful. I can''t throw fire here or I might catch one of you." Sarah said told the boys.


    "Fuck just what we need." Eian mumbled, he did that alot.


    A minute passed, suddenly a howling began.


    "Shit another one incoming!" Eian shouted, though Jessica couldn''t see what with the other two in the way.


    Alex and formed up behind Eian, spear pointing foward. Jessica heard a collision of flesh on metal and visibly saw Alex and Eian pushed back. Fear spiraled out of control in her belly and she trembled as she held her long-spear and the dagger. She could hear the creature howling in rage or pain.


    "Try to stab it through an opening!" Sarah screamed, Jessica looked and Eian wrestling to hold his shield his spear was missing.


    Alex was spearing at the monster constantly, through openings on the right around Eian, as Eian was being banged on the sides of the wall. One armed Sarah guided her own spear and send stabs the monsters way occasionally from the left. Alex sent a final stab and Jessica heard the howling cut off. Eian went fowards and pulled his spear out of the monster.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "My tattoo''s blinking again. But my spirit hasn''t stopped glowing yet." Alex said suddenly.


    "Eian give Alex the leather on your left fore-arm. He''ll wear it so he doesn''t choose one of the other two by mistake. Alex careful while putting it on." Sarah lectured, which sounded like a good idea to Jessica.


    They did as instructed. Jessica felt a little jealous, she wished she could give orders too. They had to almost step over the remains of the dead blind-dog-eared thing to continue, which was creepy. The cavern widened slowly till Alex and Eian could walk side by side comfortably. The ceiling was still a bit low though.


    "Much better." Eian remarked, and she agreed silently.


    "Yes now I can help better now, Jessica hold my spear." Sarah commanded, Jessica took the spear and Sarah created two separate fire-balls.


    Eian still led foward as he was more durable, and a little expendable. She felt a little bad for thinking that though. Another howl came from them about a minute or two later.


    The beast barreled into Eian and they fell to the floor. Alex stabbed at the monster, as it grabbed Eian, by the waist. Eian put his shield between them and the beast lifted him off the ground. Jessica felt fear, Eian wasn''t going to die was he? Its bashed him on the ceiling and threw him to the left. Jessica screamed. Alex stabbed at it, but the creature pulled the spear free of its arm and threw it to the right.


    "Jess give Alex a spear!" Sarah screamed.


    Jessica threw a spear and Alex missed the grab. Sarah emptied both fire-balls at the beast it quickly caught fire and rolled on the ground. Sarah summoned another fire ball. Eian stabbed it in its upper-spine out of nowhere. It began spasming and he stabbed it again. It dropped dead.


    "Well. That sucked balls." Eian said rubbing his shoulder.


    "Eian how''re you?" Sarah asked with worry.


    "You okay man?" Alex asked, and Jessica wondered how he was still alive.


    "Yeah. Kinna ducked to take the blow on my back. Still got my head a bit though." Eian explained.


    "Come over let''s heal you up." Alex said quickly.


    "Sorry to say. Your fire-balls don''t kill them fast enough yet." Eian said truthfully.


    "True, but at least it distracts them from tearing you guys apart." Sarah argued testily.


    -''Wow Eian, real smooth'' Jessica thought, though she supposed taking a crack on the head might make anyone dumb.


    "Wow. Wow. I''m not saying it doesn''t help. I know my element won''t help us much for a while now. It''s just you know I hope you can flash-fry them soon. Like ''BAM!'' and they''re dead." Eian placated her.


    "Don''t we all." Sarah replied calmly.


    Alex patched up Eian and everyone gathered their equipment. Sarah remade both fire-balls. Another tunnel veered off directly to the right and Sarah said they take that one. The tunnel paved up soon causing them to feel excited.


    "You think it leads to an exit?" Jessica asked with hope at the idea of seeing the sky.


    "Yeah!" Alex agreed.


    "Could be. Only one way to find out." Sarah said neutrally.


    "Can''t be so easy." Eian said, which made Jessica want to punch his face.


    Another howl was soon heard and Jessica felt fear again, how many of those things were there? Eian braced himself again as he absorded the initial barrel-impact, he was pushed backwards and fell on his back. Alex had already surrounded it and quickly stabbed at its side, eliciting another enraged howl. Sarah emptied both fire balls on it setting it alight; while Eian was down and its howls were terrifying. Eian stabbed it in the nether region, as he was on the floor. Its screams were mind-rending and it fell to it knees, tearing the spear from it groin. Eian scampered backwards on the floor.


    "Wait people! Jessica kill it!" Sarah screamed, Jessica stared at her like she was crazy.


    She looked at the howling flaming beast and it begun to get up. Alex stabbed it in its neck and pulled the spear back. It began to gurgled on its blood. It held its neck and fell to its knees once more.


    "Hurry! Jessica! Aim for its head!" Sarah shouted.


    "Don''t worry Jess I''m here." Alex reassured her


    Tightening her guts Jessica dropped everything save a long-spear and approached. Alex was there near the beast. She took aim and stabbed through its burning blackened skull. It went still. Jessica''s tattoo begun to blink and she quickly selected Mind and felt the brain-freeze sensation atop her head which melted into her cranium, it felt rather pleasant by the end.


    Soon the tunnel ended in a broken down doorway, which led to a small room with no other exits. Skeletons of tiny people or what could be goblins, were strapped down on restraining tables. The skeleton of a bat was organized neatly on display. Shelves lined the walls with beakers and vials, filled with vile substances. A single table in a corner held few tomes, though only one was larger and important looking. Mini-burnt out torches and candles lined the area.


    What really took Jessica interest was a restraining table whose straps were torn. A single skeleton lay on the floor before it and judging from its condition its skull seemed to have been squashed. Near one of its finger bones was a single valueable looking ring. A strange fore-boding two foot-long staff lay beside it, the upper-most foot of the staff was thorny and it held a miniature horned-goat skull atop with pitch-black gems as its eyes.


    "This is creepy." Eian said staring at everything.


    "Yeah man." Alex replied.


    "Screams evil wizard. Doesn''t it?" Sarah said observing the skeleton.


    "Question is. What are those things?" Eian said looking at everything from the staff to the ring.


    "I''m not sure its healthy to use them." Sarah said looking at them.


    "Well we can''t leave it here. And that fellow had to have used them before." Alex said.


    "He might have cursed them. Never seen any magic movies with evil wizards?" Sarah argued.


    "I can heal myself. I can try them on." Alex declared, which made Jessica worry.


    "Don''t be stupid Alex. Those thing could kill you fast enough to not matter." Sarah argued.


    "I agree with her Alex. We can''t mess with those things." Jessica said.


    "He can''t have expected to suddenly die. What does it matter if someone else uses your things after your dead? You don''t need it." Alex argued.


    "He''s got a point there." Eian said curious about the ring himself.


    "Don''t be absurd. If you all want we can ask one of our guides about magical artifacts. If they say its too dangerous we dump them, till then I''ll carry them." Sarah relented.


    Sarah grabbed what remained of the wizards robe and wrapped up the staff and ring in it without touching them bare-handed. Eian suggested they stuff the books in too and Sarah said it was dumb since they were in languages they didn''t understand and would probably get wet somewhere. They took one last look at the room and left.

 Dream 21

    Injuries. We get them all the time. Most of the time they are inconsequencial. Sometimes its just hurt feeling, other times paper-cuts and sometimes a stubbed toe. We mostly ignore these and move on. Sometimes however we get serious injuries. Broken bones, lacerations, amputations, third-degree burns, and the list goes on and on. These are not things we can ignore and we need friends and family to be there for us to cope with the aftermath. Recovering from these injures take time and sometimes we will never be the same again.


    Eian hated this damn cave. Everything was just getting worse and worse as they kept on going. If the guides were to be believed, then they wouldn''t be escaping soon. His spirit tattoo had stopped glowing, but he would have to select Body again next. He was hating those four-armed beasts, they were crazy strong. He still remembered that fucking headache he got from the impact.


    He led the group back to the main tunnel and they continued onwards. Eian hoped they would stop encontering these creatures soon, luckily they only appeared alone or it would be hell. His hopes were cruelly dashed soon however.


    Another beast howled and Eian braced himself for impact. Shortly after Eian felt it collide into him send him staggering on his ass.


    -''Fuck. Not my ass again.'' Eian sighed inside his mind.


    "Stab it Alex!" Sarah yelled.


    Eian pulled his own spear from the monsters abdomen. and quickly got up. Only to be shoved backwards and he staggered backwards. He saw flames collide unto the beast and it rapidly caught fire. It howled and attemped to put out the fire with dirt from the floor. He got up and saw Alex stabbing it on its side vigoroursly, it succumbed to a stab to the throat. Jessica just sat back as usual, which was slightly annoying. Here they all were trying to stay alive and she was barely helping.


    They soon encountered another broken doorway, which veered off the right of the main tunnel, which led to what appeared to be a jail. The bars of the cells were rusted, but forcefully pried open. Many bones favoring the blind-cannibals littered the area. Nothing salvageable of interest caught their attention within the jail.


    The jail held no other exits and they left. They continued along the tunnel till it opened into a slightly wider space. Eian heard screaming or howling noise again, but further up.


    "Guys somethings up ahead. Sounds like another one of those." Eian said slowly.


    "I''m sick of this place." Jessica said, which Eian silently agreed with.


    "Be ready for a fight Eian." Sarah said and she held her two fire balls ready.


    "Careful man." Alex said with some worry.


    Eian felt worried they would encounter more than one of those monstrousities. He edged slowly onwards till the cavern expanded. A few stalagmite formations began appearing and Eian thought he heard water dripping. The floor was slightly moist here, though still hard enough for proper footing. With only Sarahs light Eian felt vunerable out in the slightly opened space. Eventually the cavern grew so wide it looked the twice the size of a football field. Piles of bones littered this area.


    Eian heard something move and turned see a glimpse of a tall alpha-beast running towards him. He braced himself quickly and took the tackle head on, he even felt his spear sink into meaty flesh. When he blinked he noticed he was on his back. His shield arm flared up in pain and he got up in a hurry. Alex was stabbing the giant beast and Sarah had set it alight. Eian charged foward spear ready.


    Alex went retreated a few paces and Eian stabbed at it randomly catching its arm. It grabbed Eian and tossed him to the floor, hard. The air went out from his lungs and he struggled to breathe. Suddenly he felt something land heavily on his midsection eliciting an airless wheez, he heard someone scream. He felt something in his chest crack and it burnt. Something kicked him like a ball and he rolled sideways. Belatedly he though he heard Sarah scream something.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Eian struggled to stay concious and after a quick mental hurdle, got up. He saw from behind it was limping on one leg and Alex was cautiously retreating. Sarah kept firing balls of fire and the beast roared and semi-charged to Sarah''s diretion. The fire-balls seemed to be less bright now though. Alex intercepted it and went flying a few paces, causing Jessica to scream again. Eian was running as fast as he could with the pain on his side.


    "Again! Alex try stabbing its knees! Take it to the ground!" Sarah ordered.


    He aimed at its uninjured knee, but stabbed at its meaty calf instead. The spear sunk deep elliciting a feral howl and earnt him a back-handed swing to the skull. Eian fell to one knee, dazed and attempted to stand, only to fail and stagger. A punch sent Eian to the ground on his back and black spots appeared in his vision. He thought he saw another fire ball catch it straight in the face and the impact made it drop, but its arms kept it from falling completely. It quickly asserted itself and got up howling and burning.


    Eian had managed to reorient himself and charged. Once more saw Alex spearing the burning monster. He saw Alex go down when he partitally blocked a stray double-combo-fist, while retreating. Eian was feeling a very distinct intense burn under his ribs. He felt a lack of air despite breathing as hard as he could.


    He aimed for the back of it''s knee again and sent a hard pierce towards it. He felt the knee give and it fell to the ground screaming taking his spear. Eian blocked a back-handed fist and felt his shield arm flare in pain then go numb. Another punch sent Eian backwards and he felt his chest injury worsen as his his collided into it. Suddenly it grabbed him and pummeled him, Eian kept blocking its attacks as best as he could. Another fire-ball caught the burning creature and it flung Eian away. He saw the clear view of the floor heading his way. Crack.


    *****


    The trio watched over Eian''s unresponsive body. Jessica was crying. Alex was bent over visibly sweating and tired. Sarah was on the verge of tears, watching over Alex, as he tried to heal Eian desperately.


    "H..Ho..How is he?" Sarah asked shaky.


    "His arm''s broken, the other could be fractured. I healed what I think is a fractured rib in his lung, he vomited blood afterwards, so I think thats it. He might have a concussion, but I think I healed the fracture in his skull." Alex said out of breath, watching Eians laborous breaths.


    "Can''t you do more?" Sarah asked with timidly, over Jessicas sobs.


    "I haven''t even healed myself and I feel I''ll pass out. This is definitely my limit and my guide warned me, pushing more won''t help. I want to heal him too you know." Alex explained sadly.


    "Wha.. Do you think he''ll be okay for another round?" Sarah asked, whatever she''d seen or done, nothing could prepare her for a human''s death infront of her.


    "I DON''T KNOW, DAMN IT! I''M NOT A DOCTOR!" Alex yelled helplessly freaking out, spooking Sarah and she begun leaking tears.


    Alex instantly regretted his outburst, after seeing her cry and Jessica was wailed even louder.


    "I''m sorry. I just don''t know." Alex sighed loudly and rubbing his face, his arms tinged with deep pain.


    Sarah sniffed a bit and wiped her face.


    "It''s okay. I know you''re upset too." Sarah said, Alex did a weak smile.


    "I''ve never healed someone else so much. I didn''t know my limit." Alex said regretfully.


    "Me either. By the end there I could barely breath for flames." Sarah said sadly, holding the last wisps of flame.


    "snf...I''m sorry..hic..I''m so sorry..snf..hic." Jessica was still crying on her knees.


    "We should move. It can''t be safe here." Sarah declared finally.


    "Where to? I''m not sure how we''ll even fight a single one like this." Alex said.


    "I''ll grab a long-spear for now. Alex drag Eian gently with the meat on-top of him, but be ready to drop him for a fight. We''ll retreat to the wizards lab there''s only one way to approach, so it''s easier to guard. Jessica stop crying an grab everything else make sure your ready to drop everything and fight too, with Eian down we can''t have you as a liability." Sarah declared.


    Alex was sad, but couldn''t refute that they needed all hands incase they ran into more of those things. They moved slowly due to their burdens and luckily nothing had re-approached the area they had cleared. They set Eian down on the wizards bed and made themselves comfortable. Sarah took the time to move the bones into a pile. Alex wanted to help, but by then his bones felt they were dangerously creaking. Sarah and Jessica moved the tables to cover the entrance to the lab and finally they breathed a sigh of relief.


    -''This was a disaster.'' Alex thought sadly looking at Eian slow laborous breaths.


    Every once in a while he tried healing Eian, but his spirit seemed to recover slower when he was exhausted. Alex checked his spirit and realized it had changed to three. He now sported: Body: 3, Mind:3, Spirit:3. He realized this last one would be it before he hit his first bottle neck. The tattoo had already been blinking and he looked over it and told Sarah about the situation.


    "Go on. Also ask your guide about the staff and ring." Sarah said tiredly.


    "Okay. Be right back." Alex responded without enthusiam.


    He looked at the tattoo and resolved himself. This wasn''t a game, he selected spirit and the world washed away in white.

 Dream 22

    Alex once more found himself in a different location. He found himself by a simple pond in the middle of a dense forest.


    Vita was crouching by the pond dipping a foot in. Alex''s guide looked slightly depressed, though she was still very attractive with her brown-red hair, clear green eyes and shapely figure. The only animal to be seen was a unicorn drinking from the pond, which made Alex distinctly ackward. Unicorns were girly and this one was staring at him, as if he did anything it would charge and impale him with his horn.


    "Hello." Vita said staring at the pond.


    "Hi." Alex said calmly.


    Silence stretched for a while and Alex remembered he had things to do.


    "If I''ve exerted myself how long does it take for me to fully recover?" Alex asked.


    "Regular exhaustion will take at least six hours, the longer you wait the faster you recover." Vita answered simply.


    "I''ve healed my friend till I was breathing hard and sweating is that regular exhaustion?" Alex asked.


    "Yes. If you felt pain it would have been spiritual damage, which takes alot longer to heal and dumb because it wouldn''t have helped your friend." Vita answered absentminded.


    "Is there a way to recover faster? My friend is hurt and I''m not sure he will survive the wait." Alex said, rememberring Eian''s vital injuries.


    "I''m sorry. There are ways to recover faster but I doubt you have spirit water or any of the other more exotic recovery means." Vita explained, she ahd turned and looked at him with sadness.


    "So there''s nothing I can do?" Alex asked, feeling dreadful.


    "Can you describe his injuries to me? Mending targets the dangerous parts of an injury first naturally, so if you''ve applied extensive help to his vital injuries he will probably last long." Vita said, inciting hope in Alex.


    Alex quickly described the state his friend was in, he racked his brain for anything he might have missed.


    "His broken arm will need a little attention. If its as bad as you say it could cause him to be losing blood inside his arm. Also treat the chest injury and head trauma in equal intervals, I can''t tell which is worse from your brief description." Vita answered sadly.


    "Thank you." Alex responded.


    "Your welcome." Vita did a sad smile and looked back into the pond.


    "Are you alright?" Alex asked watching her sad face.


    "....Yes. I''m sorry. It''s just....I''m just sad people don''t like me." Vita smiled sadly, causing Alex to semi-understand her situation.


    -''If she was playing pranks on everyone, no matter how beautiful nobody will like you.'' Alex thought sadly.


    "Is there something in particular that has you upset?" Alex asked, he remembered she wasn''t like this the last time they met.


    ".......A mortal woman called me a concieted bitch, whom gets everything because she''s pretty and spat at me." Vita said sadly.


    "Oh." Alex reflected and sort of understood how people could react that way to a bad prank.


    "I am sorry." Vita said.


    "It''s okay. Everyone goes through at least one prank." Alex said and smiled at her hoping she would cheer up, she reminded him of a sad little puppy.


    "Thank you. Not many people accepted my apology and some men demanded some obscene things." Vita smiled and it seemed genuine.


    "Oh!" Alex said surprised, yeah humanity had some shitty people.


    "It was sort of dumb though. I had to hurt some of them." Vita said smiling and looked back into the puddle.


    Silence descended once more and Alex thought perhaps it was time to leave.


    "I wanted to ask. Magic items. Can they hurt us if we try to use them?" Alex asked.


    "Depends. Some people can place malignant effects on items. Detail what you are talking about please." Vita responded.


    "We found a staff with a goats skull and black stones for eyes. We also found a simple ring." Alex responded.


    "....Found? Or liberated?" Vita asked.


    "What''s the difference? We found it on a skeleton." Alex replied.


    "Found usually means you find it in an abandoned building untouched. Liberated is used to describe something you take off a corpse, usually after you kill the wearer." Vita explained.


    "Oh well I guess we liberated it from something that looked like an evil wizards skeleton. Oh! He was already dead when we found him though." Alex clarified.


    "They should not have any curses then. You can''t condition a curse to only affect some people, so wearing a cursed item usually kills you. No idiot would curse something they use and there are only so many things you can bind yourself to." Vita explained.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "What if we just find a magic item lying about then?" Alex asked intrigued by the possibilities.


    "Then I suggest you not wear it. They could be traps and many people use them to kill would be grave robbers or theifs." Vita replied.


    "Okay thank-you." Alex smiled, glad to have not have just have randomly find the items.


    "It''s smart to ask me though. Being reckless will only kill you faster." Vita smiled, which made Alex feel more of an idiot.


    "Can I use the staff to heal Eian better?" Alex asked, hopeful.


    "No." Vita replied sadly.


    "Why?" Alex asked perplexed.


    "What you described to me is a staff of death. It''s alignment is the polar opposite of life and will not enhance any magical effect you use it for in any way." Vita explained.


    "What about the ring?" Alex asked hoping it would be different.


    "It depends what type of ring it is. If it is a ring attuned to death magic the same will apply as the staff, which seems likely as the wizard you describe sounds like a death wizard." Vita explained.


    "So...they''re useless?" Alex asked sadly losing hope.


    "No, one of your friends could use them. As long as an item is not in direct conflict with your element you can get at least partial effect from the item, as long as they bind it." Vita explained.


    "So how do you bind it?" Alex asked.


    "Same as when you use magic. Extend your desire towards it and it will respond acknowledging you as its user after a short time, and so long as you are not over your limit." Vita explained with a smile.


    "Do you know what they do?" Alex asked, hoping that at least the ring could help.


    "Staves are used to strenghten the power output of a cast or channel, they also expell the spell from just aboves the staff top. Rings have a multitude of uses including what staves do, to many of benifits; including spirit regeneration and invisibily." Vita explained slowly.


    Alex thought over all the information.


    "What limit?" Alex asked.


    "Your limit the amount of items you can bind. Itis currently one item right now. Anyone can bind one item, every five points in spirit add another. To a maximum of thirteen items per person, which regular humans can never reach." Vita explained.


    "Okay, thank you so much Vita you''ve been a great help." Alex smiled.


    "Your welcome. Thank-you as well for your forgiveness." Vita gave him a genuine smile, which belonged on a fashion magazine.


    Vita held out a wooden symbol similar to the last. This time it had a circle around the edges of the infinity sign.


    "The circle is the difference between restoring stamina to yourself and to others." Vita explained.


    "Thank you." Alex said one last time and pulled power from the image.


    He blinked and he was back.


    *****


    Alex went over his discovery with Sarah and they discussed its implications. Sarah was glad to be able to use the magical items. She bound the staff and felt it as an extention to herself.


    Alex attempted to bind the ring, he felt no discernible effect afterwards. Jessica attempted to bind it and felt a strange energy permeate her, but could not use it in any way. They were convinced it was a death ring and would attempt to give it to Eian, if he recovered.


    Alex recovered for about half an hour and healed Eian arm a bit. Another half an hour later, he alternated between his head injury and chest. He spent most his time healing Eian every so often, but the girls were chatting up.


    "So. What are you going to do when you get out?" Jessica asked Sarah, as she was bored.


    "I''ll probably go stuff myself with snacks and find a wonderful book to go read." Sarah said smiling.


    "Oh my god. Yessss. I need a soda. And maybe some ice-cream or chocolate." Jessica moaned dreamily.


    "I could use a beer as soon as I get out. If getting stuck in this place isn''t an excuse to drink I don''t know what is." Alex said smiling.


    "How old are you? I didn''t think you were old enough to drink where you''re from." Sarah said questioningly.


    "Ha! I''m twenty and if you ask me that drinking age thing is stupid. Most countries are eighteen. I mean I can go become a soldier and die at eighteen, but I can''t drink a beer? How dumb is that?" Alex asked.


    "What''s stupid is going to jail for something dumb." Sarah lectured.


    "I don''t mean get drunk, I just mean to relax. My friends usually buy it for me and we drink at a house party." Alex explained.


    "You party alot?" Jessica asked watching him.


    "Just with my friend James. You?." Alex smiled slightly.


    "Sometimes, but only with more than three good friends. My parents always know where to find me though." Jessica said.


    "How ''bout you?" Alex asked Sarah.


    "Not my favorite thing. I mean if I have a good friend to talk to all night it''s not so bad, but loud music gets to me after a while." Sarah said.


    "Wonder if Eian parties." Alex mused.


    "He''s loud so I imagine he does." Jessica said.


    The thought of Eian soured the mood and Alex went back to trying to heal him. Sarah was poking through the tomes of the dead wizard carefully, observing the language and diagrams. Jessica was staring at the jars and vials on the shelves. Alex was tending to Eian''s condition for any sign of improvement.


    Alex focused healing on Eian''s skull after another half an hour. Sarah belatedly noticed her tattoo stoped glowing. She experimented with her new flames and noted the flame color had changed to green.


    "That''s pretty cool." Alex said.


    "Green fire is hotter than red fire. I wonder if blue fire is next." Sarah mused aloud.


    Eian began coughing roughly and Alex quickly caught him and lifted him.


    "qhh..Hey. What''s up guys." Eian said waking up.


    "EIAN!" Alex said happy his friend was back, Sarah and Jessica rushed over.


    "How''reyoufeeling?" Sarah asked so quickly her words jumbled together.


    "Hey." Jessica said smiling weakly, unsure as to what to say.


    "mmmmm." Eian replied rubbing his head.


    "Hey man take it easy. You took a major beat-down." Alex explained.


    "That explains why everything hurts. Where are we?" Eian said dryly.


    "We''re at the wizards lab." Sarah explained calmly.


    "Who killed the bastard?" Eian asked.


    "We''re not sure." Sarah said.


    "Huh?" Eian asked.


    "After it threw you, we kinna just stayed away till it died from the fire and its injuries." Alex replied.


    "Alex circled around it and dragged you away from it. Both it''s legs and arms were injured so it couldn''t chase us." Sarah explained.


    "I think Sarah probably killed it. She kept throwing fire-balls pushing it backwards sightly." Jessica said.


    "Oh well. Good riddance. Alex" Eian said, turning to his direction.


    "Yeah?" Alex said.


    "Want to go first next time?" Eian asked jokingly.


    "Nah man thanks." Alex smiled.


    "He wouldn''t have survived Eian. I''m actually kind of amazed it didn''t break your neck." Sarah said seriously, Jessica smiled knowingly.


    "Kidding. Geeeeezzz. I wake up and can''t crack a joke. What is it with you people." Eian said smiling.


    They all spoke a bit and asked Eian if he needed rest to which he said no.Alex asked if he was sure and Eian said yes. They gave him the ring and he bound it to himself.


    "Anything?" Alex asked.


    "Nah my spirit tattoo stopped glowing though. I feel that well or energy my guide explained to me, maybe it''s a bit stronger?." Eian said.


    "We should all stay here and rest still. We''ve been at this for so long. I''m amazed we''re not dead on our feet." Sarah said.


    "True." Alex said.


    They unananimously decided to rest there till Eian was fully recovered.

 Dream 23

    Abnormalities. Tunnel-vision. Ever missed something in plain sight? Something, that when you sit and think, you feel wierd to have missed it in the first place? Especially when your in a hurry or in a high stress situation, somethings don''t add up but you brush it aside for something more important. Sometimes we become oblivious to the obvious.


    Eian''s day was pretty shitty. Alex had been tasked with the role of guarding the entrance first, battle ready while everyone rested. Sarah had lit a leg of an extra table and Alex had replaced one of the burnt out torches on the wall with it. Sarah was sitting on wooden chair with her head on her arm, on the tome-table in-front of her. Jessica was laying down on a table with one of the wizards only two pillows, she was covering her eyes with her arm. Sarah had the annoying habit of tapping the table with a finger on her spare hand and Jessica was moving her body, adjusting herself to be comfortable on her table every minute.


    Eia felt full of engery, his tattoo reading body had finally normalized and he thought that was the source of energy as first. His head hurt, but he felt that was left-over injury from his cracked skull. His arms ached badly and when he moved them, he realized that they were slightly numb. As the most injured member of the group, he was told to lay in bed. He had removed all the uncomfortable leather he had been wearing. Alex had healed his injuries own quickly, the ratio for self healing was truly unfair in Eian''s mind.


    "Alex, pass me some food please." Eian asked, his belly was starving, maybe that was it.


    "Sure thing man." Alex said and he hastily grabbed some meat and took it to Eian.


    Maybe he needed water now? Eian lay in bed and once more closed his eyes attempting to sink into sweet oblivion. Nothing. Nothing happened, he felt his head throb, but couldn''t fall asleep. Was he stressed or something? That seemed likely with all his injuries and experience.


    Thinking over it how had he been able to keep going for all that time. The fights were so stressful, quick, but stressful. Like an intense sport that tires you out in a few minutes. Not that he ever did much sports, but when he did he was usually dead tired in the first hour. Was it the tattoo''s tranformations making him more athletic? Did it increase him stamina reserves so much?


    "Ah. Fuck." Eian muttered aloud.


    "You too?" Sarah asked.


    "What''s up?" Alex asked off-handed.


    "Ugh. Be quiet please, Sarah your tapping is annoying." Jessica muttered from her table.


    "mmmm" Sarah said.


    "You all okay?" Alex asked.


    "Shh... Please I''m trying to sleep." Jessica moaned.


    Silence stretched for a while, half an hour passed.


    "People. Gather up." Sarah ordered.


    "Ugh." Jessica moaned.


    "What?" Alex asked.


    "What?" Eian asked as well.


    "I don''t think we can sleep." Sarah declared, Eian stayed silent.


    "What? Why not?" Alex asked, perplexed.


    "Are you in a hurry to be somewhere? Because believe me, I want to get out even more than you." Jessica said.


    "No. I mean, I don''t think any of us can physically drop asleep." Sarah declared.


    Everyone took that in.


    "I was asleep a while ago." Eian said furrowing his brow, which caused his skull to throb.


    "You were knocked unconcious. That''s likely different." Sarah said.


    "What exactly do you mean?" Alex asked, unsure as to what she meant.


    "You think we''re sick?" Jessica whispered slightly worried.


    "No. I mean Magic''s real. So maybe we don''t need sleep anymore." Sarah explained with some confidence.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "I don''t feel very tired, either." Eian put in.


    "But. I have a power that heals being tired. What''s the point if we can''t get tired?" Alex asked perplexed.


    "Maybe it''s for normal people." Sarah said unsure.


    "What about me? I don''t have magic?" Jessica questioned, confused.


    "You have the tattoo''s, maybe thats it?" Sarah replied waivering.


    "So. Your saying I''ll never dream again?" Eian asked horrified at the possibility.


    "I''m more worried if we can keep it up and not die. I''ll ask my guide next time, she didn''t seem too worried." Sarah said strangely.


    "Don''t worry if anything. I can just heal our brains or something, to make sure we stay healthy. It doesn''t matter, look at the bright side, now you can do so many things you''ve always wanted to do instead of sleeping." Alex said smiling.


    "Maybe we can use knockout gas or some type of magic to get some sleep sometimes." Sarah mused aloud.


    "So... what do we do now?" Eian asked, feeling horrified to never dream of grilled lobster and other more ....fantasic-stuff.


    "Me and Alex still need time to get back some of our ''spiritual stamina'', but after that we should eat and then go." Sarah said.


    Eian took that advice to heart. He was munching every few minutes ever since his red tattoo stopped glowing. His muscles definately looked very muscular now and he though he might even be a bit above Alex in muscle mass. He had zero fat now however, he could see abs, which was a massive boost to his ego. None of his muscles felt wobbly or watery, everything was tough, defined and manly. A couple more and he''d give celerities a run for their money.


    Appearently Jessica''s mind tattoo also stopped glowing sometime. Eian had to wait for Alex to heal his skull and his arms a while too. It all took an hour to full recovery. Eian was tasked to using his magic for utility, as it had no direct combat use at the moment. Eian dug a small rough latrine just outside the room and they covered it with some of the tables for privacy. Magic tomes, appearently did not matter in the face of natures needs, much to the delight of everyone, especially Jessica.


    The only thing was they needed to go out to collect water dripping from stalagmites nearby. The whole group went as a whole armed to the teeth for any encounters. Eian crafted a bowl to catch it in and a few stone gourds to store it. The gourds were a handful to carry, though it wouldn''t matter. They used a piece of leather, as a stopper to prevent them from leaking. The whole thing took Eian about two hours of light but continious labor. Alex had helped throughtout, simply moving stones or carrying things.


    "Eian. Could you reinforce this area?" Sarah asked pointing at the doorway.


    "Sure. I don''t see why not, but aren''t we leaving?" Eian asked.


    "Yes, but I want to at least have a place to recover, incase we can''t get out soon. Make a barrel for water too." Sarah said.


    Eian quickly reinfored the door, making the opening so small, they could only comfortable fit sideways. The barrel was inconsequential and he did it in a few minutes. Eian took stock of their equipment: two winged long-spears, two short-spears, a dagger, two shields, Sarah''s death staff, his ring, a shirt stuffed with cooked meat, another bloody shirt with nothing, and the two make-shift leather suits Eian and Sarah wore. They decided to rest and recover for an extra two hours.


    "So Eian man. Do you party?" Alex asked Eian out of the blue.


    "Huh? Where did that come from?" Eian asked.


    "Just wondering. I''m bored man." Alex said.


    "Well...yeah. I do, but not much. My mom and I emigrated, so we''re kinna paranoid of getting in trouble. Plus I don''t dance." Eian explained.


    "Oh thats cool man. Maybe I''ll take you out for a beer sometime." Alex smiled.


    "..Thanks. As long as it''s not to anything crazy." Eian smiled at the thought.


    "Nah. I feel you might like James, everyone likes James." Alex said and his smile looked nostalgic.


    "You boys planning your wedding already?" Jessica joked.


    "Screw you." Eian laughed along with Alex.


    "You wish." Jessica rolled her eyes.


    "What about you guys?" Eian asked them.


    "I do with my friends." Alex said.


    "Only with a lot of friends." Jessica answered plainly.


    "Almost never." Sarah declared.


    "So what do you do?" Eian asked Sarah, wondering at her silence.


    "Read." Sarah said simply.


    "Cool. What do you read?" Eian continued.


    "...A little of everything. Fantasy, Mystery, Science." Sarah elaborated.


    "Comics?" Alex asked.


    "No." Sarah responded.


    "Romance? Drama?" Jessica wondered looking at her.


    "A little..." Sarah replied looking uncomfortable.


    They stopped chatting and an awkward silence ensued. By the end the two hours they packed everything and set out towards the part of the last fight. Sarah lit two green-fire balls, the slightly bigger one clearly hovered over her new staff. They passed the jail and arrived at the large open space. It took them rougly half an hour. The many bones were still distinctly creepy. Shortly afterwards a they heard a howling.


    Eian braced himself and took the brunt of the regular-sized dog-eared albino monster''s tackle. He was pushed back, but he bearly managed to stay on his feet. He stabbed at it randomly constantly. Alex circled around and sent a few stabs its way. It turned to face Alex, when Eian saw a green-fire-ball collide into it visibly sending it staggering sideways. The second blew it to the ground in an impressive impact.


    Eian was almost slaw-jawed, but remembered it wasn''t dead. Even if it was charring up quickly and howling in pain. It attempted to get up and Eian stabbed at its skull, silencing it. Eian looked at the dead cooked monster. He quickly kicked it''s skull, petty? Maybe, but who cares. They encountered the alpha-beast''s corpse partly eaten on the ground, where they had left it.


    "The green fire-balls are definately more effective." Eian said happy he had better fire-support literally.


    "The staff definately had an effect on the second on too." Sarah smiled.


    "Good job, Sarah." Alex said congratulatory.


    Jessica stayed silent. They encountered a passage-way continuing the main tunnel and another veering off to the left. They kept going foward.

 Dream 24

    Sarah looked about the shadows, over the strange lighting her flames gave off. She was extremely excited over the strenght increase her flames possessed. Earlier when the flames were red the impact only slightly staggered the monsters, similar to mediocre push. Now they completely sent them reeling backwards, with the follow-up of the greater-one the beast went straight to the floor. The flames also ate away at flesh with much greater intensity, the last monsters flesh had quickly burnt almost to the bone. If Eian had not stabbed it, she was certain another blast from her staff would have killed it.


    Sarah held one perfectly spherical fire-ball on her left hand and another hovered about a foot from the skull of her staff. She was almost afraid her clothes, leather get-up and staff would spontaniously combust, by the close proximity of her flames. The fire itself gave her no discomfort, similar to a lukewarm sensation on her palm. She had to focus a bit to not let the emerald-fire go crazy. Her spirit reserve strangely did not go down while she maintained the flames. Summoning consumed some energy, but maintaining them was a pittance compared to that. She had silently observed all of this and noticed her spirit acutally felt it still recovered, if slower with the fire-balls.


    -''Now if only my guide weren''t so completely wierd. I might acutally have asked some more questions.'' She thought while sighing.


    She was also glad Eian was back up. His broken bleeding body was something she would not soon forget and she was surprised he managed to overcome it so quickly. As a matter of fact, she was surprised her whole group had been as competent throughtout all their adventures. Something felt really strange and somehow she felt a tickling on the the edge of her mind the more she thought on it. Tip of the tongue sensation was what they called it. In the end it was irrelevant thought, she would get out of this jail and when she did she could fully explore the mysteries of magic.


    "Incoming!" Eian suddenly shouted and she snapped out her fudge.


    She saw the monster charging towards Eian, whom held his shield and spear ready to absord the impact. She always winced when she heard the sound of flesh on metal. Eian was staggered backwards by the blow, but quickly recovered himself. She moved to the left, took aim and waited for a clear shot. Friendly fire, no pun intended, was not an option.


    Alex, as per routine, circled around the right attempting attack its vunerable areas. It shoved Eian again hard, even as he attempted to spear its face desperately. Sarah sent both fire-balls in what she calculated quickly as a perfect-trajectory. The fire balls slammed into the beast, blowing it right off its feet unto the rough ground. She channeled another fire-ball through her staff and she had a moment of clarity.


    What if she took the channelled fire-ball off the staff and held it on her off-hand? Could she posses two greater-sized fire-balls instead of one? Experience quickly confirmed her theory and she smiled, no more breathing fire for her. The beast was busy screaming its lungs out in intense pain. In her distraction Alex had managed to kill the beast. It was irrelevant, she would have more chances.


    "Eian let me try to hit one with both fire-balls next time first. Just move a little out of the way." Sarah said.


    "Are you sure? Sarah?" Alex asked worried.


    "That would be welcome." Eian said smiling.


    This part of the carven was wide, the walls were close to seven-yards apart approximately. A few glowing mushrooms began appearing in this part of the tunnel. The cavern slightly inclining upwards for about five minute till it evened out. Another path veered off to the right and they took that path. The walls on this path begun to have a few small tunnels large enough for humans to crawl through easily in diameter. Bones littered the area in small quantities and a few resembled the eyeless beasts, but mostly they favored some quadruped mammal. The mammal skulls had two eye sockets and four giant sharp-teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. Ten minutes later Sarah saw one of the eyeless beasts eating something and it quickly got up roared and charged them.


    "Another one. All yours." Eian mentioned to Sarah.


    "Careful Sarah." Alex warned.


    "Got it." Sarah said.


    Eian moved to the left and Sarah sent both fire-balls straight towards the monster. Bam! The impact sent it spinning out of control to land on the floor and it caught green-fire. It howled it lungs out, and tried to get up. Sarah prepared another greater-fire-ball and sent it straight to the monster''s face. It fell to the ground again, roaring in agony as it attempted feebly to get up. Sarah prepared another fire-ball and felt her reserves deplete slightly. She was thought she was somewhere about a third through her reserve. She looked at it and saw it was only twitching now, she decided it wasn''t worth another fire-ball.


    "Just let it die from the fire." Sarah declared, she needed to grow in strenght as well.


    "That''s kind of cruel." Jessica said, though she really didn''t sound too broken about it.


    "Well they would eat us, so I for one don''t care." Eian said dead-panned, staring at the unmoving burning monster.


    "I agree with Jess, Sarah try stabbing its skull with a long-spear." Alex suggested.


    "It''s probably already dead." Sarah said as she looked at its burning carcass.


    "Just because we are desperate, doesn''t mean we should be wantonly cruel when we can help it. I agree another fire-ball is unwise, but spearing it doesn''t cost us anything." Alex explained.


    "Fine. Hand over a spear Jess." Sarah said.


    Sarah quickly speared it in the skull, which elicited no movement what-so-ever from the monster. They quickly check it''s meal and saw it was some sort of giant mole-rat, the size of an extremely large obese dog was nearby.


    "AHH!!! EWWWWWWW.That''s disgusting!" Jessica wailed, moving away from the dead animal.


    "Let''s go." Eian said wanting nothing more than to leave.


    "Yeah." Alex said.


    Sarah summoned another fire-ball and they kept moving. The group kept moving and occassionally saw a giant mole-rat bear its teeth, then scamper into a small tunnel. Soon the tunnel came to an end. In its place one tunnel went completely right and another went completely left. They took the right tunnel. They encountered a herd of five hunting goblins about five minutes later. The goblins didn''t even try to fight they bolted backwards into the tunnel.


    "You think those come from the same place the others do?" Alex asked.


    "Could be." Sarah admitted thinking back on the journey.


    "Are goblins and those human-goblins even related?" Eian asked.


    "Who cares they''re all ugly." Jessica mumbled.


    "I don''t know. We don''t know alot of anything. But they''re behaviour is different, before they charged us in larger numbers." Sarah admitted.


    "I guess we go the other way?" Alex said.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Yeah. Seems like a good idea." Sarah sighed.


    They turned back and went through the other option they had overlooked.


    ''Oh.! I forgot I didn''t check my tattoo after that kill. Darn I''m holding two fire-balls though.'' Sarah remembered.


    "Guys do you think I should let these fire-balls go to check my tattoo?" Sarah asked.


    "Well this part of the tunnel has some mushroom light so? Let go one and check the tattoo? And if its glowing let go the other?" Alex suggested.


    "That sounds good." Eian seconded.


    "Doesn''t matter." Jessica said.


    Sarah let her left fire-ball fizzle to nothing. Sarah quickly checked and noticed indeed the tattoo was glowing. She let go of the other and prepared herself for the Adara''s aura.


    -''I can do this. Definately. Close eyes first. Sleep Problems. More on Magic Artifacts. Fire colors. Other fire abilities. hmmm... '' Sarah thought.


    Ready Sarah breathed deep and selected spirit.


    *****


    She was back in the treasure room. The naked Adara was waiting patiently on her throne and Sarah instantly felt primal attraction to her. She struggled with it a moment, while Adara smiled at her gently.


    "Hello my little spark. It is good to see you alive and well." Adara nicely said.


    "Tha...Thanks. I have a few questions." Sarah responded, feeling her emotions slowly begin to spiral out of control.


    "Wonderful. Last time you appeared sickly. Almost if you were not comfortable around me." Adara smiled knowingly.


    -''Ugh, she knows what her aura does to me.'' Sarah thought slightly annoyed, but the emotion couldn''t stay with the overwhelming feeling of attraction.


    Sarah focused all her will and forcefully closed her eyes. She instantly felt her arousal halt its tracks.


    "Is my visage so horrendous you must close your eyes, little spark?" Adara said with fake saddness.


    "No. I feel this helps me concentrate." Sarah said bluntly, Adara realeased a short sexy laugh.


    "Very well. I suppose thats fair." Adara admitted mirthful.


    "Firstly... my friends and I ...can''t sleep. Is that a result of magic? Is it dangerous to us?" Sarah asked quickly.


    "Yes. It is a result of magic. No you are not in danger little spark. I knew this would occur, all guides do. It is temporary." Adara replied.


    "... How temporary?" Sarah asked, resisting a small urge to open her eyes.


    "Depends. Don''t worry about it for now. It is a boon in your enviornment." Adara explained patiently.


    "What enviornment?" Sarah asked hopefully.


    "I have already told you I can not, and will not answer that. Please move on little spark." Adara said gently, squashing Sarah''s hope.


    "My group recently liberated a staff and a ring. We already bound them. What can you tell me about them?" Sarah asked.


    "What?! You sought no advice on the matter!?" Adara''s fearful voice rang hard.


    "We did! We did! Another guide said they were safe since we found it on a corpse." Sarah argued quickly.


    "Oh. Good. You worried me little spark. I enjoy your company. I would loath to never see you again." Adara clearly breathed a sigh of relief.


    Her worry spread a blush through Sarah''s face, till she surpressed the emotion.


    "Describe the artifacts to me." Adara said.


    Sarah detailed the staff and the ring, along with the information Alex had shared.


    "The staff is most certainly a staff of death. The ring however. The life boy felt nothing you say? The spiritless girl felt a strange energy and the Earth boy thinks it might make his ''well'' stronger. Hmm. It may be a spirit-recovery ring. Or it could have an enhancement effect similar to your staff. It could also be an extra spirit-well. It is most certainly attuned to death energy." Adara explained.


    "Attuned to death energy? Is it harmless like my staff?" Sarah asked, Alex''s guide said it wasn''t dangerous, but you can''t be too careful with these things.


    "Yes it would be harmless. A death-user would gain the most effect, but any of those artifacts would do their function to the user to a lesser degree, except for life-users." Adara clarified.


    "Could you elaborate? On what those artifact would do?" Sarah asked.


    "Certainly. A spirit recovery ring, as the name implies will draw the attuned energy faster towards the wearer. This energy can be converted to the users own attunement, except those of the opposing element. Though there is a loss if the energy is converted, perhaps about half enchantment-effeciency is lost. The quality of the artifact determines the exact amount it draws." Adara explained.


    Adara took a short breathe and continued. Sarah was still feeling aroused by the dragoness, but she thought she had the hang of it now.


    "An enchancement effect basically does more with less, usually it does so by reducing energy wasted, which naturally occurs. A fire-ball for example will be larger and stronger. There are limits to how much efficency these can boost however, and more complicated enhancements provide other more complicated effects for casting. I won''t go into that because it would take all week." Adara explained.


    "My staff does that?" Sarah asked, almost sure of it.


    "Yes. Staves, wands and sometimes even swords, maces and other weapons are the most common enhancement artifacts, master enchanters can usually add an extra benifit, but those are rare." Adara explained.


    Adara waited, while Sarah processed the information a few short seconds, and continued.


    "An extra spirit well is used as a last resort. You can store power within one and the quality of the artifact determines how much. The energy is attuned to an energy type, but converion can occur both ways, at a loss on both of course. As always direct opposites cannot convert." Adara explained.


    "Okay... I believe I understand. As a death well I would be able to convert fire energy to death energy into it, at a loss. And in a pinch I could draw that death energy and convert it once more to fire-energy, at another loss? Is that it?" Sarah asked.


    "Correct little spark. Astute, I knew I liked you for a reason." Adara said and Sarah could hear the smile on her voice.


    "How much energy is lost?" Sarah asked slightly uncomfortable at a bad answer.


    "With focus you could effectivly limit conversion loss to about half of the total. At worst you would lose up to three fourths." Adara explained, which depressed Sarah.


    "How much energy is usually stored in such a ring?" Sarah asked hoping it was alot.


    "Common wells would perhaps give you..... About a regular well sized at about four or five spirit. Rare are the rings that go above that." Adara mentioned.


    Sarah was depressed at the thought of spending twelve hours doing nothing but fill a well that would give her about half her entire well capacity after proper conversion.


    "Next...My fire color changed from red to green. Will it be blue this time?" Sarah was curious about the colors.


    "Yes you observation is correct little spark. The colors are as follows red at two spirit, green at three, blue at four and finally white at five. The same as natural fire." The dragoness taught.


    "Do I have any other abilities over fire? " Sarah asked, variety couldn''t hurt.


    "For now I suggest you don''t experiment. You could hurt someone. Fine control over flames will occur at white-flames. I can teach you other applications then. Above that there will be lightening and transformation into an avatar at the end." Adara explained.


    "Can you tell me more about those?" Sarah asked.


    "I could, but I believe it is better to wait. Focus yourself on what is infront, not far-away my little spark." Adara explained patiently.


    "Do you have any more advice for me Adara?" Sarah asked hoping for something more.


    "Try not to incinerate your friends. This next fire will be almost overwhelming to them, well the earth boy will have some resistance." Adara warned.


    Sarah made a quick mental note of that.


    "So? What now?" Sarah asked.


    "Now we can move on. Open your eyes and follow me." Adara explained.


    Sarah almost immediately regretted opening her eyes. The aura was once more fully active, wearing away at her will. Adara quickly got up and moved through a path to Sarah''s right. Sarah diligently followed her attempting to fight off the wave of arousal. Soon they reached a door and Adara opened it and walked through. Sarah followed. The room itself was small and a ring of green-fire was on the floor, its diameter was perhaps two yards. The color of the flames surprised Sarah, she thought it would be blue.


    "I thought you said, blue fire was next?" Sarah questioned.


    "It is, sit in the center of the ring. Will a path through the flames. I will guide you." Adara explained.


    Mildly confused Sarah did as instructed, after she managed to tear her face away from that figure. She focused her desire towards the emerald-flames and an opening appeared in the flames. She sat in the middle of the ring and waited for Adara''s instructions.


    "Open your spiritual sense to the flames and feel it around you. Will the flames to burn hotter. Brighter. Stronger. Focus." Adara explained.


    Sarah focused on the flames infront of her and only that part burnt hotter.


    "Open your new sense. The fire is all around you, not just infront. Feel it all." Adara coached.


    Sarah tried to sense the fire through her skin, by the heat it excluded. She tried to distance herself from the part infront of her by closing her eyes. Suddenly it was as if something else was there. Layered atop what she normally saw. An extremely realistic day-dream, it was there, but yet saw it not with her eyes. She saw the green-ring dancing all around her and behind herself saw a burning-star so great it almost made her squint her closed eyes. The sun was vast and powerful, she could almost taste its immense imaginery heat. She extended her sense towards it.


    "Careful! That is me little spark. You might harm yourself. Focus on the ring." Adara warned strictly.


    Suddenly Sarah jerked her senses to a stop. She focused on the ring. She felt its heat and pushed her desire towards it flames. It resisted at first, but eventually the green flames turnt blue-green. She focused more strenght pushed against the ring harder. It burnt blue.

 Dream 25

    Sometimes its out of the frying pan and into the fire. Never assume things can''t get worse. The world sometimes bends you over and takes you for a ride. We always hear stuff like that, but we never really sit and think on it much. We usually prefer ignoring that possibily, don''t we?


    Jessica peeked behind herself again. She was carrying the two long-spears, the dagger, a stone gourd full of water and a stained shirt. Alex always carried the bigger shirt-ful of food and dropped it when they fought. She hadn''t fought anything in a while, Sarah''s hot green flames were making her sweaty, but over all she was happy there was less danger. There was only one problem.


    -''I''ve been demoted to full-time pack-mule.'' Jessica thought sadly.


    Nobody asked her opinion for anything. She just went along for the ride, while she was perfectly happy to be safe, she wished she wasn''t thought of as useless. When Eian got hurt she completely broke down, as much as she didn''t really like him he was still a brave person protecting her. Even that sweet-heart Alex didn''t ask for her opinion, only asking if she was alright once in a while. Her sandaled feet felt alot better now though, since Alex had healed the rawness, she could almost kiss him from sheer joy. They had been walking this tunnel for about half an hour and Sarah had only flash fried one more of those ugly blind albino monsters.


    "Gimme some jerky please." Eian asked Alex, he had been munching feverently on the foul meat.


    "Sure man." Alex responded.


    Eian himself was weird, while not bad-looking at first his transformation was almost too fast for her to believe. He went from average guy to .....that, though it was all covered up now. When he had stripped the leather, she had a clear-view of his abs on his light-brown skin and his muscles even had more definition than Alex now. Overall he kind of looked like some cute athlete. Maybe about six point five out of ten, or close to a seven? Need more light to tell for sure.


    ''Thankfully Alex is only a seven on a bad day.'' Jessica quirked a smirk.


    She peeked behind herself again. In the distance shadows moved and she almost screamed. Nothing. Her thoughts seemed to be playing tricks on her. She kept peering backwards as she walked, and ran into someone.


    "Eep!" Jessica screeched.


    "Hey! Careful! I could burn Alex!" Sarah scolded.


    "Sorrie." Jessica said quickly, luckily nothing pointy impaled Sarah.


    "It''s okay Sarah. Jess, try to be careful okay?" Alex nicely said.


    "Okay. Sorry Sarah." Jessica felt useless again.


    "Hurry up guys. I want out." Eian said from up ahead.


    They kept walking, Jessica was sick of spotting those over-grown bald rodents. They were so disgusting, and bared their teeth before ruuning into a tunnel the size of a venilation shaft. She peeked backwards again and saw movement in the green-tinged darkness far back. This part of the tunnel was a bit moist and she felt the occasional droplet of water on her head.


    -''Could it be a rodent? Maybe I should tell Sarah.'' Jessica thought.


    "Sarah?" Jessica said.


    "Hmm?" Sarah from up ahead.


    "Is there something back there?" Jessica thought, hopefully she wouldn''t look dumb.


    "Huh?! Where?" Sarah snapped to attention.


    The whole group stopped.


    "What''s the hold up guys?" Eian said from up front.


    "Jess says saw something." Sarah said peering into the darkness.


    "Throw a fire ball in that direction." Alex suggested.


    Jessica half hoped something would be there. It would be so humiliating for there to be nothing. Sarah threw the fire ball on her left hand straight at the tunnel.


    "AHHH!!" Jessica screamed at the sight.


    "SHIT! Hand over a big spear! RUN! Alex stay behind Jessica!" Sarah screamed.


    "CRAP!" Eian sprinted foward.


    "ROGER!" Alex quickly positioned himself behind her.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jessica quickly complied and the entire group sprinted down the tunnel. Several large figures had been illuminated by the fire at a far distance. Several were clearly armored and many smaller ones were also there.


    Running on the ground was actually harder than it looked, it was getting more moist. Inside her heart she prayed she wouldn''t slip. Jessica almost hugged the spear to her chest as she ran. As she ran she didn''t even notice if the figures were giving chase.


    "KEEP GOING!" Alex yelled, confirming it.


    Her breath soon began to grow heavy, though her body wasn''t as tired as she''d have thought. She saw them breeze past a few large tunnels on both sides, but she didn''t keep count. She hoped the pursuers got lost in them.


    "MONSTER! DEAD AHEAD!" Eian yelled.


    "KEEP GOING! TACKLE IT!" Sarah screamed.


    Jessica heard the monster roar before she saw it. WHAM!


    "UGH!" Eian grunted, and she saw Sarah stop near Eian.


    She overtook Sarah, Eian and the monster on the floor.


    "KEEP GOING PEOPLE! ALEX GO!" Sarah ordered.


    Jessica kept running foward ignoring the sounds. She heard another impact, but kept running. Her belly began hurting.


    "KEEP GOING JESS! THEY''LL CATCH UP!" Alex yelled, catching up to her.


    "GO!" Sarah yelled from farther behind.


    Jessica kept running alongside Alex. She could bearly see, but she kept running. She saw a fork and took right on instinct. Suddenly she felt her legs go out from under her. She fell.


    *****


    Sarah kept going. She thought she saw Jessica and Alex disappear on the right fork. She had expended both fire-balls though, so it was hard to see. She stopped by the right fork and squinted. The path ended in a large hole on the ground.


    Sarah channeled her spirit through her staff and willed a fire-ball into existance. She felt her heart beating wildly along with her breathe. The green light illuminated the hole and she quickly looked down. The fire reflected off what appeared to be a dark body of water at the bottom.


    -''Shit! There could be some rocks!'' Sarah thought.


    She heard running behind her and turned to look. Eian had caught up.


    "Why''d you stop!? " Eian was barely out of breathe.


    "We have a big problem!" Sarah was feeling desperate.


    "What?!" Eian.


    "They fell in that!" Sarah.


    "SHIT! What to we do?" Eian.


    "ROAAAARRRR!!!!" It echoed through the tunnel.


    "GUYS! YOU DOWN THERE!?" Eian.


    "HELLO!" Sarah.


    "GUYS! GUYS! YOU THERE?! Eian.


    Sarah tried catching some of her breathe. Eian knelt. Sarah felt a surge of adrenaline couring through her veins and her heart felt it would explode. A few seconds passed.


    "+@#%#@$@#%%&Q#!!!@%@#^@#$!!!#%^$#&%@#%@^@!!!" Voices


    Sarah was hearing that chatter, clearer. She was losing hope. Eian got up.


    -''We have to take the other exit.'' Sarah thought desperate.


    "Jump." Eian.


    "What?!" Sarah.


    Eian dropped his spear on the ground. Eian quickly grabbed her arm and sent her fire-ball backwards into the tunnel. He grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her tightly holding all their items tightly.


    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP!" Sarah was freaking out.


    "Hold your breathe." Eian.


    "WHAT?! STOP!" Sarah.


    He visibly took a deep breathe, frightening her. The blood drained from her face. He tossed them into the pool.


    "AHH!!!!" Sarah.


    *****


    SPLASH! PAIN! Water everywhere.


    "UHHHHH!" Eian took a deep breathe after resurfacing from the pool.


    Sarah was coughing and spluttering incoherently, she seemed to have drank some water. He held her tight to make sure they didn''t lose anything else.


    -''She should really listen next time.'' Eian thought.


    He focused on staying afloat. It was harder than he''d have thought, though it was probably due to his shield. He had used it to absorb the impact, which hopefully would have stopped any sharp rocks too. Sarah was still coughing violently and Eian began to worry a little.


    "ASSHO*cough* WHA*cough*FUC!" Sarah spluttered.


    -''Yep she should listen next time. That hurt though.'' Eian thought over the landing.


    -''Well at least I didn''t land on my ass this time. That would suck.'' Eian thought, ignoring Sarah''s coughing and cursing.


    "Over here man!" Voice.


    Eian swam to the direction of the voice and soon the water was low enough to walk. He dragged the spluttering Sarah towards the voice. It was pretty dark and Eian could barely see, with water in his eyes.


    "Hey man!" A dark figure.


    "That you?" Eian.


    "Yeah. How''s Sarah" Alex.


    Sarah was currently on the floor. Eian heard retching sounds.


    "She''s been better." Eian smiled, happy to be alive.


    -''That was a crazy thrill.'' Eian thought shuddering at the short free-fall.


    "So I hear." Alex.


    "I''m here too." Jessica mumbled.


    Sarah seemed to get up. Only to violently shove Eian.


    "ASSHOLE WHAT *cough* WERE YOU THINKING?!" Sarah.


    "Relax. Everythings fine." Eian regained his footing.


    "EVERYTHING IS NOT FINE!! I COULD HAVE DIED!!" Sarah.


    "Nah. It was perfectly safe." Eian.


    Sarah was began coming towards Eian and he backed away.


    "Hey. Easy. Easy." Eian.


    "GET OVER HERE AND LET ME KILL YOU!" Sarah.


    Eian backed away even more.


    "Sarah calm down." Alex.


    "I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! HE ALMOST KILLED ME!" Sarah.


    "The drop was safe." Alex


    "UGH! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW!!! THERE COULD BE ROCKS!" Sarah.


    "Jess and me dropped together and the swam about for a while looking for the shallow. Its very deep and Jessica felt nothing swimming to find me." Alex.


    "THERE COULD STILL HAVE BEEN ROCKS!" Sarah.


    "I heard Alex say it was safe, so I jumped." Eian put in.


    "Let''s go. Those things might attempt the jump too." Alex.


    "FINE!" Sarah.


    Sarah lit a fire-ball and revealed the drop was about one and a half stories high. The pool was wide and the space was large. They quickly took utmost right tunnel out of three that were there. It took a long while and several hard shoves and curses for Sarah to calm down. Alex explained even if they did hurt themselves he could probably heal them.


    Eian was leading the way again and apparently Jessica lost everything except the long-spear on the drop. Alex lost the meat trying to hold his spear and shield. Sarah only lost her glasses, which she claimed were reading only. Eian dropped the short-spear in favor of holding Sarah and the long-spear. He held on to his shield on impact and made sure they didn''t lose anything else. Eian took the long-spear from Sarah whom was still cursing him.


    The tunnel descended. They kept going through the tunnel slowly, not knowing whether they could get back.

 Dream 26

    Alex looked around. The tunnel had little in the way of natural light and was descending slowly. It was wide enough for both him and Eian to walk side by said with the girls behind them. Once more he was glad Sarah had chosen fire, she had two fire-balls out. The heat of the fire as a little uncomfortable though. It was extremely moist, with the occasionaly puddle. It reminded him uncomfortably of that area where they encountered the crocodile monstrousity.


    ''Well we have no more food.'' Alex thought to himself guilty.


    There was a giant blob of liquid moving near a puddle of water that instantly exploded from one of Sarah''s fire-balls. Eian got touched the remains and Alex had to heal it after they realized it was corrosive. Luckily the acid didn''t eat so fast only causing some skin to peel. He washed his hand in a puddle afterwards just to be sure. They made sure to be careful of the corrosive slimes.


    "Guys. I think I heard something move." Eian.


    "Where?" Sarah.


    "Up ahead." Eian.


    The tunnel widened on a curve. Eian once more lead the way. Alex saw something round and big on laying down on the floor. A big rock, it reached up to Alex''s waist. It was laying in the corner of the watery tunnel, narrowing their passage slightly.


    "Careful." Alex.


    "I don''t see anything." Sarah squinted.


    "Huh? Weird." Eian scratched his head.


    "You must have water in your ears." Jessica.


    "Maybe behind the rock?" Sarah.


    Eian kept going and as he reached the rock. Alex saw a snake head, the size of a humans, reach out and bite his leg. He didn''t even have a chance to yell a warning.


    "AH!!!." Eian fell to the ground.


    "AH!!!!" Jessica.


    "EIAN!!" Alex


    "KILL IT!." Sarah


    Eian quickly stabbed it''s head with the long-spear multiple times. The entire rock shuddered and lay still. Alex rushed over to Eian and quickly healed his bleeding leg. Eian grit his teeth and groaned through the process.


    "It''s a turtle." Sarah.


    "A big turtle." Jessica.


    After the group gathered their wits. Eian asked if they could cook it. Sarah observed the rocky shell and said if he could extract some meat from the neck and legs. It was extremly hard and almost not worth the effort, they only got enough for about two meals. The shell was too hard to break to reach in much deeper. They had the Jessica and Alex carry most of the leftover cooked chunks.


    "Yuck. We need something to carry this in." Jessica.


    "YOU had SOMETHING before you DROPPED it." Eian.


    "Eian man chill. I lost the bunch of meat too. We couldn''t see well." Alex didn''t want another arguement.


    "He''s right." Sarah.


    ".....fucking turtle...." Eian mumbled.


    The tunnel evened out eventually and Alex saw less moisture. Shortly after they saw a large Iguana. Sarah shot her fire-ball at it, but it succried off. Alex saw the tunnel become more refined as if the builders put more effort into it.


    "Something else is up ahead." Eian.


    Alex spotted something up front. A group of five perfectly preserved human skeletons were laying about, they wore medieval clothes and were armed with various weapons. One held a short-sword with a shield, another an axe with a spear tip at the top, another held a morning-star style mace with a shield, and the last two held winged long-spears. The shields and spears looked exactly like the ones they used. Alex felt fear.


    ''Armed people were here and they died. Did goblins kill them? Is that how they get their weapons? Are they close by?'' Alex thought.


    "Don''t get near them." Sarah.


    "Why?" Alex.


    "Movies. Zombie movies." Eian said.


    "Eian! SHUT UP!" Jessica.


    Sure enough, Alex quickly realized Eian was right. Black smoke emerged from the skulls. Dark shadowy tendrils spiraled out from the smoke and wrapped around their bones like ligaments and joints. The skeletons began getting up and Jessica let loose her most horrified scream ever.


    "HEADS! ITS ALWAYS THE HEADS!" Eian.


    Eian dashed foward and stabbed a long-spear skeleton through the skull just as it got up. Dark smoke leaked from its skull like blood and moments later it crumbled. Sarah blew the one with the sword to the floor, but it absorbed the impact on it''s shield. Sarah''s second fire-ball impacted the second long-spear-skeleton on the chest, which promply caught fire and dropped to the floor. Alex noticed even it''s long-spear caught fire. Alex sprung to action and blocked a blow from the axe skeleton and promply stabbed at it''s ribs, he felt the smoke was semi-tangible.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    -''Shit! Skeleton right!'' Alex though even as he blocked another blow, they weren''t that slow.


    This time he managed to stab its eye socket and he felt it penetrate a gel-like substance easily. He absorbed a final impact before it crumbled in pieces. Eian had killed the mace-skeleton and was engaging the sword-skeleton on the floor. Sarah threw another fire-ball at the burning-skeleton and as it''s body parts were falling apart too slowly.


    Alex engaged the morning-star skeleton. He stabbed at it but it absorbed the impact on it''s shield. He did a short back and forth attacks with the skeleton. After absorbing another impact, Alex lifted his shield and bull-rushed. He bashed the skeleton''s shield with his and the impact rang. It stumbled backwards and he used the opening to stab its skull. Dark-smoke leaked out its skull and it crumbled.


    Alex turned and noticed Eian had killed the sword-skeleton. Sarah was busy observing the remains to see if any would rise again.


    "Well it''s safe to say harming the head kills them. You were right." Sarah said to Eian.


    "Your fire killed it too." Alex.


    "Yeah whats up with that?" Eian.


    "YOU PEOPLE ARE CRAZY! HOW CAN YOU JUST SHRUG THAT OFF!" Jessica


    "Relax Jess. The bigger mutant-things were scarier." Alex tried to placate her.


    "THIS ISN''T THE SAME ALEX!" Jessica.


    "Yes it is. The door of death probably allowed someone to make these." Sarah.


    "What?" Jessica


    "Wait! You think someone killed these people and made them into these?" Alex was worried some deranged killer was loose.


    "Oh my gosh!" Jessica sounded a little hysteric.


    "Sick....I mean like bad sick." Eian.


    "Well he could have just found the skeletons in a graveyard or something." Sarah.


    "That''s sooooo fucked up." Eian.


    "Not if he did it for protection. We''ve seen what''s around here. What if he did it to survive?" Sarah.


    Alex thought it over. It was still distasteful, defiling someones resting place, but if he had to would he do it to protect himself? He realized yes, he would. The dead''s souls are gone and he can''t hurt them, hopefully.


    "You''re assuming he did it to survive though. He could well have just killed them and brought them back." Eian.


    "EIAN! SHUT UP!" Jessica.


    "Jess calm down please." Alex held her arm trying to comfort her.


    "True. But let''s keep an open mind. I don''t want to hurt someone on the chance he might be innocent." Sarah.


    Jessica calmed down after a few minutes. Alex worried she would faint, or something, sometime. She was too fragile for this kind of stuff and she could get hurt if she fainted while they ran or something. He was glad Eian and Sarah were coping better.


    Eian took the spear-axe and Alex took the sword, which was heavy. The skeletons had buckles and sheaths for the weapons. The morning star wasn''t too heavy, as only the head was metal and Alex took the buckle to that. Jessica managed to replace her long-spear with one that had a strap.


    They left two long-spears behind as they were begining to be cumbersome and Sarah had burnt the shalf of the spear on her skeleton. The shields were a little heavy for Sarah and Jessica was already loaded with some food. Alex was begining to feel like a badass with his sword and mace strapped to his waist.


    The group kept going, but were cautious of any undead they could encounter. They enountered another group of five skeletons about ten minutes later. This group all had shields. Three had an assortment of swords and two had maces. The problem was they were all standing and held themselves in a sheild wall.


    Luckily Sarah''s fire-balls sewed chaos unto their ranks and sent two backwards. Both men charged and rammed their shields into a standing skeleton violently. The last skeleton engaged Eian and he was fending off its attacks. Alex quickly ended his staggared opponent with a stab to the face, though Eian couldn''t. Alex saw another fire-ball clash into the shield of one of Eian''s two opponents.


    Alex was quickly beset by the two skeletons that had gotten up. He hunked down with his shield blocking sword and mace. He parried a sword though it sent a wierd shock down to his hand. A fire-ball caught one of his opponents and sent it down to the ground.


    Alex quickly shield-bashed his enemy and killed it. Alex saw that Eian had killed his two opponents and came to help him. Together they teamed the skeleton and Eian let him get the kill.


    "Those shield''s are annoying." Sarah.


    "We couldn''t have done it without you." Alex noticed Jessica looked sad.


    "Yeah awesome fire-support." Eian.


    "You okay, Jess?" Alex


    "Huh?! Yeah. Thanks everyone." Jessica looked a bit depressed.


    "They''re easy enough maybe we should get you to kill some. We still need you to get stronger." Sarah.


    "Oh! ummm... I''m not sure." Jessica looked nervous.


    "She could get hurt Sarah." Alex, Jessica seemed to mildly frown which was strange to Alex, he was defending her.


    "Calm down Alex. I mean like how you two double-teamed that last one. As long as there''s only one you guys can try to disarm it. Jessica can easily kill it that way." Sarah.


    "It''s okay, Alex thanks. That sounds wonderful thank you Sarah." Jessica smiled, which made Alex feel weird.


    "Okay. That sounds good." Alex heard Eian mumble something to himself.


    Eian strapped a long-sword and mace to his waist. Alex took another mace. Sarah strapped a short-sword to her waist too, just incase. Jessica strapped the last short-sword. They looked like a group of crazy murderous teens roleplaying, especially with all the blood and sweat.


    They kept following the tunnel as it seemed to be becoming more and more refined. They even began seeing extinguished torches along the walls. Finally after ten minutes they saw the ground become cobblestone. They almost rushed foward.


    "Cool this looks promising." Eian sounded as if it was a dollor on the road.


    "Yeah man." Alex was excited at the possibility of an exit.


    "I hope so." Jessica sounded so excited Alex almost felt bad because of all the dead-ends they had hit.


    "Let''s go." Sarah sounded neutral.


    Close by they once more saw a group of five skeletons all wearing shields. Sarah blew two to the ground and they both bashed into two more. The fight went down almost exactly like the last one, except this time Sarah helped Alex first. Sarah still didn''t get any kills. Also they left the final skeleton for Jessica, whom got the kill with a little reluctance.


    They saw the skeletons were guarding an entrance that seems to have had a metal door. Only the metal bars remained with an open frame for a door. There were many broken skeleton corpses littering the area. Two giant empty metal suits of armor were broken apart near the fence. They looked slightly rusty.


    "What are those?" Eian.


    "Maybe the undead killed a giant that was inside? Or they thought something was inside?" Sarah.


    "Who cares lets GO. I want to see if this leads to an exit." Jessica.


    "We should be careful. If something can break through metal we might be in mortal-danger." Sarah.


    "The skeletons could have just bashed it for a really long time. I mean, there seems to have been alot more." Alex.


    "True. Let''s just be safe." Sarah.


    "Yeah. I still want out." Eian.


    "YESSS!" Jessica.


    They passed the metal bars and continued onwards.

 Dream 27

    Sarah noticed her flames turnt blue. She felt ecstatic, she was getting stronger faster! Fire was so powerful, it almost seemed unfair to compare herself to Alex and Eian. Her new friends also noticed the change.


    "Uhhhh!" Alex jogged foward to away from her.


    "Holy shit! I can sort of feel that from here." Eian was joined by Alex.


    "HOT!" Jessica was behind her.


    Sarah turned to look and noticed Jessica actually retreated away from her. Sarah checked her reserves, she was roughly a little over half full. She had used a total of twelve fire-balls, and had two ready since they emerged from the pool. She recovered quickly in-between fights since her energy never went too low.


    "Sarah those are a little hot. Can you tune it down?" Alex.


    "We need these in-case we get attacked." Sarah, she wanted to chuck it at an undead and see how it fared.


    "It''s really hot Sarah." Jessica complained.


    "Maybe only increase it when we are in danger?" Eian.


    They discussed it and Sarah reluctantly lowered the power out-put till it turnt green again. Apparently she had instinctively had the fire-balls at maximum at all times.


    The group kept going through the cobblestone network. They encountered another set of five soldiers and Sarah experimented. She maximized out-put on both fire-balls and sent them towards the shield wall. The impact blew two of the skeletons sending them rolling backwards violently. It even shook up the remaining three a bit, she was a bit disappointed it didn''t kill them.


    -''Those stupid shields.'' Sarah was annoyed they had those.


    Alex charged foward and engaged the skeleton to the right, he had it easy. Eian was engaged with the two to the left and was defending admirably. Sarah charged up another blue fire-ball aimed properly and sent the blast towards one of Eian''s opponents. It flew off it''s feet and went rolling. Alex had killed his opponent and another that was on the floor injured. Eian killed his opponent soon and also killed another on the floor. Jessica was tasked with killing the final injured one.


    "Cool those send them flying backwards." Eian.


    "I would have thought they would have done more." Sarah complained.


    "The impact does damage them. They couldn''t even get up quickly after the impact." Alex.


    "They get damaged rolling on the floor like that." Sarah explained.


    "You can''t expect it to melt the metal, fire that hot would probably kill the rest of us." Jessica.


    "True, hopefully I''ll kill something that burns quickly." Sarah wanted to get even stronger.


    "Let''s keep going this part seems easy." Alex.


    "Cool." Eian.


    Alex stayed behind Eian, she was surprised how durable Eian had become. He had come far from that slightly over-weight average guy a while back. His muscles were defined. It didn''t matter for now though, she was glad Eian was willing to be lead.


    ''He tackled that mutant-monster when we were running too.'' Sarah inwardly smiled happy Eian was doing good.


    She remembered Eian accelerating to maximum sprint, prior to the tackle. The tackle itself had been hard and nasty, Eian had staggered backwards and landed hard. The mutant had spun side-ways and landed on the ground. Sarah had stayed behind to help Eian, while Alex ran to catch up to Jessica. She had unleashed her second fire-ball at the mutant to give them both time to run. She was still pissed he had tossed her into that pool though, with so little warning.


    Currently the tunnel''s cobblestone was firm, but her ballerina shoes were uncomfortable after so much running. She half considered ditching them and continuing on foot. Her clothes were now dry thanks to her flames, but her pants felt really uncomfortable. That was really strange too, something had been nagging her alot lately. She hadn''t gone to sleep wearing what she had on at the moment, prior to the start.


    They had passed a few doors which led to simple rooms, which held nothing much of value. Some held simple ancient bunks with a few chairs, the sheets were all moldy and mostly rotten so they couldn''t use it. A few books were in bad but not rotting condition. Jessica took a plain knife and strapped it to her belt. They stumbled upon a latrine that must have been so old they didn''t smell anymore. Eian crafted a stone toilet seat for them to use on top. They returned for the books they had found and used it. Sarah was glad they didn''t devovle into anything too barbaric again.


    "Guys more up ahead, they''re wearing alot of armor." Eian.


    "Roger." Alex.


    "Be careful." Jessica.


    "Don''t be reckless boys." Sarah


    The five skeletons were wearing degraded cloth, with metal: med-helms, arm-less curiass, long tassets, and simple vambraces. They held metal shields similar to the men and an assortment of swords, axes and maces. They stood prepared in a typical shield wall formation. Sarah upped her fire-balls to maximum and used them to destroy the formation. Eian and Alex confronted the three enemies left standing.


    They boys were having a hard time killing these enemies due to the helmets. Sarah fired another fire-ball to a third standing enemy and sent it flying. Eian got a lucky hit through the helmet and dispatched his enemy, while Alex was still fighting. The first skeletons Sarah had blown back were having trouble getting back up, but were already close. Eian and Alex disarmed Alex''s opponent together and Eian helped Alex get the kill. By then the first two skeletons were up and Eian and Alex engaged those. The last skeleton was still recovering.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Sarah aimed at Alex''s skeleton, gave a warning call and sent it staggering backwards. Alex helped Eian get his second kill. Alex got the third kill easily with Eian''s help. Alex and Eian once more disarmed the final skeleton and had Jessica get the kill. Jessica mentioned she finally got her tattoo blinking and selected Mind as Sarah advised. Sarah checked her reserves again and noticed she was just at half.


    "FINALLY! HELL YEAH! Time to suit up." Eian.


    "Haha, yeah man." Alex.


    "Jessica, grab a helmet and try on one of the boots." Sarah ditched her leather helmet and grabbed a metal one.


    "I know." Jessica.


    The boots were too big for either girls, and Alex and Eian didn''t need them as they had running shoes. Alex and Eian each fully wore all different pieces of armor the skeletons had. Sarah couldn''t as they weighed alot and substantially decreased her movement, she wore only a helmet and vambraces. Jessica was a little sluggish, and so forsook the curiass as it was the heaviest. They now looked like a true group of role-playing not-so-nerdy nerds, well except Sarah she looked like a real witch with her fire-balls. Sarah suggested the boys replace their weapons, they should have one of each different weapon. One sword, one speared-axe, and one mace.


    Eian checked his fore-arm and mentioned his tattoo was finally glowing again. He said he would select body and soon he semi-jolted as if in shock. He shortly fell to his knees groaning.


    "...ugghhh..." Eian.


    "EIAN?! Man you okay?" Alex.


    "WHAT?! What happened?" Jessica.


    "EIAN? Are you okay?" Sarah was worried he did something bad.


    "....Hungry. I''m really... fucking.. hungry." Eian.


    "Jessica give him the food!" Sarah.


    Eian stuffed himself full and lay on the ground breathing irregularly. He had eaten enough for two. He took off his helmet and was shivering. Cold sweat dripped down his face and he held his belly as if in pain.


    "...Feels ... like a.... bad...mmm.. cramp." Eian grit his teeth.


    "Is he okay? He looks hurt inside." Jessica.


    "You''re body obvious needed more food." Sarah deduced easily.


    "...uuugghh...." Eian.


    "I''ll heal him." Alex.


    "I don''t know if it will help. He''s not hurt, just hungry." Sarah.


    "Gotta try." Alex placed his hand over Eian''s stomach.


    "...fuu...ck..." Eian was not showing any signs of recovery.


    "Stop for now Alex, lets take him to one of the abandoned rooms till it wears off." Sarah.


    "Roger." Alex.


    "Jessica grab Alex''s shield, I know it''s heavy but its only a short distance." Sarah.


    "Okay." Jessica.


    It took roughly five minutes. By the time they reached the room Alex and Eian were sweating, though Alex substancially less. Jessica was a little out of breath, but not much. Sarah was busy watching behind and infront of them for any enemies. They closed the rotting door behind them and sat down to relax. They all checked their tattoo''s and Alex mentioned his was blinking as well, though he couldn''t tell for how long.


    "Pick spirit. Try asking if Eians condition needs any help." Sarah.


    "Okay." Alex selected something and closed his eyes.


    *****


    Alex opened his eyes and was once more at the forest pond. He spotted Vita near the pond again, and the unicorn was also there laying by her side. He walked towards her.


    "Hi. Good....Morning?" Alex.


    "Hello again. It''s actually night where I''m at." Vita smiled, she looked alot happier than last time Alex was here.


    "So Ms.Vita sorry for being abrupt, but my friend selected body and collapsed. Is that a permanent problem?" Alex.


    "Oh my. Has he eaten?" Vita.


    "Yes." Alex.


    "Before or after?" Vita


    "After." Alex


    "Was he thin? Did he have any extra body mass?" Vita.


    "No he was well muscled, and no he didn''t have much, if any, fat or extra body mass." Alex explained hoping it was nothing bad.


    "If he eats well for a while, he will be fine. If not his body will be extremly hungry and weak till he does." Vita.


    "Can...can he die?" Alex was really worried now.


    "He won''t die from the strain right now, but if he doen''t completly sate his entire hunger for say a day he could die. His body will also not finish developing untill he has eaten enough." Vita.


    "Okay so we have time? Can I help him with magic?" Alex.


    "Yes. Try to get enough food for him. Magic won''t help, his body doesn''t have sustenance. Magic can''t help if he has nothing." Vita.


    "Okay thank-you." Alex.


    "You''re welcome. I expect you''re in a hurry? Shall we proceed?" Vita smiled sadly.


    -''Shit this is my fault. I should have held on to the damn food instead of the shitty spear.'' Alex was extremly depressed, he knew Eian had been eating alot.


    "Yes, thank you, but I really need to get back and help him." Alex was desperate to get back.


    He intellectually knew time passed slowly here, but he was itching to get back and help Eian. Vita took out another symbol this one was shaped like three pointy leaves.


    "This symbol will allow you to cure most maladies. Be it in yourself or others. It will help curses, diseases, infections and even withdrawals, as well as a hangover. Very useful for heavy drinkers." Vita smiled.


    "Okay thank-you again." Alex said.


    "Your welcome. I hope to see you again." Vita smiled.


    Alex envisioned the three leaves and blinked.


    *****


    Alex blinked and moved slightly.


    "So?" Sarah wanted to know how they could help Eian.


    "Yeah you''re right he needs more food by the end of the day or he could die." Alex explained quickly.


    "Shit. He''s not realy in a good condition to be moving." Sarah.


    "We could try to run and find some food." Alex sounded rushed.


    "No. We can''t just leave him here." Sarah.


    "Maybe me and you can hurry go get something and come back." Alex.


    "What?" Jessica sounded surprised.


    "Alex. Calm down. We all have to go its dangerous. Jess can help him walk. We can leave some equipment here and return for it later. Also remember we left that dead turtle back there, we will crack its shell with the maces." Sarah explained.


    "Oh! Yeah. Sorry." Alex acutally blushed, which Sarah found hilarious, not that she would let it show.


    "Let''s hurry." Sarah.


    They left most of Eian''s armor and weapons as well as Jessicas long-spear. Jessica only took Eian''s mace and her knife on her hip as they went back the way they came. Eian only had a long-sword and his helmet. It took about an hour of rushing slightly to reach the turtle again, Eian had eaten the rest of the meat by then. Alex and Jessica whacked the shell till it cracked, which took about five to ten minutes.


    Sarah cooked it, while Eian went off to use the restroom away from them, Alex was close to him for safety. Luckily there were alot of puddles for Eian to both clean himself properly and for everyone to safely drink. Eian ate alot more and was groaning every few minutes. He fashioned a small stone barrel for water, though Sarah made sure to have him wear a large piece Alex''s pants on his hands, for hygenic purposes.


    The group carried the water back along with slabs of cooked meat, which took them almost two hours due to the weight. By then they all sat and waited for Eian to say his tattoo would stop glowing. Alex''s tattoo stopped glowing shortly. It took three more hours, alot of food and Eian had to use the restroom every so often, luckily there were a few book pages about this time.


    ''He looks pretty miserable. Well at least he looks like he hits the gym every-day.'' Sarah felt bad for him, he had clearly undergone a hellish experience.


    He definately looked like a semi-pro body-builder or maybe a buff martial-artist. His muscles were big and definitely surpassed Alex easily. Sarah was just glad to have it all over with so they could continue.

 Dream 28

    Eian''s day could get any worse. Actually he wasn''t even fucking sure it was a day or more than one. Fuck being fit. What he went through wasn''t bloody fucking worth it a shit, literally. Stabbing pain on his belly for close to what Sarah says is six hours. He was feverish all the while and the pain raidiated in waves throughtout his entire body, from his stomach. He had almost prayed for death, the pain went for a while then suddenly BAM! another stab. He could never get used to it, easing slightly only to return with crippling vengence.


    ''I hate this fucking place , I hate everything!! UGH.'' Eian thought to himself.


    He had been shtting his guts out all the while, only for the intense hunger to return shortly after. The most horrible thing was that even after the tattoo stopped glowing he was still hungry. He was chewing on delicious chewy turtle jerky with a vengence. He definately was going to yell at that stupid dwarf the next time he saw him. At least no one was mocking him for his entire embarrasing debacle.


    ''Thank the heavens I''ll choose spirit next.'' Eian thought grateful for small blessings.


    "Eian man, are you alright?" Alex had his eyebrows furrowed.


    "Yeah. Peachy." Eian.


    "Let''s go we''re ready." Sarah.


    "Yay!" Jessica was extremely happy, which made Eian even more miserable.


    Eian had re-equiped all his gear. A metal med-helm, curiass, pair of vambraces, tasset, along with his shield and three weapons: long-sword, mace, spear-axe. His current favorite was the spear-axe, it would let him spear any charging opponent and delivered an amazing whack. The mace had already proven its worth with the turtle. The sword was also awesome, but he felt it wouldn''t deliver quite as much force on a blow as his hybrid axe.


    Jessica was carrying alot of turtle meat, which Eian was grateful for at the moment. Sarah made him make a stone-gourd for Jessica to carry as well. Well at least Jessica was doing something. Alex was also carrying some meat and Eian stuffed his pockets as full as possible of the food, to snack as often as possible..


    They quickly encountered another group of five-skeleton guards and they easily dispatached them. Two for Alex, two for Eian and one for Jessica. The guards had been guarding a stairway that went up. It didn''t have light showing through though.


    "YES!" Jessica was extremly excited, Eian even slightly agreed with her excitment.


    "Be careful." Sarah.


    "Let''s go." Alex sounded happy


    The stairway went one floor up and there was nothing guarding the other end. There was a right and left path and Sarah mentioned them to take the right. Soon Eian heard something, usually the skeletons stood still and they couldn''t hear them untill they saw them. It was like they were guarding certain areas and approached only when intruders neared. Now he heard something.


    "Guys. Up ahead. Skeletons might be moving towards us." Eian.


    "Boys on your toes. Jessica be ready as well." Sarah stood beside Eian for a clear shot.


    "Roger." Alex.


    "Okay." Jessica.


    Eian braced himself behind his sheild and soon heard growling. He readied his axe as well.


    ''Are there dogs here?'' Eian wondered to himself.


    Then he saw several humanoid figures run towards him on almost of all fours howling and schreeching.


    "AHHHHHHHHH!!!" Jessica.


    "Shit!" Eian.


    "What are they!" Alex.


    "Shield-wall! Line up! Points out!" Sarah.


    Eian felt the heat near him rise noticibly. Eian saw two blue fire-balls collide into two seprate creatures and they went tumbling to the floor, howling. The creatures were almost tripping themselves to get to them. Alex came to his right side and the girls moved behind them, Jessica even stuck her long-spear out through Alex''s side. They took a low shield-wall stance and took the hard combined impact. They completely halted them on their tracks, and Eian felt some rebound off to the floor. Alex stumbled backwards and Sarah had to steady him, Eian was fine. Something had collided with the tip of his spear-axe and was thrashing to get to him, though his weapon stopped it.


    "JESS! HOLD THAT ONE DOWN!" Sarah.


    Eian took a quick glimpse and saw another humanoid figure thrashing on the end of Jessicas spear. He quickly focused back in-front and felt hands struggling to reach him. He pushed foward shield and axe, hard. He felt multiple things stumble backwards and he took a vicious swing at a random enemy''s skull. He felt his axe bite deep into a meaty connection and the thing stopped moving. Eian kicked the body off his axe and saw something come at him from the side. He blocked its advance with his shield, which didn''t faze him.


    He saw a flash of blue on his left and heard an impact with a howl. He engaged the attacker on his shield by and swung feriously at a random body-part. His swing send it staggering to the ground and an arm was clearly amputated leakinbg dark blood. Another figure on the floow lunged at his legs and he blocked with his shield low. His amputated friend came back and attempted to bite him. From his angle, aiming with the tip of the spear axe he impaled its head, he withdrew the tip quickly. He had been holding the other at bay with his shield but now he pushed and cleaved it upper skull right off.


    Turning he saw the fight had finished, Sarah was even holding up a large blue fire-ball survaying for enemies. Eian turned and saw Alex was helping Jess hold down her speared enemy.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Jessica kill it. Eian lend her your sword it''s longer than hers, while Alex continues to hold it down." Sarah.


    "Fine. Here." Eian.


    "..thanks..." Jessica mumbled and Eian almost missed it altogether.


    Jessica quickly killed the last feral thing with a stab to the head. She gave Eian back his long-sword which he promptly strapped back into its scabbard. Eian looked at the monsters and saw they were definately some type of zombie. They were definately half rotten already and appearently caught fire quickly. Counting the three Sarah burnt to a crisp, there were three Eian killed, Jessica''s one and Alex got two. Nine zombies, it could be worse, alot worse.


    "Well. We''re officially zombie hunters." Eian smiled happy it was over.


    "Do you think they can infect us?" Jessica was once more clearly scared, to be fair even Eian was afraid of zombie infection.


    "Don''t worry Jess I can heal infections." Alex consoled her, Eian always wondered if he just wanted to get into her pants, but honestly he didn''t care, he even kinna inwardly cheered him on.


    "Relax, even if he couldn''t do it yet. It could take days and by then Alex could just increase his spirit to have healed us." Sarah.


    "Alex, can you do it just incase please?" Jessica was still scared.


    "Sure, might as well heal us all." Alex said, Eian felt relief.


    "Good." Sarah.


    Alex tried to heal them all and said there was nothing wrong with them. Sarah mentioned he should try again a little later if any of them felt anything. They kept going cautiously. There was a room they passed and upon inspection it yeilded nothing, but a single book Sarah took incase of emergency. Under the flames Eian could see several meters foward as long as the tunnel was straight. He saw multiple figures coming towards them once more.


    "Up ahead. I think its more zombies." Eian


    "Roger." Alex.


    "Again shield wall, Jessica aim for a head if you can." Sarah.


    "Y..Yes." Jessica


    "Careful Jess." Alex.


    Eian noticed it was alot more than he would have expected. A huge combined group of zombies, guard skeletons and a figure in black robes were visible.


    "Shit!" Eian.


    "Hell!." Alex


    "DONT DIE! FIGHT! ALEX CAN HEAL US AFTER!" Sarah


    "I''M SCARED! HELP!" Jessica.


    There were easily over ten enemies. The zombies were faster and came first. Sarah lit two on fire instantatly and their rolling bodies sent a few stumbling to the ground. Their shield wall sent another three to the floor upon impact. Eian felt others impact and soon he was desperatly swinging to keep the horde abated. He split a skull here, kicked another to the ground and quickly bashed another with his shield with vicious rage.


    Eian saw a flash of blue and another went flying. Eian felt something grab his leg and he kicked foward, stumbling and felt teeth bite unto his calf.


    "UGHH!" Eian grit his teeth and used his shield to crack it''s skull, while he did a teremdous desperate roundabout swing catching something.


    "AHHH!" Jessica was screaming in pain.


    "JESS!" Alex.


    "FIGHT! USE YOUR SWORD!" Sarah.


    Something grabbed Eian from the side and he desperatly elbowed it''s squishy face sending it tumbling. The shield wall of five skeletons advanced and the group was still desperately fighting zombies. He saw a flash of blue. He screamed and swung his axe decapitating a zombie and he shield tackled another to the floor. Upon seeing the enemy shield wall he had rushed foward in a desperate frenzy. Shield-first he barreled forcefully into the wall and sent two skeleton behind to the floor, he remained standing somehow. He felt something bounce off hard on his curiass. He moved foward and swung at another skeleton whom blocked, he blocked a swing from another skeleton and felt something cut into his arm.


    "MMMM!" He groaned in pain.


    He saw another flash of blue light and heard an impact. He used his shield as a weapon and punched hard with one arm desperate, then he comboed an axe-swing to its helmeted skull. He impact of the axe sent the skeleton to the floor unmoving, he kicked another skeleton on the floor as it was close to getting up. He felt a sword bounce off his curiass with enought force to slightly stagger him. He somehow blocked another skeletons sword and disarmed another by intercepting its weapon with his own strike. Off-balance somethings tackled him to the ground, they dispated, but burnt hot like acid on his unprotected pieces.


    "AHH!" Eian grit his teeth and everything was in pain.


    He rolled side-ways and another body drop near him when he hit it. He almost threw himself upwards with his arms, four skeletons were now up. He saw the flash of another fire-ball behind him. He saw a single black orb come at him and he blocked it with his shield, ready the impact didn''t faze him much and he charged foward. Shield-first he barreled into the right-most skeleton and saw another ball of darkness headed his way. He felt an axe bite into his arm slightly and jumped foward unto the attacker dodging the dark-ball.


    He felt a hard impact on his protected skull, which dazed him, his neck felt hurt. He felt another strike bounce off his tasset and regained focus. A bleeding and battered Alex came to his aid and they split the three standing skeletons. Eian saw a blue-fire-ball impact a skeleton on the floor sending it rolling and he shield-bashed a sword-skeleton. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a dark-ball pass him by. He threw his entire weight into another hard swing unto the shield of a sword-skeleton staggering it hard. He caught a mace-blow to his bicep and he shoved his shield with all his back-strenght unto the mace-skeleton.


    Alex killed his enemy and came to help him. Eian killed the sword-skeleton and by then two skeletons were up. A fire-ball streaked fowards passing Eian by and he paid it no heed. Eian and Alex killed their enemies shortly. The fight had ended.


    Tallying it up Sarah killed four zomibes and appearently an undead skeletal mage. Eian killed four zombies and three skeletons. Alex killed three zombies and two skeletons, and had helped Jess not get eaten. Jessica had surprisingly killed three zombies, but was badly biten in the process, she was crying.


    "Shh.. Jess. I''ll heal up up right now." Alex, Eian kind of wanted to punch him in the face.


    "...hic..snf..ugh.hu hu hu." Jessica, he kinna felt like slapping her though.


    "Don''t tire yourself out completely. We all need at least a disinfection." Sarah, finally someone spoke sense.


    "...Roger.." Alex.


    Jessica sported five bad bites, he healed the worst of them and soon she was in better shape. Alex healed three errant bites Sarah had accumilated. Eian got a disinfection along with Alex. Alex healed his skull incase it was damaged badly, also he healed a bad case of diseased blackish flesh that was making his veins show. Eian''s calf was also slightly-healed, along with Alex''s serious injuries. Alex was dead-tired after and couldn''t heal their lesser injuries.


    "Let''s find a room and rest. We''re in no shape to keep going." Sarah.


    "Roger....huff." Alex.


    "Yeah." Eian.


    "...okay..snf." Jessica


    Jessica had protected the food by throwing it behind them, though the one Eian and Alex had was bad due to zombie blood. They retreated towards the room they had found earlier. They rested for three hours, Alex healed them fully and they continued. They only ran into another group of skeletons that Alex, Eian and Jessica easily killed. Alex got two, Eian as well and Jessica got one. These skeleton guards were guarding another stairway, this one clearly showed some light leaking. They easily dispatched the group guarding it, once more they split it: two Eian, two Alex and one Jessica.


    Day-Light, beautiful light, just a tiny speck but it was enough to ignite their hope.


    "Yes!" Jessica was esctatic at the light, even Eian found himself smiling.


    " ''Bout time." Eian.


    "Hell yeah man!" Alex.


    "SHhhh. None of that. There may be more of those things." Sarah.


    "...sorry..." Jessica.


    "Roger." Alex


    "Oh. My tattoo is glowing again." Jessica.


    "Go on." Sarah


    Eian saw her select something, he hoped she would get those benifits Sarah kept talking about soon.


    They went up the stairs leaking light and were eager to get out of the tunnels.

 Dream 29

    As they had traveled Jessica had felt a little weird, her head always did when her mind tattoo was glowing. She didn''t mention anything as it was probably her brain getting better or something, but it didn''t matter for now. They could finally leave this underground hell! She was so excited! She didn''t even know how long they had been in there for. Climbing the stairs, Eian led the way.


    That big attack had been horrible and she still shuddered thinking how those things had bitten her legs and arms. She had managed to kill one with the long-spear, but it took it away as it died. She had had to resort to fighting with a small sword, it was soooo scary. Alex helped her get the last kill, a zombie Eian had dropped to the floor. Alex and Sarah had killed the other ones near her, though they both sustained injuries. She had thought Eian was dead again when she saw him charge foward like a manic, how the crazy idiot survived she didn''t know. Also she was feeling happy she at least helped a bit this time, it was a pleasant feeling.


    -''Thankfully this will be over soon. Maybe I''ll be able to bathe and change out of this!'' Jessica thought, a smile streched her face to almost comical lenghts.


    As they exited the stairway they could see a few small rectangular slits along the wall illuminating everything. Due to the light they could see a group of guard skeletons were clearly standing still, from far away. She peeked through a light-slit and saw what she thought was a tree.


    "Let''s go it seems we''re too far for the skeletons to react." Sarah.


    "Yeah yeah." Eian seemed to be a little sour over-all considering the circumatances, in her opinion.


    "Roger." Alex


    "Yes!" Jessica.


    As they approached the skeletons reacted to their prescence and approached. Eian and Alex took care of them easily.


    Jessica finsihed off the last one in one aimed hit easily, she was getting good at that, though she wished she could help more soon. The skeletons were guarding a room that held nothing of interest. Sarah assured her something useful would happen once her Mind got high enough, though hopefully they would be out before that became nessecary. She was so happy, the crew was actually pretty nice, helping her so much. She even forgave Eian for his earlier dumb sarcastic remarks, he was pretty-brave doing crazy things for them afterall.


    They passed a two corridors that led to what seemed deeper into the building since they had no light and a few guards at each entrance. They ignored those however, Sarah claimed they were most likely on the ground level and could most likely get out following the light-slits. They had to fight the guards though, and they split both groups as usual: Two Eian, Two Alex and one Jessica, they elimitated both groups so.


    Soon they came upon a clear exit to the outside. Unforutonatly there were two rows of shielded skeletal-guards which made ten total, two guards with two-handed broad-swords stood behind them completely obscured by metal knight-armor and what seemed two robed skeleton-mages waiting for them upon the exit. They were standing there clearly waiting for them.


    "*sigh*" Eian.


    "No..." Jessica was losing hope.


    "Well looks like thats the way out." Sarah stated the obvious.


    "Do you think we can do it?" Alex.


    "We will have to. Boys let them come to us. The skeletons swing hard, but move slow. I''ll be able to send most to the ground. Eian, Alex, block those mage attacks, while I get enough time. Jessica stay near me and at least distract anything that gets too close." Sarah.


    Eian absorbed an errant dark-ball with his shield.


    "...okay..." Jessica, that didn''t sound tooo hard, she didn''t know what she would do if she had to charge in.


    "Fuck." Eian.


    "Relax man. We got this." Alex''s confidence made her feel better.


    "Okay let''s go slowly, stay at a distance. We want them to come to us as soon as we are in their range. If anything, retreat away slowly to give me more time." Sarah.


    "''Kay." Eian.


    "Roger." Alex.


    "..umm..okay?.." Jessica.


    They approached slowly. Suddenly the skeltons troops began to advance towards them and Sarah unleashed her blue greater fire-balls blowing them backwards to crash unto the second row. They waited as the skeletons approached, Eian and Alex blocking any dark-balls, though Alex clearly staggered backwards absorbing them. Sarah managed to send out four more fire-balls strategically and they retreated slowly for her to spew two more, before the skeletons were too close. Only three regular guards, the two knights and the mages were still standing by then.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Eian charged like a maniac, blocking a two-handed blow from a knight and shrugging a hit from a regular guard with ease, Jessica wondered if he was still human. Alex also charged, and Jessica worried for him, he wasn''t as strong nor durable as Eian. Alex attempted to block a two handed strike and it clearly staggered him, another blow from a guard cut into his arm, Jessica was on the verge of freaking.


    Sarah threw a fire-ball at Alex''s knight, whom surprisingly deflected it with his sword like a baseball.


    Eian was desperately blocking, mages dark-balls, stray hits from two guards and two-hand blows which seemed hard to block. Alex was fighting a guard, a knight and a mage sent a dark-ball which caught him in the chest.


    The skeletons Sarah had dropped were already up and coming foward.


    "HELP ALEX!" Sarah.


    Jessica froze. Surely she didn''t mean her? Sarah sent another fire-ball foward. She looked at Alex struggling another guard was nearing, he wouldn''t hesitate to help her. As a matter of fact, neither would Eian nor Sarah, she couldn''t let them get hurt. She took a deep breathe much like how Sarah had taught, it felt an eternity ago. She felt a shudder run through her as she advanced. She saw a fire-ball streak foward and Eian''s knight swatted it out of the air.


    Jessica was a yard behind Alex now, the other skeleton joined his fight. She took aim at a guard that Alex was fighting, timed it perfectly and stabbed. She struggled to keep her eyes open, she saw it catch the small opening in it''s med-helm, it collapsed. Alex struck his other skeleton down, Jessica saw a blue flash. She saw Alex stagger from blocking a dark-ball and a two-handed swing immediately after. She attacked the knight randomly, as she couldn''t find a weak point, it bounced off.


    "EVERYONE RETREAT SLOWLY!" Sarah.


    "R..Roger! Thanks Jess!" Alex.


    "Fuck!" Eian.


    "HELP EIAN, JESS! REGULAR SKELETONS FIRST!" Sarah.


    Jessica felt bad, but she knew she couldn''t help Alex much or Eian could get hurt. She dashed behind Eian, whom was fighting like a viking, bleeding all over, she saw a blue flash. Another skeleton had joined his fight, though he had miraculously already killed one. She took aim at a skeleton helmet and stabbed, she missed, tried again and killed it. She saw a dark-ball streak towards her, she panicked. Eian intercepted it quickly and staggered backwards.


    "MOVE!" Eian.


    ".y..yea..." Jessica.


    "MOVE BACK A LITTLE!" Sarah


    They backed away as the rest of the group neared. Jessica saw another skeleton had joined Alex''s fight and saw more approaching from ahead. She saw a fire-ball collide into a skeleton-guard from behind and it was so well timed it bowled over another just behind it. Jessica took aim, Eian shield-bashed the knight with all his weight stumbling it, took a dark-ball to the chest and vicously attacked his remaining guard with a blow that sent it to the ground. Jessica used the oppurtunity to kill the guard on the floor.


    "HELP ALEX! I GOT THIS!" Eian.


    Jessica saw that two more skeletons-guards were attacking Alex. She saw a fire-ball zoom past them. As she ran to him, she saw a dark-ball coming towards her and she almost threw herself foward to avoid it. Soon she was near Alex and a skeleton disengaged him to fight her. She froze, but quickly gathered herself as it sent a sword-swing her way. She frantically backed-away quickly dodging, she took aim and as it swung its sword again. She predicited the sword''s trajectory, evaded and counter-stabbed it perfectly in the face, it dropped surprising even her.


    Alex had managed to kill his last guard and Eian had killed another by then. Alex and Eian killed the last two guards as they approached them. They were engaged with the knights and Jessica didn''t know what to do about them. Jessica kept seeing fire-balls and dark balls zooming past, and sometimes the balls collided into either Eian or Alex. She looked an saw a mage was already dead, only one was currently exchanging attacks with Sarah, but was soon burning from Sarah''s fire-ball. The mage collapsed in a pile.


    "Jess give me ..some.. room." Sarah was breathing a bit hard.


    "Ah." Jessica backed away from Alex.


    She saw Sarah preparing two blue fire-balls. Sarah aimed at Alex''s knight and sent them both foward. The knight deflected one, but the other sent it staggering back hard. Alex used his shield and sword to disarm it, he tackled it to the ground. Sarah prepared another two fire-balls and sent it to Eians knight, the same result occured. Alex managed to get the full-helmet off and stabbed it black-smoke skull. Eian also killed his knight by copying Alex, but he spent a while crushing it''s skull completely.


    "Fuck you again, you tough asshole." Eian wasn''t too out of breathe, but finished cursing the... re...dead knight?


    -''Can''t call it dead knight, because it already dead.'' Jessica supposed to herself.


    "Calm..down.." Sarah was breathing heavily, pale and sweating, weird she wasn''t supposed to feel heat.


    "Are you okay Sarah?" Jessica was worried.


    "Mostly. Got hit by a blob of death and I''m out of gas." Sarah was breathing hard.


    "I''ll... get to you guys soon. Gimme a sec." Alex was also breathing heavily.


    "Yeah. yeah heard that before haha." Eian sat down on the floor and begun unstrapping his equipment.


    Alex healed his worst wounds, he had sploches of dying flesh from the ''blobs of death'' as Sarah called them. He proceeded to help Sarah, as he was a gentleman, it was over quickly and Sarah thanked him. Eian waited and Alex healed the worst gashes he had along with what Eian claimed was the worse head-ache he ever felt. Eian also had sploches of dead-flesh and Alex healed those, his helmet looked like it took a heavy blow recently. Alex was dead tired afterwards, no pun intended.


    -''Finally the way is clear.'' Jessica thought.


    "Ummm guys. My tattoo''s glowing." Eian.


    "Mine too man." Alex.


    "Interesting. Me too." Sarah.


    Jessica''s jaw almost dropped. She checked her one, sure enough it was glowing.


    "....same here..." Jessica.


    "Well at least I don''t have to go throught that shit again." Eian had a smirk on his face.


    "Yeah man that looked bad." Alex


    "Bad? BAD?! Understatement of the year bro." Eian snorted


    Her mind tattoo had not finished yet however.


    "I can''t choose mind yet." Jessica.


    "Here." Sarah handed her left leather sleeve.


    Jessica carefully placed it on her right arm without touching anything. Each of the others selected something and Jessica saw them close their eyes. She looked at the exit and felt anxious to get out, but she supposed a few seconds won''t hurt.

 Dream 30

    Sarah opened her eyes. She was sitting, but strangely she was in a different place. She was atop a large cleared circle on a sunny mountain peak, gazing down at an endless ash landscape stretched forth. A few hills littered the land, but only burnt trees were around. She couldn''t see clearly enough if any living vegitation was growing.


    "Hello again my little spark." Adara said and Sarah had felt her overwhelming prescence with her fire-sense now.


    "Hello, Miss Adara?" Sarah wasn''t sure if that was the correct way to address a dragoness.


    "Hmm.. Maybe I should have you call me Mistress Adara instead?" Adara said teasingly.


    "Oh? Is that how people call you then?" Sarah was curious about many things, and now that her aura wasn''t a problem she could ask away.


    "Only those I favor greatly. To everyone else... I''m Lady Adara." Adara''s voice acutally purred, clearly impling she was having fun.


    "...oh.. Um... I have questions Miss Adara." Sarah wanted to evade going into weird territory if possible, she already had her eyes firmly shut.


    "Ask away my little one." Adara.


    "My friend recently got hurt trying to upgrade his Body. He recovered, but it took much longer for it to finish." Sarah.


    "His body was probably malnorished. That is the only way I see what you describe happening. Don''t let him select it again or it could be worse." Adara.


    "Okay thank-you. What do the tattoo''s change anyways?" Sarah.


    "Hmm... I was wondering when you would ask little spark. Do you not know yourself?" Adara.


    "Well I thought Body upgrades muscles, stamina and general health. While Mind just makes you smarter. Spirit is obviously magic." Sarah.


    "Those are correct, but all three cover so much more. The tattoo''s were originally created to be simple to use by even the dumbest sentinent being. That is why they only possess three general terms, on for each energy." Adara.


    "OH?! Who made them then?" Sarah was extremely curious, of who could have put this strange magic on her arm.


    "Patience little spark, that is a long-story and one that is not important right now. I''ll tell you when you''re ready." Adara.


    "Oh. Energies you said?" Sarah should have known Adara loved delaying things.


    "I will explain. Firstly yes body does enchance your strenght, endurance, vitality, agility, felixibility and resilience. However they also improve your senory-organs. Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue and even your skin. The general term for Body is Qi energy." Adara.


    "QI?!" Sarah was surprised, that was an Asian concept, she almost opened her eyes and that would lead to an uncomfortable situation.


    "Yes Qi, Chi or Ki or Chakra, those are just some words for it. Earth-spirit users use it along with their element making them deadly warriors near the end. If you fight one throw extremely hot fire, running is inadvisible, they are agile and extremly hard to kill. I personally fly and burn them from above." Adara.


    "S..SO QI WILL IMPROVE MY EYES?!" Sarah was eager to try fix her semi-blindness, it had been embarassing since childhood.


    ".....Yes. Little spark. I can see you desire to improve what you lack. But trust me please, focus on your path for now. Eventually you will be able to enchance your Qi, but focus on survival and that requires you to focus on spirit first and then mind second." Adara warned and she sounded sad.


    "...That''s...yes...please carry on." Sarah''s mind was in turmoil.


    "Very well, Qi also has a host of other benifits once you can manipulate the energy itself, but for humans that is near the end." Adara.


    "What kinds of benifits?" Sarah, was begining to suspect there was alot more to everything than she suspected.


    "The ability to temporarily hard your skin, move like the wind, become resistance to the elements, shatter stone with your bare-hands and so forth. It allows you to enhance your physical traits." Adara.


    "Eian will be able to do all of that?" Sarah.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "Is that the Earth-boy? Yes. He will begin near the end of his racial potential, but he will have to ...''change'' to gain all the benifits." Adara.


    "How can he change?" Sarah.


    "That... is a tricky topic and there are many ways. He will have to over-come his racial limits. Let us move on. It will be very very long before that option becomes available and his own guide will lead him to a proper path. I am here for you my dear." Adara.


    "Very well. You said energies, not energy." Sarah.


    "Yes let us move unto Mind, as those will benifit you, eventually. Mind encompasses every mental faculty. Mental-agility, memory, reflexes, precision, perception, dexterity, mental-fortitude and intellect. The general term for Mind is Psi energy or psyche." Adara.


    "...so it will make me think faster and smarter?" Sarah processed everything Adara said.


    "Yes, it will also allow you to develop certain abilites, like your friend." Adara.


    "Friend?...no. Jessica doesn''t have anything like that yet." Sarah.


    ".....Then she is moving very slow, quicken her pace. It is unwise to stay too far behind. Anything she gets will be extremely helpful." Adara explained.


    "Y...Yes, but we are soon out of the tunnels. So that''s not going to be much trouble." Sarah had a strong suspicion that wouldn''t be the case.


    "Little spark, be wise. You know that isn''t true. I can hear it in your voice as you speak." Adara.


    ".*sigh*... I wish you would tell me more about that." Sarah.


    "I...only want what is best for you, my little one. I am fond of you and want you to grow." Adara.


    "Can you please tell me what sort of abilities develop? I want to have an idea what to expect." Sarah.


    "....If you insist." Adara sounded reluctant.


    "Yes please." Sarah wanted to know as much as possible.


    "Very well....Do not rush ahead and try to gain Mind powers. For now focus on spirit. That will yield the most results for you right now." Adara warned.


    "Yes Ms. Adara. I have already felt the difference in power after each change." Sarah was truthful, each advancement gave her a huge surge of power.


    "Psyche will grants some random abilities at first. If your mind becomes strong there is a legend it unlocks them all. Be aware that humans can only obtain one ''unchanged'', even I have not gained them all. So it is possible you will never gain some of the abilities I mention." Adara.


    "Yes I understand, Miss Adara." Sarah.


    "...Among many I have seen Telepathy the ability to attack and speak to the mind of others. Mind control the ability to dominate weak wills, read their minds and control them. Illusions, including invisibility. There is teleportation which is easy to understand, but can create portals as well. Clairvoyance is the ability to see hints and read the endless possibilities of the future. Divination the ability to read the past of whatever you touch. One of the most powerful abilities I have encountered is Time manipulation, run from any of those for now. There are many more, but those are the most well known." Adara.


    "I can''t say I did not expect some of those." Sarah was excited to see what Jessica would develop, hopefully not mind control, that''s just scary overall.


    Sarah was also excited at what she would eventually develop.


    "Well... Yes some people in your world may already possess these. Rare humans like that are occasionally born, even considered gods in some primitive cultures." Adara.


    That in itself gave Sarah alot to think about, could some mythologies be based on such people? And if so what does that say for modern religions?


    "You''ve spoken at length of the other two. Does spirit do anything else?" Sarah was curious why Adara was so insistent on that, could she be biased?


    "You''ve experienced much of spirit. It generally gives power faster than any other. It also allows you to bind up to thirteen magic items. There are also deeper magics that can be used later on. Alchemy, Invocation, Summoning contracts, Enchantments, Scripts and so forth, but those require some study to achieve." Adara.


    "So, how would I study those?" Sarah.


    "I could teach you some, little spark. After you''ve become powerful. For now focus on spirit. Get stronger. You will have access to a second enchanted item after this." Adara.


    "I don''t have a second enchanted item yet though." Sarah.


    "Didn''t you say you had two?" Adara.


    "Eian is using the ring." Sarah, though honestly it hadn''t done him any good yet.


    "??How strong is his spirit? Has he truly gotten so powerful?" Adara sounded confused.


    "I think his spirit will be at three soon." Sarah.


    "PUAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA!" Adara roared in laughter, by the end her voice was hurting her ears so much she had to put her hands over them.


    "HAhahahaa. Sarah. Forgiveness, my dear little spark. I mean no offense to your friend, but he won''t have another useful application of his spirit untill a little more." Adara sounded honestly amused and not mocking.


    "Oh...I suppose I could use the ring. For now." Sarah, her ears were still ringing.


    "See that you do my dear. It will be in far better hands, trust me." Adara.


    "Very well Miss Adara. Thank-you." Sarah''s ears were still ringing.


    "Let us proceed then. You have much to think over. Come follow me." Adara.


    Sarah reluctantly opened her eyes and saw Adara''s alluring figure there. The pain in her ears helped migate the effect of Adara''s aura and Sarah managed to regulate her breathing. Adara led her to the middle of the clearing on the mountain top. There were three lit braziers in a triangle, surrounding an unlit brazier. Each flame was a different color: Red, Green, Blue.


    "Focus on all three take the power of each and merge them." Adara instructed.


    Sarah focused on the braziers.


    She saw each color and tried to will each to move and amass together on the final middle brazier."


    "No. Not the physical. The spiritual. The power of each flame. The control, the excitement and its raw power. Do not use your eyes. Focus on what it could be. Awaken the potential of fire." Adara.


    "Yes Miss Adara." Sarah closed her eyes.


    Sarah visualized each flame and saw them for what they truly were. The red flame was weak, but easy to move, quick to obey. The green was halfway strong, but wanted to grow, it had to be reigned it. The blue was raw power and would cared for nothing in it''s path, it had to be forced to obey, conquered. She opened her eyes. She looked at the middle brazier. Red, Green, Blue they ignited and fought upon the brazier. Burn! She willed it, coaxed and forced.


    White.

 Dream 31

    Alex blinked and saw that he was again in a different place. He was now in-front of what appeared to be a massive organic tree-house. The wood itself seems to have moved and organized itself to be habitable for a person. The first floor had no door, but branches stretched out as stairs leading to a second floor. Wooden-chairs, tables and shelves were seemlessly attached and visible from outside. The open entrance was large enough for a large man to enter perhaps up to seven feet high and three wide.


    "Well might as well go in." Alex.


    He stepped inside the tree house and noticed even the floor was seemless wood. The space inside was easily large enough for five king-sized beds.


    "Bad boy, coming in a girl without permission." Vita.


    "Huh?!" Alex.


    Vita''s voice was behind him.


    "OH! I''m sorry. Wait, what are you talking about?" Alex was flustered by her innuendo, he turned to speak to her.


    She wasn''t there.


    "Um. IS this another game?" Alex was going to be upset if this was another round of mockery.


    "....*sigh*... No. I''m here." Vita emerged from the floor as if it were made of water.


    Alex was a little slack-jawed, that was a useful ability. She stood up and was just as he remembered, scantly clad.


    "Hi, sorry I wanted to surprise you. Te.he." Vita giggled.


    "Wow will I be able to do that?" Alex.


    Vita looked at him like he was crazy.


    "No. I''m a dryad. MY tree is my actual body, this is just a faux, sort of like a god''s avatar." Vita.


    "Oh.... Okay." Alex didn''t know what to say, appearently he was speaking to a pretty tree, could there be anything weirder?


    "Ah Poo don''t be like that. This body is what I usually use for everything." Vita winked at him playfully.


    "Okay....Um... So? ...How are you today Miss Vita?" Alex smiled.


    She was obviously messing with him, lots of girls do that and mean nothing by it, they usually even have boyfriends.


    "Very good thank-you. I trust your friend recovered?" Vita.


    "Yes. Stronger and grumpier than ever." Alex smiled.


    "Good, I trust you have more time on your hands this time? For an actual lesson and perhaps even a chat? I''d like to know more about humans." Vita.


    "Actually, yes, but we are almost outside the tunnels, so I''m hoping things will be better." Alex.


    Alex saw Vita''s smile wither slightly, which worried him.


    "I''m afraid not. Alex right? You will need more power faster." Vita.


    "....Oh. Is it much more dangerous?" Alex.


    "It will be a bit more dangerous. Get stronger though, many difficulties await you." Vita.


    "How can we go home, anyways? Sarah says her guide mentioned she knew who took us to the cave." Alex.


    "Don''t worry, survive long enough and you will get home. I guarantee, eventually. I can''t tell you more. Sorry." Vita seemed to figit slightly.


    "Thank-you Miss Vita, I''m sure my friends will be glad to hear that." Alex.


    "You''re...welcome." Vita''s smile looked a little fake to Alex, but he ignored it, maybe she thought he might not surivive outside.


    "So? What''s next?" Alex.


    "YES! As I was saying sit down please!" Vita seemed to come to life, excited.


    "Okay.." Alex sat down on a chair she beckoned to, she sat down to another right infront of his.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Yes I''d like to know more about humans. I''ve asked many people some things, but usually they get annoyed after a few questions." Vita.


    "Oh? like what?" Alex.


    "Do humans really eat animal meat? A few I asked said yes others said no." Vita.


    "??....Yes? Most of us eat meat almost everyday. I think a few are vegitarians and v..Vegans? I can''t remember the word, but they don''t eat meat." Alex.


    "Ohhhh.. Do you truly live in cities of stone? Like the dwarves and the drow?" Vita.


    "Well we sometimes live in wooden buildings too, but yes many buildings people use today are partially stone, I think." Alex.


    -''What was it again? Sheetrock? That''s made of rocks right? The name says it.'' Alex thought.


    "My sister said that many races use trees, but I couldn''t believe it. You wouldn''t kill dryads would you?" Vita seemed concerned.


    "Well. Not if I knew it was one. I...I don''t know if there are any dryads in my country." Alex uncomfortably admitted.


    "Oh it''s easy to tell! The dryad will give a warning, also we will defend ourselves." Vita smiled.


    "I think we would have heard about something like that. And no I personally wouldn''t hurt someone, unless they threaten me or someone else first." Alex.


    "Good. I can feel you mean it, A-L-E-X." Vita smiled at him prettily, and it actually caused him to feel embarrased, the way she spoke was weird.


    -''It''s weird a tree is that pretty..... She kinna seems a little naive, though. I wonder how old she is?.'' Alex thought.


    "Do you feel offended? That people kill trees everyday?" Alex.


    "Hmm? Your turn? He-he. No I don''t. Some of my sisters and friends do though. I think it''s like asking a human if they are offended if someone kills a monkey to eat." Vita.


    "Roger. Now I know." Alex smiled.


    They chatted for a while more and Alex answered a few more of Vita''s questions.


    "Sorry, but I really should get back to my friends. I''ll be glad to answer more of your questions another time." Alex.


    "Okay. Thank-you again Alex, you''re more fun and nicer than many people." Vita smiled.


    "No problem. So? What''s next?" Alex.


    "Here." Vita.


    Vita took out another symbol. It was a series of sideway V''s within a circle, forming what looked like a take right direction-sign.


    "This one is the bolt. It will allow you to form an orb of healing. It will heal your allies if it collides unto them and is very harmful to anything animated with death energy." Vita


    "Thanks!" Alex smiled, finally something that could be considered an attack.


    "Same as always take power from the image." Vita.


    Alex focus on the image and pulled. Power rushed to him and he opened his eyes.


    Everyone except Eian was back.


    *****


    Eian was currently buried up to his neck in stone, cursing.


    "GET ME OUT!" Eian.


    "HAHAHA! No. I don''t think so boy." Ul.


    Eian had told the mangey goat-fucker that he was an asshole for making him choose body twice. The dwarf had laughed and buried him in the stone he stood on.


    "SCREW YOU!" Eian


    "That''ll teach ye to mouth off yer better''s boy. Disipline. Hahaha me pops used to do this all the time. Relax." Ul.


    ".................." Eian glared at his guide.


    "Oh relax. I warned ye te eat plenty. Besides it''s far more useful to be where you are right now that follow spirit first." Ul.


    Eian''s face couldn''t get anymore red. He tried calming himself.


    -''Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Innnn.. Outtt.'' Eian thought.


    "Oh? So you can calm yourself. Good I think you''ll learn plenty here for a while. Bye." Ul walked away from Eian.


    "WAIT!!!! WAIT!!!" Eian.


    Ul walked into his workshop and soon Eian began hearing metal banging. Eian kept shouting for what must have been five minutes before he stopped dead tired and almost completely hoarse. He tried shaping the earth around him, but it resisted all his attempts. An hour passed. Another.


    -''Asshole'' Eian thought.


    *****


    "So? I guess this is always normal for him?" Jessica.


    "Looks like." Sarah.


    "Yeah he''s was there a while last time too." Alex.


    "Well at least you won''t have to carry him this time Alex." Jessica.


    "Yeah he was heavy before, now he must weight a ton, especially with all that armor." Alex.


    "Alex peek outside and keep watch if anything is coming, Jessica and I will watch the other direction." Sarah.


    "Roger." Alex.


    "But... I want to see what''s outside too." Jessica.


    "Fine take a quick peek and come back." Sarah.


    "Yes Thanks!" Jessica.


    Alex went and looked outside. It was broad-daylight, almost blinded his eyes. He had been underground too long. Once his eyes adjusted he saw what favored ruins of a what seemed to be an ancient medeavial castle or fortress town surrounded them. Several stone buildings looked to be in a uncared for state and several wooden building were broken and rotting. Vegitation had overtake the place. Trees sprouted haphazardly and the grass was pretty tall. He saw a few figures in the distance which might be a few undead, but they were standing still, not taking notice of them.


    ".....Oh.... my.... goodness.....We''re hopelessly lost... aren''t we?" Jessica whispered, and put her hands on her mouth.


    "Yeah, definately not in Kansas, Jess." Alex stared at the two suns.


    ******


    Eian lost track of time. He had let his mind wander for a while, thinking of life back home. It wasn''t perfect, but he realized he wouldn''t trade it for the world. Hopefully they would emerge and find themself in some ancient cursed Aztec ruin or something. His mom was probably freaking out crazy by now, he worried about her the most. She''d go crazy without him.


    -''Wait I don''t think Native indians had metal did they? Are we in Europe? Asia?'' Eian thought to himself.


    A door opening snapped him out of his thoughts.


    "Ah.... I hoped ye''d have calmed down." Ul smiled aggravatingly.


    ".............." Eian just stared at him.


    There was no point in aggravating the one with all the cards at the moment. As soon as he got strong enough, he would give him a royal kick in the balls though.


    "Good. Good." Ul tapped the sole of his left foot on the ground lightly.


    "AHH!" Eian emerged from the ground so quickly it gave him a minor heart-attack.


    "Here. Your spirit will take a while to become strong enough to do anything more useful for now." Ul.


    Ul handed Eian a piece of rock.


    "Compress it to become something harder and off ye go. Try to be more patient next time boy. Slow and Steady don''t forget." Ul.


    Eian focused on the stone and willed it to shrink into something tougher. It shrank slowly and was soon a third as large as it was before. He blinked and went back.

 Dream 32

    Sarah was waiting on Eian''s reaction to the news.


    "So...It''s offical, we''re fucked. Actually I don''t think theres a word for how fucked we are." Eian.


    "Hey man. My guide said if we survive long enough, we can go home." Alex.


    "Are you sure?!" Jessica, Alex nodded to her.


    "My guide also implied something along those lines. There are probably many ways to get home. Magic has alot of potential and Mind could give the ability to open portals." Sarah.


    "So we should all just focus on Mind and take that chance?" Eian.


    "No. I think my guide said it''s a small chance. Magic is the safest bet and both me and Alex are focusing on that." Sarah.


    "And what should I do?" Eian.


    "Whatever your guide said. Jessica you still focus on Mind, maybe we''ll get lucky and you will unlock Teleportaion." Sarah.


    "We don''t know how long that could take! We could be stuck here years!" Eian.


    "NOOOO!" Jessica wailed.


    "Eian, relax man we''ve gotten this strong in a short time. I''m sure it won''t take that long." Alex.


    "Actually with bottlenecks it could take a few weeks at least." Sarah.


    "No! No!" Jessica.


    "Well shhhhiiiiiiiiiit." Eian threw his hands up dramatically.


    "Let''s just all calm down. We''re out of the tunnels. So we just have to find more food and water first, then get stronger." Alex.


    "Alex''s right people. Crying''s not helping. Let''s take care of the essencials and worry about that later." Sarah.


    Jessica surprisingly calmed down faster than she''d have thought. Sarah watched her carefully, if judged by solely mind she was smarter than her now. She remembered metal-resilience was part of Mind.


    -''Hopefully it will help with her whining completely. It''s annoying.'' Sarah thought.


    "Eian, Alex swap armor. Those full suits of knightly-armor are better." Sarah.


    "Roger." Alex.


    "....Yeah, yeah." Eian


    The boys swapped into knightly armor, Alex was ackward in his due to the size difference, he was taller than Eian.


    "Eian, take a two handed sword to replace a long-sword." Sarah.


    "Why?" Eian.


    "You''ll be fully armored and the bigger sword is better for swinging incase you don''t need the shield." Sarah.


    "Can''t I just dual-wield, if I don''t want to use a shield?" Eian


    ".....That takes practice Eian. A lot of practice. You''ll just bumble it and hurt someone." Sarah.


    "Wow....way to encourage people." Eian grumbled, that was another annyoing habit, though at least he was useful.


    "I''ll take that long-sword then, it''s bigger than mine." Jessica added.


    "That''s a good idea, I''ll take one off these guards too." Sarah swapped her short-sword for a long-sword.


    He handed the long-sword to Jessica and picked up a two-handed sword.


    "Damn. This is a litle weird." Eian said flexing the armor.


    "..Yeah man the armor is about sixty pounds, spread out." Alex was clearly having a little trouble.


    "Do you think you can fight in it?" Sarah.


    "Yea." Alex, sat down flat on the floor.


    "....*sigh*... Take a two-handed sword, ditch one of your other two weapons." Sarah.


    "Roger." Alex, kept his long-sword and ditched the mace.


    Sarah inwardly sighed, she hoped that wouldn''t be a problem eventually. There were about ten steps to the exit.


    It seemed they were in the courtyard of some stone-building. Exiting the tunnel would have worked wonders for everyones metal health, except the two suns which crushed hope utterly. They exited what appeared to be some rich nobles stone mansion, though clearly not a castle. They encountered a set of guard-skeletons on the way out, they took care of it easily enough.


    The tunnels led out to a city, which nature had reclaimed, it had the occasional skeletons guarding the area. Sarah could see the city''s huge castle about a block or two away guarded by a moat and wall. This area was mostly stone-buildings with what appeared to have been massive wooden mansions, though the latter had collapsed with time. The mansion had been based on the slope of a large hill, with the castle cresting it''s very top, so they had a partial view of the lower city and the forested fields that lay beyond. There were many broken discared bones along the road. Giant-metal parts of armor were occasionally strewn about, similar to the giant-armor they had seen below.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "Wow.. Creepy." Eian took one look, and Sarah had the impression he frowned at the sight.


    "Looks like some large-scale battle happened with giants and the undead in the city." Alex''s voice took on a pondrous tone, sounding unsure.


    Sarah nodded at his assesment, it was definitely possible. A few steps later Jessica gave her an even bigger scare.


    "You.....don''t think there are giant skeletons around right?" Jessica''s eyes were wide, her voice trembled with unsuppressed fear.


    Sarah pictured giant skeletons en mass and shuddered.


    "I hope not." Sarah felt goose-bumps crawling up her back.


    "Wow...." Eian''s helmet visibly twisted left and right as he indulged in healthy paranoia.


    "We haven''t seen any, so let''s get out before we find any." Alex''s helmet showed he was scanning the area, everyone agreed with his bout of common sense.


    They ran into another pack of five skeletal guards on the same block. Which were easily defeated by Eian and Alex. Jessica got the final kill again, Sarah was still recovering her spirit so they went slow. The cobblestone roads were wide, but littered with grass and the occasional tree would sprout outwards. Each house had a small alley clearly separating the large estates. The suns seemed to be about to set in about two hours or three hours, by Sarah''s estimate.


    -''I wonder if the planet rotates the same speed. If it doesn''t it will change how many hours we have in a day. Interesting. I think Jupiter only has ten hours in a day.'' Sarah thought to herself.


    They encountered another group of skeleton guards infront of another estates entrance, this one was clearly smaller than the last. They were also visibly less armored and there were only two.


    "Alex kill one, Jessica try killing the other." Sarah.


    "ME?!" Jessica seemed surprised.


    "Yes, you. You''ve killed plenty this should be easy." Sarah pointed at one in the corner.


    "Sarah?! Jess you don''t have to." There Alex went, being over-protective again, Sarah rolled her eyes.


    Jessica acutally seemed sad at his words, which Sarah made a note of.


    "It..it''s okay Alex. Thanks." Jessica smiled sadly at him.


    "Oh relax, Eian and I are right here. She needs to be prepared to fight and you need to stop preventing her from it." Sarah didn''t know whether to roll her eyes or sigh, so she did both.


    "Alright.... I guess." Alex was clearly confused, it was noteable even through the armor.


    "I''ll hold the little bit of meat left." Sarah suppresed another urge to roll her eyes.


    Alex actually had more trouble with his skeleton than Jessica. She simply aimed, stabbed, calculated its block and nabbed it in the skull, all in one solid attack through the helmet opening. Alex''s opponent blocked two blows and then he killed it by decapitation. Sarah observered her movements and saw that Jessica had not trouble handling the long-spear, Alex seemed a little clumsier in comparison.


    ''Dexterity and perception.'' Sarah observed, she realized she had no problems aiming her fire-balls and firing them, Jessica would soon be completely above her in that aspect.


    "Good. Let''s go." Sarah stalked onwards.


    "Roger. Nice job Jess." Alex smiled at her enthusiasm.


    "Yes!" Jessica fist-pumped.


    They kept going noting the guards were lacking, after one more pair of guards. Eian and Jessica took care of them this time. Eian took two strong hits to kill the guard and Jessica killed it on her first try. She seemed a little smug at that.


    "HA!" Jessica.


    "Ha-ha. Very funny." Eian was being sarcastic again.


    "Jessica don''t get over-confident. Alex and Eian are half-blind in those helmets." Sarah pointed that out, overconfidence was bad after-all.


    "Oh... right." Jessica seemed to instantly get glum.


    Eian was surprisingly quite, Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Don''t worry Jess, you did good." Alex gave her a thumbs up.


    "...thanks..." Jessica looked at the ground and mumbled slightly.


    "I agree you''re doing well, just don''t get over-confident. I don''t want anyone to get hurt over something stupid." Sarah gave a curt nod.


    "Yes.. Thanks." Jessica half smiled.


    "Can we go now?" Eian''s bored voice rebounded off his visor.


    "Yeah. S...sorry Eian." Jessica looked away and almost mumbled the last part.


    That surprised Sarah and if Eian''s stumble meant anything he was even more so.


    "...it''s fine. No problem. G..good job..." Eian fidgeted.


    "Good to see you two getting along better." Alex sounded cheerful.


    "Let''s go, we''re burning daylight." Sarah looked up at the sky.


    They soon stumbled unto an area that had several overgrown tree''s. In Sarah''s opinion it looked like a park, whose trees just kept growing uncontrolled.


    "Are those oranges?" Eian, pointed to a particular tree.


    "WHAT?!" Jessica jumped.


    "Wow man, how can you see through these things?" Alex was facing the direction Eian had pointed.


    Sarah was excited for some diversity in food, a pure meat diet was horrible. They almost raced to the treee. They were, in Sarah''s honest opinion the most delicious fruits on the planet. They tasted like citrus, but not oranges, she even did basic testing for poison. She had opened them and rubbed them on her lip for any adverse effects and waited fifteen minutes for ill effects. After that she remembered Alex could probably heal them if anything happenned. They stuffed themselves, especially Eian.


    Sarah then heard heavy shuffling in a patch of tall grass clearly nearing them.


    "Something''s coming!" Sarah yelled.


    "What?" Eian seemed surprised and was looking about confused.


    "Roger!" Alex nodded at her, eager to act.


    Jessica simply looked around frightened. They formed up, Sarah summoned a blue ball of fire, appearently her white flames had not kicked in yet. A pack Skeletal dogs jumped out of some bushes and came running at them.


    "Crap!" Eian jumped in surprise.


    "AH!" Jessica screeched and almost stumbled backwards.


    Sarah noted Jessica swapped to the long-sword, that was good hitting a dog with a spear might be hard. They hoped at them and Sarah hit one with her flames sending it rolling to the floor, it broke apart and a green flame killed it. Alex and Eian cut down two each and Jessica managed to kill one which had evaded the boys. None of them were injured.


    "These things make it harder for me to hear." Eian tapped his helmet.


    "Don''t worry about it. Let''s hurry. It''s getting darker." Sarah peeked at the sky.


    "I''ve a bad feeling." Jessica''s voice trembled.


    "Me too zombie movies guys. Nights are always bad. Maybe we should find shelter." Eian was moving in a hurry, the rest tried to keep up.


    "Doesn''t matter let''s hurry. Perhaps we can be out before nightfall." Sarah pointed forward.


    "Don''t think like that man. We don''t even know if the night affects the undead." Alex shrugged.


    ".......Now you''ve jinxed it." Eian sighed loudly, obviously exaggerating.


    The suns were beginning to set, the smaller sun set first and Sarah didn''t like her chances at night.

 Dream 33

    Eian watched as the second sun began to set. It gave him a distinct sense of dread, they had been running for the last half an hour hoping to be out soon. Eian thought they should be hiding in one of the previous stone mansions. By now they had exited what appeared to be higher-class into what appeared to be the high-middle class. The most buildings here were still stone and well built, but not as extravagant as the ones prior. The road had become flat instead of a slight incline prior.


    The exit had been lined by ten skeletal guards, they were not all well armored. Eian and Alex were in full armor, along with Sarah''s limited fire-power and some of Jessicas help. They had little trouble killing off the skeletons. Eian killed four, Alex killed three, Sarah caught the only one without a shield and Jessica killed two.


    This new area wasn''t defended at all and with the vegitation taking over made Eian extremely weirded out. He was sure something would happen the instant the sun completely set.


    "Guys I think it''s a good idea to hide in one of the stone buildings for the night." Eian.


    "We''re... half...way... through...city,... hour.. more." Sarah breathing deeply from the run.


    "Yeah man." Alex was huffing a bit.


    "Let''s get out." Jessica was breathing a little hard, as she was carrying the meat.


    "I''m not sure you guys can handle an hour." Eian.


    "Just..Go!" Sarah prodded him foward.


    -''I have a feeling I''m going to say Told you so pretty soon. Then nobody will care.'' Eian thought.


    They kept running and soon Sarah tripped and fell. Eian helped her up.


    "Sarah, we need to stop." Eian.


    "No." Sarah.


    Ten minutes passed and the light faded, another ten and the last vestiges faded. Eian''s was drenched in sweat, he kind of hated this helmet it impaired his sight and hearing which he usually depended on alot. His imagination took surreal qualities and he began to imagine growling from the buildings. Soon he saw movement through the slits of his visor. It came from the door of a stone-building.


    "Guys I see something ahead!" Eian.


    "Relax it''s like ten zombies! Shield-wall!" Sarah.


    Eian felt the heat spike up around them, Sarah had clearly summoned fireballs. Through his visors Eian soon saw a blue fire-ball streak foward and strike a random zombie. He and Alex were already in position and they absorbed the impacts, he thought he heard a howl on Alex''s side. His spear-axe impaled something and he shoved foward, shield and axe.


    He cleaved randomly sighting multiple hands coming at him. He slashed, shoved and even kicked his way foward, he heard screaming behind him and a stream of blue light illuminated the area. Something shoved him partly-stumbling foward, the heat was near unbearable, and uncomfortably close.


    He''d lost count of kills when he saw nothing else stood in his way. Turning he saw nothing, thus lifted his visor. Alex was treating Jessica, while Sarah had somehow summoned another blue-fire ball.


    "What happened?" Eian.


    "Jess got bit bad." Sarah.


    Looking closer upon the zombies Eian noticed lots of zombies were burnt and on the floor, what appeared to be six zombies.


    "And that?" Eian.


    "Fire-hose, effective close up." Sarah was sweating holding up her staff, from exertion he assumed.


    "How much juice you got?" Eian.


    "One, maybe two." Sarah.


    Eian heard something even through the helmet. A heavy pounding on the floor, not enough to vibrate the floor obviously, but it made a loud squishy sound as it moved. Turning Eian saw a fat blob of meaty flesh walking walking quickly towards them, a few zombies were shambling foward as well.


    "SHIT!" Eian, slipped his visor down and ignored whatever everyone else was saying.


    He charged the fleshy monster full speed and saw it was stitched together from different people. It was as wide as he was tall, a bit taller than him and sported multiple arms and legs all over as well as three heads. He had no idea how to get the heads, they were high up, as it neared he swung the axe and he felt it bite flesh. The thing collided into him with the weight of a car and he went spinning side-ways, he lost his shield and the axe. He had felt it stagger backwards and land on its ass, it must not have good balance. It didn''t hurt nearly as much as he''d have thought, definately less than before.


    He saw a flash of blue light. Some hands were trying and failing to get to him through his armor. He shoved one away, punched another and kicked the last. He got up and pulled the two-handed sword, his mace wouldn''t help right now. He could see a steady stream of blue light coming from the left and the monster-zombie-thing was rolling on the floor mostly aflame and roaring. He saw his axe was stuck on the monster.


    Zombies were pouring out from the alley''s. Swinging wildly he mowed down the first zombie easily. He kicked another on the floor and spun his sword side-ways crazily like a bat slaming another to the ground, a few paces away. Another he straight-out impaled through the torso, as it ran to him. A zombie collided into him and he grabbed its neck and flung it away even as he withdrew his sword from the others belly, though it wasn''t dead.


    "Stupid swords." Eian.


    He beheaded the one he had kicked as it approached again. A zombie wrapped its arms around his waist from the side and he elbowed its face, shortly another came. Crazily swinging with an over-head he split a zombie''s head in two, the sword went down to its chest, he still had the two zombies in tow. Eian felt a zombie quickly grab his right leg and another grab his left almost simultanously.


    "EIAN RETREAT! OVER HERE!" Sarah screamed behind him.


    He turnt and saw them entering a stone-building a few yards away. By then he felt about five diffrent sets of hands on him, holding him back. He thrashed his body foward, attempting to break free of their grasp. He saw Alex killing anything that got near the entrance with Jessica helping him not to get overwhelmed from behind. Sarah held the long-sword one-handed and the staff on the other. Sarah was in behind both of them.


    The zombies were attempting to wrestle him to the ground, but he thrashed like a wild animal, relying solely on instinct. It was hard, but he managed to dislodge an attacker from his waist, with a hard elbow to the face. He pushed another on his waist with both arms sending it reeling backwards, he still held his sword. With moderate freedom, he split the head of one at his feet. Elbowing the last one at his waist he sent it staggering backwards, where he swung at it''s head. He took off the upper part of it''s face. Noting more zombies coming he quickly shook his foot and yanked it away from the last zombie.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    He sprinted over to the group. Sarah unleshed another gout of flames at a few zombies behind him before retreating inwards. Jessica and Alex followed.


    "Eian hold the door a while! We''ll get something to block it." Sarah.


    "Fine!" Eian.


    Eian turnt at the entrance and began hacking at the any zombies that neared. He saw other zombies were eating the dead zombies on the floor and the stench was overwhelming. He must have killed at least four zombies, before Alex dragged-over what looked like a heavy-set wooden table-bench. It blocked half the entrance, but still zombies saw them. Eian killed two more before Sarah and Jessica brought another. Eian had to lean against the barracaide to keep it from falling and being overwhelmed. He felt things pushing against the benches.


    Eian heard a few growls within the house that made him almost drop the benches, but he kept hold. The howls were quickly cut off. They brought other furniture to block the entrance. Tables, chairs, even a wooden shelf and lastly a king-sized bed frame. All the three others struggled with the last one.


    "Alright Eian reinforce it with stone grooves on the floor to hold it in place." Sarah.


    "Of course... At once your highness. Oh yeah and I told you so." Eian quipped, he was not having fun.


    It took about an hour for Eian to fully reinforce the door till he was happy. Sarah and Alex had blocked the few windows as well. Those windows were small and pretty high up so they didn''t expect anything could get in easily anyways.


    "Nobody select anything yet. Let''s go upstairs." Sarah.


    Everyone checked their tattoos, upstairs.


    "I selected Mind again and it stopped blinnking." Jessica.


    "What number does Mind show?" Sarah


    "Seven, Mind''s glowing now though." Jessica.


    "You just hit your bottleneck." Sarah.


    "Cool. By the way good job out there Jess you were amazing." Alex.


    "How high does it have to be till she develops one of those cool mutant abilities?" Eian.


    "I don''t know, but the dragon said humans can have one, so at most it be must be ten." Sarah.


    "I hope it''s Teleportation." Jessica sounded desperate.


    "Same." Eian.


    "Don''t get your hopes up, there are at least like six or seven abilities." Sarah.


    "Don''t worry Jess. We won''t blame you if it''s not." Alex.


    The room went silent.


    "Mine isn''t blinking. I haven''t been killing alot apart from these thirteen I got just now." Sarah.


    "Mine''s blinking though, might as well." Eian, was ready to get it over with.


    "Mine too, there were alot of those things out there." Alex


    "Wait Eian, ask your guide about Qi energy, also don''t forget we''ll be here till morning, both of you try to get something useful out of your guides." Sarah.


    "Huh? Okay." Eian.


    "Roger." Alex.


    Appearently downing a partial horde had done wonders for them. Sarah had spied outside from upstairs and the large zombie-monster-thing wasn''t dead.


    ''I hope this goes better, than last time.'' Eian sighed


    Eian selected spirit again.


    ******


    Eian was once more at the smithy, high up on mountain-side. Ul, the armored dwarf, was waiting patiently. Eian glared at him a bit. He still hadn''t forgiven him for sticking him in the stone for hours.


    "Oy. Oy. Stop a''fore ye end in der ''gain." Ul said with a different accent, pointing at the floor.


    "...sorry..." Eian looked away from the dwarf, he didn''t want a repeat.


    "S''right boy. Good. Good. Learn to pick your fights wisely. Sand can''t break steel, ''n yer neen close to c''pair yer self te me." Ul changed his accent randomly.


    "....How strong are you anyways." Eian almost said he didn''t look too strong.


    "HAHAHA! Ye be a''fore Ul''Falar Worm-slayer boy. I''m much stronger than I look." Ul.


    "....Worm-slayer? How big were the worms?" Eian was beginning to question Ul''s credentials.


    "BIG? WERE?! BOY IT WAS A WORM! A WORM! AS IN A HUGE FIRE-BREATH-IN WORM!" Ul looked at Eian incredulously and had his arms outstretched out to the heavens.


    "So...you killed one big worm?" Eian had problems picturing that.


    -''A big worm that breathes fire?'' Eian thought confused at why the dwarf would brag about that.


    ".........Ye daft?" Ul.


    "What?" Eian was begining to lose track of the conversation.


    ".....I killed a bloody fire dragon. What ye expected me te kill a god? That it? They ask me te make stuff. Can''t be killin clients. Bad for business." Ul.


    "A dragon! You said worm!" Eian.


    ''Wait did he just say he works for gods?'' Eian thought even more impressed, his eyebrow rose dramatically.


    "PAH! What they be teaching young-ins. Worm. Wyrm. Dragon. Same thing." Ul.


    "A worm is not a dragon!" Eian.


    "Yes it is. Anyways. Let''s begin." Ul motioned a hand.


    "Wait! Wait! I have time, can you tell me something?" Eian lifted his arms placatingly.


    "Time? I already told ye. It''ll be another trip before yer rock-armor." Ul.


    "I wanted to ask about Qi. Sarah''s guide mentioned it." Eian.


    "Oh? Qi? Ye can''t use it yet. Also your body can''t support more Body infusions till at least another day if you eat A-L-O-T." Ul.


    "When can I start using it?" Eian.


    ".....Ye form a Qi core at seven, but you can''t do anything much with it till after." Ul.


    "Okay and can you teach me then?" Eian.


    "Yeah. I''ll guide ye steady. Relax. Rock-armor first though. It''s a good ability and Qi won''t help you much without alot of practice." Ul.


    "What will I get this time again?" Eian.


    "...Ye''ll be able to mentally control some stone, not alot though Earths hard and doesn''t like te move." Ul.


    "Okay I''m ready I guess." Eian.


    "Right. Ye got time? How much?" Ul gave Eian a pensive look.


    "Yeah couple hours at least. What do I do?" Eian.


    "Take a stance. Do like me." Ul, got up and took a bare-handed fighting stance, two-feet parted and two closed fists spread apart.


    "?? What?" Eian.


    "I told ye. I''ll teach ye to use what you have to the best. Spirit''s not much fer fightin yet, but if yer safe I can give ye some experience." Ul.


    "Okay.... What do I fight with?" Eian.


    "Hands. What else?" Ul.


    "Can''t I use a sword? I have a two-handed sword." Eian.


    "Ye can lose a sword, can''t lose your hands. If ye do, yer buggered." Ul.


    "You''re fully armored! you can''t expect me to fight you." Eian wasn''t wearing any armor here.


    "I don''t have me helm. Ye expect a fight te be fair? Might as well jump off this here cliff." Ul.


    "Theres a limit! Thats suicide!" Eian.


    "To three. One....Two...." Ul began counting.


    "Wait wait!!" Eian backed away.


    Ul shot foward and a guantlent punch caught Eian on his balls. Eian fell face first laying flat on the ground.


    "UHHHH!!!! UHGGHH......" Eian was on the floor holding his crotch in pain, mouth agape.


    "Next time I''ll crack em good. Get up." Ul.


    "UHHHHHHH..." Eian was tearing up from pain.


    It took a good two minutes till he mentally recovered.


    "FUCK! YOU!" Eian.


    "If ye don''t fight I''ll give ye another. Told ye boy this is a hard path don''t waste our time." Ul.


    "You''ll make me sterile asshole!" Eian.


    "SHET IT! Nothing in here can affect ye, if I don''t want it te. Hurry!" Ul.


    "THAT DOESN"T MATTER!! IT FUCKING HURTS!" Eian.


    Ul shot foward and Eian instinctively protected his crotch. Ul clogged his face hard. He went skipping on bare-stone, leaving skin behind on the floor as he went skidding across it.


    "Hurry and hit me." Ul.


    "AHH!!!AHH!.." Eian held his shin which had been scrapped raw, his jaw was probably dislocated or probably broken, it felt numb.


    Eian lay on the ground and he saw Ul approaching. He struggled and got up favoring one leg. Ul shot foward and Eian punched hard randomly in his direction. A black-metal brace caught it. CRACK!


    "AHH!!!" Eian clutched his hand.


    "Good thats the spirit. HA! No pun intended. HAHAHA!" Ul held his belly as he laughed.


    Ul snapped his fingers and the pain melted from Eian. One second everything hurt. The next he was all better.


    "WAIT PLEASE! GIVE ME A SECOND." Eian wasn''t ready.


    "Okay." Ul.


    Eian felt relief.


    "One." Ul.


    "What?" Eian.


    Ul shot foward and kicked his legs under him sending him to the floor. Eian scrambled up at another warning from Ul and swung another fist cautiously at Ul. Ul grabbed his wrist.


    "Lousy stance, lousy punch." Ul.


    "YOU BROKE MY HAND LAST TIME!" Eian.


    "So? Ye never gonna throw another punch cuz of an imaginary broken hand?" Ul.


    "URGHH!!!" Eian grit his teeth angry.


    "Like me follow." Ul took a stance.


    Eian quickly imitated the stance, anything that wasn''t pain was better than before.


    "No no. Yer legs are too close, bad." Ul corrected his stance.


    "....." Eian was sweating from worry.


    "Now try these." Ul.


    Ul showed him a series of different punches: Upper-cuts, jabs, cross''s, overhand''s, hook''s, chops, double punches. He also showed him different parrys and blocks.


    "Now punch these. Relax it''s packed sand." Ul.


    Ul tapped the floor and a sandish replica of a man appeared.


    "Here here here and here. That''s where you want to hit. We''ll move unto genric-beast-bodies after I deem humans adequate. I''ll do a call for something and you follow. Then I''ll show you a few kicks to mix er up. Then I''ll teach ye about center of gravity." Ul.


    -''Fuck...'' Eian shut his eyes tight.

 Dream 34

    Alex blinked. He was once more within Vita. That was definately a weird thing to be thinking.


    "Hello? Miss Vita are you here?" Alex quickly remembered the tree was Vita.


    "Yes!!!" Vita.


    Alex, turned and this time ''she'' was there.


    "Hihi!!!" Vita.


    "Hello." Alex smiled she sure was full of energy.


    "Sorry about last time!" Vita apologized and had her hands as if praying.


    "Huh?" Alex.


    "I was supposed to give you a lesson and I forgot. Hehe." Vita''s body actually looked flustered.


    "Oh. Roger. Can I still take it?" Alex.


    "OF COURSE!" Vita.


    "So what is it?" Alex.


    "That lesson was for armor problems." Vita.


    "Armor problems?" Alex.


    "Yes I don''t know if you''ve tested your bolt yet, but it has to be made right." Vita looked completely red.


    "What exactly is the problem?" Alex remembered Sarah''s fire-ball did the same.


    "The problem is it will bounce off friendly armor." Vita.


    "....Roger. How do i fix that?" Alex.


    "It''s the proper application of your bolt. Life is a very flexible element similar to air. Form it to be like mist, don''t make it solid. When it collides unto someone it will flow through to find life and heal regardless, it can''t sense undead though." Vita.


    "Does fire work the same?" Alex, he thought of Sarah''s fire-ball problem.


    "Um.. I''m not sure. I''ve never liked fire." Vita was nervously scaning around.


    "Alright thank-you for the advice." Alex was glad he hadn''t had to use bolt on Eian yet.


    "He-he might as well get the next power out of the way." Vita


    "Roger! What is it?" Alex.


    "A life-link." Vita.


    "Life-link?" Alex.


    "Yes. You have become strong enough to create a life link. Any of the healing benifits you''ve acumilated can be transmitted to someone through the link." Vita.


    "What''s the difference?" Alex.


    "The difference is once the link is established you can heal someone from a long distance, you''ll also be aware of their well-being." Vita.


    "Oh that''s amazing!" Alex, thought that could be very useful, usually he had to be very close to heal someone.


    "Yes. Now a life-link can only be established with a single person at a time." Vita.


    "Oh." Alex, that was a bigger limit than he would have liked.


    "Don''t worry! You''ll get the power to affect more soon! That will let you heal more people from far! At the end of your path your link-link can prevent death, as long as your spirit holds out." Vita.


    "......." Alex''s jaw dropped.


    "I know! It''s amazing!" Vita smiled.


    "What about ressurection?!" Alex.


    "That...is possible, but you''ll have to surpass your racial limits. That''s for later sorry." Vita.


    "It''s good to know that at least it''s possible." Alex smiled.


    "That will be for my sister teach you." Vita acutally looked a little sad at first.


    "Don''t worry you will forever be my first ever." Alex teased playfully, hoping to cheer her up.


    "HAHHAHAHAHugguh..." Vita laughed hard, bent foward and actually snorted.


    "Heh. You took that a little far Miss Vita." Alex was only joking.


    "Just call me Vita. I''d like that. Wanna be my friend?" Vita smiled shyly.


    "Sure." Alex stretched out his hand for a handshake.


    Vita stared at his hand and cocked her head.


    "What? Do you want the symbol already?" Vita asked hurt.


    "What? No. Usually we hold hands and shake it as a gesture." Alex.


    "OH!" Vita quickly grabbed his hand with both of hers and shook vigourously.


    "So....I promised to answer a few more questions you have." Alex.


    "YES!!! HAHAAHA! YOU''RE THE BEST!" Vita hugged him.


    "....A little space?" Alex felt distinctly uncomfortable with huge boobs pressed on his chest.


    "Yes!." Vita backed away.


    Alex spent a while answering her questions. A good while later Vita presented him another symbol. An circular pendant depicting two seperate circles inter-linked by a knot. Alex drew power from the image and returned.


    *****


    Alex felt a viney meta-physical feeling growing within him. Blinking Alex came to.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Oh? One comes awake?" ominous male voice.


    "What?!" Alex spooked and scrambled backwards.


    "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Jessica.


    "Alex! Get back here!" Sarah.


    Something crashed into Alex''s chest-plate, on the rib area, with prodigous strenght sending him sideways. The hit emitted a screeching sound as it passed over his armor. Alex saw a flash of white and heard screaming, it was difficult to see through the visor slits. When Alex gathered himself, he saw Jessica tearfully clutching her bleeding right arm. Sarah was sending a steady stream of intense white-fire upon a figure on the floor that was howling, it had a long-spear lodged on its side. It crumbled to ash and the spear-shaft crumbled as well.


    "JESS!?" Alex ran over to her, he began healing the wounds and saw what looked like vicious claw tears on her flesh.


    "..snf..it...hurts....snf....alot." Jess was in tears from in pain.


    "Shh.......I got this." Alex was busy focusing on mending the horrible gashes, appearently she was even slightly singed from Sarah''s fire as well.


    "We''re... we''re not safe here." Sarah.


    "What happened?! Where did that thing come from." Alex didn''t even get a good look.


    "It came from upstairs. Said we were noisy and looked delicious." Sarah motioned towards the third floor.


    "It was a vampire!" Jessica said a little loudly, freaking out.


    "Are there more?!" Alex was worried.


    "Quiet! Both of you!" Sarah scolded as low as she could.


    "R...roger." Alex.


    "hic...okay..." Jessica.


    "The city is probably infested with them. Alex. Let''s check upstairs for anymore. Jess stay here and watch Eian." Sarah.


    Alex led the way and Sarah held a white-fire-ball above her staff, which pervaded unbearable heat. Alex checked the area and saw there was a large bedroom. The bed was easily large enough for five people, but nothing or no-one was on it. They checked the area carefully, every nook and cranny. A large bathroom, a sitting area, and what he thought was a kitchen. They found nothing.


    "Let''s go down and check on the others." Srah.


    "Roger." Alex didn''t want to leave them alone any longer than was comfortable.


    They went down. Jess looked frightened.


    "Is everything okay?" Jess.


    "Eian''s still down." Sarah was looking through a small window.


    "Yeah Jess, nothing else was up there." Alex.


    "We should have checked the entire house. I thought since there was a bed-fame on the first floor there couldn''t be anything else here." Sarah.


    "Why is the city so run down if there are these things live here?" Alex.


    "I don''t know." Sarah.


    "Will we be alright?" Jessica.


    "I don''t know. Let''s go upstairs and Alex take Eian." Sarah was still looking through the window.


    "Roger." Alex


    "O...okay." Jessica.


    Alex dragged Eian up, it took a significant amount of effort with the armor and his new weight.


    "We are in trouble." Sarah.


    "I know." Alex.


    "Yes.. Sar....." Jessica.


    "No. I mean I saw alot more of those things out there." Sarah.


    "What?!" Jessica let out a yelp.


    "Sh!.... Yes they were flying and had some wings growing out of their backs." Sarah.


    "Y..you don''t think they''ll come here right?" Alex.


    "None were walking on the floor, zombies and those fat...things were the only thing I saw on the floor. They might not spot the boarded up door." Sarah.


    "We should have listened to Eian!" Jess.


    "....Yeah." Alex had to give the point.


    ".....*sigh*..... Just don''t tell him that. I can''t imagine what it will do to his head." Sarah.


    "Pft..... probably bloat it." Jess rolled her eyes, Alex was glad she was handling this better.


    "Nah he''s pretty cool." Alex.


    "He''s always angry..." Jess.


    "I can''t blame him. This is a pretty bad situation you know." Alex.


    "...I....suppose..." Jess.


    Silence descended and Alex saw Sarah fiddling with the leather on her right arm.


    "My tatoo''s glowing be right back." Sarah.


    "Roger, don''t take long." Alex.


    "I won''t." Sarah.


    Alex saw her select something.


    ******


    Sarah blinked and was in the vast mountain range again.


    "Hello my little Sarah. How are you?" Adara purred.


    "Ah!" Sarah forgot to close her eyes and the sight of Adara quickly sent heated up her body.


    Adara was right beside her and was caressing her sides. Sarah breathed in quickly and attempted to focus. She felt the danger she felt outside helped her. She closed her eyes.


    "Oh? What has you so worked up little Sarah?" Adara.


    "I''m sorry. I''m in a city with monsters and a vampire just tried to eat me." Sarah.


    "Oh dear! No wonder. Are you in any immediate danger?" Adara.


    "I believe so. Many vampires are flying over-head." Sarah.


    "Vampires are nocturnal. Find somewhere to hide out the night, but they burn easily. Come let us get you prepared." Adara.


    "Thank-you." Sarah.


    "Your safety is paramount." Adara.


    Sarah followed Adara as she led her to face the sun.


    "You have mastered simple flames by now. Every step higher will still make you more powerful, but the next ability is the ability to re-enegize off the sun." Adara.


    "Off fire?" Sarah.


    "No. Only the sun or extreme flames. The heat will reinvigorate your spiritual and bodily recovery." Adara.


    "Ah! Spirit recovery?" Sarah asked excited.


    "Yes your body will recover stamina as well and your mind will clear." Adara.


    "That is amazing." Sarah.


    "Yes fire is powerful. Sit cross-legged." Adara was extremely smug.


    Sarah sat.


    "Close your eyes. Open your fire-sense to the sun." Adara.


    She did, it was powerful even from afar.


    "Draw it''s power to you." Adara.


    She felt it''s power, all around her. Suffucating, invigorating, tingling upon her face. She commanded it to come to her. It came and even she felt it''s intesity.

 Dream 35

    Eian felt a metaled fist crash unto his face, his neck cracked. He felt wind on his face, stone on his legs, pain everywhere.


    "Ughh..." Eian.


    Incoherent words.


    ''Wait! What was I doing?'' Eian thought drunkenly.


    Everything snapped back into place, the pain and dizziness melted away.


    "What?!" Eian.


    "Hmmm... too much strenght that time looks like." Ul.


    "AGAIN!" Eian.


    ''That must have been like the hundreth time.'' Eian thought silently cursing.


    "Meh stop being a sissy." Ul.


    "I AM NOT A SISSY! I SWEAR YOU BROKE MY NECK!" Eian.


    "Ain''t matter if I did. Can''t die in here, s''long as I den''t want ye te." Ul.


    "How long have I been in here anyways?" Eian.


    " ''bout nine days. Every min'' be half sec, hour''s ''bout half min'', and three days s''bout forty min''s. Sun ain''t changin, so hard te tell exact." Ul.


    "FUCK!" Eian.


    "HAHA! fer de last time boyo. Noooooo. Ain''t ma type! HA!" Ul''s aggravating laugh spilled forth.


    Eian got up and resumed a stance. He hadn''t landed a single hit, which was extremly depressing, but he was determined to try.


    He did a a jab which painfully cracked against a metal brace. He moved closer, that was safer, farther out a blow accumilates power. Uls blow caught his stomach, but it had not yet built enough momentum to hurt, much. Eian pushed against the blow and swung again at Ul''s face. Ul ducked and suddenly he felt his balance go out from under him. He landed hard on the ground.


    "Fuck!" Eian.


    "NOPE!" Ul.


    They kept at it for hours. Intermingled with moving stone golems of various monsters and people. Ul had a sadistic tendency to make it more than one.


    "R''Lax boy. Times almost up." Ul.


    "What?" Eian.


    "The power begins growing after selection. Can only stay here till it''s done, lessons make ye able to use th power proper." Ul.


    "So.....? I''ve been here as long as I can?" Eian could postrate himself on the floor and thank the gods.


    "Yep. I''d like a few years with ye te make ye battle ready, but time never gives." Ul.


    "Years?!" Eian thought he would faint.


    "What ye can''t be a master in a few days." Ul.


    ".....*sigh*..." Eian.


    "Den''t worry kid. I like ye find me in real life someday. I''ll make ye stronger than ye can imagine." Ul.


    "I''m not sure the pain''s worth it." Eian grumbled.


    Ul stood still and silent, watching him sternly.


    "It''s always worth it. Trust me." Ul looked away.


    "What?" Eian.


    Ul took a moment to be quiet even though Eian kept asking.


    "Ye. Got people ye want safe kid?" Ul looked at him again more serious than Eian had ever seen him.


    "Umm.. Yes obviously." Eian.


    "What would ye do te keep ''em safe? Don''t say die cuz that''s stupid." Ul.


    "Anything i guess." Eian.


    "Ye guess eh? WELL I GUESS, when yer lass gets eat, and yet family b'' dyin'' that''s what ye''ll say? ''Annnnyyyytiiinnnn. I GUESS!'' " Ul said the last part sarcastically.


    ".....I don''t have a lass." Eian didn''t know what else to say to the dwarfs outburst.


    "....*sigh*.... look kid get stronger ye''ll need it. Ye''ll thank me fer it later. Here." Ul.


    Ul tossed Eian a large piece of rock.


    "Huh?" Eian.


    "Be ready next time, as well. Take it till yer safe." Ul.


    "....okay?" Eian.


    "Focus on the rock. Close yer eyes." Ul sighed.


    Eian focused on the rock.


    "C-l-o-s-e  y-e-r  e-y-e-s." Ul.


    Eian closed his eyes.


    "Open yer true eyes. Eye''s o earth." Ul.


    Eian felt something meta-physical open on his forehead.


    ''No....it''s not a rock.... it''s a part. Part of a whole.'' Eian thought.


    He felt it. Saw it. Stretching below him, behind him on the mountain, even far far above him, planets away. Even within him, and something, somewhere else, not here and not in a sense of distance. He felt in somewhere strange, a place distant yet close. Earth. Rock, stone, mineral, solid, strong and alive.


    "Will it te move." Ul.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    He did.


    *****


    Eian blinked and opened his eyes. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the visor. He was not where he remembered being. Eian mentally sighed, they were always doing that. The others were keeping watch through the windows.


    "What happened?" Eian.


    "Vampire, man." Alex.


    "Enjoy your nap?" Jessica asked playful.


    "Awake?" Sarah.


    "Vampire?!" Eian.


    "Shh! There are more outside flying." Sarah.


    "You told me to take my time, so I did. How long was I out?" Eian.


    "Close to three hours." Sarah.


    "That was fucking hell." Eian couldn''t express the pain he had just gone through.


    "Well the sun probably won''t come out untill at least another five hours, probably more." Sarah.


    "What do we do now?" Eian.


    "Eat man. We left you some meat." Alex.


    "Thanks man." Eian mentally cringed Alex''s manner of speech was rubbing off.


    Eian removed his helmet and ate what remained of the turtle meat.


    "Have Alex heal you in-case it''s infected with zombie." Sarah.


    "Ughhh...Thanks for that..." Eian.


    "Welcome." Sarah smirked, seems his sarcasm was rubbing off on her too.


    Silence reigned.


    "Anyways Eian man. What do you usually do with free time?" Alex.


    "Mmmmmmm?... Tv I guess or surf videos online." Eian.


    "Tv man?" Alex.


    "Yeah. I don''t know if you''ve noticed, but I''m not exactly well-off." Eian.


    "Oh no man, thats cool. I usually run a bit or play soccer sometimes." Alex.


    "Football." Eian.


    "What?" Alex.


    "It''s actually football." Eian.


    "What do you mean?" Alex.


    "You use a round ball?" Eian.


    "Yeah that''s a soccer ball." Alex said smiling.


    "That''s not what it is to the rest of the world." Eian.


    They kept on discussing football vrs soccer for a while.


    "Are you boys still talking about that?" Jessica.


    "I''m telling you it''s football." Eian.


    "No-one cares Eian. It''s soccer in Canada as well." Sarah said smiling.


    "See?" Alex smiled.


    "Who cares? We''re not in Canada or America at the moment." Eian was still bummed out about that.


    "Stop thinking like that man. We''ll get out." Alex.


    "I agree. Normally I''d prefer thinking the worst, but we have to keep hoping to get out or we''re stuck." Sarah.


    Everyone was quiet again.


    "So are you studying Alex?" Jessica.


    "Yeah. Got a year and a half to go. You?" Alex.


    "Yes. I''m studying Business-management. How ''bout you Sarah?" Jess.


    "......Journalism...." Sarah.


    -''Huh thought for sure she would be studying science.'' Eian.


    "How ''bout you Eian?" Alex.


    Everyone turned to look at him.


    ".......Working." Eian.


    "As?" Jessica.


    "............" Eian.


    "Jess I think that might be a little rude." Alex.


    "It doesn''t really matter. I''m just saving for college right now." Eian.


    "What do you want to study?" Sarah.


    "Don''t know. I just want something good, so I can help my mom." Eian.


    "OH!" Sarah seemed to understand something.


    "Oh? That''s cool man. So what''s your mom like?" Alex quickly changed the subject.


    "Alex." Sarah was doing a weird wave-thing.


    "...ahh....I don''t know......she''s just a cool mom I guess?" Eian figeted.


    "Hmmm......So what does she do?" Jess.


    "Jess!" Sarah whispered and did a funny wave with her hands again.


    "...Ummm.....she cooks......at a restaurant. SO! What do your parents do Alex?" Eian.


    Eian thought he saw Alex''s eyes darken, but it quickly disappeared.


    "My father''s a surgeon and my mother''s a dentist." Alex.


    "Oh. That''s pretty cool. They good?" Eian.


    "I''m not really sure. I''ve never been to their work-place." Alex looked different than usual.


    "You okay Alex?" Jess.


    "Yeah, sorry. My parents and I aren''t close, sorry." Alex.


    "No, no, I understand completely dude, sorry............Sarah how ''bout you." Eian felt his foot somehow ended up in his mouth.


    "Dad does logging and mom stays home." Sarah.


    "Cool." Alex smiled.


    "My dad''s a CEO of his company and my mom is a stock investor." Jess sounded proud.


    "Rich girl. Congrats." Eian said dryly, remembering stuff.


    "The hell man, what''s up?" Alex visibly distrubed.


    "Nothing." Eian didn''t want to talk about it.


    "Leave him alone Alex, he''s just a jerk!" Jess, Sarah shushed her.


    "What''s wrong, Eian?" Sarah.


    "Nothing. I congradulated her for being rich, how''s that bad? Half the world would want to be like her." Eian.


    "You were being sarcastic man. That''s a dick move, it''s not her fault her parents have money." Alex scolded.


    "He''s right Eian, we''ve been through alot. We should try to get along at least." Sarah.


    "....*sigh*.... Alright look I''m sorry. I have bad experiences with rich people. Okay?" Eian rubbed his face, that was as close to the truth as he was willing to go for now.


    "How is that my fault!" Jess,.


    "SHHH!" Sarah.


    "It''s not... I''m sorry okay." Eian kept rubbing his face.


    "Calm down Jess, he already apologized. The two of you have to let this go though, we''re a team." Alex.


    "As long as he stops being a jerk. Hmf." Jess.


    "I think the both of you poke at each other and make things worse. You both act like rowdy children. I would know." Sarah.


    "I didn''t start it!" Jess.


    "Shh! Don''t forget where we are." Sarah scolded.


    "Geez I said I was sorry. What do you want me to do?" Eian.


    "I want you to stop being a jerk!" Jessic almost whispered.


    "Fine! Sorry!" Eian whispered.


    Everyone was quiet. Time passed and with nothing to do, Eian was bummed out remembering shit.


    "So you got any hobbies Jess?" Alex.


    "Shopping counts?" Jess looked embarrased.


    "Yeah. What do you usually shop for?" Alex.


    "I love collecting purses, sandals, perfumes, comfortable dresses. I like things that are practical, but fashionable. I like going to new places too, excpet here, this place is terrible." Jess chatted away.


    Eian ignored their rambling.


    -''I wish I could sleep.'' Eian thought.


    He remembered ther training Ul had given him. It wasn''t much, but he had time. He had removed his armor, it was in the way.


    "I''ll be downstairs guys." Eian.


    "What?" Alex.


    "Where are you going to do?" Sarah.


    "I''ll just be practicing my magic, I''m bored and want some space." Eian.


    "But..........alright............just don''t make noise." Sarah seemed reluctant.


    "Hey, are you okay man?" Alex.


    "Yeah yeah. Don''t worry I''m really just bored." Eian.


    "Be safe man." Alex.


    "Thanks. You guys too." Eian.


    Eian went to the second floor and took up the stance Ul taught him. He trained how Ul told him. Visualize. IT was VERY hard, especially since he was just working with mental-shadows.

 Dream 36

    "Are you sure they''re gone now?" Jessica.


    "Look''s like." Sarah


    "The sun is out. I only see skeleton patrols about." Alex.


    "I''m ready." Eian.


    Sarah had suggested they wait till after the first sun dawned, just to be safe. The second sun had already risen. It was more cloudy today than the day before however, occasionally blocking direct sunlight.


    "YES!" Jessica.


    "Shhh! We don''t know if they can still hear us. We don''t know if the vampires even burn in the sun." Sarah.


    "Right day-walkers." Eian.


    "Relax Sarah we''ve been stuck here all night let''s go." Alex was anxious to get out, sitting still was never his forte.


    They descended to the ground level. Alex watched as Eian easily tore the stone grooves holding the wooden furniture down. Eian easily moved the furniture away. Alex felt he was actually less helpful in the moving part, those things were a bit heavy.


    "LIGHT! BLESSED LIGHT!" Eian exaggerated, not too loudly.


    "Lets go. I want out of this hell." Jess said and Alex agreed.


    "Next time I won''t stop at I told you guys so." Eian smirked.


    "UGH." Jess rolled her eyes.


    Alex was his friend had de-stressed and was back to his funny mood. He had gone to check on him at night and had seen him practicing something like a wild unrefined martial art. He hadn''t known Eian practiced, his physic before was anything but fit, and average at best. They were both clad in their full-knightly armor again. Alex had the mark of four-claws on his chestplate, they had sunk almost a centimeter deep through the metal. Alex felt bad Jessica got hurt from those claws and had made sure he healed it properly and disinfected it at least thrice.


    They got of of the house and the first thing they saw were the zombie bones from the night before had been picked clean. Eian managed to recover his shield, but his spear-axe had gotten lost as the fat-stitched zombie had run away with it. Alex gave him his spear-axe, Eian seemed fond of them, to which Eian smiled and thanked him.


    They kept walking and encountered a sinlgle patrol of five un-armored skeleton-guards on the main-street, which led to a gate-exit. They dispatched them easily and had to stay behind and use her long-sword since the spear had burnt. Alex got two kills, Eian got two and Jessica was given one. One of the skeletons had a spear-axe which Alex quickly grabbed to replace the one he had given away. They soon neared the gate to the city, they stood a distance away.


    "I''ll drop them from here. Be ready for those that stay up." Sarah.


    "I can help. I got a bolt that kills undead." Alex.


    "Good. Even better, try aiming where they are clustered. That way you won''t miss." Sarah.


    "Roger." Alex.


    There were twenty guard-skeletons, not fully armored, but most held shields with weapons. A handful held long-spears. Sarah bombarded the enemies from afar, they were so tightly packed her powerful white fire-balls actually sent two flying backwards sometimes. Her flames created an explosive effect at contact now, they went flying backwards like bowling pins. Alex, was definately impressed and was bombarding some mist-bolts as well.


    It was strange summoning those misty bolts, they felt like holiding compacted air. He had trouble getting the density right and made a few too hard. Together they managed to drop or kill a quarter of their number by the time they reached them. Alex was sure he managed to kill at least three, but the mist must have weakened some others as well.


    "Go boys! There are few enough!" Sarah.


    Alex then charged together with Eian. Alex blocked a swing from one, parried another and shield-tackled the one to his left. With one staggered Alex managed to stab the other in the skull. He quickly chopped off the arm of the formerly staggered enemy and then stabbed it''s skull.


    It reminded Alex again of sinking his sword into a jelly like substance. The black-smoke dripped through the opening in the skull like blood and it crumbled in a heap of bones. Turning he noticed Eian had already killed his three.


    "Kill the ones that are getting up!" Sarah.


    They dispatched the ones on the floor easily, even Jess killed about three. In total it seemed Alex killed seven counting the ones that died from his bolts, Eian six, Jess three and Sarah killed four. The blasts from the fireballs actually broke a few skeletons to death and she set them aflame just incase. Jessica took two long-spears with straps from the assemble of skeletons


    "Finally! We can get out!" Jessica.


    "Calm down Jess it''s just forest out there." Alex smiled.


    "Anywhere is better than a vampire-infested city!" Jessica.


    "Let''s hurry." Sarah.


    "Yeah. I want to find some water and maybe bathe. These things are hot." Eian referred to the armor.


    "Yea man these things are unbearable." Alex was still aware he was sweating alot in the armor.


    "Yeusss." Jessica wasn''t wearing much armor, but at least the girls felt some of the heat.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings."That could be dangerous." Sarah.


    They left the city and quickly realized that although the city was bad, outside was dense forest.


    "Alex, Eian cut a path through the grass with your blades lets go." Sarah.


    Alex used his sword as a machete and Eian used his like a regular axe. The going wasn''t all that bad Alex realized, not all the area was full of grass. Trees stretched everywhere and Sarah made them mark certain trees to ensure they didn''t get completely lost.


    "Keep a look out for water and food." Sarah.


    "Yeah sure thing." Eian.


    "Roger boss." Alex smiled.


    They kept going and Alex kept hearing bird chirping and the occasional howl.


    "What do you think those things are?" Jessica sounded nervous.


    "Could be wolves, maybe coyotes? I don''t know the different howls." Sarah.


    "Are we in danger?" Jessica.


    "Maybe, but where else are we supposed to go? The city wasn''t safe and I don''t know if it had alot of water." Sarah.


    "Place had too much fucking monsters too." Eian.


    "Yeah man." Alex.


    They kept going and soon Sarah mentioned she heard running water. She reminded them again that water attracts animals. They approached slowly and soon Alex saw it. A large stream was flowing through the forest.


    "YES!" Jess, Alex smiled at her cheer.


    "AWOOOOOOOO!!!" Howls.


    "SHIT!" Eian.


    "AAHHHHH!" Jessica.


    "WOLVES!" Sarah.


    Alex had heard the howls immediately to the right of them. Several large-dire-wolves darted towards them and Eian was tackled by one instantly. Alex heard the scuffle occurring on the ground! Alex saw Sarah shoot white-flames through her staff at the wolves.


    Another wolf was running to Alex and he attempted to block with his shield and stabbed at it with the sword. The impact sent Alex to the ground though he felt his sword caught something, eliciting a pained howl. He kicked at the wolf and felt it retreat slightly. He felt teeth attempting to bite through his armor and Alex stabbed his sword blindly in that direction. He penetrated something again and heard a pained yelp, the teeth let go and the weight lifted.


    Alex sat up quickly and scanned the area. There was a dead wolf on the ground near Eian. Eian was swinging at another keeping it at bay. Sarah had charred another wolf to crisp. His wolf was nearby eyes him and Alex pointed his sword at it.


    Alex kept hearing howls and yelps from around him. The wolf leapt at him and Alex stabbed at it''s face while sitting. He felt the impact land and the beast''s weight plowed into him. It stopped moving, Alex threw it''s weight off himself. Looking around for Jess, he spotted her stabbing a burning dead wolf on the head. Eian had killed another wolf and Sarah had set part of the forest on fire. The last wolf ran away from Eian''s swings.


    "Fuck." Eian.


    "Is everyone alright?" Alex.


    "Yes. It seems so." Sarah.


    "I HATE this world!" Jessica.


    "Well. At least we have break-fast." Alex tried to instill good cheer.


    "Better them, than us." Eian was sarcastic.


    "Eian try to skin them, we need the furs for bags. Alex, Jess, help me put out that fire. Animals keep away from smoke, but we don''t want to suffocate as well." Sarah explained.


    "Roger on it." Alex.


    They managed to stop the fire from spreading after about thirty minutes. Sarah could control the flames from not spreading and Alex cut away the surrounding shrubs with Jessicas help. They left a tree burning, Sarah claimed animals shouldn''t come near smoke.


    "This is impossible." Eian.


    "What?" Alex.


    "The skins so tough and the knife slips alot." Eian.


    "It also stinks alot." Jessica.


    "It''s slow as well." Sarah.


    "Well do you want to try! This thing is big and hard." Eian was clearly frustrated.


    "Just cut out chunks of meat. I don''t even know if that''s smart. Something could come hunting for the smell of blood." Sarah.


    "Great. Bloody great." Eian.


    Eian had cut bloody chunks of meat and Sarah quickly cooked them. Eian kept stubbornly trying to skin the wolf afterwards. They drank from the stream, it was only knee deep and they could see everything nearby.


    "I want to bathe. I''m filthy and we smell terrible." Jessica.


    "I agree, but there are animals that could attack us nearby." Sarah.


    "Just...Have the boys stay near and you watch over me. PLEASE! We could take turns." Jessica begged.


    "......Fine, be on the alert for movement and keep a weapon on you." Sarah.


    "Don''t forget I''ll want a turn too." Eian.


    "Me too." Alex was keenly aware of how caked in dirt and sweat he was.


    "Yes, just realize without soap it''s only going to take the filth off, not the smell." Sarah


    "I''ll take what I can get." Jess.


    "Also be quick I want this over as quickly as possible." Sarah.


    Everyone agreed. Jess went off to change, she mentioned to Sarah her tattoos were glowing again. Sarah was keeping watch on Jess and told them the news and that Jess was one more away from ten, after this. Alex stayed with Eian, while he was still attempting and failing at skinning.


    "What are we doing out here dude?" Eian asked suddenly a while later.


    "What do you mean man?" Alex.


    "I mean what''s the next step. We''re out of the city, but this forest could be the same or worse." Eian.


    "We.....I don''t know man. We''ll talk it over together, after we bathe." Alex.


    "I just want to know the plan dude. We can''t just wander off into the forest and just hope things get better. We need to plan a way to get home." Eian.


    "I know, me too man, but relax my guide assured me we can get out." Alex.


    ".......I don''t even know if we can fully trust them. They''re keeping stuff from us, like how we got here or how these ended up on our arms." Eian pointed at his covered fore-arm.


    "I don''t think my guide is a bad person. I''m sure they''re doing what they can to help us." Alex.


    He couldn''t picture Vita harboring ill intent to him. He might not know her fully, but she seemed genuinely hurt people didn''t like her. She also had an innocent air around her.


    "Jess is done boys! I''m next! Be ready for anything." Sarah called from a little away.


    "Yeah!" Eian responded.


    "Roger." Alex.


    They all took their turn bathing. Sarah kept insisting to be careful, the fire may not necessarily keep animals away. Alex was glad nothing seemed to want to get near, while he was bathing and he felt extremely vulnerable without the armor. Eian kept telling him nothing was around. Soon they were all ready and they sat down near the wold carcasses. Alex and Eian had called a meeting.

 Dream 37

    Jessica looked at her tattoo as they all sat. It marked body two, mind eight which glowed and spirit zero. Soon she would be at mind nine and Sarah said it couldn''t take much longer for the power to happen.


    -''What if it doesn''t though. Maybe I''m different and can''t get a power.'' Jess thought.


    "So? What is this about?" Sarah frowned.


    "Yeah there''s some stuff we should to talk about." Alex licked his lips and looked at Eian, then Jess.


    "I figured that. Well?" Sarah rolled her eyes.


    "We were thinking and talking, while you two were.....busy." Eian looked at Alex, the looked at Sarah straight in the eye.


    "Okay." Sarah tilted her head at Eian.


    "Did you hurt yourself?" Jessica chuckled.


    She couldn''t help but poke at him, he had been a jerk last night.


    "Hah-hah-hah, very funny." Eian.


    "Jessssss." Alex chided.


    ".....right sorry." Jess sighed and looked away from everyone.


    Eian grunted.


    "Anyways, we should plan what we are going to do from now on." Alex nodded.


    "Hmm. That acutally makes sense. We were in a hurry to get out of the city we didn''t think about after." Rasing an eyebrow Sarah seemed a bit impressed.


    "Yeah, also how are we planning to get home?" Eian nodded as well.


    "Not this again. Eian we just have to listen to our guides." Sarah rolled her eyes again.


    "I''m not saying that. I''m saying details!" Eian crossed his arms and frowned.


    "I just want my power to be teleportation." Jess sighed.


    "Yes me too! BUT! We have to be real guys, it''s probably not going to be that." Eian.


    "What are you saying Eian? We don''t know much more about this." With narrow her eyes, Sarah looked at him intently.


    "And that''s the problem! We know nothing!" Eian waved his hands up exasperated.


    "Eian calm down man. You might attract something." Alex took a quik peek around the forest.


    "He''s right, but anyway what exactly are you getting at?" Sarah stared at Eian intently, she wanted to know more.


    "Look our guides keep saying ''Get stronger''. Well that''s been naturally developing well so far. Horah! But we''re just going about hoping that happens by itself." Eian''s voice almost went up in pitch.


    "You''re saying, we should actively be trying to kill things to get stronger?" Sarah rubbed her chin, givng it thought.


    "That... isn''t that really dangerous?" Jessica frowned, before quickly scanned their surroundings.


    "As much as I want yo....us to be safe, Eian does make a good point. We want to go home, well the guides all say we can, but we need more strenght." Alex.


    -''Awww he''s so sweet, unlike some...other people.'' Jessica thought and smiled.


    "Yes Eian, but we need food and water too. Also we need shelter." Sarah.


    "Exactly and where were we going then?" Eian.


    "To find civilization, obviously." While shrugging, Sarah realized he had a point.


    "Yes and we just left a vampire-infested city. Who says this entire world isn''t clock-full of them! What if there aren''t regular people here?" Eian smirked.


    "You''ve thought of this." Sarah frowned at the thought.


    "Duh. I had nothing, but time last night." Eian gave a quick surg and looked away.


    "There can''t not be more people here!" Jessica''s eyes widened at the implication.


    ".....I don''t know. I think he''s on to something." Sarah furrowed her brows, as she watched her.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "I don''t think it matters if there are more people here, Jess. Eian and I agree, the priority is getting back home right?" Alex heldd his hands up at her placatingly.


    "Yes!" Jessica shrilled.


    "What are you both proposing?" Sarah was staring at Eian and then at Alex.


    "CCAAAAAWWWH!" Screeching noises from above.


    SWOOSH! Jessica''s heart almost stopped. She looked up, something had passed overhead.


    "What was that?" Jessica was hysteric.


    "A huge bird, it definately flys, this stupid visor is in the way." Eian was looking up.


    "Birds eat meat right?" Jessica was panicking.


    "Yes! Lets move. NOW!" Sarah.


    Everyone sprung to action.


    "Where are we going?" Eian.


    "Away from here. We can hear what you have to say later." Sarah was grabbing her stuff.


    "Look! We can just fucking hunt during the day!" Eian said as they were quickly moving.


    "Not now Eian!" Sarah.


    SWOOSH! Jessica saw a huge feathered monster the size of an elephant land infront of them. It''s wing-span was enormously large to be able to support all it''s weight.


    "CAWWWWW!" It bared its beak at them.


    "FUCK!" Eian.


    "GET BACK!" Sarah.


    Jessica saw Sarah toss a fire-ball at the monster. Some of it''s feathers quickly caught fire!


    "CAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!" IT roared in pain.


    The creature stood on the two-smaller back-legs, its front-legs were larger and swiped at Eian with one, but he threw himself out of the way. Sarah tossed another fire-ball at it.


    "CAWWW!" It roared and charged Sarah, whom was readying another fire-ball.


    "MOVE!" Alex tackled Sarah out of the way.


    Jessica saw Alex swing at the monster wildly, his sword didn''t bite deep on the beast. It''s beak forcefully bit Alex by the leg and begun to wildly shake him.


    "ALEX!" Jessica grabbed her spear, aimed and threw it at the monster.


    It landed accurrately on it''s shoulder, where wing met front-leg.


    "CAAAAAWWW!!!" It roared and Alex went flying towards a tree as it let go.


    "FUUCCKK! YOU!" Eian yelled and Jessica saw him chopping it''s huge flank.


    She quickly rushed over to Alex, as Eian was figthing the monster. On the way she saw Sarah toss another fire-ball at the burning beast and it caught its left wing. Alex was struggling to get up and Jess quickly helped him. His leg was bleeding badly.


    -''IT BIT THROUGH ARMOR!" Jessica almost cried.


    "Every.. Is...everything okay!?" Jess asked frantic.


    ".....what? OWWWW MY LEG!...." Alex sounded dazed and breathing heavily.


    "SHIT! LET GO!" Eian.


    "STAB IT!" Sarah.


    Jessica turned to look. Sarah tossed another fire-ball at it, half it''s body was mostly on fire now. It had grabbed Eian by the waist with a large clawed hand and was biting down with it''s huge beak on his shield. Jessica leaned Alex against a tree and took her other-spear and tossed it. She saw Eian''s shield bend and Eian was yelling swinging his axe at the monsters face. Jessica saw her spear stab it''s wing, as it attempted to protect itself.


    "CAWWWWWW!!!" IT roared and charged foward holding Eian it''s front clawed-hand.


    "AHH!" Eian was being bashed on the floor as it ran.


    "SHIT!" Sarah.


    "What''s happening!" Alex.


    Sarah tried to jump out of it''s way but it''s wing still hit sending her careening sideways hard! Jessica pulled her long-sword and fought the urge to piss her-self. She saw it heading towards her and froze. She saw Eian move from under it.


    "CAWWWWWWW!!!!!" Monster.


    "TAKE THAT ASSHOLE!" Eian.


    It''s advance halted and it spun. It''s long lion-like tail crashed into her. Through the pain she got a glimpse of Alex leaning on the tree. She felt something hit her head.


    Darkness.


    ******


    Sarah was hurting everywhere. One tackle was all it took and she was this badly hurt. She had lost her staff on impact. Maybe she needed the armor more than Eian. She looked at the beast thrashing wildly.


    "AH! LET GO!" Eian was screaming loudly even as he kept trying to chop the monster.


    Suddenly it braced itself and Sarah felt fear. She scrambled up and attempted to form a fire-ball on her hand quickly. The monster griffin jumped, spread it''s wings and took flight. Sarah aimed and tossed the fire-ball at its figure. It impacted on it''s back but kept going.


    "CAWWWWWHH" Griffin.


    It took Eian with it.


    She saw their figures disappear over the trees.


    "DAMN IT! EIAN!" Sarah.


    She felt like stomping the ground and yellling. She turn to look and saw Alex tending Jessica. He had removed her helmet. She ran over to them.


    "What happened!?" Sarah.


    "It hit her with it''s tail! Jess hit a tree." Alex was breathing heavily.


    "FUCK! IS SHE BREATHING!?" Sarah.


    "Yeah. I''ve set up a life-link too." Alex.


    "What? What?" Jessica woke.


    "A LIFE LINK?" Sarah.


    "Yeah it''s my new power." Alex.


    "ARE YOU HURT!" Sarah took note of his bleeding leg.


    "Yeah my leg''s fucked. Where''s Eian?" Alex fianlly took note.


    "IT TOOK HIM!" Sarah was freaking.


    "WHAT?!" Alex.


    "IT TOOK HIM AND FLEW OFF!" Sarah.


    "WE GOTTA GO AFTER HIM!" Alex.


    "HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO THAT!" Sarah.


    "IT TOOK EIAN?!" Jessica.


    "HEAL YOUR LEG FIRST!" Sarah.


    "HELP ME! GET THE FRAGMENTS OUT THEN. WE GOTTA GO FOR EIAN NOW!" Alex.


    "OH MY GOD! YOUR LEG!" Jessica.


    The injury was bad. The griffin had crushed the leg-plate protecting his calf and mangled the leg. It was difficult taking the parts out.


    "It''s completely numb. Just... just tear them out. I''ll have to heal it after." Alex grit his teeth.


    "Fine. Jess grab that part." Sarah was eyeing it carefully.


    -''This will be tricky.'' Sarah thought.


    "...okay..." Jess.


    "AHHH!!! AGHHH!!" Alex.


    It took a total of ten minutes to tear the metal parts and shards out of the way. Some parts of the armor had deformed and bent inwards crushing some parts of the leg. Alex was breathing heavily and healed it.


    "...*huff* ....*huff*... Where did it take him?" Alex.


    "I saw it go that way." Sarah pointed in the general direction.


    "Are you sure you can walk?" Jess.


    "Yeah. It''s healed properly. Let''s go." Alex.


    "Grab all the weapons you can get, we''ll need them." Sarah had calmed down mostly, freaking out wouldn''t help.


    "Do you think...Do you think he''s still alive?" Jess.


    "It doesn''t matter! We have to at least try." Alex chided her.


    "He''s right." Sarah.


    "So...sorry! I, I just meant to say that thing was huge. It could have eaten him by now." Jess.


    "Don''t say that Jess. We gotta hope he''s okay." Alex.


    "....*sigh*.....You both have a point. Eian skin is hard, maybe he''s still fighting it. It was half on fire too." Sarah didn''t know though, things weren''t looking good.


    "He has to be alive." Alex was ever the optimist.


    She had found her staff lying on the ground. Jessica had her long-sword and had been lucky she hadn''t cut herself on the impact. The griffin had taken both of her new long-spears. Alex had his shield, swords and spear-ax. They set off in the direction the monster took Eian.

 Dream 38

    It was really strange, unique even. Flying through the air with a folded shield around one arm and trying to swing the axe on the other. The griffin was constantly screeching in pain and was now mostly on fire as well. The beast was carrying Eian on one leg and he tried swinging at it''s arm. He looked down, it wasn''t a too long way down, they were perhaps one story over the trees.


    ''Bad idea.'' Eian thought.


    "...caw....caw....ca..." Griffin.


    Eian started feeling they were descending. The griffin had tilted to the right and suddenly they we''re almost free-falling. The griffin''s grip slackened.


    "SHIT! shithshitshit!" Eian wrapped his arms around the griffin''s paw tightly, he had to let go of his axe.


    BAM! BAM! BAM! He had closed his eyes and grit his teeth. Eian felt revertibrations from the beasts body, it sounded like trees breaking. Eian felt a massive impact, his hands couldn''t hold on. He flew off the beast and went skidding painfully across the dirt and forcefully collided on to a tree. He had attempted to curl into a ball mid-flight.


    "Ughhh.....*cough*.....*cough*....." Eian was seeing stars.


    Parts of his armor felt uncomfortable, as if they had bent out of shape and were hindering him now. His everything felt battered and bruised. His shield-arm felt extremely uncomfortable. His chest-plate felt slightly-dented as well.


    He looked at his shield arm. The shield was partly folded around his arm and wasn''t coming off. He tried to pry the shield off, it made the enitre arm useless, as the shield grip prevented him from holding anything. He gave up and simply had to remove the entire guantlet from the elbow down. The impact had miraculously knocked off nothing, he only had his two-handed sword and his mace strapped on.


    ''Well. It could''ve been worse. It could have dropped me in a nest of baby griffins. Or I could have landed on my ass, not sure which would be worse.'' Eian thought.


    "Fuck my life." Eian.


    He took a moment to recover before getting up and going to see the griffin. There it was, dead as can be. It looked like the fire had done it in. He still pulled out his sword and stabbed deep into it''s neck, can''t ever be too sure. Most of it''s body was badly burnt and it''s smell was actually semi-appetizing.


    -''Well I got food till the others get here. Thanks Sarah.'' Eian thought.


    Eian took off his helmet to breathe some fresh air. He inhaled deeply and breathed out, relieved to be alive. He sat down near the beast and leaned on it like a cushion. He had to calm his stomach, which was making him feel green, roller-coaster rides don''t compare. He quickly checked his tatoo to make sure it wasn''t blinking, it wasn''t.


    Without his helmet, Eian could finally hear around him properly, all those insect noises, bird hoots and leaves moving. His vision was also free. He waited perhaps thirty minutes, he heard movement. He quickly strapped on his helmet.


    "Fuck! Can''t catch a break." Eian.


    Getting up he held his two-handed sword at the ready and used the griffins body as a wall, nothing could ambush him that way. He saw wolves. Lots of big dire-wolves, four surrounding him.


    "Damn it." Eian.


    "AWOOO!" The wolves charged.


    The first one to jump, Eian speared the sword through its face, the weight sent him staggering down to a knee. Another wolf impacted him from the side and he held on to his sword for dear life. The wolf tried to bite his leg and sent him to the floor, but the armor held, he kicked it''s face. He felt another wolf try to bite his head off, he swung the sword behind him blindly. He heard a yelp and a set of jaws pulled his feet dragging him foward.


    He swung his sword at the general direction of the jaws on his legs. He felt the sword bite and heard another yelp. Teeth bit down on his armor-protected arm and he wrestled with the beast for control or his arm. One handed he clumsily stabbed at the beast under his arm, the sword logded itself deep into it''s throat and it gargled then ran off. The sword got stuck and when the dying wolf retreated he lost the sword.


    -''FUCK! What am I supposed to do with a mace?'' Eian thought.


    He hastily pulled the mace. Two sets of teeth had grabbed each leg and were trying to tear him apart. He bashed at a clear shot of a skull and the wolf on the left let go. He sent a kick with his now free leg at the other wolf, once, twice, thrice, it let go. He sat up and saw the two remaining wolves staring at him cautiously.


    One was bleeding from a skull-wound, the other''s shoulder had a bleeding gash. They charged together each on one side. Eian aimed for the skull-bashed one and let the other grab his protected arm. The hit caught it in the jaw and the beast barreled unto him, it bit at his helmet. He struggled to push it off himself, kicking even as his arm was stuck in the others jaws. He beat the the beasts side-ribs with his mace and was trying to free his other arm. He felt a rib on the wolf crack and it yelped, he aimed at the area again and felt more ribs crack.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The wolf jumped off him.Eian used the moment to bash the skull of the other wolf, he caught it''s eye hard. It dragged him backwards and he struggled to get up. Half stumbling, from the drag, he bashed it''s skull again and it yelped. He heard movement behind him and threw himself sideways rolling, he saw the other wolf miss a tackle. The other wolf then jumped at him and he swung wildly at its face, he caught the jaw and the wolf dropped untop of him. He saw it was dazed, but still alive, so he caved its skull in, he felt squishy brain matter sprinkle his face.


    "AWOOOO!" The final wolf fled.


    -''This is alot harder without help and a shield. Fuck this mace, I want my axe back..'' Eian thought to himself.


    He took in the scene, he had stabbed the first in the face, another bled out from his sword lodged in its neck, the third one had it''s skull caved in and the last one had fled. The fight itself was short, but vicious. He retrieved his sword from the wolves neck. He checked his tattoo''s quicky, it was blinking.


    ''Fuck. He told me to be ready. Also the guys have to find me.'' Eian thought.


    "AWOOO!!!!AWOOO!!! AWOOO!!!!" Multiple wolf howls.


    "Shit!" Eian.


    He looked about and saw a hill, he stumbled towards it. He began digging the ground, using his earth-powers to help him move it. It parted like soft-watered-down clay, soon he had dug a small crudely dug-out room. He entered and compressed most of the entrance leaving only a breathing hole, he could always just open it up again. He made sure everything was alright. He sat down and looked at the glowing tattoo, he selected spirit.


    *****


    "So here ye are." Ul.


    "Yeah, here I am." Eian.


    "Honest I thought ye''d chicken out fer a few more hours." Ul.


    ".....I need more training against wolves." Eian.


    "Wolves? Eh? Didn''t we cover some o that?" Ul.


    "Yeah, but I was alone against a pack of huge wolves, not the smaller ones." Eian.


    "Big pack?" Ul.


    "Four." Eian.


    "Hmmmm, good to see ye made it then, no worries, wolfies aint a matter now he-he." Ul.


    "What?" Eian.


    "Ye''ve hit rock-armor kid. Three hours outside and you''ll be cracking wolf skulls fer breakfast." Ul.


    "Is it that amazing?" Eian.


    "Well its very heavy and as ye are, yer body will tire fast movin it about." Ul.


    "How fast we talking about here?" Eian.


    "Few minutes, about five for now I''d say." Ul.


    "Why did my body have to be at five to use it?" Eian still didn''t understand that.


    "I''ve already told you, the earth requires a strong body to fully use it''s attacks. It''s the whole reason the earth-gift toughens up the body." Ul.


    "What does that have to do with rock-armor?" Eian.


    "Rock-armor is a channel stressful spell, it would pass the safety limit normally, earth is naturally very slow to respond, so to combat that we have to slam alot of power to force it to, channeling that much power through your body would damage yer channels." Ul.


    "Is that it? Why are other elemets easier?" Eian.


    "Other elements could use more powerful spells, but they ignore ''em for the most part because of the channel damage, it takes long te have a naturally strong body with just Qi, as an example after ye hit five spirit yer toughness would be the equivalent of ten body. It''s why yer friend can''t just make a meteorite sized fire-ball, her channels would bust." Ul.


    "So who get''s more powerful faster?" Eian.


    "....*sigh*....There are two things determine the spells-power, yer channels which determine how much ye can push yer spell-limit and yer spirit quality. Most don''t better their channels first because upgrading quality is easier." Ul.


    "I''m still not understanding that." Eian.


    "Oh dear lords o earth. Channels are part of your physical body, they get better along with your Body and determine how much power ye can push over-limit safely. Spirit quality goes up with spirit obviously and causes you do do more with less , mages go for that since it doesn''t burden the channels." Ul.


    "Oh......I think I understand. So why doesn''t Sarah focus on Qi after Spirit?" Eian.


    "........Have ye listened to nothing I said? The earth-gift enhances yer body too, she wouldn''t be able to push the same amount of power as ye, even with the same amount of Qi." Ul.


    "Oh......and what does mind do for her then?" Eian


    "I''m here fer ye, ye dimwit shet yer trap and let me do that. Anyways as ye are now the damage would still stack up with constant use, but ye won''t be using the spell continously so it doesn''t matter." Ul.


    "What do you mean?" Eian.


    "Ye summon rock-armor once and it will protect ye. Ye won''t be summoning it constantly, like say an earth spike." Ul.


    "What if I''m not around any rocks?" Eian.


    "A''int a problem, the rock-armor is pulled by earth-energy and it comes from the plane o earth." Ul.


    "What? Plane of Earth?" Eian.


    "Yep. Ye should be able to sense it. Planes are where the elemental manifestations come from. Where did ye think yer friends fire actually comes from?" Ul.


    "I just thought she breathed it out or something." Eian.


    "Common misconception for fire. How ''bout yer life friend? Where''d ya think the healing comes from?" Ul.


    "I just thought his spirit transformed the energy or something." Eian.


    "Haha. Spells come from the planes and manifest in the world after ye shape it with energy. Exception being elemental control such as yer moving rocks." Ul.


    "Okay I think I got it." Eian.


    "A''int matter really, ye den''t haf te know it, te use it." Ul.


    "Right. So can you teach me?" Eian.


    "Yep, but first ye ready fer an ass kicken?" Ul smiled.


    ".....WHAT?! BUT YOU SAID!" Eian.


    "Changed me mind. He-he. What if ye run out of spirit? Dim-wits tend te like te do that. Sides ye could really use the practice." Ul cut him off.


    "BUT!....Umm......I''ll be very careful." Eian.


    "Nah, ye look like a dummy te me, so get ready. Ye said big wolfies right?" Ul tapped the floor and two dire-wolf golems appeared.


    "Oh come on! You can''t be serious! Eian.


    "Yep won''t teach ye rock armor otherwise." Ul.


    "FUCK! YOU!" Eian.


    "NOPE! NOT MY TYPE! HAHA!" Ul.

 Dream 39

    It had been an hour since the griffin had flown away with Eian.


    They had followed it''s general flight direction and crossed the stream.


    Sarah decided running was stupid, since monsters were everywhere.


    If they tired themselves out, they''d fall prey to the predators.


    Sarah had her two fire-balls ready and told Alex and Jess to deal with the heat, it was too dangerous without them.


    There had been a few animal noises about and some movement, but they had not encountered anything as yet.


    "Are you sure we are going in the right direction?" Jess.


    "I don''t know. I couldn''t see it after it flew over the trees." Sarah.


    "So it could have doubled back and we''re just looking in the wrong direction!?" Jessica


    "Let''s calm down Jess. Please." Alex.


    "I don''t want to get lost in this monster-infested forest! Eian could be dead!" Jessica.


    "We just need to find high ground, or climb a tree. We''re marking the trees we cross as well." Sarah.


    "See Jess? Calm down." Alex.


    "I just don''t want to run into another one. What if there''s a nest of them?" Jess


    "What will we do if there are more of them Sarah?" Alex.


    "You''ll have to distract it till I kill it. They''re too big for a swords to do damage quickly." Sarah.


    "For it to carry him off!?!" Jess.


    "We don''t have much choice Jess. Don''t worry it caught us by surprise last time." Alex.


    "I already have fire-balls ready as well. Hopefully that will help." Sarah.


    "They didn''t even help last time!" Jess.


    "Yes they did! They were a lot more help than you were!" Sarah.


    "UHH!" Jessica recoiled as if she had slapped her.


    "Sarah!" Alex chided.


    "She''s here saying I''m not helping! She just insulted me! To my face!" Sarah looked at him in disbelief.


    "She''s stressed Sarah. Cut her some slack." Alex.


    "We are all STRESSED! We''re in the middle of a monster-forest with Eian MIA." Sarah.


    "Yes, but what will arguing do to help." Alex.


    "Nothing! She''s the one complaining, it''s annoying! UGH! Never mind. Let''s go." Sarah.


    "Who put you in-charge anyways!?" Jessica shouted.


    "What?" Sarah was shocked at her outburst.


    "Jess....calm down please. We have to find Eian." Alex.


    "No! She''s here telling us what to do all the time. We should all decide together!" Jessica.


    "So do you have a better idea?" Sarah was getting seriously pissed at her attitude.


    "........I''m sure we can think of a better one." Jessica.


    Alex sighed.


    "For now let''s go. If you think of something better let us know." Sarah


    "Alex?" Jessica pleaded.


    ".....*sigh*......I think we should do what Sarah says for now. Finding Eian''s the priority, we can talk about this later. Please Jess." Alex clearly looked conflicted.


    "......fine." Jessica looked upset he hadn''t agreed with her.


    Sarah seriously doubted Jessica could think of something, even if she had ten mind and another hour.


    Sarah was paying attention to the general vicinity for signs of monster animals.


    They continued a while until they heard howling.


    "BE READY!" Sarah.


    "ROGER!" Alex.


    "R...right" Jess.


    Five dire-wolves appeared from all directions and charge-attacked them.


    Sarah instantly focused, aimed and shot both her fire-balls at different wolves.


    Both wolves stumbled backwards, partly aflame.


    Alex killed one quickly and Jessica was struggling with the other it was gashing it''s teeth at her, it was bleeding.


    Alex went to help Jessica obviously, hopefully they''d take the last one that she couldn''t see.


    Sarah threw a flame-thrower at the nearest, it howled in pain and ran away completely on fire.


    She dosed the other on fire as it ran to her, it stopped on its tracks and retreated on fire as well.


    Something collided unto Sarah from behind, her heart almost stopped as her staff went flying out of her hands.


    ''This is it?'' She felt fear, she didn''t want to die.


    "AHH!!!!" Sarah yelled as it bit her arm and thrashed, pain blinded her completely.


    She felt her upper body shaking vigorously.


    Her arm-socket popped, indescribable agony tore through her.


    "ROOOooo!" The wolf biting on her whined and let go.


    Sarah saw a sword stab it''s neck, it was now gurgling in death-throes.


    It went still, through a haze of pain Sarah saw Alex pull out his sword and hurry over to her.


    He healed her quickly, she felt the socket pop back in place, thank-fully it hadn''t torn off her arm.


    "You alright?" Alex.


    "NO! I had two and the other must have sneaked unto me!" Sarah.


    "Sorry." Alex looked properly chastised, though Sarah wouldn''t forgive him that easily.


    "I needed more help!" Sarah.


    "Yeah I didn''t see it I''m so so sorry, it''s just Eian usually guards your back, so I''m not used to it. Sorry." Alex.


    "Ugh! Fine, keep a better eye out, remember you''re the only one with all that armor." Sarah.


    He also had the only shield.


    In total she had killed two, Alex two and Jessica one, she hadn''t even needed Alex''s help.


    Which made Sarah all the more miserable, her cloths were soaked in blood.


    Her arm also twinged with imaginary pain, reminding her of her ordeal.


    She grabbed her staff and they continued onwards.


    Their route led them to an field of tall grass, it went up to over their heads and it led to what seemed like a small hill a bit farther up.


    They decided to keep going straight, they had no other leads to Eian and the hill might give them some much needed orientation.


    Alex began cutting the way through a patch of particularly large grass, Jessica was widening it for her.


    Sarah had to be extremely careful and hold her fire-balls, one she stretched upwards from her staff, the other directly in front of her.


    The last thing they needed was a grass-fire.


    About a few minutes later, she thought she heard the grass move up somewhere ahead.


    There was tall grass everywhere, it was impossible to see clearly.


    "Stop! Something''s coming!" Sarah was worried about a forest-fire.


    "I heard it too!" Jessica held her long-sword out.


    "ROGER!" Alex took up a combat position.


    "GRRRRRRRRTTTRRRRRR" Cat growling.


    "Watch out!" Sarah.


    Suddenly the tremendous hidden beast leapt from the grass and collided into Jessica, Alex hadn''t managed to hit it.


    Jessica and the monster both went into the grass.


    "AHHH!!!" Jess.


    Sarah froze her guts clenching, it had been larger than a dire-wolf.


    "JESSSS!" Alex ran towards followed them.


    Sarah snapped out of her short-surprise.


    There was work to be done.


    It was difficult to see through the grass, but Sarah saw Alex swing at something.


    "GROOOOOOO!" Cat.


    Sarah saw Alex stumble backwards and landed on the floor.


    She got a clear look at it''s face, as it had turnt to swipe at him.


    It favored a bob-cat, Sarah had no choice she had to throw both fire-balls at it, she was afraid it would jump her.


    Both blasts collided unto it, sending it burning into the grass.


    "GROOO!" The beast was howling constantly.


    "JESS!" Alex went to check Jessica, as she lay on the ground sniveling pitifully.


    "LATER ALEX! Grab her and let''s go!" Sarah could still hear the beast moving through the grass.


    Alex had been paying Jess too much attention and had turned his back on the beast.


    The grass was beginning to catch fire all around the area where beast landed, it was spreading quickly.


    Sarah saw it leap at Alex''s back seconds after she spoke.


    By then it had caught fire over half it''s body.


    -''Shit! They''ll burn at this rate!'' Sarah thought, as the beast trashed attempting to gorge Alex.


    Sarah saw Jess swing from the floor to the beast, it ignored the chop to it''s side.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.The beast was spreading flames all over.


    Sarah had no other weapons but fire.


    -''SHIT! I hope this works!'' Sarah realized now this could potentially kill Alex, she couldn''t focus to control the grass-flames or the beast could kill Alex or Jess.


    She desperately channeled a flame-thrower at the beast.


    "GROOOoooo." The cat ran away, fully aflame into the grass.


    All around them had quickly caught fire.


    "HURRY DAMN IT! FOLLOW ME!" Sarah began to create an opening among-st the flames.


    "...*cough*.....*cough*...*cough*...Les go." Alex got up with Jessica''s help.


    Jessica was coughing up roughly as well.


    Sarah let them through the fire, Alex and Jess cut down the burning grass and Sarah ensured it didn''t burn them.


    Sarah knew she couldn''t burn, but she didn''t know about smoke, though so far it hadn''t done anything to her.


    They had to take a random direction to flee.


    They eventually managed to outrun the flames, though it was clearly visible for miles above.


    They exited from the grass area into a part that was thinner with grass, but sported many tall thin trees, with a few different ones thrown in.


    "...*cough*...*cough*...*cough*....''resh air." Alex.


    "*cough**cough**cough* yeah." Jessica.


    "Move it, there''s still a lot of smoke around here." Sarah was glad the smoke wasn''t affecting her lungs.


    They kept moving.


    Once they reached a clear area, Alex and Jessica sat down to recover their breath.


    It took about five minutes of fresh air for their full recovery.


    "Which way do we go." Alex.


    "If I''m not mistaken I remember that the bigger sun followed the smaller sun, so they set that way, lets call that west. The griffin went north." Sarah.


    "NO! We''re completely lost!" Jessica.


    "Calm down, Jess." Alex was stern.


    "This is all her fault!" Jess.


    "Jess, please calm down. Now''s not the time, we have to find Eian." Alex.


    "How! By wandering about till we burn or die?!" Jessica.


    Sarah breathed in deeply, to evade angering herself.


    CALM, PEACE, ICE-COLD LOGIC.


    Alex had a point: arguing with her would not only be counter-productive, but childish as well.


    She had seen such arguments often enough.


    "I did what I thought was best, Alex was getting attacked and you were on the floor, potentially hurt. We still have to find high ground or climb a tree." Sarah.


    "I agree with Sarah, I had a life-link with you Jess, but she couldn''t know you weren''t hurt. We couldn''t even see it, Jess does have a point though Sarah, we could be slightly off-track." Alex.


    "Exactly!" Jessica.


    "Then let''s all climb a tree, we can try to get better visual from there. We have to find a tall easy one though." Sarah.


    "Why all of us?" Jessica.


    "How will we fight if only some of us stay down here? A large pack of wolves or something else could kill the ones that stay. Safety in numbers." Sarah wondered if she was an idiot or just didn''t think it through.


    "I can''t climb with all this armor, I''ll have to remove it. Shoes too barefooted will probably give more traction." Alex.


    "That''s fine. I don''t know if many animals can climb trees. Jess that means us too." Sarah removed her armor and footwear as well.


    "Fine." Jessica.


    "Alex, you go all the way up and try to look for a large hill or something that could show us Eian.


    They chose what looked like a huge tree with many branches, some dipped very low, as if the tree were made for climbing.


    It went up perhaps four stories approximately.


    Sarah and Jessica stayed on lower branches since they weren''t good climbers.


    Alex was the fittest and climbed his way slowly.


    He stayed up there surveying properly for what must have been five minutes.


    He came down slowly, and they all got down and re-armed.


    "Alright I see a large hill that way from here, it looks much taller than this tree and much taller than that hill we were going to. I can also see the fire burning from here." Alex pointed north-west for the large-hill and north-east for the fire.


    "That could be a problem, we''d move away from our initial route that way." Sarah.


    "We don''t even know if we were going the right way." Jessica mumbled, causing Sarahs brow to twitch, Eian must be an angel to put up with her shit.


    "I''m sorry Sarah, but she''s got a point, the bigger hill might give us more info, than randomly hoping the monster didn''t change directions." Alex.


    "I know I just said it might be a problem, not that it was. If nothing else at least we can find other hills to guide ourselves from. Landmarks to not get lost." Sarah.


    "I know no-one wants to hear this, but what are we going to do if we can''t find him? I think it''s been at least a few hours since it took him." Jessica.


    "............" Alex was silent.


    "I think we should spend at least a few days looking. There''s plenty of wild vegetation we could eat, Alex can heal poison and theres water nearby." Sarah.


    "I agree, we can''t abandon a friend simply this easy. I would do the same for all of you." Alex.


    -''More for her probably.'' Sarah thought idly, though truly she didn''t care, Alex clearly had a thing for Jessica.


    "I''m not saying just give up now, but I want us to think over it. Please this forest is huge and dangerous." Jessica.


    "I will think about it. Alex you should too, it''s definitely possible he''s dead. It could have just flown very high and dropped him." Sarah sighed.


    "He''s supposed to be super strong, he could survive a high drop. He could be hurt out there as we speak." Alex insisted.


    "You''re also right about that. That''s why we should keep looking." Sarah.


    "Roger. Jess try to stay optimistic. Eian''s tough." Alex.


    "I know. It''s not like I want him dead." Jessica looked subdued.


    "Let''s go then, the faster we get to high ground the better we can orient ourselves." Sarah


    "Okay." Jess seemed to have fallen in line.


    "I also think we should go around tall grass from now on." Sarah was kind of feeling bad about that, in retrospect it was a lousy idea.


    "YES!" Jess, she was really testing Sarah''s patience.


    "Jeeess. I''m with you on that though Sarah, you''re the strongest and the grass hinders everyone." Alex chided Jessica and complimented Sarah.


    "Good." Sarah.


    They kept going.


    ''Wait did those things die?'' Sarah quickly checked her tattoo''s.


    They were glowing.


    "I''ll be right back." Sarah told them.


    "Roger, we need you as strong as possible." Alex smiled.


    Sarah readied herself and selected spirit, which was at six.


    The world washed away.


    *****


    "Hello my little spark. It is wonderful to see you again. I hope you are in no immediate danger?" Adara purred.


    "Hello Miss Adara. Not immediately, but I''m in a forest right now." Sarah.


    "A shame, I would have wanted some innnnntimate time with you. Alone." Adara purred, causing Sarah''s belly felt like worms wriggling.


    "Why are you always speaking to me like that?" Sarah had wondered why she was always so pushy and weird, not a creepy bad weird, but still weird.


    "Hmmmm.....Dragon''s are by nature, very obsessive little spark." Adara explained and Sarah could feel the smile in her voice.


    "But...but I haven''t done anything." Sarah.


    "Haven''t you? I wonder?" Adara purred.


    "What is that supposed to mean?" Sarah was anxious of the answer.


    "Another time, you are in a forest yes?" Adara deflected the question.


    "You''re not going to answer me, are you?" Sarah sighed.


    "Hmmm....Insightful. Hahahaha." Adara laughed lightly.


    Sarah collected her thoughts.


    Adara obviously wasn''t going to speak more about that, so she should get to more immediate concerns.


    "My friend got separated from us. Is there some way I can find him?" Sarah.


    "Hmmmm......Is he alive?" Adara.


    "I don''t know." Sarah.


    "You''re fire-sense could see him if he was close by, even through stone. It tracks body-heat as well you see. Apart from that you''d have to learn some deeper magics." Adara.


    "What types of deeper magics? Can I learn it now?" Sarah.


    "....Deeper magics will drain you faster than your elemental magic, but yes, you could use some, if you had the knowledge." Adara.


    "Can you teach me something to help find Eian right now?" Sarah.


    "If you had plenty of time perhaps, though you said you weren''t safe. Be prepared next time and we shall begin. Ensure you are completely safe for at least three hours." Adara explained.


    "Is there truly nothing you could teach me now?" Sarah wanted to quickly find Eian, at least his corpse.


    "It is not that simple little spark, usually it takes years to become truly competent at deeper magics, I will give you a brief course and have you focus on teaching simple things you could benefit from immediately." Adara.


    "Is it truly possible to find Eian with deeper magics?" Sarah.


    "Yes, hard, even dangerous but possible. Invocations are what you should use, summoning could work as well, but you are weak yet." Adara.


    "Invocations?" Sarah.


    "Yes. I will explain, but briefly. Invocations allow greater beings to aid you in some way. Priests tend to have strong connections with their gods and ask for their blessings. There are other greater beings of course, like demons, djins and other spirits." Adara.


    "How could that help me find Eian?" Sarah.


    "Demons excel at tracking and information gathering, Djins tend to grant wishes within their powers for a fair price and many other spirits have all sorts of beneficial powers. I could go on and on, but truly I could take years, as I said. I will equip you with some knowledge. I will warn you from now. DO NOT under any circumstances experiment outside of what I have taught you, these beings could steal from you at a whim and you could end up praying for death." Adara lectured sternly.


    "Oh." Sarah was queasy when she heard the word demons, every idiot knew not to mess with them.


    "Relax, little spark. As long as you do exactly as I instruct you will be in no danger. Demons are usually a last resort as well." Adara seemed to have notice her reluctance.


    "Right. I''ll be ready next time Miss Adara. Thank you." Sarah.


    "Not a problem. Shall we begin?" Adara.


    "Yes. Thank-you." Sarah.


    "Very well, before we begin, you should focus on the plane of fire. It''s where your fire comes from." Adara.


    Sarah closed her eyes.


    Adara had taught her well and she intended to learn as much as possible from the dragoness.


    She instantly felt the connection, to what she assumed was the plane of fire.


    It was distant, yet close and connected to her in some way.


    "There are many applications to fire. Focus on a different version." Adara.


    She focus and searched, there were other forms there she felt, but those were out of her reach at the moment.


    She felt another fast excited energy.


    It reminded her of a shock, similar to touching a zapping feeling.


    Lightening? Electricity?


    "It is the lightening. It will penetrate armor and even stun enemies. Perfect for armored foes. It is also faster than regular fire, but has a lower chance of setting the targets aflame. It is also imprecise at long distances." Adara.


    Sarah focused on the lightening bolt and willed it to form.


    It leapt, uncontrollably frightening her, forward.


    Sending currents flowing through her body.


    It didn''t hurt, it felt as if her body had gone cold.


    She opened her eyes and was back to her friends.

 Dream 40

    Eian had made sure to position himself to properly see all the enemies, that was very important, never let them ambush you from behind.


    Eian dodged another wolf golem as it leapt at him, then quickly tossed himself sideways.


    Another wolf zoomed past, that was the trick, keep moving or they take you down to the floor.


    He quickly repositioned himself to see all the golems, at least partially.


    It was almost impossible to dodge four forever, but with all that practice he could managed slightly for a while.


    "''Kay. Well ye as ready as can be. Time''s almost up." Ul.


    "FUCK!! ABOUT TIME!" Eian complained.


    "HA! Fer now, wait till them wolfies die te ye. Ye''ll love me. Plus we got alot o stuff out a da way too." Ul.


    "Can we please get this over with!" Eian just wanted to get out.


    ''Fuck this karate-shit! It hurts!'' Eian thought vehemently.


    "Shet yer trap boy. All ye do is belly-yak. Am trainin'' ye fer free ''ere." Ul.


    "........" Eian had learnt the hard way not to push Ul too much, he had spent another hour buried under stone.


    "Good. Let''s get rock-armor out o the way. Ye ready?" Ul.


    "YES!" Eian.


    "Good. Here." Ul.


    Ul tapped the floor and it encased Eian in stone.


    "WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK!?" Eian.


    "....*sigh*....Relax boy, this is part of the training. Ye have to levitate the rock with yer head and body te fight in it." Ul.


    Looking close Eian realized he was practically encased in some sort of rocky body suit, it had no joints, nor helmet however.


    "How am I supposed to move in this?!" Eian.


    "Same way ye move dirt an'' stone. Try movin'' yer body an'' desire the armor to move with ye. It will still be a bit heavy even levitating as much as ye can. Go on try it." Ul.


    Eian tried to move quickly, but it was almost impossible.


    He was moving too slow.


    "I can''t." Eian.


    "Good, now close yer eyes and concentrate on yer spirit well." Ul.


    Eian did.


    "Alright imagine takin about a tenth o that power and separate it in two parts." Ul


    He did.


    "Next, ye imagine a circle around one part, holding it back." Ul


    He did, strangely the circle stopped power from passing through, once it filled.


    "Ye feelin the resistance?" Ul.


    "Yeah I think so." Eian.


    "Good. Now force the other half into the circle." Ul


    Eian felt the cirlce resist, which was weird as it was imaginery.


    He forced it and he felt the circle burst.


    A flood of power surged through Eian.


    He felt a slight strain throughout his body, not unpleasant, but like lifting a medium weight very quickly.


    "GOOD! Now try movin'' like before." Ul.


    He instantly felt the rock respond alot faster than before.


    He had to mentally tell the stone to move though, or he''d freeze up in his movements as the rock remained still.


    At first his movements were very stiff and frigid, but soon he was moving a little more naturally.


    "Just takes some practice. After a while ye can do it easy. As ye get stronger in spirit ye won''t need it fer regular rock armor." Ul lectured.


    "Right so this is rock armor? What about my head?" Eian.


    "Nah. This is so ye can know what it feels like movin in it. The actual rock-armor does protect yer head." Ul.


    After about a minute the surge of power faded and Eian once more had trouble moving.


    "Ughh.." Eian.


    "Yep that''s how ye move in it. Its a basic charge-burst. It''s called empower. NOW LISTEN! Never use more than half yer entire well on a charge spell. That means a quarter goes in the circle and another quarter to force it to break. The ratio of body to spirit can only handle that, any more and ye''ll hurt yer channels some and even experienced healers have trouble healing that kind of injury." Ul.


    "Okay." Eian had no intention of causing permanent harm to himself.


    Ul tapped the floor and the armor encasing Eian broke apart.


    "Now to actual rock armor. Also before we begin, use this only when yer in a tight spot fer now. Ye can probably summon it once and move in it fer ''bout five-minutes before yer spirit runs out. Then it''ll crumble. Out''a juice, so make sure ye use maybe four minutes just te be safe." Ul.


    "Alright. Can we get to it then." Eian getting was desperate to get out.


    "Yep. First though here." Ul snapped his finger.


    Eian felt the strain he just had and his spiritual fatigue vanish.


    "Now take half yer well and split it in two, just like before. Don''t force it yet! Draw the circle around it though." Ul.


    Eian almost did use empower, but he stopped himself in time.


    "Now focus on the plane o earth like I taught ye." Ul.


    Eian closed his eyes and opened his connection to the earth.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Good. Now focus on the image of armor. Thick, covering yer whole body. Place that image within the circle." Ul.


    Eian used the image of the armor he was wearing, but added it to cover his face.


    "Good now! Force the other half inside!" Ul.


    Eian felt the circle resist alot more than previously.


    He strained, if the previous was like lifting a medium weight, this one felt like moving a mountain.


    He felt the circle crack.


    "MORE FORCE IT!" Ul.


    The strain was actually uncomfortable this time, like a burn after a heavy exercise.


    He felt himself covered in stone completely.


    *****


    He blinked and found himself in his tiny makeshift cave, with an air-hole again.


    He had dug pretty deep inside and reinforced the entire thing to ensure nothing could crawl inside.


    He was glad to know it had worked.


    ''I''m beginning to hate that dwarf.'' Eian thought as he sighed, remembering another person he hated even more.


    He decided he had rested enough.


    He began to dig to get out, his body was feeling hungry and the griffin was outside ready to be eaten.


    There was the matter of water, so hopefully he''d find some of that as well.


    It took a little more effort getting out than digging in because the entrance had been re-inforced but he made it out.


    He looked up and saw the sun was still out, but it was defintely passed mid-day.


    He heard noise up ahead, by the griffin corpse.


    ''Shit! Should I go back in again? Are they wolves?'' Eian thought.


    Then again he did have practice against wolves, so that wasn''t a bad problem.


    ''I also have rock armor to fall back on. I spent the entire three hours pretty much training. So I can use it now.'' Eian thought.


    His belly rumbled and the decision was made, lousy wolves wouldn''t stop him from eating.


    Eian left his make-shift cave and headed towards the griffin carcass.


    He scanned the surrounding and saw several wolf carcass''s near the griffin, more than he had killed.


    At least three more lay torn apart in pieces.


    "SHIT!" Eian hollered as he laid eyes on what was there.


    It was a gigantic bear, it was clearly smaller than the griffin but still much arger than a normal bear.


    Eian turned to run and heard it stomp, then give chase.


    He ran for dear life, but suddenly he went careening sideways and collided against a tree.


    Dazed, he managed to get up and move remembering his training.


    Keep moving.


    ''Shit that things too big to fight normally!'' Eian thought as he ran.


    He took half his spirit energy, split it in two and pictured the armor in the circle.


    Desperation driving him he forcefully followed Ul''s instructions.


    He felt himself succeed, shortly before being knocked to a side heavily and sent flying again.


    Midflight he felt himself become encased in solid stone.


    He also felt the strain on his body the rock-armor put.


    Surprisingly the rock-armor cushioned his impacts.


    He couldn''t move quickly and he remembered empower.


    He forcefully carried it out.


    Power surged through him, and he felt something collide into his armor.


    This time he only rolled two paces.


    He oriented himself and could somehow see through his double layer of armor.


    The rock-armor appearently went untop of his regular armor, he felt each arm was the size of his waist.


    It also probably added over a ton to his over all weight.


    He saw the bear through his visor and the opening in the rock armor.


    He lifted his arms and leaned into it''s mighty swing.


    The blow sent him staggering backwards, but did practically no damage to himself, though he felt chips of stone broke off the armor.


    ''Shit! My sword is stuck in here with me!'' Eian thought.


    The bear charged him and Eian ran forward then aimed a heavy punch at it''s face.


    Eian felt something in the bear''s face crack, then they impacted and Eian staggered backwards as the Bear''s charge halted.


    He felt chips of his armor break off as well.


    He willed the armor to weld itself, and it did, he felt the empower weaken however.


    ''So the armor can hold itself up, if I use extra power.'' Eian thought.


    "ROAAAAARRR!!" Bear.


    Eian saw the bear stand on two feet, completely dwarfing him at 15 feet tall.


    Eain quickly backtracked.


    ''Ginormous. Right training, I''ve covered some of this. Gotta hurry.'' Eian thought as he saw the monster.


    The beast got down and charged.


    He tossed himself side-ways, evading its charge and ran to a thick tree.


    The beast charged again, but stopped it''s charge to not collide unto the tree.


    Eian set off another empower, as he hid behind the tree.


    He felt his body strain more than the first time, but still no-where close to summoning the rock-armor.


    He felt stronger and faster for a short time.


    It was following him behind the tree and Eian jumped it.


    Eian managed to wrap his arm''s around it''s neck before they both went stumbling foward.


    Eian focused entirely on holding unto it, it was thrashing, even with his added weight he felt it almost dislodged him several times.


    The thing probably weighed three tons at least, they were wrestling on the floor by now.


    He squeezed at it''s neck and dug the armors pointly fingers into the bear, its was supernaturally tough.


    He beast thrashed violently attempting to dislodge him, Eian felt it''s claws rake against his armored back.


    The beast was slowly losing it''s strenght, he clung unto desperate it like some overgrown koala.


    ''Hope this works.'' Eian thought.


    Eian got a good grip and set off another empower.


    With the added strenght he twisted it''s head.


    CRACK!


    It died.


    Eian himself was feeling the after-effects of the third empower.


    He quickly crushed the bear''s skull to be safe, it was a tough bastard.


    He let go of the spell and felt the armor crumble to small pieces off himself.


    ''Fuck. That was intense. Gotta grab some food and water.'' Eian thought.


    Eian pulled his two-handed sword and ran to the griffin.


    He noticed his armor felt severly dented in some area, which caused discomfort when running.


    He carved out a chunk of cooked meat and ate.


    The tasted some-what like chicken.


    ''Heh. I''d kill for fried chicken or pizza right about now.'' Eian thought.


    Some clouds had covered the suns, casting darks shadows across the area.


    He climbed the hill he had slightly dug out and looked.


    He thought he could see smoke rising up far in the distance.


    ''Is that them? Do they want me to go to them?'' Eian thought.


    The more he thought about it the more it made sense.


    They couldn''t know where the griffin would fly, or that it even died.


    They might even think he was dead.


    ''Heck I almost thought I was dead.'' Eian thought.


    They might have decided to make a signal for him to find them, if he was still alive.


    It was something they might have thought, instead of just running off into the wild.


    Kind of a jerk move, but it was the safest alternative he could see them having.


    ''Well for sure Sarah started it, so they have to be close to it. Problem is. How long will they wait? Go or wait?'' Eian thought.


    It would take him a few hours of walking to get there and currently he had already expended most of his spirit.


    ''Fuck. I don''t think I have much choice.'' Eian though morbidly.


    The longer he was alone, the longer he had chances of dying.


    The bear had been chewing on the griffin, so he hoped it was unlikely he would stumble into another one randomly.


    He could also handle a few wolves, if he encountered any.


    He also needed water and he remembered there was a stream around they had drank from previously.


    He headed towards the smoke, marking the trees as he went.

 Dream 41

    Jessica looked about, they had traveled slowly towards the large hill Alex had pointed out.


    They had been walking for about half an hour since Sarah came back from her spirit-dream-thing.


    Along the way they had encountered only a herd of fleeing deer.


    They saw a few wolves chasing the deer from behind and the wolves attacked them upon sight.


    Alex killed one, Sarah killed two by burning them and Jessica also killed one.


    They weren''t so hard to kill alone, just aim at their throats or head as they jumped.


    Injuring a limb was also good since it substantially made them easier to kill.


    It was easy to spot where their trajectory when they jumped.


    It was only when they came in larger packs that they became a danger.


    Her body couldn''t move fast enough to deal with many, even if she could see them easily.


    It was easy to tell whom they were going for either way, a wolf''s shoulder''s were a clear tell.


    Simple tactics for simple creatures.


    Alex had to carve part of a wolf open with the knife Jessica carried around.


    Sarah cooked it and they ate, they just needed some water now.


    ''I wish I had my spear, it was a lot easier with that. The longer reach was a godsend.'' Jessica sighed as she though it, she was also not used to handling the sword well.


    They kept going forward and as a precaution Jessica always looked behind them and to the sides.


    She wanted no more surprises from this forest.


    She was a little vex with Alex, he was supposed to be on her side, not that ''know-it-all'' Sarah.


    She forgave him though, she just had to prove herself to him and Sarah as well she supposed.


    If nothing else Sarah was very strong with her fire attacks, though clearly it was double-edged for the rest of them.


    ''I''ll have to convince them we should be looking for safety. Why can''t they see Eian''s dead?! A monster the size of an elephant carried him off. It could bite through metal. Even if he was strong, Eians skin isn''t harder than metal. Is it?'' Jessica thought.


    Admittedly Eian had taken some very nasty hits, like that head-crack from that eight foot tall blind monster in the caves.


    There was that bite from the bat too, but his flesh had been penetrated by that, proving to Jessica he wasn''t as tough as Alex thought.


    She was honest to them though, it''s not that she wanted Eian dead, it''s just that it was common sense!


    Off the topic it had gotten dark, clouds had covered both suns and it was beginning to look as if it might rain.


    The rain itself might not be such a bad thing, they all smelled somewhat, even though they had washed, bathed was too strong a word.


    By now Jessica could clearly see the hill, it could be considered a mini-mountain, it had somewhat of a summit and was covered in trees.


    She hoped no other monsters lived in the damn place, but she knew it was stupid even thinking that.


    This was suicide, perhaps the city had been safer, at least during the day.


    Maybe they could just hide during the night, like they had before.


    Alex was right they had to hunt to get stronger and hopefully she would unlock teleportation to get out of this hell.


    Sarah heard stomping and her heart stopped.


    "BE READY!" Sarah shouted, as if they were morons.


    "Roger." Alex.


    "Right." Jessica answered just so that Sarah didn''t scold her or something, she was getting rude.


    "SQEE!!!" Wild boars.


    "AH!" Jessica.


    Wild boars emerged charging at them.


    One was definitely larger by far and was the size of an adult bear.


    The rest were about the size of regular adult boars and there were about six of those.


    Jessica instantly knew two smaller one''s were coming at her.


    ''This could be trouble.'' Jessica thought.


    Jessica instantly let a smaller one impale it''s skull on her sword''s tip, it''s impact jolted her backwards.


    She staggered unceremoniously to one knee, tightly holding her sword.


    She saw Alex absorb the impact of another smaller one, but his shield deflected the impact and he got a kill.


    Sarah had fire-balled the largest one twice and was now shooting a flamethrower around herself.


    "Shit!" Sarah.


    "SQEE!!!!" Wild boar.


    Jessica quickly got up, pulled her sword from the boar skull, then instantly got tackled by another.


    "AHH!!!!!" Jessica felt it''s tusk scrap against her tasset and she breathed a mental sigh of relief.


    "JESS!" Alex.


    The boar''s impact sent her to the floor, lying on her side.


    The memory of impact hindered her, but Jessica knew she had to get up.


    She quickly scrambled to a knee and realized the boar was now attempting to gorge her.


    She held the sword at it, with both hands and she impaled its eye as it charged at her.


    It''s weight shoved and carried her backwards even as it died on her sword.


    It''s blood spluttered and soaked her.


    Alex made it to her.


    -''Ewww..'' Jessica watched her bloody clothes.


    "Are you alright?" Alex.


    "Yes. I think so." Jessica.


    "If you''re done, let''s go. Also Alex I needed more help than her this time too." Sarah frowned and glared at him.


    "She got hit." Alex defended himself.


    Jessica frowned at Sarah.


    "Yes and she was fine, you have her life-linked, she even killed two by herself. I had to channel a flamethrower on two boars. I depleted a lot of my spirit to do that." Sarah folded her arms.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I''m sorry Sarah, but you are stronger. I knew you could handle those two, after you got the big one. Jess still isn''t used to this." Alex licked his lips.


    "Let''s go. I want to find Eian, before you both get me killed." Sarah huffed and turned away from them.


    Jessica turned to look and saw three boars burnt on the floor, one was clearly the largest.


    She was exaggerating, Sarah was clearly much more well-equipped to fight that she was, Alex made the right choice.


    Alex had similarly killed two, before rushing to her aid.


    He could be so thoughtful sometimes, Sarah was just jealous Alex liked her more.


    "Alex. When was the last time you checked your attributes?" Sarah''s voice was stiff and flat.


    "Oh? A while back since before the vampires!" Alex''s eye''s widened.


    Jessica noticed Alex check his attributes.


    "It''s blinking." Alex smiled.


    "Wait! Ask your guide to teach you deeper magics, we can find somewhere to rest. The top of a tree will work and we can make sure you don''t drop." Sarah suddenly turned to look at him.


    "Deeper magics?" Alex tilted his head.


    "Yes. My guide told me we can use those to find Eian, try to see if he can teach you invocation." Sarah nodded.


    "Why didn''t you tell us this earlier?" Alex''s eyes widened, he sounded excited.


    ''Huh? So we can tell if he really is dead.'' Jessica knew he most likely was.


    "It didn''t occur to me at the time." Sarah shrugged.


    "Isn''t it getting pretty late though?" Jessica looked up and saw the light had faded.


    With the clouds it was impossible to tell what time of day it was.


    "We have some time. Close to three hours for nightfall I think." Sarah looked up at the suns.


    "You''re not sure about that, are you?" Jessica frowned at her know it all attitude.


    "It doesn''t matter this could help us find Eian a lot faster than we normally could." Sarah frowned back at her.


    "I agree, let''s do that. We can immediately go after him and find him that way." Alex stepped inbetween them.


    "......Alright, but let''s be careful okay?" Jess looked at him with worry.


    "Yeah, don''t worry so much." Alex smiled and patted her shoulder lightly.


    They found a tree similar to the previous one and took off their armor.


    Jess and Sarah had trouble climbing to what they agreed was an acceptably safe height.


    Jess felt like a monkey atop the tree, which was relatively awkward.


    Alex found a comfortable spot among a few branches.


    Alex selected something and Jess held him so he didn''t drop, even though it would be pretty hard for that to happen.


    Sarah kept watch as she had the strongest magic.


    *******


    Alex opened his eyes and was with Vita again.


    "Hello M....Vita. It''s good to see you." Alex smiled excited at learning something new.


    "Hi. Thank you Alex, how are you?" Vita smiled at him too.


    "I''m good thank-you, I really hate to be rude, but could I ask you something?" Alex tried to be as gentle speaking to not upset her.


    "Of course." Vita smiled.


    "My friend got separated from us." Alex gushed out.


    "Oh? Which one?" Vita took a step back.


    "Eian." Alex nodded quickly.


    "Is that the same one that got hurt badly last time?" Vita tilted her head and frowned.


    "Yes. Well he''s lost and I want to find him. Can you help me?" Alex bit his lip.


    "......Can you explain a little more please? I''m not sure I understand what you''re asking." Vita tilted her head slightly.


    Alex quickly detailed their experiences with the griffin and what Sarah said about deeper magics.


    "Oh....I''m sorry, but I really can''t help you with Invocation. My people don''t practice it." Vita looked sadly at him.


    "Is there anything else you can teach me to find him? Please?" Scratching the back his head Alex felt a bit desperate.


    "I don''t........Give me a moment to think." Vita looked up and held her chin.


    Alex waited perhaps half a minute.


    Vita sighed.


    "I''m very sorry Alex. The only deeper magics I practice are: Alchemy, Beast magic, Naming and Elemental-diversity. I can''t think of how those could help you find your friend. Perhaps if you had his true name, you could track him." Vita shook her head slowly.


    "Are you sure?" Alex sighed, he was getting very desperate.


    "Yes. I''m sorry. I haven''t even mastered all of those. I''m really young for a dryad. Alchemy takes years to learn, you can''t use Beast Magic right now and naming would be impossible for you without much higher Psi levels." Vita smiled sadly at him.


    "What about elemental diversity?" Alex held on to hope.


    "That involves transforming your energy to that of another type and using that element. I''m sorry, but I don''t see how that could help you, it also requires a lot of practice and has to be regulated with stronger mental images. You probably need higher Psi to be much good at it as well." Vita smiled sadly at him.


    "........Are you really sure? Please he could be injured out there alone." Alex pleaded.


    "I''m very sorry Alex. I truly am, but I''m relatively new to all this. Perhaps if you had a more experienced guide. Like my mother or sister." Vita smiled sadly.


    "I don''t want to offend you. Really you''ve helped me a lot, but is there any chance they could help me?" Alex hoped she didn''t get offended.


    By her sad face, he could tell she was saddened.


    "My sister made an exception to come here and scold me. She has other duties, I doubt she would be willing for someone she barely knows. I could ask, but it would be till your next journey and I don''t want you to get your hopes up." Vita looked at the floor.


    "I''m sorry I offended you. I just really want to help Eian. Thank you for explaining Vita." Alex tried to console her.


    "I understand. I''m not offended, I just wish I could help you." Vita smiled sadly.


    The mood for banter was dead and Alex knew he probably couldn''t salvage it for now.


    Hopefully she would cheer up later.


    "It''s fine, Vita don''t worry. We will find another way." Alex tried to be more optimistic, hoping to cheer her up.


    "Then I wish you luck on your endeavours. I suppose you are in a rush?" Vita.


    "I....could answer some questions if you want me to. I''m relatively safe and a few seconds won''t kill Eian." Alex didn''t know if she was in the mood, but he didn''t want her to stay saddened because of him.


    "Are you sure? I understand you want to help your friend." Vita.


    "I''m sure. Trust me. Sarah already has another plan lined up, I''m sure." Alex smiled attempting to cheer her up.


    "If your sure...." Vita seemed a little reluctant.


    "Positive!" Alex nodded cheerfully.


    "Okay..." Vita''s face blossomed into a radiant smile.


    Alex answered a few of her human-related questions for about an hour.


    Vita slowly became more optimistic and then told him perhaps he should return to his friends.


    "Roger, you''re probably right. Till next time then." Alex smiled, faking some cheer.


    "Yes. Your next power is the ability to siphon off excess life energy around you." Vita.


    "Wouldn''t that kill things?" Alex found it strange such a thing would be included in the power of life, that sounded more like death''s domain.


    "No. Recently dead things are still partially alive, in a sense. They are no longer using that energy. Excess life energy is the energy living things naturally disperse into the environment. They don''t use it and you don''t harm their actual life." Vita shook her head correcting him.


    "I don''t really understand that." Alex frowned, confused.


    "Think of it like the sun. It naturally gives off fire-energy no?" Vita.


    "Yeah I guess." Alex shrugged.


    "Similarly all living things give off life energy. You are not taking what they have, only what they give off and no longer use." Vita waved about enthusiatically.


    "Roger I got it." Alex nodded.


    "You can only siphon off places that are saturated with life. That forest you are in is perfect." Vita smiled.


    "Roger. Thank-you." Alex was ready.


    "You''re Welcome. Here." Vita held out something.


    Vita pulled out another token this one was the image of a tree giving off sparks.


    Alex pulled power from the image.


    He returned.

 Dream 42

    Eian was beginning to appreciate how much having a group really helps.


    Being almost tackled to the floor by a termendously territorial boar was unsavory to say the least.


    This boar was bigger than a fucking bear, not the bear he had killed but a normal one.


    It''s tusks were the length of his arm, elbow to shoulder.


    He was truly beginning to actually hate his helmet, it hindered his hearing to a substantial degree.


    He had dodged the charge and easily killed it once he drew his great-sword.


    He stabbed it deeply just behind it''s left front-leg as he evaded the second charge, by moving to the side.


    It stopped moving soon after, Ul had told him major organs including the heart were found there on many mammals on four legs..


    ''I hate this world, everything is super-sized.'' Eian contemplated what all could live in the forest.


    He had been walking through the forest for a while now.


    His march continued through the woods.


    The clouds had begun to look as though it may rain.


    Eian himself was hoping for it, he was thirsty as hell.


    He stumbled upon something strange soon.


    A small grotto was at the center of a crystal pool of water.


    It was clearly well tended to and the water sparkled, even though there was no sun.


    The grotto itself contained a strange blue lotus-flower-plant at the center.


    The plant held no fruits, though clearly it was of some importance to someone.


    ''Weird.'' Eian thought.


    Eian neared the pool and took a handful of water from the pool to drink.


    He felt his spirit recover somewhat, he was perhaps close to half his entire well now.


    ''THE FUCK?!'' Eian thought.


    He drank greedily and deeply to completely sate his thirst.


    He quickly recovered to full spirit, though he felt his channels still possessed a slight ache.


    "NEEEEEEIGH!" Horse sound.


    Eian turned to look and saw gigantic white-horse charge him, his head only reached the length of its legs.


    "FUCK!" Eian attempted to scramble to his feet, heart-pumping, adrenaline surging.


    Eian held his sword in one arm and he tried raising it to defend himself.


    At the last moment he saw a horn aimed at his face, and attempted to dodge.


    Something sharp impacted upon near his shoulder-joint, tearing through his armor and sending him stumbling into the shallow pool.


    He held on tightly to his sword to not drop it.


    "AHH! SHIT!" Eian felt his blood pump out through his arm-region near the shoulder.


    "NEEEEEIGH!!!!!!" Unicorn.


    The beast reared it''s upper legs kicking threateningly at Eian, as he stumbled backwards on the pool.


    Eian managed to get up fully and the beast entered the pool and charged him, it''s legs having a much easier time running in the shallow water.


    ''FUCK!'' Eian threw himself sideways towards the land, dodging it''s charge.


    Eian saw it''s bloody-horn swing at him as it twisted it''s neck, luckily he had over-done the jump and it missed.


    Scrambling to dry land Eian kept watch as the beast circled around for another charge.


    "NEIGH!!!!" Unicorn.


    IT charged again with it''s head lowered.


    ''Fuck can''t impale it''s head or I''ll catch me too.'' Eian thought.


    Eian waited close to the last second before dodging, then dipping low and swinging at it''s front-leg.


    He felt the sword bite and the impact send a jolt up his injured arm, but the leg was severed completely.


    "NEIGHHHH!!!!!!" The unicorn stumbled unto the floor, landing hard.


    Eian approached the beast intending to kill it.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.The beast was lying on it''s belly swinging it''s horn to protect itself.


    Eian noticed the silver-blood flowing through the unicorns leg had ceased and he saw it''s hoof was regenerating quickly.


    ''Shit! It''s like Alex.'' Eian thought.


    Eian rushed forward and deflected the horn with his sword.


    He buried the sword through it''s neck and the unicorn began thrashing.


    It''s horn slammed into him, but did little except stumble him.


    Eian left the sword buried, backed away quickly, then waited for it to die.


    It blood was gushing out rapidly.


    Soon the floor was coated in it''s blood, but didn''t die.


    It''s leg soon fully regenerated, it stood, then attempted to impale Eian with it''s horn.


    ''WHAT THE FUCK?!'' Eian watched it''s charge and dodged.


    It''s wound was still bleeding profusely and it should have long ago passed out from blood loss.


    It''s movement''s were slow and clumsy, but no-where near where it should be.


    It reared back and charged again, though slightly slower this time, Eian dodged and pulled out his mace.


    He slammed his mace at the creature''s leg again as it passed, though it had little effect apart from stumbling it.


    ''This shit is useless!'' Eian thought.


    The creature soon attempted to get up clumsily, but swayed sideways.


    It struggled feebly for a time, before finally laying down and gurgling.


    A full minute passed as it gurgled, then went still.


    ''Definitely gotta crack it''s skull.'' Eian thought and he did.


    He bashed its skull mercilessly, until it was fully caved in.


    He noted the horn was much denser and harder than the rest of it''s bones.


    It''s tip was contained some of his blood on it.


    ''Cool. I wonder if this counts as a spear. Shit punched through my shoulder-armor.'' Eian tore off the horn at the base of the head.


    It was a light-golden color, with roughly a yard and a half in length.


    He went to the pool and saw there were a black bubbles floating within it now.


    As he approached he noticed his blood drip into the water and created a black bubble in the water.


    ''Ah crap.'' Eian eyed the plant in the grotto.


    He deduced it must be worth something, so he went and uprooted it completely.


    "..roooaaaarrrr......!!!!!" Distant roar within the forest.


    ''Ah fuck. That can''t be good.'' Eian thought.


    He quickly left the pool and kept going in the direction he had seen the fire-signal.


    He quickened his pace, in hopes he could lose that monster.


    His shoulder hurt, but he ignored it.


    He didn''t mark the trees anymore in his need for more speed.


    He wasn''t running, but slightly jogging at a comfortable pace.


    After about an hour he wasn''t even close to being out of breathe.


    He was surprised he hadn''t encountered anything else so far in-fact.


    ''Damn I''ve jinxed myself.'' Eian mentally sighed.


    Not five minutes later he found it was true.


    Pack of five wolves charged at him.


    ''Fuck me and my stupidity. I hate being right all the time.'' Eian cursed mentally.


    He dropped the horn and the plant and quickly drew his great-sword.


    He evaded and swiped the first wolf, as it jumped at him.


    He caught a leg and it whined pitifully as it collapsed on the dirt behind him one leg short.


    Eian quickly ran forward and tossed himself sideways, rolling to a knee.


    Surely another wolf breezed past him.


    Another wolf turned and he impaled through it''s skull as it lunged.


    It''s weighty body crashed on the floor, though it missed Eian as he had properly positioned himself.


    Eian gripped his sword hard and ran to the right, letting his momentum pull the sword free, as the sword slightly dragged the dead wolf.


    He sprinted behind the closest tree, as the remaining three wolves chased him.


    Listening as well as he could through the helmet, Eian tracked their movement and readied for a mighty swing.


    The first wolf almost breezed past a second later, but Eian swung low catching it in both it''s front legs.


    It collapsed on the floor howling in pain.


    Another lunged at him and Eian threw himself sideways down, catching himself on an open palm and a gripped fist holding his sword.


    As soon as he knew it had passed he pushed himself upwards, standing.


    The two remaining wolves had surrounded him, eyeing him carefully.


    Eian charged forward to the front wolf, before tilting side-ways expecting the other wolf to lunge at his back.


    It had and thus missed, swinging ferociously Eian''s sword caught it''s open-mouth full force.


    The sword forcefully sliced through it''s bones and almost-wholly chopped off it''s upper face.


    The wolf landed dead, spurting blood and brains, it''s upper-face hanging only by thick skin and fur.


    The last wolf jumped him with a bloodthirsty howl, and actually tackled him to the floor.


    It clamped it''s jaws on his unprotected fore-arm.


    "Ughh." Eian grit his teeth as the wolf slightly penetrated his flesh.


    It shook vigorously, but couldn''t pierce fast enough.


    Eian lifted it''s weight with his injured arm and stabbed it''s belly, one-handed.


    It''s teeth unclamped as it tried to flee, but Eian grabbed it by a leg.


    It bit at his arm again, but he leaned in with his well-armored shoulder and it''s teeth found no purchase there.


    He shoved it off himself, unto its back, and drew out his blood-soaked sword.


    He stabbed it''s neck.


    Eian saw the first three-legged wolf approach, howl and run off limping.


    He killed the final two-legged wolf stabbing it''s neck.


    ''I take it back. That dwarf rocks.'' Eian smiled.


    Eian watched his injured arm, which only sported a few teeth marks.


    Apparently he was now tougher than alligator-hide, as he was barely bleeding.


    Eian smiled again.


    He retrieved the lotus-plant and unicorn-horn, then kept jogging.

 Dream 43

    Sarah was thinking, as the rain poured lightly, it didn''t even hinder their vision.


    They were finally close to the tall hill, the incline would soon begin.


    Alex had awoken a while ago and told them his guide couldn''t help them find Eian.


    As unfortunate as that was, Sarah knew they only needed to find monsters to kill and soon she would be able to find Eian.


    Alex had mentioned his new power was to recharge his healing power, which would be useful if anyone got seriously injured.


    What Sarah was more worried about right now, was the clear problem of Alex and Jess.


    Sarah had already scolded Alex and reminded him multiple times of his role in the group.


    Yet the idiot smiled and said ''Roger boss'' every time, infuriating her.


    Life wasn''t some expendable resource like money or tools.


    He had to become more adept at reading a situation.


    Take the last boar-fight for example, Alex had Jess on a life-link that meant she would heal even if Alex completely focused on protecting Sarah.


    She didn''t want him to do that though, she simply wanted Alex to read the situation and help the one most in need.


    If she became completely depleted in spirit during a fight, did he not realize their over-all fighting force went down dramatically?


    What if they were attacked immediately after an intense fight and she was similarly exhausted because of his stupid infatuation with Jess?


    It was a recipe for disaster for all of them.


    If she couldn''t kill things with fire, they were all forced to rely on mundane attacks.


    She wasn''t arrogant, but it was obvious to all that she was the strongest in terms of raw power.


    She accounted perhaps for more damage that both Alexander and Jessica combined.


    ''Hopefully we will find Eian and this whole problem will be resolved. It''s obvious Alex is unreliable.'' Sarah thought.


    They soon began going up the incline, which was strangely a rather tiring experience.


    Walking straight was one thing, but going up seemed to drain her body at a much faster rate.


    It was almost as if she were jogging, it wouldn''t be a problem for now, but perhaps later.


    She had the weakest constitution of the entire group, so even though they weren''t getting tired like normal, she was still the weakest physically.


    ''Why did Adara say it was temporary? Is it a world thing? A magic thing? Both?'' Sarah thought.


    Eventually she gave up and decided she would find out in time, for now survival was number one.


    "Alex, could you give me your big sword. OH?! Umm I mean that!" Jessica pointed at the great-sword Alex had unoccupied.


    What little Sarah could see of Jessica''s face through her helmet was bleat red.


    "....Roger....." Alex.


    He looked distinctly uncomfortable even with all that armor as he gave her the sword, Jessica wasn''t looking him in the face.


    ''Oh my god. That was so.....'' Sarah''s mouth was agape during the whole exchange.


    The climb was getting harder after simply half an hour.


    In some places Alex had to help both of them up, due to the mud.


    Slipping could result in sliding back down the muddy slope.


    Sarah saw a crude-obsidian-spear impale the ground in front of her, a branch with an obsidian-tip was almost a better word for it.


    "OW!" Jessica.


    "ENEMIES!" Sarah was looking around.


    "WE KNOW!" Jessica had taken cover behind a tree.


    "CAREFUL THEY''RE IN THOSE TREES!" Alex pointed to her right, he was of course next to Jessica.


    "SQUA!" Random harpy.


    Turning to look Sarah saw the bird-person throw another obsidian-spear at her.


    She instinctively ran away from it, towards a tree near Jessica for cover.


    Unfortunately she was unaccustomed to the muddy slope terrain and the sharp spear-tip bit into her back, though it didn''t penetrate deep.


    Another spear bounced off her helmet.


    Two other spears landed near her missing.


    "AHH!" Sarah fought through the pain and reached the tree next to the others.


    The spear fell out from her sprint, her tear-ducks watering.


    She summoned a fire-ball and waited for signs of monsters.


    Peeking she saw the flock of nine land on the ground and instantly knew they were outnumbered!


    "ALEX CHARGE THEM! YOU''RE WELL PROTECTED!" Sarah tossed her fire-ball at the center catching two harpies.


    "ROGER! JESS STAY HERE!" Alex charged, the spears thrown his way bounced off his superior metal armor.


    "SQUA!!" Harpies.


    Alex decimated three harpies easily and the whole flock jumped and took flight.


    He only took a cut on his unprotected leg, though it quickly healed


    Sarah stuck out her entire head and saw Jessica do the same.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Are they gone?" Jessica.


    Sarah saw another spear bounced off of Alex.


    "No there are more in that tree." Sarah summoned two white-fireballs took aim at the harpy''s tree and shot her attacks together.


    "SQUA!!!!" Harpies.


    Several leaves and branches of the large-tree caught fire and the nesting bird-people took off and flew away.


    "Are they gone now?" Jessica.


    "Yeah. Bunch of cowards, attacking people then running off when it gets hard." Alex was surveying the trees around them.


    "Alex heal me!" Sarah walked over to him tenderly, in lieu her injury.


    "Roger." Alex met her half way, along with Jessica.


    "They cut me! Stupid birds!" Jessica complained about a non-existent injuries, Alex had already healed her.


    "I''m more worried if this is their territory." Sarah winced at the feeling of flesh stitching itself back.


    "I got hit twice! I hate this place!" Jessica.


    "Why are you complaining? You''re fine now." Sarah calmly explained.


    "You two need to stop doing that....Sarah you said this might be their territory?" Alex changed the subject.


    "Yes. We haven''t met these creatures anywhere else. So maybe they have a roost up top." Sarah pointed to the top of the hill.


    "UGH! Are we still going up then?" Jessica.


    "I don''t know. They seem easy to burn, but those throwing-spears are a major problem." Sarah.


    "Yeah, I could only kill those two because they landed on the ground." Alex.


    "Jess and I aren''t as well protected either. One spear to the neck could kill us." Sarah sighed.


    Sarah sat and debated the problem.


    The other two did the same.


    "I see our problem." Sarah.


    "What?" Alex.


    "You mean apart that we''re surrounded by monsters right?" Jess.


    "Jess, please." Alex placed a consoling hand on her arm.


    "No! I told you both, this is a waste of time! We''re going into more and more dangerous area''s in hopes of finding one person! Whom is most likely dead." Jessica ranted.


    "Jess. It hasn''t even been a whole day. We have to keep looking." Alex was clearly determined and frowned at her outburst.


    "I know! I get we need to find Eian. Really I do, but is going up this mountain really our best choice? Sarah says she can find him with deeper magic. Don''t we just need to have her reach that point, instead of doing something stupid?" Jessica.


    "Hm. That''s actually not a bad idea." Sarah was definitely impressed, perhaps all that PSI power really does work miracles.


    It could also just be she was deadly scared of climbing the mountain too.


    Humans have a tendency to improvise well under duress.


    Something about that thought sent a shock up Sarah''s mind.


    Tip of the tongue sensation, that''s it.


    -''What...What is it? I can''t remember properly.'' Sarah felt her head fuzzy.


    "....Well. You both think that''s the best idea?" Alex scratched his head.


    "I think it''s safer than climbing a mountain filled with spear-throwing flying bird monsters. I can''t even hit them safely." Jessica.


    Sarah snapped out of her hazy thought at their voices, she lost whatever it was.


    It didn''t matter it would come to her eventually.


    "Yeah. Let''s do that." Sarah.


    "Roger. Can''t say I want to keep climbing those mud-hill now either." Alex smiled.


    "At least I can''t smell myself over the rain." Jessica mumbled.


    They set off down the incline, it was much faster going down than up.


    They only took about twenty minutes.


    "....roarrrr...." Distant roar.


    "WHAT?! WHAT WAS THAT?" Jess.


    "Relax it was probably a monster killing another. Hopefully they''ll all kill each other." Alex.


    "Eco-systems don''t work like that." Sarah.


    "Haha. I was joking Sar. Relax." Alex smiled.


    "What''s you''re problem?" Jessica frowned at her.


    "Nothing. Remember the idea is to find monsters for me to kill and secure a safe spot for three hours." Sarah changed the subject.


    "We''re not idiots." Jessica.


    "Jess, she''s just reminding us." Alex turned to look at her and lifted his hands placatingly.


    They kept searching about making sure to mark distinct trees to not get lost.


    An entire hour passed as they searched.


    A pack of human sized monkeys swung away from them faster than they could keep tracks.


    Sarah had two fire-balls at the ready, but knew shooting at trees was dumb, the branches were in the way.


    They heard a sound a little later.


    A huge deer ran past full-speed, away from them.


    "Go for it?" Alex.


    "Too much effort." Sarah couldn''t get a good shot through the trees it was running through.


    Soon they encountered something else.


    A large bear the size of a mini-van.


    It was still far away, but two regular bears were nearby.


    "GROOOOO!" The huge bear charged, the two others stayed behind.


    "Shit!" Sarah.


    Sarah threw both fire-balls at it, formed another and shot it.


    The bear was on fire and Alex was directly in front of it.


    It''s charge barreled through him easily sending him flying away.


    "ALEX!" Jessica held her great sword, she was a little off to the right of Sarah.


    Sarah was desperate and so she tried her new ability.


    She focused her staff two-handed upon her staff and used lightening.


    Lightening arced forward in an imprecise frontal cone and caught the bears face.


    The bear came to a resounding crash and begun twitching on the floor, shaking and burning but alive.


    The imprecision combined with the wide cone even caught Jessica on it''s edge.


    She stumbled away from the cone.


    "AHH!!!" Jessica grit her teeth and tears welled up in her eyes.


    "Oh Shit!" Sarah tried to readjust herself to evade harming her.


    "JESS!" Alex ran over to her.


    Sarah felt her reserves drain substantially and so she stopped the spell.


    The two other bears roared and charged.


    Sarah summoned two fire-balls and shot them both.


    The bears both stumbled backwards from the impacts, they easily caught fire.


    They ran around wildly howling in pain.


    Alex had already tended to Jessica, but was keeping an eye out.


    Sarah had fully-fried all three bears easily enough soon after.


    She looked at the scene and realized something.


    She went numb.


    ".....rah?! Sarah?! Are you alright?" Alex stared at her funny.


    "Yes." Sarah blinked and reoriented herself.


    "You''ve been like that for a while now." Alex''s face contorted with concern.


    "She''s just tired." Jessica sniffed and turned her head away from her.


    "Yes. Sorry Jessica, it was all just overwhelming." Sarah nodded at her slowly, Jessica wouldn''t look at her.


    "Roger. Glad that''s over. Are your tattoos blinking?" Alex tilted his head at her.


    She checked, even Jessica turned to look at her.


    "No." Sarah simply replied.


    "Are you sure you''re alright?" Surprisingly a touch of concern had seeped into Jessica''s voice.


    "Yes. That new spell was just draining. Let''s go we have to find Eian." Sarah wanted to get out of here.


    "Roger." Alex half-smiled.


    She didn''t have the heart to tell them the smaller bears were probably babies.

 Dream 44

    It had been an hour since he killed the wolves.


    ''Fuck, I''m getting sick of all this shit.'' Eian watched as a groups of three huge boars attacked him.


    He side-stepped left, pivoted to the right and stabbed the first boar behind it''s left-leg.


    For the second boar he had little time so he jumped and rolled left.


    He took cover behind a tree and felt the boar head-butt the tree.


    The third boar swerved and he speared it''s skull properly killing it.


    When the second came back he accidentally disemboweled it, he had been aiming for behind the left-front leg.


    It ran away, blood and intestines spilling and collapsed a yards away squealing loudly in pain.


    Eian mercifully killed it, with a furious thrust.


    ''What time is it?'' Eian looked up and saw the suns had vanished sometime during his jog.


    He felt weird in the darkness again, it reminded him much of the caves.


    At least in the caves there were only two directions to watch, here he had to keep his senses ramped up to the max.


    It wore away at his focus and he wasn''t sure he could keep it up forever.


    The bleeding in his shoulder and arm had already clotted, though the powerful impacts of the boars made them reopen slightly.


    ''Gods I hate this place.'' Eian sighed.


    He checked his surroundings briefly taking a break, he wasn''t tired, but running for so long was mentally stressing.


    He removed his only gauntlet on his right-arm and checked his tattoo''s on his right-fore-arm.


    He noticed they were blinking and revealed: Body 5, Mind 4, Spirit 5.


    ''Aw fuck. He told me to select body next.'' Eian watched his malnourished body.


    He clearly wasn''t ready for another upgrade.


    To be honest the belly-aches, hunger and the upset-stomach weren''t something to look forward to either.


    He gazed at his ''magic'' ring, it hadn''t done anything useful as yet.


    He still felt that extra sturdiness to his well, but he didn''t know what it did.


    It sort of felt like wearing clothes on his well, like an extra layer of something was on top.


    He reequipped his gauntlet on his dominant arm.


    He relaxed maybe five minutes before resuming his marathon.


    After another hour of running the noises around him began to disappear.


    Hoots, leaves moving, even the occasional monkey screech disappeared completely.


    It made him feel very awkward, like something was watching him.


    He stopped running, dropped the lotus and the horn and drew his sword.


    He waited for another ten minutes, something instinctual assured him something was near.


    ''What is it?'' Eian''s eyes scanned the surroundings.


    "Come out, come out where-ever you are. Fucker." Eian was getting angry.


    He felt the eyes watching him, fear gnawed at him.


    Sounds of the wind blew behind him and he turned to look.


    He thought he saw the glimpse of a something on his peripheral vision.


    He thought it vanished behind a large tree, he ran and checked.


    Nothing was there, he kept searching above the tree and around himself.


    ''This is some bloody bull-shit!'' Eian watched about.


    He readied rock-armor, luckily he had replenished his reserves at the pool.


    He turned and saw a naked robust humanoid figure crouching over the lotus, holding it in one arm.


    It turned and Eian noticed it was made wholly of what favored vines.


    It dropped the lotus.


    "ROOOOAAAAAAARRRR!!!!" It''s screeching roar reverberated even through his helmet.


    ''Oh shit!'' Eian held his helmet painfully.


    It blurred forward and punched Eian straight in the gut.


    He went flying, lost his grip on his sword and crashed into a tree.


    His chest-plate was dented by his gut and which caused problems moving his diaphram.


    He summoned rock-armor and felt himself encased.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.The strain was heavy, and he began to sweat.


    Another hit to his back actually sent him rolling like a wheel, his rock-armor cracked.


    Eian set off empower.


    -''Fuck!'' Eian jumped to attention and saw the green creature blur.


    He punched at it''s bulky figure and it''s after-image vanished.


    Another blow to his back sent him reeling forward.


    He quickly searched and saw his great-sword a few yards away.


    He set off another empower and felt his something begin to ache.


    The burst of power spurred him and he knew it would chase him.


    He grabbed the sword, which favored a short-sword in his bulky-armor.


    He pivoted and did a wild swing, catching nothing.


    "ROOOOOARRRR!" Creature.


    It was a few yards away, watching him it''s mouth agape.


    Eian charged, he was on a timer, having used empowered twice now.


    He swung and it dodged, kicked at it''s legs and it blur-rolled away.


    -''Fuck it''s like a ghost.'' Eian.


    It ran forward and he timed it''s blur, he held the great-sword back one-handed aiming with his right hand.


    He feinted a left-punch early, like how Ul had taught him.


    He then thrust the great-sword forward with all haste.


    The metal dug into it''s shoulder missing it''s face, as it dodged at the last millisecond.


    "ROAAAARRR!" creature.


    It tackled him backwards and he felt the sword dislodge itself.


    He went spinning and had to balance himself to not drop.


    It blurred again, mid-spin he hastily threw himself side-ways then pivoted swung the sword.


    It did a jumped and almost hopped his weapon, though it caught it''s feet.


    ''Fuck! Fuck! I can barely keep up!'' Eian''s heart was racing, this thing was fast, he had to guess where it would be and attack there.


    It went spinning into the forest, it got up and rushed him.


    He dodge-rolled at a random location again, to keep moving.


    He noticed it couldn''t take fast turns.


    Eian sent a punch and swing at two possibilities, his rock-fist caught it solidly at it''s face cracking something, it felt like hard-wood.


    He received a forceful impact unto his chest in return, the blow cracked his armor again, and actually shot him backwards a few paces.


    He landed standing, but was stumbling backwards, he threw himself sideways on a good foot to re-balance himself and dodge.


    He felt his empowers begin to wane.


    He set off two empowers back-to-back, he had no hopes of keeping up with only one.


    His body began to tremble from strain.


    Suddenly he felt weightless for an instant.


    ''Ughhh.'' Eian felt he had just sprinted full speed for an hour.


    He sent a punch at the monster and felt his arm blur forward, almost as if the rock around his body had life of it''s own.


    The impact sent the monster flying into a tree.


    He almost blurred forward, he couldn''t control his speed and the monster shot a punch at him.


    Eian swung the sword and it bit deeply into the monsters arm.


    The punch broke his armor and he felt the impact on his chest, they collided and went rolling forward together.


    He luckily landed atop the creature.


    He felt an impact on his shoulder, a chunk broke off and it almost sent him backwards despite not having much momentum.


    He had let go of the great-sword, it was almost useless in such close quarters anyways.


    He grabbed the creature on the floor and began pounding it''s skull, it too pounded him and chunks of armor broke off.


    The constant damage and subsequent repairs had drained him too much of his spirit to set off his last empower, he was on his last legs.


    He felt the wood-like skull crack and soon it split, pieces began to break off and finally it splattered.


    He felt his spirit hit zero, a few seconds later and the armor crumbled.


    Trembling he pulled the great-sword from it''s arm and forcefully chopped it''s body to pieces.


    He made sure it was dead, suddenly it''s body parts quickly began to rot and disintegrated unto the dirt.


    The forest went silent.


    ''Never again.'' Eian thought.


    He went to recover the items.


    He gazed at the lotus and noticed it''s luster had dimmed, it was physically wilting before his eyes.


    It died soon after.


    ''Huh?'' Eian cursed his rotten luck.


    He grabbed the remains of the lotus, perhaps it was still useful.


    He also grabbed the unicorns horn and kept running.


    The forest remained silent save for wind.


    Eian thought it was very eerie, then he heard different animal howls in the distance.


    ''Fuck what now.'' Eian thought.


    Suddenly a pack of three wolves appeared and attacked him.


    He side-stepped the first and chopped both its front legs off.


    The next two attacked together and he dodge-rolled left.


    He speared the second in the skull and the final one quickly ran away.


    ''They''ve never attacked in numbers that small.'' Eian thought.


    He ran towards the general direction he had seen the smoke prior.


    He heard another animal approach about ten minutes later.


    He turned and saw a huge adult stag charging his with it''s sharp horns.


    -''WHAT THE FUCK? THOSE THINGS NEVER ATTACK ME?!'' Eian.


    He dodged it''s assault and chopped off a leg cleanly.


    It fell to the ground easily.


    He proceeded to stab it multiple times on its belly since it was attempting to gorge him on it''s horns.


    It died shortly.


    -''FUCK DID I JUST UPSET THE WHOLE DAMN FOREST?'' Eian thought, his whole body was aching.


    He kept running, he had no other options.


    His spirit was wholly exhausted and would take time to replenish.


    The trees whistled as he passed, the breeze seemed had picked up.

 Dream 45

    Sarah looked at Alex and Jessica as they walked away from the bears.


    She was conflicted about a few things, she didn''t mind killing something to defend herself.


    She didn''t mind killing something for the need of resources, such as food and hides.


    Heck she didn''t even mind killing if it meant ridding a pest or parasite.


    Those animals reminded her of home: a family, kids.


    ''Doesn''t matter. They had something we need. Essence.'' Sarah convinced herself, it had been the logical decision.


    Her tattoo''s were also blinking, she had just wanted an excuse to get away from that.


    Besides they still had to find a place to rest for three hours and as soon as she spotted another suitable tree she would.


    She just hoped they would kill something else, to evade the other two from asking uncomfortable questions.


    Honestly she hated herself right now, she generally disliked dishonesty and here she was undermining the teams progress with one.


    The Adara-lie situation was different, that had felt extremely personal and really awkward to talk about, plus there was no real harm in keeping it that way.


    She made her decision.


    "Alex, Jess." Sarah felt strangely vulnerable, she never liked admitting she was wrong.


    "Yeah?" Alex.


    "What? Do you see something?!" Jessica frantically scanned the area.


    "No. I .... lied, my tattoo''s are blinking." Sarah.


    "What?!" Alex looked confused.


    Jess remained silent, put her hands on her waist and tapped her foot expectantly.


    "I ....wasn''t feeling well after that fight. S...sorry." Sarah determined it was borderline truth.


    "It''s fine, Jess. We both noticed she was out of sorts, she''s probably stressed." Alex smiled, Sarah felt relieved, he was a pretty good guy overall.


    ".......She just l-i-e-d to us." Jessica pouted adorably, Sarah could understand how men fell for that.


    "Jess. Please. We are a team." Alex smiled at her.


    "She could be lying about other things too! What if she shocked me on purpose?!" Jessica.


    "That was a total accident! I''m not lying about anything else!" Sarah felt a little insulted, it''s not like Jessica was perfect either.


    Sarah breathed and calmed herself, Jess had a right to be angry over that.


    Adara had warned her lightening was imprecise.


    "Jess, it had to be an accident. We can''t use our powers till after the tattoo stops glowing. She couldn''t know it would do that." Alex smiled that winning smile.


    "Fine! I just hope she doesn''t make a habit out of it." Jessica pouted.


    "I won''t. I promise and I''m sorry I hit you with that too." Sarah had her poker face.


    "Roger, let''s leave it at that please Jess." Alex implored.


    "Can we find somewhere safe? I want to find Eian." Sarah wanted this over with.


    "Roger. Let''s find a tree for you to start. Eian''s the priority." Alex changed the subject, Jessica remained pouting.


    They looked around and found a suitable tree.


    They climbed it to a reasonable safety and Sarah got comfortable.


    She looked at her tattoo: Body:1, Mind:5, Spirit: 7.


    She selected spirit.


    *****


    They were back in Adara''s treasure cave.


    Sarah closed her eyes by instinct.


    "Hello little Sarah. How are you?" Adara''s voice was honey.


    "Hello Miss Adara. I''m doing well. I''m ready for the lessons in deeper magics." Sarah smiled.


    She really was looking forward to that, though she wanted to keep a calm facade going.


    "Wonnnderful, I get to spend plenty of quality time with you. Follow me." Adara''s voice purred.


    Sarah immediately felt different types of excitement build up inside her.


    Her thirst for knowledge won over though, this was the time to learn secrets regular people couldn''t possibly learn.


    Who knows what secrets magic hold?


    The key to immortality, the cure to cancer, the key to solving major-crimes and definitely marvelous inventions that could benefit everyone.


    Eian definitely came first though, he was the most immediate person she could help for now.


    Adara led her to a secluded doorway that led to a medium room with pale-brown brick walls.


    Once through there were several books lying about on tables, a few shelves and even a couple chairs.


    There were no torches, but several orbs glowed white with enough light to visibly see everywhere.


    Adara waved her hands, multiple books floated about and organized themselves in the shelves.


    It left a single thick red book on a table with two chairs cleared.


    The book itself was large and weighted perhaps up to ten pounds in her opinion.


    It had the picture of six golden-stars on the cover, five surrounded one.


    "Sit. This book is the basics of invocation. The language is of course foreign to you, but worry not we only need the images and I shall explain." Adara.


    "Couldn''t you simply translate it for me?" Sarah.


    "I could, but this is how I remember it. My mind translating it for your mind could also lead to some confusion due to our understanding of certain words and concepts." Adara.


    "Wait....So you''re saying that.....you might think a word means something. And that I might misunderstand, because I think it means something else?" Sarah tried to understand the logic.


    "Yes. For example let us say I believe the word ''embrace'' means ''passionate sex''. You might simply think it means a family hug." Adara purred.


    ".......Oh" Sarah felt blood rush to her face, being around Adara was definitely exciting, but she was so direct.


    ''That was a little too specific.'' Sarah looked at the book to distract herself.


    "See little Sarah? Many languages have many different words that may possess a variety of meanings in other languages. That could lead to problems in direct-mental-translations." Adara explained.


    "Wouldn''t that be a constant problem then?" Sarah wondered.


    "Yes. I will have to constantly be checking if we are on the same page and complex ideas will need minor debates." Adara.


    "Oh." Sarah went quiet that seemed like a lot more effort on both their parts.


    "For other magics we may not need this, but you can''t make a mistake in Invocation. You could offend one of these beings with a wrong word or through misunderstanding their customs." Adara.


    "I understand, I''m ready." Sarah breathed in, no pressure.


    "Very well. Let''s begin with what your friend needs. I suspect demons are not to your liking?" Adara.


    "I...Are there better options? In my world demons are a representation of evil. They do much harm to people in our legends." Sarah.


    "Yes. There are other options. I understand, demons have of certain sins, which makes them slightly unstable. That does not directly relate to evil, but many see it so." Adara.


    "Sins?" Sarah was intrigued, not many people spoke about demons.


    "Yes. Demons are born with either a sin or sins. It''s an intrinsic part of them. There are seven major sins from which all others result. The demons powers are tied to their sins. Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Pride, Wrath, Envy and Sloth." Adara lectured.


    "I''ve heard of those. What do those do?" Sarah knew those were the cardinal sins and the many religions focused on them.


    "Many different powers manifest depending on race, gender and even alignment of the demon. Before we continue do you want to learn about invocating demons? If not then learning about them now, may be a waste of precious time." Adara.


    "I...I''m not sure." Sarah looked at the book.


    "Let us move on then. It is best to find something else for now. Hmmmm... Djinn''s are a little tricky." Adara.


    "Is that a genie?" Sarah.


    "NEVER call them that. There is no faster way to offend any djinn." Adara warned.


    "OH!" Sarah blinked.


    "I''m sorry, little Sarah. I cannot stress enough how dangerous that is. The term genie is much worse than calling a human a slave. It is a by-product of magicians whom trapped young djinn''s into objects for millennia, these magicians are currently suffering a fate worse than death. Djinn''s are very touchy on the subject." Adara.


    "Oh I understand. Thank-you. What happened to the magicians and the trapped djinn''s?" Sarah.


    "The magicians are currently serving a punishment the council of djinn''s brokered with several sadistic demon-lords. The Djinn''s pay premium to acquire their eternal damnation." Adara warned.


    "If they have demons serving them, how much better are they than demons?" Sarah felt queasy at the thought.


    "Worry not. Djinn''s are tricky, but they rarely do irreversable harm, usually they just make you owe them more favors for a service than is fair. The punishment they meted out to those magicians are the exception rather than the norm." Adara.


    "What do you mean by favors?" Sarah didn''t want to have to do irrevocable harm.


    "Relax, their favor has certain monetary loop-holes, as well as a few other options. Take example if a djinn asks a small favor to say buy a set of ceremonial iron armor worth two gold standard. You may buy out of the favor by giving them four gold standard." Adara.


    "Standard?" Sarah was losing track of the conversation.


    "Standard are the universal standard for minting precious minerals, including precious stones. Certain currencies are worth more and others less. Djinn''s and many multi-universal travelers operate with this standard for accurate transactions." Adara.


    "How do you standardize precious stones?" Sarah was confused over that.


    "By making them a certain size and quality. There are many magical processes to extract the high quality stone-dust and then reforging them into coins. Jade is also used in certain worlds, but emeralds, sapphires, rubies, diamonds are them most well known. The dwarves specialize in this and are considered the finest minters in the multi-universe." Adara.


    "Multi-universe?" Sarah kept getting more and more questions each time Adara spoke.


    "We are getting off track, but yes there are more than one universe little Sarah. Your world is but a tiny speck within another slightly larger speck called a universe." Adara smiled.


    "How many universes are there? How many different races?" Sarah.


    "More than the stars in the skies. Let us get back on track. I have much to teach yet. Are you comfortable learning of invocating Djinn''s? " Adara.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation."I am, but before you mentioned priests invocate their gods?" Sarah had been thinking what better than a god to get them out of that place.


    "Little spark, gods are powerful beings and come in many colorful shades. I would not recommend tying yourself to one. At least not without learning about their creeds, tenets and dogmas. It is usually a life-time of service and few look well upon a deserter." Adara.


    "Aren''t they the most capable of getting me out of where I am?" Sarah.


    "I cannot answer that question little Sarah." Adara was upset.


    "Why?" Sarah appreciated that at least she didn''t out-right lie.


    "I have already told you. It will only hinder your growth." Adara placed both hands on the table and leaned up on them.


    "Growth?" Sarah hadn''t heard Adara say that word before and it made her head feel fuzzy.


    "Enough! Please! You are intelligent, any more and I could inadvertently lead to your death." Adara trembled and her fingers clawed at the table.


    "What?" Sarah eyes widened.


    They remained silent for a while.


    "I am sorry little Sarah, but please believe me." Adara drooped and looked defeated.


    ".......I... Can we learn about djinn''s?" Sarah hid her emotions.


    "......Yes." Adara closed her eyes and took a deep breathe.


    Adara waved her hand and a green book flew to them from a distance.


    This book was smaller than the first and depicted an amulet with a diamond at the center.


    "Let us begin with Djinn customs. Djinn''s are gender-less spiritual creatures. They may take on almost any shape within the scope of their total size. They may become solid or appear translucent. They typically identify with one gender more, due to their personality, but it is not set uncommon for there to be exceptions. When performing a greeting it is polite to refer to them as the shape they assume, to help with identification Djinn typically manifest facial hair as male and none as a female, along with a slender female-form of course. Always refer them to as how they appear even if they appeared differently to you than before." Adara.


    "What if I can''t tell?" Sarah knew there were some instances where women favored men and the other way around.


    "Patience little Sarah, I was getting there. The polite greeting in such a case, is to ask for forgiveness and then ask how to refer to them as. Also djinn''s do not like their personal space invaded, they must give you permission to approach them beyond where they stand to you, permission is required each time or if they specify you have eternal permission. In invocation you will only be meeting in your mind, but still the same applies." Adara.


    "How will I pay them for services rendered if I can''t even find them? Or even approach?" Sarah.


    "I will get to that later in more detail. They will usually facilitate the method for physical payment, they usually do not request immediate payment either. Sometimes they even wait years to collect. They are immortal and thus human standard-time perception do not apply to them." Adara.


    Sarah took that in.


    "Now it is essential to remain calm in front of a djinn, treat them as equal-respectful-business-partners and they will do the same. If you lose your temper they are liable to leave and ignore you, or even increase the cost of payments, both current and future. If you become desperate they could see a chance to demand more than is fair, this usually happens if you are not a long-time customer however. With time and many fulfilled-dealings on your part, you may befriend one, though they are very wary of humans. Due of course to the magicians I mentioned earlier. Questions so far?" Adara.


    "So....I greet them, remain respectful and don''t look desperate? How do I ask for a favor?" Sarah.


    "Correct, but before a favor is asked, you must introduce yourself and establish a partnership. Until a partnership is reached they will not begin a transaction." Adara.


    Sarah listened intently.


    "Ask what type of favors they ask, multiple examples at least three of each services, ask for their specialities usually they have three at most five, their favor prices and preferred payments, before any partnership. A partnership is reached after you agree to their prices, these may be renegotiated after a year and a day had passed of the previous agreement. Note, please if you reach a partnership with any djinn it is an irrevocable offense to partner with a second djinn, both will be insulted once they discover your offense. Usually you would only consider that if the first djinn cannot provide the service you require or if you find their prices unfavorable, they are a close people and searching the market for a better deal is considered offensive to all of them. The best alternative is to ask the djinn to broker a one-time-deal on your behalf with a more powerful family member. More powerful djinn do not establish partnerships, they simply help their younger family members in their trades, like a djinn to a djinn." Adara.


    Sarah paid vivid attention, djinn''s were fascinating.


    "I will remind you again. DO NOT engage in a partnership with more than one djinn at a time. You may break off a partnership of course, but you should only do that if the djinn in question majorly offends you through a bad deal. Minor offenses are to be forgotten as deals are their bread and butter. To break a partnership tell the djinn directly you will forgive the offense and grant them a small farewell favor, but cannot in good-heart establish further deals with him or her. Other djinns will be indisposed to you if you do this often of course, as it makes you look as a miser." Adara.


    "Why? Why offer them a farewell favor anyways?" Sarah was finding all of this a little complicated and she hadn''t even begun to contract a djinn, it sounded amazing though.


    "It is a polite way to not establish bitterness from the djinn. Remember they have family and that may spill over to them if they so want." Adara.


    "Oh." Sarah hadn''t even thought of that.


    "Yes. Now you are searching for someone. I suggest to specifically state to the djinn that you require finding people to be a speciality, if it is not one of theirs they usually guide you a family member whom does." Adara.


    "That was another thing what are specialities? I think I understand, but I''m not too sure." Sarah thought it was what the djinns were best at doing.


    "A speciality is what a djinn offers at a more favorable bargin. They enjoy doing those types of deals and so clearly lower their prices for them. I recommend you find a djinn that specializes on what you most want." Adara.


    "Like escaping an unknown planet?" Sarah asked.


    "You could ask, but I doubt any will agree to something like that for a fee you can afford right now. Most of the time they can tell what you are capable of affording. There are cheaper deeper magics for that, but they require some more study." Adara.


    "Oh." Sarah thought Adara sometimes liked crushing hope.


    "Little spark, focus on getting stronger. I guarantee there is a way to go home safe and sound. It is also not more than a year away." Adara.


    "Really?" Sarah felt hope blossom, it was one thing to know you could escape a planet, another to know it was less than a year away.


    "Yes I promise." Adara smiled at her joy.


    "Could you tell me?" Sarah.


    "Once you have reached the end of your path. You require more power for inter-planetary travel." Adara.


    "How long away is that?" Sarah.


    "Depends on how much you hurry. No more than a year, as I said." Adara.


    "Wait did you bring me here?" Sarah was suspicious all of a sudden.


    "No. That was not my doing." Adara looked at her smiling sadly.


    "Actually how comes I even met you and not someone else? Why do I even meet someone like this?" Sarah.


    "You met me because I volunteered to teach young fire-mages. We are connected through the domain of fire." Adara.


    "So it had nothing to do with the circumstances in which I find myself?" Sarah.


    "That is a difficult question. Hmmmm.....We only met because your spirit took on the properties of fire. So in a sense we only met because you are where you are, since otherwise you would not have increased in spiritual power." Adara.


    "So you had no vote in bringing me where I am? You didn''t in anyway force me to be here?" Sarah.


    "No. I can assure you that I did nothing to take you from your home. I knew you would come here though." Adara.


    "How!?" Sarah wanted answers.


    "A vision an oracle gave me." Adara.


    "So you''ve known we would meet?" Sarah felt vulnerable all of a sudden.


    "Yes. Since long ago." Adara smiled.


    "Do you know if I will ever go home?" Sarah prayed it was so.


    "........You must make than happen on your own." Adara.


    "Why?!" Sarah.


    "I do not have the power to read fate, and telling you an absolute could spiral you down an unfavorable path or to your death." Adara.


    "Unfavorable to whom?" Sarah asked.


    Adara smiled and remained silent.


    "How can you ask for so much trust and say so little?" Sarah was getting upset.


    "Your life matters to me most. That is all I care for. Nothing more, nothing less. Hate me if you wish, I am prepared for it." Adara said simply.


    Sarah looked at Adara for a while.


    "Shall we continue? I have much yet to teach. As well as the ability to contact a djinn." Adara.


    Sarah nodded.


    "Very well. Now djinn''s will not take offense if you decline a partnership, they don''t know you and you don''t know them. So you may keep searching till you find one that specializes in things you desire." Adara.


    "How long could that take?" Sarah.


    "For some it could take months, many search for the perfect Djinn contact with all the specialities and preferred payments they desire. I doubt you have that much time, for now ask them for tracking and perhaps a second speciality that benefits you. Preferably something either defensive or offensive value as you are in constant peril. Also find a djinn whose payments you can actually afford short term. Like large future fire energy transfers or standard-hours in a mercenary quest." Adara.


    "Quests?" Sarah knew about those from fantasy.


    "Mercenary quests are a way djinns supply armies to kings or someone with deep pockets. Having many contacts with power for many months is extremely valuable long-term to Djinns. Please note. These quests may require you to do unsavory things under service of the contractor. Follow through with the payment as best as you can. As long as you do not outwardly harm the contractors overall plan, you can wiggle out of the more brutal parts. Ask the Djinn on advice, they like to accommodate their mercenaries as it motivates them to ask for more favors." Adara.


    "That sounds more like being a soldier. Also why ask for hours instead of days?" Sarah said.


    "It is like being a soldier, except you''ve already been paid ahead of time. They ask for standard hours because many planets follow different hours in a day. They have to standardize everything to make universally accepted deals. Remember as you grow more powerful, your service is worth more so keep that in mind when you bargain." Adara warned.


    "How much am I worth right now?" Sarah asked.


    "I am afraid you are weak yet child. An elite soldier usually has a total of twenty five attributes overall. Being a fire-mage adds much to your combat potential, so you are perhaps worth about a mercenary with total attributes at 18. So for now you cannot claim elite service. Worry not that will change faster than you imagine." Adara.


    "I suppose it is too much to expect me to be an elite after such a short time." Sarah sighed.


    "Indeed, you have become stronger very quickly but the universes are expansive, wide and varied. Humans can naturally reach elite status within their racial potential so it''s not a problem for you. Unlike for say a goblin. Those things are almost useless except as cannon fodder." Adara.


    "That''s a little mean." Sarah smiled.


    "It is the truth. Fate is not kind, nor merciful, but it is fair. Work hard, with luck and determination you can even exceed the limit and become more than an elite." Adara leaned back on her chair.


    "What comes after an elite?" Sarah.


    Adara looked at her eyes.


    Sarah felt those eyes held so many secrets and were key to success.


    "At total attribute fifty you are considered a champion. At seventy-five you are considered an ascendant. Those are the mortal realms, after you pass a realm you need stronger monsters to give you the same amount of essence. It is why killing an ant will not benefit you. It is the same as I killing an insignificant goblin. We can discuss after if you ever make it that far." Adara.


    Sarah gulped, she would soon be at: Body:1, Mind:5, Spirit: 8.


    A grand total of four-teen, each bottle neck had made it much harder to become stronger.


    The last had slowed her progress by a substantial degree and after fifteen she would encounter another which was supposedly even greater.


    Then another at twenty and the final at twenty five.


    How far would it take to reach seventy-five?


    "How strong are you?" Sarah was intrigued.


    "........I am considered a demi-god in terms of power." Adara.


    "How far is that from ascendant?" Sarah.


    "I think I will hold that back on that for now." Adara smiled playfully.


    Sarah felt a little light-headed.


    Sure she knew Adara was a dragon, but she expected a powerful artillary shell to be able to kill her.


    At those heights, was it is possible for mortal weapons to harm you?


    "I think we should continue now unto how many favors a djinn will grant before you must begin to pay. Then we will go into the long-list of danger to invocation, such as applying too many blessings or applying blessings that do not mesh well. Then process of contacting Djinns. It is a little tricky, you need to reach out through magic, which will take a spell-circle, which must be extremely precise to work and you sit in the middle. It will need to be supplied sufficient energy to work. As you are now that could take a few hours." Adara.

 Dream 46

    The wind felt as if it was pressing against him.


    Running with the scraped and dented chest-plate was constraining as hell.


    The constant wolf teeth and claws had slowly worn it away.


    His bones were knocking, his restricted abs were hindering his breathing and his muscles felt slightly bruised after multiple thrashings.


    Half an hour had passed.


    ''Fuck! I could use Alex right about now.'' Eian was bent over holding himself up by leaning on his knees.


    He heard howls in the distance.


    A large pack of five wolves growled and charged, he held his great-sword at the ready.


    The front two jumped at him teeth bared and feet forward.


    He side-stepped and timed a perfect cleave, cutting through three front-legs on two wolves.


    Both fell to the floor whining, blood splattered everywhere.


    Eian reversed his swing and split the face of a third wolf, before feinting a dodge which tricked the fourth wolf and pivoting the other way.


    He speared the fifth wolf in it''s gut, using it''s momentum to disembowel it.


    The fifth wolf''s weight crashed into Eian and he lost hold of his weapon in its belly.


    The fourth wolf returned and bit his already injured arm.


    "RRRRRR! Fucker!" Eian clenched his teeth.


    Eian grabbed the wolf''s neck one-handed against his chest and wrestled for a good grip with his right-arm.


    He slowly choked the fourth wolf for a few seconds, it''s teeth in his left-arm.


    He felt another set of teeth of his left leg, looking he saw a three legged wolf biting it.


    Eian finally got a good hold and twisted the fourth wolf''s neck with a resounding crack, it twitched and died.


    The three legged wolf kept biting his armored leg, he kicked it''s face and it jumped at him.


    He wrestled with this one as well, but easily broke it''s neck as he had both arms free.


    He watched his bleeding arm, the blood was flowing only slightly.


    The wound had been reopened and worsened.


    The deeper teeth marks were less than half a centimeter deep, but the wolves had a lot of teeth and the marks had spread to a wider area.


    ''Fuck! I hope it doesn''t get infected.'' Eian felt it itching.


    Hunger was gnawing at his belly.


    His spirit was recovering at a snails pace.


    He didn''t have enough to reliably dig deep enough and to reinforce a cave yet.


    ''Just gotta buy time for that. Fuck!'' Eian was mentally exhausted.


    Close to nine days of hellish combat with Ul, the bear, that vine-thing and the forest monsters had taken a huge toll.


    He felt mentally ready to drop, even though his body was full of vigor.


    Not to mention the chest-plate''s multiple discomforts, he was considering removing the thing before he got fully stuck in it.


    How he wished he could bend metal, although it wouldn''t help him till his spirit recovered either way.


    ''I can''t make it to them!'' Eian eyed the sky.


    He couldn''t see the smoke through the forest and darkness.


    Running forward in these conditions could just get him lost, if he wasn''t already.


    He eyed the wolves, they were an abundance of food.


    Enough to maybe even survive his next upgrade, which he predicted he practically needed at this point or he would die from monster attacks.


    ''Shit! I need more time!'' Eian cursed.


    It was true his spirit was too far gone to realistically dig a cave downwards and protect himself.


    He had to keep running and wait a while more, he would most likely encounter other edible monsters trying to kill him anyway.


    Even though the thought of eating raw meat sounded distasteful and practically disgusting.


    He caught his short breathe quickly and abandoned the dead wolves, running towards where he remembered the smoke had originated.


    Another twenty minutes later he heard more noise.


    He turned and saw three stags bull rush him, antlers aimed at him.


    He readied himself, dodge-rolled left and positioned himself to face the animals.


    He ran towards the beasts, as they halted to re-position their next charge.


    Eian then gutted a first stag through the belly, it reared it''s legs and he tore his sword out.


    Another second stag came at him charging and pivoted as he swung low chopping a leg clean off, it went tumbling hard on the floor.


    The last stag was slightly behind and he side-stepped-left and caught its major organs near the heart region.


    It collapsed dead.


    The second injured stag was an easy kill.


    Eian kept running he was far too spiritually weak still.


    Every noise in the forest had him pent up and almost jumping, his breathing was uncomfortable.


    SWOOSH!


    ''OH FUCK! NO!!!'' Eian watched upwards and saw something fly past.


    He couldn''t get a good look in the darkness, he dropped the horn and lotus.


    He ran to the thickest tree he could find and placed his back against it''s trunk.


    Swoosh!


    Eians guts clenched and he grit his teeth, he prepared himself for a brutal fight, and possibly death.


    ''This is it?'' Eian mind raced as he scanned the area.


    How could he kill a griffin?


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itSomething the four of them had immense trouble killing?


    He doubted he could kill it with rock armor and full spirit.


    Swoosh!


    A great wing-span was now clearly visibly floating just above the trees.


    A huge hawk like bird was screeched it''s fury, it was smaller than the griffin by a large margin.


    It''s torso was perhaps the size of a large lion!


    It''s wings send torrents of air buffeting Eian.


    ''Shit! At least it''s not a griffin!'' Eian struggled for breathe, but his churning guts did not stop.


    "CAWWWW!" The bird screeched and it''s wings flapped faster.


    The winds begun to push him unto the tree.


    Eian tried to run around the tree, the bird screeched.


    SNAP!


    A whip''s crackle could be heard, and something thin caught Eian''s back, his armor screeched its pain.


    The blow pushed him straight forward, stumbling him.


    Eian caught himself, raced and hid behind the tree.


    "CAWWwwww!" The birds voice drifted upwards.


    He checked around for what could have hit him and saw nothing, not even a branch.


    SNAP!


    Something invisible impacted a tree nearby, gouging a layer and Eain saw chips of wood fly.


    It was as if an invisible blade had sliced at it.


    Eian was confused for a moment.


    "CAWWWWW!" The bird was descending in front of him once more.


    Eian watched it fan it''s wings waiting for what it would do.


    It''s wings blurred forward.


    SNAP!


    The wind rushed, leaves blew away, Eian was forcibly shoved backwards and his chestplate forcefully screeched once more!


    ''WIND?!'' Eian stared disbelieving at his chest-plate, it had scrapped thin lines through his chest-plate.


    Eian began to sweat, despite the breeze, without his armor that would have torn his thick skin!


    SNAP!


    More slices crashed into Eian gouging more thin lines!


    He couldn''t take too many!


    His armor would eventually tear!


    Eian ran around the tree again.


    "CAWWWwwww!" The birds screech ascended.


    Eian ran and paid attention to the birds loud flaps.


    ''Shit what do I do? Its too far up to hit!'' Eian racked his brain for ideas.


    As soon as the bird descended Eian ran around to the other side.


    Eian heard a snap and the trees trunk thudded, but nothing impacted him.


    "CAWWWWW! CAWWWW!" The bird howled in fury.


    Eian listened as it flew around the tree instead of ascending again.


    ''Shit!'' Eian ran the other direction, the birds screeches followed.


    SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!


    Eian evaded each strike from the beast, unable to realistically think of an idea.


    He had no long-ranged attacks!


    The bird kept howling and Eian kept running behind trees.


    It kept following him constantly.


    He heard its swoop by, just as he braced behind the latest tree.


    It breezed past him, it''s trailing body sent slices all over the place.


    ''?!!!MAYBE!'' Eian thought.


    He ran around the tree, as the monster screeched it''s fury.


    It kept sending snapping wind-slices towards him, but most were taken by the tree.


    Once behind Eian sprinted full speed to the next closest tree, hearing it''s screeches follow him!


    He hid behind its cover, quickly spun and swung the direction he had just passed.


    SMACK!


    "CAWWWwwww." The bird howled.


    His sword sent a heavy-jolt up his arms and went flying!


    He had caught the beasts wing, tearing deeply!


    His joints ached as he saw the beast skidding across the floor in a tumble of feathers.


    Eian drew his useless mace with no other options and rushed the bird!


    It lay in a tumbled of agonized pain, struggling to right itself upwards.


    Eian didn''t give it a chance, he brained it.


    He bashed it''s skull, even as it''s broken wings attempted to protect it.


    He kept smacking until its skull resembled a blended pizza of bone and gore, with a beak at the center.


    ''Fuck!?'' What''s next? A... no never mind. No more jinxing....'' Eian somberly thought.


    Eian was breathing heavily.


    He looked at his battered chest-plate, it now sported many thin lines through-out and he wasn''t sure how much more useful it could be.


    The rest of his armor sported a few, but no other part held more than the chest-plate.


    He looked at his great-sword, it seemed the heavy-impact had broken the very tip off.


    Though it could probably still pierce partially.


    ''Fuck.'' Eian sighed, things weren''t looking good.


    His spirit-well was not even a fourth full yet, perhaps an eight.


    He looked around recovered the unicorn horn and the dead lotus once more.


    He kept running, the wind had visibly stilled.


    ''Hopefully those things stop coming!'' Eian prayed.


    His prayer went unanswered a while later.


    A monstrous cat appeared howling at him.


    It pounced and Eian barely dodged, he was surprised by it''s appearance.


    He gathered himself and dodged another pounce, but swung at it''s front leg.


    It sliced a deep cut on it and the cat yowled.


    Eian reoriented himself and looked at the cat.


    It was eyeing him it ran forward and Eian timed his attack.


    He pivoted and hastily swung at it''s face, it didn''t kill only half-blind.


    The cat''s weight almost tore his sword from his grip, he missed the vital part.


    "GROOOOOOOOOO!" Cat.


    The cat was bleeding from its blinded eye and was swiping it''s claws to keep him at bay.


    Eian chopped at it''s front-paws, though he couldn''t cleave through it''s thickness.


    It pounced at him, he ducked and stabbed it''s belly.


    The broken tip lazily pierced and gutted the beast, though it''s weight landed wholly atop Eian.


    "GROrrrrRAgrA!" The cat thrashed, swiped and bit at Eian.


    From beneath Eian twisted the sword and dragged it sideways inside the beasts belly.


    The cat crawled away and it''s bleeding intestines spilled on the ground.


    Eian got up and chopped it''s neck multiple times beheading it.


    ''Fuck... I can''t keep this up. Forever.'' Eian thoughts were getting hazy.


    He stared at the ground next to the cat and begun digging slowly.


    When he was a few feet under he looked up and saw a wolf jump at him.


    He struggled with it within the tiny hole and felt a weight land atop them, then another rendering him almost blinded by their piled bodies.


    He broke the neck of the first wolf after a vicious struggle and blindly grabbed above himself.


    Finding a moving leg he pulled against it''s struggles, he felt something bite his injured arm and gritted his teeth.


    He felt something on his chest-plate move and fought on despite it.


    Wrestling among the wolves he got another good grip and broke a neck.


    He struggled to find another living wolf and pushed the dead till he was wrestling with what seemed to be a third wolf.


    He killed that one too.


    ''Fuck!.'' Eian was almost blinded by their bodies.


    He struggled to move beneath them.


    Facing the floor and buried by bodies Eian begun digging deeper.


    He heard something land atop their combined bodies and kept digging.

 Dream 47

    Sarah listened intently at Adara''s instructions.


    Djinn''s usually limit how much you can ask of them initially and increase that limit as you pay your dues.


    At first djinns will grant only smaller favors and blessings, unless you were inclined to grant immediate payments.


    Defaulting on a payment from a djinn would result on a cursed-mark, you would also have a bounty on your head by the entire race.


    Then they went into the application of external blessings, which Adara mentioned to apply only one to spirit, one to mind and one to body at most.


    Most Djinn could grant a few runes, which were some form naming magic even she could learn.


    It would take years of study for her to properly use runes according to Adara however, so most simply performed an invocation for this service instead.


    Not everyone was immortal with infinite time on their hands after all, nor could they find a knowledgeable teacher learned enough to teach the complicated deeper magic ''naming'' and it''s corresponding language ''runes''.


    Apparently these runes were works as blessings and could bolster someone or something with extra temporary attributes.


    Runes were typically used to alter properties to some degree, such as the power of a sword swing by ignoring friction or the effect gravity has on the body.


    One of the most well known and well used is the ability to temporarily alter iron into what is known as ''cold-iron'', which has powerful magic resistance.


    Adara lectured the Djinn would have a list of such runes they could apply, and their prices.


    Apparently invocating involved the djinn sort of lingering within her mind to perform a service.


    Adara assured Sarah the Djinn would not be able to possess her through invocation, as long as she followed the proper procedures.


    Adara continued and said a Djinn would have little reason to even try either way.


    Once the initial partnership was established it was much easier to contact the djinn, the circle will not be needed, at least that is what Adara says.


    "Well. I think that is enough for that. Let us begin on the warding procedures against spirits to prevent risk of possession. Also remember an invocated spirit is a guest in your mind powered there by your circle. The connection can be cut from your side easily and at any moment." Adara.


    Sarah nodded, it was easier to let Adara lecture and listen.


    "The basic possession ward is a mental construct. Follow my instructions. Close your eyes." Adara.


    She did.


    "Now feel slowly spread your senses throughout your being. Do one part at a time. Start from your head to your toes. Include every part of yourself as well, picture your mind, body and spirit. Take your time. Confirm when you have done so." Adara instructed.


    Sarah took her time doing this and once she did she nodded.


    "Good next picture a singular room around yourself. Repeat the previous exercise to ensure all of you is within, then picture the walls use you as a source of power. Tell me when you have it." Adara.


    "I picture it." Sarah said after a few tries.


    Strangely her mind tired slightly at the image.


    "Good, this is called an inner sanctuary. After setting it up you can exit, it shall stay up till the PSI energy you place in it is naturally expended. If something attempts to possess you will visibly see them there as a visual entity. Mental strength is all that matters there, that will manifest as physical strength, grapple with the entity to resist. Even the weakest mind holds much power within their sanctuary. It will buy you enough time against a stronger foe to break the connection. Even I would have trouble dominating you there." Adara.


    "Really?" Sarah leaned forward.


    Sarah was intrigued by the possibility of being forever safe from possession.


    "Yes. I actually want to test your defenses. Better you get some practice now, where you are safe than to experience it first hand in actual danger. Are you ready?" Adara grinned.


    "That''s....a little invasive isn''t it?" Sarah''s lips tightened.


    "We can skip that part if you wish, but I assure you. You may likely regret it if something actually does attack you so." Adara''s face contorted.


    Sarah spent a while contemplating it.


    "If it helps any. I assure you, I could actually attack you without your permission. If that was my end goal I could have attacked you from the beginning." Adara explained, though her voice sounded a little flat.


    "Oh." Sarah narrowed her eyes.


    She spent some more time debating it.


    "I guess there''s no harm in working on my metal defenses. Miss Adara." Sarah concluded and crossed her arms.


    "Very well. Focus on your sanctuary and nod when you are ready. I will attack you as soon as I enter." Adara looked her in the eye.


    Sarah prepared her mind for the invasion and nodded.


    Suddenly she felt the beginning of a head-ache.


    She saw Adara within her sanctuary casually break through the walls.


    Adara lunged at her and Sarah felt strong arms wrap around her.


    Slowly her mind began to blur as if she would faint, she fought back feebly.


    Before her mind fully succumbed everything snapped back to normal, her headache also vanished.


    Adara stood a few feet away.


    "You need to focus your energy more on fighting back. Ready?" Adara stared at her eyes.


    "Y....Yes." Sarah braced herself.


    They kept at it until for many hours.


    ******


    By the end of almost a day Sarah could reliably last a minute.


    Sarah let her sanctuary collapse afterwards.


    "That should be enough time to cut any connection. Good work." Adara nodded.


    "Thank-you." Sarah looked down and away.


    "You are welcome little Sarah I hope this protects you from all those whom seek to harm you." Adara smiled sweetly at her.


    After a short pause Adara''s face hardened slightly.


    "Beware that this will only give you time to break a invocation circle. If something powerful is next to you, you will need to kill its physical body or find another way to not get possessed." Adara.


    Sarah felt guilty for having doubted Adara.


    She had not directly lied to her as far as she could tell.


    She had told her directly when she was unable to tell her something.


    It was very strange as if Adara knew how her mind worked, which was strange as they had never met before.


    ''Then again the oracle could have just told her everything about me I suppose.'' Sarah sighed.


    "Very well. I shall teach you a basic invocation circle. There are many circles that use less power or go directly towards your desired realm, but those require much more detail and concentration as well as experience in either invocation or summoning. The one I shall teach you will tie you to the center of all universes: the nether." Adara.


    "The Nether?" Sarah wondered what that meant.


    "Yes. The nether is the gateway between universes, planes and even realms everywhere. It is expansive and very difficult to travel within physically." Adara.


    "Is that how I can get home?" Sarah asked.


    "It is a way you could travel between worlds. Once you are more powerful I will gladly teach you how." Adara stated, which made Sarah''s brows twitch, something about the wording felt strange.


    "Can you tell me when?" Sarah was anxious to learn.


    "It is still a bit away yet. I do not want to discourage you, but I swear it will be less than a year till you can go home. Even at a much slower pace than you are currently going, but the faster the better." Adara.


    Sarah sighed, she was tired of not knowing everything.


    "Alright this basic summoning circle must require a number within. It matters not in which numeric system is used, only that you understand it. The number to connect to the Djinn is nine-hundred-fifty-three. Try to evade writing the number six-six-six. It is the realm of demons." Adara.


    "Oh!" Sarah was astonished that was actually a thing.


    "Yes. Now let us move to the actual circle. It is a basic circle with six-equal-circles inter-lapping inside, they form a sort of flower symbol at the center. Each circle represents a type of energy and you have to fill them each. Then you may use the circle once full. Let us begin the training. The less imperfection the circle has results in better results and more fuel efficiency. You may carve out the outline, place ash from animal flesh or even droplets of blood within to make it a more solid circle." Adara.


    Adara taught Sarah how to carve the symbol into different large floors.


    She would change the flooring constantly.


    Dirt, stone, tiles, wood, gravel, even carpet which Adara said was sort of a waste.


    Though Sarah couldn''t get a perfect circle, Adara commented her PSI needed to be higher to achieve closer perfection.


    Adara implied it wasn''t bad for now, Adara then taught her how to charge the spell circle, Alex couldn''t help her with that apparently.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!She would have to sit in the circle and link herself to it as well.


    Apparently the bargaining worked similar to how Adara was meeting her, it would happen at a faster mental-speed.


    "Well now that that is over let us do a few practicing hours on djinn interactions, I will give you time to mentally rest as well. You need to be sharp when dealing with such beings." Adara.


    They did everything from greetings, to favor sizes, to pricing to specialities.


    Djinn''s typically divided favors into low, small, medium, large and special, but there were exceptions.


    Special favors weren''t always more expensive than others, but were used for special circumstance, such as when the djinn needed a greater djinn to work a favor.


    For reference Adara told her an hour of normal-mercenary-service is usually no more than two silver-standard unless you were deemed adequate, an hour of elite-mercenary-service is typically around a single gold-standard which was ten silver standards.


    She told her however than elites typically were already bound fully with two or three enchanted items and came with full combat-gear.


    Adara lectured that the buy-out for mercenary service will be stated by the djinn, extra hours were sometimes also included.


    For energy transfers filling a large external energy well will grant her about a single silver-standard, it is a fairly common method and used by many people so supply is near endless.


    The djinn apparently would require her to go to a designated area and work for him doing nothing but filling these until her payment was done, he would of course pay for her food and boarding as extra.


    Many other types of payments existed of course and the djinns would tell her what they required of her and they''re going rates for the services.


    After what felt like days Adara deemed she was ready to at least contract a djinn safely without her help.


    "Very well I believe you are ready. You cannot contact a Djinn from here as your mind is under tremendous strain just to speed it up this much. So you will need to go out and do it. Let me teach you about other invocations and more detail on other deeper magics. Any questions?" Adara warned.


    "What other spirits can I invocate? you''ve only mentioned demons, djinn and gods." Sarah wanted to know more.


    "A good question. Pure elemental creatures would also be willing to be invocated by a mage of their element. In exchange for energy of course. Other beings such as certain archliches would gladly deal with a mortal for a price of course. Angels sometimes deal with those whom have certain virtues, but usually demand certain good-deeds to be done on their behalf, similar to a mercenary-quests but more time-consuming and typically more dangerous. Certain beast-spirits will also deal with you and grant totemic powers in exchange usually for helping a suffering animal or a lingering spirit. I recommended djinns because they are a type of jack-of-all trades." Adara.


    "So djinns are the best?" Sarah was confused.


    "Djinn''s have a wide variety of skills, but charge a little more as well, but other beings specialize wholly on other things. I didn''t teach you these because these beings are sometimes a little harder to deal with and could cause much more harm to you for an insult. Djinns will simply not deal with you or increase their prices and trick you into paying more for less." Adara.


    "You were ready to teach me demonology though." Sarah pointed out her flaw.


    "I would only have taught you lesser-demon-lings. The lowest of the lowest. Those demons aren''t as dangerous as you would think. These demons are so weak they would have trouble harming you, even as you are. Most are also in a perpetual hell, as they are bullied, eaten, killed or enslaved by other demons at a whim. They would love to get out by accumulating a mortals favor, so their services are typically cheap and as a reward usually ask to be summoned and freed, as I said they are physically and magically weak so that is not a problem. You cannot summon them easily yet of course, but with enough time to gather the energy and a large ritual you could. They also aren''t as cunning as their stronger compatriots. I also warned you not to experiment on anything that I have not taught you remember? That includes messing with stronger demons, until I would have taught you more." Adara clarified.


    "Oh." Sarah blinked amazed at all the information.


    "You doubt my logic little Sarah. I am well learned and know exactly how to bring out your potential." Adara sounded a flat by the end.


    Sarah felt a little bad at that, Adara hadn''t led her astray yet.


    "Sorry my world has a lot of legends about demons. You said summoning, what is the difference between summoning and invocating?" Sarsh thought they seemed similar.


    "It is fine. I understand. Summoning and invocating are similar, but different. Invocating involves contacting a being and bargaining for an spell or effect they grant through you, be it through mind, body or spirit. Summoning involves bringing them to your location and having them fight or aid you in some way, it is far more costly than invocation." Adara.


    "How does summoning work?" Sarah was curious.


    "It works similar to invocation with circles, but it requires much more power." Adara.


    "Would it work in reverse?" Sarah was curious if she could be summoned to her world.


    "I know what you are thinking. It could, but as I said it would be costly. Also someone must open a doorway on the other side. That person has to be there to pull you through, so that would be a major problem." Adara.


    "Can''t you go there and summon me?" Sarah finally saw a way out.


    "Any other time certainly, but I am currently occupied with this task. I fear I will be unable to summon you for quite some time." Adara.


    "How long will it take you? Can''t you summon me where you are?" Sarah.


    "By the time I am done, you would already have had enough time to get home on your own. I cannot summon you from where I am now." Adara.


    "...." Sarah sighed.


    Sarah waited a while and organized her thoughts.


    She asked about the other deeper magics.


    Adara had mentioned Alchemy, Enchantments and Scripts.


    Adara instructed that it takes years to study Alchemy and generally required different magical ingredients that do not exist in all worlds.


    Alchemy was used to create potions and powders with various magical effects such as regenerating limbs and restoring spirit.


    Enchantments were much more complicated and require a combination of powers Sarah did not yet possess, Scripts were much the same.


    "Are there any other deeper-magics?" Sarah.


    "Certainly, but most require you to have a little more PSI for concentration. Elemental-diversity is what I have in mind for you next, it will drain you faster than normal however. As you are it will be a bit hard, but you should be able to use the other elements except water for now." Adara.


    "Elemental diversity?" Sarah wanted to know more.


    "Yes it is the process of converting your energy into another element. Once you have the focus you will be able to mix many elements together for various effects. Crafting the spells will also not be natural, unlike how you manipulate fire. It requires a lot more work and the understanding of various spells." Adara.


    "So anyone can use any element?" Sarah was astonished.


    "Yes. Water will give you the most trouble however. You will have to first convert you magic to another element at a loss, then to Water at another loss. Water will thus be four times more taxing once fully mastered, thus it will be extremely inefficient. Not to mention the increased difficulty of spellwork." Adara.


    "Amazing can I learn that now?" Sarah was anxious.


    "The conversion technique is difficult and will take days. Once you have it down, it will take even more to learn the appropriate spellwork. As I have mentioned your control over fire is natural, it will not be so with other elements. You will also no gain the elemental gifts from those elements." Adara.


    "Amazing!" Sarah lost her cool at the possibilities.


    "Take into account that other elements possess some difficulties that you will have to find another manner to circumvent. For example Death energy will naturally harm you following through your body. I will teach you the best way to deal with these effects as well." Adara.


    Sarah listened intently to Adara''s words.


    "We do not have time for it now. It will have to be till next time, little Sarah. I also don''t want you to confuse your lessons. Focus on the djinn first then, we will begin another deeper magic. Let on move unto your next power." Adara.


    "What is it?" Sarah.


    "It is the ligthning bolt. The previous power simply gave you the ability to channel. Now you can focus it a bit more. It is still imprecise at longer ranges, but far more efficient than an arc." Adara.


    ******


    Sarah blinked and noticed Alex and Jessica were looking downwards.


    She heard multiple sounds of howling and flesh tearing.


    Looking downwards there were many animal corpse about.


    "What happened?" Sarah.


    "A lot of wolves ate a bear! It was scary!" Jessica smiled, which Sarah found strange considering the circumstances.


    "A two packs of wolves arrived first. Then a huge bear came over and killed most of them, till the wolves hurt it and begun eating it alive. Jessica and I killed remaining four wolves from the lower branches easily. Now more wolves came and are chewing on the bear and the dead wolves." Alex explained.


    "How many are there?" Sarah.


    "We killed most!" Jessica looked happy.


    "At least three left from the last batch. Relax Sar. You can just burn them from up here easy. Me and Jess kill them easily when they try to climb the tree. They''re size makes them awkward at it and they drop if you hit them sometimes." Alex.


    "Oh?" Sarah raised her brows.


    "Yes I''ve killed four of them! I''m winning Alex right now!" Jessica smiled.


    "Yeah good job Jess." Alex smiled at her enthusiasm.


    "Oh I guess I was worried for nothing." Sarah.


    ''At least they didn''t take the time to go fuck in the woods or something....Did they?'' Sarah tilted her head and observed the two of them.


    They didn''t look any different and they smelled terrible but that was the same smell from before.


    No sticky sweat, no weird smell, no heavy breathing, no flushed skin and no anxiety.


    Alex wasn''t wearing his armor, but he had taken it off to climb the tree.


    So far they weren''t showing any signs of it.


    ''Not that it really matters.'' Sarah thought as long as she wasn''t dead because of them.


    "So? You are you going to kill the rest or not?" Jessica questioned after her apparent silence.


    "Easy Jess, she''s probably tired." Alex defended her.


    "No. She''s right. I''ll get to it. I have many things to do before we can find Eian anyways." Sarah.


    Sarah easily killed the remaining wolves by lighting them on fire.


    The trio got down and everyone re-equipped their armor.


    "So you can track Eian now? Where is he?" Alex, Jessica simply shook her head.


    "I need to do a few things before I know. I should be able to find him afterwards if he''s alive." Sarah.


    "He has to be alive! It''s not even been a day! We have to believe he can take care of himself." Alex looked sad.


    Sarah told them about what she needed and all about djinns.


    She answered their questions as they worked.


    Sarah had Alex gather the wolves.


    She burnt some meat for food and another for spell ashes.


    Once the circle was complete, Sarah began charging the circle, apparently it could only work with one energy type or they clashed.


    It took close to two extra hours of charge, Sarah had to take breaks at about seventy-five percent to allow herself to recharge faster.


    A few boars came by and Jessica''s tattoo''s managed to blink after her next kill.


    She selected mind one last time and she froze.


    Sarah worked as she was frozen wondering what happened.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Jessica held her head with both hands.


    Sarah was spooked and froze, as she watched Jessica fall to the floor.


    "What?! JESS?!" Alex rushed to her side.


    He tried to heal her but she kept screaming.

 Dream 48

    Eian had kept digging, the last big wolf was already dead.


    It had been the biggest meanest wolf ever, but he had no problems.


    Something in his chestplate felt torn, it was digging uncomfortably at his side now, it felt similarly to the edge of a can.


    Suddenly he felt the earth crack, the opening widened and swallowed him.


    ''WTF??!'' Eian fell shortly and landed on his knees,


    He hadd a second to register the floor felt damp and the air humid.


    Shortly there after several wolf carcasses landed atop his body.


    ''Ugh.'' Eian lay beneath their bodies.


    He pushed through the throng of bodies and found himself in a large damp warren.


    It was surprisingly barren and not a soul was within, though several stalagmites were atop the roof.


    Looking upwards he saw an the opening had collapsed into some form of underground room.


    His entrance had been more than a story high, luckily his bones weren''t quite like before now.


    The room had a tunnel-exit, though the rest seemed sealed off, but for now Eian was content to relax atop the dead bodies.


    They were sort of like meaty pillows, even if they did have blood everywhere.


    ''Fuck...I deserve a break.'' Eian relaxed and let his mind wander.


    He sported a massive headache along with several bumps, scraps and bruises.


    His arm was an itchy mess and his side was beginning to feel a little raw from the metal chaffing.


    Eian took off his helmet to get a better look, which was near impossible with almost no light.


    Eian inspected the damaged chestplate was and realized the combination of a recent dents and the thin slices had carved through and bent an area inward.


    With great effort he painstakingly removed it, the torn side passed through patches of skin and scraped it uncomfortably.


    Feeling at the mangled excuse of armor Eian wondered how he had even managed to stay within its confines.


    ''Well I got time. And food. Are these the same tunnels as before?'' Eian inspected the wolf carcasses which favored lumps of darkness within the cavern.


    With his helmet off he could hear running water in the distance.


    Eian drew his great-sword, through the tunnel and walked toward the sound of water.


    The tunnel leg on wards, but he discovered the source of the sound.


    He found a tiny shower along the wall, that could generously be called a waterfall flowing from a slightly wider opening, it led off upwards into darkness and Eian though perhaps even he could squeeze into the opening.


    The water had eroded the floor and led deeper down into the earth, he had to watch his footing or his foot would get stuck.


    Eian drank deeply from the water before going back towards his landing.


    He looked up at the opening in the ceiling.


    ''Well, worst case scenario I slowly stack stone blocks, till I get out through the top.'' Eian''s shoulders slumped and he decided his spirit was close to drained once more.


    He turned and looked at his blinking tattoo.


    ''Well. No time like the present.'' Eian wrinkled his nose, he knew what would come.


    He walked towards the wolf carcasses carved out uneven chunks of meat and ate.


    He meat was coppery and tough, almost rubbery.


    He tore at it and tried to ignore the taste, it was disgusting.


    Once he was adequately full he went back for some water, and nourished himself.


    He lay back on a bed of dead carcasses and pressed selected Body on his tattoo.


    His belly instantly began to protest.


    He rushed to an area secluded from the meat.


    His suffering had begun.


    *****


    Time passed slowly in Eian''s mind.


    He had stripped himself naked, and stacked his equipment in a pile.


    It was much easier to exist that way, than to remove it all every time he had to go use the rest-room.


    He thought he had drunk a barrel of water and eaten an entire wolf by now.


    His stomach was revolting and he felt disgusted by the filth.


    Second past second his world was eternal suffering.


    When he realized the pain had subsided and he watched his tattoo.


    It marked the transformation as complete, though they were not blinking.


    He was at: Body:6, Mind:4, and Spirit:5.


    He rejoiced it was finally over.


    He re-equiped everything after a through hand shower.


    Once he felt akin to slightly human he could ponder other things.


    Now he just had to decide what his plan was.


    In the time of his suffering his spirit had recovered a substantial degree.


    He looked at the opening.


    ''I guess I should start building upwards slowly. No telling where this tunnel leads, besides I''ll probably have to wait till the sun comes out to actually find those guys. Hopefully they''re still waiting for me.'' Eian sighed, things still weren''t looking good.


    His chest was once more bare, the chestplate was too damaged to be used and it hindered his movements.


    He got to work slowly, ensuring his spirit was not over taxed and to recover it slowly.


    He was still aching and had to take multiple breaks to rest the wolf pillows.


    He was still hungry and had to tear off parts of meat occasionally as well.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.He got back to work.


    ******


    Jessica gazed about at her spacious room, directly in front of her was an open door that was definitely not the door of her room.


    It led off somewhere out of sight from her angle, though the coloring was different from what her house would hold.


    She was having a really weird out-of-body sensation, the windows showed her nothing literally nothing.


    It was as if they had been painted black on the other side.


    Everything else was the same, though only a few things really mattered to her.


    She saw the picture of her joyful parents and herself as a baby, her father was crying on his knees holding her, her mother was obscured her face with both hands.


    A picture of her sweet sixteen dress, he parents were there as well, though she had been single at the time a cousin had danced with her.


    She even saw a shark pillow she had won by herself at an amusement park last year, her boyfriend hadn''t even wanted to play and even try to win her something.


    She was glad she had met Alex though, as soon as they got back home she would dump her loser boyfriend and ask Alex if he was single, she really hoped he was.


    ''This....This isn''t my home. It feels too weird.'' Jessica was feeling strange and begun fidgeting.


    "It is part of your mind, I have reached out to you here to help you." Female voice.


    "Who''s there?!" Jessica startled and gasped.


    "Relax Miss Price. Pass the open the door of your potential. I await you here." Female voice.


    "Why should I trust you?" Jessica glanced about the room and her eyes narrowed.


    "Your friends have already told you of their guides. Your power has finally awoken and I have some advice before you leave." Female voice.


    The voice spoke punctually with no surprise and little emotion.


    "What power have I gotten?" Jessica''s breathing quickened.


    ''PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! BE TELEPORTATION!'' Jessica''s heart was racing.


    "It is a most wonderful gift child. Please come. It is not teleportation as you hope. It is something much much more rare." Female voice.


    "It''s not teleportation?!" Jessica shoulders slumped.


    "I knew it, but it is still funny. Teleportation would not have helped you get home either way. You understand so little, but it must be so for now. What you have makes that power pale in comparison, people would kill and raze cities to possess your gift." Female voice.


    "How do I get home then! My parents are probably dying to find me!" Jessica lightly pulled at her hair.


    "All things have their appropriate time. Worry not. Now come let us speak face to face. I know my presence disturbs you, you will feel better once you see me." Female.


    Jessica narrowed her eyes and debated.


    In the end she decided to at least go to see her apparent guide, then she could ask her some more questions.


    Everything the others told her led her to believe they meant no harm, she crossed her arms and readied herself.


    Jessica left the imitation of her room and passed the open door, it was a wooden and had a large flowing line that split into many more.


    Soon she was standing a top another barren room, at its center was an ordinary woman.


    She wore an old-style white-dress similar to a priestess, a grey-cloak covered only one side of her dress.


    The dress materials were strange and favored modern fabric, an elegant blend of classic and stylish, Jessica approved.


    She was in a meditative sitting position and had her back turned.


    Jessica could see her hair was pure white that bordered silver, her hood was not up.


    ''Is she old? I hope her face isn''t a monster....'' Jessica shuddered at the thought.


    She walked around the figure keeping a large distance between them.


    "Miss Price. You worry too much and scare so easy." Sitting lady held some humor in her voice.


    Jessica felt a little foolish, but still didn''t approach better safe than sorry.


    Soon she could see her face.


    It looked surprisingly young and ordinary, except she had a cloth-blindfold covering her eyes.


    Jessica breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Sit please. My name is Myru, you may call me Mir, if you desire Miss Price. Can I call you by your given name?" Myru''s lips curled into a smile.


    "Ummmm....Sure Miss Me-ru." Jessica looked at the floor.


    Jessica played with her hair as she sat on the floor in front of the mysterious lady.


    "It is pronounced My-Ru. Jessica, I am here for a simple reason." Myru clarified.


    "Um? What is it?" Jessica had a jumble of confused-questions, and she didn''t even know what to ask.


    "You have the ability to read your future Jessica." Myru.


    "What?" Jessia''s brow wrinkled.


    Out of everything that she was expecting that was the last.


    "I am here to tell you that no matter what you see. ALWAYS HOLD HOPE. ALWAYS." Myru was firm and it struck a cord in her mind.


    "Your scaring me a little, what do you mean?" Jessica held her breathe.


    Myru somehow held her gaze through the blindfold.


    "You can only read the possibilities of your future. You can only see things you could witness with your own two eyes. There are many possibilities, but most will not come true, there can only be one tomorrow after all." Myru.


    "Wait so can I or can''t I see the future?" Jessica tilted her head.


    "Listen closely to every word. The future is like a boat on a river. Ever following onwards, the river branches off endlessly at every turn. You can see where those branches lead before the vessel enters, most people are within in the vessel unable to see the destination. For now you are a sailor on top, able to rig a sail and perhaps tilt the vessel to a more favorable out-come, but you may fail as well. With experience you may be able to wrestle control from the captain to guide it to your desire." Myru.


    Jessica was beginning to feel overwhelmed, she rubbed her temple with the fingers on one hand.


    She was understanding most of what Myru was saying, but it was all so much to take in.


    "As the future enters a different channel, the other futures are closed off from your sight. Also the closer you are, the more clearly you can see other destinations. For now far into the future will be clouded almost entirely." Myru.


    "How about the past? Can I see the past?" Jessica licked her lips.


    "No. That is another mental power and has its many uses as well." Myru .


    "So.... What can I do for now?" Jessica furrowed her brows.


    "This power can not be taught easily. I will contact you again in a day." Myru.


    "Wait! What do you mean?" Jessica''s eyes widened.


    "The initial visions will be traumatizing. Your mind will go out of control, there is no way to control it for now. I will wait till your mind settles." Myru.


    "Traumatizing?" Jessica felt her heart seize.


    "It is best you see and experience it." Myru.


    "So you''re not going to help me?" Jessica trembled and felt a chill.


    "I already have. Remember most visions are not true. Always hold hope." Myru.


    Myru waved her hand and Jesscia had returned to the forest with the group.


    The visions began.

 Dream 49

    Jessica''s heart was racing, breathing uneven, hair a mess and on the verge of tears.


    Alex was visibly holding himself back from overtaking her.


    Last she checked Sarah had been behind them, Eian''s armored figure was far out in front.


    Several carcasses littered their path, Jessica didn''t have time to see them.


    "Guys! Hurry! They''re close!" Eian stopped and beckoned them to hurry, as if they didn''t already know that.


    "Let''s keep going. Sarah hurry up!" Alex looked over his shoulders.


    Jessica''s legs were burning, she felt she would drop and faint at any moment.


    ''Wait! What''s going on?'' Jessica was suddenly aware of herself, her head felt funny.


    She heard a scream.


    "Sarah!" Eian''s voice echoed across the forest.


    Turning to look Jessica saw a monstrous horde, they were numberless, beyond counting.


    Wolf people, wevewolves, a clump of them were gathered surrounding something, the rest breezed by and chased them.


    Strangely only a few were on fire.


    Alex was tugging at her.


    "Damn it! Go on Jess. Run! I''ll help Sarah." Alex nudged her forward, turning he drew out his sword and held his shield.


    "No!" Jess was shaking.


    "FUCK! We have to hurry, they''re eating her!" Eian had rushed back, he held his spear-axe and shield at the ready.


    "Jess. Go!" Alex''s voice pitched.


    "NO!" She was shaking uncontrollably and she audibly gulped.


    ''What''s happening?'' Jessica wasn''t in control of her body the monsters were about to overtake them.


    It was too late, the horde had surrounded them.


    She heard Alex and Eian charge roaring.


    She didn''t remember drawing her long-spear for the fight, but there it was.


    The sound of metal on flesh was prevalent.


    ''What''s going on!? What happened?!'' If she could shake any more, she would.


    Looking at a wolf men in front, Jessica focused her mind.


    It''s movements opened up to her, she saw it''s lunge even before it even knew it would.


    Stepping right and placing the spear adequately, allowed it to kill itself.


    She saw the outline of two sets of claws gliding towards her, it was simply a before-image, not real.


    She danced away from both and with eerie grace stabbed one through the eye, it performed it''s suicidal attack.


    Something tackled her from behind and she felt teeth tear into her.


    ******


    They were resting in a comfy cave, it had an opening to the outside, light was leaking through.


    Alex was lounging near her atop a multitude fur pillows, on closer inspection they were dead wolves.


    Eian was there, bare chest revealed near-perfect pecks and abs.


    Sarah had her eyes closed and was in a meditative trance.


    "I need to use the latrine. Watch my back man." Alex, Eian nodded his consent.


    They exited and Jessica heard a scream of alarm, moments later.


    Sarah bolted upwards, Jessica drew her sword and they both ran outside.


    A giant snake had coiled itself around Alex.


    Eian was furiously hacking at it with his damaged great-sword.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.Alex was feebly struggling in it''s grasp.


    Jessica screamed and charged.


    She saw it''s before-image attempt to swallow Alex.


    ''NO!!!'' Jessica bared her teeth and recklessly charged.


    She felt her sword dig slightly into the snake''s side, something hit her from out of sight.


    On the floor she realized she had gotten hit by it''s tail.


    Lightning forked and hit the snakes face, it dropped stunned.


    Eian was carving it to shreds, he managed to drag Alex out.


    He was a bleeding broken mess, his legs were bent inwards and his armor disfigured.


    She heard howls in the distance, they had smelled blood.


    ******


    They encountered a huge type of bird that sent wind at them.


    It tore at her and injured everyone, Eian wasn''t there.


    Sarah couldn''t burn it, it''s wind beat the fire away, and the lightening bolts were inaccurate at the distance.


    They hid behind trees, she heard it''s swooping wings and they bolted for another tree.


    Something impacted her back and she saw blood splatter.


    She fell and everything went black.


    ******


    A griffin swooped down and carried Sarah off.


    They were hopelessly lost.


    ******


    Alex sank into a bog and disappeared.


    They couldn''t find him.


    *****


    Image after image plagued Jessica and she was helpless to resist.


    She was going insane, her head begun to throb.


    The images felt real, like when living a dream you believed it was real.


    She heard a desperate voice reach out to her.


    "...JESSS! JESS!" Alex was kneeling beside her, he had locked eyes with her and she blinked.


    She embraced him, squeezed her eyes shut and her tears escaped her.


    "Shh....I''m here for you Jess. How can I help you? Are you hurt?" Alex''s voice was gentle as he consoled her and patted her shoulder.


    "What happened? What''s wrong?" Sarah''s eye were wide and she leaned forward as she demanded answers.


    "Give her some time." Alex frowned.


    "We don''t have time!" Sarah lifted her arms out.


    "Please back off Sarah, you''re not helping. She''s clearly not ready to talk. Shhhh....take your time." Alex shook his head at Sarah and rubbed her shoulder.


    Alex kept insisting for Sarah to sit down and wait.


    Jessica tuned them out as she sorted out her thoughts.


    ''Is this real? This isn''t another vision is it? We''re not going to die are we?'' Jessica''s eyes darted about.


    "Better? Do you need something?" Alex''s eyes were full of concern, he snapped her out of her thoughts.


    "Ah! I um..." Jessica blushed, she let go of him.


    ".....Jess, are you hurt?" Alex kept his hand on her shoulder.


    "No! I... " She backed away and Alex maintained eye contact and lifted his palms.


    "Do you need some space?" Alex.


    "Tell us whats wrong already." Sarah tilted her head at her.


    "Sarah. Please you''re not helping." Alex sighed.


    "It...It''s okay. I think I''m okay." Jessica held herself and breathed in.


    "So......?" Sarah tapped her foot.


    Jessica explained to them what had happened all.


    Sarah would stop her and ask for some clarification on certain things.


    Alex stood by patiently waiting and watching her with concern.


    "Amazing! So you can see the future! Do you know what this means?" Sarah grinned.


    "Sarah. She just went through something traumatic. Let''s give her some time." Alex suggested.


    "No! She can find Eian!" Sarah.


    "What?" Alex tilted his head and Jessica mirrored his confusion.


    "The guide-lady-whatever. She said you could only see the future through your eyes. You said you saw him in your visions. That wouldn''t be possible if he wasn''t alive." Sarah.


    "OH?! You''re right! Jess that''s amazing!" Alex grinned at her.


    His excitment quickly melted as he watched her though.


    "She still needs some time Sarah. Eian''s a tough guy. A few minutes won''t kill him. Also, Jess, do you even know how to use your powers?" Alex met her eyes again with concern.


    "No." She replied meekly and looked away, her guide hadn''t taught her anything.


    "Ugh!" Sarah begun pacing.


    A brief moment passed, Sarah quickly mastered herself.


    "Well either way. It''s a good power to have, even if we can''t use it now. I was about to contact the djinn anyways, so finding Eian shouldn''t be too hard. At least we know he''s alive." Sarah concluded.


    "That''s the spirit Sarah, thanks. Jess you too. This is amazing news." Alex smiled at her and she felt her face heat.


    "Thanks...." She looked away.


    "Well. I''ll get to it then. No time like the present." Sarah rubbed her hands togethere and quickly sat down on her previously contructed circle.


    "Good luck." Alex smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up.


    She saw as Sarah closed her eyes.


    The circle began to glow.

 Dream 50

    Sarah felt herself leave her body.


    Endless darkness stretched before her.


    She remembered Adara''s warning to not panic at the feeling or she could lose control and waste the energy within the circle.


    Floating in the void of her mind she focused on the numbers nine-five-three and a connection opened to her senses.


    The nether-link opened in the recesses of her mind, she had already set up her defenses.


    A smoke-like substance seeped through and quickly took the form of a bulky man with blue-green skin as well as a crop cut and trimmed beard with a weird fu-manchu moustache, clearly a male form.


    The djinn sported multiple tattoo''s and casual earth clothes, perhaps even a little ahead of her time.


    "Greetings Human, I am Jojik of the ''Stargazer'' family. You are here to establish a partnership yes? I will refer you to an appropriate family member. Do you have any preferences?'' Jojik the djinn.


    Sarah took a deep breathe and calmed her jittery nerves, this was it.


    "Yes, Lord Jojik of the honorable Stargazer family. I am Sarah Martin an aspiring fire-mage, I am relatively new to magic and do not have much of monetary value, I would like to ask for advice on payements you believe I could make. I also have need for a Djinn with tracking capabilities and perhaps a combat related specialty." Sarah taking measured breathes.


    "Excellent Miss Sarah. You must have had an wonderful tutor, either that or you''re exceedingly polite. As for payments, mercenary service sounds perfect for you or you could grant favors depending on what you owe. Death and fire elements make wonderful mercenaries. Noncombatant-servitude payment requires certain professional skills and you seem a little young. Elemental energy pays a little more than others, but it is still abundant. You do not possess deeper magics yet, as you said. Do you possess any PSI abilities?" Jojik tilted his head at her with an encouraging smile.


    "I am afraid not, you''re Lordship." Sarah looked downwards.


    Adara had warned her that she would be unable to fulfill many payments yet, but it still stung.


    "Not a problem my dear, not a problem. I''m sure it is only a matter of time, you seem extremely young and already are learning invocation that shows promise. Never the less, this means you have few options for now. As I said I strongly recommend mercenary service, the pay is great even for non-elites and you are also asking for a djinn with something combat related. That will bolster your combat potential in times of need as well. A win-win situation. I have a particular djinn in mind, the offspring of my second-cousin enjoys being outdoors and has an ongoing deal with a certain mortal-leader to do some minor pest-control. If I recall most combat involves mostly clearing out weak monsters in a wilderness, very tame and little risk. I''ll refer you now, feel free to decline the partnership, there are many family members and even families around after all, though I really do think this is a good fit for you. I think you will make a great team." Jojik smiled.


    "Thank you very much for your advice Lord Jojik, I will be glad to heed your advice." Sarah bowed.


    "You''re very welcome. I hope you find whomever or whatever you are looking for. You will establish your meeting soon, please wait." Jojik gave her another smile and waved his hand.


    The djinn Jojik melted away and Sarah waited alone in her mind.


    Soon another smoke-djinn seeped through, this time it took form as a hot-pink slender female with long purple hair.


    She wore modern clothes of a person going out on a hunting or camping trip, a knife was hanging from her waist.


    Sarah took another deep breathe, this was the real challenge.


    "Hello! I am Isemi of the ''Lightweaver'' family." Isemi gave her a huge toothy smile.


    "Greeting Lady Isemi of the honorable Lightweaver family. I am Sarah Martin an aspiring fire-mage." Sarah repeated the words she and Adara had practiced.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Hello Miss Sarah. I will begin. Runes are at a set price depending on complexity and they generally last twenty hours. I deal in traditional assets and equipment as well, all which cost varying degrees of standards. Information and various forms of energy are also available for sale." Isemi cocked her head to one side then the other constantly.


    "How much will you loan me?" Sarah took mental notes, this was important if it was too little she would have to find someone else.


    "For now as we are starting you can only ask for up to twenty-five gold standards worth, before I withhold my services. That counts as a tiny favor in payment if you wish that route, you may swear on your soul. You may decline three favors I ask, after that you must find another way to pay though." Isemi pinched her fingers in the shape of a circle.


    "If I cannot fulfill a favor what options do I have?" Sarah blinked and gripped her hands.


    "I prefer mercenary services as payment, if I require more time from you I expect you to give me up to sixty standard hours overtime, for which I will pay premium. I also accept the traditional monetary loop-holes at double as well." Isemi spoke as if this had been rehearsed a million times.


    ''That seems close to what Adara mentioned.'' Sarah tried to bring up everything she could remember.


    "Can you give me examples of your specialty?" Sarah.


    "Certainly. I excel at finding people and things, the longer it takes the higher I charge. I love direct-combat, I can provide aid through contract and I can also provide an assortment of utility and combat runes. I''m good with anything animal or monster related also. I like experimenting with temporary protective wards as well, I''m good, but I''m trying to perfect it. I can loan you energy as well, if you pay the price." Isemi grinned.


    "Can you perhaps elaborate on the direct combat aid?" Sarah mind raced to keep up.


    "It generally involves you granting me some access to yourself, I stay here close to your mind and provide support. You will gain my guidance for a time. There is a limit to how long your mind can support it though." Isemi.


    "Is...isn''t that similar to possession?" Sarah crinkled her nose.


    "Don''t be that way, it is similar yes. However I cannot possess you without you feeling the loss of control, you could resist yes? I feel your protections around you and you could easily sever the connection. I also have no motive to possess you. This is more like mentally holding your hands and showing you how to dance." Isemi visibly narrowed and rolled her eyes.


    Sarah breathed in and realized her mistake.


    ''Well I can always just leave that as a last resort.'' Sarah mentally grimaced.


    "I beg forgiveness for my mistake. I am still new to all this." Sarah bowed her head, but was mentally sweating.


    "It''s fine. Are you agreeable to a partnership?" Isemi nodded and did a dismissive hand gesture.


    "Yes, but first what runes do you grant?" Sarah placed her hands on her lap.


    Isemi told her everything, from physical boons to metal reflexes to spiritual boosts.


    Sarah discussed everything Adara advised her to ask.


    She asked about equipment, magic items, enchantments and prices.


    Eventually she decided Jojik had been right, Isemi seemed like a good fit and she also wanted to quickly find Eian.


    Isemi had a condition however.


    "Worlds that advance too quickly tend to spiral out of control into centuries of bloodshed and destruction. I will ask for an oath to not grant that world any technological advancements when working for me, it is an agreement we have with several powerful entities." Isemi bobbed her head.


    "Why? Wouldn''t advanced technology help many people?" Sarah furrowed her brows.


    "Don''t be naive. Newer technologies are often used by those in power for their benefit. As a result interplanetary interactions are closely scryed and heavily limited. It also prevents many people from simply going to a more primitive world and conquering a country with superior arms." Isemi shook her head.


    Sarah listened to Isemi''s examples of such things occurring in the past.


    Apparently travel between similarly advanced worlds was easily accommodated, but travel between lower and higher worlds were heavily regulated.


    Sarah would need to get a license to work off her debt, which would allow her to work as a mercenary.


    She would also have to restrict the technology she took to such worlds, the bright side was all forms of magic were allowed everywhere.


    Once both parties were satisfied, Sarah agreed to the partnership by swearing an oath of mutual interest.


    "I will approach to seal the agreement. Do I have permission?" Isemi cocked her head sideways, Sarah nodded her consent.


    Isemi came over and planted a mark on her forehead which allowed them to mentally communicate.


    "So we''ve done? Can we begin bargaining?" Sarah straightened her back.


    Isemi nodded and smiled.


    "I have a friend lost in a forest. i would like to invoke your help." Sarah bit her lip.


    "Excellent! I can begin charging. Give me a moment." Isemi smiled and closed her eyes.


    Isemi asked a few questions regarding Eian, then she mumbled a few words and did a handsign in Sarah''s direction.


    "Awaken and I shall aid you." Isemi''s eyes glowed.


    Sarah closed her eyes and focused on returning.

 Dream 51

    The night was prevalant and the circle glowed bright.


    Alex was relieved when Sarah opened her eyes.


    Optimism is one thing, having to defend someone in a monster infested forest at night out in the open was another thing entirely.


    Strangely Sarah''s eyes had a glowing ring of green on them that wasn''t there before, it was off-putting and strongly visible in the night.


    "Are you alright Sarah?" Alex''s brows furrowed.


    "Yes why?" Sarah cocked her head.


    "You''re eyes are glowing." Jessica backed away from the circle, Alex nodded.


    Sarah''s eyes narrowed and she went silent head-cocked, as if listening to the wind.


    "Sarah?" Alex''s guts tightened.


    "Ah? Oh. Yes the djinn says that''s a normal part of invocation." Sarah nodded, got up and brushed her self clean.


    "Okay...." Alex rubbed the back of his neck, Jessica was keeping her distance.


    "Oh. Relax you two. Let''s go, the Djinn will lead me to Eian. The longer we take the higher my price to pay." Sarah snapped her fingers and rolled her new disturbing eyes.


    Sarah led the way through the dark forest, they begrudgingly followed in silence.


    She kept a steady pace for long, Sarah broke the silence with a warning.


    "ALex, Jess. Boars are headed our way. A lot of them." Sarah jolted alarmed.


    Alex tried to focus and find a trace of the beasts.


    "Where?" Jessica''s eyes were darting about in search.


    "North! Incoming!" Sarah voice trailed the forest and she held two lightning bolts ready.


    It took a while more, Alex began to doubt her credibility.


    Then several boars appeared charging in, two instantly went down twitching after a blue flash.


    Alex impaled one on his sword and absorbed it''s impact on his shield.


    He saw Jessica stab one through the skull beside him, but she staggered to a knee.


    ''Jess!'' Alex quickly killed another boar on his way to her.


    "Focus Alex! She''s fine!" Sarah was channeling a wide electric arc.


    The light blinded him.


    The lightning caused most boars to stumble into a pile on the floor twitching, but alive.


    Alex focused his life-link to Jessica and sent a surge of healing, he felt she had little damage.


    Something tackled Alex and he got run over.


    "Ugh!" Sarah''s voice was sour.


    Alex got up and saw that several boars were twitching on the ground.


    Sarah glared at him and was visibly having difficulty breathing.


    "You''re hopeless." Sarah shook her head at him, he avoided looking at her.


    "Hey! Stop being a bitch!" Jessica approached her, stabbing a finger, then shaking a fist.


    "Hey." Alex intercepted her and got between them.


    "Kill the boars, the lightning will wear off and you both need the kills." Sarah turned away from them and stalked away.


    "She''s got a major stick up her ass!" Jessica was trying to get around him, Alex held her at bay.


    "She was talking to me. Let''s find Eian." Alex murmured the words low.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "I know she was talking to you! You shouldn''t take that!" She jutted her chin at him.


    "Let''s kill the boars. She''s leading us to Eian." Alex eyed at the ground, pretending to see the animals.


    "Fine! But we have to talk later." Jessica frowned at him, Alex nodded to get her moving.


    They managed to kill the boars easily enough, ten total.


    Alex killed five and Jess killed five as well.


    Alex wondered how Sarah had the reserves to maintain a lightning channel that long, she had just performed an ambitious invocation circle, he shrugged and guessed perhaps it wasn''t as tiring as he thought.


    Sarah remained silent the whole way and looked beyond fustrated.


    "Eian''s close." Sarah refused to look at them and kept moving.


    "How close?" Alex stared at her back, she didn''t answer.


    Jessica looked ready to explode.


    Alex waved and shook his head at her, she snorted and looked away.


    Time passed in silence and soon the wind began picking up.


    "A big bird''s coming this way. Don''t do the same thing again." Sarah kept her voice flat.


    A few seconds passed in silence.


    "Is it a griffin?" Alex furrowed his brow.


    "I said a bird." Sarah sighed exasperated.


    "Hey! Stop being a bitch....." Jessica was winding herself up again.


    Sarah ignored them and readied lightning bolts.


    Jessica blinked and her eyes went wide.


    "Wait. Did you say a bird? What color?" Jessica''s voice shook.


    "Are you alright Jess?" Alex turned to face her, she was trembling.


    "I....I think I just saw it,....it....it...kills me." Jessica squeaked.


    "What?" Alex snapped to attention.


    "Get behind the trees. Now!" Sarah ordered.


    ''Wait! Jess mentioned the bird killed her in her vision!'' Alex''s mind raced.


    They ran behind cover and the wind picked up visibly.


    "CAW" Bird noise.


    Alex saw Sarah shoot lightning bolts at the descending figure, they missed.


    The wind forced them backwards, they scurried behind trees like rats.


    Sarah''s fire-balls were ineffective, both fire and lightning channels dissipated before reaching the bird.


    Alex kept an mindful eye on Jess.


    She was shaking and they began running to another tree, suddenly she jumped sideways.


    Alex had readied himself and absorbed the impact with his shield as it swooped down.


    SMACK!


    Alex blinked and found himself on his back strangely numb.


    All he could see through his visor was Jess crying.


    When he tried to move he felt pain radiated on his left side.


    ''Ughhh...'' The pain flared, he grit his teeth and closed his eyes.


    Focusing he found the pain was radiating from his wrist, arm and shoulder.


    He focused on healing it.


    Intense pain radiated from and he felt something shift in his shoulder.


    He felt a grinding sensation on his wrist and his arm was numb.


    After an agonizing eternity, which he knew from experience was only a few seconds, he managed to sit up.


    Observing himself he noted his shield was seriously dented and he was far from where he took the impact.


    "HOW ARE YOU?" Jess''s eyes were puffy.


    "I''m good. Thanks." Alex breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Well. Bird''s dead. You good for more walking?" Sarah walked over to them and frowned at him.


    "JUST WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" Jessica glared to Sarah, she just stared at them bored.


    "Jess. Please help me up." Alex rubbed his visor.


    "Alright. Be careful okay?" Jess stared at him with concern.


    "Can we go now? I''m racking up debt here. Let''s hurry!" Sarah was already looking in Eian''s direction.


    "Yeah. I''m up." Alex tried to smile, but felt it wasn''t heart-felt.


    It didn''t matter, they couldn''t see him through the helmet right now.


    ''Well at least Jess is safe.'' That did bring a smile to his face.


    They kept walking another hour.


    Finally they encountered the dead body of a huge cat.


    "That must be the same kind that attacked us in the grass." Alex stared at it.


    "There''s a deep hole on the other side next to it. Eian''s in there, alive. Thank god, now I won''t owe a small fortune for nothing." Sarah breathed out a sigh of relief and a grin blossomed on her face.


    "He''s in there?" Alex''s eyes widened, Jessica remained silent.


    They raced over and Alex peered down in the hole, it was dark.


    Sarah lit a flame and sent it downwards, it favored a well descending into darkness.


    Her eyes were no longer glowing.


    "EIAN! You in there man?" Alex tried too see any signs of him.


    "I already said he''s alive, Alex." Sarah''s voice was grating his nerves.


    "EIAN!" Alex yelled, Sarah sighed.


    Sarah sent another small fire downwards.


    Upon closer inspection there was some sort of half-built rock formation at the bottom.


    He spotted what looked like a few dead wolves too.


    ''Is he hurt in there? Do we have to jump in?'' Fear gripped Alex.


    "''BOUT FUCKING TIME YOU GUYS CAME!" Eian''s voice echoed from the darkness.


    "See?" Sarah crossed her arms and held a contemptuous smile.


    "HOW ARE YOU MAN?" Alex squinted and ignored her.


    Alex tried to see him through the darkness.


    Eian appeared near the bottom waving both hands.


    "I''LL BE OUT IN A MINUTE. I''M DIGGING UPWARDS FROM THE SIDE OF THE CAVE. IT''S EASIER THAT WAY." Eian pointed to his left.


    It took a while, but finally Alex saw a hand claw it''s way out from the ground.


    They were finally together again, Alex smiled, things were finally looking up.

 Dream 52

    Sarah smiled when Eian clawed his way out of the ground.


    She had just racked up a debt of three gold standards, definately expensive.


    She was still annoyed at Alex, if he hadn''t gone down she might not have had to borrow energy from Isemi as well.


    She sighed, no use worrying about it really.


    ''I''ll have to be a lot more careful now though. Invoking is a last resort, I don''t want to hit my limit and then be unable to pay for a while, nor be without a trump card.'' Sarah glanced about the group.


    "Good to see you man." Alex was smiling when he walked over to Eian and they bucked fists like children.


    "Fuck, you guys are a sight for sore eyes. I was fucking going insane in there." Eian sighed and Sarah looked him over.


    "Wow dude, you''re hurt man. Come over." Alex''s eyes comically widened as he stared at his arm.


    "Yeah fuckers got me good. My knees too I landed on them when I was digging that hole over there. Actually just do my everything, I feel like a piece a'' tenderized steak. I''m just glad I haven''t landed on my ass recently." Eian sighed and rubbed his eyes.


    Jessica''s half-smile withered and she curled her lip at his speech.


    "Sit down man. I''ll get started." Alex motioned to the floor.


    Sarah''s observations showed he was once more lacking any sort of fat, his physic looked strong, but unhealthy, strained even.


    He would need to be eating well for a while, his teeth were bloody and his smell was rank, all of which brought a frown to Sarah''s face.


    Desperation must have driven him to eat raw meat, Alex would have to heal him just in case and bathing had obviously been the least of his concerns.


    Eian was clearly covered in dirt from his recent dig and clumps of dirt also clung his hair.


    His armor was also had his chest-plate and left-gauntlet missing, though the rest of the armor was scratched, dented and worn.


    He had only his great sword and a mace hanging from his waist, his left-arm had been a bloody torn mess as well, his right abs looked a little chaffed as well.


    He was also carrying a weird horn of some sort and a dead plant.


    Overall she got the impression he had gone to bloody war, which was surprising as it had only been several hours.


    "How are you?" She narrowed her eyes at him, Alex looked at him with concern as he was healing his injuries as well.


    "Fucking miserable. By the way Sarah, your fire did in the flying fuck. Thanks, thought I was a goner back there." Eian smiled and gave her two thumbs up.


    "You''re...welcome." Sarah blinked several times, his grin grew.


    "Can we fine somewhere safe please? Its still dark and I''m tired of running around." Jessica was playing with her hair looking about the forest.


    "Yeah man. Is the cave safe?" Alex pointed at the hole Eian crawled out from.


    "Ugh. At least I''ll have some light. Yeah it''s safe, theres some running water too. I have an area marked off for taking a crap so just be careful and it smells." Eian shook his head and sighed.


    They made their way through the Eian''s narrow exit.


    The cave did have a slightly foul smell to it, but it was wide and the opening on the ceiling must have helped substancially.


    Eian had four wolf caracasses lying about as well, though one had huge swats of flesh carved out.


    "Hey Sarah please cook some meat. I need some Hot dogs. Actually you know what. Alex help me push the damn cat into the hole. I want something other than wolf." Eian smiled at the pun and Sarah noted he was talking alot.


    "Sure man." Alex smiled and they climbed to the surface again.


    ''Hmmmm...I can''t imagine it''s nice to be alone. As annoying as Alex and Jess are at least I can talk to them.'' Sarah shuddered at the thought, Eian must have nerves of steel.


    She was also mildly surprise Eian had killed the cat by himself.


    Not to mention the wolves, he must have had a hard time of it, especially without magic.


    It was reassuring to know they had him around again, Alex had already proven unreliable.


    ''Hopefully Jess can prove her worth now.'' Sarah''s mind race through scenario''s then she remembered a few things the djinn and Adara had told her.


    "It stinks in here." Jessica frowned and snapped Sarah out of her thoughts.


    "What do you expect? He clearly improved his body again, I imagine he had to go through the whole....transformation phase again." Sarah narrowed her eyes, couldn''t she at least be a little understanding?


    "Would it have hurt to do it somewhere else? Well at least he''s alive and in one piece. Don''t tell him that though, I almost can''t believe it." Jessica streched and smiled.


    Sarah just shook her head, couldn''t she understand Eian didn''t expect them to come here?


    Either way it was a nice little spot, Jessica jumped when the cats body suddenly imapacted the ground, that brought a smile to Sarah''s face.


    The boys quickly made it down and Eian asked Sarah to cook the cat.


    She did and they carved out some of it''s flesh for food.


    Eian led them to the stream and they drank their fill also.


    Then they all sat down and Sarah propped herself on a dead wolf, it was surprisingly comfy.


    "Eian, Alex, Jess. I think we should make this a base. Also boys take some dirt and throw it over the latrine pit. Maybe Eian can widen the air vent later." Sarah gestured to the area of the smell with a tilt of her head.


    "Roger." Alex nodded his consent, Eian simply shrugged.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Sarah began thinking about their situation and how they could work to get out.


    If anyone was going to be able to figure things out it was her.


    Alex was too optimistic and air-headed, Jess was scatter-brained and while Eian had a level head his magic didn''t seem to be able to get them back yet.


    She filtered through all the information she had and tried to remember as much as she could.


    Despite her amazing power, Jessica was obviously still a liability, especially with Alex always trying to save her.


    ''Hmmmm...This all boils down to the same problem I forsaw a while back after the harpies, before Jessica interrupted me with her hunting idea to find Eian.'' Sarah held a far off look and stared at nothing.


    The problem itself was simple.


    She was the only one with a long-range attack, sure Alex had his healing bolt, but that only injured the undead.


    Eian was strickly a close range fighter, Alex was a combination of fighter and healer, though the fighter part perhaps needed a boost.


    Jessica didn''t have anything apart from that sword, which was a major problem as she sucked at fighting.


    ''Perhaps it is time that changed.'' Sarah eyed Jessica whom was sneaking looks at Alex.


    Sarah nodded to herself.


    It had to be done, hopefully that would solve the Alex problem as well.


    Jessica had already hit her mind''s limit after all, now she had two choices body or spirit.


    She already shown she wasn''t good at frontlining, so it was time to change that.


    The mercenary comment from the djinn also remained in her head, fire and death.


    "I have something to say." Sarah steepled her fingers and beckoned them over.


    The group quickly gathered about.


    "Hmmm...What''s this about?" Jessica looked her in the eye, was pouting and had her arms crossed.


    Eian looked at each of them slowly, Alex remained silent.


    Sarah met Jessica''s eye and frowned, this might be a problem.


    "I think now is a good time to continue where we were headed, before Eian got abducted. Along with other future developments." Sarah straightened her back.


    "I wasn''t adbuc.... Never mind, you mean how we''re gonna get home? Yeah all this shit made me forget. I guess now''s a good time." Eian shrugged then grinned.


    "Yes. I think it''s a good time to make decisions. We should all take turns, decide, then vote. Eian I think you should go first, you brought up your point before." Sarah nodded.


    "....Well... Um.. Let me think....Right! I was thinking that maybe we should be looking to get stronger. I mean the faster we get stronger, the faster we go home right? Alex and I briefly talked about it." Eian looked at Alex, whom nodded his consent.


    "Yes. Jessica had a similar idea a while ago. The problem is finding prey. We need food, water and shelter to rest too." Sarah rested her chin on her hand, had thought of this some already she was just giving her input.


    "Does anyone even know how to get home yet?" Jessica had her eyes narrowed and pouted.


    Everyone was silent.


    "No." Sarah shook her head.


    "Then how can you know we can even go home?" Jessica was visibly sweating now.


    "I think we can. We got here somehow, so it stands to reason we can go back. Relax Jess, we''ll go home soon." Alex smiled at her.


    Sarah and Eian nodded with him, Jessica shrugged and remained quite.


    "There''s no use thinking over that possibility. Any other suggestions?" Sarah looked at each of them.


    "I think maybe the city was a good hunting ground. At least during the day, we can just hole up somewhere at night." Eian scratched his head.


    "That''s a good idea, there''s a lot of quality equipment there as well. The undead aren''t much challenge and Alex can actually hurt them with his maigc." Sarah pointed to Eian''s bare-chest, Eian shrugged.


    Now that nobody was saying anything Sarah gave her input.


    "I think we should plan how you two will get stronger." Sarah pointed at Alex and then Jessica.


    "What do you mean?" Jessica frowned and tilted her head, Alex mirrored her confusion.


    "I mean you''ve already hit ten in mind. You''ve gotten your power, you can''t increase it anymore either." Sarah looked directly at her eyes.


    Alex frowned at her, Jessica visibly paled.


    "You''re saying she should choose an element." Eian nodded and deduced it correctly.


    "Yes." Sarah crossed her arms and stared at them all expectantly.


    Alex kept opening and closing his mouth, like he wanted to say something, but remained quite in the end.


    Jessica bit her lip and stared at the ground.


    "Why? She can just choose body and get stronger. Look at Eian." Alex twisted his mouth, looking conflicted.


    "Alex. That is.....Look she''ll actually be safer this way." Sarah frowned and kept her more colorful remarks to herself, that would get them no-where.


    "How?" Alex''s eyes narrowed and looked like they were ready to glare at her, Jessica was just staring at the ground blankly.


    Before she opened her mouth, Eian waved his hand about.


    "Alex she''s right and you know it. We all suffered through it and came out stronger for it." Eian pointed his finger at each of them except Jessica, and had his eyes narrowed with disapproval.


    "Also she''ll be safer, because she''ll be able to stay back and kill things. Don''t you think that''s the best thing for everyone?" Sarah nodded along with Eian.


    Alex licked his lips and stared at the ground, after a full minute he looked at Jess.


    "What do you think?" Alex tilted his head and her looking sadly.


    Jessica looked up at them scared.


    "Does it hurt a lot?" Jessica squeaked and shrunk back.


    "Yes." Alex stared at the ground.


    "The pain doesn''t even last long and you''ll be safer this way. Anything you hurt Alex can heal either way." Sarah was rocking a foot and tried to convince her, Eian shrugged.


    "You pointed to me as well. I thought I was supposed to focus on spirit?" Alex frowned and looked at her.


    "That was before Eian disappeared. You''ve been struggling against the stronger monsters. I think you should add at least one point in Body." Sarah nodded.


    "I guess that''s easy enough. I think Jess should decide what she wants to do as well. It''s her choice and her life. We shouldn''t force anyone to do anything they don''t want to." Alex shrugged, then turned to look at Jessica with concern.


    "I actually agree with that, but she''s not really good at fighting and as is she''ll get hurt eventually. She also doesn''t have the Eian''s earth gift, nor your healing so she could die from a stray hit." Sarah shrugged.


    Jessica kept staring at the floor.


    "Fine. I''ll do it. What do you think I should choose?" Jessica closed her eyes and shuddered.


    "Death." Sarah stared at her eyes as they widened.

 Dream 53

    Eian looked around and stretched as the first sun arose.


    The meeting had been extremely awkward, the group had a lot more tension than before.


    Alex seemed a little up front with Sarah and that was just weird, Alex had never lost it so far, he supposed it must have something to do with Jessica.


    Jessica seemed to be the same, if a little less hostile to him, as if half had transferred over to Sarah, and of course she was staring at Alex every now and then.


    He almost couldn''t believe Jessica could now see the future, maybe she''d finally be useful and death magic wouldn''t hurt, still it sucked she didn''t get teleportation.


    For some reason those two had been sneaking disapproving looks at Sarah and she returned them, he wondered if they were officially a thing now.


    Jessica had been having a few fits that they called visions pop up and apparently none of them were good futures, must suck.


    It all made him wonder what the hell happened while he was gone, but there was no tactful way to ask.


    It also didn''t bode well for the group, they''d have to be careful, but honestly he was a little glad, perhaps now they wouldn''t give him as much shit.


    The plan so far had been to fix up the cave and then try mapping out the area.


    Sarah had said that they didn''t want to have a base near somewhere potentially disastrous, so the mapping was to ensure there weren''t dangerous dens of monsters nearby.


    If there was something dangerous then they''d, well actually just he, would have to build and reinforce somewhere less dangerous.


    Once they had the major landmarks they''d go to the city to hunt, by Sarah''s estimate it wasn''t too far.


    Eian had somehow run all the way back near to the place Sarah had set grass on accidental fire, which turned out to be the ''signal'' he had misinterpreted.


    From that area it should only be about a two hours hard walk south to the city more of less.


    He had described his new power rock armor to the group.


    Sarah had said to hold it as a trump card, his thoughts were she was happy, but not too overly impressed.


    Well to be honest he hadn''t told her about his fights with monsters and it was a last resort, plus it was the first useful thing he had gotten from his element.


    He didn''t want to come off like he was showing off either, especially since Sarah''s fire was constantly useful along with Alex''s healing.


    Alex even tried to cheer him up by saying he would likely increase in power when he gained higher spirit, he even complimented him and said he was already the best fighter around and the toughest dude he knew.


    Jessica was indifferent and sulking the whole while looking at the floor, as if waiting for the executioners block.


    ''Another day another dollar.'' Eian smiled to himself, he felt much better with his aches a bruises gone, though something deep inside still felt tired, probably what Ul meant by channels.


    Alex had four in body now, he apparently had an upgrade waiting when he checked, he had devoured lots of cat and wolf meat to get stronger.


    He looked a little thin now though, no-where near as fat-free as he did of course, but anymore would land him in Eian''s shoes.


    His attributes as is were: Body four, Mind three, Spirit eight for a grand total of fifteen.


    Sarah had nodded to his upgrade and Eian felt better knowing Alex could hold his own in a fight better.


    "Eian are you using the magic ring?" Sarah stared at his eyes.


    "Um...No. Why?" Eian scratched the back of his head.


    "Can I have it please? I might get more use out of it." Sarah looked away.


    "Sure." Eian shrugged and handed her the ring, it hadn''t been any help so far.


    ''Maybe we should train on our off-time? Ul gave me training, but I doubt Alex has any and I haven''t fought a human-shaped enemy since that plant beast.'' Eian close his eyes and inhaled deeply as he faced the rising sun.


    Eian and Alex had spent a lot of time carving out the wolves during the night, Jessica apparently still had her dagger.


    It was tiring, especially as they were trying to get the pelts.


    So far they had only managed to skin one and it was a pathetic result.


    It was easy enough for Sarah to smoke and cook the meat however.


    Eian had fashioned a water barrel and a few other things too.


    "Alright people. I think it''s time to start checking the surrounding area for dangerous monsters. That''s all we''ll do today, maybe down a few trees for wood with Alex''s axe." Sarah had her arms crossed as she looked about.


    "You think we''ll find something dangerous?" Jessica was looking about pouting miserably.


    "I think so, we''ll just kill most of what we find. If it''s something too dangerous, we will have to move remember." Sarah sighed loudly at the thought, Eian couldn''t help but agree.


    They got out of the cave and wandered about marking the surrounding trees, the dirt outside was slightly damp, it had rained during the night.


    They easily found the remains of the forest fire Sarah caused accidentally.


    It had cleared out perhaps a few miles of forest, burnt husks of trees littered the area, but ash and smoke polluted the landscape and air.


    The rain had poured here it seemed and must have put out the fire remains, because patches of muddy ash littered everywhere.


    Sarah told them to check the other surrounding areas, as the southern part was obviously clear.


    They then headed west.


    Howls spooked them, Jessica let out a small surprised gasp.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.Shortly thereafter a white gorilla with four arms appeared nearby, Eian threw himself to the side to dodge the impact.


    Drawing his damaged great sword he noted there were a grand total of four, surrounding them from different angles.


    Eian saw a flash of light, heard Sarah shout something incomprehensible even as he positioned himself.


    One was on the floor twitching, Sarah was channeling lightning at a second, another was being held at bay by Alex and Jessica''s swings, the last was charging him.


    Eian stabbed it''s front arm while dodging it''s charge, he used it''s momentum to cut deeply, ignoring him it breezed past as it failed to tackle him.


    He turned and noted the beast was charging him again, Eian timed it''s charge and cut at it''s leg deeply while dodging.


    He saw the beast stagger into a pile and began trying to get up from floor.


    He quickly sent cuts at the beasts other limbs, it rolled up into a protective ball, but Eian got good stab at it''s neck it went limp.


    Eian then turned to look at his group.


    Sarah had thoroughly roasted one and had another two twitching on the ground, she looked exhausted.


    Alex was sitting on the ground and appeared to have recently healed himself, his shield was looking battered.


    Jessica was of course kneeling next to Alex asking questions about his health.


    ''Oh! That lightning is so cool.'' Eian smirked that was useful.


    "Jessica, you kill them. I...We need you to get your magic as soon as possible" Sarah sweating and pointing to the twitching beast, Eian nodded.


    "Fine." Jessica was frowning and sounded reluctant.


    If there was one thing Eian agreed on about Sarah, it was that she sure did know what was usually best for the group.


    Jessica had little trouble killing them with a clean stab to the skull each, though it looked like she closed her eyes as she did so.


    "Do you think there are more about?" Jessica wrung her hands and was looking through the trees.


    "Maybe, let''s be careful when checking. I think I have a few more fights and I''ll be out of energy or close to." Sarah wiping the sweat away.


    "Maybe you should only use fire for now? Lightning seems to drain you more." Eian thought that was best.


    "Lightning incapacitates them though. It''s safer." Sarah shrugged.


    "Yeah, but it''s no use if you run out mid fight." Eian thought that made more sense for now.


    "Then just be more careful. All of you. I''ll use it if I see trouble." Sarah shrugged and conceded the point.


    They kept searching the area and stumbled into a large band of four-armed gorillas on the floor.


    Five gorillas were lined up in front of their animal-band, while the other beasts stayed back and held what looked like babies on their breasts.


    The front line of beasts did threatening calls and charged after Sarah approached, she sent her fireballs at them after.


    Focusing on one particular beast Eian aimed his sword at it''s face, thrusting right at the exact time, it''s sheer weight killed it.


    Eian was barreled by the body and landed on his ass several feet away, before almost rolling.


    Looking about he saw Alex sending reckless sword swings and blocking massive punches from a beast.


    Jessica similarly swinging, but was retreating mostly from it''s threatening display.


    Sarah had two mutant-gorillas fully aflame, whom were howling and backing away from more fire.


    Eian quickly grabbed his great-sword and pried it from the dead beasts skull.


    Charging he chopped at Jessica''s enemy tearing deeply near the neck, it howled and backed away holding it''s bleeding at bay one-handed.


    "AH" Alex''s voice sounded pained.


    "Alex!" Jessica abandoned Eian and went to help him.


    ''Bitch!'' Eian focused on his new enemy.


    Eian swung at it''s arms as it attempted to protect itself, he scored several tears and soon the beast backed away.


    It swung its arms and beat it''s chest threateningly, but Eian kept lashing out.


    Desperate the beast reared and charged, Eian split it''s skull before it accumulated momentum, killing it without staggering backwards much.


    Turning to look he saw Alex and Jess had killed their enemy, while Sarah had toasted both of hers as well.


    "The other''s ran away after they died. These must have been the males protecting the band." Sarah pointed at the now missing beasts.


    "Will they be back?" Eian frowned, even if they were only females they looked plenty big.


    "I doubt it, they probably think we are either predators or competitors and have claimed this area. They''ll likely find somewhere else to settle." Sarah nodded, Eian shrugged he wasn''t an expert at all thing animal.


    "How are you Alex?" Sarah had turned to look.


    "I''m good." Alex was sheepishly staring at the dead four-armed gorilla.


    "Should we keep going?" Eian was looking about for more enemies.


    "I think so. I have another fight in me." Sarah was staring up at the sky.


    They wandered again for most of an hour finding nothing.


    The terrain was damp at beast and muddy at worst, Eian was hating it.


    The area soon begun looking like marsh.


    "Stop!" Jessica startled him, and everyone apparently as they too stopped.


    "Why?" Sarah furrowed her brows at her.


    "Alex dropped in a bog. He died! I saw it!" Jessica''s eyes were wide and she was backing away.


    "What?" Alex sounded flabbergasted, though Eian couldn''t see his face through the visor.


    "Alright. We''ll just mark trees for now and this place will be no-go-area then. Better safe than dead. We''ll have to cut a few trees later to prevent us from running this way by accident if we''re being chased." Sarah was studying the location.


    "Guys so that''s south and west checked right?" Eian looked about trying to see if he recognized anything.


    "Yeah, we came from the east in a hurry and you probably came north so that might be safe, but we''ll check both just in case." Sarah shrugged.


    "I can''t remember really. Everything was dark and monster attacks weren''t helping." Eian rubbed his healed arm, he though he felt a tinge when remembering.


    "That must have sucked man." Alex turned, Eian imagined he was looking at him with pity.


    "Sucked ballsssss." Eian smiled, though they wouldn''t see it through his helmet.


    Chit chat over they marked trees and chopped bush, for a long time.


    Once Sarah was satisfied they set out towards their base.


    They took a break to rest, eat, drink and relax.


    Then they set out north.

 Dream 54

    Jessica looked at Alex''s back, it was manlier now, too bad she couldn''t get a look under the armor.


    They were wandering the northern area now, around where Sarah said Eian had most likely passed.


    So far they hadn''t encountered anything, that wasn''t anything new.


    ''Stupid Sarah and her stupid ideas.'' She sneaked a dirty look at Sarah, whom seemed to be expecting it as she glared back.


    How did the group honestly expect her to suffer that horrifying pain?


    At least Alex said it was actually her choice.


    Though really if you''re pressured into something, is it really?


    Food for thought, though she shrugged and sighed, she already agreed to it and as her father said ''what''s done, can''t be undone''.


    Still no one could blame her for being afraid of pain.


    "Hisss." Monster.


    "Ahhh." Jessica jolted and turned to look about.


    Eian had already taken position and gouged a deep cut unto what appeared to be an anaconda-sized snake.


    Sarah sent a fire-ball at it, which partially set it aflame


    It swiped at Eian whom somehow partially dodged, he fell to a knee.


    Jessica froze, the monster was as thick as her torso.


    Focusing she noticed the muscles on it''s body tensing towards her, she jumped sideways on instinct.


    Seconds later she noticed it''s jaws had missed, she breathed a sigh of relief.


    A flash of blue passed and Jessica noticed the snake was on the floor twitching.


    "Kill it Jessica." Sarah motioned to the snake with her chin, as if she were her servant.


    Sighing loudly, she did.


    She still felt a little useless, though hopefully as soon as her guide contacted her that would change.


    Alex patted her shoulder in support and gave her a thumbs up, ever the gentleman, he brought a smile to her face.


    Eian and Sarah ignored her and everyday she burned to prove herself.


    One day, one day for sure she''d show them, she just needed a little time.


    She was always raised to be better and she would, that was actually why she even agreed to the magic thing, fighting in the front didn''t seem agree with her.


    Again, anyone would agree a lady shouldn''t be expect her to be good at brawling, though she thought she did alright given the circumstances.


    "How long have we been searching round here?" Eian was rubbing his helmet, clearly looking bored.


    "About an hour give or take." Sarah''s voice was dry as ever.


    Soon they stumbled into what looked like a large excavated tunnel, many large holes decorated the inside.


    Though partially muddy everything looked pristine.


    "I think it''s a snake tunnel. They must live in the holes there." Sarah''s voice was a whisper in the wind.


    "What do we do?" Jessica felt herself lightheaded and her eyes kept glancing at the holes.


    "Let me think." Sarah crossed her arms and glared at the pit.


    There was a moment of silence and Jessica began scanning the entire forest.


    ''Hopefully there aren''t any more about.'' She scanned the shrubs and trees for any sigh of monsters.


    "Alright I think I have an idea." Sarah''s voice broke her out of her thoughts.


    "Huh?" Jessica turned to look at Sarah.


    "What is it?" Eian tilted his head.


    "Simple we''ll fill the entrance with flammable material and I''ll burn it. The smoke should kill the monsters inside." Sarah shrugged.


    "Won''t monsters come out?" Alex couldn''t keep the skepticism from his voice.


    "Maybe, but the fire should burn them. We''ll be a little back as well ensuring they don''t have a clear shot at us." Sarah narrowed her eyes at Alex.


    "Sounds good. Alex use your axe. I think I can bring down trees with my powers by uprooting them." Eian stepped in front of Alex and pointed at some trees.


    "Ensure you don''t drop overly large trees or we won''t be able to pull and stack them. Jessica help Alex, I think your sword can cut some of the thinner branches. " Sarah shrugged and pointed at some thinner trees.


    They kept working and stacked the wood into the entrance for hours.


    Sarah kept watch over the group to not be taken surprise by the snakes, that turned out to be a good idea.


    On two separate occasions a single snake came and attempted to eat them.


    Sarah easily paralyzed them and told Jessica to kill them, it seemed she really wanted her to suffer and for Sarah it seemed the sooner the better.


    Under their hard work they managed to fill the pit almost entirely and Sarah set it aflame.


    Sarah told them to keep throwing stacks of wood into the pit.


    Eventually Jessica could hear painful hissing originating from the tunnel, but with all the wood piled on nothing emerged.


    She could see the burning wood shaking and moving.


    The hissing grew frantic and gave Jessica goosebumps and she imagined this might give her nightmares in the future.


    "Hissss!" Snake.


    A burning behemoth slowly emerged from the the stacked wood and crawled it''s way out.


    It was fully burning and it collapsed into a pile as Sarah sent more fire towards it.


    More snakes attempted to emerge, though Eian and Alex kept throwing small logs into the flaming pyre.


    Jessica was placed in charge to keeping watch behind them, though she would occasionally glance at the burning pyre.


    The inferno was unbearable and the boys had removed some armor from discomfort.


    Sarah seemed totally fine with the blazing heat and was coolly keeping watch in case something wanted to emerge.


    After everything was sad and done, a pile of crispy snakes were tangled on the entrance.


    "Anyone want BBQ?" Eian smirked, Jessica almost gagged at the thought.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."You first man." Alex smiled at Eian.


    "Gear up. Let''s keep searching." Sarah had a condensing smile on her face as she looked at Alex, Jessica gave her an award-winning glare.


    "Roger." Alex sighed and begun gearing along with Eian.


    They wandered the north a while more and only encountered a small wolf den.


    A group of six wolves attacked, Eian moved in almost a blur, lopping off legs on one and gutting another.


    Alex killed one by blocking it''s assault and stabbing it''s gut.


    Jessica let let her wolf impale it''s face on a lunge, it was her favorite tactic.


    Sarah easily set fire to the remaining two, whom ran away fully on fire.


    "Too easy. Should we carry the wolves back to the base?" Eian was looking at the remains of the wolves and turned to look at Sarah.


    "Good idea, we don''t want to be eating rotten meat, we have no way of preserving it." Sarah nodded along with him.


    "I can drag one. Alex how ''bout you?" Eian was looking at Alex.


    "Sure man." Alex smiled and nodded.


    "Then me and Jessica will be look outs." Sarah was looking at the forest.


    They trudged forward as the boys each dragged a wolf back to camp.


    Eian had taken the largest, but was still struggling less than Alex, not that Alex asked for help.


    Soon they arrived and dumped the carcasses into the hole.


    They took a break, it was visibly past mid-day, if that was even a thing when there were two suns.


    "Alright people. I think we''re close to securing the area, just east from where we came is left. I think it''s the safest area, but we can''t be too sure." Sarah stated the obvious almost making Jessica want to roll her eyes.


    ''I just want to bathe with shampoo and I wish I could sleep as well. Ugh.'' Jessica looked miserably at their cave, her hair was forming knots.


    They explored the east slowly encountering little, though the did run into the body of the bird that they had fought.


    Eian mumbled something about unfairness.


    Soon enough they only found a dug out warren in the ground, it was plenty big enough for all of them to fit comfy.


    It had nothing but chewed animal bones within and large foot prints.


    "What lives here?" Jessica got close to Alex, his presence helped her stay calm.


    "Who knows. Let''s get out and try to kill it. It''s definitely big and dangerous." Sarah had her brows furrowed and took a deep breathe.


    As they got out they the noticed the prints went everywhere.


    "Any chance you could track it with your power?" Sarah turned to look at her, she shook her head.


    Sarah shrugged and got back to inspecting the prints.


    "Well. Let''s check around. We can''t have this thing living near our base." Sarah was scanning the surrounding woods.


    Wandering about they found nothing for a while.


    Maybe prints littered the area and several trees seemed to be missing limbs in the area.


    Signs of struggle could also be seen on the ground, torn bushes, broken trees and even the occasional animal bones.


    "GROOOO!!!!" Monster.


    "Ah!" Jessica turned towards the sound of the beast.


    A twelve-foot grey-skinned hairless ape was charging them suddenly, it held a branch the size of a four-by-four and as long as her great sword.


    "Shit!" Eian got in front of the monster.


    Sarah sent two fire-balls at the beast, it swatted them out of the air, though it''s branch caught fire.


    Dodging it''s swing Eian then slice at it''s leg, the beast roared but barreled into Alex, whom attempted to block.


    Alex went spinning to the right and she was almost face to face with the beast.


    Another fire-ball impacted the monster, but it''s hide refused to catch fire easily.


    It braced itself to swing at Jessica and her heart seized, last minute she threw herself haphazardly to the left.


    It''s swing never came, when she looked up Eian had cleaved the beasts side with his sword, she caught when the beast back-handed Eian sending him staggering backwards.


    Another fire-ball impacted the beasts face.


    "GROOOOO!!!!" The monster almost unhinged it''s lower jaw howling.


    It charged Sarah whom channeled lightning to the monster, it shrugged off the lightning and was about to lay into her with a branch-swing.


    Alex jumped and hugged the branch to restrain it, it tried to dislodge Alex, but he stubbornly held on.


    Jessica saw a chance and charged, she swung her sword at it''s branch-wielding-hand.


    The sword barely dug in and the monster howled at her, it''s other hand stretched forth to grab her and she retreated.


    Swinging she caught it''s stretching hand, which it quickly retracted, it also let go of the branch.


    Channeling fire Sarah''s attempt at burning the monster was inadequate.


    "GROOOOO!!!" It protected itself with it''s arm and backed away.


    Sarah kept approaching channeling fire, suddenly it lunged at her and punched her hard.


    Sarah went flying a few paces and the stream of fire went out.


    The beast howled and looked only slightly burnt.


    It charged them and then a large stone collided into it.


    The beast went down in a tumble and the stone grappled with it.


    ''Is that Eian?'' She stared at the large stone golem wrestling with the monster.


    "Jess wait here. Be careful I''ll just patch up Sarah real quick. Then we''ll go help Eian." Alex had only his long-sword and no shield.


    "Yeah." Jessica stared as the struggling duo.


    Sparing a glance she noticed Sarah was sitting up and cradling her arm, Alex quickly did a rough patch.


    They then ran over to the struggling pair and sent cuts at the monsters flesh.


    It''s skin was thick and unyeilding, but bit by bit they tore at it like vultures, Jessica managed to gouge out an eye, eliciting a howl.


    The golem did most the work and soon it splattered the beast''s skull.


    She breathed a sigh of relief.


    The stone crumbled and reveal that it was indeed Eian within.


    "How''s Sarah?" Eian was breathing heavily and turned to look.


    "Relax, I''ll finish healing her now." Alex and the other two ran over to Sarah.


    He healed her some more and Jess could clearly hear Sarah berating Alex for tarrying.


    "Sorry Sarah, I thought Eian needed help killing the monster." Alex was focusing on her previously broken shoulder and arm.


    "Yeah at least he made sure you weren''t dead." Jessica couldn''t believe how ungrateful she was.


    "I could have had internal bleeding! Ughhhh... Never mind. Set up a life-link next time and then rush off to help Eian." Sarah was glaring murderously at Alex.


    "Sorry I forgot." Alex coughed nervously and looked at the ground.


    "YOU FORGOT? FORGOT!" Sarah scoffed.


    "Hey this isn''t the place for this." Eian got between Alex and Sarah.


    "She should stop going on like this!" Jessica was fed up of Sarah''s crap.


    "SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" Eian was probably glaring at Jessica then at Sarah, though they couldn''t see under the visor.


    "Hey man. What''s up?" Alex sounded vexed, but lifted his palms trying to placate Eian.


    "Monsters could be coming. Let''s go, you can both tear out each others hair when we get to base." Eian stretched his hand indignantly at Sarah, whom took it, got up with the help, and snorted then looked away.


    "Fine. You''re right." Sarah breathed in deeply, exhaled, then began marching back to base.


    "Come on Jess." Alex patted her shoulder encouragingly.


    They made their way back to base, their first objective to secure the area was complete.

 Dream 55

    Alex sighed, he looked around the cavern.


    Jessica and Sarah were both blatantly ignoring each other, Eian was staring at each of them with a bored-look on his face, Eian sat on the stone couch beside him watching.


    All in all Alex should have realized this might have happened, Jessica and Sarah never got along, but Jess always just unloaded her stress on Eian before.


    Sarah apparently didn''t have quite as much tolerance.


    As soon as they had reached the base some name-calling and insults were exchanged.


    Eian let them vent it out and held Alex back when he tried to stop it after things escalated.


    At least the fight hadn''t turned violent, he thought it was because the girls realized a fight could easily turn lethal.


    "Wow. That could have gone worse. No cat fight and here I was ready to intervene with Alex." Eian smirked, both girls turned and glared at him.


    "Yo man, that''s not cool." Alex frowned at him.


    "Meh, if they want to behave like bitches, I say let ''em. S''long as it''s not where something can eat me." Eian shrugged and leaned back on the stone couch he had made.


    "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BITCH!" Jessica was beat red, glaring at Eian whom smirked at her.


    Sarah simply huffed and was looking away from all of them.


    Tense minutes passed and everyone was trying hard not to say anything, everything was awkward.


    Then Eian blunt as a hammer broke it.


    "Well, I can''t stand it here. Don''t bother me for a while." Eian shrugged, picked a spot on the wall and begun digging.


    Jessica came over and sat down next to him, the stone was hard, but it''s shape was at least more comfortable than sitting on the floor.


    Eian had also draped the shoddy wolf pelt on top, but it was starting to smell and none of them knew how to cure it.


    ''Well maybe Sarah knows, but I don''t think she''s in a mood to talk to us.'' Alex gazed at Sarah whom went over and lay against a dead wolf.


    Alex started at the ventilation hole in the ceiling, it let little light inside, clearly showing night had almost fully set in.


    Soon the darkness became prevalent and Alex had to squint to even see Jessica.


    A minute later a fire was lit and Alex looked, Sarah had lit a little fire-ball.


    Eian got up and went towards the exit.


    "Alex gear up. Let''s bring in some more wood to burn. It''s dangerous outside so I could use an extra set of eyes." Eian beckoned him forward.


    "Roger." Alex got up and stretched, it was really awkward inside.


    ''Hopefully the girls don''t start anything.'' Alex let out a defeated breathe at the thought.


    The excursion outside was quick and uninteresting.


    Eian uprooted a thin tree, Alex cut off the branches for it to fit and they threw everything into the cave.


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.Inside Alex cut the branches thinner and Sarah lit them as torches, then Eian dug them into the floor.


    The result was crude, but effective.


    Eian went immediately back to work on the wall and soon Alex saw it was some sort of room.


    He disappeared within for a long time and then emerged.


    Eian stretched and Alex watched him, the silence was getting to him.


    "Well that''s that." Eian pointed to Sarah.


    "What?" Sarah growled and had her eyes narrowed.


    "Made you a room. I''ll make Jess one next, then Alex and finally me." Eian pointed at each of them slowly.


    "....." Sarah blinked and the anger melted away, she turned to look at the ground.


    "Feel free to go in. I got a couch, bed and chair in there. I figured it''s awkward being here and we could all use some personal space." Eian shrugged.


    ''Oh... that''s pretty nice.'' Alex smiled, at least someone had his heart in the right place.


    Eian walked over to another section of the wall.


    He begun working.


    "...Thanks." Sarah mumbled the words and walked into the room, Eian simply shrugged.


    A moment passed.


    "We just need a few more pelts for comfort. Alex maybe you can try working on that? They''ll stink, but I figure at least they''re comfy." Eian turned to watch him.


    "Roger man." Alex nodded.


    He borrowed the dagger from Jess and got to work on the pelts.


    At least work could distract his mind from everything.


    He begun to realize why sleep was so important, without it people begin to fall apart.


    Then a thought struck him, they had been so distracted by drama Eian must forgot about something important.


    ''I only killed one wolf and one of those four armed monsters, but Eian killed a few.'' Alex looked at Eian.


    "Hey did Eian did you get an upgrade?" Alex scratched the back of his neck.


    "Aleeeeex." Jessica pouted at him, her eyes began to water up and she crossed her arms.


    ''Oh shit! She got a lot of kills too!'' Alex blushed, he fucked up.


    "Yeah, I did." Eian''s voice snapped him out his thoughts.


    "Huh?" Alex turned to look at Eian and felt lost.


    "I got an upgrade waiting, but I wanted to make the rooms first. Also we have all night, so no rush." Eian grinned at him and was rubbing the back of his neck.


    "...Oh...Cool man." Alex sighed.


    *******


    Sarah lay on a bed of stone, it was very uncomfortable, but she gazed at her tattoo marks.


    They were glowing and she had to select spirit.


    They read Body one, Mind five and Spirit eight, she would soon reach the zenith of human spirit.


    She was wondering how Adara would contact and teach her after she hit ten.


    Jessica had mentioned her guide would contact her when she was ready, that implied the guides could contact them whenever they wanted to.


    Sarah''s eyes narrowed in suspicion, this question had plagued her for some time now.


    Was Adara lying to her?


    Sarah took a deep breathe and tried to calm her nerves.


    She had so many questions now and she wasn''t sure she would like the answers, if she even got them.


    Perhaps Jessica''s guide was simply different as she was a Mind guide and not a Spirit guide, the possibility was there but it seemed unlikely.


    Why would Adara not give her as much teachings as possible, or at least preparation for when she did get that power?


    Why was she hiding important information from her?


    Eian and Alex all claimed their guides helped them greatly.


    Why would they do that?


    Why were they here?


    Where is here?


    She spent much time contemplating these mysteries, perhaps longer than she should have.


    Laying there feeling vulnerable and betrayed she too a deep breathe.


    Selecting spirit, the world washed away in white.

 Dream 56

    Sarah opened her eyes, her mind in turmoil.


    Strangely she was in a different place.


    She was still in a cozy cave, only much smaller than the previous and little furniture decorated the area.


    Two chairs, a table, a shelf with few books, and a bed.


    Stalagmites decorated the ceiling and only a few candles were lit in the far corner away from anything flammable.


    Sarah furrowed her forehead and tried to piece together why she was in a different place, the other two were grander and were built to show off.


    This place reminded her eerily of her group''s own little cave, though it was obviously a different structure.


    ''Where''s Adara.'' Sarah''s eyes scanned the area.


    "Here, little Sarah." Adara''s voice was barely a whisper.


    It shook her from her thoughts and she followed the voice, it had come from far behind.


    Sarah turned and was surprised.


    Standing there was Adara, but strangely she wasn''t naked.


    She wore a red maxi dress, the dress held a slit showcasing the legs, which were covered a little past the knees by a tight-high black boots.


    A leather-belt held the lower part of the dress at bay and the upper part favored a corset.


    Most of her hair naturally curled down her sides, but the a ponytail held the back up, a half up half down style.


    The sight left Sarah blinking and off balance, strangely the Adara''s aura was not affecting her.


    She stood there watching Adara for a few seconds blankly.


    "Let''s sit. Please." Adara sighed and looked at the ground.


    She walked past Sarah to sit on a chair by the table.


    The atmosphere felt strained, Sarah briefly wondered if Adara could read her mind and if she knew she had hard questions.


    "Where is this?" Sarah looked at the room again, trying to figure out what significance it held to Adara.


    ".......It is a place I spent a brief period of my youth in. For a long time, it.......it was the one place I truly remember feeling safe....and loved." Adara stared at the bed longingly, a sad smile on her face.


    ''That was certainly different from what I expected.'' Sarah blinked and coughed politely.


    Adara remained silent and Sarah racked her mind for a way to ask her questions politely.


    Adara let her work through it in silence, stiff as a statue.


    Breathing in Sarah tried to organize her thoughts as best she could.


    "Can you contact me anytime you want?" Sarah''s voice trembled and she felt a surge of anticipation race through her.


    ".......Not in the way you think." Adara sighed and briefly looked at her before looking away again.


    "....Then....then this whole time? You could have contacted me at any time?" Sarah kept her voice calm, but her palms felt sweaty and she felt unsure of how to feel.


    "No. Listen, please." Adara turned and looked at her with sad eyes.


    Adara took a deep breathe and began.


    "I could only contact you after you chose the domain of fire spirit. I didn''t do so because you are in constant danger, contacting you at the wrong time could have been perilous little Sarah. I can''t see the future. What if I did so mid-fight?" Adara breathed out and looked at her sadly.


    Sarah felt some tension in her body dissipate, that was a lot better than what she expected.


    "So why didn''t you tell me sooner?" Sarah looked directly at her face.


    "You needed to focus on spirit. If you assumed you could only contact me through spiritual infusions, then the temptation to select something else would have lessened. I knew you wanted your eyes to be better." Adara bit her lip.


    "So you kept that information from me? To ensure I couldn''t make my own unbiased decision?" Sarah frowned.


    "Yes." Adara nodded, then her face went flat.


    Seconds passed by and both remained silent.


    "Wh..Do you..." Sarah sighed, unable to articulate another question she knew would be pointless.


    ".....In the beginning I knew you held little trust in me." Adara was playing with her hands.


    Sarah took a moment to sort through all her emotions.


    She then thought of everything Adara had taught her.


    Was letting her assume something on her own really such a bad thing?


    She didn''t even ask.


    "Now you have reached nine in spirit, one more and you will be as strong in magic as you could possibly be for a long time. You have also hit your second bottle neck, so getting to that will also take a little more work." Adara brushed aside a strand of hair from her face.


    Sarah thought that over as well, then she asked a question she had contemplated a while before.


    "Adara, can you read minds? You seemed prepared for my question." Sarah gulped, that was a little direct, but she had to know.


    Adara sighed then rubbed her eyes and muttered something under her breath.


    "......Would you even believe me if I said no?" Adara half-smiled sadly.


    "....That depends on how sincere you seem." Sarah''s gut clenched.


    "Reading minds falls under a power I do possess. I don''t know if you''ll believe me, but I haven''t read yours. I believe it is invasive. You would also have felt it." Adara nodded, Sarah felt strangely detached to the idea and blinked.


    "Then....How?" Sarah''s face scrunched up.


    "I have told you I have information from an oracle." Adara stared at her eyes and caressed her jaw.


    "And I suppose you won''t tell me anything can you." Sarah sighed and stared at the table.


    "I know many things that I can''t reveal, I''m sorry." Adara flexed her jaw a little and frowned.


    "Can you at least tell me why? What stops you from telling me?" Sarah looked back at Adara''s dragonic eyes.


    "......No." Adara closed her eyes and Sarah sighed.


    ''I can''t know if she''s not lying, this means she might know how I was brought here and might even be friendly with that person.'' Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breathe.


    "Am I... Is there a reason you treat me how you do? What.....Your aura isn''t affecting me now. You could have turned it off?" Sarah brows furrowed.


    "Yes. Also I never denied it, if you recall. I simply said it was a central part of my being." A hint of a smile decorated Adara''s complexion.


    "That... This whole TIME?" Sarah''s jaw dropped and her eyes were saucer wide.


    "Yes. This whole time." A smug smile decorated Adara''s lovely face.


    ''She''s....she''s playing with me.....She''s trying to distract me... that has to be it.'' Sarah felt a surge of suppressed shame and anger rise up, she managed to fight it down.


    "You didn''t answer the first question. Why were you making me feel that way?" Sarah had her eyes narrowed as she silently fumed.


    "Didn''t I little flame?" Adara watched her with those lovely eyes.


    "No-you-did-not." Sarah chewed off the words.


    "I said yes to your question. Then I said I never denied having control over my aura." Adara smile faded slightly.


    "Will you tell me the answer?" Sarah breathed out, chewed her lip nervously and fidgeted.


    Adara stared at her for some time as if contemplating, she watched the nails on her right hand, then she sighed.


    "Does my attention make you uncomfortable?" Adara once more watched her eyes, her face blank.


    ".....A bit." Sarah kept her eyes focused on her, but felt her palms sweaty.


    "Then the issue is irrelevant, for now at least." Adara looked away from Sarah, her tone held a touch of finality.


    Awkward silence ensued, minutes passed, Sarah played with her hair.


    She felt like the mouse trapped with the cat.


    "Magic diversity will benefit you greatly little Sarah. Are you safe to learn?" Adara broke the silence and leaned on the table lazily.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Sarah stared at her blankly for a moment, before nodding.


    "Good. Listen carefully." Adara straightened, rubbed her hands and watched Sarah intently.


    Adara stretched slightly then began.


    "The basics of diversifying is to take your own elemental energy and to use a technique which transforms the energy to another form. There are many diverse techniques, but I''ll teach you the one I use. I will first tell you of a few dangers. With me so far little spark?" Adara calmly explained.


    "Yes. I understand." Sarah nodded to keep her going.


    "Good. Listen now. Always ensure the energy you convert does not flow back into you. It will not react well to your spirit, potentially injuring you in a backlash. If you did not use all the converted energy in a spell, disperse it in a channel or store it in an external well." Adara''s eye''s narrowed, while she slightly leaned forward for emphasis.


    "Okay, but where do I keep it meanwhile if not inside my well?" Sarah''s head tilted.


    "There are mental techniques for keeping the energy separate. I will teach you one of those as well. Now another warning." Adara looked at her eyes with intensity.


    After a short pause she continued.


    "DO NOT experiment with combining elements yet. This is just the basics to convert and use another SINGULAR element. Combinations require high focus, your mind is weak still to do it safely. A mistake could easily blow up in your face and kill you. Understood?" Adara stared at her intently.


    "Yes." Sarah nodded hoping she would believe her, she had no interest in dying.


    "Good. Now the most common form of energy separation is splitting of a portion and picturing the energy flowing into a predesignated shape. I will walk you through many steps, slowly building up. For now try to take the usual amount of energy you typically use for the largest fire-ball you can make and separate it." Adara instructed her with hand demonstrations.


    Sarah stood and closed her eyes took the small amount of energy.


    She felt it leave her well and concentrate in her palm, it left and she knew fire-ball had formed.


    "Don''t let the spell form. Try again, keep it separate from your well, but still unused yet." Adara''s voice was calm.


    Sara dispersed the fire-ball and tried again.


    This time she prevented it from forming, mentally she pictured her spirit-well as a bonfire, the energy was a small fire-ball detached from the main flame.


    "Good. Now keep it separate from your well, move it about your body. Don''t let it exit, where you feel the energy flowing are the channels of your body. It is good to be familiar with these." Adara nodded.


    It was a little difficult imagining it flowing through her body and yet still hold the image.


    Several times it escaped and fire would stream out from various parts of her body.


    After asking, Adara confirmed the energy is what matters, so as long as it didn''t leave her channels the energy would not take shape.


    It was important to keep the energy controlled or the energy could leak out through the nearest exit.


    Usually casting a fire-ball or a lightning bolt was easy since her spirit naturally manipulates the energy to form it.


    Adara described the difference in spells as a human walking and the the other as swimming.


    Some spells form naturally, while complex spells must be learned.


    Apparently all other-elemental spells must be learned or the energy will spill out as a channel.


    "Do nothing with that energy yet, practice sending the energy back into your well and the separating it for some time. Imagery is important." Adara.


    She practiced it for some time.


    "A typical controlled spell forms by feeding the energy to the intended-shape. Practice by imagining a sword you could hold on one hand, pour your energy into it to form." Adara.


    Sarah pictured the short sword she always kept with her.


    She stared at her hand and imagined it''s shape, then she poured energy into the image.


    A fiery sword formed in her hand, it was weightless and quickly dispersed in the air.


    "Good attempt. You can hold the spell by feeding it a trickle of energy, same as with a fire-ball. Fire won''t keep it''s shape like earth or ice, hard impacts will distort it, but it will re-form shortly. This particular spell will cause little impact upon an enemy, it is usually combined with a bound weapon to give it a burning effect. Far more precise than an open channel and far cheaper." Adara smiled and nodded at her encouragingly.


    "But I don''t have a bound sword nor a weapon." Sarah tilted her head.


    "It is merely for practice, it was easy to image that one." Adara shrugged.


    "Are there any other forms of spells I can create?" Sarah sat down upon the chair again.


    "Certainly. The lightning version would be more useful for now though." Adara nodded with a smile.


    "How so?" Sarah''s brows furrowed.


    "Simple, you can channel it unto a weapon, so long as the lightning touches the metal the shock would flow into an enemy it hits. Effective at stunning and paralyzing for very little expenditure. It''s perfect for conserving energy." Adara smiled.


    Sarah breathed in, that would be extremely useful for a single when she was low on energy.


    "How much energy would it consume?" Sarah held her breathe.


    "Hmmm....I myself haven''t used it in combat. Humans like to use it this way though. I''ve heard it costs less than a even a bolt, as it is a constant low flow, not an entire expenditure. Perhaps you can even maintain it indefinitely, while your spirit is high of course. Either way you are a mage, this is a fall back spell." Adara shrugged.


    "Oh.....Well I suppose that makes sense." Sarah rubbed her neck.


    "Yes. Let us continue. I have much to teach yet. I think we can soon begin with the energy conversion technique. We will start with converting to life energy, it is the least harmful if it goes awry. For now pay me close attention. Ready?" Adara nodded.


    "Yes." Sarah gave a quick nod.


    "Good first you must have basic understanding of the element of life. You have a friend who possesses this energy what have you seen it do?" Adara tilted her head at her.


    "Apart from heal us? Very little." Sarah.


    "The life element focuses on restoration and regrowth. It is the energy that animates the living and keeps us alive. It''s application heals muscle fatigue, injuries, restores lost limbs, staves off death, it can even restore youth to some degree. Mortal healers naturally live a much longer time than other mages. Curing diseases and even poison also fall under. A master can even bring back the dead if the soul has not yet departed. Anything that is alive can be influenced by its touch." Adara nodded.


    Adara spent some time explaining more about the life energy in detail.


    Warrior healers did exist apparently and were know for shrugging off almost anything that didn''t instantly kill them.


    Once Adara was satisfied with her basic understanding, she told Sarah to close her eyes.


    Sarah closed her eyes.


    "Good. Before we begin I will tell you, this is hard at first. You will likely fail many many times. The process could result in pain, if the energy flows towards your spirit-well. It is why it is best to keep it near your palm and at a low quantities, while learning. Now picture very little energy flowing out of your well, and keep it separate similar to how you had it before. Again, remember to keep the energy near the palm of your hand, and ensure it is very little. Nod once you are ready." Adara.


    Sarah breathed in surprised at the warning, but followed the instructions then nodded.


    "Do you know what an hour glass is?" Adara questioned.


    "Yes." Sarah nodded with her eyes closed.


    "Perfect. First imagine a similar contraption to an hour glass. The only difference is it should have multiple necks at the middle, at least three, five would be better, but I doubt you could do it. Each neck is a filter for life energy, place a single image you associate with life within each. Perhaps a leaf or a tree. Try imagining it. Take your time." Adara''s voice paused.


    Several moments passed as she tried to picture the hourglass.


    Adara asked her if she was ready and she shook her head sideways.


    Once she was ready she nodded.


    "Good. Now focus solely on the small amount of energy near your palm. Once focused you can ignore where it is, it will remain still. Place it at the forefront of your mind. Imagine the energy on the top portion of the hour glass. Each neck will act as a life filter. Slowly send the energy down the filters, one drop at a time for now, don''t rush." Adara spoke with care, slowly.


    Sarah sent the energy down her mental image of an hour glass with three necks.


    She watched carefully as the energy atop moved, the energy itself blazed and moved like fire at the very top.


    Slowly she saw a droplet pass through the first neck.


    It surged.


    "AH!" Sarah jumped her energy blazed out from her palm as fire in a stream.


    Silently she stared at her hand, her eyes had opened widely at the feeling.


    "A queer feeling, is it not?" Adara smiled.


    "What was that?" Sarah frowned.


    "The energy has a different feel, you''ve never moved this type before so it''s no wonder it feels off." Adara smiled.


    "You could have warned me." Sarah narrowed her eyes at her.


    "It is best to experience it yourself. It is difficult to prepare for it. Keep trying. It will take a very very long time to convert even a little at first." Adara shrugged, but her mischievous smile told Sarah another story.


    Sarah tried again, slowly she envisioned the whole thing again.


    The second try gave her the same result, she easily lost control of the energy.


    Frowning she kept trying a third time, then a fourth, then a fifth.


    "This is impossible!" Sarah grit her teeth in frustration.


    "Practice makes perfect. Patience is key here little Sarah. With time you will be able to do it on the go." Adara smiled at her patiently.


    Sighing Sarah stared at her hand.


    The energy felt unnatural and it''s feel was difficult to describe, perhaps nauseating or uncomfortable was the word.


    She tried again and again and again.


    Finally she managed to pass a drop of energy though the first neck without losing control.


    She breathed in and tried to move the droplet to the second, the rest of the energy atop squirmed and she lost focus.


    Apart from that moving the droplet felt like running on one leg, extremely unnatural and difficult.


    Inwardly she sighed frustrated to no end, this would take a really really long time to master.

 Dream 57

    Jessica sighed as she look at her room.


    Eian had finished hers a while back and she had instantly gotten in.


    It had a couch, chair, table and bed, wholly utilitarian.


    She stole the pelt since Alex was working on skinning another, the couch outside was empty so it didn''t matter.


    It was beginning to smell worse, but it was the closest thing to comfort she could find right now.


    ''Stupid Alex and his big mouth.'' Jessica sighed and looked at her glowing tattoo.


    Breathing in deeply she selected spirit.


    The world washed away in white.


    *****


    Jessica stood upon an uplifted segment of the floor and searched around herself.


    Six doors stood in all their glory, far more vivid than what the other three described it as.


    The fire door danced wildly, the spikes on the ice door looked deadly, the wind door was a tornado of motion, the earth door''s jewels were extravagant and the vine door pulsed with life.


    The skulls on the door of death were the most intimidating, the eyes felt as if they stared at her soul and they were stuck ever-grinning as if mocking her.


    Just the thought of getting close to it gave her chills.


    She briefly looked at the other doors, but in the end she agreed to do something, so she would.


    Ones word was the currency of the world and if she broke it, the others wouldn''t trust her anymore, never mind listen to her.


    Wringing her hands together, she bit her lips anxiously and approached the door.


    The other doors faded from existence and soon only those maliciously grinning skulls stared at her.


    ''Is it me or are the eyes glowing....'' Jessica backed away slightly, a shock of cold flowed through her.


    She stood there a meter away from the skulls, eyeing the sockets for a sign of what she had seen.


    Seeing nothing of the sort she closed her eyes and convinced herself it was her nerves.


    ''Please. If there''s someone watching. Please tell me this isn''t a mistake.'' Jessica opened her eyes.


    Chewing on her lip she approached the door, attempting to look only at the knob, which was made of femur bones welded together.


    Feeling its texture made her inwardly cringe, it was really bone.


    She closed her eyes and pulled at the door.


    Seconds later everything exploded in pain.


    "UGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Jessica bit her tongue.


    Every cell in her body groaned as they begun to ache, then stretch, finally her cells was viciously nailed by burning hot needles all at once.


    Her spine arched, she tasted blood and screamed at the top of her lungs.


    Her screams echoed throughout cave.


    ******


    An eternity later Jessica recovered, the pain had faded to a bearable degree.


    She shuddered, her breathing was erratic, her body felt battered and sore.


    She ignored everything that bothered her and brought her knees to her breast.


    Someone was talking to her, but she ignored the voice, by closing her eyes and covering her ears.


    She just wanted to go home, to lay down on her own bed, see her parents again and forget everything.


    Her eyes had watered, nothing was going her way, never.


    Was a little happiness so much to ask for?


    ******


    Eian watched on as Alex frantically tended to Jessica.


    She had gone completely quiet, shivering in a corner and largely ignoring Alex''s questions.


    Eian had heard her screams through the stone from the other room.


    Shrugging he went back to work, she wouldn''t feel the pain ever again, though he did shiver remembering his own experience.


    He finished Alex''s room a while later, he didn''t think Alex was in the mood to use it yet though.


    He moved out and begun to work on his own quarters, he would make damn well sure it was the comfiest.


    ''I guess I''ll have to upgrade myself after this too. Hopefully my body stops hurting from using magic soon.'' Eian sighed remembering his aches.


    He spent quite some time on his room.


    As soon as it finished, he lay down as comfortably as he could on a stone couch.


    Looking over his tattoo which read Body six, Mind four, and Spirit five.


    He lay there for a while hesitant, he had just worked straight for several hours.


    Sighing he shrugged, he was no stranger to hard work.


    He selected spirit and the world washed away.


    *******


    He blinked and noticed he was once more in the mountain, Ul stood there at attention, arms crossed.


    "Nice te see yer ready fer ''nother skuff. Cheers too, ye managed to pass yer second bottle-neck. I won''t be seeing ye as often now." Ul held a broad smile on his face.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "So....What now?" Eian almost cringed.


    ''This is gonna fucking hurt. This bastards a sadist.'' Eian scrunched up his face and grit his jaw.


    "Why ye lookin'' like that? Ye wanna shit? HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ul''s grating laugh put Eian on edge.


    Eian sighed.


    "Anyways. I suppose we should start. Times a wastin''. How much time ye got this time?" Ul''s face straightened as he got to business.


    Ul put his arms behind his back, Sergent style.


    "More than three hours...." Another sigh escaped Eian and he rubbed his face.


    "Great. I think it''s time te start teaching ye how to use weapons. What types have ye used? I''ll give ye a few te try and I''ll decide what suits ye best." Ul''s smile held a promise of pain.


    Eian spent some time thinking.


    He explained the weapons he had used so far, spears, swords, axes and a lousy mace.


    He also explained he used a shield sometimes, but he had lost his one recently.


    "Shields good, ''specially since ye aren''t made o steel yet." Ul nodded.


    "I''ll get as hard as steel?" Eian''s eyes widened.


    "Ye. It''ll be a while though, past human racial limit, if ye manage." Ul nodded.


    "Then why do even wear armor?" Eian blinked that seemed weird.


    "A powerful enough spell can harm me. Dragon fire is ''specially hot. ''Sides certain enchanted weapons can cut through steel like butter, though they are expensive." Ul shrugged.


    "How expensive?" A weapon like that completely appealed to him.


    "Hmmmm....maybe a hundred gold standards, but maybe even up to a sapphire standard, maybe a lot more maybe a lot less, depends on what world." Ul rubbed his chin, then nodded.


    "A what? Where?" Eian scrunched up his face, he had no idea what that was.


    "The multi-universal currency is standardized, or standards for short. Ye know cos they have to be up to standard and universally trade-able. Else exchanges would be a hassle, imagine there are almost an infinite amount of worlds." Ul shrugged.


    "Okay, and how much is a sapphire standard then?" Eian was losing a bit of track here.


    "A hundred gold standards." Ul smirked.


    "........And how much is that. That doesn''t clarify anything." Eian narrowed his eyes, he saw where this was going.


    "A hundred gold standards are a thousand silver standards, or one sapphire standard." Ul''s smile broadened, confirming Eian''s thoughts.


    "That doesn''t explain anything. How...Can you translate that to something I can understand?" Eian rolled his eyes.


    "Sure, just tell me what ye can buy with a currency ye typically use and I''ll try to give a rough estimate. Also it''s important to tell me how advanced yer world is. The more advanced it is, the cheaper things usually go for. HA!" Ul let out a short bark of a laugh and clapped.


    Eian spent a while detailing American currency.


    He gave examples of what he could buy with a dollar, ten, a hundred and even how much a cheap vehicle costs.


    Ul told him paper currencies aren''t used in the wide universe, because they depend a lot on the country of origin to back up the value.


    Standards are precious mineral coins, thus they hold value by themselves, and the bigger standards are standard plates.


    Ul told him a silver standard would be somewhere around twenty five American dollars, enough for a nice meal at a respectable restaurant and a beer.


    Each coin had an equal mass and were slightly bigger than a quarter, they also held a small hold in the center to be strung, it was an ingenious simple design.


    Basically an enchanted sword, that could cut through steel like butter, would cost approximately twenty five thousand dollars, in Eian''s world.


    Ul was specific that it would only be cheaper in an advanced world, lower tech worlds would inflate the price far more.


    Ul told him his world was not an advanced world, they were around a middle world, so the sword could go for a sapphire standard.


    Thus if Eian had that much money he could choose: a nice car, or an overpowered sword.


    "The standards start with coppers, ten of those make an iron, ten of those make a silver and ten of those make a gold standard. Those are the basic currencies used in everyday life and they are pure to the extreme." Ul nodded.


    "But you mentioned a sapphire standard." Eian tilted his head.


    "I said basic. BASIC. The higher coins are a tad tricky. A sapphire standard, which I''ve told you, are worth a hundred gold standards. An emerald standard is worth four sapphire standards.. A ruby standard though, is worth ten sapphire standards. A diamond standard is worth two ruby standards, or twenty sapphire standards. Not all of those are at their highest purity. Each coin of the same type is exactly the same size and quality though." Ul explained.


    "Why? Wouldn''t purer be better?" Eian thought that made sense.


    "Better for what? Coins are used to buy and sell. A sapphire, of extra fine quality, could be worth more than a diamond of the same size. Same with emeralds and rubies. The idea isn''t to make them as best as possible, it''s to make the coins able to be traded and hold certain monetary values. The sapphires used for example are actually of low value." Ul smirked at him.


    Eian tried to process that idea.


    "Let me give ye an example. Ye use paper dollars right?" Ul asked.


    Eian nodded.


    "What would happen if ye only had one paper dollar. How would ye trade with it?" Ul shrugged.


    "Um.....by buying stuff?" Eian was losing track.


    "What if what ye want is only worth half of that paper dollar?" Ul asked.


    "Get two?" Eian thought he had understood though.


    "Inconvenient isn''t it? Now let''s say, ye want something that''s worth a million o them paper dollars. Ye gonna carry them all?" Ul motioned with his hands.


    "No. That''s just asking for someone to steal from you." Eian frowned.


    "Not to mention inconvenient. Basically values are assigned to money to facilitate trading. Not to make the most expensive coin out there. The value of the standard coin must reflect the value we assign, always. That''s what standardizing is all about." Ul smiled.


    Eian spent some time thinking over all that he had heard, it all seemed pretty straight-forward.


    He supposed it wasn''t different from his world.


    "Now enough talk. Let''s get to work." Ul''s sadistic smile was now present.


    Eian gulped.

 Dream 58

    Alex watched Jess, she was obviously undergoing shock.


    She was laying a top her stone bed and gripped the shoddy pelt unto herself.


    He kept some distance, he wasn''t sure how she would react to physical contact.


    When she begun muttering to herself, he really became worried.


    She would let out a shrill while gritting her teeth, and rock herself back and forth.


    "Jess!.....Jess!" Alex kept trying to get her attention.


    She was covering her ears, he sighed it was obvious she couldn''t hear him.


    He sat there beside her, he decided to stop waiting.


    He poured healing energy into her body, hoping anything she had suffered he could heal.


    Alex sighed again, this was why he didn''t want her to suffer pain.


    Jessica was obviously a pampered girl, it was not an if, it was so.


    Eian and Sarah were very strong people, Alex knew that.


    They had a strong flaw however.


    They didn''t seem to understand not everyone could be so strong, real life people like to show themselves as strong and independent, even in the face of terror.


    The average person has their own strengths, for most part though fighting and being hurt wasn''t one of them.


    Sarah especially demanded things from people that she didn''t realize were beyond reason.


    Alex himself was willing to suffer for the group, but he didn''t expect others to do the same for him.


    Sacrifice must be given of ones self, not demanded, nor conscripted.


    If it was, how were they different from a dictator, it was a repeat of slavery and oppression.


    Many people believe they are right and refuse to put put themselves in the other person''s shoes believing themselves ''above'' or ''better'' than everyone else.


    Loyalty, fealty, trust, familial bonds, friendship, even government affiliations or any type of belief should be earned and given freely.


    Those whom believe in demanding things from people should wake up and get over themselves.


    Alex remembered times when he could have been like Jessica, trying their very best to meet demands of others.


    He wasn''t too rich nor too poor, but there were always those, the unreasonable demands.


    Expectations, therapy, meeting certain people, extra study sessions, certain behavioral preferences, excellence in school he couldn''t ever fully meet them all, no matter how hard he tried.


    Over time he grew to resent them, all of them.


    ''They aren''t there yet, but I should set my foot down and talk to them.'' Alex bit his lip and nodded to himself, they had to set rules, he had to set rules.


    Jessica wasn''t rousing from her stupor.


    Alex began to feel anxious, he hoped she wouldn''t be out of it too long.


    Some people took weeks, sometimes even months, to recover from trauma.


    Depending on how bad it was she could be unfit for even being moved about.


    Sighing in defeat, Alex stopped calling for her attention.


    He went over and gathered some water in a small stone bucket Eian had made earlier.


    He placed it next to her and went to get some wolf jerky, he thought food sometimes helped with depression.


    Jerky might be different from regular stress food, but by now he didn''t know what else to try.


    He waited there a few minutes, finally she seemed to quiet down.


    "Jess. How are you?" Alex tried to give her an encouraging smile.


    ".......I" She broke down into sobs again, Alex closed his eyes.


    "Look. Umm..... Just ...try to relax a bit. Please. I know it''s not a lot, but I''m here if you want to talk. I brought you some food and water." Alex breathed in, he was too nervous.


    He had to be more confident, for her at least.


    He looked about the room looking for something to do.


    He got up to get the other pelt he had just recently finished.


    Getting up she grabbed his hand.


    "P...Please stay." Jessica''s tear filled eyes looked at him, sapping all forms of denial.


    "Ro...right." Alex sat down beside the bed and gave her a half-hearted smile.


    Moments passed in complete silence.


    She fidgeted a lot and looked everywhere, except at him.


    She began playing with her hair nervously.


    He ignored it, she was hurt, he needed to say something.


    "Um....Jess. I...look." He looked directly at her eyes.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    A brief moment pause and she was staring at his eyes, as well.


    He couldn''t see them with the poor light, but he imagined the vivid hue of blue in her eyes.


    Licking his lips he continued.


    "Jess. Umm......I''m sorry." Alex looked at the floor.


    A brief moment of silence passed and he thought she might be vex.


    "Why?" Her voice held a complete lack of understanding, which made him breathe a sigh of relief, she didn''t blame him.


    Alex took a brief moment to compose his answer.


    "I shouldn''t have let you fall under their pressure. I...I mean, I should have talked to you more about what you could have chosen." Alex looked at her eye''s again.


    He wasn''t sure, but he thought the smile she gave him was reflected in her eyes, bright as sunshine.


    "It''s alright Lex. I chose it in the end after-all." Jessica''s smile sent his gut into a butterfly fit.


    Her pet name of him meant more to him than she realized, few people in his life actually felt close enough to even try.


    Just remembering his parents made his happiness diminish slightly.


    Everyone seemed to think he disliked people getting close, for some reason no one tried to be close friends for long.


    James said they were all just pretenders anyways.


    "I still should have said something.." Alex gave her a soft shy smile, then he looked away and licked his lips.


    He felt her hand grab his.


    "Alex. Look at me please." Jess''s voice way smooth and soothing.


    "Ah....Jess. Um." Alex felt tongue tied, it was a new feeling.


    "Alex, um...I. ...Do....do you like me?" Jessica''s eye sparkled wide, he quickly looked away.


    He licked his lips, was he too obvious?


    Now that he thought over it, James once said he had almost drooled over the last girl he really liked.


    He had thought he had been joking at first, but he had realized later he had acted really stupid.


    He had gotten into a verbal fight with James later over her, which made him realize he was acting dumb.


    Hesitant, Alex thought over what he could say.


    "....Is that a no?" Jessica''s voice broke him out of his thoughts.


    "What?! No!.....I mean YES! I do. I..." Alex was dumbstuck with what to say.


    A brief moment passed and Alex realized his statement was confusing.


    "I... Yes I do. Like you I mean." Alex looked at the ground meekly.


    "Oh." He saw Jessica sigh.


    Was she unhappy?


    He had though they were at least on good terms and nearing that blurry line between friends and something more.


    He had always been shit at asking girls out, they usually asked him out of the blue and he agreed, if there wasn''t anyone he liked or was seeing at the time.


    "Alex." Jess looked hesitant, which solidified his line of thought that that he was about to be rejected.


    "...Yeah." Alex half-smiled, but his heart wasn''t in it.


    "Umm....I''m dating someone. But wait look!" Jessica''s words sunk his gut, she was going to try to put him down gently.


    He tried to smile through it, it wasn''t the first time he had been rejected after-all.


    He was usually shit at this whole thing.


    Strangely her grip on his hand tightened.


    "I.....I stopped liking him a long time ago. I was gonna break up with him anyways. Please! I really like you too." Jessica went quiet and looked at his eyes and he felt her sincerity.


    Alex let that pass through his head.


    This whole time she hadn''t acted like someone with a significant other.


    Was she telling the truth or did she want to use him?


    One girl did that one time, her boyfriend had appeared later and things had ended in a fight, if not for James he would have punched the guy some more.


    James had opened his eyes to the her ways, she had just been in it for the thrill of cheating.


    In the end, he let himself breathe.


    "Jess. Um.....You said you live in Miami, Florida right? Thats far. I live in Phoenix, Arizona." Alex felt his emotions in flux.


    "Wait is that a problem?! Alex look, I can move! My parents, they don''t care! They move all the time!" Jessica''s eye''s looked frantic, that made him change his mind.


    "NO! No! No. It''s not a problem. I just meant we''d have to work on it a little harder. I''d like if this works out too." Alex breathed in and smiled happy.


    "Really?" Jessica looked at him with questioning eyes.


    "For sure." Alex nodded vigorously.


    Jessica sighed dramatically, and inside a dark part of him made him wonder if he had just been played again.


    He banished it away immediately, he couldn''t rely on bad experiences to guide him forever after all.


    Suddenly she hugged him and that led him to feel completely anxious.


    They spent a long time like that.


    "Um.....Alex. I want to take a bath." Jessica smiled at him and he could see her blush through the darkness.


    He felt his heart beat speed-up.


    She gave him a quick peck on the mouth.


    "Can you....Watch me, to make sure nothing sneaks up on me." Her smile was definitely an invitation and he gave a stunned nod.


    Before he knew it they were near the running water, she was naked and they both quickly rinsed themselves.


    His desire had mounted, Eian and Sarah were in the daze they usually underwent while selecting spirit, they had quickly checked just to be sure.


    Suddenly he was passionately kissing those sweet tender lips, their breathe was hot and passionate.


    He briefly suckled on the perky nipples of her breasts, the tip of his tongue trailed upwards on her neck, before his teeth bit her lower lip again lightly.


    He held her against the wall, he lifted one leg up with one arm, the other held her tight.


    Ecstasy suffused him as he slid inside, he felt Jess''s back arc as she moaned, it just made him harder.

 Dream 59

    Sarah focused on the energy in her palm, the image of the hour glass potent in her mind.


    She visualized the droplet as it passed the final neck of the hourglass, it passed safely and dropped into the pool of energy.


    Finally Sarah let out a breathe, it had been the last drop of energy converted.


    The process felt less strange now, the energy was slippery like a bar of soap, the more she tightened her control the more difficult it became to use, the less she tried to ''squeeze'' it the more pliable it was.


    Following more of Adara''s instruction she imagined it in a sphere similar her previous fire-ball, it took shape slowly.


    The result was an almost exact replica of Alex''s healing bolt.


    "Wonderful." Adara had her elbow on the table and lay her head''s weight the palm of her hand.


    "Is this it?" Sarah couldn''t help but feel giddy.


    "Yes." Adara leaned her back unto the chair and stretched.


    Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, it had taken her seven days to succeed.


    Adara had made her take several breaks in between to ''rest her mind'' as she put it.


    The success was wonderful to feel, but the healing bolt slowly shrunk and she tried to push energy into it.


    The energy she applied refused to enter the bolt and rushed back into her well, it wasn''t painful.


    The healing bolt fizzled out of existence, leaving solely it''s memory behind.


    Sarah''s mouth opened in shock.


    Had she failed once more?


    "Did you try to apply more energy to the spell?" Adara looked at her with a small smirk.


    Sarah nodded and closed her mouth.


    "It failed because your natural spiritual energy is of fire, the spell you used was made of converted healing energy. The energies won''t mix without a pattern for the spell, nor a technique for the fusion." Adara pointed to her now empty palm.


    "Oh." Sarah blinked, she supposed that made sense.


    She was feeling drained though, practicing so long had left her mentally exhausted despite breaks.


    For a moment she had felt like standing and screaming her lungs out in frustration, due to the spells failure.


    "Remember little flame, don''t go trying to mix them yet, you have difficulty in just the conversion, spell fusion is beyond you for now." Adara shrugged.


    Adara looked directly at her eyes and held her attention.


    "Converted spells like that one are best use quickly, before the energy dissipates. Else you must constantly convert energy to maintain it and that in itself is wasteful." Adara stood slowly and leisurely stretched.


    Sarah also got up, it was nice to stretch her legs, even if it was all in her mind.


    "What kinds of spell can I use like this then?" Sarah breathed in deeply and her heart sped up.


    "Bolts, short-channels, molding is possible as well. Earth is unadvised though and don''t use death energy for now." Adara sat down again.


    "Why?" Sarah yawned, that was weird.


    "Earth is too slow to be useful without greater power. Pay attention. Death energy will harm your body, you will need almost immediate attention if you survive it. Don''t try." Adara''s eyes were once more focused on her and her voice was serious.


    "So I can''t use death spells?" Sarah found that a bit unfair.


    "For now. There are ways, which I''ll teach you at another time, if you want." Adara nodded.


    "When exactly?." Sarah tilted her head slightly, then sighed.


    She wanted to be unhindered in magic and being unable to use even one type was such a hindrance.


    "Perhaps the next time, when you reach the epitome of human spirit. Consider it a small gift for remaining true to my teachings, if you remain true of course." Adara''s smile seemed to know Sarah''s thoughts.


    Sarah''s mind froze.


    Did she know?


    "Also after you reach that point we will arrive at a schedule to program your learning. I will grant you a way to contact me then as well." Adara focused on her eyes.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Wouldn''t it be more useful to give me the way to contact you now?" Sarah held some hope.


    "Perhaps, but you might just decide to stop training spirit and focus on something else. I can''t give you something that will hinder you after all." Adara smiled knowingly at her.


    ''Damn it.'' Sarah sighed, she had considered placing one point in body, now that she knew Adara could contact her at anytime.


    A short time passed.


    "I think you should practice the conversion technique, at least a bit more for now. Keep at it till it feels more natural. When the time is nearing the end I will teach you you''re next power." Adara broke her out of her sour thoughts.


    "What is my next power?" With everything else Sarah had forgotten.


    "I think you''ll like this one. It''s the ability to hold more spells at full in front of you, without losing control. For now you''ll only be able to hold four, but it will go up with more power." Adara demonstrated by summoning four fire-balls easily.


    The spells spun in a lazy circle atop Adara''s palm.


    Sarah froze unblinking, that would be extremely useful, so far she was limited to two bolts.


    ********


    Eian deflected most of Ul''s swipe with his shield, the impact sent him stumbling a pace backwards.


    The shock sent tremors through his arm, Eian cursed himself as he almost let go of his shield.


    Deflecting was much better than straight out blocking, but still stupid.


    The massive war-hammer was held on one hand and the head must have weighed a hundred pounds.


    Ul carried it in one hand like a toddler would carry an overgrown toy, with no visible effort on his part.


    "Told ye already, never meet an impact ye can''t recover from. Dodge or stop it before it gains momentum." Ul for his part looked slightly bored.


    ''This mother fucking ''hijo de puta''.'' Eian''s breathing was erratic and he gashed his teeth at the asshole, almost frothing in rage.


    If Eian could shoot lasers with his eyes he would, did Ul think he wanted to take that hit, he was super fast and Eian wasn''t up to speed.


    Eian had lost track over how long they had been at it, Ul made slave drivers look like angels.


    Shattered bones were hindrances in his eyes, fracture were unworthy of repair, Ul claimed he wouldn''t have the luxury of fighting uninjured all the time.


    One time he had actually disarmed Eian by mistake, literally.


    Ul hit him so hard the shield broke and his arm shattered, then almost tore off completely at the elbow, it had been hanging uselessly by an inch of skin.


    The memory was easily one of the most painful in Eian''s entire life, over shadowed perhaps only by the first spirit infusion.


    It had taken an hour of threats and beatings to get Eian angry enough to continue, even after Ul repaired things.


    Deep inside Eian wanted to cave the fat midgets skull in, as far as Eian cared he was a serious psycho.


    It was depressing, he hadn''t even gotten a single hit in, even if deep inside he knew it would so much as scratch the asshole.


    "Well that''s that." Ul suddenly stood still.


    Eian stayed there glaring at the bastard, he wasn''t worth his insults.


    He was half considering charging and to hell with it.


    "Ye done good boy. Very good. Might actually be worth them hairs on yer balls. Heh." Ul snorted, causing Eian''s rage to burst.


    He charged swing the axe at him.


    Ul vanished, Eian''s chest caved in, a brief window of intense pain, then everything went black.


    He woke later, not knowing how much time had passed and he sighed.


    "Well time te teach ye what ye came here for I guess." Ul threw the hammer aside lightly, which stuck to the mountainside as if a giant and hammer it in.


    Eian stood there uncomprehending.


    He blinked, as his mind tried to catch up to the meaning of the words.


    He eyed Ul suspiciously, he wasn''t sure this was not some sort of trick to let his guard down.


    Ul rolled his eyes.


    "I''m serious boy, Earth shatters up next." Ul shrugged.


    Eian just stared at him blankly, he blinked a couple times.


    "Ye crack in the noggin?" Ul tilted his head comically, furrowed his brows and wore that annoying half-smirk.


    "......No." Eian sighed and shook his head in denial.


    He didn''t have words to express his rage, might as well get this shit over with.


    That aside intellectually he knew Ul was helping him, even if it hurt like mother fucking hell.


    "Alright next power is Earth shatter as I said. A bit tricky to use, but with more power it''s useful though." Ul nodded.


    Eian focused, he was ready for a new power.


    As useful as earth armor was, it was more of a trump card than a steady attack like Sarah''s fire-ball.


    "Like rock armor ye''ll need empower te use it efficiently fer now. This power breaks down any form of earth ye channel into, compresses it into hard shards and shoots it upwards with force." Ul then breathed in and demonstrated.


    Ul stomped a foot into the stone floor, an area of five yards by five yards exploded upwards.


    The floor was dug up a foot deep, and several shards of stone were scattered around.


    Eians eyes widened, that was definitely kind of cool, though it didn''t look as deadly as he had hoped.


    "Aim with yer eyes and channel it where ye want, s''long as yer connected to the earth and the area the target is too. Less deadly on sand and dirt, but the compression effect should still stun, and at worst distract. Ye can use it on stone walls too, perfect for demolition or distractions, remember ye can dig out of stone, other enemies usually can''t. With more power ye can dig deeper or spread wider. This is also useful for controlling enemies. If yer fighting something strong, ye can use thing to injure and distract approaching enemies." Ul explained.


    "It''s not deadly, is it?" Eian shrugged, it still sounded kind of cool.


    "Stone floors like this one might, but at your level, no. Like I said more power will change that. Cheer up, next powers Earth spike though. That''ll skewer yer enemies. Well let''s get to it. We''ll have te get ye used te it. Practice time." Ul cracked his own neck gently.


    Eian felt his previous hopes drop, this was going to hurt, presumably a shit ton.


    With Ul involved it was a certainty.

 Dream 60

    Jessica sighed contently, she lay on her bed, cuddling with Alex felt wonderful.


    They were now clean and fully dressed, they didn''t want to be caught by the other two naked after all.


    The only thing the room was missing was a door, for privacy.


    Jessica herself didn''t care what the other two thought about her and Alex, they were all consenting adults after-all.


    Alex said the other two might feel uncomfortable they had sneaked off to have sex, while they were undergoing their training.


    Jessica conceded the point, Eian easily angered and Sarah loved to point out their faults.


    For now they agreed to try to get some privacy in the rooms later, a door would be a godsend.


    Soon Alex got up and they spent the rest of the time chatting about many things, like how they could work things out, once they got home of course.


    Alex went to get a drink of water and soon Jessica leaned against the wall of her bed.


    Closing her eyes she felt herself drift off.


    Darkness engulfed her and she quickly opened her eyes.


    She was back in her altered old room, Jessica spooked.


    "Hello?!" She scanned everything.


    The windows were pitch black and her room was once more how she remembered it.


    Panic momentarily settled in, before she realized what had happened.


    "Calmness Jessica, settle your emotions. Your mind must be balanced, to master the powers of the mind." Myru''s voice echoed from the other room.


    "Why am I here?" Jessica''s breathing slowed, as her nerves calmed.


    "I deemed this an appropriate time to teach you the usage of your powers. You are in no mortal danger and.......well your partner helped you relax." Myru''s voice held a touch too much mirth.


    Jessica''s eyes widened and she took a step back.


    She held her shoulders.


    ''She can see me in the real world?'' Jessica felt violated.


    "No." Myru''s answer was a second after her thought, which made her feel more violated.


    "You''re reading my mind?" Jessica begun to be freaked out.


    "Step into the next room with me Jessica, I will answer what I can. We have much to discuss." Myru''s voice was steady and sweetly smooth.


    Any more questions on her part were met with silence.


    Jessica slowly made her way to the other room.


    Once there, Myru beckoned her to sit facing her.


    "Well?" Jessica crossed her arms, she had been looking forward to conversing with Alex some more.


    "Such a haughty attitude. You should watch your tongue around your elders, child." Myru blind-fold betrayed little emotion.


    "You don''t look older than me." Jessica narrowed her eyes and scanned Myru''s young and healthy face.


    "Then your first lesson is simple. Looks are deceiving. I am easily over a thousand years old. Not all at my age have patience to waste on your attitude.


    Many would outright harm you, from disrespect." Myru''s frown and tone was that of a scolding grandmother.


    Jessica remained silent, as that passed through her head.


    How this this old lady keep her looks for so long?


    Not to mention how she even lived them.


    Jessica hoped she could learn that health care plan.


    Perhaps she should dye her hair though, it was the only thing that gave off age, snow white.


    "Well. Only time will tell if you heed my advice. If not, well child,....you''ll find yourself in an early grave." Myru shrugged and her smile sent a shiver down her spine.


    "Is that a prophecy?" Jessica knew Myru could see the future like her.


    "I do not need prophetic powers to tell where foolishness and ill temper leads when dealing with greater powers. It''s just common sense." Myru let loose a short laugh.


    "You said you would answer my questions. Can you see me in the real world." Jessica frowned, her privacy had been breached.


    "No child. I simply run through this encounter so many times I know where it begins and where it ends. There is little my sight can not see, but I have better things to do with my time than waste it spying on a couple''s intimate moments." Myru shrugged and smiled.


    Jessica thought over that for a moment, the lady seemed genuinely amused.


    Perhaps she was not lying, her argument held some weight to it.


    Why would she spy on her and Alex anyways?


    Of course there was the slight chance she was just a pervert watching over them.


    "I am also not reading your mind, it is easily open enough to at least feel external influence. Like I said, I have had many versions of this conversation with you." Myru''s tilted her head at her slightly, her smile took a creepy quality.


    Her second question had been answered before she could even ask a second time, that was peculiar feeling.


    "Forgive me. I get ahead of myself. Sometimes I like teasing the younger generations. It''s one of my guilty pleasures." Myru erupted in a minor fit of giggles and her smile brightened.


    "You''re a weird old lady." Jessica pouted and her arms were still crossed defensively.


    "Most my age are. Let us move on from pleasantries. I''m sure you want this over with." Myru steepled her fingers and placed her chin atop them.


    The blind-fold was really eerie, especially since Jessica somehow knew it didn''t hinder her sight one bit.


    "I know you know little of your power, much less how any other PSI powers work. You will listen yes?" Myru''s face straightened and her smile disappeared.


    A brief moment passed and Jessica realized she was waiting for confirmation.


    She nodded, before she remembered the lady''s eyes were covered.


    "Very well. Now like all powers, PSI has limits. Unlike spirit, which you are more familiar with, PSI doesn''t have a well to draw from. Instead your power puts stress on your physical brain. Push too far and a head ache will begin, push further and your brain may hemorrhage. Persist more and this power will either knock you out from pain, or kill you." The lady''s voice remained steady and betrayed nothing.


    Jessica squirmed and took a deep breathe, she didn''t want to die.


    "Brain hemorrhages can be healed with magic. Death as well, but the mind is a tricky thing. Even if you are resurrected, you may land in a temporary coma. Unless you have an expert healer, you may be stuck so for the rest of your life. Take my warning seriously, do not push far past a head-ache, unless you are truly desperate. Even then, take care and do not push past brain hemorrhaging." If Myru had no blind fold her eye''s would be drilling into Jessica.


    This just kept sounding more and more dangerous.


    A short shudder passed behind her neck.


    "Now, enough of that. A headache will take a while to settle in, hemorrhaging even more so. I just wanted you to be aware of the dangers." Myru explained.


    It took some more explaining, but Myru put her worries at ease.


    She would feel a head-ache long before she hurt herself with her own power.


    Myru told her she stressed it because she wanted the warning to sink in.


    "Now let me explain part of the gift you now possess. As I have told you. You may see the future with it through your eyes, but by no means is it all powerful. The power will show you the probability most likely to occur, but by working your mind on it you may see other possibilities within your scope of change. It has a combat application as well, which is what you should learn first. Come." Myru stood.


    "Why?" Jessica remained seated, her arms crossed.


    "Do you not wish to learn your gift?" Myru shrugged.


    Sighing Jessica stood.


    "Try to hit me. I won''t fight back." Myru stood straight, her arms behind her back.


    "I''m not hitting an old lady." Jessica frowned.


    "Of course you won''t. How would a worthless child like you even manage it? A disappointing burden to both parents I''m sure." Myru sneered.


    "What did you call me!?" Jessica narrowed her eyes.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "A baby." Myru''s sneer grew.


    ''This bitch is asking for it!'' Jessica slapped at her.


    Her hand passed through empty air, easily missing Myru somehow.


    Agitated Jessica threw another slap at her, only to miss again.


    She kicked at her legs, punched wildly, chopped and even tried a tackle, all attempts failed spectacularly.


    On the floor, soon Jessica realized she had been played, the old lady baited her.


    ''Ugrrrrhhh.'' Jessica got up and stomped her foot on the ground.


    "You''re playing with me!" Jessica crossed her arms defensively.


    "No child, I''m teaching you. You swing wildly at me, without using your power." Myru shrugged.


    "How is this teaching me!?" Jessica fumed.


    "Lower your voice. Ask again, politely or I will bend you over my knee and spank you. If you behave like a child I will treat you as one." Myru stretched cat-like.


    "You''re not my mother!" Jessica grit her teeth at the indignity.


    "Hmmmm....true, nor would I want to be." Myru shrugged.


    "BITCH!" Jessica lunged at her.


    Myru side-stepped and tripped her with one foot.


    Suddenly she found herself on the floor.


    Strong hands gripped her and Jessica struggled to resist.


    Elbowing behind her, Jessica felt something block them easily, and it budged not an inch.


    Myru held her arms in a lock behind her back, Jessica''s knees were on the floor and her cheek was forcefully pressed against the floor.


    "Take my lesson to heart. Comport yourself around those with more power or you will die. This is your last warning, not everyone is as kind and forgiving as I." Myru''s voice rang behind her.


    Jessica squirmed, both of Jessica''s hands were held by one of the bitch''s impossibly strong hands.


    Suddenly she felt a resounding smack against her buttocks.


    She let loose a surprised yelp.


    Another smack hit her, then another, and another.


    "STOP! STOP IT!" Jessica gashed her teeth and tried to fight back.


    Myru ignored her completely.


    After several minutes her buttocks ached terribly and tears had long ago welled up in her eyes.


    The indignity was overwhelming, the physical pain was much less painful than her her shame and injured pride.


    "Stop.....please....stop.....hic." Tears flowed down her eyes, Jessica closed her eyes.


    "Good. Let this be the last time." Myru let her go.


    Jessica scrambled away on all fours, dignity broken.


    Jessica quickly sat, only to jump up from the pain on her behind.


    She backed herself into a corner of the room, she held herself as she cried.


    "I will be here, when you are ready to learn." Myru sat down and went absolutely still.


    Several minutes passed by, Jessica had squatted down comfortably to evade sitting.


    She had her back against the wall and her arms crossed a top her knees, forehead resting on her arms.


    In all her mind was blank, she didn''t want to think right now.


    She lost track of time.


    Much later, Jessica roused herself from her melancholy.


    Surprisingly Myru had stood and was facing her.


    Once more her arms were behind her back and she held a relaxed stance.


    Definitely creepy.


    "The trick is to focus your mind on me. Bend your will to see my movements." Myru began tilting her head from side to side lazily.


    Sighing Jessica stood, she wanted this over with.


    Once she was back with Alex she could relax again.


    Hopefully he could cheer her up.


    "It may take some time, I will begin walking in a line, try to predict them." Myru''s head stopped and watched her.


    Myru began moving, facing where her left side was.


    After a while she stopped changed directions and begun moving to the right.


    Jessica stared at her, she sighed again then breathed in deeply.


    Her stare focused and her brows furrowed, until she looked to be glaring at Myru, perhaps she was.


    Minutes passed with no improvement.


    Concentrating, she tried everything.


    Suddenly she felt something shift in her brain.


    Myru multiplied, a blurry image of her appeared in front of Myru.


    Jessica saw the image stop, turn the walk to the other direction, phasing through Myru''s body.


    Suddenly Myru copied what Jessica had seen the image do before.


    The image had stopped walking and turned to face Jessica, but Jessica had focused mostly on the actual Myru.


    Soon Myru and the blurry image stood facing her, merged seamlessly together.


    "Good. Now try to attack me while doing that." Myru stood still.


    Jessica walked cautiously to her instructor.


    Breathing in deeply she saw an arm lift and attempt to block where Jessica had planned to punch.


    Jessica kicked low instead, suddenly several images overwhelmed her vision.


    Myru skipped away from her.


    "Keep this always in mind. This power counters itself. I am stronger so I knew everything before hand. Otherwise I would be operating on my other abilities alone." Myru shrugged.


    All the images settled a top Myru once more.


    Jessica blinked.


    "What use is an ability that can be countered?" Jessica sighed and shook her head frustrated.


    Here she thought her power might be amazing.


    "All powers can be countered. I''ve told you it''s not all powerful." Myru stretched her heels till she was tip-toeing.


    Jessica opened her mouth to respond, but Myru cut her off.


    "Shush! Listen to your elders or I''ll spank you again. There are few people with this ability, so the chances of running into one is rare. Now let me tell you what other powers counter it or prove difficult to handle." Myru lowered herself and stood at attention again.


    Jessica listened, she didn''t want a repeat of another spanking.


    "The most abundant problem is wind magic, the element itself is invisible so difficult to predict. Illusions are another problem, you won''t be able to see someone invisible and any images they create will only confuse you. That ability is less rare than yours, so watch out for it especially. Predicting Teleportation can also be tricky, if they know of your ability they can get behind you, where you cannot see. The major factor at play right now is that you''re slow. Even if you can see something coming, if you can''t dodge you''ll be hit before you know it. You also must practice your power more, if you don''t know what to do with what your see you''re wasting your potential." Myru remained completely still while lecturing.


    Jessica paid attention, every time her attention waned Myru called out to her.


    "Now let''s move on to visions." Myru sat down and beckoned for her to sit.


    Jessica slowly sat.


    "Good, now moving on. Visions are hard to master. For now you can''t see very far. There are tools to improve this, but that will take long to get. Blessings are a great help in boosting your mind temporarily to see more, but you''ll need to invoke a being for it in the short run. Let us begin practicing your vision. Close your eyes." Myru instructed.


    Jessica swallowed any acidic comments she had and closed her eyes reluctantly.


    "Focus, try to get the feeling you had while predicting my movements." Myru instructed.


    Jessica focused she felt the shift in her mind.


    "Once you feel something happening try to delve deeper and push further. Focus on our conversation and where it will lead." Myru went silent.


    Jessica felt herself sink slowly into her mind.


    She opened her eyes wide, shocked.


    She lost the feeling.


    "Trust your power, you will feel if your minds strain and can snap out of it." Myru nodded.


    Jessica tried again, this time she let herself begrudgingly sink slowly.


    ********


    Opening her eyes she was sitting with Myru once more.


    Nothing was different.


    Jessica felt confused.


    Had she failed?


    "Good. Now let us continue." Myru smirked, as if to some inside joke.


    "Did I fail?" Jessica narrowed her eyes.


    "No." Myru''s smiled widened, and she stood.


    Jessica was confused.


    "What do you mean?" Jessica frowned.


    "Stand up." Myru commanded.


    Sighing Jessica stood.


    ''What''s going on.'' Jessica blinked, she wanted nothing more than go back.


    Her head felt a bit funny, as if she were thinking on something very complicated.


    "I''ve warned you. With time you will feel strain slowly build up. Stop when it begins to be painful." Myru folded her hands behind her back.


    "I''m confused." Jessica tilted her head.


    "Listen closely. Follow me" Myru warned.


    Jessica shut up, this was weird.


    Myru led her to her room.


    She motioned her to sit on her comfortable bed.


    Gingerly Jessica sat on the edge of the bed and folded her arms.


    "Well?" Jessica waited, her head still felt a little weird.


    "Now I offer you, your choices." Myru kept smiling.


    "A choices?" Jessica frowned, she hoped it was to send her back, she was tired of this session.


    "Yes tell me. Do you prefer to be a mage or a warrior?" Myru asked casually.


    "Don''t you know?" Jessica rolled her eyes.


    "Hah! Don''t make me spank you again. See though? You can learn. Yes, I do know, but I find it polite to ask. It''s a life-long journey after all." Myru let loose a short laugh.


    Jessica frowned.


    "You shouldn''t frown so much. You''ll get wrinkles. Anyways answer my question." Myru kept her smile.


    "I''ll choose to be a mage." Jessica replied exasperated, her head still felt funny.


    "I know you chose death magic. It''s potent at killing." Myru nodded.


    "Then why ask?" Jessica frowned.


    "Because I need to inform you that your mind by itself is potent. With a fire-arm or a long range weapon you can easily kill most mundane things by predicting their movements. Your dexterity and aim are top notch already. You''ll rarely miss with a little training." Myru.


    "I don''t have a fire-arm available to me right now." Jessica leaned into her bed.


    "Yes, but it''s for the future. Death magic is potent and you must be careful not to harm your friends while practicing. In the future you can use fire-arms mostly and use magic only on stronger opponents. This will allow you to conserve your spirit well and focus more on PSI instead of magic." Myru explained.


    "Why should I do that? Besides I thought I was at my limit." Jessica thought magic was a much better choice than PSI at the moment.


    "You are at your human limit, but you''ll be able to surpass it eventually. Once you do if you focus on PSI again, you''ll be able to unlock another PSI power earlier. Your efficiency on your current one will also increase. Imagine being able to see deeper into the future to prevent yourself from dying from any disaster. You possess a wonderful gift and should not squander it." Myru explained.


    "When will I unlock another power? Do you know what it is?" Jessica narrowed her eyes.


    "I do know what it is. You''ll unlock it at twenty mind. I won''t tell you yet, but its potent and will suit your future needs." Myru smiled.


    "Twenty!" Jessica jaw almost dropped.


    "Yes you may focus on spirit for now, till you''re able to overcome your human limits." Myru nodded sagely.


    "How will I even overcome my limits? You make it sound like I''ll be an old lady by that time." Jessica frowned.


    "I think you''ll be surprised at what lies ahead. I can''t say more, but you''ll need all the power you can get. With such a potent power you should not squander it. You are blessed." Myru shrugged.


    By now Jessica was feeling as if she was a little low on sugar levels.


    "Close you eyes and try to relax child." Myru smirked again.


    Sighing Jessica closed her eyes and strangely she felt as if falling asleep.


    Mentally she gave a sigh of relief, she had gone too long without true rest.


    *******


    Jessica blinked she was once more in front of Myru.


    They were sitting back in the room outside of Jessica''s own room.


    Jessica looked around confused beyond reason.


    Looking she saw that smirk Myru wore.


    "I trust you to make right decisions." Myru gave her a toothy smile.


    "What? What just happened?" Jessica frowned.


    "Experience child, I have had plenty of experience. Perhaps someday you shall learn my tricks." Myru kept smiling.


    "Did you send your thoughts into my head!?" Jessica felt truly violated.


    "Shush! No. You would have felt such an intrusion into your mind." Myru''s smile turned into a frown, but then became a smirk.


    Jessica grit her teeth, then shut her mouth.


    "Good-bye. Think on your future carefully. We may not meet again." Myru waved her hand.


    "WAIT!" Jessica tried to stand.


    Everything washed away.

 Dream 61

    Alex looked around, the entire group had woken.


    He had been worried for Jessica at first, but she woke quickly.


    Apparently her guide had treated her with a bit of a heavy hand, Jessica was behaving a lot more timid for now.


    Eian and Sarah woke by the end and Alex called them all out.


    Hopefully by now things had settled down, everyone had had time away from each other.


    Alex realized Eian had the right idea, everyone needed a break from each other sometimes.


    Even he had been treating Sarah a little roughly, he wasn''t that kind of guy and the first thing he had to do was apologize.


    "Alright, first off, Sarah I want to say sorry." Alex nodded at her and gave her, what he hoped passed as, a contrite smile.


    Sarah blinked and tilted her head.


    "What?" Sarah looked about at everyone.


    "I was treating you badly a while ago, I''m not like that and I''m sorry. I''ve been a little stressed lately, so I just wanted to say that." Alex shrugged lightly.


    "You don''t have to apologize Alex. She was being mean too." Jessica frowned at him, Sarah frowned at her.


    "Jess, let''s not burn bridges, please. She was responding to my negative attitude and we''ve all been through a lot." Alex patted her shoulder and hoped she calmed down.


    "What''s your problem anyways? I''ve done everything to help you and you''re taking it all for granted. There''s a limit to goodwill." Sarah''s frown deepened and she crossed her arms, she was looking at Jessica.


    Alex sighed, this was not how he wanted things to start off.


    Eian had a smirk on his face and he shook his head lightly, Alex felt exasperated.


    "Helping me? How? Everything you do is to scold or berate me!" Jessica huffed and folded her arms as well.


    "Who do you think made you get your powers! I''ve been feeding you half my kills! You''d still be a regular person without me! I could be stronger if I hadn''t!" Sarah got up definitely looked pissed.


    Jessica opened her mouth to retort and closed it, she pouted, then looked away from Sarah.


    Alex tried to remember, then figured out it was true recently.


    Even he had benefited from Sarah.


    "Thank-you for that as well. Please! Let''s move on, we shouldn''t be fighting." Alex inwardly sighed.


    Sarah turned to look at him with narrowed eyes.


    "Alex. I agree we should move on, but first we have a problem." Sarah stared at him directly.


    "Yeah?" Alex sighed, he thought he knew where this might be going.


    "Yes. Normally it wouldn''t be a concern, but out here? Alex, Jessica, I don''t know what type of thing you two have going on, but..." Sarah was looking at them both.


    "That is none of your business." Jessica growled and interrupted her.


    "You two a thing now?" Eian raised an eyebrow.


    "None of your business." Jessica huffed and a flush came to her cheeks, Alex flushed a bit too.


    Sarah rubbed her face and muttered something under her breathe.


    Alex thought he heard something about idiots.


    "Look, it''s not a problem in and of itself. I have no problem with you two dating or whatever. The problem is if it''s going to affect our teamwork, or the lack of it so far." Sarah was rubbing the left-side of her face, with one hand .


    "It shouldn''t affect us working as a team." Alex scratched the back of his head.


    "It already did. Back when Eian was lost you were obstinate and stupid trying to help Jessica. I could have gotten hurt and I tired myself out fighting so many enemies. Alex wake up, we aren''t ever safe. You''re our only medic, what would you do if I had died?" Sarah stared at his face.


    "I wouldn''t have let you die." Alex backed away a little, he looked away from her though.


    "Really? If you had to choose between saving me or Jessica, whom would you choose then?" Sarah rolled her eyes.


    Alex licked his lips and remained silent, the answer was obvious, but saying it out loud was a dumb idea.


    "He would choose Jessica obviously." Eian broke the silence, still smirking.


    "What does that matter? We just don''t have to get in a situation like that." Jessica frowned.


    "It matters, because it means I can''t depend on either of you to save me in a pinch. Eian''s the only reliable one here." Sarah nodded her head at him.


    "We just have to work a little on our team-work. We have a base now." Alex scratched his neck and tried not to look at the other two.


    "Yeah. I have a few ideas about that." Eian threw that out there, nodding at him.


    "Don''t try to move away from topic here. If I can''t depend on you, how can you expect me to watch your back as well? I''ll have to look after me first." Sarah''s frown deepened.


    "Heh. I''m just glad I''m hard to hurt." Eian chuckled.


    "Shut up Eian." Sarah frowned at him, he lifted his hands helplessly.


    "What are you trying to say, Sarah?" Tilting his head, Alex was confused.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I''m saying that next time you''re surrounded by ten boars, I''ll kill my enemies and not help you, till I''m done of course." Shrugging, Sarah watched for his reaction.


    "You''ll leave him to die?!" Standing, Jessica looked ready to jump Sarah.


    Alex held her hand and squeezed lightly.


    Jessica looked at him worried and then glared at Sarah.


    "She''s saying she''ll leave you to die!" Jessica pointed at Sarah, whom remained still.


    "I think she''s trying to make a point Jess." Alex''s throat felt a bit dry.


    Sarah was the strongest of them, her fire and lightning made everything much easier.


    "That includes you as well Jessica." Sarah briefly looked at Jessica with contempt.


    "Bitch!" Jessica almost charged her, Alex held her back.


    Eian stayed out of it looking at them with a frown.


    "What are you trying to say, Sarah?" Alex frowned with concern, he knew she wanted to say something.


    Sarah looked at him in the eye, she briefly looked at Jess then shook her head.


    "You''re both a liability. Jess can barely fight, your healing makes you useful, but that''s it." Sarah shrugged.


    "His healing saved Eian! It healed your arm too!" Jessica sat down, but was still glaring daggers at Sarah.


    Alex held her hand tight and waited for Sarah to continue.


    He knew he wasn''t the strongest defender, nor the one with the most killing potential, but he had an important role to play.


    They all had an important role to play, he understood Sarah was angry with him over her injury though.


    "I don''t make it a habit of agreeing with Jessica, but she''s right Sarah. Alex''s healing is more important than you''re letting on." Eian nodded at him and frowned at Sarah.


    Sarah lifted her hand and closed her eyes.


    A second later an identical version of his own healing bolt appeared on her hand.


    Alex''s eyes widened, he heard Jessica take a deep breathe and Eian blinked a few times.


    How? A few seconds later, the bolt fizzled out leaving Alex speechless.


    Sarah took advantage of the silence.


    "I agree, his healing is important. I don''t want to be stuck being a medic too." Sarah shrugged.


    "Neat." Eian was rubbing his chin, eliciting a small smile from Sarah.


    Sarah''s face quickly lost all mirth.


    "Alex listen. I''m not going to repeat myself, so listen closely. If I believe you and Jess will continue acting as you are. I will focus on myself first. That means I won''t be sharing my kills, I won''t be giving you advice and for gods-sake I won''t be risking my neck for you. Understood?" Sarah''s steely eyes focused solely on him.


    Alex stared at her dumbly.


    What can you say to that?


    Alex chewed on the inside of his cheek for a while.


    "I''m not sure I understand what you''re saying." Alex squeezed Jess''s hand.


    "I''m saying, I want you both to start doing your part." Sarah stared at him intently.


    "You want us to do what you say? Obey you? That it?" Alex frowned and his eyes narrowed.


    "No. For...Ugh......I want you to do your part as the medic Alex. To HEAL the person that needs it the most. Not just rush off to save HER, when she doesn''t even need it." Sarah pointed at Jessica.


    Jessica looked angry enough to storm Sarah.


    Alex squeezed her hand a little tighter.


    "What about Jessica? You mentioned her too." Eian held his head sideways on his open palm, while sitting and looking a bit bored.


    "I want her to start focusing on how to kill things more efficiently. We can help her get another point in spirit. She should get a damage spell then." Sarah nodded.


    "We don''t get a choice in this?" Alex clenched his free hand.


    Sarah looked at him as if a simple child.


    "Of course you do. You can choose to work with us, as an actual team, or we can each just lookout for ourselves. I''m confident in protecting myself." Sarah shrugged.


    "What''s up, all of you?" Eian looked around puzzled.


    "What''s wrong, is you are both just deciding how to do things without us man." Alex kept his voice low.


    "Hey, hey, we aren''t deciding anything! I''m willing to listen to anything you have to say too. I think it''s a terrible idea to not work together." Eian held his palms up and opened.


    Alex relaxed a bit at that.


    At least Eian seemed neutral.


    "So you think, it''s fine if they get one of us killed?" Sarah''s lips formed a thin line.


    "What''s up with you? All the doom and gloom now anyways? I''m the one that stupid-over-cooked-bird almost ate." Eian quirked an eyebrow at her.


    "You didn''t see how he was acting when you weren''t there." Sarah''s tone was getting a bit accusatory.


    Alex tuned them out for a minute and tried to focus on the situation.


    He kept hold of Jessica''s hand so she didn''t try to get in there.


    He calmed himself down too, he had gotten a little riled up too.


    Maybe he was acting a little over-protective, but still she didn''t have to say it like that.


    "What do you think Jess?" Alex looked at her and asked her in a whisper.


    "She''s so bossy. She always thinks she''s right, belittling us all the time." Jessica was whispering, frowning also.


    "She has been helping us get stronger." Alex tried to figure out what to do.


    "What are you two doing? This is a group discussion." Sarah interrupted them.


    ''If only James were here.'' Alex sighed.


    "What gives you the right to boss us around anyways? You''re not the leader." Jessica jutted her chin out.


    "Why are you so...Ugh!!!" Sarah closed her eyes and grit her teeth.


    "We don''t have a leader." Eian was looking at the ceiling.


    "Maybe we should change that then. I say Alex, he''s the one that always worries about everyone." Jessica pouted and crossed her arms.


    "No ones going to vote, when you two already have half the group." Sarah rubbed her fore-head.


    "Yeah, seems kind of unfair. Besides its best to decide things together." Eian shrugged, Alex nodded.


    ''A leader sounds like bad idea anyways. We''d have to follow everything one person decides.'' Alex closed his eyes briefly, before opening them after a small breathe.


    Everyone went silent for a while.


    "How ''bout we all just try to figure things out first?" Eian suggested, after a very long awkward silence.


    "What do you mean?" Sarah looked at him head tilted, eyes puzzled.


    "I mean like. Mmmmm. Let''s......try to re-work our team-work. I''m the one at the front taking hits, Alex is always beside me, but I think I can manage alone now. At least with small groups." Eian nodded after a brief pause to think.


    "And what will Alex and Jess do?" Sarah frowned.


    "Well we can experiment and see how things work out in the field. We just need to be careful. We can come up with all kinds of things in here, but out there is what matters." Eian shrugged.


    "I agree. We can all come up with something together." Alex nodded, that sounded like something James might say.


    As long as one person didn''t just take over and ignore everyone else, Alex was fine.


    Everyone needed to voice their opinion, Sarah seemed to want to ignore Jess and be the boss.


    "So we still haven''t decided a thing." Sarah sighed.


    "We have time. Why the rush? We could be here weeks. Plus like Alex said, we could use some training." Eian looked at her.


    "Jess has just gotten control over her powers too." Alex hoped they took that into consideration.


    "Yeah!" Jess nodded at him a happy smile plastered on her face and she squeezed his hand back.


    "Eian''s right, we can all pool together and see what each can bring to the table." Alex looked at an empty space between them, he was metaphorically speaking of course.


    Jess'' power was amazing anyways, she could have already saved his life by evading the bog.


    "FINE, but I want to see you both doing more on your part. I feel stressed all the time, I have to worry about what you two are always doing. Alex, I just don''t want you to forget I might need help too." Sarah frowned at him.


    Jess glared at her, Sarah frowned at her with narrowed eyes, Alex sighed as they both got into a brief staring contest.


    He and Eian watched them both to make sure they didn''t get physical.


    They waited in silence for a while, everything was dead.


    "Roger then. I think we should do that. Let''s hear what each of us can do and try to work out something." Alex stretched a bit, his arms felt stiff.


    Alex wanted to break the ice, before things got too awkward.


    "Right. It was my idea, so I''ll start." Eian nodded.


    Alex half-smiled, he hoped this was the actual beginning of a prosperous team.

 Dream 62

    Eian watched as Alex lined up in front of him.


    He seemed a bit reserved, shielding himself perhaps more than necessary.


    Eian held a rough a two handed wooden ''sword'' they had carved out, it wouldn''t do for him to accidentally behead Alex after-all.


    After their first round Alex had put on his helmet, Eian actually still felt bad for that.


    Sarah and Jessica were both sitting down watching them, though Jessica was glaring at him.


    Suddenly Alex launched himself forward, stabbing at Eian.


    Eian parried easily, he moved diagonally to Alex''s right side to evade his shielded area.


    Alex''s desperately swung wildly on bad footing, with more speed than force.


    Eian blocked and barreled shoulder-first into Alex, staggering him and putting him on the back foot.


    Eian put the pressure, one hard swing after another had Alex retreating.


    With a clear hit he landed a blow to Alex''s leg, eliciting a yelp.


    Taking advantage Eian swung at Alex''s overextended sword and disarmed him.


    He barreled shoulder-first into Alex''s shield and sent him falling on his back, Alex lost his shield on the tumble.


    A clear defeat to Alex, again.


    "You''re just too strong man." Alex gingerly got up, rubbing his back.


    "That''s what you''re gonna tell the next monster you see? You''re just too strong mister monster, please take it easy?" Eian smirked, it felt good to not be on the receiving side.


    "No man, but still how will I learn like this?" Alex frowned slightly.


    "Oh come on it''s not so bad. You didn''t break anything. Did you?" Eian quickly scanned Alex, nope nothing major.


    Alex raised an eyebrow at him.


    "Stop being a jerk! You''re just hurting him on purpose!" Jessica got up and went to Alex, glaring at Eian the whole time.


    "Never watched any martial arts movies? No pain, no gain." Eian frowned at her.


    He was trying to help Alex.


    Plus he hadn''t done anything too out of the way yet.


    The few accidents were just that, accidents, besides Alex could easily heal himself.


    Eian looked at Sarah wondering what she thought.


    "What?" Sarah lifted an eyebrow at him.


    "What do you think?" Eian almost rolled his eyes.


    ".........Depends, are you actually trying to help him? Or, are you really just messing around?" Sarah looked bored.


    "What kind of question is that? Of course I''m trying to help him!" Eian narrowed his eyes at her.


    "Then it''s fine. Maybe just explain your thoughts, and what you''re trying to teach him." Sarah shrugged, then looked at the new couple.


    "This is how I learned." Eian frowned.


    "And what did you learn?.....I''m not trying to offend you Eian, I think Alex just doesn''t understand what beating him is doing." Sarah shrugged.


    Eian blinked a few times.


    He looked at Alex, who was watching him questioningly.


    When Ul was teaching him he hadn''t asked much, he was too angry to really think back then.


    All he was thinking was to kill the goat-fucker.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "Oh. Right." Eian looked up as he gathered his thoughts.


    He tried to piece together a way to explain.


    He had already shown Alex more or less how to take an offensive stance and a basic defensive.


    He even showed him how to stab and swing with the sword, now he just need practice


    Right now Eian felt it was actually harder to hit Alex, due to his shield.


    Eian was using only a single weapon after-all, that gave Alex an edge, since he could hunker down and take Eian''s hits.


    "You learn.....by defending or attacking. Over and over, you more or less just learn what not to do, and what to do, by trial and error. Make sense?" To Eian that made perfect sense.


    It took a few questions more from Alex, but in the end he nodded and agreed to continue.


    He never won, though he grazed his arm a few times, Eian thought it looked accidental though.


    Still he didn''t mention anything, it wouldn''t help to dampen the little enthusiasm Alex had after-all.


    He didn''t seem to have the same rage that drove Eian, when Ul taunted and hurt him.


    Eian whacked him through the helmet a few times, and took any openings he saw.


    Even if he wanted to sometimes wanted murder Ul the goat-fucker, he knew going easy on Alex wouldn''t be helping him in the end.


    Several fights later Alex took a break and sat down.


    He was visibly panting, Eian had him practice attacking instead.


    He was much lousier at that, since Eain could dodge, block and parry on the defensive.


    "Me next." Sarah put on her own medium helmet.


    "Why? Aren''t you a mage?" Eian tilted his head slightly.


    "Yes, but I''ve since realized I may need to dodge sometimes." Sarah briefly turned to look at Alex with narrowed eyes.


    "Right....You''re not going to shoot fire and lightning at me are you?" Eian frowned.


    "No. That would be unfair." Sarah rolled her eyes at him.


    ''Well. Not really. I could just use rock armor, but I leave that as a last resort.'' Eian shrugged.


    Eian felt a little weird trying to hit Sarah, she was a girl after-all, but he realized she had a point and tried his best.


    As it turned out, Sarah was very lousy at dodging.


    She was physically slow and Eian had little trouble hitting her.


    She practiced healing herself with her new life bolts, which patched her up nicely.


    She even tried to do a dodge-roll and landed on her face eliciting laughs from Jessica, though Eian chuckled out of reflex.


    Alex was the first one who asked if she was okay, Eian asked a moment later.


    Sarah took a break, and Eian finally realized why Sarah went in the first place.


    "I think Jessica would benefit as well." Sarah grinned sadistically.


    "WHAT?!" Jessica''s eyes went wide, Alex was similarly startled.


    A moment passed.


    "What do you mean?" Alex frowned at her.


    "You said she just recently learned to use her powers right?" Sarah rolled her eyes.


    "Yeah and?" Alex was still frowning.


    "Well. She hasn''t practiced it outside that dream-place has she? This is the perfect time for her to learn. Especially since it''s safe." Sarah was definitely enjoying this.


    "......It''s clear you just want her to get hurt." Alex''s tone was getting dangerous.


    "Sure. I also want her to be more useful and stronger though." Sarah shrugged and openly admitted it.


    Eian''s eyes widened, he''d never heard someone openly admit they want to see someone get hurt.


    Suddenly he felt a little weird being used like this.


    "You bitch!" Jessica got up and was stalking over to Sarah.


    Sarah startled took a step back.


    Things drastically escalated when Sarah summoned a lightning bolt.


    Jessica froze then took several steps back, Alex shot up and got in front of Jessica.


    Eian''s eyes almost bulged out of his sockets.


    ''Like, what the fuck?'' Eian was staring around dumbly.


    "What''re you doing!" Alex definitely looked pissed.


    "Nothing!" Sarah frowned and held the lightning at bay.


    "That is not nothing!" Alex pointed at the lightning bolt.


    "Shut up Alex, she was stalking over to me. What, you expect me to just let her hit me or something?" Sarah lifted an eyebrow inquisitively.


    Alex looked furious, but held his tongue.


    Eian on the other hand sighed, at least it seemed she wouldn''t use it.


    Jessica was peeking over Alex''s shoulder.


    "I don''t think you should use magic to cow people. You''re strong-arming people." Alex frowned and was still visibly upset.


    "Then she shouldn''t try to get into my space so suddenly." Sarah glared daggers into Alex.


    Everyone went quite again.


    Eian begun to wonder what would happen, but daylight was already beginning to stream forth from the original opening.


    The night had come to an end.

 Dream 63

    Jessica looked about the forest under the rising daylight and chill air.


    They had decided to go out to get breakfast, Jessica sighed, this would be much easier at home.


    Grab the car, place an order, then pick up, instead they had to go through all the trouble of hunting something that was most likely disgusting to eat.


    Eian and Alex had disposed of the remaining wolf carcasses as they had attracted flies, they only kept the two already skinned foul-smelling pelts.


    Sarah stated she didn''t even trust the cooked meat, which to Jessica seemed reasonable as it smelled funny to begin with.


    Jessica noticed Eian had left some sort of discarded horn on the floor.


    ''Did he forget it? What is it?'' Jessica shrugged, it was probably just a useless piece of bone anyways.


    Jessica looked over at Sarah, making well sure to stay clear of the barbaric high-horsed bitch.


    How dare she try to electrocute her?


    While true that she had gotten closer, she wasn''t some feral-frothing-beast whom would have physically assaulted her.


    Alex had gotten in front of her and for a moment she had been equally scared for his safety.


    Eian''s actions told Jessica that clearly he was fine with it, he just stood there and let things unfold, not a word in protest.


    He also obviously enjoyed bullying Alex, why couldn''t he just tell him what he did wrong, wasn''t that how soldiers learnt?


    She''d never heard of soldiers returning home injured and beaten.


    Still she wasn''t stupid, despite their faults, Alex and herself were much safer with them than alone.


    Surprisingly they ran into a herd of huge deer, which fled at the sight of them.


    Sarah electrocuted one, Eian killed it and both boys dragged it back to base.


    After a quick meal, they decided to move to the city to train their abilities and get stronger.


    The insufferable bitch also repeated she needed to practice her powers.


    While true it irked her to have to hear it from her constantly, as if she forgot each time.


    ''Maybe I should start calling her ''it'', since that seems to suit ''it'' better.'' Jessica smiled at the thought, it felt good to smile again.


    Surprisingly nothing attacked them from the forest to the gates of the abandoned city.


    It gave Jessica chills remembering that monster in the house Sarah fried.


    She hoped they all slept inside the houses.


    Pulling on Alex''s hand for his attention she addressed the group.


    "I think we should be quiet in the city." Jessica''s voice was the lowest audible whisper, even as her eyes darted at the newly guarded gate.


    Sarah looked at her, contempt written all over her, Jessica hoped she got wrinkles from it, ugly noticeable wrinkles.


    "Why? The vampires?" Sarah''s eyes narrowed, then she stared at the sky.


    "Yeah. Makes sense, there could be day-walkers, or something else there as well. Maybe giant skeletons too remember?" Eian looked at the gate before nodding.


    Alex gave her a brief thumbs up, before they continued.


    The old broken skeletons were missing, in place another stack of skeletons guarded the gate.


    Twenty well armed, no pun intended, guard-skeletons, two knight skeletons at the center, and three mage skeletons whom were strangely on the right flank.


    Apparently they felt the need to upgrade their security a bit, the previous bunch had been a pitiful bunch.


    Jessica felt a lot more confident now, she was sure everyone else did as well, especially Alex since his bolts would harm these monsters.


    Still they were far more skilled now, even though it had only been two days since leaving.


    ''Huh. For sure it felt like a lot more.'' Jessica froze at the brief wonder of how time seemed to crawl by ever since she got to this new world.


    "We should use the same strategy as before. Only this time I''ll use lightning, I want to see if it affects the undead through their armor." Sarah surprised Jessica by summoning four lightning-bolts.


    Jessica frowned and almost commented out of spite, but she reigned it in.


    It had worked last time, so it should work this time.


    Then an inspired thought struck her.


    "The guards are more well-equipped this time. It could mean the patrols could be more dangerous and numerous." Jessica tucked a loose strand of hair inside her helmet, then stared at the monsters.


    Everyone turned to stare at her, even Alex was probably bewildered under his helmet, the thought dampened her mood a bit.


    "That''s a risk we''ll have to take. At least here we''ll see most of them coming. In the forest things can catch us by surprise." Sarah frowned at her, she was obviously vexed Jessica said something.


    "Yeah, lots a crazy shit out here." Eian visibly took a quick look behind them.


    The group stopped for a moment, Jessica continued her line of thought.


    "Do you really think it''s a good idea to go in though? They could be expecting us." Jessica looked around, she played with her hair.


    "We''ve been over this. We have to get home." Sarah rolled her eyes.


    Alex turned to face Sarah.


    "I think you should listen to other people sometimes." Alex''s voice was stern, even under his helmet, you could hear his disapproval.


    Sarah snorted, then looked away, but didn''t answer.


    Alex then turned to look at Eian.


    "Eian man. I think it''s a reasonable concern. Let''s at least be careful, please man." Alex stood looking at Eian.


    "No prob, I don''t want to die either. We really need to get stronger though, I want to get home, my mom''s probably close to a heart-attack by now." Eian gave a curt nod, but was visibly eager to get moving.


    "Roger." Alex nodded.


    Jessica breathed a sigh of relief, at least Eian wasn''t as snobbish as Sarah.


    She did want to go into the city, but she felt she needed to start speaking her mind a bit more.


    She always felt like a pariah, only Alex treated her like a person most of the time.


    She perhaps had to re-evaluate Eian, maybe they just got off to a bad start, it wouldn''t hurt to at least be cordial to him.


    "Can we start now?" Sarah was visibly waiting.


    "Yeah." Alex nodded and turned to face the horde.


    Sarah begun by launching all her four lightning bolt''s at the mages, the horde began their slow approach.


    Only two struck mages, it visibly injured them as they blew apart and fell in unbroken, but newly dead, pieces.


    The two hit guards, which also fell to the ground, but only partially fell apart.


    Alex shot his two life bolts shortly after at the injured guards, which finished them off.


    Eian attempted to deflect a death bolt from the final mage by batting it like a baseball, it partially succeeded.


    The death-bolt splattered and pieces struck him, he grunted and took a step back.


    "Fuck! This shit stings! Alex a little help please?" Even then Eian kept a defensive stance, sword crossed and ready.


    Jessica watched as Alex poured life energy into Eian, whom quickly gave thanks.


    Right now she still felt a bit useless, but she had no ranged attacks, so she stayed behind.


    Stolen story; please report.From this point she had a clear view of the ongoing fight.


    "Need another shield." Eian mumbled.


    Alex was sending life-bolts constantly, even as the group retreated slowly.


    Sarah was as well, in total Alex got four more guards, while Sarah got the mage and two guards.


    Alex''s attacks seemed to cause more damage to the monsters, while Sarah''s took almost two to down.


    Eian was visibly waiting for the monsters to dwindle, Jessica still felt anxious, there were still twelve regular skeletons and two knights.


    Suddenly something changed, Jessica heard several howls and paws surging towards them.


    A gang of four monsters gushed out from the gate, for an instant her eyes widened dramatically at the sight.


    ''Werewolves....'' Jessica almost stumbled backwards in fright.


    "SHIT!" Eian intercepted the first two in a blur of motion.


    Howls and flesh parting were easily discernible and Jessica''s heart sped to an unprecedented degree.


    Of the first two only dead flesh remained scattered on the floor, it had distracted her for an instant, luckily Eian had killed those two.


    The third werewolf was already charging at her and last minute she got herself in order, impaling it''s skull on the point of her sword.


    A surge of heat later, Jessica realized Sarah had fried the last werewolf.


    Her heart was still beating as the rest continued battling the incoming skeletons.


    ''The first vision.'' Jessica''s eyes darted about scanning the forest.


    The werewolves reminded her of her first vision, could it be about to occur?


    Her heart was hammering withing her chest, her gut told her to abandon reason and flee.


    Still she couldn''t say anything right now, Alex and Sarah already knew about that vision, so perhaps they would remember.


    Right after the fight ended, she''d be sure to tell them again.


    For now survival came first, she firmed herself and nodded.


    The amalgam of skeletons had become what Eian visibly estimated a reasonable amount.


    He charged forward beheading one in a blur, chopping off the lower part of another one''s leg, then shoulder-tackling one to the ground, all in one impressive display.


    He weaved back and forth, as the skeletons stumbled stupidly over themselves to get at him.


    Jessica''s eyes bulged, when did he learn to do that?


    All the while Eian was proving an impressive distraction to all the skeletons.


    Steeling her fear and reminding herself of her armor she took a step forward and aimed at a straggling spear-wielding skeleton to the far left.


    In her experience, shielded skeletons were a lot harder to kill, she let Eian handle those.


    This particular spear-wielder was facing Eian, so it didn''t even see the sword that stabbed the side of it''s vulnerable neck.


    She chose her next target similarly, a spear wielder, it lunged at her, but it was too obvious she dodged easily and stabbed it straight in the face, between the medium helmet.


    Then a shield-sword skeleton approached and she was busy evading it''s lunges.


    With a good timing, she stabbed this one in the helmet too.


    ''Huh. This is a lot easier than I remember.'' Jessica knit her brows for a second, then smiled, that was a good thing she supposed.


    She couldn''t be so sure, but these skeletons seemed much more clumsier than the last ones.


    A life-bolt breezed by her and impacted a skeleton a bit ahead of her.


    Soon with ranged-support the last skeletons remaining were her final skeleton opponent and the two knights.


    Eian was engaging both knights and she quickly ended the last skeleton.


    Eian easily disarmed one and tackled it to the floor, he put full attention to the final one.


    Jessica saw as Alex approach the knight on the floor, she saw as he wrestled with it on the floor.


    She got closer, he didn''t want him to get hurt, though the monster held no visible weapons.


    Soon he pried the helmet off and motioned at her.


    "Jess kill this one." Alex held it down with some effort.


    Jessica nodded, she had very little kills, she obliged him and quickly killed it.


    A quick look verified Eian had already killed his opponent, apparently having caved in it''s head.


    "Gear up." Sarah commanded, eliciting a frown from her.


    "Finally got another chest plate." Eian''s voice sounded excited and she could hear the smile in his voice.


    She and Alex ignored ''it''s'' words, but still they needed the equipment.


    She took a winged long-spear on the floor, she could almost hug it to her chest, even her eyes felt like they would cry from sheer joy.


    Alex, Eian and Sarah could keep their swords, this beautiful pole-arm was her weapon of choice, it even had a wonderful strap on it.


    Feeling only slightly ridiculous she strapped two to her back and held one on her right hand, a big smile plastered on her face.


    Turning to look, Alex had replaced his nicked, dented armor for a ''newer'' set.


    He strapped a great-sword to his back and two extra long-swords to his waist.


    He looked like a tall knight from a historical documentary, that brought a smile to her face too.


    Eian had similarly copied her idea, but he strapped three, not two, spear axes to his waist.


    He had a brand new great-sword on his back, his last one was chipped and drew a long-sword from a fallen opponent.


    Apparently no more spear-axes were about, he also held a shield and had wholly replaced his banged and dented armor, at least what had remained of it.


    "We should take a few of these to the base, before we leave of course." Eian was scanning the discarded weapons.


    "Yeah, we were running a bit short." Alex nodded.


    Jessica felt a lot less embarrassed now.


    She looked over the dead mages, though they wore nothing but tattered robes.


    Seeing nothing else of value, she decided to talk again.


    "Lex." Jessica neared him.


    "Yeah? Sup babe?" Alex''s visor turned to look at her.


    Jessica opened her mouth to respond when frenzied howls emerged from within the city.


    Jessica jumped in fright and turned to look at the gates.


    A large pack of werewolves had emerged, twenty at least, her heart stopped.


    Everyone swore obscenities, Eian especially said some foul things about their mothers.


    Alex got close to her and she bared her spear upwards, positioning it defensively.


    She saw as the monsters raced towards her and in that moment she tried to use the combat application of her power. Focusing something in her head clicked, she saw several shadowy images emerge outward from everyone, like an extra blurred-layer a top reality.


    Most blurs from the werewolfs leapt at them.


    She saw something strange on a few images at the far back, as if the ground erupted beneath them violently sending them upwards.


    Suddenly she saw it play out real-time, Eian stomped the ground, several enemies were blown away and went flying everywhere, not dead but clearly in pain and incapacitated.


    She even saw everyone''s respective image moving, a moment later everyone''s physical body played out exactly what she was seeing their images do, it felt uncanny and reminded her of a video loop.


    Somehow this part of her power took into consideration her own movements as well, because when her body physically acted nothing adapted to her.


    They just kept moving the same way and let her play her movement the way she wanted.


    ''Huh, I guess I can kill these things easier now.'' Jessica smirked, as she looked for the ideal targets for her to attack.


    She saw three lead wolves lunge at her, she sidestepped and let the first impale its skull, the other two landed near her.


    Staggered, she withdrew backwards heart pounding, she swung wildly defensively, she could see the monsters keeping a small distance.


    Suddenly she saw the image of the left lunge, she aimed it''s skull and saw it impale itself a short while later.


    Suddenly she felt the last werewolf collide unto her from the right, staggering her.


    Before it could jump her, she sidestepped and then Alex was in front of her wrestling two a top himself.


    He had somehow tackled her last wolf, even so.


    Jessica felt shearing heat, the type she typically gave to the violent intense stream of Sarah''s flames.


    Once she regained her footing, she stabbed the one Alex had shoved off her and focused on helping him.


    The way she saw it, the armor would protect him, but if he was on the floor he wasn''t killing any more of these.


    Inside though she really would just rather help him, who wouldn''t after-all?


    Three quick dead wolves later, she saw Eian surrounded, somehow he dodged the ones leaping from behind.


    Blowing off arms, legs and heads, sometimes he even stopped their leaps midway with his shield.


    At least ten partially burning werewolves were rolling about in pain, Sarah was now paralyzing any more that neared to seek out their deaths.


    Alex went to aid Eian, whom was surrounded by torn limbs and dead or dying wolves.


    Jessica begun killing several partially lit wolves, several were already dead, but others were just rolling about and close to putting out the fire.


    She killed three more easily and then took stock of the battle.


    The battle was over, Jessica let her mind rest, the images stopped and she stood in the aftermath of the two battles.


    It was impossible to count how many there were, especially with Eian having dismembered so many werewolves.


    Clearly there were more than twenty though, still Jessica wasn''t about to stay here, where it was dangerous.


    "I saw these things before! We should leave now!" Jessica looked at everyone, she was remembering the first vision she had felt, many more wolf-people than this.


    Sarah obviously disagreed by the look in her face.


    "Who cares if there are more werewolves? We killed them easily enough." Sarah shrugged and waved at the corpses of over twenty werewolves.


    "These aren''t like skeletons, nor this small group! I saw a lot more of those than this!" Jessica frowned and pointed at the werewolves as well.


    Many more howls emitted from the city and Jessica''s eyes widened, those sounded a lot more this group of enemies.


    That wasn''t a bad omen, it was almost a death-sentence, the choice was definitely made though.


    Clearly even Sarah agreed.


    "Fine! Let''s go!" Sarah turned and ran.


    If not for the circumstances Jessica would have rolled her eyes at ''it''.


    Acting like it was ''its'' own idea.

 Dream 64

    A distant beastly roar shook the forest and Eian''s hopes dwindled further.


    That wasn''t the sound of a werewolf, it sounded more akin to the plant-beast he completely expended rock armor on.


    The wind also visibly picked up within the forest and Eian''s stomach dropped, they couldn''t face more of those wind-element birds.


    They were dead, so fucking dead and as if to add insult to injury he heard several wolf howls far off in the distance.


    Eian''s heart hammered within his chest, things weren''t looking good.


    Eian watched as a few werewolves attempted to cut them off, strangely a pack of wolves were attacking another set of werewolves up ahead.


    He cleaved a werewolf skull as it charged him, it felt down limp and dead, but he had not a moment to spare it a second glance.


    Normally he would be wholly confident in this fight, but the others were not quiet so durable and Sarah was lagging far behind.


    He and Alex didn''t have much to worry about clad entirely in metal, but Jessica and Sarah were still vulnerable in many areas.


    Jessica had been shouting several incoherent sentences, but he ignored her, he had more important things to worry about.


    He chopped at another wolf''s neck only to partially sever the head, still it would die all the same.


    This had been his job so far, kill anything which got ahead of him, Sarah was the slowest and holding them all back.


    Turning he noted he had almost lost sight of the rest of the group.


    ''Fuck!'' Eian frowned, they were getting surrounded.


    He caught sight of a bear charging at werewolves from a distance, Eian''s eyes widened that was the strangest thing ever.


    "Guys! Hurry! They''re close!" Eian stopped and beckoned them to hurry.


    Eian caught sight of Alex say something before turning to look at Sarah.


    He caught sight of several wolves jumping Sarah, he shouted a warning, he even saw as she was tackled upon by multiple bodies.


    Several werewolves instantly combusted into flames, howling about and dying, but more kept madly dashing themselves at her.


    Still Sarah sent them back in a flaming inferno, still Eian knew she couldn''t keep it up forever and she most likely already hurt.


    Eian ran back, they had to help her, Alex was just up ahead.


    "FUCK! We have to hurry, they''re eating her!" Eian held his spear-axe and shield at the ready.


    "Jess. Go!" Alex''s voice pitched.


    "NO!" Jessica was shaking uncontrollably.


    Not waiting any longer Eian charged forward and severed limbs from the monsters.


    Alex charged beside him, the monsters had already loosely surrounded them.


    A wolf jumped at Eian, and split it''s skull, twisting he dodged another''s rushed tackle.


    He blocked the impact of another enemy soon after, kicking it''s back he proceeded to chop at its spinal cord, it fell either dead or paralyzed.


    Eian had no time to verify kills, he chopped, pushed and tore his way forward.


    "Jess!" Alex disappeared from Eian''s sight.


    Turning to look he saw Jessica had also been tackled to the floor, she was beng viciously bitten.


    ''Damn there are so many.'' Eian grit his teeth attempting to stem his growing panic.


    Sparks flew about as all the wolves a top Sarah visibly howled in pain, they fell limply to the floor, lightning forking through their bodies.


    Sarah emerged bleeding profusely, Eian rushed over and helped her stand, she visibly poured healing unto herself.


    The horde was all around them, Eian felt a distinct sense of dread for their chances.


    Alex was helping a bleeding Jessica stand, she held her spear shaking eyeing around hysterically.


    The girls got in-between Alex and Eian facing the horde of beasts on opposite ends.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The monsters stood there eyeing them for an instant, then they messily charged forward, Eian could hear conflict all over the forest.


    Everything blurred as Eian did his best to stop anything from getting to the girls, they were vulnerable to claws and teeth.


    Sarah couldn''t afford to lose any more blood, and the glimpse he caught of Jessica proved she was also badly hurt.


    Eian heard fighting behind him, but couldn''t spare a glance.


    Still Eian blocked, swung and shield bashed enemies, he saw several wolves around aflame and spreading fire about their allies.


    Eian begun to feel several were-wolves latching on to him, he struggled to stay standing swinging wildly to dislodge them.


    He heard shouts behind him and took a peek, several wolves were fighting Alex and Jessica was holding a few at bay, the bodies were piled on the floor around them.


    Sarah was shooting bolts of lightning randomly, sometimes catching even more than one opponent.


    Then the strangest thing happened, barely standing he saw a pack of regular wolves charge and attack the werewolves, the wind picked up and Eian saw several werewolves fall bleeding to the floor.


    The forest erupted in anarchy as wolves, giant birds and even one of those plant-monsters joined the fray and attacked their enemies.


    Eian wasted no time and activated rock-armor, if ever there was a time it was now.


    Turning he saw Sarah panting on the floor struggling to zap enemies.


    "Grab on!" Eian''s almost couldn''t recognize his voice through the armor.


    Eian bundled Sarah under one arm like a child.


    "Take her too!" Alex sounded desperate.


    Sparing a quick glance Eian obliged him and bundled Jessica under the other arm, even as Alex held a bay any straggling enemies.


    Feeling only slightly weird Eian charged at a random direction, wholly focusing on escape.


    He hoped Alex was following behind him, but he couldn''t stop moving to look.


    *****


    The group stopped fleeing a good while later, Sarah couldn''t go on further.


    Eian''s rock armor had fallen apart long ago, and the girls were forced to move on foot.


    Both girls needed help walking, luckily the monsters had been so focused on their frantic battle they had not been followed.


    Eian breathed a sigh of relief, their apparent imminent death had been avoided for now, somehow.


    Alex finished tending to Jessica himself, while he healed Sarah through what he called a life link.


    He had been using the life-link on Jessica as they ran and hadn''t had time to switch to Sarah.


    Sarah''s breathing was erratic and she was whimpering in pain, Eian kept an eye on her, even as she desperately attempted to heal herself despite Alex''s life-link.


    She sported several lacerations on her arms and legs, her back sported bright healed-over claw marks, her clothes were tatters.


    She appeared to have had nothing vital hit and Eian couldn''t believe how much dumb luck she had.


    Her medium helmet had prevented facial injuries, though she had lost her staff sometime during her fight.


    A combination of healing had been doing wonders, closing the wounds visibly.


    An openly crying Jessica had equally been in bad shape, a good chunk of her leg muscle had been chewed off, hindering her movement.


    Several scars sported her torso and Eian politely evaded looking at her overly torn clothes and the injures beneath.


    The bleeding had apparently been healed during their escape.


    She had lost all but one long-spear and was clinging to it like a life-line.


    "Alex, help Sarah." Eian took a quick glimpse of Jessica and judged her stable enough for now.


    "I am man. Life link." Alex continued examining at Jessica.


    "I mean focus only on her. Jessica''s not going to kneel over and die. Sarah might." Eian frowned this was serious.


    Alerted Alex turned to look at Sarah, he looked indecisive, but walked over and begun tending to her.


    "Enough, we can''t stay here." Sarah''s low voice betrayed her weakness especially when coupled with overall paleness.


    She tried to get up, and almost toppled onto the ground.


    Eian quickly scanned the surroundings, they were once more hopelessly lost.


    He sighed, he would have to build another shelter now.


    ''I hate this fucking forest. It can go blow a dick.'' Eian rubbed his face.


    "We have to move." Sarah repeated herself, steely resolve reflected on her previously teary face.


    "Yeah and go where?" Eian frowned, he was tired.


    "Anywhere!" Sarah glared at him.


    Eian shrugged, he quickly looked at Alex, waiting for his opinion.


    Jessica was sniffling and drying her eyes, clearly in no condition to speak, let alone offer something useful.


    "Yeah man. My well''s empty. I need to recover more before I start healing more." Alex looked at Jessica sadly.


    "Alright. Let''s find somewhere I can start building." Eian started walking forward.


    ''My well''s almost empty too.'' Eian looked up at the bright sky.


    This was going to be another long day, Eian just knew it.

 Dream 65

    Alex finally semi-relaxed, Eian had built them a rough shelter, he was now focusing on reinforcing it, another thing to be grateful to Eian for.


    In Alex''s opinion Eian''s earth-element fit like a glove, he was strong, hard, and reliable, if a little rough on the edge sometimes.


    Still Alex had nothing but admiration for him, and hoped they would become fast friends after this was all over.


    This development had been no joke and Alex had a renewed appreciation for both Eian and Sarah''s combined prowess in battle.


    His armor would have protected him from most injuries of course, but being exposed and surrounded by so many monsters evoked terror on a primal level.


    Now Alex finally lay down to focus on De-stressing, hopefully the everyone would recover from this ordeal, especially the girls.


    Jess and Sarah had been in a bad way, Sarah especially, but she healed herself constantly with life-bolts the entire time.


    Alex of course also was pouring energy through his life-link to her, she was made of tough-steel though, despite her injuries she remained stalwart and determined.


    She was even more forceful on her demands now though, still Alex understood her right now, she was coping with coming so close to death.


    Alex couldn''t believe the werewolves hadn''t maimed her any worse while she was fully under so many.


    ''I guess we can all count our blessings.'' Alex sighed at the though and turned to look at Jess with trepidation, he was finding it hard to be optimistic in-spite of this.


    During the time Eian worked, Alex had healed Jessica to the point her leg regenerated the missing chunk, she was still miserable though.


    It made Alex uncomfortable seeing her like this, she would daze out and sported a fixed crestfallen expression about her.


    Alex had tried to comfort her, but words failed and truly he fully understood why, Sarah was truly a monster in human flesh to remain unaffected.


    Jess would also need new clothes though, Sarah as well for that matter.


    They had luckily run into a tiny pack of three wolves on the way, which were obliterated easily by their combined efforts.


    To think just a few days ago Alex would have felt pity for them, now.......now he just wanted Jess, himself, Eian and Sarah safe.


    Those wolves were going to be put to good use, food.


    Alex had a mild worry for their pure meat diet so far, but they hadn''t countered anything that resembled a vegetable nor fruit since those citrus-fruits that resembled oranges.


    Still it was a worry for another time, as far as he knew humans could go a good while on just meat.


    ''Still maybe we should ask Sarah.'' Alex turned to look at her.


    "Sarah...How long can people live on only meat?" Alex whispered and licked his lips after, nervous.


    Sarah quickly turned to look at him, she sported a frown on her face, but shook her head after a while and let out a big sigh.


    "........I don''t really know. There''s excessive debate on the subject, some even contradictory. Especially from vegetarians, vegans and of course everyone whom loves a delectable tender sirloin. Still I''ve read a few online articles of certain people living their whole lives on a solely meat-based diet. I personally wouldn''t worry about it for now. With luck you can heal any side-effects we will suffer, apart from ~Taste~." The last word left a cringe on Sarah''s face.


    Tense muscles he didn''t know existed relaxed at her words, Sarah had a way of putting things into perspective.


    Still, in his honest opinion, she could use a bit of restraint on occasion, especially with Jess.


    Alex nodded absently at her words, then retreated to his own personal thoughts.


    He was tired, more tired than he''d ever recalled feeling, even his breathing felt tired, it went against everything his body physically told him.


    Both he and Eian removed the armor they had on, it was hot and cumbersome.


    "Alex start skinning the wolves." Once more Sarah was giving out orders, it scraped one''s nerve raw.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Fine, but only because I think it''s a good idea too." Alex frowned and shook his head exasperated, he just wanted to rest a while.


    "Whatever." Huffing, Sarah irritably brushed her hair behind her neck.


    Eian had been too busy with the structure to pay them any mind, Jessica was still in her little daze.


    It took several hours for Eian to finish, by then Alex had managed to successfully skin one wolf.


    The pelt of course was patchy and of low quality, shrugging Alex decided to call it a win.


    Eian made a few rough sofas and the girls sat down to separate ones, the work made Alex detract his mind from Jessica and her recent trauma.


    They carved out several flanks, or steaks, but Alex actually had no idea what the different chunks were, or if there even was one for that matter.


    Sarah got to cooking, they quickly ate, after thirty minutes more or less Eian got up.


    "Alright. Practice time." A stretching Eian beckoned at him.


    "Huh?" Alex stared at him blankly, he was tired.


    "We both need to get better." Eian shrugged impassively.


    Alex internally sighed, Eian was a relentless workhorse.


    "I''ll be indisposed." Abruptly Sarah so declared, she selected something on her arm and went slack against the stone.


    Curious Alex checked himself, he hadn''t gotten an upgrade.


    Shrugging he supposed it was natural, he was at his second bottleneck afterall and he wasn''t very efficient at killing this time around.


    He turned to stare at Eian, question unasked, Alex was hoping for a brief reprieve.


    "Yeah I got one, I need to eat a bit more though, I don''t want to suffer that hell right now. Belly''s still a bit full right now." Eian shrugged and patted his stomach lightly.


    Alex turned to look at Jess, she was still in a depressed mood, being around her was awkward right now and he had constantly failed at consoling her.


    Alex rubbed his face, he supposed he would have to practice now, he really did need to get stronger.


    Today had been a grand eye-opener, he couldn''t just be a medic and half-ass being a fighter, he needed to be able to fend for himself and contribute more.


    Eian was right, he had to get stronger, Alex patted his cheeks and firmed his resolve.


    *******


    Jess stared at Alex and Eian sparring, Eian was being especially hard on Alex and normally she would say something.


    Every-time she would muster up a complaint she felt a tinge of stiffness on her leg, where the monster''s teeth had torn off a piece.


    Shivering she held herself rocking slightly, it was too close, she almost died today, DIED, Death, gone, the end, finito.


    A while later she came to herself again, her breathing was uneven, the air was soooo stuffy.


    Sniffing only slightly she quickly wiped her eyes and nose, she sought to calm herself, it was over she was still alive.


    "Eian. Don''t strong-arm Alex so much." After finding her voice Jessica thought it was tiny and it quivered.


    Both boys stopped their spar and looked at her.


    "Babe. Are you alright?" Sweating, Alex knit is brows with concern and got closer.


    She gave a quick nod to him and a small smile, she felt a little better now.


    Eian looked uncomfortable, he was looking everywhere except at the two of them, scratching the back of his neck the whole time.


    Alex and her spent a while talking about simple things, it helped her recover.


    A quick glance at Sarah''s collapsed form drove a quick seed of panic to her very being, until Alex told her Sarah was undergoing an increase in spirit.


    The thought made her look at her own set of markings, they were glowing, it nearly drove her mad.


    Alex held her and spoke kindly, till she recovered.


    "Relax, the second one doesn''t hurt." The sad smile Alex gave her made her breathe again.


    They sat there holding each other for a moment, ignoring all else for a brief reprieve.


    "Might as well get it over with. We both need to work a bit harder." Alex patted her shoulder gently.


    "Is that why you''re letting Eian beat you up?" Jessica frowned at him, he shouldn''t take the abuse.


    "Yeah.....I need to get stronger, we''re in danger here Jess. Look at how bad you both got hurt, Sarah''s strong and she got hurt like that. " Alex squirmed uncomfortably a moment later.


    Reading between the lines was easy, clearly she wasn''t as strong as Sarah.


    Even if it was true and obvious, hearing it even by simply implication drove a knife into her heart, she didn''t know what her face looked like but Alex did.


    "Just don''t over-do it. Okay?" Jessica looked at the floor sadly.


    "....Yeah. Well we better get to it." Alex got up and made his escape, leaving her there with conflicting emotions.


    She heard Eian and Alex resume their spar.


    Tuning them out she looked at her tattoos and prepared herself.


    Only Body and Spirit were glowing, she chose spirit.

 Dream 66

    Sarah stared at Adara''s smug smile feeling vulnerable, she wasn''t normally into mature women, but something about Adara had just drew her in.


    Focusing Sarah shook her head and closed her eyes, this was an obvious attempt to distract her from more important matters, it wasn''t as strong as before but still distracting.


    Sarah had questions and she wanted them answered, the memory of what she just went through firmed her resolve, she clenched her teeth and almost snarled in anger.


    Glaring at her, Adara''s friendly aura dimmed and a worried look came over Adara''s otherwise lovely face, soon it transformed once more.


    "What happened?" Furious, Adara''s eyes lit with inner fire, the white turned a terrifying pitch of black a herald of death.


    The look frightened her and Sarah took a step back, bone-chilling fear surged everywhere and everything took on a dark deathly sinister look.


    Waves of menacing darkness echoed from Adara''s presence, and Sarah felt tiny gazing upon a true overwhelming power, it was like staring down her Death itself, it overwhelmed everything.


    Sarah stumbled unto the floor and her breath stopped, she couldn''t breathe, she was drew and drew, but it never came.


    Dying, her lungs refused to pull air, somehow she was dragging herself on the floor, away from ~That~.


    Suddenly the overwhelming pressure ceased and Sarah drooped like a puppet with it''s strings cut, when she came to, she was cradled in warm tender arms.


    "Breathe darling, breathe, I''m sorry. Please breathe." Adara''s lovely visage looked down at her with worry, perhaps even imagined desperation.


    It took a moment for Sarah to draw her first full breathe in what seemed like an eternity.


    Her body gave up and she went slack with relief, the feel of Adara''s arms brought about nostalgia.


    She drifted for a while, basking on the close feel for a while, Adara''s whispered words relaxed her, everything would be alright........just like before.


    Her eyes snapped open and her daze ended.


    ''What was that?!'' Sarah looked about confused, those thoughts weren''t her own.


    Sarah pushed away from Adara''s arms, whom let go with a forlorn expression written on her face.


    Sarah stood and looked about for an instant, Adara looked on the verge of tears.


    Sarah couldn''t stand the look, she ran away from everything.


    From Adara.


    A choked wail followed and it tore at Sarah''s heart.


    *****


    Coming to herself Sarah realized she was in a desolate landscape.


    Surrounded by solely ash, Sarah breathed, the ash drifted into her lungs, which yielded no discomfort.


    If anything it felt natural, it felt comfortable, the thought widened her eyes.


    She stumbled forward drunkenly, till she landed on the ground.


    ''What''s happening?'' Sarah desperately scanned everywhere.


    The wind decline to answer, save for a single breeze which sent ash to her face.


    Irritably wiping her face Sarah blinked for a split-second, that was all it took.


    Adara stood before her, dressed just as before in her tight fitting clothes.


    The sight almost sent her running for the nonexistent hills and Sarah took a deep breathe.


    "Let''s get back inside. I still need to teach you." Adara was skirting the issue, she spoke as if Sarah was made of spun glass.


    Sarah considered her options quickly and scanned the desolate horizon.


    She nodded emptily after a while, that would be for the best, she didn''t want to spend hours lost here.


    Adara led the way and by the time the got back to Adara''s residence Sarah had calmed down somewhat.


    They sat on chairs, facing each other.


    "What just happened?" Sarah held a permanent frown on her face, she wasn''t in the mood for games.


    "I unleashed my aura accidentally and frightened you. You then ran out on me." Adara sported a regretful expression.


    "Not that. I felt weird." Sarah fumed inwardly.


    "That is what aura does." Adara nodded.


    Sarah stared at her eyes searching, something wasn''t being said and Sarah wasn''t sure she even wanted to know.


    Inwardly she let her anger flush out, it was clouding her judgment, she needed to approach this objectively.


    They both sat there in awkward silence, Sarah deduced Adara wouldn''t speak on the subject after a few inquiries.


    Sarah sighed, it seemed everything of interest was off topic, she was hardly in the mood to learn as well.


    "What''s my next power." Sarah shook her head, she wanted some more time to consider her options.


    "Avatar of fire. It''ll let you summon an avatar which can launch attacks. So long as you keep up the connection and feed it power." Adara looked at the floor.


    Once more silence reigned and Sarah was about to ask about the process.


    "I need to know when I can contact you. As you grow stronger you''ll need more guidance." Adara broke the silence before her.


    A quick thought and Sarah nodded, they came to the arrangement to get in contact every night.


    Sarah would need to be sure of her safety.


    "The avatar comes from within you." Adara explained.


    Sarah focused on paying attention.


    "It can take any shape, but it will be an extension of yourself, similar to an arm or leg. It will obey your commands. It will however dissolve once you cut the connection." Adara demonstrated.


    A ball of fire emerged from Adara, as it left her hands it took on a rough blazing humanoid figure.


    Adara waved, the avatar produced fire-balls and juggled them about like performer.


    "It will make fighting much easier, it can stay behind and fight while you retreat or fire spells alongside you, increasing your casting speed." Adara''s eyes met her for an instant, she nodded.


    ******


    Jess looked about the weird but lovely hallway, she was deadly afraid, she felt her previous decision was made in haste.


    Still nothing to do about it now, she sighed and walked in what she hoped was forward, the hallway was decorated with morbid art.


    A distinct painting catches her eye, shadows pour forth from a black sun, it half obscured the moon which is blood red, very creepy.


    Another work is a statue-replica of what seems two headless slaves of opposite sex holding each other on the floor, that one sent alarms ringing in her head.


    She was in some sort futuristic spooky Halloween castle, it was well tended but clearly lacking life, not a tree, beast or person in sight of the colorful walls.


    Modern glass windows of poured grey light from the ceiling, but the actual light source was impossible to see through the glass.


    The dark-grey walls expertly swallowed light, though everything was visibly it cast a bleak mood upon the entire place, the walls themselves seemed to expensively imitate cobblestone, but Jessica could see it was something else, stone couldn''t be so perfect and wouldn''t normally fit with the place..Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ''All I need is the flicking lights....'' Jessica''s eyes scanned every nook and cranny of the hallway as she took step after step on the red carpet floor, very slowly.


    Cool air floated atop the floor, tiny slits on the lower wall emitted it in a light stream, it constantly gave Jessica goosebumps as it favored artificially ventilated air.


    Soon she caught sight of a solid double door entrance, it looked made of solid metal with inbuilt handles, they didn''t stick out of the door.


    As she approached the entrance automatically parted open by the middle, quietly sliding into the sides of wall, Jessica stood there staring at them.


    She gazed through the entrance and saw a figure awaiting a top a throne, lazily sprawled on it, one hand was raised idly moving and holding something aloft.


    Behind the figure the empty night reflected crowded lights in the distance, far far up from the sky.


    Jessica felt vulnerable, the platform was as huge, but held no railings, she could just fall off and die.


    "Enter. I might never age, but I have more interesting things to do than to waste it tasting your bland fears." The voice was eerie, it felt as if it spoke right behind her and was clearly masculine.


    Jessica gave a great squeak and jumped, she looked behind her and nothing was there.


    Tentatively she turned to look at the figure on the throne.


    "Yes, it is I." It gave bored sigh, and yet sounded right behind her.


    That voice was messing with her head, her breathing quickened.


    "Oh, hurry up will you? Your fear is evident, if misplaced, I won''t kill you without reason. Actually I can''t even do it if I wanted to. Stupid restrictions and rules you know." The figure sat up and beckoned her forward with his free hand.


    That didn''t help calm her down, Jessica stood there for what was perhaps half a minute.


    "Really? No spine. Pleh, I''ve seen rebellious worms with more spines, still I suppose they lost them after I was through with them. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The voice broke down into a psychopath''s hysterical laughter.


    That was it, that was the final straw, Jessica turned and bolted the other way.


    A sudden gush of wind blew against her, pushing her like a powerful underwater current.


    It lifted her off her feet and carried her neatly in front of the throne, then it pressed her against the floor on her knees.


    She tried to move, but was locked in place by invisible chains.


    Magic it had to be magic, strangely she could move her head and she lifted it to gaze upon her captor.


    "Well. At least you can look me in the eye." The man''s terrible dark eyes froze her in place, the whites were slate surrounding both his black iris''.


    She couldn''t look at those eyes, she turned to observe everything else.


    One hand was busy a small black sphere floating inches above his moving fingers, five smaller marble-like spheres rotated around the middle in a lazy circle, each was a different color.


    That was significant somehow, Jessica knew it, one marble was a blaze of fire, another looked like frozen ice, the next was a semi-visible tornado, the other resembled Alex''s healing bolt and the final was solid iron.


    The brief glimpse of his face had revealed his moppy black hair which sprawled messily to his shoulders, it was course and uncombed as if he cared little for grooming.


    Even his features had been a thin-shred over average, perhaps a pinch more but he clearly didn''t put any effort into himself.


    His extra-large black clothes looked expensive and post-modern smooth synthetic fiber, it was single piece which should have fit snugly on the owner, yet he was clearly a size too small and it hung from his figure.


    Jewels and gold hung off him in excess, he sported at least three chains with jewels hanging on them, seven random fingers held black-jeweled rings.


    His skin was an unhealthy shade of snow-white, it belonged in a morgue, his mouth was a thin unamused frown, he looked young perhaps sixteen but Jessica knew he was much older, all the guides the others spoke of were older than they seemed including Myru.


    All in all, in Jessica''s opinion, throwing in his tribal tattoo that spilled slightly from his neck, he screamed overly rich Gothic slob, not that she would say that to his face.


    "You''re thinking something bad about me." The man''s tone sounded amused, and his frown quirked into a slight smirk before withering away again.


    Jessica quickly looked to the floor, she''d thought she had kept her face controlled, at least enough to look neutral.


    "No one looks away from me. UP!" The words were an imperial command.


    Invisible hands gripped Jessica''s face and drew them to his eye level.


    His eye''s were pitiless and cold, it drove shivers through her, she wanted to run away screaming.


    She was sure she was about to die and be eaten, probably raped or dismembered.


    She didn''t want to die, this was her final mistake of her soon to be extinguished life, she couldn''t even close her eyes in terror.


    His eye''s scanned her as they debated the best way to torture and flay her alive.


    "Not much to look at are you?" The man''s voice was neutral and his eyes grew bored.


    Jessica blinked, the invisible chains around her ceased suddenly and she lay there like an idiot.


    "Myru told me to expect you, didn''t say much except to remind you of her warning, whatever that means. Now there''s a woman that moves the blood." The man shrugged and a wicked smile crossed his face.


    ''Warning?'' Jessica blinked and clicked that it was perhaps the one about offending powerful people.


    Once more she reminded herself this was not someone she wanted offended.


    Still this asshole was rubbing her nerves with his casual insults, she bottled it all up easily with a healthy dose of fear and paranoia.


    She stilled her face and did her best.


    "Just thought of something bad about me again. You''re trying too hard, give up, nobody can lie. Not to me." He threw that out casually and without inflection upon his voice.


    "Are you reading my mind?" Jessica suppressed a frown and tried hard to keep her voice steady, that was a massive invasion of privacy.


    "What would you do, even if I was? You people, really, we''re here helping for free and all you do is cry, bitch and moan. I''d have already killed over half of everyone I''ve met if I could." The man rolled his eyes and held his head on his free hand.


    Jessica carefully tried to measure her breathe, this guy was talking about murder like an after-thought.


    He hadn''t even changed his tone, nor sounded joking, his cold voice re-ignited her fears and she gulped.


    "No. I am not reading your mind, at least not with any PSI power I possess, I''m naturally just that good at reading peoples emotions. Now let''s begin." The man straightened up.


    "Begin?" Jessica blinked, her fear made her forgot why she was even here.


    "Yeah your here for something right? Out with it. Ask away. This shit has gotten old quick." He leaned back unto his throne.


    Jessica''s mind kicked into gear as she tried to decipher his words.


    Everyone else had said their guides just gave them new powers by offering, at least that was how everyone spoke of it.


    This guy seemed to expect her to beg him for it, yeah, hell would freeze before that happened.


    Perhaps she was going about this wrong, maybe she just had to steer the conversation in that direction and then he''d offer.


    ''Wasn''t he supposed to guide me?'' Jessica looked up, from the floor.


    "You''re a weird kind of stupid aren''t you?" The man shook his head and snapped the fingers on his free hand.


    "WHAT?!" The response jumped from her lips without thought.


    Thin hard hands grabbed hold of her from both sides and dragged her upwards.


    She turned to look, expecting solely the wind, what she saw drew forth a gut-wrenching scream.


    Bones! Two men made of bones were holding her, even as she struggled against them.


    She screamed to the sky, suddenly she choked and could speak no more.


    "Damnnnnnnn bitch. So you''re a screamer eh?" The man looked at her frowning.


    Seconds passed and the room was still, she could breathe through her nose, but her mouth felt as if a rag had been stuffed into it.


    For a full minute the man looked at her impassively.


    "Hear what. I''m feeling generous. Especially since Myru decided to take your side. Who knows maybe you''ve got some potential bottled up somewhere. Doubt it, but I''ve been surprised before. So, what I''m going to do, is I''m going to let you speak. You''ll ask me nicely for power and off you go to your merry little shit-adventure. Got it?" The man waited.


    Jessica tried to say something, but nothing came out.


    "Nod." The man suggested.


    Jessica nodded, her eyes begun to tear up.


    "Good." The man snapped his fingers and she could speak again.


    Jessica tried to remain silent as a few tears ran down her cheeks.


    "Well?" The man sounded impatient.


    "....please, give me power...." Jessica blinked away her tears, the skeletons held her arms.


    "Good. Not so bad was it? Normally I''d have you grovel at my feet for a few hours you know? I''m sick of looking at you though." The man beckoned his bejeweled hands forward.


    The skeletons obediently dragged her forward close enough for him to touch, she flinched and tried to look away, but kept silent.


    "Now. Normally this is taught by imagery. Stirring your desire and letting your spirit do the work--" The man was explaining, but Jessica had a question.


    Opening her mouth to ask, she was cut off.


    "Quiet." His tone was deadly serious.


    She shut up.


    "Good. Now as I was saying, my ears didn''t appreciate your screams, so I''m going to take a bit of revenge." The man smiled evilly.


    Jessica stirred, but she couldn''t speak again and the skeletons held her in place.


    "Feel free. Try to scream. This will hurt. A lot." The man''s grin bore all his teeth.


    He stretched his hand forward, Jessica trembled.

 Dream 67

    Eian was laying back for a quick five, Alex was nursing his recently bruised shin.


    He was perhaps a little too rough that last time, he might have cracked the bone, this training stuff was really hard to pull off.


    Both girls had been lying down under than coma-like experience everyone went through to get a spirit upgrade.


    Stretching some after getting up, Eian felt his back crack deliciously and he took a deep breathe.


    ''Ahh...That felt good.'' Eian smirked.


    "LAIR!!!!" Jessica''s voice resounded the entire cave, echos pounded Eian''s ears.


    Turning he caught sight of Jessica hurling a punch at Alex''s face, Eian winced seeing as she hit him square in the jaw.


    Alex for his part tumbled to the floor like a bag of potatoes, Eian snickered that was kind of funny.


    Then he frowned as he saw Jessica blindly charge him, Eian side-stepped and tripped up her feet.


    She went tumbling to the ground, doing a funny little roll, it brought a genuine smile to his face.


    Yelling incoherently she got up and charged again, Eian sidestepped, it didn''t work her punch flew to his face, dodging instinctively last minute he then retreated quickly.


    His brows tightened and he watched her glaring at him, she moved forward, Eian moved to the left and she was there, moved to the right and the same applied.


    ''Huh. So that''s how it works.'' Eian watched her move as he evaded, it was like dancing with his own shadow.


    She lunged and the only time he wasn''t close to getting hit was when he retreated backwards or with overwhelming speed.


    A major factor in his favor was she was so slow, she couldn''t hope to catch him moving at that speed, plus he wasn''t afraid of her little punch, he was confident in his body''s strenght.


    Persistently she moved roughly with little skill, sometimes even tripping herself in her hurry to hit him.


    Preparing to grapple then subdue, he saw her suddenly retreat and he frowned, that was an annoying ability.


    "What the fuck''s up with you?" Eian frowned, this was overly weird behavior, he knew she was crazy, but this crazy?


    Howling incoherently she bull-rushed him, catching him slightly by surprise, still he moved backwards.


    She tripped on a loose stone and went down in a tumble, instantly Eian grabbed both her arms behind her back and held her in place as she struggled feebly in his grasp.


    An errant headbutt bounced off him harmlessly, eliciting a yelp from Jess and she screamed out impotently.


    ''The fucks up with her?'' Eian tightened his grip and waited out the storm.


    She struggled against his grip and screamed out furiously, she thrashed violently, but she was so weak Eian held her down with little trouble. She kept trying to kick him with the back of her feet, still nothing she did could hurt him. Eventually she stopped struggling and broke down into sobs, tentatively Eian let go and scrambled away from the crazy bitch.


    "I just want to go home." Jessica sobbed curling into a ball.


    Eian fidgeted uncomfortably, Alex would be the better person to hear this.


    Shrugging he went to check on Alex, he was rousing himself and seemed dazed on the floor.


    Alex had propped himself up on one arm and was looking about with lost eyes.


    "You alright?" Eian looked at him as he cradled his face.


    "What happened man?" Alex seemed out of it.


    "Your crazy girlfriend just whacked you out of nowhere." Eian smirked, it was kind of funny remembering it.


    "What?" Alex''s face scrunched up, it was as if he were trying to comprehend rocket science.


    "Jessica punched you. In the face." Eian spelled it out to him, maybe he turned into an idiot now.


    "Why? That doesn''t make any sense." Alex frowned and rubbed his face then got up.


    Eian shrugged as he watched Alex go over to Jess, she made some feral noise and backed away from him.


    Alex himself looked lost and came back over to Eian, he looked angry.


    "What did you do man?" Alex looked to be gearing up for an argument.


    Eian''s smirk died, he didn''t like the tone Alex had on, he glared at bit and Alex matched it.


    "I didn''t do a damn thing. She just woke up crazy and hit your puppy-ass face." Eian felt a sudden urge to punch Alex in his face, he didn''t know how but he reigned it in.


    "I...What do you mean? That doesn''t make any sense?" Alex lost the aggravated look and now seemed worried, he turned to look at Jessica.


    "Fuck if I know, I''m going over to my room. That''s your problem." Eian snorted and marched off to his room.


    Apparently Alex realized his mistake.


    "Hey man! Look, I''m sorry okay?!" Alex''s apology came a while later, just as Eian entered his room.


    Eian ignored Alex''s problem outside as he looked at his glowing tattoo''s.


    It was a little early, but he still had plenty of food and time, besides he wasn''t in the mood to train Alex right about now.


    He selected Body, it glowed brighter, Eian closed his eyes expecting the worst.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    *****


    Opening his eyes Eian was in a typical modern training dojo, really eerie.


    Blinking in confusion he looked around the dojo, eyeing several old style weapons on the walls, everything from daggers to chains to war-hammers.


    What was strangest was that there were plenty of modern weapons as well, speared muskets lined just after a variety of pistols.


    Then came the more modern equipment, bullet-proof body armor, SMG''s, Glocks and even what he thought was a taser.


    The next area completely shook Eian off his charts, Sci-Fi looking guns, and well as what looked like an advanced body armor, it would fit a human from head to toe in black.


    "Admiring my training gear?" A voice appeared behind him and Eian retreated quickly.


    Turning to look he saw someone that would probably stand out anywhere.


    A tall bald tanned man, his skin was more tanned than Eian''s and he was stood at attention.


    He was perhaps seven feet tall and compact, not bulky but his muscles were taunt and clearly held power.


    He wore no shirt, revealing perfect chiseled muscles, as well as a multitude of thin faded scars and his lower body was covered in a slim black training pants.


    His eyes stood out and were glowing rings of gold, it reminded Eian of a hawk.


    "Well? Name?" The man inquired.


    "What?.....Oh. I''m Eian." Eian blinked away his confusion.


    "I''m Brak." The man, Brak, shrugged.


    They stood there just eyeing each other, Eian filtered information and remembered something Ul ha said a while ago.


    The core forms at seven, this obviously had something to do with that, but how exactly he couldn''t tell.


    "I''m here to instruct you more on Qi." Brak broke the silence.


    "Qi?" Eian knit is brows as he tried to process what was happening.


    "Qi is the bodies natural energy, it is normally refined and expanded over time. Right now it is happening due to your kill selections." Brak nodded.


    ''Kill selections? He''s probably talking about the tattoo''s? Refined? Expanded? Wait!'' A sudden thought sparked in his mind.


    "Wait, wait. You...I think you''re saying it... I mean, I can get stronger without killing things?" Eian''s eyes widened at the thought.


    Brak eyed him sharply and gave him a slight nod.


    "Like most things you can train it normally. I remember a long time ago, training was the only way to grow stronger. Now. Now everyone has it easy, at least at first~~" Brak shrugged.


    "How? How do we get stronger that way?" Eian''s eyes sharpened, maybe they didn''t have to kill things to go home after all.


    Brak smirked and shook his head at Eian.


    "While I admire your determination. You don''t know the monumental difficulty of what you''re asking. Compare your physical growth in this short time. How long would it normally take you to get there? Normal training is like that, it''ll take very long for minimal gains." Brak kept his smirk.


    "You didn''t specify how." Eian frowned slightly, he wanted to know.


    "No I did not and I won''t either. It''ll be a waste of time, it''ll take you close to half a year to get your next upgrade that way, and that is if you''re talented and hard working." Brak shrugged.


    Eian closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, there went that idea.


    "Look, I''m just here to explain a few things then off you go. Can I start?" Brak folded his arms and begun tapping his foot.


    Eian scratched his head, he didn''t know what to do really.


    "Fine. Wait, you''re not going to teach me how to use Qi?" His eyes stared at Brak.


    "No. Your principle guide will help you along your path, usually you''re stuck with one principle guide and the others just explain a few things. I''m one of the latter." Brak shrugged uncaring.


    ''Fuck! That means I''m stuck with Ul?!'' Eian caught a bout of goosebumps, shivering at the thought.


    "Either way, I''ll start now. As I''ve said Qi is internal bodily energy. For the most part it circulates within your body and enhances it naturally, but a stage after the core forms you can learn to willingly exert it to do other more exotic applications." Brak took a moment to let Eian process that.


    Eian scratched his head and though that over, so far all he''d seen Body upgrades do is make him physically stronger.


    "Exotic applications? What kind?" Eian cocked his head slightly along with the question.


    "The simplest applications are temporarily boosting you''re physical attributes, focus on practicing those on the next upgrade. In short, you gain a surge of strength, run like the wind, or strengthen you''re skin for an instant, so long as you''ve the energy." Brak was cool and steady, as if he''d gone over this many times.


    "Yeah and how do I do that?" Eian frowned.


    "I already told you it''s a stage after your core forms. Next time you get a Qi upgrade just ask your teacher to teach you for practice." Brak rolled his eyes.


    "Aren''t you also supposed to teach me?" Eian had the idea that was how it worked.


    "If you were my student, sure, but you''re not." Brak shrugged.


    Eian took a moment to look at this weird bald-guy.


    ''Well at least I won''t get my ass handed to me this round.'' Eian shrugged and the thought brightened his mood considerably.


    "So is that all?" Eian quirked an eyebrow, if so this was kind of a waste of time, he didn''t learn anything.


    Brak sat down in a meditative position.


    "Nah kid, I got a few more points to make." Brak shook his head in denial.


    "Okay? So?" Eian stayed standing, he was waiting for thim to go on.


    "Alright, listen up kid, Qi is different from spirit." Brak put his face on his right hand and leaned slightly to the right.


    Eian thought as much, but he supposed he should pay attention, it was probably important after-all.


    "I can sense you''ve an earth spirit, that''s a bit tough, anyways expended Qi doesn''t recover naturally like spirit or Psi over time." Brak continued.


    "It doesn''t?" Eian startled, slightly alarmed.


    That might be a problem, how would he ever fight more than once if his Qi was gone.


    Brak must have seen his face because he smirked.


    "Relax kid, it can recover, just not naturally. You just have to forge it and place the energy in you''re core." Brak''s smirk grew a bit.


    "Fuck, just say that next time." Eian released a breathe he had held, his taunt muscles also relaxed.


    "Watch your mouth kid, your mother should have washed it more when you were a kid." Brak frowned and shook his head.


    ''Who does this guy think he is? Telling me what mom should have taught me.'' Eian''s lips formed a thin line as the thought crossed his mind.


    "We had more important things to worry about." Eian frowned, he didn''t like talking about this to some random person.


    "Manners are important anywhere you go. Take it from me, you don''t want to piss off someone powerful or overly rich." Brak shrugged, the latter brought a sneer to Eian''s face.


    "What do you know? You haven''t lived my life." Eian huffed and folded his arms to restrain himself.


    Brak''s eyes sharpened like razors and glared at Eian.


    They both stood there, angry expressions written on each other''s face.


    "I''ll finish so you leave, you''re not worth more of my time." Brak closed his eyes and took a deep breathe.


    A moment later he began.


    "More advanced forms of Qi can be used to walk or run on completely vertical surfaces, strengthen equipment, hide your presence, guide projectiles, and even stop, deflect or slow blows before they hit. There''s a lot more, but ask you''re guide about it." Brak snorted.


    Without further explanation, the world washed away.

 Dream 68

    Alex had a headache, he had to find the time to apologize to Eian properly, after he took care of this problem.


    Jessica knocked him in the jaw good, he couldn''t even remember how it happened, the memory was all fuzzy accompanied by a sore jaw.


    When he gathered himself he just saw Eian smiling over at him with Jess crying in a corner, it hadn''t been a good picture and he misunderstood.


    If he had been in his right mind he was sure he would have given Eian the benefit of the doubt, what a mess.


    Right now Jess was in a corner glaring at him, for reasons unknown, the big question was: What happened to her?


    She went off to meet her spirit guide to get stronger an she came back angry and upset, did the power she get upset her mind or change her?


    "YOU!" Jessica''s voice got his attention.


    He turned to look and noticed Sarah was up, Jess had been pointing at her and Alex grew worried, this wasn''t looking good.


    Eyes'' tearful, hair wild and teeth grit in anger, Jess made for a sight straight out of an asylum.


    "You! This is all your fault!" Jessica was glaring at her murderously.


    "Look, I don''t know what your problem is and frankly I don''t care right now." Sarah shrugged as she took a quick glace at her room entrance.


    Jessica got up and begun to charge at Sarah, Alex intercepted her with a bear-hug.


    She wrestled with him attempting to throw him off, but he stubbornly held on.


    "Jess! Stop!" Alex''s voice rang out.


    Sarah turned to look and her face scrunched up in disgust and anger.


    "If she gets near me, I''m going to shock her till she calms down to her senses." Sarah''s voice was hard and pitiless.


    "You''re not helping!" Alex had his hands full trying to restrain Jessica.


    "I don''t care. She''s acting like an animal." Sarah''s mouth formed a thin line.


    "LET GO!" Jess elbowed his gut, ouch.


    "I''ll be in my room." Sarah got up and left.


    "GET BACK HERE YOU OWE ME!" Jessica was still thrashing.


    Sarah ignored her and went into her room, leaving only the two of them.


    "Jess calm down!" Alex.


    "Let go of me!" Jess got loose and moved away from him.


    She was huffing from exertion and glaring at him, he felt lost, what could he do?


    He didn''t know what kind of problem she had or what to do about it.


    "Jess, let''s talk about this. Please." Alex raised his hands up defensively.


    "We''re not talking about anything! Leave me alone!" Jess was absolutely fuming in anger.


    Jess strode off into her own room, it was located on the other side of Eian''s and Sarah''s so he wasn''t worried she was going to pick a fight.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.Alex begun to go after her slowly to try to calm her down.


    "Don''t follow me! Go away!" Jessica''s words were a knife in the gut.


    He stood there in the open space longer than he really should have.


    ''What now?'' Alex sighed and scratched his head.


    Alex sat down and stared at the ceiling, he felt helplessly lost.


    For the first time he began to think over his situation in full, he was stuck here in a weird world with people he''d recently met, with no end in sight.


    He usually tried to keep optimistic so the others would feel good cheer and not fight, but he had clearly failed and it stung.


    They had made a great impact on him, he wasn''t sure what would happen after they all got home, would they still keep tabs on each other?


    Eian was a bit sarcastic yet cool and you could depend on him in a tight spot, Sarah was a bit too bossy, but she was probably overly stressed about the situation.


    This new development with Jessica was his major concern right now though, he''d thought they would still see each other after this, he even gave his phone number to her.


    ''Still, I guess I''m assuming we are getting out of here alive.'' He thought darkly.


    Shaking his head Alex banished the thought, he wasn''t Eian, whom always assumed the worst.


    Speaking of the devil Eian emerged from his room looking about, Alex straightened he still had to apologize properly.


    "Hey Eian, man. I''m Sorry." Alex tried to convey his sincere feeling on the matter.


    Eian for his part turned to look at him with his mouth as a thin line and eyes dull.


    "Yeah. Fine. Ho''s before bro''s and all that." Eian shrugged and went over to grab some cooked food.


    ''Well at least he didn''t lash out.'' Alex closed his eyes and breathed out sharply through his nose.


    Then the ground began shaking.


    *****


    Eian bolted upright, his mouth stuffed and looked about in utter shock.


    Alex was bewildered and soon both Jessica and Sarah scrambled out from their rooms.


    Eian was trying to balance himself, while small loose patches of earth were falling down to the ground, that widened his eyes further and he felt they''d bulge.


    Eian quickly grabbed a few weapons and a piece of his armor.


    "We have to get out!" Sarah shouted even as she raced for the exit.


    Eian sprung to action and saw the other two do the same, he saw a large chunk fall and almost crush Jessica.


    Soon everyone was out and Eian''s heart was still not calming down, the scene in-front of him shocked him.


    It was relatively late in the day the first sun had already begun to set, but the sky had changed color.


    There was a stream of dark power going up into the sky blackening it and the suns took on a sinister look, what looked like bird or bats were flying around the fount of dark energy.


    Eian felt a chill seep into his bones at the sight, that couldn''t be anything good.


    "Let''s go!" Sarah ordered.


    "Where?" Jessica looked about scared yet angry.


    "Anywhere!" Sarah urged.


    "Wait. What is it?" Alex stood there staring at the stream of energy.


    Suddenly the cave beneath them collapsed, taking everything they didn''t have on them with it, they fell in a short tumble.


    Getting up from the dirt Eian looked around, everyone was alright, if a little dirty and frightened, the tremors ceased shortly.


    Eian''s gut sank, all that hard work, ruined in record time, it was as if the world hated him and took sadistic pleasure seeing him waste time and labor.


    The wind in the forest had also picked up drastically and Eian noticed it was even worse than the time the bird had attacked him.


    Off in the distance the forest rang of activity and battle, it resembled the sounds of the fighting between the undead and the forests inhabitants a while back.


    ''What''s going on? Has the world gone crazy?'' Eian scanned the forest looking for a clue as the others argued.


    "Lets just go the other way of that!" Sarah pointed at the stream of energy.


    Eian turned to look at the group.


    "I agree. Let''s leave." Eian didn''t want to stay here a second more than he had to.


    Alex had left all his armor and only brought his great-sword, Eian himself only held two axes and his chestplate.


    The girls had both left everything they had on them, Eian frowned that was irresponsible, but he supposed given the circumstances he couldn''t blame them.


    That left them in a bad spot however.


    "Here." He held out an axe to Jessica whom looked at him with confusion.


    "Want to swap?" Alex asked Jess whom frowned and ignored him.


    Eian closed his eyes and barely restrained himself from beating this lot of idiots.

 Dream 69

    Jessica held her axe to her breast with both hands, her grip so tight it hurt, feeling the throb of her turbulent heart.


    She was living a nightmare, this much was true, things had escalated all of a sudden and she was almost sure she was about to die, maybe this nightmare would end then.


    The wind blew against her beautiful hair swinging it around wildly and leaving it an echo of it former glory, it was blinding her slightly though.


    She was covered in dirt and her grimy clothes were in tatters, her nose was a bit stuffy and her face wet from the most recent tears streaming down her face, she probably looked insane, she was almost sure she was.


    She''d lost her favorite bracelet somehow, thinking over it now she couldn''t even remember where, this place was harsh and unforgiving.


    She refused to look at him, he lied to her, he promised, he lied, LIED, the memory choked her heart and she couldn''t look at him.


    IT was another issue, IT was still giving orders and asking them to bend to her desire, the other two were content to let it happen and she supposed for now she couldn''t argue.


    Right now she didn''t even have much energy for even that, she blinked away her recent tears even as a chill seeped into her bones.


    A kindling of raw desire had sparked in her, she fanned it, she wanted to be strong, she wanted to be strong enough to hurt them back, ALL of them, just like how they hurt her.


    She clung to that feeling like a drowning man clings to a log while stranded in the desolate sea, it kept her moving, more importantly it kept the last bit of her left-over sanity lashed tightly to herself.


    ''Feel free. Try to scream.'' the voice taunted her and fresh tears streamed down her face, she blinked them away.


    ''Focus. I have to focus.'' She sniffed and tried to distract herself by looking about.


    Eian was in leading at what must be a reasonable pace for him, because everyone could still keep up.


    Nothing seemed to be about to attack them right now, and for that she was thankful, her head still felt a little woozy from using her powers earlier so she''d be relying solely on herself in a fight, she felt so exposed and weak right now.


    The forest rang with activity and every howl, crack and screech sent a tiny spike of fear into her ever beating heart, this was insanity, she''d go crazy here.


    She stayed just behind Eian so as to not look at the other two, her body felt numb, but everything else hurt.


    Soon their lucky streak ended, something made audible clicking noises.


    Turning to the source of the noise she spotted the weirdest, not to mention largest insect monster she''d ever seen.


    It was a strange mixture between a Hercules beetle and a crab, it had the face and body of a beetle, but two crab-like pincers on either side.


    It''s protective exoskeleton also favored more of a crab than an insect and looked far stronger than the regular spiders from before.


    It had emerged from a part of the ground which had cracked open, presumably from the tremors.


    The mere sight of it stopped Jessica in her tracks, it rose to her neck in sheer height after all.


    ''SCREAM'' The voice resounded in her head.


    ''Are there more monsters?'' Her eyes scanned the area.


    Eian similarly halted, before charging forward like the crazy person he was.


    A flash of blue also told Jess that IT had gathered enough thought to attack, for her part Jess wasn''t getting near that things, the mandibles on its mouth and pincers looked too sharp.


    She didn''t turn to look at him, she steadily kept her eye''s on the monster even as Eian attacked it''s body, still Alex managed to invade her sight by charging the monster as well, giving her mixed feelings.


    She watched on as Eian chopped off the lower jaw off the beetle and retreat from it''s retaliation, Jess edged backwards even as she glanced back to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them.


    Alex''s blade crack the shell, but otherwise bounced off, disgusting insect juice leaked from the injury.


    Suddenly both the light and temperature rose and Jess saw a white-hot fire-ball streak and roast a good portion of the beetle, it thrashed wildly, Alex stabbed harshly along with Eian.


    Eian managed to sever an entire pincer, while Alex''s thrust penetrated what she thought was the skull, it shuddered then died.


    "Can this place get any weirder?" Even as he spoke Jess imagined the sarcastic eye-roll Eian did.


    "Don''t tempt fate man." Alex was again buddy buddy with Eian.


    "Huh, you know I always tell myself that and always seem to forget.....damn it." Eian sighed and shrugged.


    IT, Sarah, stood there inspecting the dead monster and what appeared to be the opening in the ground it had emerged from.


    "This is bad." Sarah stated and Jess thought IT had become a little pale.


    Jessica almost snorted, that was obvious, who knows how many more of those things were down there.


    As far as she knew insects always bred quickly and were pests everywhere, but these were on a whole other magnitude, these things were monsters.


    "It''s like that bad mosquito movie I watched a while back. You guys think these suck out your blood?" Eian''s tone implied he wasn''t too put off by the disgusting thought.


    Jessica thought she might have vomited a little in her mouth, she could have forever lived, or died depending, without ever imagining that.


    "No. I mean, if the earthquake opened up the ground here. It could have done the same all over. All the monsters down under could be coming up." Sarah spoke slowly and she couldn''t be sure but Jess thought she heard a slight quiver in her voice.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Jessica blinked and looked at the ground again, somehow the instinctual fear she''d normally have at this development didn''t phase her, at least not completely.


    Eian swore imaginatively, cursing in some other language, probably Spanish, he was Latin after all, though he was on the lighter shade of skin color.


    Alex for his part looked at the churned up ground a while longer.


    "All we have to do is find somewhere safe then." Alex sounded optimistically determined and he was scanning the area, their eyes met briefly, but she looked away.


    "It''s not that easy. How do you escape the earth? Flying?" Sarah snorted.


    Jessica blinked for a minute and looked over the canopy of trees, a clear smallish mountain was visible from here.


    "There." Jessica kept her voice low and pointed at it.


    The rest turned to look at her, in what she assumed was shock, she didn''t care right now.


    They quickly looked at the mountain, it was higher ground so the tunnels beneath hopefully weren''t accessible as easily.


    The inhabitants of the city of dead had probably purposefully dug down into the earth to reach the tunnels, this mountain looked natural.


    "I guess that works." Sarah sounded reluctant and at any other time Jess would feel smug about it.


    "Great plan." Alex nodded with a half-smile, she looked away and wrapped her arms around herself.


    Shortly thereafter they began moving towards the mountain, hopefully monsters wouldn''t be spewing out from the ground up there.


    The pace picked up and she tried to stay second, monsters slowly began appearing, Eian cut the first few stragglers down, but Jessica managed to get a few.


    A pair of boar, a pack four wolves and three gorillas with four-arms each were dispatched easily between everyone in total.


    Then something happened, the energy streaming into the sky ceased, but the entire sky had been blackened and the remains sun was dark, casting nothing but shadows unto the world.


    The flying monsters then began to spread out in every direction, even theirs.


    ''Scream.'' the voice sounded delighted and self-satisfied, the image of those terrible eyes gave her goosebumps and fresh tears formed in her eyes.


    "Hurry!" Sarah was already huffing from exertion.


    "Shut up!" Jessica shouted at the voice.


    "URGHHHH! Start running!" Sarah screamed back at her.


    The flying monsters clearly held superior speed, they soon caught up to them and swooped down.


    They were those winged vampires that roamed the city of the dead, three landed in-front of them and Eian charged axe-first.


    Eian and the first vampire went down in a tumble and it was screaming so that sounded good for them.


    The second vampire lunged at her with a spear, she managed to dodge then get her axe in-between them, she felt her weapon penetrate it''s flesh and it bloody screech confirmed it.


    Suddenly she went careening to the right, she rolled like a wheel, her axe flew out of her hand and she managed to catch herself.


    Briefly she processed a flash of light, followed by a battle-cry and monsters screeching.


    When she got up all the vampires were dead, one was extra crispy and Alex stood over the one she injured, Eian was also up, all in the span of a few seconds.


    She quickly retrieved her axe and started running towards the mountain, the others followed and soon Eian passed her and took up the lead.


    ''Scream, Screeeeam, scream? scream.'' Jessica blinked her eyes and focused.


    She tripped on the root of a tree and nearly killed herself with her axe, it had still cut a shallow gouge on her arm.


    Scrambling she got up and kept running despite the others asking irrelevant questions, especially him, couldn''t he get the hint she didn''t want to talk to him?


    She heard more swooping wings and looking up she spotted the monsters, their spears were a danger to them all and she mentally chided herself for not grabbing one off the last dead vampire.


    Five more landed ahead of them and Jessica saw Eian not hesitate, he charged and she saw several spears nick his bare flesh.


    One threw it''s spear at her and she dodged, that one was now unarmed and she took her chance and charged.


    Swinging wildly she tried to catch it''s head, it''s arm intercepted the axe and dug deeply into it''s arm, it howled.


    Jess threw her entire weight backwards holding her weapon, tugging her axe loose.


    Mentally she activated her sight and saw it lunge at her, she dodged and on the next pass she embedded her axe in it''s skull.


    Surprisingly they weren''t super fast how the book made them out to be, Eian was by far faster.


    Turning again she saw all the vampires were once more dead.


    "Let''s get going, those things are all over the place." Sarah glared at her.


    ''Scream.'' Jessica closed her eyes and grit her teeth, she fanned the spark dispelling the dark thoughts.


    Quickly Jessica scooped up a spear this time along with an extra, the axe wasn''t a good weapon for her, too short.


    She had to get close to kill things, so she left the axe in the vampires head, she heard Eian mumble something before bracing a leg and pulling it out of the skull.


    The darkness was unnatural and the monsters were all over, she could still hear the sounds of howls and screeching all over.


    She narrowed her eyes and shot a glare at Sarah before starting to run again, this was all IT''s fault, she was suffering because of her stupid demands.


    Clutching her spear to her breast, she vowed to not lose this one and the other clinging on her back.


    They kept running and ran into several monsters engaged with each other, they evaded those fights as the monsters were focused on each other.


    This forest had devolved into complete anarchy, a disorganized melee on all sides with bodies piling up everywhere.


    Wolves, bears, boars, skeletons, vampires, zombies and even a giant griffin littered the forest.


    The stench of death permeated everywhere, but it didn''t bother her, not even the abrasion on her arm hurt, it throbbed gently and she ignored even the blood flowing down her arm.


    After the second sinister sun finally set they managed to get to the base of the mountain.


    The climb was hard and they only encountered two sets of monsters, an overly large bear killed by Sarah and surprisingly three vampires.


    They killed them easily and made it a bit high up the mountain in record time, they stood there for a minute.


    Sarah dropped dead on her feet, huffing and unable to catch IT''s breathe with what appeared to be frozen lungs.


    Jessica herself was tired, but she her lungs were in slightly better shape, the other two were breathing normally and looking off into the distance behind them.


    Turning she saw the city of the dead off into the distance, the tree line had been pushed back and it seemed more were being cut down as they stood there.


    All the while the vampires in the air would swoop down into the forest, the whole place was one gigantic chaotic mess.


    The sight was an ominous portent and the small voice in Jessica''s head reared up its ugly face and began ranting and chanting death.


    Shivering she suddenly felt a surge of cold envelope her at her very core.

 Dream 70

    Sarah gazed at the pitch-black sky, the remaining sun had disappeared, casting dark shadows everywhere and the darkness was so thick you could cut it with a knife.


    She could barely see due to a singular red moon, but it was as looking through darkened lens or shaded windows, everything looked sinister, for once she wished she had her stupid glasses back, Sarah lit fire-balls for additional vision.


    The sloped forest itself was difficult to navigate and she didn''t like her chances during the night, what would they do if something snuck up on them?


    The forest below rung with random activity in such a violent mix she couldn''t possibly distinguish it, she thought she could hear wolf howls sometimes though.


    Finally she managed to catch her breathe, her legs felt wretched still and she finally voiced her first thought.


    "Alex! Heal me Dammit!" Sweat dribbled down and stung on eye on her face, Sarah closed her eyes.


    "You''re not hurt." Alex frowned and sighed, clearly exasperated, Sarah felt like tearing out her hair and screaming at him.


    "You idiot! You forgot you can heal fucking exhaustion!?" Sarah grit her teeth even as Alex''s eyes widened in shock, he really was an idiot.


    Suddenly Sarah felt helpless, all of these people were too much, Alex was an idiot in desperate need of hand holding, or get his dick sucked as Jessica probably won him over that way.


    As for Jessica? Jessica was getting even more insufferable, even screaming at her, did the stick up her ass finally reach her brain?


    Eian! Well there was nothing actually wrong with Eian, but still he was too slow to realize these two idiots needed them more than they needed them?


    They needed to come to some form of cooperative work, Alex seemed to hate working together and was a stupid insufferable moron along with Jessica.


    Sarah didn''t see herself as someone whom lashes out, but these weren''t normal circumstances and clearly things weren''t getting done by being nice and patient.


    "...sorry...." Alex mumbled an apology even as he healed her injuries.


    Only with supreme will, overwhelming exhaustion, closed eyes as well as cold-hard-logic did Sarah stop herself from incinerating the idiot.


    Breathing in and out for a moment, she calmed herself, anger never took you anywhere, she needed to find another way.


    It would help tremendously if Eian was on her side, he and Alex seemed to get along well so perhaps he could get through Alex''s thick skull.....somehow men connected through the stupid hormone called testosterone, ignoring women when convenient.


    Alex and Jessica seemed to have fought....or something, either ways it was convenient, perhaps now she could actually get things done and hopefully Alex wouldn''t get all starry eyed looking at Jessica.


    During this short time Alex managed to heal her exhaustion and she let out a sigh of relief, everyone seemed indecisive now that they were up the hill or mountain, Sarah though this one counted more of a mini-mountain.


    "Alright, what will we do now." Sarah broke the silence, she was frowning.


    Things weren''t good and she wanted to get stronger fast enough for Adara to finally reveal how to get home, this hell-hole of a planet was out to kill them at every corner.


    She was already at ten spirit so hopefully it wouldn''t be far, perhaps they had to perform some bizarre ritual to get home, anything would do really, at this point she was ready to do almost anything.


    She was very put off that she couldn''t be home right now, she missed the soft comforts of her bed, heck hearing the annoying laugh of her brothers would probably bring tears to her eyes.


    Her parents droning on and on about useless things would also be nice, they were always worried about her lack of friends.


    ''Heh, look at me, getting all sentimental.'' Sarah shook her head and focused, this was a bad situation and she couldn''t afford distraction.


    Her earlier question went unheeded by Jessica whom was quietly mumbling to herself, perhaps she was saying obscenities about all of them, despite being a girl Sarah just couldn''t understand her.


    Alex shot her an apologetic look, but soon he put on a serious face, perhaps he was learning, hells that would be a god-send right about now.


    Eian was surveying the landscape with a frown, Sarah could appreciate having him on the team, if he were slightly taller he''d make a truly imposing figure, perhaps Alex with his over-average size could look like that.


    Not that it would help Alex personality wise, then again almost anyone could be better than Alex and Jessica in her opinion.


    "I see something up there." Eian was squinting looking upwards.


    Sarah turned to look and saw a lone figure flying in the distance, it surveyed the scene below as the others scrambled about.


    It gave off the feel of being in-charge and Sarah mentally cringed at the thought of fighting something strong enough to command all these monsters.


    The thought itself would be crazy, Alex and Jessica were incompetent fighters and Eian had the disadvantage of being a close up fighter only, he couldn''t possibly harm something in the air.


    In all it would fall to her to fight it and she didn''t like the odds of going one on one on it, she had just learned her powers, this thing had innumerable years to learn.....as well as grow in strength.


    ''......then again there''s no evidence it would even risk itself to fight us.'' Somehow Sarah felt that optimistic thought didn''t hold merit, everything here wanted them dead.


    "The leader? What do you think man?" Alex questioned the obvious.


    "Yeah, I bet it''s looking for us....." Eian narrowed his eyes.


    Suddenly the creature did something with it''s hands, Sarah couldn''t get a good look since it blended with the background and was so far away.


    Sarah had a sense of foreboding, she hoped it was trying to kill something directly below it and not actively looking for them.


    Either way she wasn''t sure this little mountain was safe, they came here without thinking really and those monsters might find them easier here if they were out in the open.


    "Let''s hope not. Let''s get behind cover hopefully that will help." Sarah frowned, if that thing was after them it would be a disaster, even if mentally she knew it was likely true.


    Alex and Eian turned to face her, they both nodded and they soon found an appropriate spot, it was covered and nothing in the dark seemed out to kill them.


    Sarah felt they should perhaps begin moving again, but with the earthquake the land could be churning up monsters from anywhere.


    The gears in her mind were turning, she had to think of something, preferably soon, like right now.


    "What now? I don''t feel like making another cave." Eian looked up as he lay against a tree.


    Sarah nodded her agreement, he''d wasted hours building a shelter and it was destroyed a few hours after, building another might be unwise.


    "......I think maybe we should keep moving away." Sarah scrunched up her face, being out in the open in the dark was constantly making her see things, she thought the darkness took on a speckle of red.


    "Fuck.....we''re not advancing. Our guides are dicks and not telling us shit either. Did they know this would happen?" Eian sounded frustrated and shook his head.


    Sarah noticed in the corner of her eye that Jessica had turned to look at them briefly as Eian spoke.


    She was quietly clutching her spear with both hands to her chest, she looked a little worse for wear but strangely she seemed to be vividly paying attention to what they were saying.


    Sarah saw her lips mumble a few things under her breathe, that was.....worrying.


    "Well we should come up with a plan. Together." Alex briefly looked at each of them from left to right.


    "I still feel we should keep moving." In her opinion they were wasting time talking, Sarah mentally sighed.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ''Why won''t they just listen?'' Sarah rubbed her eyes and felt Alex was just disregarding her plan.


    But noooo....one word from Jess and he was ready to jump like a little soldier, frustrating.


    He didn''t even bother putting anything to the table, no new ideas for what to do.


    "I think Sarah''s idea might be best for right now. The more distance we put between us and that thing the better." Eian said slowly.


    "Exactly!" Her response was overenthusiastic, Sarah winced.


    "What about staying on high ground?" Alex would drive her crazy one day.


    "We can just find another damn hill later. There seem to be a few of them about." Sarah almost snapped but her tone held an edge.


    Alex frowned at her tone, still she was past caring for his ''manly'' feelings.


    He briefly turned to look at Jessica, whom turned her face away from him, unwilling to meet his eye.


    A forlorn look crossed his face before quickly vanishing, he closed his eyes and shook his head.


    "Fine, let''s go." Alex nodded at her, and she let out a slow breathe.


    They began moving, they made a circle around the mountain and went the other way behind it, the opposite direction of the flying menaces.


    Jessica remained quietly detached a small distance from all of them, not too far but she clearly wanted space, Sarah didn''t bother Alex would probably keep an eye on her.


    Eian led the way through and Sarah frowned this area appeared to be denser in foliage and more humid, Eian began cutting a path with his axe.


    Suddenly the forest cleared and the ground became a squishy bog-like texture, Sarah frowned, they had to evade these parts and she quickly formed a plan.


    "Let''s edge around on the forest and evade everywhere thats soft. Form up in a line. Eian grab a spear from Jessica and prod the ground with it. " Sarah tried to think of anything else.


    "No." Jessica clutched her spears.


    "Give him one." Sarah narrowed her eyes and snapped out of her thoughts, this bitch was something else.


    "No." Jessica shook her head.


    ''Someone please. Anyone, give me patience, because if you give me strength I''ll strangle her.'' Sarah closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breathe.


    "Just give him one already. He lent you an axe remember!" Sarah was losing patience by the end, the latter part seemed to get Jessica''s attention.


    "...Fine." Jessica''s lips thinned.


    "You don''t need to yell, Sarah." Alex frowned, Sarah gave him a chilling glare.


    Jessica grudgingly handed Eian a spear, she gripped the other all the tighter, she seemed insecure.


    Soon two axes hung from their respective belt straps on Eians left side and he began walking the edge of the forest prodding the ground, evading any signs of a squishy ground, they followed Sarah''s advice and walked in a line, Sarah was last.


    Then Sarah saw the strangest thing since coming to this world, a pack of wolves was running in the direction of the vampires, that wasn''t the strange part, they evaded the group of humans and left them in peace.


    Sarah narrowed her eyes, they were probably heading to fight those flying vampire monsters, were they that much of a threat? If so then it had been a good idea to move away from the leader.


    The forest monsters kept evading their group''s path strangely, the first battle they had were two overly large boars and that was probably because they were directly in front of their way, Sarah killed one and Eian killed the other.


    Something whizzed past Sarah from behind, making her jump in fright, suddenly she heard a screech, turning she saw a huge reptile charging her jaws agape, ready to kill.


    Sarah freaked, screamed shrilly and channeled lightning at it, the raptor fell screeching and died, it''s previously unseen mounted-reptilian-rider also fell on the ground twitching, Sarah shot a bolt of lightning and killed it as well.


    Sarah blinked to make sure her eye''s weren''t deceiving her, everyone was reacting differently, Eian was alertly looking about, Alex was asking her if she was okay, and Jessica was staring at the dead monster with a poker face.


    Jessica''s reaction caught Sarah''s attention, did she finally grow a spine?


    ''Unimportant.'' Sarah turned to look at the dead reptiles.


    The mount itself favored a Veloci-raptor, the fore-front legs however stretched all the way to the floor but she didn''t know if it used them to run as well.


    Its leathery hide was striped with various greens from the forest about, the underbelly was a lime-green favoring yellow and it''s back held a saddle.


    The rider had been a humanoid reptilian with a snout and jaw sticking out slightly longer than a humans, feathers for hair and the skin was like that of a crocodile.


    The humanoid''s snout rounded upwards towards the skull, it''s digits held claw-like finger nails, it wore little clothing only protecting the lower body and was armed with a primitive short-bow.


    Over all the duo favored a bed-time story nightmare for children, Sarah wasn''t inclined on fighting them en mass.


    "Guys, what now?" Eian turned to look at them after he finished looking around.


    "Sarah, are you alright?" Alex must have asked her the question for the forth or fifth time by now.


    "Yes Alex, I''m fine. Also I don''t know Eian. Give me a second." Sarah suppressed an eye-roll and begun thinking on Eian''s question.


    "Geez, Sarah. Eian man, I think there are more about. Do they seem more dangerous than the vampires?" Alex turned to look at Eian.


    ".....I don''t know, depends how hard their skin is. Sarah can kill them, but those bows could be a problem too. Not to mention the friking dinosaur mounts. I kind of want one." Eian smirked and shrugged.


    "Any chance they''re neutral and this one attacked out of surprise?" Alex frowned at this own suggestion and his voice belied his disbelief at the matter.


    "Alex....You''re kidding right?" Eian raised both his eyebrows in exaggerated disbelief.


    "Yeah man, I am. Was just hoping something doesn''t always want to kill us for once." Alex sighed.


    "Alright, let''s keep going. The vampires can fly and some can most likely use magic. These things seem primitive, so the vampires must be more of a problem." Sarah interrupted their banter.


    The direction they chose soon led them to an area with sparse trees, Eian kept testing the ground as a precaution and the occasional animal they heard or saw ignored them.


    Eian stopped and the group''s advancement ground to a halt, at first Eian ignored them, then he asked them to be quiet, he was listening.


    Sarah jolted at the sound of something whooshing then a meaty thud followed by Eian''s creative curse.


    "Ambush!" Eian screamed shortly after cursing.


    "Take cover!" Sarah ran behind a tree and everyone else did as well.


    "OW!.....Where?!" Alex was shocked.


    Sarah noticed he also got hit but in his bicep and the arrow only sliced him as it had passed.


    "Left!" Eian tore the metal-tipped arrow lodged in the meat of his leg, it hadn''t penetrated far though.


    Sarah took a peek only to see a trio of reptilian humanoids with large bows approaching slowly on foot, an arrow almost caught her before she took cover again.


    She prepared two fire-balls and cast them randomly at the archers quickly and took cover again, she peeked and saw the archers were behind cover and one shot an arrow at her, she hid again.


    Eian ran out from cover screaming and Sarah''s eyes bulged, was he really that crazy?


    Eian threw himself sideways and rolled, then he took cover closer to the archers.


    "Shit! Be careful man!" Alex was hiding and clearly confused on what to do.


    Sarah took a quick look at Jessica and saw she was hiding as well, but she had a focused look on her face.


    Sarah heard a heavy padding on the ground and her eyes almost popped out when she saw a giant crocodile the size of a small car with packs attached approaching them at a fast pace.


    She threw her fire-balls at it, the crocodiles face took the impact and kept charging, she heard Eian scream something.


    Then a man made of rock charged the beast, it speared crocodile in the neck and arrows bounced of its rocky carapace, it had to be Eian, he was attacking the crocodile with spear and axe.


    Sarah readied lightning bolts and waited for a chance as Eian taunted the enemies, he seemed well protected so she wasn''t overly worried for him.


    Alex and Jessica weren''t doing anything yet.


    Suddenly Sarah saw Eian suddenly blinded the crocodiles right eye, he withdrew it as the beast thrashed viciously, Eian kept fighting it.


    Sarah saw a clear shot and lit up a reptilian archer, the other two archers ran pat towards them, just as Sarah was about to channel lightning but Jessica moved in the way, Alex gaped along with Sarah but he followed Jess.


    Jessica stabbed an archer straight in the throat, dodged an arrow from the other even as she left the first archer gurgling and then stabbed the other''s bicep.


    The injured archer dropped its bow and lashed out with it''s claws but Jessica dodged it''s desperate attack and Sarah didn''t see what killed it but it dropped dead soon after.


    Jessica stabbed the dead monsters a few more times then looked in Eian''s direction, Sarah turned and saw Eian had killed the overly large crocodile, it had to be a travesty against nature for them to grow so large.


    ''...........'' Sarah drew blank for a second before turning again, she squinted her eyes to make sure they weren''t deceiving her, maybe something killed Jessica and took her place?


    Alex stood there looking like an idiot, a bug would fly in his mouth if he stayed that way.


    He had been more than useless, though he had already healed Eian and himself of injuries.


    "This thing has a lot of stuff on it''s back." Eian brought her to her senses.


    "What does it have?" Sarah eyed the packs on the crocodile.


    "Seems like mostly meat. What kind I don''t really know. No, wait....there''s some antlers in this side pocket so it''s probably deer." Eian shrugged as he took out the antlers.


    Alex alerted them to a small patchy hut nearby and they scoured it for enemies, there weren''t any so they got back to the packs.


    The packs were full of meat, but they also held some arrows, a few pots, an assortment of tools, pelts and staggering amounts of rope.


    Sarah looked upwards quickly and noticed while the second sun had descended some time ago, the moon turned a darker shade of red.

 Dream 71

    Eian looked about as he carried an overly large pack of ''deer'' meat and an assortment of other stuff, they''d tied it to his back as he was the only one whom could reliably carry it without much hindrance.


    They had already eaten a hearty meal of meat and Alex was now in the lead as he was unhindered, also he was the only other guy, social expectations were deeply ingrained.


    To be honest Eian wanted a little break from leading the way, an arrow will do that to you, it was just really mentally tiring having to be on the look out all the time, his spiritual well was also perhaps half-way depleted.


    Sarah illuminated the darkness with fire and the forest was rife with shadows, Eian felt his eyes were far better than ever before and the forest was alive with shaded colors despite the darkness.


    At this hour the forest was mostly silent, interrupted only by an occasional howl, or the buzzing of tiny insects, those things were an annoyance.


    ''Are the trees getting bigger?'' Eian watched the largest tree to date.


    Trees of nearby forest had begun stretching a solid hundred feet into the sky, the largest went even higher by his estimate.


    The forest itself held less shrubs in the area and the trees held a fair distance between each other.


    Eian didn''t hear much commotion here, but he wasn''t focusing much either, the forest itself was humid and he was sweaty and uncomfortable.


    The others must equally be in the same condition and Eian found it strange Jessica wasn''t complaining, at least not aloud, then again that was what she was probably mumbling about.


    Eian had handed Jessica''s spear back to her as soon as they weren''t encountering soft soil anymore, she seemed oddly attached to the spears, she''d almost torn it from his grasp and clutched it close.


    "Are we headed anywhere in particular Alex?" Sarah asked him.


    "Not really, I can''t see anything over the trees." Alex shrugged, and Sarah sighed.


    Eian noticed Sarah was getting continuously more and more easily aggravated now, she was almost in a constant foul mood.


    It was obvious Alex was also getting annoyed at her constant barbs, she''d called him an idiot a few times and always pointed out things in a rough manner.


    Eian for his part didn''t care much at the moment, as long as they didn''t trouble him he was fine for now, he couldn''t police them forever after all.


    Not to mention he himself was also in a bit of an annoyed state, he hadn''t had much time to deal with Alex''s insult, then the guy whom causally insulted his mom, the earthquake, vampires and now trotting through a forest past midnight.


    "Stop." Eian frowned as something felt a bit odd.


    Everyone was asking questions again, just like when he''d been hit by the arrow, they soon quieted and scanned the darkness along with him.


    Eian felt something was strange, he couldn''t quite place it for a second, his hearing and gut were telling him something he couldn''t understand yet.


    The group had quieted fully and were all now scanned the silent forest, nothing broke it and every shadow seemed to want to come alive at every second.


    Eian frowned, had he imagined it? His hearing usually never let him down, he was used to even hearing footsteps tailing him in the bad part of his neighborhood, his gut instincts had also helped him hide from gang recruiters before, his mom would never forgive herself if something happened to him.


    "Did you see something?" Alex broke the silence.


    Eian shook his head, he couldn''t spot anything about yet and he supposed stress might make him imagine stuff in this eerily quiet forest.


    "Why stop then?" Sarah always seemed to want to know everything.


    "Thought something was nearby." Eian shrugged and quickly scanned the darkness to be sure.


    Sarah stared at him for a second and she looked about, a full minute passed in silence.


    "Did you gain some supernatural detection somehow?" Sarah pressed, her eyes were sharp as a hawks, focused.


    "....No." Eian''s lips turned upside down, and a bit of his anger reared it''s ugly head, was she trying to insult him somehow?


    "....You''re probably just tired Eian. You''ve been working hard." Sarah nodded and gave him a small encouraging smile.


    Eian wasn''t sure if he should be insulted or not, with Sarah you could never be sure if she was complimenting you.


    Mentally he let it go, Sarah usually didn''t try to tell him off, so maybe she was just really bad at talking to people, he''d noticed she was usually direct about what she though of you.


    Soon the group began walking again, Eian wasn''t even sure they weren''t going in circles, the tree the just passed seemed a lot like one they had passed earlier, then again every damn tree looked the same here.


    Perhaps they should use Sarah''s earlier idea and mark the trees as they went, he wondered why she hadn''t suggested it yet, did she know something he didn''t?


    "We might be walking in circles." Eian pointed it out.


    Everyone turned to look at him, Sarah blinked and nodded, she held fire in one hand and was their main source of light.


    "Mark the trees then, we don''t want to waste time getting lost." Sarah mumbled something else but only to herself.


    A few minutes later Eian finally realized what his gut was telling him, the forest was too quiet, no insects, no birds, nothing was moving or making noise, his eyes widened at the revelation and it kicked his blood into high gear.


    "Guys...It''s too quiet. It should never be this quiet." Eian declared decisively and stopped to look around again.


    Everyone stopped again and Sarah seemed to be in deep thought as she scanned the forest.


    "...You sure man?" Alex was scanning about in front.


    "You should always hear something. Insects at least." Eian remained steadfast, he wasn''t going to doubt himself, better safe than sorry.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Everyone stayed still scanning for almost a full minute, the seed of doubt began to worm it''s way into his mind, but he stubbornly shook it off.


    Alex looked a little doubtful and his head did slow turns from left to right, Sarah''s eyes remained steely scanning everywhere quickly, but Jessica surprised him with a poker face.


    Finally something emerged from the darkness, a darkened shape emerged at the edge of their vision, it looked roughly man-shaped.


    Eian readied himself for an attack, placing a hand on his axe and preparing to drop the pack.


    "Who are you?!" Sarah demanded an answer, but was ignored.


    Eian squinted, he couldn''t see anything on it apart from darkness, which was weird as he could see everything else around it.


    Was it somehow using magic, was it made of magic? Eian kept his gaze locked on it, it took a step forward and Eian noticed it''s features did not become more visible, it was as though it was made of solid shadows.


    Then it bolted forward and Eian dropped the pack, he quickly drew his axe and took a stance, it lunged at him and his axe cleaved at it, Eian felt no resistance and he realized he had done no damage.


    It was now holding a sword of darkness and slashed at him, he dodged by throwing himself sideways, rolling he came up and then readied himself before cleaving at it once, this time he noticed as the head of the axe cut through leaving no damage as its shape reformed, Eian''s eyes widened.


    "I can''t hurt it!" Eian yelled.


    A flash streaked past him and while the fire-ball impacted hit the shadow, it was pushed back slightly but the flames dissipated to nothing seconds later, leaving the creature once more unharmed.


    Next lightning forked forward and tore straight through the creature''s torso, unhindered it lunged at Eian and he dodged, he kept dodging as it slashed at him.


    Eian tried to intercepted the sword with his axe but was retreating, the sword phased through the axe leaving it unharmed, but the sword impacted Eian''s arm, it burned like molten steel.


    "Ah!" Eian grit his teeth at the unexpected pain.


    Eian moved farther back, the shadowy creature lunged, Eian dodged, strangely he felt no blood but his arm absolutely burned with pain.


    More fire-balls impacted the creature which pushed it back, until it ignored Eian and charged Sarah, she channeled a torrent of lightning at it.


    It was torn to shreds and Sarah kept at it, she stopped soon after and Eian begun to breathe a sigh of relief, until it began reforming slowly.


    "RUN!" Sarah screamed.


    Eian bolted but remembered to scoop the pack from the ground and everyone else bolted as well, they ran in a random direction in a disorganized jog.


    He soon overtook everyone except Alex, he stopped and looked back, Jessica and Sarah were lagging behind, he noticed Alex had stopped as well.


    "Shit!" Eian cursed, this was bad, that thing seemed to be invulnerable to their attacks and they couldn''t run with these two being so slow.


    "Alex try healing my exhaustion as we run!" Sarah was breathing a little heavy from a short sprint.


    "Right." Alex nodded.


    That seemed to work for a while, but Jessica was next and Eian noticed she short of breathe, she remained adamant and said nothing for a while.


    Jessica soon collapsed huffing from the sprint, that led to a bad situation.


    "Alex heal her!" Sarah urged.


    As Alex neared Jessica back pedaled and glared at him, though her exhaustion took a lot of it out from her expression.


    Alex tried to heal her again and she growled at him.


    "Back off!" Jessica shot lasers at him with her eyes.


    "We need to move Jess." Alex lifted both hands up defensively.


    "Don''t call me that!" Jessica held herself as she backed away.


    "Stop arguing and let him heal you!" Sarah intervened.


    "We don''t have time to waste!" Eian himself was feeling a little antsy.


    "NO!" Jessica backed away from them at them.


    "Just leave her!" Sarah fully lost her temper and lifted both arms up exasperated.


    Eian looked at Alex, he looked conflicted and kept trying to convince Jessica whom was having none of it.


    Soon Eian saw something, the shadow was back and his arm still stung from it''s earlier attack.


    "It''s back!" Eian warned them all.


    "Run!" Sarah yelled and bolted, no one followed.


    ''Fuck! FUCK!'' Eian dropped the pack he was carrying again.


    Eian sort of wanted to run as well, but he wasn''t going to abandon people to their death, it felt wrong and he knew he''d wholly regret it if he did, he had too many regrets as is.


    He heard Sarah yelling at them to run even as the shadow attacked, Eian tried to get it''s attention by attacking, his blood was pumping as he knew this fight wasn''t one he could win.


    Unlike what his group thought, he wasn''t fearless but in the short time he''d been here, along with the goat-fuckers lessons, he''d learnt to wrestle it to a side while he fought, right now it was tightening its ugly grip on him and all the same he forced it back.


    How do you fight something you can''t hurt?


    Eian swung at its body, ensuring not to fully commit, it tried to counter as he predicted, he ended his feint and retreated.


    A lightning bolt hit the shadow creature square in the chest, but it passed through harmlessly, Eian scowled this would be a fight on the back foot.


    Concentrating Eian activated empower, a surge of energy coursed through his veins and he readied himself as he circled the creature, it stood still watching him.


    It lunged sword forward and Eian dodged, it followed through with another slash, Eian retreated, he couldn''t block nor parry it''s attacks.


    ''Can I cut off a foot? Will it buy time?'' Eian glanced at the creatures sword and it passed half a foot away from his face and he grimaced.


    Hopefully Alex would convince Jessica soon, then he could buy time and they could retreat, then he''d disengage and make a tactical retreat as well.


    He heard arguments behind him, another two fire-balls streaked forward and impacted the creature, it pushed it back slightly buying Eian some time.


    ''Fuck!'' Eian retreated but decided against trying to dismember it''s limbs.


    It''s sword had passed straight-through his axe without damage nor change, thus it was likely it''s body was the same.


    Recovering the creature attacked and Eian concentrated on the floor, smashing, the ground beneath it erupted, sending both the dirt and the creature flying upwards even as Eian felt his spiritual reserves dwindle slightly.


    The creature stumbled about and Eian focused again, he would have to deplete his spirit buying time.


    "Is she ready yet?!" Eian yelled, he was referring to Jessica.


    "NO! Alex just grab her and heal her!" Sarah yelled back.


    "I''m not doing that to anyone!" Alex yelled back.


    "You''d rather she die?!" Sarah sounded exasperated.


    Eian kept throwing it back until his spirit fully depleted, then he readied himself for more combat.


    It lunged at him and he dodged, but this time it ran at Sarah, Eian swore and tried to hit it.


    Sarah channeled lightning again, but it threw itself sideways dodging the channel, Eian swerved as the lightning almost caught him as well.


    It raced further and Alex got between it and Jessica, Eian closed his eyes and tried to force another earth shatter.


    He didn''t have enough power it didn''t work.


    ''Fuck!'' Eian grit his teeth as he watched Alex about to die.


    Alex braced himself as the creature neared, arms forward, standing in front there heroically making a last stand to defend Jessica.


    "Screeee!!!!" A loud inhumane voice rang out.


    The creature fell to the ground as it''s arm melted away into the darkness, it quickly ran backwards towards Eian and he threw himself out of it''s way.


    Rolling he caught sight of it''s retreating figure as it left, standing he stood still watching it go, Eian blinked a few times and scanned the darkness for any sign of movement.


    Everything went quiet for an instant, but soon the forest was abuzz with noise, heart beating Eian turned to look at Alex, both their jaws formed perfect ''O''s.

 Dream 72

    Alex closed his mouth, he''d probably had it open longer than he should have, but given the circumstances he felt it was understandable.


    His pulse was rocketing through his blood vessels, he felt the familiar adrenaline buzz of an exercise, but rampped up to overdrive and pumped on dope.


    Seconds before he''d almost steeled himself to die, which would have been a regretful outcome as Jessica had finally acquiesced and resigned herself to be healed.


    He turned his eyes to Eian, he had been injured by that monster so that was his first concern, the second was this situation and given Sarah''s red face there would be lots of yelling.


    Alex felt what was perhaps the beginning of a migraine behind his eyes and forehead, he tiredly rubbed them as he sighed and let his blood cool.


    "Eian man, lets see what that thing did to you." Alex waved him over.


    "Some-what burns." Eian gruff-ed as he approached.


    Sarah stood and looked at them both in silence, Jessica was stoney faced and was sitting in the ground.


    A quick look heightened Alex''s concern Eian''s flesh was an unhealthy greying color and looked to be blackening as if visibly succumbing to a plague disease.


    Alex quickly poured as much healing as he could to Eian''s injury, Alex''s frown deepened as he realized the injury was resisting to mend somewhat.


    He focused and pouring more energy until the blackness stopped and slowly, piece by piece like thick syrup, begun to recede, sweat dripped down his cheek and trickled down his neck to his bare chest.


    Black ooze seeped from Eian''s skin the whole time, after a brief panic Eian wiped it and they noted the flesh beneath was hale and healthy.


    Soon Alexander managed to push the blackness to a small area where his healing hit a metaphysical wall, A chilling thought passed through Alex, what if it couldn''t heal properly?


    Luckily his worries were unfounded, he breathed a sigh of relief when the resistance broke and more black ooze seeped out until Eian was hale and healthy.


    "Thanks." Eian nodded and his muscles visibly relaxed, Alex gave him a brief nod of acceptance.


    Alex quickly took a deep breathe, closed his eyes and exhaled, that was one problem down, now they had another.


    Turning he looked towards an angry Sarah and a quiet neutral Jessica, was she okay with what was going on?


    Alex could help but feel a little disappointed in Jess...ica, he''d have to get used to that, she was either hiding her emotions or wasn''t giving the situation the gravity it deserved, neither of which were helping her cause, whatever that may be.


    "Is he okay?" Sarah''s question surprised him a bit, he thought she''d jump straight to it.


    "Yes." Alex nodded and Eian said yeah at the same time.


    "Good. Now you." Sarah''s expression turned icy as she looked at Jessica, whom ignored them all with a small pout.


    The tension in the air was palpable as Sarah glared at Jess-ica, Alex blinked.


    "Do you have anything to say?......No? Well let''s start with...what the hell you were thinking!" Sarah''s voice erupted and she stomped the ground.


    "Sarah not so loud." Alex frowned.


    "Don''t take her side!" Sarah yelled at him so hard he took a step back and raised both palms up defensively.


    "That''s not what I mean~" Alex started, but was cut off.


    "Alex wake the fuck up! I almost died! Eian almost died!" Sarah was breathing heavily by now and her volume was going through the nonexistent roof.


    "MonsterS! Sarah, there are monsters about, that''s what I mean." Alex tried to placate her while waving his hands for her to lower her volume, he didn''t want to attract any more of those shadow things.


    "He''s got a point Sarah. Monsters, bad." Eian nodded, he had a serious face on and was scanning the darkness, arms crossed, while sitting against a tree a few feet away.


    "Whatever. I still think he''s trying to butter her up. Hmf." Sarah huffed, turned to glare at Jessica again.


    Alex saw Sarah close her eyes and breathe deeply several times and exhaling heavily until she was ready.


    "Alright. Are you going to keep ignoring us, or will you talk?" Sarah questioned with a frown.


    Alex refrained from saying anything that would set off Sarah, as uncomfortable as it felt, he''d realized this had to be done.


    It was one thing when Jessica was defenseless and needed their help, this time she put them all in danger from her personal choice to not accept aid, brief though the hesitation may have been.


    Still, she had a resigned face when he''d finally convinced her to accept healing, so she needed to concentrate on the groups well being faster.


    He wasn''t sure if Sarah or Eian had caught that she had relented after the brief encounter, Eian was busy distracting the monster and Sarah was helping him.


    So it fell to him, Alex, to try to not let things escalate to an unfavorable outcome for the group nor an inhumane judgement but Sarah wasn''t like that, he hoped.


    There was a fine line between Justice and Vengeance after-all, but it was critical they not lose sight of it.


    Their personal relationships were irrelevant when it came to their continued survival and cooperation, as much as he wished otherwise.


    The silence stretched on for some time and Alex began to figit.


    "Just, leave me alone." Jessica stared blankly as if not speaking to them.


    Jessica''s mask broke and curled up while sitting, she began to sob, Alex felt terrible as a pit formed in his gut.


    "Really! Are you ten?! Do you want to die?" Sarah kept her voice at an acceptable volume.


    "...Let''s give her some time to calm down." Alex hoped Sarah didn''t trip.


    "Of course you''d say that...." Sarah rolled her eyes.


    "Just!......Look at her. Can you honestly say she wants to talk?" Alex''s kept his voice low, but he was getting pissed at Sarah''s uncaring attitude.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "No, but she''s wasting time." Sarah glared at him.


    "Time for what exactly? It''s dark and we''re in the middle of no-where." Alex raised an eyebrow.


    "...That monster can come back any second." Sarah pressed.


    "Then I''ll kill it. You can use healing magic too. Can''t you? You made a big show of it." Alex shrugged.


    "...You! you just want her to get off." Sarah glared at him.


    Alex sighed and now she was redirecting her attitude on him.


    "Look, I agree we have to talk to her, but yelling or in your case, an interrogation, will be a waste of time. In the state she''s in, she''s probably not even paying attention right now. Let''s wait and talk to Eian and come up with a plan or something." Alex crossed his arms and set his foot down.


    "...Fine." Sarah huffed and they walked over to Eian.


    Alex spared Jessica as few glances and watched the shadows around her, he didn''t want something to sneak up on her and kill her after-all.


    "Guys, should we make a fire? Animals are afraid of fire right?" Eian asked.


    "...Some of them yes. I''m not sure if all, and the animals here might be different, but given that something can sneak up on us, lets make some torches at least." Sarah''s voice was cool, she might have calmed down.


    Alex and Eian quickly cut a few limbs from one of the few small trees about, Sarah lit the torches and they formed a small perimeter of sorts from torches.


    Alex made sure to keep Jessica in his sight, she had gone quiet but the occasional hiccup emerged from her.


    Everyone sat there for a second, Alex tried to break the ice.


    "At least we don''t need to sleep man." Alex gave Eain a half-smile, it was all he could manage.


    "What are we going to do about her? I''m through with how things are going. She''s holding us back. Eian, what do you think? Alex''s too soft." Sarah narrowed her eyes and cut to the heart of the matter.


    Eian sat there, gave them both a brief look and seemed to retreat in his thoughts for a minute, they sat there waiting.


    "...I think, she needs to start thinking about the group. She freaked, or something back there Alex, I didn''t ask, but whatever kind of fight you two had, she can''t put us in danger like back there. We need to find something for her to do also, she''s stronger than she was before, but she''s not using it much." Eian held a grim expression on his face.


    "But, we agreed she was going to be like Sarah and use magic, right? I think that would suit her better man." Alex felt a bit somber, but he''d already accepted it, at least Eian was calmer about it.


    "Does she even have death magic yet? You said she woke up screaming from her dream with her guide." Sarah scowled somewhat fierce, as she watched Alex like a hawk.


    "She probably annoyed her guide or something, my one beats the living shit out of me any chance he gets." Strangely Eian rubbed his neck, before cracking it slightly.


    "We can ask her, when she''s better." Alex nodded, magic would suit Jess far better as she''d be out of direct danger.


    "That doesn''t fix what she did. Alex, she outright chose to put us in danger." Sarah''s scowl deepened.


    "What do you want me to do? She hesitated for a bit, we~~" Alex started to explain, but Sarah cut him off.


    "That doesn''t matter. She has to give the situation significance, and act responsibly. She''s had it easy enough as is." Sarah pressed with an edge, Eian gave one slow nod.


    "We''ll work on it. I promise." Alex sighed and scratched the back of his neck.


    "First you then, Eian''s right, fix that problem you have with her at least well enough for us to work without problems. I''ll probably kill her if I hear her voice right now." Sarah crossed her arms in displeasure.


    "I''ll try." Alex sighed.


    The two seemed sated with that as Eian went back to impassively scanning the darkness and Sarah began brooding quietly.


    Alex waited a while as he watched Jessica, she''d stopped crying and had her eyes fixed at the darkness.


    In the flickering light of the fired up torches he thought he could see her lips moving silently though, that worried him, he hoped it was his imagination.


    As he neared she went completely still and her eyes slowly turned in his direction, she wouldn''t meet his eyes though.


    "Hey....Um...Jess-ica. Are you,...look we have to talk." Alex''s tongue fumbled words out, he wasn''t ready for this.


    Jessica gave a brief sigh, her chin rested on her knees as she hugged her legs.


    "What do you all want?" Jessica still wouldn''t meet his eyes, she stared at the ground despondently.


    "...We want you to work with us as a team." As his words exited Alex''s mouth he heard her snort.


    "Fat chance. That''s what you want. Sarah wants me to just die and Eian doesn''t care one way or another." Jessica''s eyes narrowed at the ground as if it beheld secrets to unearth.


    "Eian didn''t abandon us when Sarah told him to." Alex defended Eian, he''d gained his respect for that.


    "Us? What us? There is no us." Jessica closed her eyes and muttered a few words he couldn''t hear, but internally he cringed at her direct response.


    "...That''s not what I meant. I meant he had the chance to run and leave you to die and he didn''t." Alex frowned, this might be harder than he originally thought.


    "And by that you mean you didn''t leave either. He likely decided not to leave you to die, your both all chummy after-all, he has no patience for people like me." Jessica had a dour mood.


    "What happened to you? You woke up from that dream and ''ve been acting different since." Alex still couldn''t puzzle out that.


    Jessica sealed her eyes shut, she went silent for a second and Alex saw her tightening her eyelids heavily.


    "Leave,me,alone! Shutup! Go.....Away!" Jessica''s voice gained a shrill quality to it and she covered her ears.


    Surprised Alex took a step back.


    "I''m not leaving." Alex''s frown deepened, they needed to at least be on working terms.


    "...not you." Jessica opened her wild eyes.


    "What?" Alex frowned, tilting his head, thoroughly confused now.


    "Never mind." Jessica tightened her grip on her legs and was shaking.


    "Are you alright?" Alex''s frown turned to worry.


    "Forget it, look, I''ll do my part next time. Just leave me alone." Jessica held herself till she stopped shaking, Alex was now deeply concerned.


    Alex stood there for a moment, then tried to add something, he was still worried for her, hell he''d be worried for anyone in her condition.


    "Do you need some food or something. You need to keep your strength up." Alex tried to keep his voice straight.


    "Go.Away...Now." Jessica growled out the words.


    "Alright, I''ll call you when we''re leaving." Alex nodded, turned and walked away before she did something like attack him again.


    Alex returned to Sarah and Eian shortly.


    "Well looks like it could''ve gone better." Eian took one look at his face and shrugged.


    "Well?" Sarah demanded, Alex''s patience took a slight hit at her tone.


    "She said she''ll do her part next time." Alex spoke deadpanned, Sarah huffed.


    "I doubt that, but given it''s her I doubt we''ll get anything better. Did she say anything about magic?" Sarah shook her head.


    Alex remained silent and shook his head, Sarah sighed.


    "I''m hungry. Let''s eat." Eian changed topics, or he really was just hungry.


    After their meal, Alex wrapped a bit of cooked food in one of the smaller packs, it had a rope to both tie it and as a strap.


    "Eian man, can you give Jessica this? I don''t think she wants to see me right now." Alex asked nicely, she accepted an axe from him so maybe she''d accept food too.


    "...Fine. I just hope she doesn''t throw it at my face or something." Eian sighed dramatically.


    "Thanks." Alex smiled a bit, at least he could joke, then again Jessica might just do it.


    He watched as Eian placed the food and told her it was food before quickly making his retreat.


    She took the food, but didn''t eat it, she slung it on her shoulder like a purse and Alex nodded, he hoped it was progress.


    "We ready to keep moving? I don''t like it here." Sarah asked.


    "Yeah." Eian nodded.


    "One sec, man." Alex nodded, but held up an open palm.


    He turned to look at Jessica, he gave a quick shout, she got up and approached but kept a small distance still.


    "Do better." Sarah seemed to glare at her.


    "Let''s go." Alex didn''t want things to escalate and things were tense as is.


    They got moving and about an hour later the forest turned in what seemed to be jungle, with dense shrubs, tall trees and millions of stupid mosquitoes.

 Dream 73

    Jessica held herself a short distance away from the group, not far, perhaps two yards or so, she didn''t want to die anytime soon after all.


    Jessica felt a bug land on her skin, it bit her blood and she watched it drop lifelessly, she''d realized a while back that had happened each time, she''d left a trail of dead insects where she passed.


    The typical sting of their bites was also missing the intensity she remembered, it felt as though they were only standing on her skin before they fell, but she''d noticed they did bite.


    Jessica blinked and also realized the surge of energy which accompanied her after she woke from that horrible dream was missing.


    ''You''re going to die. Will you scream for me as you do? Panic, do it!'' The voice spoke to her and she closed her eyes, a while back the voice begun diversifying it''s words.


    Jessica tried to focus on something else, but a quick look only deepened her dread, her tattoo''s were glowing, again.


    They marked Body:2, Mind:10, Spirit:2, she instantly felt a bolt of cold dread engulfed her and she stayed still for second.


    ''No! Nonononononononono.'' Jessica''s eyes grew wild as she looked at the group.


    Good, they hadn''t noticed anything, if she pretended everything was fine, they wouldn''t act or demand, or say anything.


    Her hand hovered over Body as she prepared to choose it over spirit, she wasn''t going to select spirit again, she''d rather die.


    Then half an inch over the selection she stopped herself, cold reason led her to an obvious truth, if she selected Body the others would notice, still she wasn''t going to select spirit again, never.


    A distant part, a habit mostly, within herself rebelled at the mere thought of not doing what she promised, she could imagine her father''s disapproving face, but she was his little girl, she knew he''d forgive her, he couldn''t blame her for this.


    ''Please. I''m sorry.'' Jessica squeezed her eyes and wiped her tears away,


    ''Failure, you''re a coward and a failure. You''re parents are better off without you.'' The voice sounded extremely smug as it droned on an on endlessly.


    Jessica opened her mouth to scream at it, but remembered herself.


    ''Shut up!'' She kept it inside, it wouldn''t do for the others to bother her.


    That psychopathic guide had done something else to her mind, he was always talking to her, invading her thoughts.


    He was constantly telling her what to do and how worthless she was, couldn''t the psycho just shut up?


    Did the others have their guides talk to them? They didn''t mention anything so it might just be hers, either that or they didn''t say anything and were lying, by now she could believe that, they were all liars.


    The psycho was a monster, a sadistic ruthless beast with no morals nor virtue, damn him a thousand, no countless times.


    Blinking Jessica noticed the group had stalled, she worried they noticed something and were going to ask more questions.


    She didn''t want them to know he spoke to her, Sarah would want him to answer questions and demand Jessica ask them for her.


    A moment later she noticed why they''d stopped, the ground rocked very lightly with the occasional tremor, almost indiscernible but still strange, how hadn''t she noticed that before?


    The current tremor ceased, or so she thought, it might have even been her imagination, it was that light.


    ''Do you think if the earth eats you it''ll spit you out? You likely taste horrible.'' The psycho pondered, Jessica internally cursed him.


    Something caught her eye soon, alluring fireflies lit the near-by area, they populated the dark space with colorful rainbow lights.


    The insects were dispersed here, but there was an area up ahead where they seemed to thicken, so much that it looked as if night and day held an accord and yet vied to outdo each other.


    Instinctively, or curiously they followed the light and soon they''d entered a clearing, the rest of the trees made way, yet a thick gnarly tree rested at the center of a field of low grass.


    The twisted tree looked almost decorated for Christmas, filled with vibrant luminescent colors and mentally she understood the insects swarmed it to create this image, still a dead part of her would have smiled at the pretty sight.


    It''s branched twisted and Jessica herself caught sight of a branch which ended in what she could imagine as wooden fingers.


    The breeze blew heavily as the entered the clearing swaying the grass, but Eian grabbed Alex before he could lead them further in.


    "Really suspicious. I don''t like this place, let''s leave guys." Eian looked grim, he scanned the illuminated area with narrowed eyes.


    "It''s just a tree man. Nothings around." Alex peered at the tree with suspicion, but heeded Eian''s warning.


    "Yeah and I got into a fight because of a stupid flower." Eian rubbed his chest area.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Really man?" Alex had a wary look about him now, but he sounded a bit skeptical at Eian''s claims.


    "Yeah, well. I think it was the flower." Eian''s face twisted and he shrugged.


    "That sounds interesting, can you describe what you''re talking about?" Sarah fixed her gaze on Eian.


    "Well~" Eian opened his mouth to respond when the ground shook again.


    Jessica balanced herself, she''d almost fallen on her face from the tremor.


    The wind had also picked up, but her sight glued unto the twisted tree, it was moving far too much for it to be the wind.


    The gnarled tree uprooted itself, pulling two legs from the ground slowly, it''s many branches swung ferociously as it pried itself free.


    Several limbs steadied it on the ground and Jessica took a step back, she didn''t know what to do against that.


    A heavy flash of white fire flew forward then impacted the uprooting tree.


    "GROOOOO!!!" Gnarled Bark at the middle of the trunk let loose a ear splitting scream.


    Another flash of fire hit the beast as several limbs caught fire, but it had emerged from the earth.


    "Move back! Hide!" Sarah yelled.


    "Fuck!" Eian stood his ground as he stared at the monster.


    Jessica ran away from the group, she wasn''t going to be crushed by an overgrown tree, the Asshole in her head would never stop bothering her then.


    She took cover behind a tree, though she could still hear the vibrations the moving-tree left as it moved.


    ''Try screaming! HAHAHAHA!'' The psycho sounded delighted.


    Jessica heard another ear-splitting howl and she turned to look at the monster, it was fully aflame now.


    Eian was near a normal tree taunting the monster towards himself and Jessica got a clear look as the next fire-ball impacted the monster.


    The beast roared again and turned its back on Eian, it hobbled quickly over to Sarah.


    Jessica sighed as long as it wasn''t coming for her she was al right, a small cracking noise originated behind her and Jessica''s eyes widened in fright.


    She whirled around and spotted a lizard man, it held a bow aiming for her, Jessica threw herself to the floor, activating her sight as she did so.


    The lizards notched arrow breezed past and didn''t hit her, she scrambled away from it and took cover behind the tree.


    ''Opps. So, so, close.'' The voice whispered near her ear.


    She heard another arrow impact the back of the tree and though her breathing sped up, her fear didn''t rear up and she tightened her grip on her spear.


    Concentrating she moved out of cover quickly, she saw three trajectories of an arrow and easily evade them, only to realized there were more lizard-men than she''d expected.


    Three bow wielding lizard people were close by and she raced forward, she saw all the arrows before they even notched and flew past.


    One, two, three arrows and they were drawing again, she raced forward and stabbed where at the first throat, it tried to dodge but the spear hit it''s actual intended target, it''s eye, the tip parted the eye and punched straight through the bone behind into the brain.


    One, two arrows and she was safe, she slashed her spear wildly as it caught the second lizard man''s leg, it hissed revealing its sharp deformed teeth.


    Thud.


    "Ugh." Jessica grunted as she hadn''t dodged the next arrow.


    The arrow caught her abdomen, sinking deeply into meat flesh, the expected pain never came.


    She wildly swiped her spear at the assailant, catching it''s bow and cutting through the string, the beast hissed and attacked with it''s claws, it was too slow.


    Jess received it''s impacted with her spear, the beast ran straight into it and she held it at bay, out the corner of her eye she caught the other lizard man notching an arrow.


    She quickly pushed all her weight forward, getting out of the way of the arrow then threw most of her weight to her right, the lizard man in-front of her hissed and went careening slightly to the left, off balance.


    She saw the next arrow and tried to dodge, it missed by a foot and she ran towards the lizard.


    Dodge, the arrow flew past her, but she her a hiss behind her.


    Swiping she caught it''s face, it hissed clutching its face and then she stabbed at the bare chest.


    Withdrawing she stabbed again, and again and again, until something tackled her.


    Elbowing backwards wildly she caught something eliciting a hiss, she shoved the monster away but lost hold of her spear.


    No matter she drew the other, but now her final assailant held a spear as well.


    It stabbed at her, but she swiped the blade away easily, it went wide and Jessica took advantage.


    Stabbing it''s torso she pushed forward, then jumped back, it hissed, the same happened two times more.


    It was struggling to hold unto the spear, it looked woozy, she stabbed, its retaliation missed and it dropped from blood loss to a knee.


    She stabbed it relentlessly till it died, its skull held many puncture wound and she felt oddly satisfied.


    ''Whew.'' Jessica wiped her forehead, she felt exhilarated, was this how Eian felt after a fight?


    Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, she heard it clear as day and it didn''t cease.


    Turning she saw solely the wind, then the arrow lodged in her abdomen made itself known, it stung but no where near what it should have.


    She grit her teeth, grabbed it and pulled it free, it felt like pulling out a bad tooth.


    Blood oozed slowly out of her wound, she frowned at the sight, blood didn''t usually act like that.


    The annoying clapping continued.


    ''Maybe a magic trick now?'' The psycho spoke and the clapping ceased.


    Jessica blinked, that sparked an idea in her, Sarah could use a ball of fire, why not her?


    She concentrated on the image of Sarah''s fireball....and nothing.


    She growled and thought of Alex''s one, it also failed, she clentched her teeth.


    ''Hahahahahha! Waste of time waste of space, that''s what you are. Hahahaha.'' The voice was relentlessly driving her insane.


    Fueled by hate she thought of how much she hated him, she concentrated on how much she wanted to butcher him and drive a spear between it''s eyes and cut out his tongue.


    Something moved, she couldn''t describe it, it was a part of her yet not, close yet alien.


    A bolt of darkness manifested in her hands and she smiled vindictively.


    ''Hmmm...Good show. Encore?'' The asshole started clapping again.

 Dream 74

    Sarah felt her face burn, she tried to distract herself by briefly wondering if her face looked like a tomato, her shame was only magnified as both boys averted their eyes from her newly revealed assets, specifically the chest area.


    She held her arms across them, covering what she could.


    "You okay?" Eian''s concern was spoken to the darkness, as he had his face averted.


    He strove, with considerable effort, to speak while not looking at her.


    "No! It. Fell. On. ME!" Sarah scowled, she felt anger was burning more and more naturally in her now.


    "We got it off." Eian smirked but he sounded nervous, he liked to make fun of people''s misery apparently.


    "Ughrrg. Shut. Up." Sarah coughed as Alex tended to her, he was only half here though, mentally at least.


    "Where is she?" Alex was getting repetitive, that made him even more annoying.


    Mentally rolling her eyes Sarah easily concluded Alex was worried for Jessica, whom was probably nearby safe and sound, hoping they died killing monsters or something.


    She''d given up on Jessica, next time she did something stupid, which even slightly irritated her, Sarah would give her part of her mind...or torch her to ash, to hell with Alex, she''d heal herself if she had to.


    Speaking of Alex, he was getting more annoying asking about their missing ''teammate''.


    "Where do you think she went?" Alex scanned the darkness, eyes wide and attentive to his goal.


    "I. Don''t. Care." Sarah bared her teeth in pain, he had just patched up her left side, most of which was injured when the Tree-monster fell on her.


    "......I''m sure you''re good at that." Alex''s face twisted in disapproval, he wasn''t looking at her though.


    "OH!? Rrrgg....You! YOU just make it sooo easy." Sarah bit her tongue, before she said anything else.


    Sarah closed her eyes and calmed herself, Alex and his stupid obsession had brought her to unparalleled heights of rage.


    She tried to distract herself pondering her past again, so strange....she''d hardly thought of her past during this time, but now she was getting nostalgic....well she was also trying to distract herself....from her current disgrace.


    She remember how she''d learnt how to deal with anger, she''d been a spoiled brat as a child, causing problems all the time, especially for her parents.


    She would cry, scream and moan for anything, toys, sweets, soda, food....one day her mother had enough after she had stolen money from her father''s wallet to ''secretly'' buy...something, why couldn''t she remember what it was?


    The first scolding she could remember had left her humbled, ashamed and depressed, a sudden thought wormed it''s way into her mind, Sarah scowled with disgust: Jessica reminded her of herself as a kid.


    "JESSICA!!! That thing''s dead! Come back!" Alex shouted out to the darkness.


    "Shut! UP!" Sarah growled at the idiot, he could attract more monsters.


    Eian helped her sit up, all the while averting his eyes, she was feeling much better now, at least physically, her dignity was shattered.


    ''A shirt, please send a shirt.'' The prayer set a scowl on her face again, the stupid burning tree had fallen on her then burnt the remains of her upper-clothing.


    Both Eian and Alex didn''t have one so they couldn''t even lend her a shirt, all Eian had was a rigid breast-plate which wouldn''t even squeeze her bosom in.


    Then again, painful discomfort might be a small price to pay for dignity, she was torn between asking and pretending she wasn''t half naked from the waste up, neither of the boys had mentioned it, though they both looked slightly uncomfortable, nowhere near how she felt however.


    Her mind set to work as she remembered the packs Eian held, those would cover her....at least enough to make her feel less...exposed.


    "Eian, where did you leave the packs?" Sarah spoke slowly trying not to break the uneasy-unspoken truce they had: to not speak about her being half-naked of course.


    "What?" Eian spooked slightly, jerking in surprise.


    Briefly Eian turned to look at her eyes, which quickly widened in surprise, before turning away swiftly again, she grit her teeth....urgrh....the pervert.


    "Ah!...Ummm sorry, I''ll....just go get it. Alex, you with me?" Eian looked to the absent sky and his neck strained to remain stiff and rigid.


    "Yeah! Totally man. Jess might be around too." Alex nodded quickly as both of them marched away away from her awkwardly.


    Sarah rubbed her fore-head while covering her...bountiful assets, this was not how she''d imagined herself after a victory.


    Eian walked towards her slowly, he was staring at the sky with eerie focus, Sarah sighed, the darkness probably covered up most of her anyways, so him averting his eyes was probably courtesy.


    Her emotions warred within her chest, part of her wanted to scream at the indignity, another part wanted to cower in the darkness, she let neither rule her, she was in control and she would remain calm despite...this, and emerge stronger for it.


    She tried not to let her joy show as Eian ''accidentally'' tossed the emptied pack at her, she struggled but she managed to poke her head and arms through the bottom.


    Honestly she looked ridiculous, but given the circumstances she could almost weep from joy, she finished by fastening the roped around her body, tightening her new ''shirt'' around herself to be comfortable.


    Her brief experience with joy swiftly died as she beheld ahead of her, Alex was walking towards her with a bloody Jessica following him at a short distance, they both looked somber.


    Sarah sighed, she desperately hoped those two stayed far apart, together they''d be a nightmare to deal with at the moment.


    "We have a problem man." Alex grimaced distastefully, he was looking at Eian.


    Sarah frowned, she''d preferred a bit of good news right now instead.


    Alex was worried though and Eian was looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes.


    "What''s up?" Eian''s half-smile turned upside down.


    "Jess killed a few monsters over there." Alex looked uncomfortable as he pointed at a distance past the illuminated field.


    "How many?" Sarah demanded, great...after one monster...more monsters, just great.


    "I counted three of those people-reptile-things. She was bleeding." Alex grimaced.


    Sarah closed her eyes, she was feeling the beginnings of a migraine, briefly she shot a look at her markings.


    Sighing, she realized she didn''t have another upgrade yet, bottle-necks were such a huge pain in the neck.


    She didn''t keep track, but she had killed numerous things since her last round with Adara, which surprisingly wasn''t too long ago, a few hours at most.


    She wanted nothing more than to go home and leave these people to deal with their own problems, she''d had enough of all this pressure and the anxiety would leave her gray prematurely, as the anger drained out of her she felt......weak somehow.


    "Told you guys, I felt bad about this place." Eian was gruff as he gently massaged his left bicep.


    "Let''s just leave." Sarah sighed, she was feeling exhaustion like a blanket, more so than she''d ever felt here yet.


    Sarah let Alex lead the way, she didn''t care where they went right now, she was feeling the chill of the midnight wind now, it had been blowing somewhat heavily the whole time, abating only slightly for moments.


    Still her molten blood burned with inner heat, comfortably warming her, it felt strange, being cold outside but fiery inside.


    She held fire on her open palm, lighting up everything on her right side, granting everyone a clear view of their surrounding as they moved.


    Sarah gazed at the dancing fire on her palm, it flickered on the blowing breeze, but she didn''t let it gutter out.


    They kept constantly moving and Sarah paid no heed to it, the breeze soon quieted slightly.


    "Guys...I hear some noise now." Eian broke her out of her reverie.


    "What?" She looked at him dumbly.


    "Where? What kind man?" Alex paid vivid attention.


    "All over. Wait... I think, behind us." Eian frowned deeply and turned at the same time, alerted to the darkness, Sarah blinked and snapped out of her fugue.


    Sarah blinked then the pieces started to fall in place, that shadow monster had been weak to Alex''s life energy.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.They had just left a city full of vampires and undead, some used death magic and suddenly she grew alarmed.


    The wind had just ''coincidentally'' been blowing hard enough to hamper Eian''s hearing, she could use magic from other branches, nothing stopped the undead from doing the same, wind magic!


    Vampires could fly, thus cover ground much faster than them, the mindless undead could likely run full speed none stop too, they''d wasted too much time already.


    The undead leader had done something, a tracking spell maybe? Maybe the shadow monster was a scout? Or a vampire had flown over-head and spotted them? So many possibilities.


    ''Ugghhrrrg! I feel so stupid!'' Sarah grit her teeth and a familiar heat rose up and pushed the nights chill away, leaving her literally boiling from rage.


    "Let''s go. NOW!" Sarah looked for somewhere to go.


    Then she saw Eian had drawn an axe and was holding it in a stance, she opened her mouth but she realized her deduction was too late.


    A monstrosity was shambling out of the dark, it was stitched together from two wolves....and a bear, chunks were missing, bones were jutting out as spikes and its three heads lolled their tongues at the sight of them.


    Sarah took a step back, more thoughts flared through her head at the possibilities, but as soon as she''d thought it another shambling horror appeared, this one was three wolves.


    The situation was becoming more grim, were the undead swarming the forest?


    "Holy. Fuck." Eian blurted, and for once Sarah couldn''t find any words that described their situation better.


    "Kill those and let''s leave! Alex shoot magic at them! Eian defend us if one gets too close!" Sarah barked as she formed a fire-bolt.


    "Roger!" Alex formed a bolt of energy and threw it at the first monstrosity.


    The bear-wolf horror charged and ignored Alex''s spell even as it impacted one of it''s head, the head came apart at the neck, falling and leaving the monster with two heads.


    Sarah threw her fire at the monster setting it aflame, Eian received the monsters impact head-on attempting to defend them, the impact sent him careening sideways, as though he''d been run over by a car, it pounced at him.


    Wincing slightly Sarah felt bad for Eian, if they weren''t there he would have probably dodged the attack, instead of protecting them.


    The monster tried to gore Eian, even as the other three-headed wolf charged, Sarah fueled lightning and caught the undead wolf-Cerberus, it hit the ground hard, twitching it gurgled at her.


    Sarah focused and fueled the lighting channeling out on one-hand, them she tossed her awareness to energy conversion.


    Drip, drip, drip, her energy slowly pooled through the multiple necks of her hour glass image, to her it felt like an eternity but intellectually she knew it was a second or two.


    Soon her new spell manifested, an exact copy of Alex''s life spell, she threw it at the monster on the floor catching one of the incapacitated monster''s three faces, dead straight.


    The head went still, one of it''s eyes fell out it''s socket, and the remaining two head''s bared their teeth as they gathered up their body to attack, a spear flew true but only penetrated inches into it''s hide before bouncing off, Sarah turned and saw Jessica throw a bolt of darkness at the monster.


    "NO!" Sarah screamed.


    The bolt hit another of the monsters head and did nothing, Sarah sighed at least nothing bad happened: like reviving the only dead head.


    Focusing Sarah did another conversion even as the beast threw itself at Sarah, she threw the spell of life at the monster catching another face dead on.


    She tried to toss herself to the side, but the creature was already on her, it''s weight crashed into her and sent her flying for an instant.


    Bang, the worst migraine of her life came alive, a massive pounding of drums beat down on her ears and she saw the final head of the monster bare it''s teeth and spring forth.


    Sarah close her eyes for an instant as she heard flesh tear, blood splattering and bone giving way.


    Tentatively she opened an eye and beheld her greatest surprise yet, Jessica was on the floor, holding a spear into the last monsters head about a yard away from her.


    Jessica withdrew her spear, got up and began stabbing all the skulls on the monster with wrathful vigor, the creature was already dead, well permanently dead and she kept stabbing.


    "...don''t tell me what to do." Jessica mumbled lowly, as if afraid to voice the insult.


    Sarah narrowed her eyes, the bitch had the gall to act like she could do things on her own, one time, just one time and she was putting on airs.


    ''Ugh.'' Sarah sighed, still she''d be dead without the crazy bitch, the indignity.


    "I hate this fucking place." Eian grunted.


    "Stay still man." Alex frowned at him.


    Turning she saw Alex heal Eian from a few gashes he''d suffered from the other monster, it lay dead next to Eian, Alex had probably killed it, he was good at battling the undead at least.


    Sarah marveled at Eian''s skin, a monster that large should tear through flesh like jelly and all Eian sported were mere gashes, serious injuries if left unattended true, but still anyone else would be in critical condition...or more likely dead.


    She couldn''t deny a little envy, Eian was the least likely to be killed by an accident, shaking her head Sarah reminded herself that her strengths lay in offense not defense.


    She was a loaded cannon, while Eian was an armored bunker, they had different strengths and weaknesses.


    "Let''s go before more show up." Sarah was up and feeling very uncomfortable, the ropes lashing the pack to her body bit into her.


    "I''m up for that." Eian smirked, with blood matting his face, he looked unhinged.


    Alex quickly tended to her injuries, speaking of Alex, Sarah wondered how low he was on energy, the night had been hectic so far.


    Sarah summoned hotter flames, if those things were about she wanted to be able to see them from far.


    Flapping sounds emerged from the sky loud enough for Sarah to look up....vampires.


    Sarah tossed flames at one, incinerating the monster, five more swooped down almost instantly.


    Alex''s magic took one down quickly, it screamed as it thrashed and large pieces of it''s body turned to ash as it died.


    Sarah felt her reserves dwindle, she was perhaps more than half way through her well, grimacing she realized she wouldn''t be able to keep using channeled spells, they ate up her reserves too quickly.


    Mean-time Eian had charged and beheaded two and was began engaging the last one but Alex killed his opponent with a well-timed spell, Jessica had killed one easily a while ago and was watching them neutrally.


    "Great, they found us." Sarah''s mood soured further.


    "...They''re really after us?" Alex was staring blankly at the remains of the corpses.


    "It''s the only thing that makes sense." Sarah narrowed her eyes, was Alex that slow?


    "Guys. Any ideas? I fucking hear more noises about." Eian was dour.


    "Let''s move." Sarah wasn''t sure that would help them now though.


    Sarah stayed silent as they moved, she too heard a few noises now, they were too low to distinguish though.


    While thinking, Eian interrupted her thoughts soon.


    "Incoming!....SHIT!" Eian alerted them.


    The first thing she saw was a squadron of three vampires, they were in the air watching.


    A small army of thirty animated skeletons was arrayed a good distance away and they approached along with a pair of stitched monstrosities, they were all staring blankly at them.


    Sarah grit her teeth, she didn''t want to engage in a big fight, but the option was taken when the skeletons charged, they were a good distance away but outrunning the tireless undead didn''t sound feasible, especially with flying vampires.


    Eian flew forward and began a massacre of skeletons, Alex helped him with magic and Sarah joined her attacks to the fray.


    Sarah could see that Jessica was staying slightly ahead of her, but when a skeleton strayed too close, she attacked it with her spear, killing it as efficiently as possible.


    The fighting raged on for less than a minute, but Sarah had a hard time keeping track of what was happening, she threw bolts of fire, healing and occasionally lightning all the while feeling her spirit deplete.


    Eian was having a bit of trouble, he was surrounded by monsters and he''d tired himself out spiritually already, he couldn''t use earth magic.


    Sarah frowned and looked up at the observing vampires overhead, an idea blossomed in her mind, in all the works of literature she''d read, many sources claimed if you killed the creator the minions would die.


    The question was if those minions were the creations of these vampires though, and if killing them would even work.


    She took a deep breath as she saw one of the chimeric monsters tackle Eian, they ganged on top of him, her heart quickened, she had to do something!


    "Eian!" Alex charged spraying magic recklessly, he wildly entered the fray.


    Many monsters left Eian after he was covered in monsters and charged in their direction, Sarah and Jessica slowly retreated backwards, Eian wasn''t going to die easily but the rest of them could.


    Sarah looked up the the vampires and looked for the most important, she powered a bolt of lighting in her hand, the one in the middle was fully armored while the other two wore simple clothing, but it was hard to discern in the darkness.


    The armor would probably even help her spell of electric-power inflict more damage, or so she hoped.


    Praying Sarah aimed, two bolts were now in her hands and she simultaneously cast them at the figure, luckily both hit dead on.


    "MASTER KALUSRA!" A vampire roared, the other hollered something incomprehensible.


    Sarah readied herself to fight for her life as the remaining skeletons raced to her.


    Half the monsters came apart, leaving only five charging at Sarah and her eyes widened.


    ''It worked!'' Smiling she slugged lightning-bolts at the remainder of skeletons shambling at her, she caught three before her focus shifted to another concern.


    Now attentive Sarah knew the two vampires would attack, Jessica easily downed the two skeletons remaining, Sarah had finished the other three after-all.


    They were descending at her as missiles, inhaling sharply Sarah sprayed wild-fire at them, her scream was swiftly added to theirs as one collided unto her full force, a mass of confused moving images spiraled into her vision.


    For a moment which spanned eternity the ground seemed to enjoy slapping her as they went rolling, she tried to use the burning vampire as a cushion, it wasn''t much of one and she was forced to take her blows.


    Sarah pushed off the flaming menace as their momentum slowed but she was still rolling on the ground in a tumble, her roll came to a slow halt, gingerly she felt the ground and scrambled to a knee before carefully standing.


    Her head and vision were unsteady, the world seemed to spin in one direction then reset in a vicious cycle, she tried blinking it away as she slowly found her balance.


    ''My clothes!'' Sarah looked at herself and quickly put out the few patches of flames on her ''shirt'', it was really just an improvised sack with ropes but it protected her dignity.


    Once the flames were out she felt the areas which would likely bruise, there were too many for her comfort, in the morning she''d have more black spots than a jaguar without Alex''s help.


    Her hips, head, arms, back and legs all felt more bruise than not, her head also felt like it was now home to a brand new bump.


    Looking about she spotted the group assemble, Eian looked in a bad way, he had multiple thin lacerations and blood was everywhere, still she thought he might just look worse than he was because of the blood.


    Alex himself was bleeding profusely and he was favoring one leg, limping slightly, both of those soon stopped as he neared and his gait straightened slowly, then eased off completely.


    Sarah envied them a little, both of them took more serious injuries than her, but her stupid body was spun-glass, fragile and flimsy, those abilities Adara promised better come soon and she hoped they were worth the hassle.

 Dream 75

    Eian felt like crap, that was the second time in the same night he''d been mauled by monsters, his spirit was thoroughly drained so his trump card was already spent.


    The stupid insects in the forest were also annoying, they keep buzzing and biting at his injuries, he swatted another one, wincing at the sting, he felt that area tender.


    While Eian was fully healed, Alex mentioned his spirit was low as well, that meant until he recovered there would be very little healing.


    A terrible omen as even now he could hear more noise, Eian tried to think of what they could do, this place was a death trap, he couldn''t even burrow underground as he was spiritually spent.


    "Let''s keep moving." Sarah looked ridiculous with a shoddy rough pack as clothing.


    Still Eian personally preferred her this way over when she was....exposed, till now he really hadn''t noticed how well-endowed Sarah had been.


    Shaking his head Eian took his head out of the gutter, it was harder than he''d thought it would be, how do you stop thinking about something on purpose? It seemed redundant, by trying not to think on it, your thinking on it.


    He''d seen and done everything you''d expect a young adult male his age would do, at least on a highly irregular basis...so Eian wasn''t by any measure chaste or ''pure'', but he wasn''t quite at to the level where he could be nonchalant about female nudity.


    Especially when it''s right in front of his face, it didn''t help he hadn''t exactly been ''around'' in a long time.


    A croaking sound broke him out of his thoughts and he snapped to attention, inwardly glad to not be focusing on his previous thoughts, he was glad people couldn''t read his thoughts....they''d think he was some sort of pervert.


    Wholly focusing his senses to the darkness Eian spotted nothing, he knew the monsters were everywhere but none of his senses were picking up anything apart from distant noise, so he relaxed a tiny bit.


    Alex was again in the lead and Eian had to admit, he rather enjoyed it, always wondering where to next, or if there was a monster just up ahead was stressful.


    "Do you really think the vampires are actively looking for us?" Alex asked Sarah.


    Eian sighed, Alex was a cool guy, but he asked the right questions to annoy Sarah, plus he''d already asked this one before.


    Sarah looked at him funny, Eian could imagine she likely rolled her eyes.


    "...Really Alex? I already told you, they have to be. We''re hours away from their city by now and they found us here, in the middle of no-where. They''re probably using magic to track us." Sarah shrugged.


    "I think so too. We killed a lot of their minions and quite a few of them, they''re probably pissed." Eian added his thoughts as well, before this became an argument or something.


    "...Roger." Alex sighed, he sounded depressed, Eian could understand he wasn''t looking forward to more fights.


    A good while later Eian heard the noise behind them pick up, frowning he craned his neck to look back.


    He couldn''t see anything, but that didn''t stop dread from slowly building up in his chest.


    Something was coming, his ears could pick up something, something he couldn''t quite place but his subconscious warned him it couldn''t be anything good.


    "Guys. Let''s pick up the pace. I think I hear something behind us." Eian felt a little stupid saying it out loud, but like his mom said, better safe than sorry.


    "I can''t run for long." Sarah grimaced.


    "Sarah I''ll focus on you first then. I''ll have to switch to you when you''re tired Jess-sica." Alex told her.


    Jessica remained silent, Eian ignored her, she wasn''t really his problem, she had Alex to worry for her.


    "Please just tell me, when you need it." Alex sighed.


    Jessica turned to look at him, her lips were a half-formed frown, but she gave him a single nod, much to Alex''s relief.


    They began jogging at a reasonable pace, Sarah was puffing and sweating a while later, even though Alex was healing her.


    The wind began to pick up, hampering Eian''s hearing, that wasn''t a good sign, they had to go faster.


    He could keep this up forever easily, even while carrying some the baggage, Alex was carrying a little bit too.


    "Pick up the pace!" Eian warned over the cutting wind.


    "Jess''ll fall behind if we do man!" Alex returned his warning with his own.


    "We have to! We can''t...*huff*...fight right now!" The wind almost blocked Sarah''s warning completely, her breathe was labored and voice weak.


    Eian looked at Jessica, she was sweating and breathing taxed already, what to do?


    A gurgling howl in the distance accelerated his blood in shock, dammit they were running out of time.


    A quick idea sprouted in his head, it wouldn''t be ideal, nor comfortable but he had to do something before another horde caught them.


    Fighting didn''t sound like an option with most of everyone spiritually low.


    "Alex switch to healing Jessica!" Eian ordered quickly.


    "Man what?" Alex turned his confused eyes at him.


    "WHAT! *huff* Eian you can''t mean-" Fear and shock entered Sarah''s face and eyes.


    "I''ll carry you!" Eian nodded to Sarah.


    Sarah''s face twisted in confusion, his words probably weren''t making sense to her.


    "Roger!" Alex quickly agreed, he quickly ran over to Jessica, whom seemed reluctant.


    Before she had a chance to protest, Eian ran over to Sarah.


    "Hey! Wait!" Sarah held up her arms.


    Eian quickly grabbed her, ditched an extra pack of heavy deer meat, and quickly flung Sarah over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.


    These actions reduced him to a single bag of miscellaneous items, luckily Alex had some more rations.


    Now finally, in what felt like a century, Eian felt a tad bit of strain as he picked up the pace, even as loaded down as he was, the other two on foot had trouble keeping up.


    Eian gunned his legs to turbo, a slow burn spread to his calves and it felt good, Eian grinned.


    "HEY!" Sarah''s voice sounded shaken.


    "Hey man! *huff* Not so fast!" Alex complained from behind Eian.


    "Heal yourself too stupid! Your body shouldn''t need as much as healing others!" Sarah belatedly yelled at Alex from Eian''s shoulder.


    A quick moment later Alex responded.


    "Roger! Thanks!" Alex sounded less winded now, Sarah had the grace to remain silent.


    Eian quickly noticed something he hadn''t taken into account and it left him distinctly uncomfortable, Sarah''s body was positioned in such a way he clearly felt her...assets rubbing against his shoulder, it was super weird.


    He was even tightly holding on to the back of her upper thighs, Eian mentally-chided himself, he had more important things to worry about than a little weird discomfort.


    Hopefully this would all be over soon and Sarah wouldn''t take him for some creepy pervert, then they could go back to normal stuff, like killing monsters...or hunting for food, among other less weird things in life.


    A good run later Sarah tapped Eian''s shoulder vigorously, he almost thought she wanted to come down.


    "MONSTERS! RUN FASTER!" Sarah''s voice was too close and Eian winced slightly, his ears didn''t like that.


    "I''m low! I''m soon out!" Worry and a tinge of desperation leaked into Alex''s voice.


    "KEEP TRYING! First sun''s coming up soon!" Sarah screamed loudly, eliciting another wince from Eian.


    Eian tried to figure out what she meant, then he clicked, the vampires were nocturnal, hopefully they''d stop chasing them during the day.


    For once in his life Eian hoped those stupid movies along with popular media were true, if not, they were in for the fight of their lives.


    He wasn''t sure how he''d fare without rock-armor, Sarah''s fire-support and Alex''s healing.


    They were tired, both spiritually and physically and to a degree even emotionally, this night had been one thrill ride after another.


    ''Shit! Hope we make it.'' Eian grit his teeth in frustration.


    Eian wasn''t worried for himself, he still had plenty on ''gas'' in his body, he felt he could run for several more hours straight.


    The problem lay with the others, Alex might last a good while more, but he wasn''t going to abandon Jessica, and Eian wasn''t going to abandon either of them.


    Howls and screeches intensified, the wind picked up and Eian heard Sarah swear.


    The flash of light illuminated behind him, Eian jolted at the brief flash, it almost caused him to miss a step and tumble.


    "Stay still! There are a few left!" Sarah chided him.


    "A few what?!" Eian couldn''t see behind him.


    "Vampires! I''ll shoot them down! I have a few shots left!" Sarah screamed.


    "FUCK!" Eian swore, he didn''t like this shit.


    Another flash erupted, finally Eian understood how those people in movies felt when they were running away from monsters.


    He had to say, being on this side of things wasn''t pleasant, he''d much rather be on a sofa watching it go down in tv and laughing.


    Eian mentally cursed those stupid monsters and swore he''d kill them as soon as his well recovered.


    Another flash passed.


    "Shit!" Sarah swore.


    "What?!" Eian was worried, he didn''t want more bad news.


    "Just keep going! I missed, I''ll get him this time!" Sarah responded.


    Another flash and another past, Eian wondered how many of those things were behind them.


    "Got them! Keep going!" Sarah sounded smug.


    Another minute passed and Eian''d eagle eyes could see the forest visibly clearing up slightly, Eian grinned, they were almost there!


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.The wind wasn''t slowing down yet though, Eian began to worry if the vampires could actually stay active during the day.


    Slowly more and more light began to trickle in and Eian took a deep breathe, was this it?


    Then the wind died down, Eian slowed down slightly due to the event.


    "Keep going! We have a few zombies on our trail! Lose them first!" Sarah ordered.


    "I''m out man!" Alex yelled.


    "Close! The vampires are gone! Jessica can make it!" Sarah said.


    "How many?!" Eian wondered if he could take the zombies.


    "Like thirty! Everything else was too slow to keep up. Let''s put some distance and then kill those things!" Sarah said.


    Eian complied, the night had visibly lightened.


    "We''re good!" Sarah yelled.


    Eian set her down, turned and saw a small horde of zombie a fifty meters away.


    He drew his axe, dropped his pack and charged, the other''s likely couldn''t fight much right now, they were probably exhausted so he had to buy some time.


    Soon he beheaded his first zombie with two hands on an axe he had superb control and could kill easily, a shield would be nice though.


    A few zombies past him but many focused on him, the second, third, forth and fifth zombies went down just as easily as his first, but then things got dicey.


    Many charged together and he was forced to barrel into two zombies, sending them to the floor on their backs.


    In a flurry of motion he pivoted and swung wildly behind him, the axe bit deep, but it only lopped off an arm and threw his target along with a friend to the floor.


    A stray tried to go for his legs and he gave it what it wanted, he gave it his foot straight in the face, he felt something crack or snap and the monster went down, Eian had no time to spare it attention.


    Eian felt something latch unto his back, he ignored it even as its slimey teeth tried to find purchase upon his neck.


    Swinging with precision Eian neatly sheared off the upper face of another zombie, something grabbed his left leg.


    Eian growled in frustration even as he swung at his next target, while easily dragging the two mangy creatures latched on him.


    With the back of his head Eian tried to head-butt the monster on his back, while shaking the undead on his left leg.


    Another set of hands gripped his second foot and Eian became enraged, another zombie grabbed his bicep and swiftly it received a taste of his elbow, some liquid spluttered as the zombie fell in a heap backwards, it would get up shortly.


    ''DAMN IT!'' Eian''s grit his teeth and gave a throaty growl.


    Then he heard the sweet sound of metal tearing into flesh.


    "You''re crazy man!" Alex shouted at him.


    "Hurry up and help me kill these fuckers!" Eian shook himself vigorously.


    The zombie on his back fell off, Eian felt his neck was bleeding slightly, nothing urgent, but still it would probably need attention soon, Eian tried to keep the surrounding zombies at by swinging at their faces.


    Teeth were slowly digging into both his legs and Eian tried to remedy that, he grabbed a zombies'' hair and pulled, it stubbornly tried to hold on but it''s teeth let go.


    Flinging it aside, Eian wildly caught an approaching zombie in the face, he caught it badly but he was just buying time.


    He shouldered into another two zombies stretching their hands at him, they went tumbling to the floor.


    Grabbing the last zombie on his leg, Eian pried it off his leg with gritted teeth, he threw it to the floor, he stomped its face in.


    Two zombies he''d shouldered got up and he split one''s skull and beheaded the next one.


    The crowd of monsters had visibly thinned, so when a zombie tried to latch itself to Eian''s foot he kicked it then slashed it face diagonally, the axe left a the head hanging by a thin strip of skin, it was down for good.


    Turning he saw a stray zombie heading for a busy Alex, he killed it embedding his axe in it''s spine, then as the creature struggled to move he lopped of the head.


    He quickly killed one more zombie and searched for another.


    His search ended, they were all dead.


    Alex, Jessica and Sarah were gathered around him, Eian smiled it looked like they''d all made it.


    "Alex, Eian needs some help." Sarah looked at Alex.


    "I''m out. Completely. Sorry man." Alex shook his head lightly, apologizing.


    "No worries, I''ll last a while more." Eian shrugged, wincing slightly when pain lanced through his neck.


    "Let me try. I have a little left." Sarah got up close.


    Quickly Sarah healed summons a sphere of life and sunk it to his neck, he grunted at the uneasy feel of flesh knitting itself.


    The next one Sarah summoned was visibly smaller, she placed it on his neck again.


    "There. I''m done too." Sarah eyed his injury with focus.


    Eian definitely felt better, his neck wasn''t top shape but it wasn''t leaking blood anymore and the pain had reduced to minor discomfort.


    Looking up Eian saw the first rays of daylight shine down on him, an easy smile slipped into his face, he''d never been so happy to see the light.


    "Alex, as soon as you recover somewhat, finish patching up Eian. I don''t want him to turn into a zombie or catch an infection." Sarah''s words killed Eian''s smile.


    "Roger. Sorry man." Alex sighed.


    Eian shrugged helplessly, what else could they do?


    "Let''s move and put some more distance, the other undead may be slower but I don''t what to tangle with the horde I saw. Come night I want to be ready." Sarah urged them onward.


    "What do you mean?" Alex looked at her with a frown.


    "They''ll likely be back in the night." Sarah sighed.


    For once Alex stayed quiet, Eian was surprised he wasn''t trying to deny it, Alex had the habit of being optimistic.


    They got moving, Eian was worried about the night, but for now it seemed the undead tide had left.


    "Fuck." Eian was watching his markings, he swore he still hadn''t gotten an upgrade.


    "What''s up man?" Alex turned to him.


    "No upgrade." Eian sighed.


    "Oh man. I got one though." Alex shrugged.


    "Same here." Sarah shrugged and quickly selected mind supposedly.


    Jessica remained silent and Eian briefly looked at her, she wasn''t saying anything so he guessed she didn''t have one.


    It''s not like he was keeping count after-all and she''d just gotten an upgrade last night.


    Quick math made Eian realized Sarah was now at the same overall as him, seventeen.


    She should have Body:1, Mind: 6, Spirit:10 with this recent one.


    Eian himself was at Body: 7,Mind: 4, Spirit: 6, to be honest he couldn''t wait to try out the new Qi powers of Body once he reached 8, but he really needed more spirit too, he ran out too fast as is.


    "Should I go? We''re running aren''t we?" Alex looked worried.


    "Just don''t take long. Ask your guide to hurry up." Sarah shrugged.


    Alex turned to Eian briefly.


    "Your call." Eian shrugged, they seemed safe enough and if anything he could carry Alex.


    "Roger. Thanks Sarah." Alex nodded at her.


    Alex quickly selected something, went into a daze, not a minute passed and he blinked awake.


    Eian raised his eyebrows, record time.


    "Good news." Alex seemed happy.


    "You can take us home?" Sarah snorted.


    "...No, but I can split my life link into parts now. Apparently each split makes it weaker, but as I grow stronger the link also gets better." Alex''s smile was genuine.


    Eian scratched his head, parts?


    Did he mean he could link more people?


    "That means you can heal us both as we run." Sarah pointed at Jessica, then herself.


    "Yeah, well, I could actually link all three of you, but it would be pretty weak right now. So two''s best for now." Alex''s smile wasn''t fazed.


    "That is good news." Sarah smiled, Eian''s surprise increased, Sarah had been grumpy for a while now.


    Thinking back on it Eian wished Alex actually had that a while back, it would certainly have made the run less awkward.


    "Let''s go though. We have to think of something before nightfall." Sarah''s hid her mirth and got to business.


    "Roger that." Alex looked to be in high spirits, no pun intended.


    Eian and the rest kept going.


    *****


    They were eating by a stream, deer again, Eian was getting sick of meat, but his rumbling belly didn''t have a menu luxury.


    They had found this spot a few hours after their escape, had a quick meal and they were now ready to plan.


    Eian was feeling much better, Alex had already patched him up.


    "Alright, I think I have an idea." Sarah nodded.


    ''So nothing new.'' Eian rather appreciated how she gave logical ideas, they might not be here without her.


    "Okay?" Alex looked at her.


    "Right, as Eian was carrying me, I saw a few vampires in the back. The important one that looked like the leader was there." Sarah informed them, and Eian thought her voice might have held a sliver of fear.


    That got everyone''s attention, even Jessica''s.


    "Did you kill it?" Eian hoped she did.


    "No, it was the only one that didn''t get close enough. It was just watching, anyways listen I think it might have been directing the undead on the ground." Sarah reasoned.


    "So it''ll be back." Alex added.


    "Likely." Sarah nodded at him.


    Sarah gave them a brief time to contemplate that before continuing.


    "I think we should set a trap for it." Sarah proposed.


    "Trap? It''s not a wild animal. I think I heard the last one say something." Alex said, he really should give her more time to explain Eian thought.


    "Not that kind of trap. I mean an ambush." Sarah rolled her eyes at him.


    "How will that work? It''s in the air." Alex didn''t look like he was challenging her idea to Eian, but he knew Sarah didn''t like people trying to poke holes in her logic.


    "Will you just listen? Eian can lead the horde away from the boss." Sarah said.


    "What!?" Eian turned to look at her, slightly alarmed.


    "What he said: What?" Alex briefly looked at him, before turning back to Sarah.


    "I''ve seen it stay well away from us both times, it seems like he controls most of the monsters. I killed a creator last time and it''s creations died shortly. By killing this one, I think it''s our best bet to be rid of this problem." Sarah looked completely serious.


    Eian took some time to digest that, it made sense....in a weird way, but he didn''t like the idea of being bait.


    Alex seemed thoughtful, or worried, but he didn''t say anything.


    "Where would I take the monsters? How would I not get lost? How will I find you guys again?" Eian asked the three most important questions he could think of.


    "Easy, we plan it all ahead, we scout around and find the prefect location for the ambush, then we arrange a predetermined location to meet up again after everything is said and done. Maybe even dig a hidden pit or something for you to slow the undead, if everything works out they''ll all die after the creator is dead. If any stay alive you ditch them, you''re the fastest Eian, I''ve seen you run and those things can''t hope to catch you." Sarah explained.


    "Seems a bit dangerous for Eian." Alex put in.


    "I agree, but as long as it''s alive, we''re all in danger. Jessica and I can''t keep up running with you two forever and who knows what we can run into accidentally in this murderous forest." Sarah shrugged.


    "...Alright I''ll do it." Eian nodded, he was pretty confident in his running skills.


    "Excellent. Thanks for everything Eian." Sarah gave him a grateful smile.


    "Sure, no problem." Eian nodded.


    "Well if you have no problem man, I guess I can''t argue. Care to explain some more details Sarah?" Alex sighed.


    "Sure." Sarah seemed happier than Eian had seen her in...ever, did she like the challenge or the thrill?


    The planning went ahead, Jessica was quietly watching them, Eian mostly listened as Sarah listed her ideas and Alex questioned those ideas.


    Soon Sarah brought up another topic.


    "I know a way to turn fire energy into another type, it might work for you all as well. It might be worth-while to explain it to you all." Sarah said.


    That certainly got Eian''s attention and judging by the other''s looks theirs as well.


    "It would help if Alex and I were tired, you two could still heal yourselves or us." Sarah pointed to Eian and Jessica.


    "Oh we could all use fire or earth?" Alex raised a brow.


    "Yes, but it''s hard to focus and use it in battle." Sarah shrugged.


    Eian didn''t care, he knew it would have helped tremendously when he was separated from the group.


    Sarah held up a hand.


    "Before we start, do any of you have something similar or something anyone else can use? The more we know and have at our disposal the higher our fighting chance at survival." Sarah said.


    Everyone went silent.


    "I only know some wooden images for healing spells. Do those count?" Alex asked.


    "Can you explain what you mean?" Sarah quirked an eyebrow.


    Alex explained in detail about a few images his guide taught.


    Sarah experimented and tried them, she shook her head and sighed.


    "No. It doesn''t look like it Alex, those must be natural for you, thanks for trying though." Sarah shrugged.


    "...Roger. Sorry." Alex looked down.


    "I might have something that might count, but I don''t think it''ll help you guys until your stronger." Eian said.


    "Stronger?" Sarah turned to him.


    "Yeah, my guide called it empower. He said it puts a strain on my channels. He said it''s why my spirit makes my body stronger, otherwise it would hurt my channels when using it." Eian shrugged.


    "...Channels, so that must mean I''d need to be stronger physically to use it?" Sarah easily deduced what he was talking about, the context was all there from his words and Adara''s lessons.


    "Yeah." Eian shrugged.


    "Well. Just tell us about it, maybe Alex can use it after some time and I can use it in the future." Sarah nodded.


    Jessica didn''t add anything so Eian explained empower and soon Sarah began teaching her lessons on energy conversion.


    Eian and Alex tried and failed constantly, it was to be expected, Sarah said she had trouble learning and her mind was stronger than both of theirs.


    Jessica didn''t try, she did pay vivid attention when they were both explaining though.


    ******


    "That''s enough. We have to start scouting and then go through scenarios in case something goes wrong." Sarah said.


    "Roger. Let''s start." Alex stood up.


    Eian agreed he was sick and tired of constant failure by now, they soon begun their search and would soon plan things once they found somewhere adequate.


    ******


    Several hours later Eian stood alone, next to him was an unlit bond-fire atop a small hill by a large chest-deep stream, the first sun had just gone down.


    He held a blazing torch in his hand and threw it into the center, where the kindling awaited, he was glad it hadn''t rained as Sarah had another scenario ready in-case that happened, it would be much more embarrassing.


    Soon the blazing bonfire was up and burning making Eian develop a sheen of sweat, the second sun descended and Eian felt slightly nervous but he focused they all had their parts to play.


    It was now or never.

 Dream 76

    Sarah hid behind a tree, even from here she could see the smoke and light emitting from Eian''s bonfire.


    She kept an eye out for monsters across the deep stream, that was the direction the undead horde should approach from.


    Still paranoia had her watch behind herself as well, off about fifty yards she could see Alex keeping a similar look out and supposedly Jessica was even farther away but closer to Eian.


    They were to relay information back to her, whom was supposed to attack the leader of the horde, Alex had her and Jessica life-linked meaning she could just run if things went south.


    Another role of those two was to assist her in combat, well Alex at least as his magic was the most potent against this type of enemy, Jessica''s magic would not do anything in this scenario but she could still fight stray undead that remained.


    She saw the first undead monster emerge from the darkness, a skeleton by the looks of it, inwardly she smiled when it gravitated towards the light of the bonfire.


    Soon more emerged, they followed the light in a sloppy mess of a formation, mindless creatures.


    Sarah caught her first far off look of the leader, it was flying so it seemed to be a vampire, she couldn''t see much detail but strangely it seemed to be alone in the air.


    By now the first skeleton was out of her sight, but likely it was wading across the stream towards Eian, the incline should give it trouble to traverse, buying more time.


    Alex gave a single thumbs up, relaying everything was going according to plan, Sarah felt the wait would kill her.


    Zombies, skeletons, stitched animal monstrosities, undead wolves, undead bears and even what she thought were those four armed gorillas passed her sight.


    In hindsight Sarah was glad to have chosen this ambush tactic, fighting all those monsters till daybreak seemed a good way to get themselves killed.


    By now she had lost count of the monsters and she briefly wondered how Eian was faring, were those things following him by now?


    Turning she saw Alex still have a thumbs up on one hand, so everything should be fine, they''d taken this into consideration already, she just hoped everyone did their part.


    Quickly Sarah took a peek behind her, nothing.


    She focused on the horde, the last stragglers were now following along and the leader had and was edging closer for her clear shot, it was watching from the far rear end of the procession.


    Sarah''s heart began to accelerate, it was soon time, she just hoped it waited nearby long enough.


    Her breathing came in sharp breathes as she turned to look at Alex, he now held an open palm on one hand relating to her that it was soon time, but to wait for the ideal opportunity.


    Soon Alex lifted both thumbs up then waved his hands about frantically, Sarah took a deep breathe, it was time.


    Immediately Sarah summoned her avatar of flame, a spherical ball of writhing flames emerged from her hands, at first it bared a startling resemblance to a fire-ball, but soon it grew a torso, arms, legs, and crude features which suggested a woman.


    Quickly Sarah also summoned two lightning bolts, she wanted to be extra sure she got it good, focusing she willed the avatar to summoned more bolts.


    Together, she and her avatar fired four bolts of lighting at the figure, all four hit, Sarah whooped.


    Immediately she noticed a problem, it was still in the air, she hadn''t seen what happened.


    Sarah summoned more bolts, the creature had definitely taken notice of her now though, it flew towards her and she shot bolts of lightning at it.


    This time she clearly saw what happened, as a bolt neared it collided with an invisible layer of something, it flashed blue briefly for each bolt and vanished.


    ''Shit! Magic!'' Sarah swore.


    The visage of the vampire startled her a second, it was skeletal, it''s plated armor was the color of an endless abyss completed by spikes.


    Sarah has no idea how it could fly with that armor and it''s dried up wings, but that didn''t matter right now.


    Hoping her attacks could eventually pierce she shot another bolt, along with her avatar, both attacks splashed uselessly against the creature''s invisible shield.


    Near panic Sarah cut her losses and turned to her trump card.


    ''Isemi!'' Sarah called up through her connection even as she took cover behind a tree.


    ''Yes?'' Isemi answered, Sarah suppressed her conflicting emotions.


    ''I need help!'' Sarah''s heart was speeding up.


    ''What kind?'' Isemi question with a calm tone.


    ''Combat! I need help fighting something!'' Sarah articulated as she ordered her avatar to keep attacking.


    ''Excellent! I''ll start charging! Remember, like last time, don''t resist me.'' Isemi''s joy bled through the link, Sarah felt a bit relieved at the thought.


    Her arms and legs relaxed, and once more Sarah felt the strange feel of her body as it lost all it''s excess movements.


    Every step felt perfect, every swing of her pelvis felt predetermined and her mind sharpened as the world gained surreal detail, there behind her consciousness she felt Isemi''s comforting presence.


    Turning Sarah braced herself.


    ''Good. Let''s start.'' Isemi''s smirk easily passed through their link.


    The armored-skeletal-vampire flapped it''s and within it''s arms two bolts of darkness manifested.


    The attacks shot forward, but Sarah threw herself sideways, rolling perfectly and she was up and moving.


    ''Focus on fueling spells. I''ll keep you moving out of danger.'' Isemi voiced.


    Sarah and her avatar shot lightning attacks at the monster, they splashed uselessly on it''s shield even as the monster countered with it''s own spells.


    Frustrated, Sarah felt her body dodge both the monsters attacks by a hairs breathe, still she felt Isemi was in complete control and that tiny space was worlds apart in her thoughts.


    ''What is that thing?'' Sarah asked Isemi, that invisble barrier was annoying.


    ''Hmm? You mean the energy shield?'' Isemi asked.


    ''How do I break it?'' Sarah asked.


    ''You either hit it with more power than it can stop, or you deplete the lich''s spiritual energy reserves till it can''t support the protection.'' Isemi''s mental shrug was clear.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ''Lich?'' Sara asked.


    ''You''re full of questions aren''t you? Yes. A lich, as in an undead mage, maybe I should start charging per question.'' Isemi smirked.


    Sarah kept raining attacks on the lich, while Isemi controlled her body to dodge all it''s attacks with ease.


    Frustrated Sarah wondered where Alex and Jessica were, they were supposed to help her, unfortunately she had no time to spare.


    The lich summoned attacks faster than her, Isemi expertly dodged it''s attacks but cold-dread told her it would only take one and she''d die.


    She was also on a timer.


    ''You''re weaker than a newborn.'' Isemi complained.


    ''Shut up and help me! What can kill that thing?'' Sarah''s most recent attack was useless.


    ''Your offensive power''s too low, and it look''s like the lich''s reserves are far larger than your''s.'' Isemi lectured.


    ''You''re not helping!'' Sarah winced as Isemi dodged another bolt by an inch with her body.


    ''...No need to be rude...I understand you''re afraid, but lashing out at me won''t help.'' Isemi sounded a bit miffed.


    Momentarily Sarah mentally stiffened, if Isemi ditched her here she''d die, no two ways about it.


    ''I''m sorry! Please, I don''t want to die!'' Sarah gushed out those words.


    ''Good. Apology accepted. Now, you can borrow some more energy from me, your credits not done just yet, keep trying to exhaust it''s shield and don''t miss.'' Isemi spoke clearly.


    ''What if I run out!?'' Sarah wondered how much debt she was stacking up here and how much credit she had left.


    ''...Well, I could grant you a runic enhancement to power-up your spells, but I don''t think it''ll be strong enough to push past the barrier. This thing seems to have far passed the elite threshold.'' Isemi shrugged.


    ''Is there anything else?'' Sarah''s hopes dwindled, this monster didn''t look worse for wear.


    ''...Not without a ritual, that takes time. Let''s just hope it''s energy depletes by the time your credit is near.'' Isemi responded.


    ''What if it''s not? Can''t you lend me more? I can''t pay you if I die.'' Sarah was getting desperate.


    ''I''m sorry I can''t lend you more than we agreed on initially. If I broke my contract, I''d be a pariah to the rest of my kind eternally. I won''t do that for you, I''m sorry.'' Isemi''s solemn words brought her a sense of dread.


    Sarah prayed it would be enough even as she cast more lightning at the lich.


    *****


    Alex was killing skeletons, Jessica was next to him, they were killing them together, Alex was using life bolts, he was trying to keep themselves from being overwhelmed.


    Eian had long vanished and was taking most the horde with him, but as soon as Sarah had begun her attack some of the monsters at the end of the horde doubled back and were heading to Sarah''s direction.


    He knew Jessica couldn''t handle the amount by herself and together they were keeping the horde away from Sarah while she killed what she called the creator.


    Alex wondered what was taking Sarah so long to kill one vampire, she''d killed plenty before.


    He could feel she was alive through his life-link, so she was still fighting.


    Finally they''d killed the last of the skeletons and Alex turned to try to catch sight of Sarah, they were still too far.


    The forest blocked whatever Sarah was doing, but Alex saw faint flashes of light, so she had to be fighting.


    ''Are there more monsters? Does she need help?'' Alex processed that quickly


    "Let''s go." Alex firmly motioned to Jessica, they should go help Sarah.


    "...." Jessica stayed silent but followed him at a distance.


    It still felt weird being around Jessica, she quietly observed everything and only responded to things related to survival with minimal words or gestures.


    Putting all thoughts of that behind him he rushed over to Sarah''s location, it took only a second to realize something was wrong.


    Sarah was raining bolt after bolt upon an armored skeleton with wings, that wasn''t what was wrong, the spells were stopped short by an unknown force.


    The monster itself kept raining blows at Sarah, but her body moved like water, she danced around every attack and returned her own.


    In all it seemed to be a stalemate, Alex wondered what he should do.


    On one hand it was obvious she needed help, on the other he wondered what he could do to help.


    Distract it maybe, or perhaps his magic worked better on that monster.


    "Stay here." Alex didn''t wait for Jessica, she wouldn''t reply anyways, the undead monster was in the air, and so she couldn''t hurt it either way.


    Running he prepared bolts of life as he neared, aiming he threw both at the target, only one splashed ineffectively against it''s shield, the other went off-course.


    Cursing Alex readied more as he opened his mouth to ask Sarah about her plan, she always had one.


    The undead focused on Alex, tossing two bolts at him, eyes widened Alex threw himself to the floor and scrambled away wildly to evade.


    Alex noted a flash which proved Sarah was still attacking, turning he prepared a bolt of energy and threw it at the monster.


    "Keep attacking it!" Sarah screamed.


    Alex focused on doing just that, he threw two more bolts which luckily actually impacted on the shield.


    Unluckily the shield wasn''t going down and Sarah had stopped raining bolts of energy, Alex''s heart froze, was she out?


    Something splashed and wormed into his shoulder, digging deeper into his flesh.


    "ACK!''" Alex flailed backwards, it burned like the sun.


    The monster wholly focused on Alex now, Alex focused summoning another life bolt through the pain of a burning sun.


    Throwing it at the monster Alex saw it spash feeling helpless, it''s return fire was going to kill him.


    Alex ran to the right, hoping it would follow him and that it''s attacks would miss.


    A bolt of darkness breezed past him, and another caught his back, his weapon had fallen from his grasp.


    "GAH!" Alex grit his teeth, fighting back tears.


    Realization hit Alex a moment later, he was on the floor, squirming he rolled randomly to the right, trying to form a bolt between his fingers.


    An instant later Alex heard two earthy thumps vibrate the dirt, his breathing was labored.


    Alex focused on keeping an eye open through his pain, he was sweating bullets and a fever was running rampant on his body, burning and freezing.


    The monster was just up ahead and Alex threw his bolt at it, a pop sounded out, then another like glass breaking.


    Alex felt one more hit catch his stomach, now he just felt cold, soon it''s freezing chill ran it''s course leaving him wholly numb.


    Without pain Alex quickly summoned another bolt of energy and threw it at the monster, it was still in the air.


    It attempted to dodge, but his bolt caught it''s wing, it spun out of control and Alex heard a thud a few steps away.


    Shivering Alex got to his knees, he had to make sure it died, he tried to stand but found he could only crawl on the ground.


    Half dragging himself he saw the monster on it''s feet, Alex summoned another bolt as the monster ran at him.


    He threw it forward even as the creature collided on him.


    All he heard was hissing and a gauntlet was choking him, it was strangling him.


    Alex tried to summon another bolt, it failed as the creature tightened its grip.


    Closing his eyes Alex ran his mind through what he could do, he healed himself desperately as things got harder.


    Fear, he felt it vivid and bold, desperate he let both half links he had on Sarah and Jessica break.


    Focusing what he could he linked this strange creature, it resisted, but Alex pushed.


    He tried to imagine the link as a chain wrapped around the skeleton, and then proceeded to feed it energy.


    With a great Hiss, the monster let go.


    Finally Alex could breathe, he took a lungful of wonderful air.


    Still the chill was relentless, he tried to fighting it off, soon he got sleepy.


    ''What was I doing again?'' Alex blinked, the world didn''t make sense.


    He needed to take a quick rest, he was so tired.


    When was the last time he''d slept?


    He closed his eyes and took a nap, it felt easy, relaxing even.

 Dream 77

    Blinking she wondered why her face was wet, shakily she brushed the water away.


    He was a liar...he...he lied about everything...no, why, was it raining?


    Why was it so quiet? Why were they here? Why. Why. Why.


    Someone was yelling at her, Sarah? What did she want?


    ''Well shit. Tough luck lover-boy. Least he got some before he died, right?'' HE dared speak NOW.


    "SHUT UP!" Jessica screamed.


    It was quiet again, Jessica blinked and realized Sarah was staring at her.


    Did she notice something? If they knew he spoke to her, they''d ask questions. Right?


    Why didn''t she care right now? She should be afraid, scared, confused, sad~.


    ''WEAK.'' HE added.


    "JUST SHUT UP!" Jessica yelled.


    Soft words brought her to reality, so low they were merely a whisper.


    "....he''s...he''s dead." Sarah croaked out.


    "NO!" Jessica screamed at her, why was she screaming?


    "..." Sarah stared off into space.


    Sarah began muttering under her breathe, flailing her arms and walking in circles, belatedly Jess realized there was something wrong with that.


    What happened? Why was he sleeping? Sleep. That word, they hadn''t slept since they got here. Why was he sleeping?


    "JUST A BIT! PLEASE!" Sarah yelled at no-one.


    Jessica looked around, there was a dried out and broken carcass, so..nothing new, those things were more and more common to her as she lived in this world.


    The stench of the dead littered the ground, she''d even put some there, broken down carcasses moving, that was unnatural, so she fixed them...with her spear, she remember that.


    What happened? Her thoughts were unorganized, she wasn''t focusing and here, that was dangerous, she had to focus.


    ''Yeah, lover-boy''s dead, focus on that.'' He spoke again.


    "....no." Jessica stumbled backwards, landing flat on her backside.


    ''YES!'' HE SPOKE.


    "NO!" Jessica pulled at her hair.


    ''Oh, YES! Here it comes!'' He sounded as if he was seeing the favorite part of a hit-show.


    "NO! He can''t die!" A hollow void stabbed at her gut as reality settled upon her.


    Black splotches marked decaying skin, several blackened veins were visible, notably in the neck area, but they spread throughout what she could see.


    His eyes were closed, he looked unpained, almost happy, which contrasted with the morbid image, it fit Alex was always smiling and trying to be optimistic.


    His chest didn''t contract for air and it hadn''t for quite some time, there was no denying he was dead.


    ''Real smooth. Try crying over his rotting corpse. Oh, don''t forget to wail helplessly till your hoarse.'' He suggested.


    "SHUT UP!" The taunting was getting to her, Jessica wiped her eyes.


    "You shut up! I''m not talking to you! At least I''m doing something you bitch!" Sarah screamed at her.


    "I''m not talking to you either!" Spittle flew out her mouth as she gashed her teeth at Sarah.


    "Jessica, Shut up!" Sarah went back to her quiet muttering and erratic flailing.


    A thought blossomed in her head, Jessica felt her hollow void fill with rage.


    "This is all your fault!" Jessica tackled Sarah to the ground.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Sarah went stumbling to the floor, she landed on a knee and Jessica pressed forward.


    "The fuck is wrong with you!" Sarah scrambled backwards, her brief look of surprised fear turned to anger.


    "This was all your idea!" Jessica yelled.


    "...."Sarah opened her mouth to defend herself, but her tongue froze.


    "He came back here for you! He''s dead because of you!" Jessica jabbed her finger at Sarah aggressively.


    Sarah sat there fear, guilt, confusion, and shock flitted through her expressions in a flash, she looked on the verge of tears.


    "Try healing him!" Sarah yelled.


    "What?" Jessica blinked, confused at the sudden attitude change.


    "You''re mind is strong! Use the conversion method! Maybe you can bring him back!" Desperate remorse radiated from Sarah.


    "I...I DON''T KNOW HOW! YOU TRY! BRING HIM BACK!" Jessica kicked at Sarah''s thigh, whom scrambled backwards.


    "FOR FUCKS SAKE, JUST TRY!" Sarah''s eyes watered and she rubbed her thigh.


    With Sarah''s guidance and desperation, she managed to convert her energy to water after half an hour, apparently she couldn''t convert death energy directly to life. She tried, and tried, and again, failing each time for an hour, it was futile she almost gave up.


    An hour later she managed to turn it to life, the energy pricked inside, a sort of annoying itch, she ignored it in favor of the relief which flooded her for but an instant.


    ''Too late, you know it.'' His smug voice radiated contempt.


    Chest tightening she poured the energy unto ''the body'' desperate for a miracle.


    The energy seeped into the body and the dark spots receded only slightly, as soon as she stopped the black rot returned.


    He lay there stiffly, a relaxed smile on his face, Jessica tried again, sweating and straining her spirit until she could go on no more.


    He was gone, there was nothing she could do, hysterically she felt her tears streaming down her eyes.


    Sarah had gone quiet, once her spirit recovered somewhat she tried healing Alex too and it had failed also.


    Then the first tear on Sarah broke free and an slow stream trickled down her face, she sat down.


    ''Whelp, there goes that. Show over?'' He kept speaking this whole time, it drove her insane.


    His voice reminded her of something, he had skeletons serving him, could he bring back Alex with death magic?


    Hope sprung up into her heart, fear instantly stabbed her again, that might work but...but she''d have to go back to him, she stared at the glowing tattoo''s on her arm.


    Slowly she moved her index finger until it hovered over the blue word: spirit.


    ''Scream!'' He laughed.


    Time froze.


    *****


    Tears streamed down her eyes, on the left she cried normal watery tears, the other cried blood.


    She shuddered against two sets skeletal arms, she choked as she tried to scream, the maniac was chuckling as though this was his favorite game.


    In his hand he held mushy remains.


    "Well. Time to move on, lots to do." He smiled.


    He flicked the remains of her ruined eye and stretched his hand forward to the next one.


    She couldn''t breathe, trapped within the confines of her mind, she sobbed, begged and wailed helplessly.


    Pain. Endless and unabated.


    ****


    She froze, she couldn''t do that...not again...there was no guarantee he could help bring back Alex after-all, she''d suffer for nothing, he would probably not even teach her just to make things worse, then he''d torture her again..


    In a dark corner of her mind, a piece of her was on it''s last legs and withering, she knew she was making excuses, but she couldn''t do it...mutilation was too high a price.


    Once she admitted it to herself the revolting truth sat there judging her, trembling she pictured the maniac''s smile as he laughed at her.


    She clutched her hands to her chest and sobbed helplessly.


    ''I can''t, I can''t! I can''t do this! I''m sorry! I''m sorry! SORRYSORRYSORRY!'' She screamed in her head as she cried.


    ''Course not. This is you we''re talking about.'' He mocked her, deep inside she knew he was right and she sobbed harder.


    "...He deserves to be buried, or else animals might...." Sarah trailed off, voice raw and thick with emotion.


    Jessica sobbed to herself.


    ''This can''t be happening, can''t, can''t, can''t.'' Her mind in a loop, Jessica stared at Alex.


    ''Get over it already.'' He sounded bored again.


    "Eian''ll want to say good bye also. We should find him." Sarah sniffed as she cleaned her face, her eyes had dried somewhat.


    "...I...I''m not leaving him." The words spilled out without her control.


    "...I''ve recovered a bit, we can get Eian and he can bury him." Sarah reasoned.


    Absently Jessica looked at Alex, an image of a wolf or bear eating Alex spilled into her mind.


    He didn''t deserve that, she couldn''t let him be taken as a snack for a wild animal.


    A brief moment of clarity emerged, for once it wasn''t the maniac whom spoke to her.


    ''First rule of business: Always keep your word.'' Her father''s voice resonated within her.


    Apprehensive, she closed her eyes and quickly selected spirit, before she could think on it much further.


    The ambient slowly changed, she could feel it happening, she couldn''t breathe for fear.


    *****


    She kept her eyes firmly shut.


    "Back so soon? I''d hoped you''d stay away." He spoke now, more vivid and frightening than ever.


    She could not speak, the words didn''t come out, though no magic held her down this time.


    Strangely the psychopath sounded mildly intrigued.


    "Interesting, not talking? How rude. Not many come back a second time you know? I wonder why? Power maybe?" His voice was more animated.


    "What?" Jessica blurted then stared at him, eyes wide.


    He knew Alex was dead, what was he talking about?

 Dream 78

    The ground was rumbling, it was constantly occurring now, Sarah was used to it and ignored this tremor.


    Sarah stared at the night, shivers ran up her spine as visibility dipped, the moon and stars faded and her straining eyes could see no further than two yards, even that proved a challenge.


    Sarah held herself to protect against the claustrophobic feel of the night, she felt she''d be crushed by the darkness.


    Jessica had gone into an upgrade quiet some time ago, Sarah didn''t care, she tried to look at Alex, guilt racked her, Jessica was right it was her plan that got Alex killed.


    In retrospect, they should have thinned the numbers of the horde with traps and then they could have all attacked the leader together, it had never engaged them directly before and with Eian there to defend them the fight would have gone much better.


    How, she didn''t know, but the possibilty knawed at her, she got Alex killed, he trusted her judgement, they trusted her judgement and she overestimated herself, the feeling stung.


    She was the one whom should have died for her mistake, the thought poured burning tar into midsection, she rubbed her eyes.


    She sat down next to Alex, his sword was right there.


    An arrow lodged itself into her breast, Sarah dropped mouth open breathing heavily, words failed her.


    Desperate Sarah grabbed Alex sword, trying to make out the dark blurry shapes about, she could hear arrows fly about.


    A desperate swing at shadows rewarded her a hiss, stabbing crazily at the middle she felt the metal sink it''s thick resistant flesh, something fell taking the weapon out of her hands.


    She was blind, desperate and hurt, Sarah pulled out her long-forgotten short sword, she didn''t have anything else.


    Jaws clamped down on her leg, pulling upwards the monster threw her to the floor, her head struck the floor, dazed her body was dragged forward.


    Agony flared up on her leg, stabbing at the general direction of the teeth, the jaws let go and her shredded foot brought her to tears.


    Stabbing again she felt it dig deep, something stabbed her shoulder, she choked on a scream, flopping she pulled out her sword and swung at the spear wielder, a hiss followed shortly by the spear retracting.


    Sarah closed her eyes and ignited what little power she had remaining, bright light flared, opening her eyes she caught sight of the last reptile people recoiling backwards, Jessica was also there attacking an archer.


    Taking initiative and hopping forward on an agonizing step Sarah stabbed one in the general direction of it''s neck neck, she was out of practice but it worked, it crumbled into a gurgling heap.


    Blinded, the rest of their attackers were easily dealt with.


    Sarah heard something in the distance and froze.


    "Jessica, please help me walk. We can''t stay here." Sarah''s palms got sweaty.


    "...alex." Jessica held a shiver in her voice, as if in pain.


    "We''ll come back. As soon as we find Eian, we''re not ready for a fight." Sarah trembled as her leg flared up in pain.


    Something was running towards them, Jessica stabbed at darkness, a shriek was heard followed by a dull thud.


    Now Sarah made out a raptor attack her, she stabbed it''s face, it retreated and Jessica speared it''s back.


    Shrieking it went down and they stabbed it.


    "Let''s go!" Sarah let her fear leak into her voice.


    Reluctantly Jessica grabbed her and helped her hobble away.


    It took a while for Sarah to recognize where they were going, it was the wrong direction, Eian was down the other way, guided by the stream.


    Stopping and turning they both saw something, a shadow shaped as a man, it flowed over the ground forward.


    "...I''m sorry." Jessica mumbled lowly.


    "What!?" Sarah spooked, fear spiked.


    Jessica turned and bolted randomly, Sarah''s eyes widened, she went cold.


    Turning she saw the figure stride forward, it was so dark she thought it might even be her imagination, she almost prayed it was as her heart thundered.


    Sarah didn''t bother running she shakily held her sword out in-front, these shadow people were immune to physical attacks.


    Once it was within two yard Sarah realized it was wearing a cloak.


    "Hello young lady, it''s dangerous out here." The cloaked man said confidently.


    A second later he pointed at her injury.


    "That must hurt too. Do you need some help?" The cloaked figure asked.


    The earth begun shaking again.


    ******


    A shitload of things were just wrong, steadying himself by half-kneeling and bracing against a tree, Eian tried to ride out the tremors of the earth.


    The earth groaned, a crack materialized a few paces away, slow at first it quickly rent the ground forming a fissure, jolting he scrambled away from the small opening.


    Heart racing Eian clearly felt when this particular tremor eased, yet Eian felt it more would follow shortly, those things were getting more and more common.


    ''What''s happening? Why is it so dark?'' Eian walked over to the crack, it was no more than a foot in width yet it branched off.


    Wiping sweat from his brow Eian felt distinctly uncomfortable as his perspiration dried leaving him greasy, swatting a bothersome insect her tried to ignore the fissure and his discomfort by looking upwards, things were getting really weird now.


    The night sky had slowly turnt pitch black, the sinister red-undertone had be usurped by endless void, the stars and moon faded into the darkness and light made itself scarce.


    Luckily Eian knew all his senses were abnormal now, he couldn''t see farther than ten yards in any direction, but it was better than being blind, his ears heard every sway of the wind and his feet were ready for another round of shaking.


    ''Where are they? Did something go wrong?'' A sense of foreboding sprung up on him, as far as Eian knew, the group should have marshaled at this spot over an hour ago.


    Every passing second stretched on, an eternal tormentous trial of patience clawed at him.


    Not knowing what to do Eian chewed his dirty nails, they''d grown and were uncomfortable, spitting those out helped ease the passage of time.


    The waiting, pacing and growing anxiety within every second by second tested him, finally he stopped.


    ''Shit! I hate this fucking place. It''s too quiet... Are they okay?'' Eian growled as he breathed out irritably, this wait was killing him.


    Breathing out he saw a brief glimpse of fog on his breath, shivering, goose-bumps manifested upon his back as the chill of the night left his chestplate frozen, his torn pants and mistreated shoes were the only clothes he had left.


    He kept glancing everywhere despite getting no warnings of imminent attack, yeah he was paranoid alright but with all the things that felt off he didn''t trust what could come out and bite, being alone in darkness for prolonged periods of time wasn''t anything new, but that didn''t mean he enjoyed it.


    Growling at the dark he made a choice, feeling only slightly guilty he ignored Ul''s teachings and selected body again.


    He couldn''t afford to go take be out of it for even a second, not when something could pop out and kill him.


    He needed every possible advantage, with the tremors blocking off the ability to bury himself and no one to watch his back, he felt he was backed into a corner, plus he could always just re-correct this by selecting spirit twice later.


    A familiar surge of adrenaline surged, strangely it didn''t come from his heart, it originated around his center of gravity, Eian shook his head and ignored the strangeness he had things to do.


    Sweat began to pour and his blood warmed him as he begun to jog his way back, gladdened for the exercise he fell into rhythm as time flew and the surrounding foliage blurred.


    Several thumps alerted Eian to the upcoming danger, a mass of scales accompanied by a piercing-shriek barreled out of the darkness.


    Tossing himself sideways he evaded a spear aimed at his face, rolling he caught himself as he heard arrows breeze past, one bounced off his chest-plate while he winced as another sunk less-than-half-an-inch into his calf before dislodging itself by his run.


    Coming up he spotted a mass of several reptile people approach notching, without thought he sprint behind the closest tree, thumps were on his trail, once behind cover he spun, dodged then chopped at the mount''s leg, rider and mount went tumbling, ending them with precision chops was as simple as taking candy from a two month baby.


    Normally he''d kill all these geko-freaks but worry for the others drove him to sprint away, tactical retreat, he had priorities after-all, a few arrows breezed about randomly.


    Following the sound of running water he quickly found the running stream and used it orient himself and return to the origin of his bon-fire, from that hill he planned to start looking for the others.


    Deftly navigating the terrain by landmarks and barely visible tree markings, he begun to take notice of the collapsed remains of the previous horde, he''d seen this before already when the horde collapsed as one as if given an order.


    He passed a trap pit he''d dug earlier during the day, he remembered it held several bones and a disgusting slosh of rotting meat, a brief whiff of it''s stench almost made him gag.


    Several other traps were similarly littered the area, stray skulls, bones, furry hides, intestines among other fluid filled organs littered his path, he tried his best to not step on the rotting piles of shit, he didn''t meet success.


    ''Ugh...I think I puked in my mouth a little.'' Eian wrinkled his nose, his eyes watered at the smell but he kept trying his hardest not to open his mouth.


    Faster than he''d thought possible he made it to the edge of the hill, he shrugged remembering he''d been letting the horde keep him in their sight thus moved as a slower pace.


    Once atop, he came upon the ashy remains of his bon-fire, small patches of ember remained, yet much of the log endings remained untouched by flame.


    From a top he oriented himself and made his way to Jessica''s lookout spot, there he stumbled unto a patch of properly dead undead corpses, he frowned this was a bad sign.


    He didn''t see anyone from the group so he made his way to Alex''s recon spot, nothing of interest was present so he kept going.


    Worry knawed at him as he got to Sarah''s spot, he froze several paces away.


    Alex.


    Running up to the darkened figure, Eian pressed two fingers against his neck, his veins appeared to be black and barely visible with the minuscule amount of light now present.


    Eian began to hyperventilate, he didn''t feel a pulse, eyes wide he scanned the surrounding, he silently prayed this was some kind of joke.


    Roughly grabbing Alex''s shoulders Eian shook him, Alex''s head bobbled, limply moving from side to side, Eian stopped.


    He pressed his hands against Alex''s chest and crudely applied Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation(CPR), he pressed his fingers on Alex''s neck again.


    A tremor begun again and Eian almost fell unto Alex, he rode out the shaking, it was a quick one.


    "Hey GUYS!...Stop fucking around guys. Alex wake up." Eian stopped and lightly clapped Alex''s cheek several times.


    Eian placed his ear against Alex''s unmoving chest, he tried to listen for a heart-beat.


    Desperate he applied CPR again, slowly he came to a halt, Eian''s heart sank as reality settled on him, he let himself fall on his ass and stared wide eyed at his newest friend.


    Numbness bled into his veins as the night chill froze his blood, things weren''t making any sense.


    What happened? Where were Sarah and Jessica? Were they dead too?


    Getting up his eyes scanned the darkness, a detailed scan showed him a dead skeletal corpse with wings and armor, it looked remarkably like the horde''s boss.


    Scanning some more Eian noticed other corpses, a tiny squad of reptile people, along with a duo of raptor mounts.


    Blinking Eian dumbly followed the direction the corpses were facing, that must be where the others went, he had to focus on that...not on Alex.


    The girls might be in danger so he had to help, Alex would agree, the thought focused him that was what was most important for now.


    He sprinted forward at full speed, caring nothing for stamina, he had plenty.


    Eian noticed the surge of energy from the upgrade was easing, frowning he realized a lot of time must have past.


    Noise.


    He stopped, he heard something, closing his eyes he slowed his heart and focused on the surrounding noise.


    Heart beats...the wind...a cricket...There!


    Following the sound he found the source, it was the sound of a girl crying, Eian narrowed his eyes and drew an axe.


    Was it them? Or someone else?


    "Sarah?....Jessica?" Eian felt his voice weak, he held his breathe, heart raced as he approached slowly.


    The crying came to brief halt, he could still hear sniffing.


    "...eian?" A soft voice whispered from afar, too low for him to tell whom...or what it was.


    He approached slowly, he scanned left and right to make sure he wasn''t walking into an ambush, this world was filled with things that wanted him dead.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itWith Alex ....well with the current situation he wasn''t about to let his guard down.


    "It''s me. Who''s there?" Eian tried to keep his voice firm.


    "...It''s me." the voice sniffed barely recognizable.


    Eian let a slow breathe ease out of him, he scanned about just to be sure, spotting nothing he quickened his pace forward.


    As he spotted her Eian relaxed a bit, at least Jessica was safe, as he neared close enough a dam broke out and she begun crying again.


    "What happened? Where''s Sarah?" Eian didn''t bother asking for Alex.


    She kept crying and Eian''s fears reared their many grotesque faces.


    "Jessica. Answer me. Where. Is. Sarah?" Eian grit out the words.


    "...*hic*...I...*hic*...don''t know." Jessica managed to get that out between sobs.


    "What do you mean? Jessica! What do you mean?" Eian demanded, he was growing slightly hysteric.


    He hadn''t had time to process any of this, things weren''t supposed to be like this, Sarah was their ticket home, Alex was supposed to make it back with them.


    "JESSICA! ANSWER ME!" Eian needed to know if they could still save her.


    "I''m sorry. Sorry." Jessica mumbled out between sobs.


    Jessica begun crying inconsolably again.


    "FUCK!" Eian stomped the ground, at this rate he wouldn''t get anywhere.


    He started moving nearby to see any signs of Sarah, another tremor begun, frightened at a viscous crack Eian spun surprised.


    Wincing at the noise Eian made out the sound of a distant tree splintering and crashing as the earth shook.


    Jessica had gone silent and was bracing herself on the floor wide-eyed, the tremor quaked on.


    The shaking sent Eian to his knees and he hugged the ground, he hear splintering as other trees fell.


    ''Fuck! I hope nothing falls on me. I''m totally going to kill the asshole whom brought me here.'' Eian grit his teeth to not bite his tongue.


    A spike of shock traveled up his spine as a thunderous roar exploded in the distance, the vibrations joined together with the tremor as he felt the aftermath.


    Each time the roar left him wondering if it was a gigantic monster moving underground, that would fit all too well in this place.


    The wind vanished along with sound, the forest lay quiet, too quiet, nature''s sound vanished as he regained his footing.


    Gazing about he took note even the cracking of the trees had ceased, not a rustle nor broken branch, this was too bizarre, otherworldly.


    Tense seconds passed as the world fully came to halt.


    Eian slowly got up, not fully trusting his balance fully yet.


    ''At least Jessica shut up.'' Eian sighed.


    Orienting himself Eian tried to form some sort of plan, Sarah had to be around somewhere, she was the one most likely to have a way to leave this world so he couldn''t give up on her.


    A figure emerged from the darkness, elated Eian smiled, it vanished when he realized what it was.


    A tall black-cloaked figure emerged, Eian could make out no features as the cloak covered him from head to toe in a single layer of cloth.


    "Well, I found you. Both at the same time. How fortunate." The figure sounded cultured, giving hints at hidden secrets.


    "Who are you." Eian held his axe with two hands.


    "...They call my line of work collecting, so we''re collectors. We look and find people like you." The so-called collector spoke merrily, a smile in his voice.


    "That''s not what I want to know. What do you want?" Eian growled.


    "Why, to reunite you and your injured friend. Sarah was it? I already took her to safety for treatment, your other friend here ran away. I''ve been looking for her." The collector smoothly answered.


    Eian froze.


    ''Sarah''s alive?'' Briefly a surge of happiness coalesced, then the pragmatic side of his mind made his grip tighten.


    "Fuck you. I don''t trust shady nameless people." Eian narrowed his eye''s trying to look under the hood.


    "No True Names here, you may refer to me as Collector. As that is what I do, so people take it as what I am. I''m sure you want to see Sarah right? Your friend was hurt quite badly, I''m sure she''ll appreciate seeing both of you alive and well." The collector remained calm and...too collected.


    "Bring her here." Eian demanded.


    "What?" The collector sounded surprised.


    "Bring Sarah here, I''ll go if she tells me herself." Eian glared at him.


    "Your friend''s bleeding from her foot and an arrow lodged in her chest." the collector sighed.


    "Then you can go fuck off." Eian growled.


    "....." The collector stood there watching Eian silently.


    Eian kept his axe pointed at the ''collector'', the collector sighed dramatically after a short wait.


    "I guess we''ll do this the hard way, you don''t have much time left anyways." The collector shrugged nonchalantly.


    Anger pulsed in his veins, Sarah''s probably dead now, Eian didn''t like how this ass-shat was dismissing him out of hand either, he''d struggled to make it so far dammit.


    Still, for this guy to show confidence implied strength, activating empower and preparing rock-armor Eian was ready.


    "Impressive, you''ve adapted well. Most haven''t, many stay screaming or crying, like that one over there." The collector pointed at a sniveling Jessica.


    His face twisted, was this guy implying...


    "You brought us here!?" Eian forgot completely about caution, he was going to split this fuckers head.


    "...Not me personally no, my organization did however, you''re awfully calm for someone in your position you know? It''s a breathe of refresh air." The collector spoke pleasantly, as though he had all the time in the world.


    Anger surged, this fucker was the reason Alex died, he''d probably held Sarah captive or had already killed her, the thought pushed away his calm.


    "AH!" Screaming incoherently Eian charged, he swung his axe at the collectors head.


    Eian caught a brief look under the hood, a completely average man''s face was hidden beneath.


    Jolting slightly in surprise the collector jumped backwards, he caught himself quickly but his hood flew down from the retreat.


    "Okay, I take it back ha-ha. Let''s get started then." The collector smiled, all teeth.


    Swinging Eian tried to take off the collector''s head, but the figure kept retreating until it was a good distance.


    Eian focused and activated his second Empower, he''d summon rock armor at the first sign of a powerful attack.


    The Collector exploded in flames, his whole body wreathed in fire, Eian shut his eyes and covered them with his arm as he took a step back at the sudden brightness.


    When his vision cleared Eian gulped, an eight-foot tall figure stood before him, twin bull horns and face, what appeared to be blood red skin accompanied by a long thick scaly tail, it was the classic image of a demon.


    It settled into Eian he was in hell, he''d died somehow in his sleep and come here, belatedly it made a perverse sort of sense.


    "You like?" He asked smiling, his demonic prolonged canines were truly imposing.


    He didn''t give Eian much chance to think much less to speak, before charging forward full speed.


    Eian activated Rock-armor, felt the surge of another Empower as he threw that in and briefly he felt strong enough to tear through steel.


    A boulder shattered against another, his lungs deflated unable to receive air and his back crashed against bark.


    Heaving a deep breathe Eian got up and forced himself upright, threw himself randomly in a roll and tried to orient himself as he ran.


    Quickly he spotted the demon swerving back as it had only just missed, twisting Eian batted his axe at the demon''s torso.


    It force stopped digging out at the soil beneath, it raked it''s claws diagonally across in a counter lunge, Eian felt it''s claws dig through his armor like clay but he had enough footing to push backwards and evade.


    Eian swung at it''s face, it blocked with it''s fore-arm, his retreating swing had too little force and it dug in only an inch, Eian''s eyes widened comically.


    A kick to his ribs sent Eian flying, he crashed into a arm-thin tree, broke it in half and went rolling, Eian got up coughing and readied his axe, he thanked whatever force out there helped it stay lodged in his armor through all this.


    Eian readied himself as he heard the demon''s charge, swinging at it''s general direction Eian was rewarded by brief resistance, a howl of anger and a heavy backhand which tore off a chunk of the armor protecting his face.


    Stumbling Eian swung again, and again randomly trying to buy time and space, something collided into his back, sending him rolling.


    Another impact nearly knocked sense out of him, groaning at the constant hits Eian activated a third Empower and felt his armor enforce itself, it responded to his thoughts.


    A wide wild arcing cleave made the creature jump back, and he pressed the brief chance, right downward diagonal, left upward diagonal, right cleave, Eian tried to catch it.


    Eian parried two consecutive claw rakings and the red-devil grunted, sensing weakness Eian tried to split it''s skull, only to catch a horn, the chop cracked the horn but redirected to it''s shoulder digging deeply.


    A heavy roar followed by chunks of armor tearing told Eian to move back, tearing out his weapon.


    Dark liquid was almost completely obscured by the darkness and the demon swore in the some foreign language.


    Belatedly Eian wondered what caused the opening in it''s defense, mentally shrugging Eian decided it was irrelevant and pressed his advantage before his timer ran out.


    With proper foot work, controlled strikes and a longer reach regaining the initiative proved only mild challenging, something was distracting his enemy and he didn''t bother thinking about it much.


    When Eian scored a hard hit on the left hamstring almost to bone, it''s tail whipped at him proving it was capable of injuring his armor as it tore a chunk out.


    ''Fuck! He''s like me.'' Eian mentally groaned as it became obvious this enemy was as tough or tougher than him, the leg injury was hampering him, but that hit should have chopped off the leg entirely with ease.


    "ENOUGH!" The collector broke rhythm and tried to barrel into Eian.


    Stepping back Eian fell for the feint as the enemy abruptly changed his charge, confused Eian realized too late what was happening.


    The demon was rush-hopping to Jessica, Eian gathered up what little energy he had remaining and stomped, the demon''s path exploded, causing it to trip and fall forward.


    Racing forward he tried to kill it before he ran out of energy, he saw Jessica throw bolts of darkness at the enemy, the demon began to get up.


    "RUN!" Eian yelled, if it got to her she''d die.


    The monster swiveled changing direction again.


    ''Shit!'' Eian forced a stop, unsuccessfully.


    A thunderous fist to the ribs broke his armor, and sent him into the trees and his axe went spinning off to the darkness.


    Time trickled by as Eian watched Jessica try to bolt away, one, just one force-filled hit caught Jessica''s lower-back.


    Wincing he saw her fly, crash against a tree and collapse in a pile with her spear.


    Getting up he, raced forward, his armor fully broke apart as his spirit shriveled dry, he tripped on his feet.


    ''Fuck!'' Eian grit his teeth, his hope dwindled.


    "Well. It''s been fun. The annoying bug''s out of the way. So you''re all that''s left. Painless, I promise." The collector casually strolled forward, grin stretched wide.


    "Fuck you!" Tightening his lungs Eian tried to remain calm as he drew his second axe, it had been lodged in his armor but when it broke the weapon was made free.


    "Die already." The collector blurred forward.


    Eian was already half-dodging, claws raked the left side of his chest into his shoulder before they collided and the demons momentum spun him far.


    Rolling and groaning Eian knew he was going to die if he didn''t do something now, the earth was shaking lightly as it grew stronger the collector stopped.


    Eian made sure his grip never slackened, weaponless he''d be done.


    "Hmmm....time''s almost up. I commend you for lasting this long. Get up, at least you can go out on your feet." The collector shrugged as he looked back down from the dark sky.


    To the demon Eian realized this was some sort of sick game, they probably brought people here to toy with them.


    Truly it''s actions were fit for the devil himself, but Eian had changed, his past life was over, as this was hell he''d clearly already died once.


    What was dying to a dead man? He wasn''t going to lay down and be a plaything for demons.


    Strangely the collector waited out the light tremor, enough time for Eian to get up and position his axe above his head.


    Eian''s focus snapped into place, he''d aim for the demon''s injured leg, if he caught it hard enough it might go down, it was a slim hope.


    Hot lightning forked through-out his arms, they felt like bands of steel, his pain receded, Eian''s sweaty palms tightened on his axe, poised overhead he imagined it chimed in the air.


    The tremor ceased, Eian swallowed dryly and clenched his teeth.


    The demon blurred forward, fire, his muscles burned fire and blurred, PAIN, the next thing Eian knew he was flying.


    Then he bounced off something or somethings several times, he came to a slow stop, coughing fit passed as he felt disorientation set in, his left arm spasmmed in unadulterated agony, his head throbbed, shaking his head like a dog Eian blinked away the concussion.


    He''d lost his axe, so he was dead, he could think straight enough he knew that, torturous pain tormented him from his left he grit his teeth and measured his breaths to bare.


    Waiting for the end Eian noticed it was taking long to come, looking up his eye''s revealed why.


    The demon was kneeling, his axe was lodged deep into it''s hamstring, trying to grin Eain thought at least he''s hurt the fucker.


    Turning to look at what hurt he shut his eyes, his left arm was missing from the elbow down, with closed eyes he could still imagine it there, IT felt it was there.


    Crippled, if he ever got home, he''d be an even greater burden on his mother, the thought almost brought him to tears more than the actual injury.


    Refusing to give in he turned to anger, it pushed away crippling despair and gave him strength, the demon was jumping towards him on three limbs awkwardly, quickly standing he waited till the creature came close before running around over to Jessica.


    She was broken, eye''s closed, limbs twisted unnaturally and her chest unmoving Eian knew she wasn''t getting back up, he had no time to check either way.


    He refused to let loneliness settle, he quickened his breathing fueling his anger, one-handed he quickly removed Jessica''s prized spear, it would have to do.


    The demon was only a few paces away by now, it was bleeding from it''s leg and shoulder as well as several nicks, Eian thought he could make out a few dark spots on it''s skin.


    "Good game. Just goes to show you, mercy to an enemy is cruelty to yourself." The demon barked a laugh then remained smiling as Eian awkwardly pointed the long-spear at him.


    The demon pounced claws forward, Eian dodged, he stabbed at it''s face awkwardly.


    An almost comic fight ensued, Eian clumsily spearing it while it leapt about trying to overcome Eian''s advantage in reach.


    Even one legged the collector a menace, Eian kept spearing it, nick after nick, he desperately tried to maintain a distance, while his compact grip on the spear almost hurt.


    Eian''s breathing became labored, his remaining arm felt leaded down, he''d lost a lot of blood, however by the looks of it the demon was worse off, a shredded culmination of thin lacerations was a proper description.


    Random thrusts had caught both it''s eyes and now it was just clawing about randomly, something deep inside took cruel pleasure piercing it''s flesh from then.


    As time passed, Eian wondered if it was even going to die, he''d stabbed it at least a hundred times, many were no deeper than a centimeter true, but they should be adding up.


    Throat dry, wracked with pain Eian kept stabbing, aiming at the neck, blood began to spurt out and still it refused to die, it''s vitality was truly monstrous.


    Long over due, it ceased to move, it died.


    By now he couldn''t even muster up a shred of care, the spear fell from Eian''s grip, he felt weakened but the flow of blood had staunched.


    He slowly walked over to Jessica, he tried to feel for a pulse anyway, there was none, he leaned back against a tree and looked up at the darkness.


    Sweaty, bloody and broken Eian let exhaustion set in.


    "I''m sorry... thanks." To Eian the words felt cheap despite trying to express himself, she''d stayed and helped him.


    The darkness crept in, narrowing his eyes he tried to focus on the incoming shadows.


    Try as he might, he noticed the darkness bleeding into his vision, creeping up slowly.


    Inch by inch, the darkness loomed closer, shaking his head he tried to see farther, yet he couldn''t.


    Darkness engulfed him, his breathing was sure and steady.


    Blinking he couldn''t see anything now.


    Was he blind? He was too exhausted to muster up panic.


    Instead he tried to make himself comfortable, his arm had numbed enough.


    Light, white light washed over the world.


    Eian squinted against the brightness.


    --Dream end--

 Interlude 1

    Eian woke up floating on comfy goodness, groggily rubbing darkness from his eyes.


    Blinking he blindly passed his hands over his bedside cabinet as he got off his bed, a small yawn escaped him looking the small shoddy yet familiar accommodations.


    Groggily he slowly sat on the edge of his bed and stretched his flip-phone was now on his hands, idly he scrolled over his old messages.


    His small patchy sofa-bed had never felt so comfortable, in fact it felt heavenly anything was better than hard dirt.


    Starting, foggy memories trickled down through his addled mind, he tried to fit each memory place.


    Alex, Sarah, well...Jessica counted as well he supposed.


    Immediately feeling terrible he remembered she died helping him, more memories faded in he remembered Alex was also dead and Sarah was most likely dead.


    Jumping he fell out of his bed, he would have felt better if a car crashed into him.


    ''How''d I get home? MOM!'' Eian felt a little better with the thought, he was back and he could go back to work and in a year or two he''d go to college.


    "MOM!" Shooting up Eian reached for his door knob, to notice his body was weird.


    Both his arms were there yet skinny, looking down he realized his abs were gone, replaced by familiar a slight curve of fat.


    Feeling his cheeks he felt a bit more full, he''d be less surprised if someone stabbed him.


    Body and mind felt disconnected, unfamiliar.


    ''A dream? That ...that was all a dream?'' Mouth agape he struggled to process this, to understand what exactly he should be feeling and what strange emotions wormed inside him, none of it had felt like a dream.


    If that was a dream, it was the most realistic dream he''d ever had, he could remember the immense pain from losing his arm, the hunger pangs of a body upgrade.


    The details were far too vivid, most of the time he only had blurrish recollections after sleep, yet here he could remember the fur and teeth of wolves, the stench of the dead, even the sounds of the howling wind.


    It couldn''t all just be a dream...could it? He''d changed so much, what...how could he change so much from sleeping? It was unreal.


    His team-mates weren''t real...that how do you deal with that? They were real people, they felt like real people, he...how''d he get over the fact Alex, Sarah and Jessica were just figments of his mind?


    Everything didn''t make sense, for now he''d go check on his mom, a clear goal helped him cope, it distracted him.


    Turning the knob he froze, he stood there looking at the exit for longer than he should have, there was a stone tunnel here, a cemented modernized tunnel, completely dissimilar to the cave tunnels he''d originally traversed in his dream.


    This tunnel floor was paved and small light-bulbs illuminated the path forward and he could hear distant ringing from the tunnel.


    Scratching his head Eian went through another roller-coaster of emotions till he settled nothing, light from his arm attracted his eyes, turning he realized all his tattoos were there, yet each glowed bright.


    They had reset to their original, numbers, Body: 2, Mind:3 and Spirit:0, his jaw dropped, all that hard work...gone...what happened?


    The ringing continued but he knew who was there, really it could only be one person, mentally shrugging Eian followed the ringing of steel on steel.


    Soon he emerged into a wider space and found him there, swinging at an anvil without care with his back turned.


    Dread and relief warred as he tried to settle on what to feel, everything was happening so fast.


    "Ye made it." It was a statement, Ul kept swinging.


    "...Yeah." Eian held his breathe, if he had to do some kind of crazy training right now Ul would wreck him, not that he didn''t do that before either way.


    Ul kept his back at Eian, honestly it was better that way in his opinion, he''d never noticed how far he''d advanced before until now.


    He was weak, too weak and he''d been on the path to getting stronger, now he was weak again and it was honestly fucking depressing.


    "So. It''s over." Ul said simply as he stopped swinging and turned to face Eian.


    Eian look directly at the Ul''s eyes, fully armored he favored a little metal golem.


    "What''s over exactly? Why am I back to normal?" Eian hoped he wasn''t about to be told he was going to the after life.


    "...Hard te explain. S''long story. Gimme a min." Ul removed his helmet and looked...troubled.


    Ul looked up and tapped his chin for a full minute.


    "S''right. Hear, ye kno yer from a mortal plane different than I?" Ul tilted his head at Eian.


    "...Yeah...the magic and you being a dwarf gave it away." Eian had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, last time he did that didn''t end well from him.


    "HA! Ye got it! The magic''s the difference." Ul nodded satisfied.


    "...What?" Eian raised an eyebrow, he''d lost track of this conversation somehow.


    "All mortal planes start magic-less, wayyy back in the days we called ''em ''worlds'', we were wrong." Ul pointed at him.


    Eian frowned, he wondered where all this was going, at least Ul was beating a lesson into him this time.


    "''S they grow older planes mature and ''magic'' or rather new laws and pathways open up. Big problems come up though." Ul shrugged.


    "...Problems?" Eian frowned and tried to keep his imagination from freaking him out, anything Ul considered a ''problem'' was likely at least a horde of monstrous dragons.


    "Yep. Fer one nether opens up. Communication ''n travel between ''worlds'', er sorry plane''s opens up. Wars happened. Countless, fer millennia. Eons." Ul nodded at him and looked up, he looked concerned, perhaps even haunted.


    "...Fuck." Eian imagined legions of magical monsters like that demons rampaging across Earth, not the best thing to ever happen.


    "Meh, thats for after ye survive the change." Ul shrugged.


    "Change? The magic? What change, you mean this?" Eian pointed at his tattoo''s.


    "Nah. That''s our gift." Ul shook his head in denial, and grumbled something under his breathe about cost.


    "Gift?" Eian frowned, the implications of this begun to become clear as he connected some dots.


    "Ye, the change o the world will be near impossible to survive for normals. So the boss man decided to ...sort of pull the mortal souls o yer plane and give ''em an upgrade. Ye get access to essence which will protect ye from Mutation." Ul stuck his tongue out at the last word.


    "You brought me here!" Eian got angry, his body tensed, he didn''t give a fuck, Alex, Sarah and Jessica died because of him!


    Before he knew it he was on the ground panting, his chest contracted, he was weak.


    He tried to get up, and Ul stepped on his hand, lightly, Eian knew because his hand wasn''t broken.


    "Listen first knuckle-head." Ul sounded exasperated.


    "YOU''RE THE FUCKING REASON THEY''RE DEAD!" Eian growled out with the last of his air, and his hands turned to fists struggling to stay kneeling.


    "...Fool." Ul''s tone darkened, too late Eian realized his mistake.


    Coughing, his lungs attempted to draw breathe, Eian tried to get up; only to be seized by the throat.


    Ul lifted him up to his knees, his grip was steel.


    "Yer friends ''re fine." Ul stared him in the eye.


    "...What?" Eian blinked.


    "This here be a construct. Illusions, the world ye were in was too. No-one dies here. Least not from injuries." Ul pointed everywhere with a broad motion.


    It took a while for that to sink in.


    "So they''re alive." Eian said dumbly.


    "Aye. Ye ''re too, some people go loopy and think they''re dead tho''." Ul rolled his eyes.


    Ul let go and gave Eian a moment to orient himself, as well as regain his balance, the oppressive atmosphere lessened.


    It was so much information to take in at once, Eian continuously tried to wrap his head around his experience with...this new information.


    "Alight. So what now." Eian frowned, he didn''t like it, but there was nothing he could really do.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation."I tell ya a few more things. Also an oracle wanted to have a word with ye'' all." Ul paused and watched Eian.


    Eian wondered what was up with that.


    "Ye can also see yer team before ye return. If they''s want te, of course." Ul nodded slowly.


    "Oh." He should be happy, really, everyone was alive and well, but it was...awkward?


    Overwhelming might be the correct emotion.


    "''N''other hand, ye can choose te forget everything tha'' happened. Ye''ll keep the powers ye earned though." Ul looked troubled at the thought.


    "Why would anyone do that?" Eian frowned, Ul already said they had to be ready for survival.


    "...Folk do bad things, some snap, others... a''times ye get a few folk who broke bad. Broken folk need mending, they''s stacked essence so even if they''s d''know how te use it, it prevents mutation." Ul shrugged.


    "Oh." Eian winced, he could imagine all sorts of bad things people did to one another, he knew a few gang members, one in particular came to mind.


    If he''d actually spent some time thinking he might have reached that conclusion naturally, but he felt justified by the fact he was mentally exhausted, as well as confused.


    Ul''s eyes locked on to his, which was an accomplishment as Eian eclipsed him by over a foot.


    "So?" Ul demanded, eyes sharp.


    "Huh?" Eian blinked out of his thoughts.


    "Will ye forget ''r no? Got te ask." Ul stood stotic.


    "No." Eian responded immediately.


    All those hours spent beaten, broken and bleeding, learning to fight, to use his powers and to overcome his obstacles, it would all be worthless if he forgot.


    At his answer Ul closed his eyes as a slow breathe eased out of him.


    "Good. Good. I''d hate fer all tha'' work te be fer nothin''." Ul snapped open his eyes and a small smile emerged.


    "When can I see the others?" Eian heaved a sigh, he''d gone from life and death battle to a game-like tutorial, the feeling was a strange mix of relief, disbelief, anger and surprisingly apathy.


    "Not so fast kid, I got a few more things te tell ye." Ul nodded.


    "....Like?" Eian tried to hold in his growing exasperation.


    "''Bout yer abilities." Ul scratched his head.


    "What about them?" Eian focused.


    "Yer not actually limited to those I taught ye." Ul looked sheepish.


    "....Okay? What does that even mean?" Eian frowned.


    "Have ye tried using other types of spirit attacks? Earth spells?" Ul raised an eyebrow.


    "...." Eian opened his mouth and shut it closed.


    "With yer actual element ye can use a lot of different spells, s''long as ye have a proper image associated." Ul.


    "Why didn''t you tell me this earlier!" Eian growled, frustrated.


    "Easy." A flash of irritation crossed Ul''s face.


    Ul''s narrowed eye''s scrutinized Eian as he stewed in silence, Ul''s face carefully went neutral and a shudder ran through Eian, his mouth felt a bit dry.


    "Goal''s to adapt ye te survival. Better head''s than I say tha''s easier when ye teach piece-piece. Real slow like. Fewer spells an'' more expertise." Ul.


    "...That''s a whole load of bulls....crap." Eian frowned as he bit off the last word, Ul shrugged.


    "Other reasons too. Yer spirit''s weak. Crazy usings''ll harm ye, sure as day. Back in the motherland, Real Training don''t start till ten spirit an'' ten body." Ul casually walked over to his anvil.


    Speaking of numbers, Eian remembered Ul hadn''t actually answered his previous question.


    "Why am I back to normal? I worked hard for that." Eian hated sounding like a little kid, but he felt it was justified.


    "Adaptation....." Ul spoke dismissively staring at the finished product of his anvil and mumbled something under his breathe.


    Taking a deep breathe Eian tried to keep his frustration from boiling over, Ul''s answer didn''t answer anything.


    "What. do. you. mean?" He bit out the words in small measure to not sound angry.


    "Yer slow, I told ye already, this here''s all fake, illusions an'' souls. Yer body''s back home, same as always. Essence''ll enter wit'' yer soul. Changes''ll happen then, slowly." Ul explained.


    "...I have to go through all that again?" Eian felt he paled significantly as the implications registered.


    "Yep. Yer choices''ll remain the same. Nothin fer it. Make sure ye eat lots." Ul shrugged dismissively.


    ''Fucking bullshit...'' Eian dreaded returning.


    "Movin'' on, yer nobody important right?" Ul briefly turned to look at him.


    "What?" Eian jerked as if slapped.


    "Ye a king? Noble? Chieftain? Warlord? Really rich guy? Anyone important?" Ul''s gaze was intense.


    "No..." Eian frowned, was Ul insulting him?


    "Great, then I won''t bother with ''politics''. Bah." Ul spat out the last two words distastefully.


    "Politics?" Eian raised his eyebrows, mostly because he didn''t know what else to do.


    "I know, I know, terrible, learned a tad bit at my age." Ul shrugged, he pinched two fingers so much they were practically touching.


    Eian scratched his neck, what could he say to that.


    "Oh yea. I almost forget, keep yer eyes wide for the rising dead. They''ll stink up the place. Burn ''em bones or grind ''em to dust." Ul blurted and wrinkled his nose.


    "What?! Zombies?" Eian remembered the horde.


    "Un-dead, walking dead, living dead, zombies. Whatever ye want to call ''em, fancy people call ''em cadavers. Death energies been stewin'' in yer plane too long, once magic pops up it''ll be like a dam broke. S'' Usually bad fer a year or two. The elements might cause a few natural disasters too, all part o the plane growing up." Ul shrugged, Eian had to remind himself anything Ul considered bad was probably world ending.


    "...Do you have any good news?" Eian frowned, he hoped it wouldn''t be as bad as he was imagining it.


    "Not really. This here''s all to boost yer chances." Ul shrugged and inspected the dagger he''d just made.


    "Can''t you just send help or something?" Eian was not looking forward to battling monsters for the next two years.


    "Sure. Nether''s a bit unstable at first though, souls pass easy, physical stuff might get lost somewhere. Dragon''s cache expensive too, an'' the boss''s got lot''s of other things on his hands, which means I have lots of stuff on my hands. It''s a wide open world out here." Ul smirked like he just said a funny joke.


    "Fuck. So you''re just leaving us to deal with everything?" Eian grew agitated, everything he knew was about to be upended.


    Silence stretched.


    "Kid." Ul turned to Eian, serious.


    Eian froze, he wasn''t about to get his ass handed to him, was he?


    "I ain''t yer nanny. We help cause WE think ye deserve a chance at life, this here costs more than a mountain o'' diamond standards te do. Not te mention my time n hard work te teach ye. If ye ain''t ready to take the reins and survive; then yer wasting the chance WE paid for. ''S all free and voluntary." Ul frowned and definitely look pissed.


    Eian mumbled out something that could pass as an apology; to someone whom was dead, deaf and didn''t care either way.


    Ul kept banging away at the anvil, he''d started a new project, Eian tried to find some way to get his foot out of his mouth.


    Unaccustomed to discussion Eian remained silent, focusing he watched as Ul worked, deft hands moved and hammered at metal, even to his untrained eyes Eian could tell Ul measured each blow, the amount of focus he placed upon the forge even as he dipped the unfinished product in molten metal.


    Fascinated, he watched on as Ul extracted the heated metal and applied his full attention to it, time flew and before he knew it Eian realized it was a simple axe-head.


    "Last things kid." Ul threw the axe-head in a bin not far, it was almost completely full.


    Ul gave Eian his full attention so he tried to render these words into his mind.


    "Ye won''t be getting more upgrade dreams. So no more lessons with me." Ul lifted a hand to stop any questions Eian might have asked.


    Hand open Ul watched Eian before continuing.


    "It''s always so. We just render some help an'' let ye all figure it out. Yer world''s a bit odd. Chances ''re good ye''ll adapt an'' join either the neutral worlds, ''r assist the battlefront, yet there''s a bitty chance yer invaded or worse case blow yerself up." Ul frowned.


    "Invaded by who?" Eian wasn''t liking this one bit.


    "Conqueror''s. That''s what we call ''em. They''re pretty much the big bad guys...of pretty much everywhere. They go round and take over planes and use ''em te breed armies fer their wars." Ul sighed.


    "How..." Eian couldn''t articulate anything else.


    "If ye want te get stronger ye''ll have te use resources in yer own world, anything ye kill''ll make ye stronger, at least till ye hit yer racial limit. Remember my full name right? Ul''Falar of clan Il''ksro. Ye''ll find me usually in the nexus world labeled Gia''Taurus." Ul shrugged.


    Eian made sure to repeat that in his head many times.


    Ul''Falar, clan Ilksro. Gia. Taurus, he tried the words, it was a little tongue twisty.


    "I''ll warn ye now, every person ye kill''ll have a negative impact on ye. Yer absorbing their essence, if ye kill too many too fast that kind of power ''s easy to feel. It was designed that way. S'' a way te discourage wanton slaughter. S'' recommended te kill beasts an'' the like. Monsters basically, they''ll give less, but ye won''t go raving mad." Ul looked stoic.


    "...Murdering people can make others stronger?" To Eian the world suddenly seemed vastly more dangerous, again if he''d spent some time thinking he figured he might have come to that conclusion.


    Ul didn''t answer him, which was an answer in an of itself.


    "A bit later, once things settle down, boss man''ll make contact. That''s all ye really need te know." Ul stoked his beard.


    "What kind of contact?" Eian hoped it was help.


    "Political." Ul said disdainfully.


    "That doesn''t explain anything." Eian grumbled.


    "Travel between planes''ll be made easier, treaties, trade, that kind of stuff''s the most tangible." Ul shrugged.


    Eian sighed, it was too much to expect militaristic help he supposed.


    "Now. Yer the last te arrive, I''d like te give ye more trainin'' but let''s brush up on an old one ye probably forgot te use." UL shrugged.


    "What?" Eian frowned.


    "Eyes o earth. I taught ye it a while back, ye probably didn''t pay it mind as ye were learning something else too. It lets ye sense movin'' things on the earth." Ul smirked.


    Straining his memory Eian scrounged up something he thought might have been that lesson.


    "I''ll teach ye te meditate and stock up energy too. Let''s begin." Ul grabbed his helmet and put it back on.


    Eian hoped this wouldn''t be painful.


    Shaking his head he sighed, whom was he kidding?

 Interlude 2

    Alex sighed, he couldn''t move, somehow he felt crowded by unfamiliar faces, not that he could turn his head and move.


    Alex strongly suspected it was magic, his mind couldn''t muster up the shred of will to even consider speaking, weird that.


    A crowd of women was the only thing he could see, Vita was amongst this an assembled crowd directly facing him, or so he thought there were so many of them he couldn''t be sure if the one he was looking at was HIS guide, and most of them could pass for sisters or cousins.


    Massive trees dotted the landscape, Alex found himself a bit intimidated by the sizes truth be told, three stood out amoungst the masses.


    There seemed to be three divisions among the lovely dryads, Alex assumed that''s what they all were.


    Three stood out and wore luxurious clothes which hugged their bodies yet hinted at the beauty beneath, these sat on simple high chairs, they were undoubtedly the leaders and Alex recognized none of them, still they all wore features similar to Vita.


    The other division were greater in number, the stood in all seriousness, eye''s forward facing the humans with faces carved of stone.


    The last division of dryad''s were the most excitable, it was where Alex thought he spotted the one he assumed was Vita, they mostly wore smiles, gossiped and tittering with controllable giggles.


    "My two sisters and I have gathered you all here. You. Each and everyone one of you is a blessing to your world. Our contribution to the survival of you race. You will be charged with the survival of civilization in your world." The middle of the three important dryad spoke.


    She went on to give a magnificent speech, about the turbulent future and how they would be an essential pillar to uphold their world.


    Despite being unable to spot her mouth moving from this distance, Alex noted he had no problem whatsoever hearing her words.


    She also warned them of the dangers of wanton murder, apparently such things were anticipated and had terrible consequences.


    The universe was apparently undergoing some form of magical puberty and their organization was preparing them for the inevitable change.


    The leader dryad went into a very detailed explanation of their powers, Alex would normally be more interested but he felt a little overwhelmed from everything.


    "At the end, one of our beloved daughter''s shall approach you, you may choose to forget these past few traumatic events if you choose. You will answer with a simple yes or no." Her voice was lovey, but she sounded tired.


    In some silent command, the serious division and the excitable division split and came forward and together as one they curtsied.


    Alex had guessed right, it was Vita he''d spotted, she held something in her hands, a chalice of some sort.


    Alex noticed that he couldn''t move his vision, he couldn''t even see his nose, it was an awkward out-of-body sensation.


    Alex didn''t know how many people were about, finally Alex noticed those the dryad''s gathered together, his eyes widened.


    "Excellent, I will speak a bit more on a danger to you specifically." The dryad leader whom could pass as one of Vita''s sisters spoke.


    Once her voice started again the crowd of dryads reassembled.


    "As your world tethers on the brink of change. Your leaders will seek to use you to their benefit. To bend your talents to their will. While there is nothing we can truly do to prevent this, I hope with sincerity that you turn our gift to works of joy and love." The leader seemed saddened.


    Suddenly she straightened and took a moment to look around the crowd.


    "It is with some hesitation that I give you a final warning. I feel it may be prudent to leave you ignorant, yet it will be made know later either way. There is a likely possibility some of you will be killed. You will die screaming and cursing our gift to you." Suddenly it was as if he face had aged with worry, the perfect image of a life-time of suffering.


    There was a pause.


    "The gift you hold, the life-blood of your body can be refined into a powerful elixir. Share this information only with those you trust for now, do not immediately let people know you are a healer. With your gift YOU will naturally live longer than the rest of your race, an elixir harvest from your blood could lessen the burden age on others, and even heal the most deadly of wounds. Greed will always triumph over caution, where a smart man would work with you, an evil would take it from you. Find somewhere safe, allies whom could shelter you. Work quickly, or you may be captured or killed." Vita''s mother frowned.


    Alex felt she was exaggerating, it''s not like they stopped producing blood, they could simply just donate a bit of blood every once in a while, heck this was good news.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.Now they could help better humanity! Perhaps they could even fight cancer or diseases which once crippled humanity!


    Perhaps this new age spelt the end of organ trafficking, perhaps they could regrow or mend any organ the patient needs.


    "With this I feel you are ready. There is still some time left before the trial ends. You may each choose to meet with the rest of those whom you underwent the trial with. Good luck and a thousand years of prosperity." Vita''s mother sighed.


    At the sound of her voice the world bled away in black.


    *****


    Blinking he was once more within Vita''s dryad tree, it was easier to see Vita as the person, rather than the tree.


    Besides, if Vita''s mother lecture was anything to go by, this wasn''t Vita''s actual tree, just a dream replica.


    Speak of the devil as she shall appear, out from the floor of a tree apparently.


    "Hey Alex." Vita smiled.


    Alex was still trying to process all the information he''d just receive from the her mother.


    Opening his mouth he found himself unable to speak, as a matter of fact he couldn''t move his lips.


    Baring a golden chalice of sparkling liquid forward, Vita seemed happy yet awkward.


    "Hehe. Sorry mom''s commands. Yes or no?" Vita''s eyes held a spark of mirth.


    "No." The sole word was the only thing which escaped before his voice left him, odd as it didn''t seem to resonate from his mouth.


    "Great! A few are choosing to forget. I''m a bit busy right now, I''ll see you later before everything''s done!" Vita withdrew the chalice filled with shimmering water.


    Vita faded into the floor of her tree, Alex blinked and sighed.


    "That was weird." Alex realized he could now speak.


    It was definitely nice, yet he had no one to speak to.


    Not a big improvement, casually he frowned and looked down.


    "Fuck." Alex sighed, his body was back to normal.


    *****


    Vita''s avatar, or whatever it was, had vanished for what must have been over an hour, Alex was antsy from waiting, but instead he leaned lazily on an armchair provided in wait.


    There was nothing much to do but wait really, Alex sighed again.


    How long would this take?


    "I''m sorry for not telling you everything before hand. The trial is used to make people mentally ready." Vita''s voice made him jump.


    "AY!" Alex flushed at his girly pitch.


    Straightening he brushed his forehead and straightened casually trying to salvage what little dignity he had left.


    A playful smile decorated her face, Alex had to admit it was a lovely face.


    "I don''t see how sending us into something like that and having us die helps us." Alex tried to keep his voice low, as well as calm his heart.


    He wasn''t terribly upset with Vita, she was clearly under orders from her higher ups, but the injuries the skeletal vampire inflicted upon him were still fresh.


    "...I''m sorry. I don''t like it either, but mother says it''s been proven to work best. The invincibility power gives makes people careless. At least that''s what she says. Don''t forget everyone in your world will be undergoing a similar change as you." Vita looked away.


    "Roger, either way what was that about life-blood?" Alex frowned.


    "Life-blood....isn''t like normal blood Alex. You have to refine it with via Alchemy. I recommend not trying it too often, it takes a vast quantity of blood, even with your body and power." Vita frowned distastefully.


    "Oh. And how do I refine it?" Alex felt that was important, after-all if he wanted to desperately save someone he''d want to know.


    Better to have and not want, than to want and not have. Right?


    "...I. Do you really want to know?" Vita looked troubled.


    "Yes. If someone important to me is dying in front of me, I have an obligation to save them." Alex couldn''t express how serious that was.


    Vita looked at his face, saddened, then sighed.


    "Alright, just...try not to broad-cast this method, okay? There have been really bad things happen to healers because of it." Vita folded her arms, protectively.


    "Roger." Alex nodded.


    ''What''s all the weird vibes? It''s just refined blood, I can heal myself. It doesn''t matter how often I bleed.'' Alex scratched his head, he felt the extra emphasis was a little over the top.


    "Also done too much can lower your bodies efficiency, at least for a time. You''ll need rest between each elixer Alex. You might have missed it in the dream, but your bodies'' not immortal Alex." Vita stared at his eyes, more serious than she''d ever seemed before.


    That definitely put a damper in his mood.


    "I noticed." Alex frowned, dying, even in a dream wasn''t a nice feeling.


    "Did you really? Alex, I don''t think you did." Vita looked at him full of concern.


    He opened his mouth to deny it, but he felt it would be a bad move, might earn him another lecture and damn, could her mother go in detail about politics.


    What did it matter if the world had to elect, or somehow choose a single representative to speak to their leader, it likely wouldn''t affect Alex in the slightest.


    So he simply shut his mouth, he knew that was usually a good idea with women, you couldn''t win an argument, even if you were right.


    There was a awkward pause, Vita looked at her feet and bit her lip, thankfully she broke it quickly.


    "This will be a tad bit harder than regular training, Alex. I''m not sure if you''re even ready for Alchemy." Vita sat down on the floor.


    "How much harder?" Alex scratched his neck.


    "A lot. It takes focus, or you spoil the regents. I''ll just teach you the healing elixir though, so it might be a bit easier. Without a solid education you''ll likely lose some potency though. Are you sure you want to try?" A conflicted look passed her face.


    "Yes." Alex kept his exasperation from his voice.


    "Alright." Vita sighed.


    That''s when things got real, Vita withdrew a dagger, Alex spooked and took a step back.


    "Alright. One second." Closing her eyes a barrel rose and formed at Vita''s bare feet.


    Alex frowned, he was getting a really bad vibe from the barrel, it was two feet high and thick enough to sit on.


    "Well. Let''s start. Fill it." Vita held the knife out at Alex.

 Interlude 3

    Sarah drew a lungful of wonderful air, she was on her knees, eye''s tearing up and on the verge of vomiting.


    She had just woken up after being choked to death, the hooded figure was awfully casual as he''d suffocated her, even bidding her a goodbye.


    She would be having nightmares for the rest of her life, she could feel it.


    ''Slow, deep slow breathes.'' Eye''s closed she steadied her breathing, a brief glance told her she wasn''t in the forest anymore.


    Gathering herself Sarah found herself somewhere she''d never seen before, a scorched ancient battlefield.


    Swords littered this new landscape, blackened bones wearing half melted rusty armor could sometimes be found intermingles amoungst the field.


    A stretch of hills blocked half the horizon, the sun was up and the ambient was probably desert hot, not that Sarah noticed.


    ''Where am I?'' Sarah organized her thought quickly.


    "ADARA!" Sarah yelled, her mind easily came to a conclusion, and damn it she needed answers.


    Silence greeted her, for a moment Sarah frowned and worried she had misjudged the situation.


    As time ticked by Sarah observed the scene, picking a random direction Sarah began to walk.


    It proved unnecessary.


    A shadow passed her by, it was the size of the entire field.


    Spooking, Sarah looked up and felt instinctual fear crawl up her spine.


    She was massive, with a wingspan the size of a football field Adara could be called nothing less than colossal.


    Red scales were glistened in the sky, a serpentine neck stretched forth, four limbs Sarah noticed.


    As she landed, Sarah felt a tremor on the ground and she took in a lungful of air, desperately she tried not to wet herself.


    It was one thing to know a dragon in human form, yet quite another to see it in person, her instincts screamed at her to run away screaming.


    The reptilian face reminded her an awful lot of a horned serpent, which added to her cringing, as the face approached Sarah took a few tentative steps back.


    Intellectually she knew Adara wouldn''t hurt her...hopefully, her body betrayed her though and it took everything she had to not dissolve into a screaming mess.


    "...hi" Sarah managed to squeak out, flushing at the pitiful sound.


    "Show me your memories." Adara''s voice thunderingly demanded, it was definitely her but the voice was harsher.


    "...what?" Sarah took an extra step back.


    "Show me how you died." Adara became more insistent.


    "How? WHY?" Sarah wanted nothing more than to bolt, Adara was scaring her.


    "Open your mind and bring the experience to mind." Adara explained and ignored her second question.


    The experience being so fresh it was hard to not think about it.


    Suddenly Sarah felt the familiar precense of Adara entering her mind, too late she feebly attempted to fight back.


    Adara broke through her defense as though it were not there.


    Instantly Sarah transitioned into a blank space which was her mind, a fully-clothed human-Adara was there arms folded, foot tapping and she looked hurried.


    "How...dare you." Sarah mustered up what little anger she could after pushing away her fear.


    "Bring forth your memories. You should not have succumbed so easily." Adara ignored her.


    "I. Are you listening to me?" Sarah glowered.


    "No. You are too weak, we have limited time. Stop wasting it. Bring forth your memories." Adara shot her an impatient look, completely out of character.


    Mouth hanging open, Sarah tried to figure out the rapid change in personality.


    "At this rate you''ll die little one. I need you ready." Adara''s face lost some of it''s impatience.


    "Why?" Sarah wanted to know what was happening, she''d just died and suddenly Adara was demanding.


    "I have been too soft, I realize this now, you do not need a friend, you need a teacher and I have failed you. Show me how you died." Adara''s face went neutral, her eyes were steely.


    "Can you please slow down and explain what''s happening?" Sarah kept her voice a whisper, attempting to tip-toe around the dragon.


    "...Your still alive, just asleep, even now your body is right where you went to sleep...." Adara began after a short impatient sigh.


    Adara explained about the dream, the catastrophe that was to come in the form of her universe maturing.


    As well as the reason for this whole fiasco, to prevent humanity from succumbing to mutation and to give them a fighting chance against the coming apocalyptic like events to follow.


    As Adara explained Sarah grew more and more angry as well as confused.


    "So you lied to me. You were behind this whole dream." Sarah declared, folding her arms defensively.


    "These series of events were not orchestrated by me, thus I am truly not the person whom brought you here, this would have occurred with or without me, I am merely a cog in a wheel so massive your world is but a speck compared." Adara shrugged.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source."A lie of omission then." Sarah pressed.


    "I told you I knew of whom caused this. I was forbidden from saying more, there are other reasons as well. Foreign essence would be more difficult to integrate with your awareness." Adara shrugged.


    "Who forbids you? I never consented to being brought along for something like this!" Sarah ranted.


    A cold slap to the face interrupted her, as well as shut her up.


    For a brief moment Adara seemed as surprised as Sarah, then her eyes sharpened again.


    "Listen to yourself child, you are weak yet charge so readily to your death. The leader whom drives this forward is an elder god. He could easily destroy or conquer your world." Adara frowned.


    Sarah fumed internally, not willing to upset Adara again.


    "Show me your memories, you need to become stronger. A lot faster." Adara folded her arms as well.


    Sarah fought down a myriad of insults and an ranting before her breathing calmed her.


    "...How?" Sarah reasoned it was perhaps best to move things along, Adara was being a lot more forceful.


    "Pull it from your memory and display it there." Adara instructed and pointed to a wall withing her inner-mind.


    It took some time but Sarah surprised herself by pulling it forth, suddenly a screen the size of a wall depicted her point of view.


    From then it took some more time to replay the exact memories Adara wanted to see.


    "Not just the hooded figure, show me how you tired yourself out." Adara demanded.


    She did, Adara stood there a pensive look on her face.


    "Why did you not set the forest on fire?" Adara asked.


    "What?" Sarah blinked as the question registered.


    "Why did you not set the forest on fire?" Adara repeated.


    "How would that have helped?" Sarah frowned.


    Adara''s mouth opened, closed, opened and closed, disbelief written plainly.


    "You were in a forest environment, fighting a lich and you didn''t think to surround yourself in flames? It would have provided ample fuel for your spells! Instead you wore yourself out directly conjuring up flames from the plane of fire." Adara exclaimed surprised.


    "I! I didn''t know you could do that!" Sarah defended herself.


    Adara sighed heavily and rubbed her face.


    "Shaping is far less fatiguing than conjuring, its obvious, have you not experimented? Also the trap you set. Why did you not lead the horde into a flaming death-trap? Instead you split your group, and divided your already low numbers." Adara admonished.


    "I...I..." Sarah stuttered as she tried to conjure up an excuse.


    "Not only that. You indirectly led to the death of your only healer as he rushed in to your rescue. That tall boy, Alex I believe? Healers aren''t to be risked needlessly so." Adara continued to admonish her.


    "I didn''t ask for that! I was under pressure alright, I''m new to all this!" Sarah tried to defend herself.


    Adara quieted and frowned at Sarah, clearly displeased as she sighed and shook her head.


    Sarah flushed beat red at her own tone, she sounded like one of the whinny twins when they found an excuse for something.


    "In a battle all it takes is one mistake. We have much work to do. For starters, you WILL learn to conjure demons. Only imps, hounds and shades for now. Going by how recklessly you spent the djinn''s energy you will need more fuel." Adara lectured.


    Sarah nervously licked her lips as an idea blossomed in her head.


    "I suppose I''ll need to find a way to pay her back as well." Sarah sighed, dejected.


    "What? Oh, that? No. There was no actual energy transfer, the djinn here are contractee''s looking for a fresh market. Your contracted djinn has already profited from this excursion, she likely has many new customers apart from yourself as well." A hint of a smile escaped Adara.


    Well that was some good news at least, though that sparked another idea, which Isemi had told Sarah of while fighting the lich.


    "What about that shield the lich used? It was definitely annoying to fight against. Can you teach me that?" Sarah inquired.


    "The barrier of energy? ....Well, you don''t have the luxury of scales, but remember yours will likely be much weaker and gutter out faster." Adara had a thoughtful look on her face.


    In Sarah''s opinion, if she could stop one life threatening attack, it would be worth it.


    Still she had to keep in mind if she ran out of power she was basically a log in the mill.


    Her experience played out once more, proving her point.


    "You also need some field experience. I''ve been....neglectful on this aspect. On another note have you been feeling off lately?" Adara turned to look at her, for a moment Sarah caught Adara shamefaced, it vanished quickly.


    At first Sarah dreaded the idea of ''field experience, then she stopped on her tracks because of the odd question, Adara kept her face carefully neutral.


    "Off how?" Sarah asked, it pained her to admit ignorance, perhaps she should have tested waters with an ambigous statement, yet it wasn''t her way to lie.


    "Never mind it is nothing of import, I was just curious. Let''s begin your training." Adara shook her head.


    Sarah frowned, it was obvious Adara was occulting information, possibly vital information.


    Should she push and ask for it, or would the dragon reveal it on her own time?


    "What-" Sarah began before she was interrupted.


    Adara vanished and Sarah blinking found herself face to face with her dragonic visage, she took a hasty step back.


    Fear wormed its way into her as dragonic eyes seemed to glare at her, it was likely her mind playing tricks on her though.


    With a great roar Adara transformed, it happened slowly as the dragon lit aflame and in under a minute Adara stood there once more in human form.


    "We will begin with demonic conjuring. It''s similar to djinn''s but less politeness and more demanding, at least at first, DON''T even think of trying stronger demons yet. We''ll cover the basic Sins and their respective use." Adara lectured as she strode forward.


    Once she was within arms length, reality shifted and the were in Adara''s study room once more.


    Adara swiftly took a seat, crossing a leg over her knee, all business.


    Motioning with her hand several books flew off shelves and deposited themselves on the table.


    Sarah saw that they were about eight books in total, anticipation surged and Sarah smiled, it seemed there was plenty of magic left to learn.


    She couldn''t wait.

 Interlude 4

    He looked at the pitiful creature before him, truly was there ever a creature so miserable and annoying?


    He''d broken her, that much was true, but could you blame him truly? She was just asking for it, screaming in his ear and flaring his temper.


    Besides, she needed to be stronger to survive the upcoming entertaining twist her universe would play on her race, at least that''s what he''d tell the annoying elder god''s cronies.


    They were so annoying, don''t do this, don''t do that, follow these rules, hell he was here to have fun, not babysit fodder whom would likely end up in a mutants belly soon.


    There she was again, crying in a corner attempting to block out reality.


    "Heh." He cackled at the inside joke, truly no one ever understood his sense of humor.


    He supposed he should say something, at least to get this over with, this whole experiment was becoming boring, more so than he had originally thought it''d be.


    Who knew switching sides would be this underwhelming, he missed his throne-room, this replica towering over his captial, well ex-capital now he supposed, was still extremely comfortable to lend back on.


    The room had been designed by his favorite architect, whom knew what awaited him should he fail to meet his standards, the walls only seemed transparent while they were study enough to withstand a colliding space-cruiser.


    He suppossed he could just lay back and enjoy it while it lasted, the new mansion granted to him wasn''t up to par.


    He rather liked the bed there though, ever if it was a tad smaller than his previous one.


    ''Ah. That fluffy goodness...'' A rare smile emerged from the corner of his pale lips, back home this smile would chill his vassels and freeze their hearts.


    Mulling over his smile a frown came to him, it wasn''t his fault his skin turned this unhealthy sheen, back during the wars he''d grabbed at power recklessly.


    It was either that or be destroyed, those weak fools fought like the weak always did, united and in large numbers, cowards and cheaters the lot of them.


    Why was it that rightous idiot''s always spewed on and on about honor and glory yet never wanted to fight fair? They always needed ''friends'' or a ''team'', the last idiot even had a whole god-damn army behind him, still their bones and those of their loved ones had made for a Glorious showing, the road itself was a little bumpy to be true.


    The memory of their long-dead cries brought a smile to his face, those were the days, he felt a surge of satisfaction.


    Where was he again? Oh yes..the girl.


    "Girl. Here." Summoning up a minisule surge of Psi, he brought forth the filled chalice.


    This similated reality was truly something, interlocking so many minds at once, the chalice itself was not of his making, even now it''s form and contents required none of his mental acuity to maintain.


    He knew someone else was keeping it''s form maintained, no mental construct could retain it''s form without someone specifically exerting Psi.


    He understood the core concept, no True Necromancer worth his power didn''t dabble in Psi, Psi while being the least physically menacing had an assortment of utility effects for both Qi and Spirit, such as granting thought to mindless undead or preset actions.


    The cost was also absurdly and astronomically high, even he, at the height of his power, would never waste so many resources as carelessly as Alastor the ''Enlightened'', how the sympathetic fool and his brood maintained power for so long he would never know.


    Looking up from the chalice his eyes spotted the cowering form of the girl, she hadn''t moved an inch, mumbling to herself.


    Annoying and worthless, why Myru wasted both their time on her he''d never know.


    Then again he was no oracle, so perhaps the pragmatic woman had seen farther than he, oracles were annoying that way sometimes.


    "Tch. Girl, drink this and you''ll forget everything and go home." A simple conversion and patterned spell later, the chalice floated directly infront of the girl.


    Contrary to common sense the girl fled from the water as thought it were a patch-work-ghoul made in haste.


    His patience took a hit, and he almost summoned a batch of skeletal servants to force it down her throat, chalice and all.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.Letting the spell fizzle out the chalice landed on the floor and rolled, oddly enough the water within remained stationary, unmoving and uncaring towards the forces of simulated gravity.


    "You vile beast." Myru appeared within his domain, unexpected as always.


    "Here for your new favorite?" He rolled his eyes at her.


    "You are so crass. Look at the poor girl." Myru eye''s shone with distain.


    He heard a simpering cry from the girl, he rolled his eyes for emphasis at Myru and smirked, let her ''try'' to see HIS future.


    Displeasure plainly written on her face Myru kneeled next to the girl, comforting her with petty comments.


    "I asked you to be careful." Myru''s pretty frown and blocked eyes glared at him.


    "She needs to be stronger than that." He shrugged uncaring.


    "My father will hear of this." Myru huffed.


    "Daddies favorite girl. Must be nice." A playful smirk decorated his face as Myru''s face contorted.


    "There will be consequences." Myru took on a neutral expression, to which he smirked.


    He knew her weakness, she relied on those combined psyhic powers too much, it was instinct by now really.


    She relied on them so much that when she couldn''t use them, she lost her all knowing suave, thus effectively crippling her on even footing.


    IF she could read his future, or his mind, perhaps then she''d realize he cared little over what Alastor could do to him.


    They wouldn''t kill him, if they even had the balls to try, not over a single little girl from some back-water planet whom was marginably more than an ape.


    His eyes tracked Myru as she made a genuine effort to bend over and pick up the chalice, he rather liked her.


    She was certainly a beauty, but he''d long transended attraction to mere flesh, while it did help, it was her spirit and sharp wit he would enjoying taming.


    Still there were certain bounderies Alastor would not abide, and despoiling his favorite little girl likely counted, plus he''d found he usually enjoyed the chase more than the conquest, quickly growing bored after.


    It was funny how people tended to crave the things just out of reach more than anything.


    "Jessica. Listen to me." Myru started as she approached, relucatance evident in her gait.


    "What do you people want! Leave me alone! PLEASE!" The girl held herself as she looked at the oracle.


    "Jessica. I need you to focus, there is an important choice you must now make." Myru faced her with patience.


    "I want to go home!" Jessica wailed.


    "And you will. Please listen to me." Myru added a hint of soothing compassion to her voice.


    "...what?" The girl, Jessica, squeaked as she sobbed.


    That was truly getting annoying, if Myru weren''t here he''d have already just stuffed the damnable liquid down her throat.


    Perhaps he should focus on the other interactions he was having, there were many people whom had chosen death, and he tended to many of them simultanously with a flick of his mind.


    Even now he was choking the life of a few of this girl''s fellow humans, others he was tearing limb from limb, and occasionally to the polite ones he just gave them instructions and they went on their merry way, those were the smart ones.


    Usually he truly focused on one or two though, splitting ones mind and focusing on everything at the same time was annoying, mostly because people were annoying, so many questions...over stupid little things.


    A miniscule portion of his focus was all he required to listen in on the conversation between Myru and the girl.


    "...and so if you choose to forget, your parents will die." Myru finished.


    The girl remained silent and he watched her internal struggle, it was quite enteraining to be honest.


    He loved the endless depths people would go on either side, choices they made, those moments when you were broken or remade.


    She was litterally shaking, staring at the chalice while horror and reality weighed on her mind, would she break more?


    A brief flash of cold steel in her eyes made him raise a brow, followed shortly by resignation and sobbing.


    "I''ll keep my memories." Tears streamed down her eyes.


    "Do you wish to meet your new friends?" Myru asked.


    The girl shook her head.


    "Very well. Rest child. When you awaken, you shall be home." Myru placed a hand on her shoulder and she vanished.


    Only he and Myru remained on this ''space''.


    "Excellent performance." He smirked, he had to hand it to her, Myru was pragmatic, unlike her father.


    Just because she couldn''t see HIS future didn''t mean she couldn''t see this girls one, if Myru had truly wanted them not to meet, she could have done it.


    "Her chances are much higher now." Myru scowled at him.


    "''Chances'' that will benifit you and your father the most you mean?" He smiled as her scowl deepened, she was easy to read, as well as goad.


    "...You think I revel in this? I balance the lives of billions! WARS do not win themselves! I choose the course of least blood!" Myru glared at him, before quickly mastering herself.


    "Oh, I don''t doubt that. I just call it as I see it, after-all if you kill a man for a greater cause or for his money, does it make him any less dead?" He smiled as Myru fumed.


    Without another word, Myru vanished.


    He closed his eyes and leaned back, this throne was truly heavenly, he''d miss it.

 Interlude 5

    Eian found the experience of fighting someone closer to his strenght much different.


    He was bare from the waist up as a shirt was a disadvantage in this scenario.


    Taking a stance Eian held both palms out ready, his opponent eyed him carefully, both fists clentched.


    Bursting into motion Eian swayed forward to throw of his opponent, a colliding fist met his shoulder.


    Barreling forward Eian tackled his opponent, whom quickly grabbed his neck and pushed him off with each hand, a tense cord of muscle found a place behind his neck.


    Struggling Eian fought back savagely swinging his neck about to dislodge the arm, attempting to wrap an arm under a leg and throw them to the floor.


    Suddenly a hand gripped his hair, pulling his neck backwards and a punch connected to his face.


    Desperate, Eian kneed the guy between his legs.


    "KAWH!" Gary dropped to the floor on his knees mouth agape, spewing nonsense.


    A quick fist, followed by a rapid backhand sent him to the floor on his back.


    Gary wiped his face and a perpertual scowl decorated it as he spat blood on the floor, lips bloody.


    "Ye both suck." Ul watched on shaking his head.


    "HE KICKED ME IN THE NUTS! MY NUTS! D''FUCK DUDE!" Gary was red-faced and fuming.


    "HEY! YOU GRABBED MY HAIR!" Suddenly Eian wanted to punch him again.


    The two hot heads almost clashed, but the earth cracking snapped their eyes back to Ul.


    "Kid one. Hair''s a weakness, easy to grab and it bares the neck ''n head." Ul pointed to Eian.


    All the while, Ul gripped at the air, as though it were a physical representation of Eian''s hair.


    "Kid two." Ul started.


    "why am I kid two...." Gary mumbled under his breathe.


    "Shet it. Mind the family jewels, or ye''ll lose ''em someday." Ul smirked, Gary looked a bit pale.


    Ul had told Eian it was probably best to fight someone from his world, and lo'' and behold, there Gary was, apparently he also had an Earth-element spirit.


    "''Nyways, ye both got some bad habits. Fast fights ''re good fights, get close, play dirty and don''t hold back." Ul barked out a laugh.


    Here they were, for what must be like twenty rounds, Ul unleashed them both at each other''s throats and made them pretty much tear each other to shreds.


    As they''d both reverted Gary was physically in better shape than Eian and apparently had prior training with some kind of martial sport, still Ul said it had given him bad habits, as that thing appearently wasn''t designed to kill.


    Losses were as common as wins, Eian fought dirty, going for eyes, balls, and more recently both hair and face, but Gary was wisening up to those and his muscles gave him a slight edge.


    "This is a waste of time." Eian grumbled, wiping a bloody nose.


    "You''re a waste of time dick-head." Gary smirked.


    "Fuck you. And at least mine still works." Eian growled, Gary opened his mouth.


    "Shet it!" Ul''s bellow drew their attention.


    Ul glared at both of them for some time.


    "Explain." Ul looked at Eian, arms crossed.


    Angry, Eian drew blank at first, before organizing his thoughts and bringing forth an important worry Eian had, he tried to think of the best way to get his idea through.


    "Well. In my....our world we have guns, if we are going to be fighting other people isn''t it more useful to just use those?" Eian frowned, he''d realized this ever since Ul had told him about the world changing.


    He didn''t know if Ul knew what fire-arms were, but given that he knew about various worlds he likely did, or at least a close or the magic equivalent.


    After all a gun can kill people from far away and can penetrate even metal armor, what use was practicing against humans if they had those?


    "Right, figured ye weren''t a complete dolt, kid one, yes fire-arms are a problem. At least for yer immediate future. As ye grow it''ll resolve itself, but ye gotta stay alive that long first." Ul stoked his beard.


    "Hey are you-" Gary started.


    "Shet it! I''m explaining here." Ul rolled his eyes.


    Eian snickered and his smirk widened as Gary glared at him.


    "Either way, best way not te meet the ol'' grumpies down under''s to prepare. A strong Rock armor''ll stop most normal ammo and Qi Cladding''ll work well if yer strong enough too, stings like a belt on the buttucks though. Both of those run on power though, which is limited. If yer caught with yer breeches down, then well...let''s just say yer fucked." Ul laughed, it was rather annoying.


    "That doesn''t solve the issue. And who the fuck are the old grumpies?" Gary crossed his arms with a frown.


    "I''m wondering the same thing. The bullet problem I mean." Eian looked at Ul as the dwarf sighed.


    "Kids, rude and impatient." Ul replied with a scowl.


    They stood there in silence, and Eian scratched his neck, waiting.


    Ul looked up and seemed to think for a while.


    "Look here, boys. Biggest problem a warrior''s got is getting close, especially ''gainst people, they''re smarter than beasts and fight different. Mages tend te shoot us from afar, same problem with guns, only worse since rock-armor and cladding sometimes ain''t ''nough. Espers use ''em tricks to fool us. Best way''s te get reliable armor, AND SLEEP IN IT, I don''t know if ye''ll get some reliable stuff there in yer world though. Second best is te choose yer fights wisely, that won''t work all da time, fights come suddenly. So how do ye solve the problem?" Ul looked at both of them with squinted eyes.


    Eian looked to Gary, whom looked back and shrugged, they both looked at Ul helplessly, whom shook his head.


    "Walls are one. Rock walls''ll stop some stuff. Bonus is it''ll give ye cover, hard te hit what they can''t see. Biggest problem here''s pulling it from nowhere, ''s a big drain, ye gotta got some good stuff ''bout te shape it. Worse comes, dig and hide till shit stops flying, HA!" Ul pointed to the rocky mountain wall.


    Eian raised an eyebrow at the remark.


    "I thought you''d be against hiding." Eian remarked as he tried to fit the idea of hiding from bullets, it felt cowardly, while it would sting his pride, it meant living and really wasn''t that what mattered?


    "I''m also against dying. There was this one time, barely out the crib I was, a nearby Hive appeared, some hybrid Juggernaut Tunneler types, nasty mix those buggers, some got past the routine scans and the defenders acted too slow. Me mum locked us in a reinforced bunker we kept ''bout just in case. Pops designed it, made it, then hired to enchant it, back then that was expensive stuff. Lots of people died, but not I, pops thought ahead even though people thought he was crazy for buying the damn thing, heck mum thought he was crazy... Well kid one, kid two, moral o the story is he who laughs last, laughs cause he''s still bloody alive. HAHAHAHAA!" Ul laughed on for quite some time.


    As Ul''s laugh died down, he continued.


    "Right, another good way''s to use an energy barrier. At the level ye both got yer Mind thsgra''s it''ll be close to impossible though...So ye got to boost yer noggin a bit fer ye te pull it off quick enough fer a fight ''nyways. Down side''s yer regular defense''ll take a tad longer te reach that way." Ul looked at both of them.


    Frowning Gary asked the question for him.


    "What''s an energy barrier? Can it stop a bullet? And how many points in Mind do I need?" Gary stared at Ul with intense focus, as if missing this meant living or dying, which when you thought about might actually be true.


    The questions focused Eian, energy barrier, he rolled the words over his tongue.


    "Barrier''s a shield that surrounds ye kid two, ''n with ''nough power it''ll stop anything but it''s costly. I prefer MY armor. I''d say five''s the bottom-marker on Mind, thing''s ''ll take practice, but ye''ll be decent enough to apply some basic stuff, I mean lots o practice though. Days fer simple stuff, maybe weeks." Ul clarified.


    "How many days?" Gary asked, he was pretty insistent.


    "That boy, depends on talent. Effort too. Look Ah can''t force ye te choose yer path, but my advice is te quickly kill monsters, anything that''s even slightly magic ''ll boost ye bit by bit. Beat everyone te the punch ''n get yerselves te yer peak on both body n spirit first, the combo''ll make it less likely ye''ll die to something crazy. Like ammo shots." Ul advised.


    Eian''s face tightened slightly as Ul mentioned their peak, that had been mentioned before as a racial limit if he remembered correctly.


    "And when we hit our peaks? How do we pass it?" Eian asked.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it."That. Boy. I can''t quite teach completely." Ul scratched his chin.


    "Why?" Gary beat Eian to the question.


    "Fer starters passing the first ones'' usually ain''t TOO hard te figure out. Each limit has a different bust too, ''n those got limits too. Fer Body or rather Qi ye condense the core. Mind''s tricky, different and often personal to each person, so I can''t help ye there. Spirit''s tough though, ye got te siphon off power from yer element''s plane and absorb it, hurts worse than being mushed to paste. Further than that we don''t tell ye just yet, who knows what''ll happen. Wars? Bandits? Killers usually advance quickest, since they ain''t got problems killing regular folk, so boss man says we hold back on that fer now. Most people stagnate after a while too." Ul looked up.


    That took Eian by surprise, Gary scowled.


    "Aren''t you supposed to help us get stronger and surive? Besides! Those things you just said make no sense! " Gary let out, clentching his fists.


    "Can a fish teach a horse te swim? It''s impossible te teach it to ye, ye got to experience it yerself. A'' right, we also don''t want te help only te find the place empty with only some powerful dolt or dolts whom used ye te become a monster. ''Sides like I said it ain''t too hard the first few times. Word''ll get around." Ul shrugged.


    "Can you repeat those for me?" Eian asked, he didn''t catch it quite.


    "Fer Qi refine the core, Minds personal and tricky but ye usually do it meditating in yer mindscape-" Ul was about to continue.


    "And what''s a mindscape?" Gary interruptted, to which Ul shot him a dirty look.


    "Mindscape''s sort o like yer inner mind, useful fer practicing PSI stuff, ye need at ''bout five mind I''d say. Spirit ye got te siphon power from an elemental plane, pull deeply and hold on te as much as ye can. OH! and don''t try te do these things before ye hit yer peak." Ul warned.


    "Why not?" Gary asked on the off-hand.


    "Ye''ll cripple yerself. If ye surive." Ul warned and gave them both the stink eye.


    "Right, got it." Gary nodded quickly, Eian gave a quick nod too.


    Ul nodded, then put on his helmet.


    "Well enough warm-up. Ah think, it''s ''bout time ye both learn some team work." Ul said, Eian had the distinct feeling he was smiling under the helmet, his heart sank.


    ******


    They lay in a large uneven stoney field, puffing erratic, hearts rocketing at a thousand RPM.


    "Hey my buddy, Eian... You were the front liner for your team right?" Gary asked nicely, profound wetness could be seen clearly in his eyes with a touch of desperation.


    "Fuck you. I ain''t vanguarding him." Eian flipped him the finger from the floor.


    "Aw come on buddy, you chicken?" Gary''s condensating tone made him want to grab the little shit by the throat and strangle him.


    "Fuck you. And the answer''s still NO." Eian clarified, as he huddled under cover.


    A resounding shatter of stone, followed quickly by sharpel gave Eian the shivers and his mouth suddenly felt dry.


    "Come on kid one, kid two. Ye both wanted to test out fire-arms right?" Ul gloated hefting The Monstrosity.


    The Monstrosity, as Eian called it, looked like a cross between a bazoka and a cannon, Ul hefted it on his shoulder casually.


    The impact blew off limbs, as well as splattering them all over the place, rock armor was useless, and it had left both their eyes bloodshot.


    Each time, Ul shot at them, aiming solely for limbs he said, they had to practice the art of molding stone quickly enough to provide cover, apparently they needed two sets of Empower active to shape it fast enough.


    Fear was the greatest motivator, according to Ul.


    Ul at least had the decency to restore them to their fully upgraded selves, else they''d be ripe for slaughter.


    Looking at the muzzle of The Monstrosity, Eian''s legs flared like fire, igniting his Qi he hurled himself away just as an ear-shattering sound burst forth.


    Two Empowers were already active and he channeled power up his shoulder to his hand as he rolled, fear and adrenaline coursed through his veins, clearing his mind and coordinating his intent and power.


    Half-deaf Eian prayed the stone wall erected properly, even as the cold hard floor greeted his back before he finished the roll, thankfully the impact on the stone floor only felt like hardened wood.


    Recovering swiftly Eian bolted randomly, gooseboomps up his back as another explosion rang farther away, swiftly followed by a high pitched scream.


    Cold sweat dribbled down his face as the implication settled in, Gary was down, that wasn''t the important part, it meant Ul would now fully focus on HIM.


    Eian powered another Empower and swiftly erected three seperate mounds swiftly draining his reserves, misdirection was key, if Ul hit one he wasn''t behind it meant more time before the next round.


    ''God. Please save me.'' Eian prayed truly for the first time in years.


    Closing his eyes, Eian opened his new sense, Eyes of the Earth as Ul quoted, here it was truly a life saver.


    Everything connected by solid minerals on the floor became known to him in a dull hazy sense, he focused quickly finding a heavy set of footsteps, heart-pounding his anger clouded his judgement, he burnt through the last of his reserve and send a concentrated earth spike towards Ul.


    As expected it had little effect, he Saw it shatter harmlessly upon Ul''s hazy form, cursing beneath his breath Eian closed his eyes and quickly tried to recover his reserve.


    Power trickled in almost agonizingly slow even as he felt Ul approach.


    An explosion sounded out, making him cringe, luckily he felt no sharpel, meaning Ul hit another mound, he wasn''t using Eyes of the Earth appearently, at least the goat-fucker had some decency.


    Desperate Eian began crawling his way into the stone beneath his feet, power low he went in slowly, another shot rang out and Eian felt flinging shards pelt the tope of his head, they bounced off harmlessly.


    Re-doubling his effort Eian dug, as Ul got closer Eian abandoned the dig and ignited his Qi bolting like thunder.


    Pain, overwhelming pain caught his leg, suddenly he realized he was flying, landing on stone with a resounding smack.


    Gritting his teeth he crawled away.


    He blinked and Ul stood before him, Gary was sitting on the floor cursing, massaging his arm, phantom pain was a bitch.


    "Right, well let''s try something smaller." Ul smiled, he bared forth a long tube, flowing intricate runes wriggled upon the surface.


    "Fuck dude! Give us a break!" Gary pleaded.


    "YEAH!" Eian swiftly nodded as he collapsed on the floor.


    "Bah, fine. Five, then we get back te work. Ye boys need more shaping up." Ul started.


    As they rested Ul explained the exercise.


    "This baby be shooting fast, but a strong rock-armor''ll work on stopping it, Qi cladding''ll work too, we gonna practice those two along with dodging and fast molding. Good job on the mounds last round Kid one." Ul finished, congradulating Eian.


    Eian for his part, wondered when he did to deserve this special brand of hell.


    He couldn''t wait to leave, he''d take zombies and monsters any day, but Ul was the evil incarnate.


    *****


    The time was nigh, Ul looked at the prone forms of both kids, they were barely past childhood really.


    He pitied them in a way, the challenges they would face were numerous, they''d lose loved ones and their whole world would turn itself on it''s head.


    He''d prepared these two as best he could, investments which would hopefully not only survive, but thrive.


    His own world had matured long before his birth, but Ul himself had fought against several invasions from Conquerers, before boss man came and took them under his wing, literally.


    Those wars were hard-fought and his people sufferred much to retain their freedom, clashing against armies filled with dull-eyed slaves, ravenous undead, powerful Golems, flying ships, magic stinking of blood and corruption, even elderich monstrousities which the Conquerers either tamed, enslaved or bargained with.


    Ul himself had struck the final blow upon a Conquerer, it was the single most difficult thing he''d even done, a gigantic three-headed mutated dragon whom had managed to retain it''s sanity despite mutation, it''s skin had warped and it had taken a chaotic hue of black and grey scales, many friends and comrades paid the price in blood to buy him the chance and he didn''t waste it.


    Wincing he rubbed his chest armor, underneath he kept the scars the beast had inflicted upon his being, healers spent years tending to him, forcing his body to live, despite terrible pain, until finally he was healed and lauded a hero.


    Nowadays he mostly spent his time forging powerful weapons for the boss man''s top men and women, the lowest of whom were peak Immortals like him, the most powerful were just a step below the boss man, gods.


    Many of his compatriots considered Ul''s methods extreme, they teach their students magic the normal way, showing them what was possible and letting them figure it out, lessons straight out a classroom.


    A whole bunch of hogwash that was, these people didn''t need to be taught to be engineers, nor were they the graduates of some fancy academy, they needed te be battle ready fer the horrors they''d face.


    And if there was one thing Ul was damn good at was forging a damn good weapon, whether that be hammering away impurities, blancing the weight to perfection, or sharpenning it till it drew blood as it''s purpose.


    Over-all in this iteration of the program he''d taught barely two handful of new warriors, the number was abysmally low due to the fact most quit his training after one lesson.


    He''d taught mostly men this time, but here and there he found a few females whom were made of sturdy steel, hopefully they wouldn''t break.


    Shaking his head he snapped out of his brief lapse of concentration, he must be getting old.


    Dismissing his runed repeating bayonet, it was a standard edition police of his home used, it operated on stored elemental energies, which created pellets and shot them at rapid speeds.


    They weren''t the most deadly fire-arms out there, barely more than a toy really, but from his understanding this new world was stuck at this level of technology for the most part.


    "A''right kid one, kid two, times finally up. Ye''ll both go meet yer friends, if they want te, and if ye want te too." Ul looked at them both briefly, question implied.


    "Hell Yeah! I mean...I guess I should say bye." Gary, kid two, rubbed his face, an elated expression crossed his face.


    Ul chuckled, it was obvious the boy was relieved to be done with practice.


    "Yeah, I gotta say good bye to the guys." Eian, kid one, scratched his head, whom also looked happy to be leaving.


    "Well, don''t forget, my offer stands, find me and I''ll make ye stronger than ye ever dreamed." Ul smiled, flashing pristine teeth with a winning smile.


    Both boys paled at the thought, making him smile all the wider, the offer was genuine, but over the years he''d found few took him up on it.


    Dispite being strong willed and coping with his training, most people tended to prefer a life of ease and complaceny over strife and Ul delighted in finding those select few whom chose a life of hardship and power, it wasn''t an easy life but it was fullfilling.


    The pay was wonderfull too, and it brought a smile to his face just thinking of his bonus awaiting him.


    Drink that could still affect someone of his caliber was rare, and inordinately expensive, how was a guy supposed to get drunk when bottles of the stuff would bankrupt kings?


    "Well I ain''t big on good-byes, but we probably won''t meet again. See ya later kid one, kid two, it''s been fun. Good-luck." Smiling at the thought of alcohol, Ul waved his hand and they both vanished.


    He similarly dismissed his other students with his other split-avatars.


    The job was finally done, and things were on schedule, a dwarf has priorities.


    "Time te get smashed." Ul smiled as he detached his conscience from the Network.


    Getting off a comfortable bed, he looked around at his workshop in search of booze.

 Interlude 6

    Vita was having the time of her life, she had finally gotten to meet new people, and humans!


    She''d studied the traditional herb-lore, beast magics and alchemy of her people for well over a century since her awakening.


    Awakenings refer to when a dryad becomes sentient, and that happens naturally with age, her family then teach the mewling spirit how to interact with the world.


    Life was good in her grove, she never had bad soil, the weather was wonderful thanks to their ever friendly sylphs and her family showered her with love, their world fell under the jurisdiction of a greater lord whom ruled peacefully and joined Lord Alisters alliance long before she was even a sapling.


    Her world was a major producer of a wide variety of healing products and food, rendering great aid to other more impoverished worlds, other worlds specialized on other things.


    Everything from potent elixirs, to mana regeneratives, to pills that recreated limbs, as for food they produced mostly fruits and vegetables, but certain animals were grown in the wilds and hunted.


    Not everything could thrive on vegetation after all and some people required meat for a stable diet, it was all part of the cycle of life and death.


    The only problem was she could barely move very far, in terms of her people she was little young-ling, and like so many of her sisters and cousins she craved something adventurous!


    Sometimes she contemplated rash things, but for the most part she recognized them as a flight of fancy, to leave and explore the worlds, righting wrongs and bringing happiness to other misfortunates.


    ''Speaking of misfortune.'' Vita turned her attention to her new friend.


    Vita stared at Alex, he looked a bit down, as well as distracted, was he sad? Was he hurt somewhere?


    She didn''t like him sad, he was the nicest one of humans she had recently met, the others were either creeps, bores, or still angry with her over those little pranks.


    He took time to actually explain things about humans and humored her curiosity as well as being polite and forgiving her for the prank.


    The whole blood extraction was different for him so maybe it was that, for her she would have to remove sap from her bark to recreate an elixir of this type.


    It was wonderful to be able to interact this way with people other than her sisters and animal companions, even if it was a little weird, she loved how her mother finally gave her this opportunity.


    "Alex are you alright?" She asked curious.


    "Huh? Yeah." Alex responded despondently.


    He went back to working the most recent attempt at the creation of a healing elixir, he resumed his silent brooding, and she frowned at a loss of what to do.


    He was usually so cheerful, that was her favorite Alex, this version was too broody and it bugged her, maybe she should cheer him up.


    ''Maybe I should try something new.'' Vita tossed her mind to tales her other sisters recounted to her of their humans.


    She had to admit she was curious, after-all there were so many things to try with this form and humans were so interesting.


    Perhaps she should try to distract him from his worries, why humans worried about so many little things she''d never know.


    Mind decided she took several steps back, disappearing from his line of sight, she eyed him like prey, slowly sneaking behind him she made sure to mask her presence.


    "BOO!" Vita tickled Alex''s midsection.


    "Ack!" Bowling forward Alex''s most recent attempt splattered to the floor.


    A moment passed as Alex stared with his mouth open at the result on the floor, Vita smiled, she liked that look.


    ''Do they normally do that? If they do a bee might get in there. Do humans eat bees?'' Vita tilted her head sideways.


    Red faced, Alex stomped the floor before sitting down and rubbing his face.


    Shrugging she labeled this attempt a failure.


    With a pulse of PSI she restored the splattered attempt.


    "Why did you do that?" Alex asked as he stared at the restored ''elixer'' attempt.


    "Because you were trying so hard on it?" Vita tilted her head, did he not want her to restore it?


    "What?" Alex asked, she nodded completely confused along with him.


    A moment passed in brief silence, as Alex brooded.


    "You look sad, so I wanted to distract you." Vita smiled at him, she rather liked smiling, to show her joy to everything and everyone.


    She stared at him as he sighed, was he mad? It was hard to tell what upset humans, they were so touchy about some stuff, Alex was nice enough though.


    Another brief idea flashed through her mind.


    ''Perhaps. Fi said that other boys rather enjoyed it, she had gone on and on about it too...'' Vita observed Alex''s face as he had gone back to concentrating.


    Slowly appraoching Vita stared at Alex, Alex quickly caught on to her look.


    "What?" Alex frowned.


    Smile widenning, she pounced on him, sending them to the floor.


    "Wait! What are you~ mhh?" Alex cut off as her lips met his.


    Oh yes...she was rather enjoying this, the tongue too right?


    Once they came up for air, Alex was panting with wide doey eyes, the look was priceless and she giggled.


    "Wait...." Alex leaned backwards escaping her.


    ''Is this that thing Fi said? Where they pretend to not like it?'' Vita smirked, she leaned forward towards Alex.


    "... Where is this coming from?" Alex was huffing slightly, he looked slightly out of breathe.


    "I can''t want to cheer you up?" Vita demurely asked with a grin.


    "Uhh..." He looked at a loss for words.


    "You know...there''re many things I want to try..." Vita smiled.


    ''This is going to be fun.'' Vita sized him up, crawling on all fours towards him.


    Stradling him, she looked deeply into his shocked eyes, quickly she pulled his pants, baring his naked form.


    He seemed ashamed for some odd reason and tried to cover up, pulling him into another kiss she wore away at his relucatance, until only eager anticipation remained.


    Slowly she lowered herself unto him as new sensations flooded into her.


    ''YES! This IS going to be so much fun.'' Vita released a low moan, which quickly turned into an excited high pitched laugh.


    ****


    Stunned Alex lay there in bed, right next to Vita, whom was staring at him with a smug smile, while laying on her belly.


    "What?" Alex asked awkwardly.


    The sex had been a great help in distracting him from thoughts of Jess, but now that he started thinking with his upper head he felt things went from normal to bizzar in a few....sittings?


    "Nothing. I''m glad you''re feeling better." Vita palmed her cheek, peddling her feet back and forth in the air.


    "Uhh....thanks?" Alex coughed.


    ''And here I thought you were innocent.'' Alex smiled awkwardly.


    Vita outright laughed at his awkwardness, cementing in his mind that this was just a friendly fling and nothing serious.


    ******


    Hours later, Alex once more glared at the darkened vial in his hands, his most recent attempt was an abysmal failure, the futility was most vexing.


    He only wished he could recover from the blood loss much more rapidly, Vita claimed it was important not to over-estimate his body''s natural limit, thus she only restored him when she deemed it necessary.


    After so many tries he was definitely feeling under the weather, his energy wasn''t coming as quickly and he tended to lose focus more and more, it was likely his mind though.


    "Alex why don''t you stop. We can practice something else." Vita advised from her corner.


    "Can you restore me again please?" Alex asked, the stress was getting to him.


    "Alex, listen please you already know the process. The last one you made was adequate. I don''t want you thinking you can just make these everyday and make a habit of it." Vita pleaded with concern.


    Alex sighed, what did it matter how many times she restored him here? He couldn''t die here, at least not from this experiment as he understood it.


    He needed the practice or this whole thing would be a waste of time, it made him want to throw up his hands in expaseration.


    Turning back to face the ''elixer'' he noted the condensed blood was dense and dark, completely unlike the golden-amber-hue Vita demonstrated.


    The one previous to this had been a bright crimson red, strangely once stoppered the blood itself still swirled and moved, as it alive, it made Alex distinctly uncomfortable knowing this had come from his blood, or rather his imaginery blood.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    "Alex, take a break with me." Vita purred, biting his ear.


    Suddenly Alex''s mood took a complete turn and he smiled, with Vita at his side he found himself thinking less and less on his break-up with Jessica and more on the lovely dryad in front of him.


    "A break sounds great." Alex suddenly felt a lot better, invitation accepted.


    "I thought so too." Vita smiled coyly, gently guiding him to a bed.


    Dressed skimply in leaves as well as a simple bra, Vita remained dressed as Alex grabbed her by the waist and spun her unto the bed.


    Her skimpy skirt parted easily as her mounted her, pinning her against the fabric.


    Bull-like Alex slowly forgot everything with each thrust, his worries, inadequecies, even painful memories, the moment was all that mattered.


    Her moans made him grabbed her by the legs, as sweat dribbled down his neck, her lithe legs wrapped around him and her moaning pitched.


    Ensuring her orgasms twice more and he doubled his effort, he lightly bit her neck as he felt himself hardenning further, followed quickly by an overflowing release.


    Panting Alex rolled over to her left, out of breath, collapsing from his finished effort, both relief and exhaustion settled into him.


    They laid there basking in their afterglow, untill Vita rolled a top him.


    "My turn." She smiled viciously, a venerable tigeress had found her next meal.


    Appearently there were many benifits to being able to recover from fatigue with a thought.


    *****


    "I mean it Alex. I need to teach you other things." Vita was tracing circles on his chest.


    "I feel I''ve learnt quite a lot." Alex smiled coyly, giving her a playful wink.


    Did he sound smug? He felt smug.


    "Goof. Don''t think I don''t know what you''re doing." Vita smacked his shoulder playfully.


    "Roger, I get it. No need to get so aggressive." Alex lifted his hands up as if giving up.


    "Good." Vita removed herself from him.


    Her skimpy clothing unruffled itself quickly, tidying itself up in no time, molding itself to perfectly refit her curves, Alex stared.


    "So... you said something new?" Alex questioned, snapping out of his fudge.


    So far he was stuck mostly as a healer and even though he knew that was an important role, he sort of wanted something more combat oriented.


    You can''t really survive by only healing after all, monsters don''t kill themselves, Sarah and Eian had been far better than he at killing monsters and it sort of made him feel...was un-macho a word?


    He didn''t really get his hopes up much though, Vita didn''t look much like a war goddess, a sex goddess on the other hand...


    "How about learning a stalled method of healing?" Vita tilted her neck to a side.


    "A what?" Alex rubbed his temple.


    "It''s good for things like constant enviornmental hazards, just pushing healing into someone can be wasteful. Extreme temperatures, airborne poisons are easier to deal with this way." Vita clarified.


    "I guess... What else can I learn?" Alex wanted something more battle oriented.


    "Hmmm....OH! I know, I can teach you to have your healing target a specific area entirely. It''ll heal every living thing you target, as well as damage undead in the area." Vita smiled.


    "Actually, I don''t want to offend but, do you have something I can use in a straight-up fight?" Alex asked.


    "OH! Well...yes, but I thought you were going to be a healer, like my sister advised." Vita tapped her chin, still smiling.


    "Roger that, but I figured there''s no reason I can''t do both. I mean, it''d be good for me to be able to defend myself." Alex smiled at her antics.


    "Oh, in that case, I''ll teach you the basic battle-spell I know: Over-drive. There are other spells, but I''m not a proficient warrior. Sorry." Vita gave a light smile, a faint blush crept up her neck.


    "It''s fine! Anything you can teach me is good." Alex raised his hands up placatingly.


    "Goof." Vita teased.


    Rolling himself off the bed, Alex asked an important question.


    "Could you please...use your cleaning trick?" Alex tried to sound relaxed.


    "...Maybe if you ask nicely." Vita''s smug smile, drew forth a sigh.


    "Pretty please?" Alex infused as much fake enthusiasm as he could.


    ******


    "Well Over-drive is simple really. It invigorates you''re body past it''s regular limit, making you stronger and faster." Vita started.


    "Why didn''t you teach me this before!" Alex''s eyes practically shone, finally something that sounded remotely useful.


    "Simple really, it''s not Qi, the more you push yourself the more damage your body sustains, even with your enhanced body, it''ll eat your reserves steadily. Just expect the battle rush, addiction is a serious risk and my mother told me many battle maniac''s got addicted to it''s high." Vita finished.


    "...Soooo it hurts? How much?" Alex tensed, depending on the answer he might only use it when he really needed to.


    "...I personally have never used it, being a dryad, but from my understanding it doesn''t hurt much, while your under it''s effects at least. If you don''t heal yourself prior to stopping it likely will though, the amount probably varies: how far you pushed, how much you healed yourself and how strong your actual body is. Qi is much more suited to this form of combat, but this can be used along with it." Vita explained.


    Alex looked up and reflected on that.


    ''So, I should probably learn to use Qi.'' Alex thought.


    "How do I use Qi again?" Alex asked, he couldn''t quite remember.


    "Oh that... You need to form a core, which... should happen naturally by reaching seven in Body, after that....your core will start generating Qi at eight, which you will learn to use naturally. Control training should also help though. I''m no expert Alex, I don''t have a body like yours." Vita seemed a bit uncertain and for some reason she wasn''t looking Alex in the eye.


    "Roger, so how do you fight?" Alex ased as he looked at her with a smile.


    "....I don''t. I usually can''t move too far from my body." Vita quieted.


    ''Wow that must be so sad.'' Alex thought to himself, pity making him really feel for the otherwise cheerful girl.


    Alex frowned at that thought, Vita seemed to flinch at his expression, which completely baffled Alex.


    That raised a few questions, how did they move away from their parents....or was it parent? Alex was confused now.


    "Are you alright? Is there any way I can help you with that?" Alex let his concern show.


    "...Well yes, but don''t worry about me." Vita''s expersiion brightened quickly at his question.


    "What is it?" Alex asked.


    "Don''t worry about it Alex. Focus on surviving your world. I have my sisters and I can experience the world through some of my animal friends. I''m happy." Vita blessed his question with a radiant smile, it''s sheer intensity actually made him blink.


    Pouting slightly Alex felt his curiousity skyrocket.


    "Are you sure?" Alex raised an eyebrow, he tried to keep his tone casual.


    "Curious?" Vita smiled brightly.


    "Nevermind." Alex sighed, he wasn''t willing to walk into another trap and her current vibe totally eminated that feeling.


    "Aw. He-he-he. Let''s try teaching you Over-drive. A large open space sounds good." Vita patted him on the shoulder.


    "On it boss lady." Alex inwardly sighed, his curiousity slightly dampening his mood.


    *****


    Alex lost track of time, but he estimated at least a day or two had passed, likely more since he was actually having some fun.


    Over this time he''d subtly tried to coax Vita to spill the secret, but she seemed to somehow be on to him, deftly evading his questions and teasing him relentlessly when he showed even the slightest interest.


    All he had managed to garner was that it was somewhat frowned upon in her culture, as well as it required quite a bit of trust on her side, the scarcity of information kept fueling his curiousity.


    "Goof! Focus!" Vita chided him lightly.


    Alex grit his teeth and pushed as his blood boiled along with a rising adrenaline rush.


    Muscles contacting, Alex heaved the stone and with some effort lifted it over his head, he tossed it to his left, which landed a good five feet away.


    Self satisfied Alex, took in a breathe of ''fresh'' air, Vita had explained the whole place being a big illusion thing, it felt so real though, so Alex decided it was best to just ignore it for now.


    Over-drive as it turned out wasn''t unbarebly painful, it felt a little similar to running full sprint on tired muscles, definatly uncomfortable though.


    The rush from Over-drive was definetly nice, mentally Alex noted people in his home would gladly work out every day to experience it, it wasn''t as intense as sex, but damn it was better than beer and rum.


    The only time he''d actually felt Over-drive hurt was when he misjudged his healing, after he came down from the most intense adrenaline rush ever he forgot to heal himself causing him to fall to the floor with intense cramps.


    ''Man I definetly couldn''t lift that thing normally, I guess this makes me stronger by about an entire half more, and that''s just pushing average. Then again Vita said pushing too much can really hurt...so maybe an emergency?'' Alex pondered, staring around the open field.


    "Alex, it''s time. You should go meet your friends. You''ve learnt Overdrive well enough and those other little things I taught you just need practice." Vita gave him a small smile.


    "....Roger." Alex tried to smile, but couldn''t.


    He''d grown fond of her, at least friend level, the whole sex thing had seemed more a fling to her anyways, it totally helped him cope now that the whole Jessica thing was over too.


    It felt awkward that it had come so suddenly, he would probably not ever see her again and now he had to say good-bye.


    ''Wait! Does this mean I''m meeting Jessica again?'' All of a sudden he felt a bit nervous, then again for now he had to say good-bye.


    "...Look...um. I''m not too good with this but are you sure I can''t help you somehow? I really appreciate all you''ve done for me." Alex scratched the back of his neck.


    "...Goof." Vita huffed not unpleasantly however, a sad smile appeared on her face.


    The silence was getting to him, he totally felt awkward now, maybe he should have just let it go and said nothing.


    "The only way...is for me to become your familiar Alex, and that is all kinds of crazy." Vita bit her lip, not looking at Alex.


    "What does that mean?" Alex blinked, completely confused.


    "It means I would...have to give up everything to be with you. I''m sorry Alex I like you, but...that''s more like getting married and I''m sorry." Vita looked at the floor.


    "Oh..OH! ... I mean yeah that. That''s a bit...weird." Alex looked at the sky, flustered.


    Suddenly Vita smiled, mirth twinkling in her eye.


    "You know. You''d also need my moms approval, unless you want to just steal me away and escape." Vita gave an over exaggerated dramatic sigh, winking at him playfully.


    "Hahaha." Alex awkwardly laughed, trying to cover a cough.


    "You''d also need to be a lot stronger. A true knight in shining armor." Vita teased him, eliciting a more pronouced cough.


    "I...think I see why you were keeping it hidden this whole time." Alex fumbled the words past the awkward situation.


    "Curiosity kills. But seriously Alex, relax, I''m not dying and this whole simulacrum makes us meet new people all the time. I''m happier now than I''ve ever been." Vita gave him a smile and patted his cheek.


    "....as long as you''re happy....." Alex smiled.


    "Always. Good-bye Alex, it''s been lots of fun." Vita smiled.


    "Goodbye Vita." Alexander straightened and gave her his best smile, he wanted her to remember him happy.


    Alex looked at her face, those brilliant emerald eyes, beaming face and radiant figure, he ingrained it in his mind, swearing to never forget his friend and the happy times they spent together, brief though it was.


    The world washed away in white and his face fell.


    "Idiot." Alex mumbled to himself, he sighed.


    A confused jumble of emotions wrestled inside, he felt mostly regret though, he had no real understanding as to why, but he felt he''d likely carry it till he died.

 Interlude 7

    Six, just shy of seven, Sarah felt the number ominous.


    "More, you need to spread yourself more. Control is paramount. Do more with less." Adara observed her with sharp eyes.


    Sarah snorted, if she could she would, sweat dribbled down her neck as she focused on one hand.


    She found finding a pathern boosted her performance drasticlly, the fireball on her palm slowly floated upwards to join the other five rotating in the air infront of her.


    The added movement she added to her spells somehow lessened her strain while ensuring the spells didn''t needlessly fizzle out, she had no clue as to why.


    Breathing heavily she grit and bared her teeth, as the throb of her migraine pulsed, it was horrid, she wanted to quit, complain or sleep, any-thing was better.


    Slowing her breaths she tried another, slowly she drew flame from her source, with practice she was able to pin-point the process.


    First she willed an image to form, or rather a set of orders her mind told the energy to form, then it quickly surged through her channels obeying and finally forming.


    After that anything she willed became harder, unnatural even, whether that be simulatously forming too many spell''s or changing the ''shape'' or image of the spell.


    ''Okay. I can do this.'' Sarah let out a slow breathe, calming herself.


    Sensing all six spells spinning, Sarah called forth one more, the engery surged, juggling six was terrible, up till now seven impossible.


    Finally she saw it form, a tiny spark at first, which grew to an ember, slowly adding more she felt the drain grow, miniscule though it may be.


    ''Finally!'' Sarah smiled excited at her attempt.


    ''AY!'' Sarah closed her eyes at the blazing inferno.


    "W...ha~?" Sarah felt odd and breezy, far too vulnuerable for her comfort, slowly she looked down at herself.


    "It exploded." Adara used her most charming voice to fill the air.


    "Oh!" Sarah shut her mouth as the last of her incinerated clothing fell off.


    Covering breasts, Sarah flushed and swallowed as she tightened her legs.


    Striding forward, Adara observed the after-effects of her failure.


    "It seems you''ve reached a limit on control training for now." Adara''s dragonic eyes scanned her.


    "Never mind that. Please conjure up some clothes for me! Or fix it please!" Sarah squirmed, wanting to seek cover.


    "But the view." Adara smirked at her discomfort.


    Sarah gaped for a second, then growled at the provocation, she was still angry at her!


    Only to realize how stupid it was for growling, she still needed to learn things from Adara, hopefully she''d never see her again afterwards.


    "Hm-Hm. I jest, don''t relax just yet, we have no time to waste." Adara''s tone lost all playfullness.


    With a flick of her hand, Sarah''s clothes un-disintergrated, forming from soot and ash to fully reform to hug her figure.


    ''Ugh. I''ll have to figure out how to make sure I don''t end up naked everytime I fight or I''ll end up as an exhibition show.'' Sarah grimanced, she didn''t want to be known as an slut, much less a whore or something equally disgraceful.


    *****


    The energy barrier was a complex form of magic, the sustained image was based on force, which was an advanced form of air energy, similar to how ligthning was an advanced form of fire.


    According to Adara, advanced energy barriers held other forms of energy to maximize efficency, or add other benifits.


    Either a shock barrier or a flame barrier for instance would be the easiest next step for her, since it was her main element and thus much easier to mix with another element.


    Sarah''s energy barrier flickered, upon sustain assault, Adara slowly flicked bullet sized bolts of flame.


    According to Adara each was the equivalent of a single of her own fully powered fire-balls.


    In theory the barrier prevented anything from entering, unless she allowed it, that included energy attacks as well as physical, only mental attacks could get through, which in itself was a cause for worry.


    "At your level of power it is vital to figure out which attacks must be blocked, dodged, intercepted or otherwise dealt with. If not, your barrier will drain your reserves too quickly." Adara lectured.


    Only now did Sarah fully comprehend how foolish it had been to attack the lich alone, it was only due to Isemi''s help she lasted quite so long.


    For it to casually brush off so many attacks meant it''s reserves had been nothing short of monstrous.


    "Is there a way to get past these barriers?" Sarah frowned, she recalled Isemi said something along those lines.


    "Of course." Adara''s smile widened.


    Stretching her palm foward a shock formed, Adara''s spell swelled as forks of red lightning spread.


    The spell continued to swell and stretch until its tiny branches coiled with one another.


    Much like a weaving, the branches formed a perfect straight line of vibrating power.


    "An egg shell will not withstand a hammer." Adara quoted.


    *****


    "Now to test you." Adara nodded to herself.


    "I''ll be fighting?" Sarah''s eyes lit up, more essence sounded wonderful.


    One look at her had Adara smiling, she shook her head, seeming able to read minds.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Unfortunately the only way you were alloted essence was at the inital challenge, resources go to those whom fully earn it." Adara clarified.


    "...oh." Sarah sighed, apparently she really had lost her chance to get stronger.


    "We will start with... simple golems." Adara tapped her chin.


    Slowly the ground trembled, it groaned till cracks formed, emerging arms of solid stone were visible and pulled themselves out till crude man shaped figures could be seen.


    The golems favored something like rough terecota warriors, but the fine details were lacking.


    Three golems slowly begun lumbering their way to her slowly, it was almost an insult at their speed.


    "This should be good, sometimes you''ll get opponents which don''t burn easily." Adara explained.


    ''If it doesn''t burn, she might want me to destory it some other way. Lightning would probably work, but maybe I should try different elements?'' Sarah thought.


    "What would you recommend?" Sarah asked.


    "Hm? Nothing, you won''t have me to solve your problems all the time. This hardly warrents advice." Adara explained.


    ''Hmpf. How helpful.'' Sarah stopped herself from snorting.


    Focusing her thoughts to her the conversion technique, Sarah poured energy into an earth bolt.


    The energy responded lazily, it crawled instead of a natural flow, the spell took longer to form that a fireball by far.


    The result was a weighty jagged spike of earth forming above her hand, without thinking Sarah began tossing it foward, the spike plumetted unto the ground not five yards away.


    Sarah gaped.


    "Earth''s heavier than all the other elements. Even people with earth spirits initially have diffculties throwing spells around." Adara clarified.


    ''Ugh. I could have used that tibid of information earlier. No wonder Eian never threw around spikes of earth.'' Sarah brooded.


    "If those golems were a real threat you would likely be dead." Adara stated.


    "Ugh! I know. I was just trying something new!" Sarah glared at the lousy golems approaching.


    Quickly she summoned a bolt of lightning, aiming it foward the bolt collided with a golem taking off the head.


    Contrary to her expectations the golem ignored the damage a carried on regardless.


    ''More lightning! HERE!'' Sarah quickly followed through.


    Bolt after bolt collided unto the golems which slowly wittled them away piece by piece until they were reduced to rubble.


    "Still wasting too much power. Attacking like your reserves are limitless." Adara frowned.


    Huffing Sarah ignored the remark, she didn''t have much else apart from lightning and fire, what little she had wouldn''t help.


    "This time they will move faster." Adara clarified.


    ''Alright how do I approach this?'' Sarah focused.


    The newly formed golems approached at a jogging pace, Sarah instantly thought of something.


    Aiming she shot at one leg each, in short moments all three were crawling towards her.


    Moving backwards Sarah thought for a second, now that the golems were incapacitated she had more time.


    "I don''t think you said I had to kill them right?" Sarah questioned.


    Adara looked at her with eyes of burning amber.


    "No I did not." Adara smiled.


    ******


    "I will take your silence as agreement, either way I''ve taught you Control. You''vve also learnt some Restraint. So for now you need to familiarize yourself with all six elements. Try them all out." Adara advised.


    "You said death energy would hurt me." Sarah reminded Adara.


    Adara sighed, rubbed her face then continued.


    "Yes. It will, and what better place to practice than a place where one''s injuries matter not?" Adara''s question was of course rethorical, accompanied by shaking her head.


    "...oh....right." Sarah mumbled.


    "Truly speaking the best way to aviod hazards of death energy is to create an enchanted item which casts the spell for you. I realize this will not always be possible, but it is usually best to be prepared and to have something ready." Adara lectured.


    Adara had her full attention, Sarah inhaled and focused.


    ''Enchanted items.'' Sarah held her breath.


    "For now however let''s assume you really need to use death energy in particular. You don''t have an enchanted item. Using the energy itself will harm you almost immediately. Life energy will take longer to heal this type of damage and if you kill yourself you''ll end up a mindless undead." Adara cautioned.


    Sarah was debating on whether or not she ever wanted to use death energy at all.


    It seemed to have so many side effects, and fire usually killed things well enough.


    "Death energy is like a malignant tumor. You must clense yourself of it''s influence each time. It is very easy to forget and let it fester, more than one youth has procrastinated this proving to be a simple buffon and become an idiotic ghoul." Adara stared at Sarah with a frown.


    "What...Why would I even want to use death energy if it''s so dangerous? It seems to have far more cons than pros." Sarah voiced her concerns.


    "A reasonable concern. Mostly it is used for killing opponents with absurd amounts of regenerative abilities. Death and Life energies clash, causing neither to fuction at full capacity. I don''t think you should use it overly, but better to have it and not need it." Adara looked at her.


    "...What would happen if I mixed fire and death energies?" Sarah was curious.


    "Oh? Intending on mass murder now?" Adara seemed bemused, taking Sarah completely by surprise.


    "What!? No! I..." Sarah stuttered and tried to come up with an excuse.


    ''Wait why do I need to excuse myself?'' Sarah frowned, she was merely accademically curious.


    "Hmm. I jest, the result you speak of is known by different names. Hell-fire is the most commonly used. Its effects are exceedingly difficult to heal and will both eat away and poison the target. Anything that dies from it usually gets back up...after some time." Adara said all of it with a straight face adding the final part as an afterthought.


    ''Note to self. Don''t kill with hell-fire. Check.'' Sarah thought to herself.


    "Now a quick overview to the problem each element will have for you. Water will be the most costly for you, it will also be notoriously difficult to keep it in a useful shape. Air will be easier to control, however it has much lower combat potential than any other. Earth as you''ve learnt is slow to create and difficult to apply. Life is perhaps the most useful to you as it has almost no problems. We''ve already looked over death." Adara advised.


    Sarah quickly took note of all that.


    "Now let''s get you to form a basic spell of each. While you can''t use mixed spells quite yet, it is essentially first step." Adara finished.


    *****


    Time. It literally flew by for Sarah. She couldn''t fanthom how much Adara tried to cram into her.


    A mixture of control, demonology and elemental mastery, as well as applications on combat scenarios and a few other nuggets of information.


    "It is time." Adara left her sigh un-expressed.


    "So. You said I''ll meet everyone before I leave?" Sarah breathed out a sigh of relief.


    "...yes." Adara sat and rubbed the left side of her own face.


    ''Well. I guess I can''t just stay and learn everything. I wonder how everyone is. Eian and Alex too I guess.'' Sarah tossed her thoughts back to her family.


    "Survive." Adara''s voice rung out as an omen.


    Sarah had nothing else to say, she was still annoyed at her, but there was little point in causing a scene as this was very likely the last time she''d see her.


    "...goodbye." Adara whispered her final word.


    The world washed away in white.

 Interlude 8

    He was back, Alex looked at the quirky little room they had started their journey in.


    A damp nostalgic cave, the only exit had been replaced however, the space now sported a wooden doorway.


    He scanned the surroundings more closely, the room was just as he recalled it, torches were strewn unto the walls along with weird glowing mushrooms on the floor.


    Even the floor and ceiling were more or less as flat as he recalled them both.


    ''Still where is everyone else? Did she lie? Am I gonna have to do everything over? Alone?'' Alex frowned, only slightly nervous, weeks of danger made him have thicker skin.


    Looking down at himself Alex noted his grey shirt was back to pristine condition, he also had his running shoes and sports pants.


    It was what he had worked out in last week, James had been there with him.


    "Man, this is so weird." Alex laughed at his odd old habit of talking to himself.


    ''Oh, man. I had a whole damn speech ready...'' Alex chuckled nervously, dread was beginning to knaw at his thoughts, he wasn''t ready for this!


    Nervous Alex tried to sort out his thoughts, he had to face Jessica and let her know there were no hard feelings, things just didn''t work out, with the whole apocalypse thing coming he understood too.


    He also wanted to thank both Eian and Sarah for their help and bid them a firm good-bye also, they had problems but those two had been very helpful.


    More than anything though, he wanted to go home, take his bike out, call up James, buy some beer and get busted.


    Maybe even hit that new spot they''d always wanted to go to, this whole adventure had been one thing after the next.


    Knock.


    Alex blinked at the sound and slowly turned towards the door.


    Knock.


    ''Oh shit!'' Alex scanned everywhere, ran over to a torch and grabbed it.


    "Hey! You in there? The door won''t open from this side!" Eian''s voice asked behind the door.


    Alex lowered the torch, feeling only slightly foolish.


    "Yeah man." Alex smiled, it looked like this really was it.


    Taking one last deep breath he walked forward and turned the knob.


    *****


    The room was cozy, Sarah found this new room odd, it connected to three identical rooms as the original room they had originally awoken in.


    In-front of her were Alex and Eian, both were silent and scanning everywhere for a few seconds.


    "So I can say Jessica won''t be coming." Sarah finished.


    "....yeah." Alex replied with little emotion.


    ''Odd...he doesn''t looked depressed nor even remotely sad. What happened? Did they really break up?" Sarah frowned at the puzzle, before shrugging it off as none of her business.


    "Well, I guess I''ll start." Alex stepped forward.


    Sarah stood there looking at him as he wore a warm smile, he seemed confident which added to her confusion.


    "Sarah." Alex started.


    "Huh?" Sarah blinked at her name.


    "I just wanted to thank you for everything you''ve done, you really helped us out and I really appreciate it. I know I wasn''t the easiest guy to get along with, so thank you as well for putting up with me." Alex gave her a winning smile.


    Sarah gaped, who was this and what did he do with Alex?


    "Eian." Alex said.


    "Yeah?" Eian looked equally as confused as Sarah, he even took a step back.


    "Thanks also man. You were cool this whole trip, er...if you''re ever close by don''t be a stranger. You too Sarah." Alex seemed to add the last bit as an after thought.


    "...Okay?" Eian scratched his head, he smiled obviously trying to cover the awkwardness of the situation.


    Alex quickly proceeded to give them his contact information.


    Sarah quickly forgot it, she had no intention of ever seeing him again, he wasn''t the absolute worst person in the world, but she didn''t really like ot be around ''cool'' kids.


    Besides that she also lived very far, and she was never really that friendly to any of them.


    "I just came here to say goodbye. It felt rude to just leave after everything." Sarah clarified.


    "Oh...That''s cool I guess." Alex smiled at her as well.


    Another awkward moment later Sarah decided to get the worst over with first.


    "Before everything''s over. I actually wanted to thank you too, Alex." Sarah squirmed, biting her lip, she''d rather cough up blood rather than this.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."Yeah?" Alex turned to look at her with a small smile.


    "Yes. You saved my life back there. Well...if it were all real you know." Sarah felt the walls caving in on her, both guys were looking at her like she grew another head.


    Alex for his part looked a little shock, before he gave her a smile and shook his head.


    "No worries. We were a team. You saved my life more than once too. Plus as you said, it wasn''t really....well real. So yeah let''s call it even." Alex scratched his head and had a bit of coloring in his face.


    ''Is he blushing?'' Sarah nearly barked out a laugh at the sight, but managed to hold back.


    Glad beyond measure that was over with Sarah continued.


    "Thanks also Eian. You were a great help." Sarah gave him a warm smile, he was the one whom had given her the least headache.


    "...No prob." Eian looked to be in deep thought.


    Soon, as no one was speaking, everything quickly became awkward.


    So Sarah decided to at least try to break the ice.


    "Everything''s going to change you know. The world''s going to get a lot more dangerous, so you should try to adapt." She looked at Alex, she wasn''t really worried about Eian as he performed admirably.


    "....roger." Alex smile died, he even sighed and looked at the floor."


    "Healer''s are going to be valuable though." As Sarah spoke the words, Alex''s eyes shot up at her surprised.


    "What do you mean!?" Alex looked near panic and spoke in a rush.


    Sarah flinched at his tone, mildly startled.


    "Oh. I mean that you guys will help keeping people alive." Sarah quickly finished, Alex visibly relaxed.


    "Roger, sorry I...I''m just a bit jumpy with everything." Alex smiled, but it clearly wasn''t his sincere one.


    ''Did...he just lie to me?'' Sarah looked at him funny, she spent a while doing that trying to figure him out.


    "Er...Is something on my face?" Alex kept his friendly smile, but Sarah though she saw worry there.


    "....No. It''s nothing." Sarah decided it wasn''t worth prying, he wasn''t the first person to lie to her and he wouldn''t be the last, Alex visibly relaxed.


    ''Well. I think that''s it.'' Sarah went quite.


    *****


    Eian looked at his two team-mates, honestly speaking he didn''t know what to say.


    They had been through some hard times together sure, but when he really thought about it they were only together for convenience sake.


    Sarah had made it quite clear she was only here to say goodbye and Eian felt it was an appropriate response, in the end they were only just strangers forced to cooperate.


    Alex had made it clear he was okay meeting up with them again, he seemed to even mean it, a reaction which Eian found a little stranger than Sarah''s especially for a normal person, but he seemed like a happy go lucky guy so...maybe it was a fit?


    ''Then again...I wouldn''t really mind hanging out.'' Eian shrugged he didn''t have that many friends, it was mostly just the vast distance that deterred him, along with the fact it seemed like the damn end of the world was coming.


    Strictly speaking Alex only lived a state away so it wasn''t so crazy to think they could meet, Sarah lived way up north somewhere in Canada and Eian never wanted to meet up with Jessica again, thankfully she lived far far away.


    Now Eian realized something, without a clear set goal in front of them, they were just strangers awkward around one another, each on of them had set a small distance and was idling about.


    ''How do we even leave?'' Eian looked about the room, it had a few couches about and Alex had sat down on one, Sarah was equally scanning the place.


    He felt a little eager to leave, it had been a while and he was seriously worried for his mom, he lived with her so he was anxious to check up on her.


    Then he planned to call his both his grand-parents, after that he planned rush-stock up on food and essentials.


    Ul had been rather vague on the impending crisis, but Eian knew he needed lots of water, and food.


    ''The question is...do I use my savings or not?'' Eian cringed, he''d been working for a while now to save for college, but the end of the world wasn''t going to wait on him.


    "Greetings." A new feminine voice emerged from somewhere.


    "Fuck!" Eian spooked and shot up, Alex and Sarah had similar reactions, Alex falling to the floor and Sarah hands raised.


    "Who are you?" Sarah demanded.


    "Can we help you?" Alex was climbing back on his couch.


    "I am Myru. An oracle." A silver haired blind-folded youth smiled at them, facing Sarah.


    "An oracle? A future reader? Like Jessica?" Sarah seemed to know a bit more than Eian, so he didn''t interrupt.


    "In part, but mostly no. I have come to let you know your final team-mate is safe, but she is under heavy stress thus decided not to come." Myru responded.


    "What kind of stress?" Alex asked this time, looking at her questioningly.


    "She will be fine." Myru answered casually, with a tone which brokered no argument, Alex himself let out a breathe and relaxed on his couch.


    "Is there something else? I am anxious to get home. Is there a way to do that?" Sarah asked, Eian agreed wholeheartedly.


    "Yes. This is the end of our good-will project. At least where it pertains to your world. A bit of advice sparkling." Myru smiled at Sarah knowingly.


    Eian frowned, he hadn''t ever heard someone referred to in that way.


    Glancing at Sarah he noticed a conflicted expression on her face.


    "A thread of fate is not so easily severed, nor ignored. Remember well. Your soul is already claimed, careful with which forces you partake of help, least they try to claim a Dragon''s share." Myru smiled condescendingly.


    "What does that mean?! I''m no one''s property!" Sarah raised her voice, an angry look on her face.


    "I have nothing more to add. Good-bye." Myru shrugged, with a flick of her wrist Sarah vanished.


    Eian burst into cold sweat, this person clearly held significant authority in this place.


    The stranger ''Myru'' turned to look at Alex, her smile never faltered, not once.


    "You walk ahead, blind to fault, blind to greed, blind to evil, do not turn your eyes away from the seeds of doubt which grow in you, paranoia is a trait which usually keeps many a wise man alive. Take care of whom you trust." Myru declared before Alex.


    "What-" Alex started, but vanished with a flick of Myru''s wrist.


    Eian frowned, he wasn''t liking this at all, she seemed to be giving them some type of future warning.


    Compared to Jessica, this person was the real deal, not someone new to her powers.


    As Myru turned to him, Eian instinctively swallowed dryly, he hoped it wasn''t some premonition of doom.


    "What holds value? What do you fight for? What would you die for?" Myru asked.


    Eian blinked uncomprehending.


    "In a world of destruction men need a cause, a reason to strive forward. I see you shrouded in darkness, lost without guiding light. Find your light, clasp it close if you wish to live and not just be alive." Myru spoke in riddles.


    The last thing Eian felt was confusion, before the world washed away in white.

 Alternate 1

    Eian awoke to pain, instense burning hunger pangs ravaged him, with his mouth dry he went rolling off his bed coughing.


    ''Fuck.'' Eian''s eyes felt sunken into his skull.


    Groaning he rolled unto his side and pushed himself to sit.


    Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he took a deep breathe, releasing a minute long yawn.


    He stretched his legs outwards and stiffened his back, they felt tender, as though he''d slept for days on end.


    ''Something''s off.'' Eian frowned, scanning his bedroom.


    The musky smell of a guy''s room emanated the area along with stale sweat, his ears picked up loud noises outside his house, but neither of those were what was off.


    He checked himself over, he wore a short sports pants as well as a sleeveless clear-white undershirt, he recalled this was what he wore before going to bed.


    His saliva felt awfully dry and he licked his lips, he should probably get something to drink, as well as to eat.


    His cramped little room could almost be labeled a large closet, his bed, a tiny night-stand with his phone and wallet as well as a rack with three sets of clothes.


    Sighing he realized the tiny fan on his nightstand was off, he would need a shower soon.


    Understanding blossomed, the oddity came to him, Eian looked over his tattoo''s, they were there, everything was there.


    Body however, was glowing weirdly, Mind and Spirit were not yet glowing which was weird.


    The oddity he quickly identified as the familiar adrenaline rush of an upgrade from before.


    ''So. Here we are again.'' Eian smiled half-heartedly, it wouldn''t make sense to get his hopes up just yet.


    Getting up, Eian made his was to his door, which was only a step from where he was.


    Turning the knob, he winced ad the grating of the door, he could feel the resistance of the door as he pulled it open.


    "Ahy." Eian squeaked embarrassingly.


    Closing his eyes as a massive unexpected freezing occurring atop his head.


    The cold melted and poured unto his skull, easing slowly into a pleasant feeling.


    After the effect he quickly looked at his markings.


    ''Thsgra, Ul said right? Ah so that''s it.'' Eian snorted.


    The Mind tattoo was glowing now.


    ''Oh shit. Spirit''s next.'' Eian winced, and gulped, quickly remembering he was thirsty.


    His feet hurried across, entering the room which housed both kitchen and living room, both tiny.


    An assortment of fashion magazine cut-outs decorated the room, the oldest ones depicted young boys wearing brand clothing, the most recent featured young men in decent designs, many also depicted model-women from ages twenty to forty.


    He stopped cold, not far away was the source.


    "Eian?" Elisa stared at him with disheveled hair and eyes filled with stress.


    "Ma?" Eian blinked at her dumbly.


    He eyed her disbelieving, at Five feet and two inches, she wasn''t tall.


    He knew from experience she was likely very tired if she didn''t take time to fix her light brown hair, its color and length which dropped passed her shoulders was so completely unlike his own black.


    She wore a casual T-shit and sports pants which she often used to sleep.


    "Sweet-heart!" Elisa rushed over and hugged him.


    "Hi?" Eian couldn''t stop the stupid grin he had on.


    "HI?! You say hi? Really that is all you have to say?" Elisa disengaged and frowned at him.


    It was really great to see her well, despite knwoing she would be, it is one thing to know and another to see.


    He opened his mouth unsure of what to say, it felt like an eternity since he last saw her.


    At the same time, he felt as if everything were just a dream, so it also felt like not too long ago.


    Weird that.


    "I don''t know what to say." Eian smiled awkwardly, but returned to hug.


    "I missed you? Or I''m glad to see you, maybe? I''m certainly am." Elisa sounded on edge of tears by the end.


    "Of course I missed you!" Eian patted her back, she must have been on edge from the start if she was so close to tears already.


    That was probably the wrong thing to say, since she started crying.


    "Shhh. Shhhhh...We''re okay. Everything is going to be oh-kay." Eian rocked her a bit side-ways.


    "I was so scared...*hic* I thought I *hic* had left you alone." Elisa kept crying on his shoulder.


    "We are Oh-kay. Okay?" Eian kept patting and rocking her, he ignored the throbbing pangs of hunger.


    She slowly calmed down, Eian patted her one last time before letting go.


    "I''m sorry. I''m such a mess." Elisa laughed, she dried off the last of her tears.


    "Don''t worry. I''m pretty confused here too." Eian smiled at her.


    That was when his stomach rumbled, which set them both off into a laughing fit.


    "I''ll make you something sweat-heart." Elisa wore a bemused grin.


    "Now that. IS worth dying for." Eian laughed.


    "You! Don''t say that. Not even playing, I already thought I lost you once, I can''t go through that again." Elisa chided him.


    "..sorry..." Eian looked at the floor, a bit guilty.


    "Let''s get you something to eat. Grab the butter from the fridge." Elisa went straight to the stove.


    Walking over to it, Eian opened the fridge and frowned.


    "Ma. Some of this stuff looks a bit bad. Butter''s half melted. I...think the powers low or something." Eian looked the the fridge light, which was unusually low.


    "Huh. Let me see. Oh my. I have to separate everything. Go bathe meanwhile." Elisa gently shooed him away with a wrinkled nose.


    "Yes ma." Eian probably smelled a bit, the fan had not been on when he woke.


    Eian moved by the Television, turning it on quickly, it was static and he lowered the volume to zero.


    He flipped through the channels realizing nothing was on he left it on.


    He grabbed a change of clothes from his side of the closet and started heading over to the bathroom.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    His lungs froze.


    Eian fell to the floor, gasping for air, wordlessly unable to scream he clentched his teeth and endured.


    His bones cracked, throbbed and disolved to nothing, he closed his eyes riding though soul-crushing agony.


    Sweat beaded a top his fore and trickled down his back, steel filled his lungs, futilely trying to draw in air.


    The grind was by far the worst, as though a file was eating away at them, followed by a something course filling the very marrow.


    He remembered, yet nothing could compare, not even Ul''s training could save him here.


    Finally his exhausted body collapsed, the pain became a dull throb and he drew a wonderful deep breathe of air.


    He drank up the oxygen like dying man, heaving he realized his mother was fussing over him.


    "Sweat-heart!?" Elisa was on the verge of crying, again.


    "I''m good." Eian sighed, relieved and trying very hard to not recall any of it.


    "You are not good! We have to take you to the hospital! I tried calling, but the line was busy!" Elisa fussed.


    Eian frowned, his mother should know about this.


    "Ma? It''s normal. You had the dream right?" Eian hadn''t asked, because he assumed everyone had.


    "Dream? That doesn''t matter! We need to get you to the hospital." Elisa urged him to get up.


    Sighing Eian shook his head at her prolonged fuss.


    "Ma!" Eian raised his voice a bit to get her attention.


    "What?!" Elisa quieted, he only raised his voice at her when it was important.


    "I know what is happening. I''m not sick or anything. It''s normal. Tell me please, did you have the Dream?" Eian put extra emphasis on the word dream.


    "Dream? You mean THAT dream? Last night''s one? The monsters?" Elisa tilted her head a bit.


    "Yes! That one." Eian felt giddy, she had experienced it.


    "What about it?" Elisa asked.


    ".....Tell me what you know about it please. The important parts. This is really important." Eian asked.


    His stomach rumbled again.


    "On second thought. Mom please make me something to eat. I''ll take a bathe and we can talk." Eian clarified.


    "Sweat-heart are you sure?" Elisa looked unsure.


    "Yes. I''m fine." Eian clarified.


    She didn''t look happy, but she went to cook something for both of them.


    Eian went in, the ice cold water made him jump a bit, but it was nice to soak.


    Soap, sweat soap was wonderful, after so long, he had forgotten what it felt like to be clean, places he had forgotten, and damn his crotch felt wonderful, in a totally non-sexual way of course.


    If he was not so damn hungry he would have stayed an entire hour just soaking, but hungry he was.


    He came out of the shower feeling refreshed.


    His mother was waiting for him on the table with a plate of waffles.


    "I''m not sure about the meat." Elisa explained.


    "It''s fine." He was already stuffing his face.


    He chugged down the glass of water, grabbing more before finishing his meal.


    "Ah..." Eian leaned back, stated.


    "Baby...You were saying?" Elisa looked apprehensive.


    "Right. Tell me everything please. It looks like I know more than you, but I have to cross check with you." Eian clarified.


    As they spoke Eian grew a bit concerned.


    It seemed the group Elisa awoke with consisted of three women and one man, all of them were about the same age.


    The middle-aged guy, whatever the hell his name was, decided he would protect them, at first Elisa said he was nice over all, he killed the monsters with a bit of difficulty, but he protected the women well enough.


    Soon it became appearent he was gaining powers, it scared them, but he didn''t really speak about it much.


    "Wait. So you never got a tattoo?" Eian asked to clarify.


    "Yes. Of course we did. Micheal made us kill things, he just asked us to put it all into Mind, he said that was the fastest way to get home." Elisa frowned.


    ''He likely thought if one of them got the Teleportation power that would help them get out.'' Eian face-palmed.


    "Continue please ma." Eian asked.


    "Okay..." Elisa looked confused.


    AS it turned out, macho man whatever his name was, began growing more demanding as time went on.


    He never beat them, nor tried to coax them into sex or anything, but he declared himself the undisputed leader since he was killing everything.


    That changed when one of the other two women chose Body instead, macho-man slapped her and almost continued to beat her, instead he yelled at her and refused to give her food.


    After that the three women, grew scared of his mood-swings and followed his orders.


    "What was his name again?" Eian asked, eyes darkening.


    "Micheal. Are you paying attention?" Elisa gave him the stink-eye.


    "Yeah. I just didn''t really care about him till now. What was his last name?" Eian lifted his hands up in surrender.


    "I don''t remember." Elisa said, looking at the table a bit haunted.


    "Please, continue." Eian asked nicely.


    ''If I ever get my hands on himm....urgh!'' Eian grit his teeth, clenching his fists, imagining strangling him.


    As it turned out sleazebag Micheal got himself killed, along with another unfortunate woman, whose name Eian didn''t bother learning.


    Elisa and woman number three were thus alone surrounded by monsters and practically powerless.


    They didn''t last too long, dehydration and hunger forced them out of hiding and they died to monsters soon-after.


    "It''s okay." Eian grabbed her hands.


    "I''m not done." Elisa smiled at him.


    After they died they all ended up together in a reception area, the women only though.


    A cloaked man, greeted them nicely, he berated Micheal''s actions whom was strangely absent, but lamented the results.


    He called himself a collector.


    "He didn''t hurt you? Did he?" Eian asked quickly, a bit shocked.


    "Micheal? No. he wasn''t there I just told you." Elisa frowned.


    "I meant the collector-guy." Eian clarified.


    "No. He was really nice. Ay let me finish." Elisa said.


    The collector finished by warning them of the upcoming changes to the world and what they had to prepare for.


    Then he told each of them good-bye and everything went white, then Elisa woke up.


    Eian processed the whole-thing.


    "We need to make you chose an element." Eian frowned.


    "What?" Elisa asked.


    Eian gave her a break-down on magic to the best of his ability.


    "First though we need a plan. We need to stock up more food." Eian''s mind went straight to survival mode.


    They began to discuss plans.


    Then Eian heard a ringing.


    "Be right back." Eian walked to his room.


    He picked up his phone and noticed he had a few texts, a missed call from a familiar old friend''s number.


    Eian frowned, debating, sighing he called back.


    "Hello?" Edward''s familiar voice sounded.


    "Ed?" Eian asked.


    "E, my man. Listen you see the crazy shit on the T yet?" Ed''s voice asked.


    "All I have is static." Eian clarified.


    "Check again my man, Gov''s doing nothin'' but talk. Listen, we gotta meet up. This whole crazy shit''s gonna blow. Some o my peep''s already talking like it''s the end times. Oh crap, boss man''s calling. Take care my brotha from another motha." Ed said.


    "Yeah you too." Eian said, but he quickly realized Ed had already hung up.


    Eian snorted at his old friends antics, he liked to speak like he was black sometimes, even though he was as Latin as him.


    Ed was weird sometimes.


    Eian checked his phone briefly, noticing a text from Russel also.


    ''Meet up soon. Got to figure this out. Tell Ed to stop bothering me.-R'' Eian read the text in his mind.


    Eian scratched his head, it looked like Edward had tried to call Russell too.


    Eian sighed, it would be hard for those two to get along now, he missed high-school sometimes.


    Eian sent a simple ''K'' text back and went to the living room.


    "Ma, let''s check the news." Eian said.


    Ed was right, the news was on, the same thing was on all channels.


    "....advises everyone to remain calm. Congress is already in session and will announce how we will deal with this crisis. Until further notice..." Both reporters looked a little haggard, despite being in perfect uniform and make-up.


    As he listened to the news Eian frowned, the State Governors had declared a curfew of ten o'' clock at night for now.


    Being caught outside would get you charged with a misdemeanor and put in a cell for the remainder of the night.


    For minors the parents might face charges, and the minor would be escorted home.


    ''Huh. So they''re declaring Curfew and asking people to remain calm.'' Eian laughed a bit, it seemed a bit contradictory to him.


    After listening a while more Eian, felt his belly rumble again.


    ''Ugh. Not again.'' Eian scratched his head.


    "Ma. We will definitely need more food." Eian grumbled.


    "I''ll make a list. It looks like the currents back to full power." Elisa got up and made her way to the fridge.


    Eian went to bed and popped open his secret tart-snack stash, soon he felt he''d need to take a dump.


    Cramming his mouth full, Eian debated something as he laid eye''s on a completely different stash, which was hidden beneath his mattress.


    ''Might have to dig into college fund.'' Eian sighed, he supposed that was the last thing that should matter right now, but it would hurt.

 Alternate 2

    Eian parked his bike, he took parking between two haphazardly parked vehicles.


    ''Fuck good thing it is open.'' Eian sighed mentally, many businesses had not been open.


    "Are you sure that''s fine?" Elisa asked him eyeing the small area.


    "I don''t want to park too far. Let''s hurry my stomach already feels weird." Eian urged her onwards.


    Elisa got off from the backseat and waited as Eian turned off the key off and setting the brake.


    Eian looked at the supermarket, it wasn''t overly large, but they usually did all their shopping here due to proximity, besides it had a little of everything.


    The parking lot was also jam-packed with cars filtering up and down with some trouble.


    Getting to the supermarket had actually been a hassle, people were bustling about like a kicked ants-nest, so much, in fact, a couple cars looked dented.


    Eian had seen a car blocking traffic too for some reason, everywhere in the city was hectic.


    He could only imagine how the really big cities were, Los Angeles, Sacramento or San Francisco must be jam-packed with crazy people.


    For once in his life Eian had been glad he was too broke to afford the mileage on a car, the drive was a lot less stressful.


    "Shit. Let''s split up." Eian grimaced at the crowd.


    "Words sweet-heart, I will grab the food, you grab as much water as we can take and anything else we might need." Elisa grabbed a cart and was zooming off.


    "Bye!" Eian got to work.


    Eian noted a distinct lack of many employees and many items were scattered along the floor in haste.


    Arriving at the water supply he found out things were getting bad quick.


    ''Shit.'' Eian ran, abandoning the cart.


    People were ganging up on the water, Eian nudged a guy out of his way.


    He grabbed three packs of twenty water bottles, ran to his cart, filled it and then got closer.


    The occupied carts were being watched by ever-present eyes from theft, Eian could relate but he saw the last one be grabbed a random guy.


    "No bright ideas bud. Get your own." The guy shrugged him off and went away with his cart.


    ''Well this will have to do.'' Checking the nearby shelves Eian spotted a few bottles here and there scattered.


    Going over to the hardware section, Eian grabbed a utility hammer, a small compact garden shovel.


    "Cool." Eian smiled.


    Grabbing a utility axe, Eian tested the weight, it was small enough to hold on one hand and it had no spear tip, but it was nostalgic.


    He also nabbed a utility multi-tool, mostly because he didn''t want to forget anything.


    Feeling a bit crazy Eian grabbed a twelve pack of duck tape, who doesn''t grab duck tape?


    He grabbed a heavy-duty baseball-bat did a quick mock swing to get a feel, then he grabbed two football helmets, as well as two lengths of relatively cheap nylon rope testing the tension and how smooth it was.


    He grabbed two hand-held flashlights, those things would come in handy if anything crazy happened at night, like a power outage.


    ''I might be crazy.'' Eian laughed a bit.


    Thinking it through a little, Eian grabbed a large camping bag.


    ''That''ll be useful if I need to stuff everything into something.'' Eian shrugged.


    "Damn." Eian looked over the small array of items.


    Struck with sudden indecision he closed his eyes and threw out thoughts of cost.


    ''One last stop.'' Eian moved his cart to the food section.


    His feet couldn''t move fast enough as he had to maneuver out of the way of the other customers, some were swooping past with carts filled with miscellaneous junk.


    Impatience was getting to him when finally he eyed what he needed, snacks, his favorite tart-snack, he almost licked his lips in anticipation.


    His stash back home had already been depleted.


    "Stupid hunger," Eian grumbled, patting his stomach.


    Good thing he remembered to both eat and shit before coming here.


    Beelining his way, Eian searched the food section, not finding her there he made it to his mother quickly whom was already at the register.


    As he passed the others in line he saw a few customers moan or complain at his passing, Eian ignored them.


    "Ma, I''ll have to do two runs with this much. Maybe even three." Eian observed both their carts.


    "I know, but we might need it. Sweat heart I''m sorry but I don''t have enough for all this." Elisa bit her lip and looked away from him.


    "Yeah, I got it. We talked about it before remember?" Eian didn''t let his mental sigh show, his mother would already feel bad about it, no need to make it worse.


    The line was long, and it seemed only one employee was at the register, a middle-aged chunky lady with a cap featuring the supermarket''s logo.


    Eian noticed something, the tag on the cashiers uniform said manager, that made him raise his eyebrows a bit, the store must really be understaffed.


    After a long wait there was only one man in front, Eian took a deep breath, he was getting impatient.


    "Sir this card is not going through." The female cashier or manager looked annoyed.


    "Try it again!" The guy was pushing the card at this face.


    "Sir, I already did it three times. Something might be wrong with it. Please try another, there are more customers." The cashier looked gaunt as she observed the long line.


    Eian felt a brief flash of pity for the manager.


    He himself and his mother had not even gone to work today, it was Monday, but the crisis was much more important to them.


    Pondering he wondered if the fast-food joint he worked at even opened, most places were closed from what little he noticed on the ride here.


    "Fine! Here!" The customer dug through his pockets withdrawing money.


    The customer carefully chose a few items, separated them and paid with what little money he had on hand.


    Eian briefly looked over at what the guy had left, finding some water he grabbed that too.


    "Next!" The cashier urged.


    Eian and Elisa quickly started unloading their stock, he grabbed one thing and placed it before moving on to the next item.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.The cashier manager lady dealt with it like a pro, she scanned each item faster than both of them could actually load it.


    Eian noticed most of it was canned goods, his mom had stocked up quite a few gallons of vegetable oil too, along with a few lighters and lighter fluid.


    He smiled as he noticed plenty of chips, his mother had a fondness for the cheesy variety.


    "How comes the stuff here''s not spoiled?" Eian asked the manager.


    "Generator." The manager didn''t even look him in the eye while answering.


    Paying actually hurt his wallet, a month or two of salary gone like nothing.


    "I''ll get the bike." Eian left Elisa at the entrance.


    When he returned with the bike he saw someone bothering her, the left the bike middle street and hurried over.


    "Just a little please!" The random dude was almost yelling.


    "Hey back off," Eian warned.


    Turning the man stood a few inches higher than him, wearing almost purely ragged clothes.


    "I just need some money for a taxi." The man raised his hands defensively.


    "Liar, taxi''s aren''t responding. We already tried." Eian frowned, irritation growing.


    "Look midget, scram or give me some money." The asshole''s face grew beet red.


    "Fuck you. Stop bothering my mom or I''ll fuck you up." Eian grit his teeth at the nerve.


    "Eian!" Elisa shrilled, probably at his language.


    Turning the man looked, ready to leave, but Eian felt something off about his body language.


    A flash of black validated his paranoia, Eian''s body moved taking a half-step half-jump to the left, dodging then balancing off quickly.


    Snarling Eian felt the random hobo''s face give, the body dropped cold.


    "Ow-A-wow." Eian fanned his wrist, knuckles hurting.


    "Oh, God!" Elisa set down everything checking the guy.


    Elisa fussed over the asshole.


    "He''ll be fine mom." Eian felt apprehensive, a little miffed too that she was tending to him, he didn''t regret it but his mom might still chew him out.


    "Fine! Eian! You just, just..." Elisa seemed at a loss for words.


    "Ma, relax. Look you see that black thing he threw at me?" Eian explained Elisa seemed to be stunned.


    Seeing her nod, Eian continued.


    "I think that would''ve killed me if it hit." Eian gauged her reaction, she seemed stunned.


    "What?" Elisa''s brow twisted.


    "Death element. Alex told me that killed him....well in the dream anyway." Eian felt a bit strange about the last part.


    Elisa''s face went completely blank, she brushed her jeans got up and looked down at the man on the floor.


    "He just tried to kill you?" Elisa''s face had a look Eian hadn''t seen since he was a little kid.


    Slowly, Eian nodded.


    "From now on just assume anything people throw at us can kill us," Eian explained.


    "Asshole!" Elisa kicked the unconscious man in the face.


    "Woooow, easy there Ma, I don''t think he''s dead, but I don''t want to get in trouble either." Eian grabbed her and pulled her away.


    "We have to report him!" Elisa yelled.


    "To whom?" Eian asked.


    Another customer walked out.


    "What the hell?" A spooked middle-aged man jumped at the sight.


    "Hey. This guy tried to assault us." Eian got up and raised his hands in a calming gesture.


    It took some time, but they managed to report the incident to one of the few employees.


    They called the police, but the line was so busy.


    In the end, Eian and Elisa just left, they had other things to worry about and the personnel had surveillance which testified to their claims.


    Eian figured the employees could deal with it, and if not well it wasn''t his problem anymore.


    *****


    Elisa finished organizing all their food supplies, she snuck a look at her son.


    Eian was munching down at food wearing an undershirt revealing most his upper-body-shape, it was disturbing how quickly his muscles were gaining shape, just this morning he was her normal son with a bit of a gut.


    The icy spikes her head was experiencing once more were surreal, from her baby told her she wasn''t looking forward to gaining powers.


    Her time with Micheal, Bianca and Selma had also been surreal, seeing Micheal display frightening control over fire and gain muscle reminded her these changes were not entirely a good thing.


    The day had been excessively dry and she felt a bath was in order, Eian had his eye''s fixated on the Television.


    "Sweet-heart, I''m going to bathe," Elisa called out.


    "Please don''t take too long ma, I''ll want to use it soon," Eian said, his eyes not leaving the Tv.


    "I know." With that Elisa grabbed a change of clothes from the dryer.


    Once in the bathroom, firmly locking the door, Elisa stripped into her birth-day suit.


    Eyeing herself in the mirror she sighed, the wrinkles on her face were becoming more evident each year.


    Eian teased her sometimes and she disliked it, it was partly his fault after-all, not that she blamed him but teasing was just mean.


    ''I should have found a husband a long time ago.'' Elisa closed her eyes at her 34C, her vibrant-light-chocolate hair flowing down to cover the nipples.


    Her arms had grown a bit chunkier now than when she was younger.


    Habitually she hurriedly plucked the rare white-hair that sprung up, there weren''t many, but stress had a way of aging you up faster.


    ''Maybe that would have solved everything.'' Elisa sighed regretfully over the past.


    When she had first come here, she had been so insecure, men would flirt with her, but she was self-conscious of her status as a single-mother, men find that unattractive right?


    That and the disaster of her previous relationship had frightened her at the prospect of dating, her brother lived more down south of the state with his family, but he was hardly better off.


    Recently she realized the problem, there had been plenty of men, but she had been too insecure, now here she was having hardly had any boy-friends since then.


    Snapping out of her day-dream she turned the corroding shower nub, making a note to change it once things went back to normal.


    Straightening as the ice-cold water poured down her back she repressed a tiny shriek, her soap, which was pink slowly scrubbed away the layer of sweat.


    She basked in the feeling for a time.


    ''Right. No time for that.'' Finishing up she stepped out, quickly proceeding to dry herself and change.


    She had to be strong for Eian, no time for distractions, first thing is to realize what to do now.


    Looking down at her bare arm her tattoo marked: Body:1, Mind:6, Spirit:0.


    ''Two more to go.'' Elisa sighed at the low numbers.


    Fully clothed, her clothes stuck a bit to her figure and her hair was still moist, but she emerged.


    Eian was still staring unblinkingly at the Tv.


    "Is anything on?" Elisa asked.


    "....I blocked the door. People''ve started rioting." Eian''s eyes had a hard glint that reminded her eerily of his father.


    Unsettled at the comparison, Elisa blinked, realizing the resemblance was beginning to show now that his face was skinnier.


    Fear briefly bubbled up before her mind caught up, Eian was a grown man now, even if He found them, there wasn''t much he could do and little reason to fear.


    Briefly, her eyes saw a random piece of old furniture blocking the doorway.


    "What are the police doing?" Elisa wanted to know.


    "So far, they''re urging ''civilians'' to stay at home or at least off the streets....I didn''t think this would happen so soon and I guess they didn''t either." The frown was evident in his voice.


    Something was moving out of the corner of her eye, Elisa blinked and it was gone.


    Turning she found nothing out of the ordinary, everything was fine.


    ''Stange.'' Elisa tilted her head and focused her eyes.


    Smoke, that was her first thought, but upon closer inspection, she noticed it wasn''t dissipating.


    Sniffing and realizing there was no scent of it either, she focused seeing it edge towards Eian.


    "Baby! Something''s moving towards you come over!" Elisa raised her voice, hackles raised.


    "What?" Eian turned to looked at her surprise.


    Surprising her, Eian was up on his feet and throwing himself across to her in an instant.


    "Where is it?" Eian''s eyes were scanning back and forth.


    "There!" Elisa pointed at the smoke by the sofa.


    "Where?" Eian asked.


    "The smoke over there!" Elisa pointed.


    Eian turned to look at her, concerned.


    "You sure? Ma you okay?" Eian looked at her with concern and confusion, at the same time he kept an eye where she had pointed.


    More smoke appeared to be phasing through their blocked door, Elisa grew hysterical.


    "Ma!? What is it?! What are you seeing?" Eian''s voice was gaining an edge.


    The smoke jumped at her and she recoiled, afraid.


    Eian tried to catch her, and she screamed when she saw it touch him.


    It was as if his body drank it up, one minute the smoke was there, the other it was absorbed into him.


    The effect was immediate, Eian fell down clutching his throat.


    Elisa raised her hands to her face, belatedly realizing she was screaming hysterically.


    Suddenly, something invisible was grappling her.


    It felt as though an invisible arm had her in a head-lock, closing her eyes she screamed in her head.


    Her legs were dead and her vision went dark.


    ''Is this how we die?'' Elisa''s thoughts were in shambles.

 Alternate 3

    Elisa opened her eyes, struggling to breathe, and her eyes widened to show she was in her tiny room.


    Elbowing behind her, once, twice and again, she felt the arm loosen slightly.


    Rapidly she tossed her head back, feeling her skull contact something squishy, the assailant''s arms fell away.


    Scrambling away Elisa flopped and turned, finding a man of European origin wearing an outdated grey mob suit with the complimentary hat having fallen to the floor.


    She screamed, holding her hands to face.


    "Can it!" The man howled, clutching his ears painfully.


    "Who are you?" Elisa scrambled away.


    Grimace disappearing, instead of answering he stalked forward, while anticipation and greed became clear as day.


    Running a small distance, Elisa crouched and held her bed.


    "Please! I have a son! Don''t do this!" Elisa screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks.


    The man''s face soured distastefully but threw himself forward at her.


    Mind racing Elisa ducked beside the bed and felt the attacker''s weight press atop her.


    Screaming, she threw all her strength and weight shoulder-first at his direction.


    Releasing a pained grunt, he fell clutching his face.


    Slapping at him Elisa unleashed a fury of weakly attacks, the man''s body retreated as he howled.


    Finally, the man fell to the ground, staring at her, fear in his eyes.


    Screaming incoherently she kicked randomly catching his arm, something gave and the arm fell away at a twisted angle.


    "Stop!" The man begged.


    Kicking again, Elisa caught her breath slowly, the questionable elements of the scene perplexed her as her mind calmed.


    The body was mangled and broken yet oddly no blood leaked.


    IT disintegrated and blew away...like smoke.


    Her mind became fuzzy.


    *****


    Opening her eyes Elisa realized she was in the living room.


    Palming her bruised face, then rising to her feet, she rubbed her face to wear away at her disorientation.


    Recent events were a slow confusing sludge, but Eian was in front of her.


    "Sweetheart!" Kneeling over him, Elisa saw him mumbling and sweating.


    Shaking him, she screamed for her son.


    "Wake up! Somebody help my baby! MY BABY!" Tear''s leaked down as she cradled him.


    Shooting upwards she ran to grab her phone, it was getting late being five thirty already.


    Disregarding her sore-throat, she dialed the police.


    The line was busy, she kept dialing, turning up nothing.


    "Oh my god, oh my god. ohmygod-ohmygod~" Breathing unevenly she stared at her son''s prone form.


    He was still breathing, so he wasn''t dead.


    "Calm down, calm down. CALM DOWN!" Elisa stomped her feet to stop shaking.


    ''Okay. So he''s still alive, so maybe he''s sick.'' Truthfully she knew that wasn''t the case, but nothing was really making sense.


    Unless he was slowly dying.


    "NO! Noonononononoononono~.." The thought made her tremble.


    Shaking like a leaf, Elisa cradled him, she placed fingers on his neck, a strong pulse.


    She opened an eye, it was heavily dilated but stared away into the distance.


    "Not my baby. Stay strong sweat-heart. Please, I need you." Elisa sobbed.


    ''I need help, I need to get him help.'' Strangely that calmed her.


    Taking one deep breathe she checked her phone, it was now ten past six, Elisa''s eyes widened, her breakdown had lasted far too long.


    Another deep breath, moving forward Elisa dragged Eian to the couch, persevering even as his legs dangled at the edge of the couch.


    Accommodating him fully she let out a breath of exertion, her son was heavy.


    ''Who can help?'' Elisa pondered, concern almost drove rational thought from her mind but she needed to stay strong.


    Looking at the door Elisa sighed, it was blocked with an old shelf was in the way.


    Moving it proved difficult and slightly time-consuming but possible.


    Opening the door and closing it behind her, Elisa decided their downstairs apartment neighbor might help, if not perhaps he could give some ideas.


    Anything was better than doing nothing in her mind, her son was depending on her.


    They lived in a small semi-rundown apartment building, each floor a different apartment, the apartments were small giving the whole thing a tower-ish look being thin and three floors high.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.Elisa and Eian lived on the top floor, there were two more floors and the apartment itself seemed ancient, the cement walls had become stained over the years and the owner had not re-painted in ages.


    Still given their budget, this was some of the best they could afford, it was close to the restaurant Elisa worked, which meant Eian could drop her off early in the mornings before going to work.


    The night had mostly set in already, the stairs were in-doors but Elisa could see it through a small window.


    Descending by a run, Elisa reached her neighbor''s door quickly and her knocking was akin to banging.


    Sounds were mostly undiscernable through the door, but something crashed and broke from within, startling her.


    ''Ohmygod Ohmygod, is the same thing happening everywhere?!'' Elisa jumped to conclusions, stepping away from the door.


    Muffled yelling was taking place within but it sounded like it was coming from the other end of the house, along with what could be growling.


    When the sound of struggle moved closer and got louder, Elisa decided she had enough.


    She bolted another set of stairs to the bottom floor, where she began banging the door like a crazy person again.


    "Help! Please, my son needs help!" Elisa cried, she was approaching her mental limit.


    This time the door opened, Elisa let out a breath of relief.


    A pair of dirty hands bursts forth towards her.


    Falling on her ass, Elisa found herself screaming and scrambling away upstairs.


    Looking back a particularly obese man screamed at her ferally, his eyes looked at her with savage glee, he stumbled forward unsteady.


    The man looked almost drunk, almost unfamiliar with his own body as he climbed the stair following her.


    Crawling and screaming up the stairs, Elisa turned to sit while screaming even louder.


    Kicking at him hard and wild, her foot caught the thick shin of the man.


    "AHHHHH!" The fat man jumped, slipped and fell side-ways before rolling down.


    The insane fat man groaned and tried rolling off his back unsuccessfully.


    "Nice move." A semi-familiar voice sounded behind her.


    Elisa screamed, turning and almost fainting.


    A bulky unfamiliar man stood before her, he was clutching his face which was dripping fresh blood.


    His chest was bare and littered with scratch marks, he was bleeding in a way that must be painful.


    He held out his other hand in surrender, a peace gesture.


    "Miss El, I''m friendly. Honest." His voice clicked, identifying him as the middle-floor neighbor, Martin.


    "What happened? Are you hurt?" Elisa''s voice trembled, she was almost drawing blank.


    "Jay''s getting up. Come up." Martin pointed down below.


    A quick look revealed him to be telling the truth.


    "Ohmygod." Elisa scrambled up and ran behind Martin.


    "Jay. This ain''t cool. Go back." Martin''s voice was almost completely steady, but Elisa could see a twinge of doubt pass his face.


    The man screamed words in some foreign language, scaring Elisa further.


    The man charged up the stairs as fast as he could on unsteady obese legs.


    "JAY!!!" Martin yelled as he charged too.


    The two met, but it was clear from the start Martin was the better of the two.


    Unfortunately, he seemed to be unwilling to harm Jay overly.


    Punching him in the face, throwing off Jay''s attempts at grappling and kicking him squarely in the balls made Martin the winner.


    Jay lay on the ground, mouth agape and sucking in air like the dead.


    "Fuck Jay! What the hell?" Martin backed away again.


    "My son needs help!" Elisa told Martin.


    "Huh?" Martin looked at her.


    Elisa winced as she got a clear look at his face, he had fresh talon marks that had to come off a woman''s nails.


    The deep scratches were still bleeding and gave him a menacing look, luckily they didn''t seem to have caught his eyes.


    The rest of his back and chest were in similar condition.


    "Eian, my son, is sick!" Elisa didn''t know how else to describe it, and she was also sure she was hysteric by now.


    "Ah...Okay, let''s check." Martin looked unsure and a bit confused.


    Martin spared a quick look at Jay before leading Elisa up the stairs.


    "Let''s hurry. Jay will be up soon." Martin urged.


    Martin took a quick second to lock his door on the way up.


    Elisa got a quick look at Martin''s apartment it was thrashed.


    "Long story," Martin said after seeing the look on her face.


    Incomprehensible yelling got Elisa''s attention, that would be Jay.


    She looked down just as she was fumbling with the lock on her door, it seemed to be jammed or something.


    Jay looked more steady on his feet and a substantial notch angrier.


    "Ah shit. Not again. Honestly?" Martin moaned.


    *****


    He was back in his room, Eian felt strange, his head throbbed a bit as though it was straining to focus.


    Eian was huffing with exertion, fists up he growled at his assailant.


    A particularly bulky-buff native-Indian in native clothing howled and charged, Eian being completely unaware of the differences could not identify which group his attacker belonged.


    Grappling Eian tried to throw him to the ground unsuccessfully, Eian twisted an arm, blocked a stray fist aimed at his face, and shoved against his attacker''s chest.


    They had been fighting for a while, Eian wasn''t truly paying attention how long.


    He was sure his opponent was decently bruised, but Eian himself felt like shit.


    This fuck definitely did not punch like a bitch.


    A fist caught his chin, rattling his head, gritting his teeth Eian retreated.


    His opponent pressed his advantage, Eian cursed there wasn''t much space here in his room, his legs caught the edge of his bed.


    His opponent laughed as he barreled forward, Eian swore.


    Timing well, Eian extended his elbow forward catching the native in the chin.


    The head jerked backward violently but shoved Eian to sit on his bed roughly.


    Seizing advantage he launched heavy kicks, which were blocked expertly, the native rolled with them.


    ''What the fuck IS he made of?'' Eian cursed his elbow felt a tad bruised, along with his fists and wherever he received hits.


    The native laughed and spoke in some damned native language, Eian didn''t understand a lick of it.


    "Yeah? Right back at you, asshole." Eian spat at him.


    As the native opened his mouth Eian attacked.


    A jab caught him unexpected, Eian followed through with an insane upper-cut.


    Wincing he felt something crack, without thought he punched the native''s liver.


    Again, he punched the liver, he felt strong arms hug him, growling Eian grabbed his opponents back and punched his liver HARDER.


    Eian felt something impact his head, he ignored it and kept punching.


    His next punch went straight through, his opponent had become smoke.


    Eian blinked, he felt the strain on his head ease slightly, he woke.


    *****


    Opening his eyes Eian looked around, he was on the couch, sweaty and tired.


    ''How''d I get here?'' Eian''s head felt a bit numb like he hadn''t gotten much sleep last night.


    "Ma?" Eian scanned everywhere.


    Where is she?


    Eian frowned he spotted the entrance to their apartment, the shelf he put there had been moved.


    ''Shit, she went out.'' Worry knawed at him.

 Alternate 4

    Opening his front door Eian stumbled unto a strange scene, which evoked a strange series of emotions.


    Confusion, fear, anxiety, relief and a touch of anger.


    His mother''s back was bending over a collapsed fat man, while another athletic semi-nude man chewed his nails with eyes that darted everywhere.


    The shirtless man was covered in thin lacerations, which had to be excruciating as well as ugly to look at.


    The blood trailing the floor and Eian was sure it wasn''t from the semi-nude jittery man, his mother''s back was also spotless.


    Judging from her frantic movements his mind registered the blood was from the fat guy.


    Turning, both his mother and the slimmer man saw him after the door shut.


    "What''s going on?" Eian measured his words, he didn''t want them freaking out.


    Rushing he went over to his mother, the blood had him on edge.


    "Sweetheart!" Elisa rushed over to him, covered in blood.


    "Are you hurt, Ma?" Eian held her blood-soaked hands with concern.


    "No! I''m fine. It''s not mine!" His mother assured him, patting him from cheek to chest.


    Checking her over, he reached the conclusion she was fine.


    She kept hugging him though, muttering about how much she loved him, it was actually a bit embarrassing when he realized they had company.


    His mother still would not let go, despite insisting he was fine.


    The other guy was actually ignoring them, a dead look in his eye as he stared at the other man on the floor.


    "Please Miss El, I didn''t mean it. Honest." Martin''s voice broke, on the verge panic.


    "Mister Martin?" Eian stared, he looked stronger, a lot stronger actually.


    Martin was covering his mouth with both hands, looking a bit ill.


    "What happened?" Eian was at a loss, the fat guy on the floor made him nervous.


    "Jay''s dead!" Martin was definitely panicking now.


    *****


    "Okay. The most important thing to do is to stay calm." Eian looked at both of them, having already given them some water.


    "Sss..st..stay calm? Honestly? FUCK! The cops are going to lose their shit and I''ll end up in a cell!?" Martin''s voice trembled, before breaking out.


    Eian glared at him, they had to think of something and Martin wasn''t helping.


    "It was an accident, Martin. We can explain everything, it was self-defense." Elisa spoke softly and comforting.


    "Self-defense? They''ll take one look at me and say I could have restrained him or something." Martin lowered his tone, but it was still a bit shakey.


    "Come on, there''s a lot going on right now. I don''t think this is the most important thing right now either." Eian reasoned.


    "World might be ending, that just means people will be jumpier to put me down. California has the death penalty." Martin argued.


    ''Wow, this guy is starting to piss me off with this.'' Eian rubbed his face, he could relate to his fright but from what he understood it was an accident.


    His phone ringing saved Eian from further torture, rushing over to his room at the speed of light.


    Checking the caller he realized it was Ed, still, it was a much-needed distraction.


    "Hello? Ed?" Eian asked.


    "Fuck nigga? I called like five times already, you ain''t-a zombie or something right?" Ed sounded a bit nervous at that.


    "Zombie? No, I do have a problem over here though..." Eian hesitated.


    Eian wasn''t sure if he should tell Mike, on one hand, Mike could not just go to the police, on the other telling anyone might be a bad idea.


    "You and everyone else brother. Look you should pull up by my place, I got my people and the girls are over. My old man should be coming over too. We are ready for everything short of a nuke." Ed sounded serious.


    "Ugh...I''m not sure my mom will be okay with that dude." Eian winced, she would actually say no straight up.


    "You got guns?" Ed asked sarcastically.


    "No." Frowning Eian mumbled.


    "Look E, I know your mom''s gonna flip but you gotta admit things''ll get nasty quick. You''ll both be safer over with me." Ed continued.


    "I...Yeah Ed, but I got another problem. I...got a body." Eian winced, that sounded bad when he put it like that.


    "....So? I have a body too." Ed sounded confused.


    "Not MY body. I mean, you know....a dead guy." Eian stopped breathing and closed his eyes.


    The phone was silent.


    "...You''re fucking with me? Like...for real?" Ed sounded skeptical, not accusing like a regular person would be.


    "Yeah." He stated simply.


    "What. The. Fuck. E? Look we gotta talk about this face to face, so I''ll go there with a guy. Stay right there, you hear me? STAY RIGHT THERE." Ed sounded worried and then hung up.


    Eian took a deep breath before calming himself down, he wasn''t sure if Ed could help, but he had more experience with dodging the law than him.


    His main problem was going to be explaining all this to Elisa, she knew Ed was into shady business and had therefore explicitly stated he wasn''t welcome.


    Eian himself felt strange still speaking to Ed but they were once close friends and Ed had not done anything to offend him personally so he simply spent less time with him citing his mother''s reluctance.


    Walking back into the living room Eian prepared himself for a scolding, a challenge and a neighbor with problems.


    *****


    Eian tried not to look at his mother, whom he knew had a grumpy frown on her face.


    Martin looked like a lost puppy who had finally been given a chance, they had tried bandaging his wounds with old but clean clothes.


    Eian had taken a refreshing quick bath and was still waiting for Ed to reach.


    "I don''t think this is a good idea. He''s a bad influence and could get us in even deeper trouble." Elisa grumbled.


    Eian remained silent, it was well past 7 o clock at the moment and he was beginning to have doubts.


    "Miss El, please I don''t want to go to jail," Martin begged, holding both hands together similar to prayer.


    "I know, but I still think the police would see it our way." Elisa reasoned.


    "I don''t know if I can run that risk. Please, just let him say his piece first." Martin sighed at the last comment.


    Elisa remained quiet, sighing after a while and nodding as well.


    Eian took a deep breath, that was as close as he would get he supposed.


    The sound of a vehicle parking outside alerted them.


    "I''ll go check," Eian said.


    "Me too." Martin was quick and jumpy.


    They all made their way to the only door into the building, taking a peek.


    Eian inspected the vehicle, a moderate but long van, which could likely accommodate a group well over ten.


    Smiling Eian recognized a familiar face, stepping out of the shotgun-seat beside the driver was Ed.


    The driver also stepped out, a bulky heavy-set man in all black clothes who had black-shades on his forehead above his eyes, the driver went straight to the back of the vehicle extracting a bag of items.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Bro that you?" Ed asked from a distance of the door.


    Eian took a quick look at his friend, he still had a gut with that weasel nose and an inch or two shorter than himself.


    "Yeah come in, come in." Eian opened the door and gestured them inside.


    Stepping in Edward lowered his head towards Elisa.


    "Miss Elisa, lovely as always." Ed kept his voice neutral and evaded eye contact.


    "Hello, Edward. Welcome." Elisa answered, keeping her tone polite but neutral.


    Eian could see at a glance that his mother''s posture was defensive.


    "Upstairs? We have to... Talk." Edward kept his usual slang out of his speech when speaking.


    Passing up the stairs, they made their way past Jay''s body, Edward motioned his accomplice and whispered a few things to him before addressing the rest of the group.


    "Alright, who exactly uh... hurt him?" Ed asked carefully eyeing them all.


    Eian, Elisa, and Martin stayed quiet for a moment.


    "Well? I need details if we are going to help." Ed continued, slowly.


    "It...it was me." Martin gulped.


    Edward nodded, a flash of relief might have passed his face but Eian might have imagined it.


    "Okay...Good. Eian, Miss Elisa, can we step inside while my friend, Mister Jacob, here discusses Mister~" Ed waited for a prompt.


    "Martin," Martin added nervously.


    "Yes. While he discusses Mister Martin''s options with him." Ed finished.


    "What options?" Elisa frowned.


    Edward licked his lips and cleared his throat.


    "Please it is best we not discuss...that, not that I don''t trust you both, but in regards to liability we want both of you to be able to claim ignorance. Just in case." Edward looked at the door briefly.


    "I don''t quite like that..." Elsia sighed.


    "Ma, I think it''s for the best. Just say we don''t know. For Martin''s sake." Eian reasoned that was the fastest way to get out of here.


    Eian was still not sure it would matter later on due to the impending apocalypse but it would be better to be safe than sorry.


    Elisa sighed and relented with a nod.


    "Mister Jacob, I''ll leave Mister Martin in your capable hands." Ed nodded at Jacob.


    "Just remember our deal Edward," Jacob stated it clear, with what might have been an implied threat.


    "Yes, yes. Later." Edward''s face visibly soured.


    Eian briefly glanced over this large ''Jacob'' fellow, the bag he brought could likely fit half a body but it seemed to be bulging full of items.


    "Let''s go inside please." Ed insisted.


    ******


    Watching Edward, Eian saw his friend visibly deflating as he closed the door behind him.


    "Fuck bro. I thought YOU did in the guy." Ed complained to Eian.


    "Language in the house." Elsia folded her arms and looked at him distastefully.


    "Sorry Miss El." Ed laughed nervously.


    Eian gave him a sympathetic smirk, he had realized how it might have sounded but he hadn''t been answering later calls.


    "Yeah sorry." Eian scratched his neck.


    Elisa stood up, getting both their attention.


    "Eian, you told me you were not in Edward''s little ring. Do you realize we could both get deported? Not only that but my brother could get in serious trouble!" Elisa growled.


    "Wow, wow, wow. Mom, I''m not in his gang." Eian raised both hands defensively.


    "Well actually~" Edward started.


    "Quiet, not a word. I am speaking to my son." Elisa glared at Edward.


    Edward backed away looking offended, muttering under his breathe.


    "Well?" Elisa looked at Eian.


    "Look, I''m not in his gang. We were friends in high school remember?" Eian asked trying to explain in a way that wouldn''t look bad.


    "Yes! And when he joined that little crowd of miscreants I told you to not associate with him." Elisa growled.


    "I...Well we were friends. I mean...it''s not like I visit him every day. We just hang out once in a while after work. Maybe once a week tops." Eian explained.


    Grimacing he saw rage filling his mother''s face, turning her crimson and the childhood part of his mind screamed at him to flee.


    Lasting for all of a few seconds before sighing Elisa''s face turned a more moderate color, breathing Eian urged his mind to think of something to say.


    Finally, Elisa rubbed her face and went to get a seat on the couch, once seated she shooed Edward into Eian''s room.


    Once Edward was in Eian''s room, with the door closed, Elisa started.


    "Sweetheart, you aren''t a baby anymore. I can''t control your decisions, but please take us all into consideration. We have a life here and we were so close to finally getting out of poverty and living well ourselves." Elisa stared at him, the look of disappointment was a knife to his heart.


    "Mom, Eds not like that~" Eian opened his mouth to continue, but Elisa cut him off with a raised hand.


    She gestured him to sit on the other side of the same sofa, a small distance between them.


    "Edward sells drugs because he is lazy, his grades were on par with Russel''s early on. He is well smart enough to have studied and applied for a respectable career, instead, he is making all of us look terrible. Do you realize it is people like him that started the whole prejudice against our people?" Elisa raised a brow.


    "....I.." Eian couldn''t find an argument to that.


    "Not only THAT. He brought a man who seems experienced in cleaning Bodies. BODIES! Sweetheart do you really want to associate with someone like that?" Elisa looked him in the eye.


    Looking at the floor, Eian was trying to come up with an excuse or an explanation.


    "I didn''t even know he knew someone like that," Eian said lamely.


    "And what else don''t you know? What if he kills people for their organs or kills people for some other reason?" Elisa asked him.


    "I don''t think he does that ma, he just...I think he just sells drugs to have an easy life." Eian deflated, rubbing his face.


    "Eian, Sweetheart, please just think about it some. He''s not a good friend for you. Speak to him also. Maybe he can change his ways, but until he does I don''t want you being blamed for his crimes." Elisa finished.


    Getting up his mother looked at him one last time, a frown clearly visible.


    "I''ll go bathe and rest, it has been a long day." Elisa yawned.


    "Okay." Eian sighed.


    He saw his mother wash her bloody hands in the kitchen sink, come out of her room with a change of clothes followed by the familiar click of the bathroom door locking.


    Once the shower started Edward came out.


    "How bad was it?" Ed looked nervous.


    "On a scale of one to ten? Twenty." Eian smiled.


    "Wanna talk about it?" Ed licked his lips, looking at the floor.


    "Not really, it''s what you''d expect." Eian sighed, he was doing that a lot lately.


    There was a momentary lapse in silence as Edward stood there fidgeting.


    "Errr...E, you should really come over to my place you know. We got people and everyone else''s family is doing the same." Edward rubbed the back of his hand.


    "I don''t think she''d like that. What did Russel say?" Eian looked his old time friend over.


    "He''s not even answering me." Edward sounded exasperated.


    "I didn''t think he''d be keen on it either way. By the way, who the hell was that Jacob guy? Guy''s weird, and gives me chills." Eian couldn''t help but feel a trace of accusation entering his voice.


    Freezing, Eian saw Ed swallow and clear his throat, before laughing awkwardly.


    "He''s ...from a bigger group. You know the more...scary ones that have this sort of problem." Edward rubbed the bridge of his nose, not looking at Eian.


    Eian stared at his friend as though he''d grown a second head.


    "You''re telling me. You brought a...a murderer into our apartment?" Eian sized up his friend, his mother''s lecture fresh on his mind.


    "No! Well...I don''t know if he actually kills people, but they were the only guys I knew could help in this sort of situation! Bro, I thought you did in the fatty!" Edward''s eyes got large.


    "Fuck Ed, what the flying Fuck. Guy''s probably a psycho or something." Eian looked at Ed, who was beet red.


    "Nah, well maybe a bit, but we have a deal. I mean, what is he going to do? Hand me over to the cops?" Ed was getting defensive, his tone growing flustered.


    "Ed, that''s crazy man. I don''t know, what if he backstabs us or something?" Eian pushed his point.


    "E, relax. They sell we buy, nothing big, mostly Meds and Nines, but the Bossman has a whole network cooked up. Bad-business to ''back-stab'' a consistent customer." Ed explained.


    "I still don''t like it and I thought you said you guys don''t do anything big." Eian accused.


    "And I wasn''t lying, we aren''t even a real gang. No Tatts. We just sell Med''s on the side for a few groups and the Nines are mostly to scare off trouble." Ed said.


    Eian quieted.


    "Look bro, it''s safer if we go together. Let''s just deal with this after everything blows over. The drive was crazy by the way." Ed was frowning.


    "My mom''s not going to like that one-bit dude, I don''t think we can change her mind." Eian sighed, confused.


    ''Why''s everything so complicated.'' Eian closed his eyes briefly pondering his choices.


    After a silence, Edward tried again.


    "And what''ll you do when people break in? Looting started already E, I saw a few stores being robbed on the way. Also, a guy was getting beat then robbed too. How long till you get a mob outside your door? E, my man, listen to reason. Please." Edward rubbed his forehead.


    Eian sat there pondering, he was confident in handling a small crowd, especially once all his powers came back, the only problem was everyone supposedly had powers now too so that might even the playing field.


    Edward was pacing back and forth, growing more agitated by the second, Eian looked at him trying to make the right choice.


    On one hand, his friend had a point, strength in numbers, on the other convincing his mother would be hard and she would likely still give him attitude the whole time.


    ''If the calls are any indication, the police must have their hands full and that likely includes the military. Civilians will have to fend for themselves till the situation comes under control.'' Eian wasn''t a genius but even if the government could handle this it would still take some time.


    "Fine, I''ll try." Eian sighed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes it was getting late.


    "Don''t try. Do. I''m serious here bro." Edward folded his arms, frowning.


    The shower stopped and Eian racked his brain, he had to come up with something and fast.

 Alternate 5

    The night air was chilly yet Eian felt sweat dribble down his back, the street lights illuminated the scene well enough.


    Looking upon this build-up from the sidewalk as he loaded the last of their supplies into the van, now having second doubts of agreeing to go along with Edward.


    His mother''s, Elisa''s, astonished face unbelievingly asked him: ''what the hell they were doing''.


    He and Edward had just finished loading all their supplies Elisa and Eian had bought at the store into the long van, then this happened.


    A distant part of Eian''s mind noticed Martin''s wounds had been treated, he reminded him eerily of the story Frankenstein being full of stitches.


    Coming down from the apartments, Martin and Jacob had an average young blonde semi-naked woman, blindfolded, gagged, and limbs restrained with cuffs, they were literally dragging her towards the van, the restained woman struggled desperately to get free.


    Strangely as they had brought everything down, Eian noticed the body of Jay had also been missing, the blood disappearing without trace.


    "What in Heaven''s name are you doing!?" Elisa growled at Martin.


    Jacob shot his mother a vex glare before ignoring her and helping Martin lift the struggling woman into the van.


    Eian''s face tightened, the jerk shouldn''t look at his mother like that, and what the hell were they doing?


    ''I should probably tell him something....'' Eian fumed with indecision, according to Ed, Jacob was from a gang or something similar.


    "Miss El, I can explain..." Martin started.


    "That is all I''ve been hearing lately!" Elisa growled, looking at Eian to prove a point.


    "This is different! Honest." Martin let go of the young woman, whom Jacob now had to struggle to restrain alone.


    "Eian, this is what I was talking about!" Elisa growled at him.


    Eian blinked, stupified.


    What could he say to that?


    "Miss El listen a damned second! She''s crazy, like Jay!" Martin sounded angry now.


    "Hey! Calm down, watch how you talk to her." Eian growled at Martin, he had to understand how everything looked.


    "She''s yelling at me! What, you want me to take her shit after I saved her ass?" Martin snorted with contempt.


    "SHUT UP!" A strong voice yelled at everyone.


    Blinking in surprise, Eian turned to realize it was Jacob, who was choking the young woman with a headlock.


    "The young lady is clearly afflicted by something, she attacks people indiscriminately. She needs help, we also need to see if there is a cure." Jacob reasoned.


    Eian tried to piece together what he was saying, adding everything up seemed alien, yet strangely his mind accepted this far too easily now.


    People were apparently going zombie-crazy for some reason, hopefully, they weren''t becoming actual-zombies, being turned by a bite or scratch would be a punch to the nuts.


    "You''re hurting her." Eian pointed out, watching her struggle in his grasp.


    "And you know so much handling people? I only hurt people if I want to kid." Jacob oozed arrogance, irking him further.


    Right there and then, the woman''s feeble struggles ceased and Jacob loosened his grip.


    Elisa looked horrified, Edward looked a bit sick and Martin stared with wide eyes.


    "Oh relax people, she''s simply just unconscious. Feel free to check her breathing." Jacob rolled his eyes at them and crossed his arms.


    Eian let out an unconscious breathe he was holding as he saw the woman''s chest contract up and down, proof of his words.


    "Sweetheart, I still don''t think we should go with these people," Elisa whined.


    Eian sighed, not again.


    *****


    Once seated inside the van, Eian checked the van thoroughly, it had enough space to squeeze perhaps fifteen passengers.


    With tinted windows, the interior air-conditioner in proper order, the van seemed comfortable with its cushioned seats.


    Scanning he noticed a distinct lack of anything that resembled the body of Jay.


    All their supplies were neatly packed near the front-seats, it made packing and would make unpacking easier as the van was not open space.


    "Better you not know, don''t ask. Honest." Martin saw him inspecting the van.


    "Yeah no, the squirming lady makes me uncomfortable." Eian lied and scoffed.


    Edward was pulling the car out and into the drive-way as Jacob was now at the back ensuring the blonde was properly restrained.


    Martin was riding shotgun, next to Edward, while Eian and Elisa were next to each other around the middle seat.


    As they exited the apartment, Eian saw another car turn it''s headlights on, he ignored it but the light was inconvenient.


    After a short drive down the lane, Eian noticed an unconscious man on the side-walk, Edward slowed.


    "Keep driving, might be a ruse," Jacob said loudly from the back.


    Eian looked at his mother who was quietly frowning and radiating disapproval.


    As they passed the curve Eian saw another man, rushing towards the van, looking back quickly he noticed the man on the floor unmoving still.


    "Shit!" Ed hit the gas full on.


    The vehicle responded instantly, shooting forward like a comet.


    Running over a pedestrian ramp, the rough jump which jostled them all and near sent them to a light-post, they easily lost the crazed assailant in a few seconds.


    "Honestly? Watch it, the idiot can''t hurt the car." Martin complained.


    "Fuck you nigga." Ed drove on.


    Most houses and apartments were dark with few people on the road at this unholy hour, there was a light traffic evidently people were still bustling about.


    Entering the main street Eian could barely make out what appeared to be several stores busted open, most supermarkets and hardware stores, whether they still had people he could not tell.


    ****


    The roads themselves sported the occasional crash-site, these vehicles were already abandoned with traffic simply going around to evade them.


    "The hell happened." Eian saw what must have been the tenth vehicle already.


    "My guess''s people got hit mid-drive if that shits not stopin'' driving''ll be a bitch," Ed answered nervously.


    Elisa grunted Eian figured it was at the language.


    "Evade the commercial district. Turn right into the next avenue here, then go back roads." Jacob raised his voice from the back.


    "Gotcha" Ed affirmed quickly turning and listening.


    BANG! BANG! BANG! Single hand-gun rounds sounded out.


    "The fuck?!" Eian yelled as something stabbed the upper portion of his right lat.


    "Get down!" Jacob yelled.


    Eian''s eyes closed at the sound of shattering glass, Ed swerved the car dangerously.


    Instantly pulling his mother down to the floor Eian shielded her with his body, she screamed.


    Bang, bang, bang, either Martin or Ed was cursing loudly, maybe both.


    "Rggg. Stay steady, give me a good shot!" Jacob groaned.


    A different yet steadier drum of bullets hailed from the back as the van tossed and turned left and right, Eian grit his teeth, his shoulder was burning.


    A steady screech hit Eian like a sack of bricks, the car veered left and everyone held their breath.


    Impossibly they did not flip, Ed managed to swerve properly somehow, but their speed ground to a halt almost instantly, a tire had obviously been hit.


    "Out!" Jacob yelled, over raining bullets.


    Eian stayed down, Elisa kept trying to push him off.


    "Lets go!" Elisa screamed.


    "Me first, just in case. Stay down." Eian warned.


    Exiting the vehicle, Eian jumped back in as a hail of bullets ricocheted around him.


    "Ma, stay down!" Eian yelled, laying flat as well.


    After a click Eian heard more bullets shoot out.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Done," Jacob grunted.


    Finally ,bullets ceased to ring out, Eian waited till the count of ten.


    Tentatively he opened the door to the car, stepping out slowly he took stock of everything.


    Their van was littered with bullet dents and what appeared to be scorch marks, many windows had shattered, looking closer he inspected that many rounds did not go through the vehicle.


    Looking for their attackers, he spotted an old red convertible without the top, three obviously dead bodies laid in it.


    "Fuck! Fuck! What the fuck was that?" Eian asked out loud.


    Elisa sniffling, Eian embraced her and patted her back.


    "Shh, it''s over. It''s over." Eian growing angry, yet keeping it bottled in.


    Stepping out, Jacob went straight for the enemy convertible, Eian noted both Edward and Martin following him while arguing at Jacob.


    "The shit was that? You coulda gotten us pick off!" Ed cradled his leg.


    "Yeah, I honestly ran out and almost got a bullet for it!" Martin yelled.


    "My bad. Jitters." Jacob shrugged unapologetically.


    Ignoring their complaints, Eian observed as Jacob inspected the bodies and collected their fire-arms.


    A quick search later, Jacob returned, loading his ''spoils'' into the van.


    Opening the van he took out a jack and removed the spare wheel from an inside compartment at the bottom of the van.


    "Less talking more fixing. Hurry." Jacob shared the tools with the other two.


    Soon his mother calmed down, Eian ignored whatever else the three men were doing.


    "Ma, you alright?" Eian asked, checking her over for injuries and finding none.


    "Sweetheart, we aren''t staying." Elisa drew a deep breath and her voice came out resolute.


    "I know." Eian readily agreed.


    ''How am I going to take our supplies.'' Eian pondered that for a moment, it was far too much to carry himself.


    "Ed!" Eian yelled.


    "What?" Edward was putting on the wheel.


    "We aren''t going further," Eian said, angry.


    Edward stayed silent, sighed and nodded, at least he understood enough not to argue.


    "No, you''re not." Jacob broke in.


    "What?" Eian turned to look at him.


    He found himself staring at an Uzi, with Jacob pointing it at him, anger flooded into him.


    ''NO! Ma''s here.'' Eian grit his teeth and restrained his urge to brutalize the fucker.


    "Please, we just want to go. You can keep everything." Elisa raised both hands defensively, trying to step into the line of fire.


    "Mom stay back." Eian grabbed her and shielded her, he was more likely to survive a bullet to the well...anywhere.


    "Sorry lady, you''re stuck with us. You''re free once we deliver you to his spot." Jacob motioned at Ed with a tilt of his neck.


    Eyes narrowing, Eian drew a deep breath and nodded, he could hardly resist the urge to charge and pummel his face in.


    Something caught his eye, blood was dripping down the floor beneath Jacob, he had been hit.


    Quickly inspecting Jacob over, he noted the sweating, difficulty breathing and a paleness of the skin.


    ''I hope he just fucking dies from those.'' Eian almost smiled at the thought.


    As soon as the replacement was in, he gathered everyone.


    "Alright, we''re going to my HQ. I''ll get off there, from then you all can go home and pretend this never happened. Understood?" Jacob commanded.


    "Yes." They all agreed in union.


    "Good. Edward, your driving, I''ll be next to you. Everyone else to the back, all the way to the back. Got it? No funny business." Jacob urged them inside.


    Getting in and taking a seat, Eian noticed something, the blonde was dead, a bullet blew straight through her head.


    "Shit," Eian mumbled.


    "Oh, God." Elisa looked sick.


    Martin stayed silent, but his eyes were hopelessly lost.


    "Shut up and sit down. Edward, start the engine." Jacob aimed the gun at them in threat.


    Once they took off, Eian noticed the way to the commercial district was blocked off by police road-blocks, warning tape in abundance he could hear sirens and warnings from a distance.


    He also noted a strange overgrown dog or wolf hybrid bolting down the road, it was carrying something long but cloth-covered in its mouth.


    The occasional person was running wildly about also, a mad look in their eyes charging directly to their way when the vehicle approached.


    Eian kept his eyes on Jacob, watching him intently as his state deteriorated slowly.


    "Hurry." Jacob urged Ed on.


    "I know, I know." Ed was sweating too.


    "Shut up and hurry up damn it," Jacob growled, waving the gun at Ed''s face.


    "Alright! Alright!" Ed gunned the engine faster.


    Eian held on for dear life as the car sped up past sixty, the roads were too small to go so fast, Ed quickly blew past two red lights.


    The swaying of the car bit into Eian''s shoulder, he was also sweating, but he didn''t feel the injury deteriorate.


    "Ma. Are you sure you are alright?" Eian asked, he had checked earlier but it was dark.


    "Yes, sweetheart. You?" Elisa sighed then looked at him.


    Hiding his injury Eian smiled.


    "I''m fine," Eian said.


    "Well honestly, I''m not." Martin grumbled.


    "Nobody cares." Eian snorted.


    "Eian." Elisa lectured sternly.


    ''Whatever.'' Eian rolled his eyes mentally.


    Soon Eian noticed Jacob pull out a phone in one hand and maintain the gun in the other.


    "Boss. I''m close...No. I need a medic. I''m hit... Yes, two skulls and Rose on the bodies.....Yeah, I think so too...Sure thing." Jacob was huffing heavily by the end of the call.


    As they approached the next curve, Jacob was wheezing.


    "Pull up here." Jacob motioned for a large mansion.


    At the gate, three full black suit men stopped them.


    "Hold up! Hands up! No sudden moves." The first guard declared, as all three hefted handguns.


    "Rafe! It''s...me." Jacob coughed trying to clear his throat.


    "Jake?" A second guard visibly lowered his weapon, alarmed.


    "I need a *cough* a doctor." Jacob struggled to answer.


    Forcefully, the third guard opened the door.


    "Everyone out! OUT!" He urged them out quickly with a gun.


    Eian, Elisa, and Martin all bolted outwards.


    "The other lady too!" The third guard yelled at the body.


    "She''s...dead." Martin clarified.


    "Fuck Jake. What in blazes happened." Rafe asked.


    Jacob ignored him as the first guard, Rafe, hauled Ed out and got in the driver''s seat.


    "Bill, Tray, take ''em inside, standard procedure." Rafe lectured.


    "Right." Both other guards nodded.


    As the van sped inside taking Jacob and their supplies, Eian glared at Ed.


    "You got us into this shit." Eian was pissed.


    "Hey, it was all going fine until~." Ed started.


    "Quiet. Inside. Come on, all of you." The guard, Tray, silenced them and urged them onwards.


    Looking at the mansion, Eian realized it was more of a compound.


    There were three separate buildings, the middle being the largest with four stories.


    They were led into the left building, a solid concrete white two-story warehouse looking thing.


    There was a paved pathway, which split towards each building, there was the sound of running water up the middle mansion.


    *****


    The more he saw the more Eian realized they were fucked, with guards were stationed at every corner, and Eian was sure they were all armed.


    Despite the ten foot tall wall, at full power, Eian was sort of sure he could at least exit the compound alone, but there were too many complications after.


    The first problem was Elisa, he wasn''t going to abandon his mother and Ed sort of counted, bad friend or no, they were still friends.


    The next problem was that escaping on foot seemed futile, as any vehicle would easily catch up.


    Lastly was the issue of their supplies, which had been taken along with the van.


    ''Fuck.'' Eian sighed as he took in the light tan color room, hating it.


    Eian was making it a habit to stay behind everyone, ensuring n one see his injury.


    They had been brought to this small room with a few sofas as well as a single coffee table smack in the center.


    Both guards were just outside the door and they had been politely asked to wait, the room had a tiny window from which only a baby could escape.


    "This is your fault, Ed." Eian glared at him.


    "HEY! How was I supposed to~" Ed started to speak but Martin interrupted.


    "Yeah! What are they holding us up for?" Martin interrupted.


    "Bitches listen-up will ya!" Edward''s was clearly exasperated.


    Eian didn''t care, this mess could go to hell at any moment.


    "What? You know how to get us out of your mess?" Eian growled back.


    "Ah...Well no, but listen, we just came here cuz Jacob was hurt right? They should let us go once he recovers." Ed stammered.


    Eian looked at him closely, an uneasy feeling welling up from those words, the room went silent.


    ''They could''ve at least installed a damn TV.'' Eian rubbed his eyes, he''d get bored soon.


    An hour passed, Eian was getting bored of fiddling his thumbs while his mother would occasionally look at him with worry.


    Soon the door opened.


    "Boss sends word." The guard, Rafe spoke.


    *****


    They were led to a more spacious office, surrounded by at least ten guards, Eian was sure they were all armed.


    The office was frigid, painted white and full of wooden shelves lined with books, at the center sat a portly man with glasses.


    "Hello. I''m sorry for the wait, Mister Jacob was in critical condition and stabilizing him took quite some time, even with the new....medi-care." The portly man spoke.


    They all remained silent, no one wanted to accidentally say something and get them all killed.


    "Ah, excuse me. Where are my manners? My name is Jared Bradley. I work as a ... consultant of sorts here." Mr. Bradley leaned backward on his chair Eian was surprised the chair didn''t buckle and throw his fat ass off.


    Mr.Bradley looked at them, as if waiting for a response, one that never came.


    "Mhm. Yes. Well, down to business shall we? I''m sure you all are curious as to why we held you here this long." Mr.Bradley got Eian''s attention there.


    "Wasn''t it because Jacob was hurt?" Ed asked.


    "In part, yes. We weren''t clear on the details of your traumatizing experience, many things had to be made clear before we let you leave." Mr.Bradley clarified.


    "So we can just leave now?" Ed seemed hopeful.


    Mr.Bradley took a moment to clean his glasses, a smile emerged slowly.


    "Let me explain first, we now know you had no involvement in the attack. So let me assure you your lives aren''t in danger, at least not from us." Mr.Bradley''s smile seemed genuine, but Eian knew a toad when he saw one.


    "So when can we leave." Eian was getting testy.


    "Yes. Er, the problem is you are witnesses to murder." Mr.Bradely clarified.


    Eian went silent, growing antsy for his mother''s sake, he couldn''t deny he was a bit nervous himself.


    "As I said, you are not at all in danger, we aren''t barbarians. We don''t kill indiscriminately, but this does pose another problem, that you know the location of one of our larger bases of operations." Mr.Bradley said slowly.


    "That wasn''t our fault!" Ed raised his voice, gaining a shrilly aspect.


    Tha guards all tensed, Eian drew a deep breath, focusing his mind he brought forth the distant image of Empower, praying it would work if there was a fight.


    Long seconds stretched by as no-one moved, Mr.Bradley slowly lifted both hands placatingly.


    "Please let us discuss this in a calm peaceful way. I''m sure we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement."


    Speaking out before Edward seemed like a good idea right then.


    "Yes. That''s good, what did you have in mind." Eian could clearly see this fellow leading them somewhere.


    "I have a few options available to you." Mr. Bradley looked over Eian, scrutinizing him from head to toe like an eagle.


    Eian, Elisa, Edward, and Martin all remained silent as Mr.Bradley took his time inspecting each of them, mostly the men.


    "You may not know, but due to the impending... complications, we are expanding our staff. The easiest solution for us, would of course be for you to join us." Mr.Bradley''s eyes smiled sinisterly.

 Alternate 6

    Eian closed his eyes, already knowing his reply, the only logical reply really.


    It was painfully obvious, yet he would have to take the risk, these people were dangerous.


    "Can we hear our other options?" Eian heard his mother sigh with relief.


    Mr.Bradley''s smile lost some anticipation, though he nodded cordially he did take a while to scrutinize him from head.


    "Before we continue, please fully consider our first proposal, the world will soon become a difficult place to live in and we have much to offer. Protection, supplies, contacts, or medicine you name it. Also to alleviate some fear, be aware not all jobs in our enterprises are unsafe. We have several businesses which will need eager workers, everything from manual labor to office jobs." Bradley took off his glasses and cleaning them slowly.


    Everyone remained silent, their decision anonymous, to Eian it seemed unwise or even downright dumb to side with anyone who had a group of killers attacking them with guns.


    Mister Bradley took this time to pull a folder out and place it in front of him, reading a few lines on a page with eyes of lightning.


    Finally, after about a minute he closed the folder and looked at them, they were all uncomfortable with the silence and at his next words, Eian tensed.


    "Alas'' I suspected as much, the only other option is temporary con...employement, you will have to help out with a few things around here. This place will eventually be abandoned as we regroup so this way...we ensure all of you have to stay put until you cannot give our enemies information. Nothing overly complicated, but we ARE short-staffed and the Boss IS reluctant to send too many people out at this time." Mr.Bradley looked down at his folder.


    Eian almost sighed but held it in, both options sounded terrible, hopefully, there were other options.


    Mr.Bradley kept scrutinizing them, gauging their reactions, Eian shifted warily to some hidden trap.


    Finally, he seemed to get the hint.


    "I understand your reluctance, but we can''t have unaffiliated people wandering about with what you know, also while we have vast supplies those will not last forever so every-mouth we feed must earn their keep. If any of you possess any useful skills or trades relating to these NEW phenomenal changes we can make use of your skills." Mr. Bradely rubbed his chin thoughtfully.


    "What sort of skills and trades?" Ed bumped into the conversation.


    "....You may or may not know, but there are many new disciplines which a few select people have knowledge of. QI, Psyche, and Spirit are deep studies to which we have only touched the surface, each is a vast science. Knowledge is power, and in these coming dark days we will need that power if we are to thrive." Mr.Bradley opened his mouth to say more but seemed to re-evaluate it, as though they were too low-grade to know.


    Eian closed his eyes thinking, he knew little save for what Ul taught him, Sarah would have likely been a prime candidate of which this cunning portly man was looking into.


    Opening his eyes, Eian decided it truly did not matter, after all, he was definitely not about to hand over any sort of dangerous information to criminals.


    "Err...I have my sisters to worry about..." Ed licked his lips nervously.


    "Not a problem Edward, you''re not unaffiliated so YOU, and you alone, are free to go." Mr. Bradley barked a short laugh at him, his bulk strained his chair.


    Eian turned to look at Ed, both his mother and Martin were doing the same, if looks could kill he would be shish-kebab then Barbequed and finally fed to dogs.


    Edward had the grace to look embarrassed, with a touch of fear and sympathy.


    Fortunately for Edward, Mr.Bradley interrupted them before they could lynch Edward and probably tear him a new asshole.


    "Moving on, you three will have to make a choice. I am open to any suggestions you may have to offer, however, please keep in mind WE need to be sure you will not become a liability to us. Also while you stay, you must earn your keep, unless you somehow manage to convince us to let you go. Once those two are met we can negotiate." Mr.Bradley leaned forward.


    "How much time do we have to make a decision?" Elisa spoke for the first time and Martin voiced his agreement.


    "We will give you a few hours, we will also tend to your injuries for free. I''m sure those of you injured do not want to risk an infection." Mr.Bradley eyed the three men with the hint of a smile.


    Dismissed, they were led to a doctors office where a pair of medics, an older grandfatherly doctor wearing a fancy white lab-coat which matched his hair color and what looked like an untried nervous young Caucasian man.


    The bullets logged in Eian''s back, Edwards right leg along with a gaze Martin had on his right tricep was also treated, Martin''s wounds were healed, the stitches removed.


    The young assistant to the doctor turned out to be a life-spirit user, the doctor was not and the young healer applied whatever the doctor instructed, their injured were patched up in short order.


    The whole time, Elisa admonished Eian for hiding his injury and lying to her, earning him an ear twist and a smack in the head.


    *****


    Eian was racking his brain for a solution, a way for this criminal group to believe they meant no harm and let them go...somehow.


    He was coming up empty however, they were guided into a cramped little room, smaller even than Eian''s previous living room, guards were stationed outside.


    Edward scurried away back home like the rat he was, his apologies and reassurances of help were worth less than the air he spewed and fell on deaf ears.


    Sleep evaded them despite the hour, he tossed and turned the whole night, he wished he could discuss their situation together but Elisa and Martin were deep in thought neither helpful.


    For a brief moment, Eian thought he felt a slight shaking of the earth, it was eerily reminiscent but it vanished just as fast.


    A meal was delivered and quickly devoured, looking upon his attributes Eian tried to remember anything useful.


    Spirit was at three and rising, Body was at five and rising, while Mind was at four and blinking.


    The fact that he could upgrade his attributes was a welcome surprise, in the dream he had only recently upgraded Body before his battle with the collector.


    Smiling for the what felt the first time, Eian imagined he would be at full strength by tomorrow, hopefully, he could upgrade his spirit before anything eventful happened.


    At some point, they tried to speak on their options but came out empty, after hours they surrendered to the inevitable.


    Laying down on a couch, he decided a stressed mind would not help, sleep claimed him much later than expected.


    Everyone else had bedded down on the couches and were fast asleep.


    Feeling miserable, Eian was constantly bothering for more food from the guards whenever possible but he was denied each time, his stomach felt as though it was eating itself and his muscular body with thin an wiry.


    His body did not have the same thickness as in the dream, almost emancipated despite the obvious solid steel coils of muscle under, Eian chalked it up to the lack of nourishment, hopefully, a few days of good eating would solve that.


    Sometime after his fourth or fifth awakening from starvation, he again woke with a start, the first thing Eian noticed was the sizzling air and his cramping stomach.


    It was scorching hot, so much the fan above was simply pressing burning air unto him.


    Opening the door he noticed the guards outside the rooms had removed the outer jacket of their outfits, they were clearly still uncomfortably damp and sweating bullets.


    "''Ey not time yet, we ain''t giving ya more food." Guard grew surlier each time Eian woke, wearing no shades his eyes murky brown.


    "Uhh. No, it''s just hot and I need to shit too." Eian fanned himself and aired his shirt.


    " Oh for fucks sake." The guard was clearly grumpy, given the heat Eian couldn''t blame him.


    A few hours passed in horrid torment, Eian wondered where the sudden heat came from but his thoughts were easily distracted.


    In his opinion, early morning couldn''t have come quicker, by then escaping the blasted heat was a welcome reprieve, depressing as it was he was incapable of thought.


    Eian was feeling completely drained of energy, from constant knawing of his stomach and bathroom breaks, he wondered where his body was still processing when his belly was empty.


    Finally, their captors led them right back to the office, which mercifully had air conditioning.


    Upon entering they all heaved out a breath at the cooler room, even as Mr. Bradley urged the guards to close the door.


    "Well?" Bradley''s fat cheeks and thick neck were drenched despite the conditioner.


    Eian closed his eyes, it wasn''t like they were being given much choice and he wasn''t about to risk his mother''s life.


    "You are not giving us a choice." Elisa asserted herself.


    "Honest," Martin affirmed by nodding.


    Eian looked at her, she was clearly dissatisfied, at that moment he realized the bags under her eyes.


    Martin for his part looked a lot healthier, his scratches were gone and Eian''s small worry about him turning into a zombie lessened...slightly.


    Eian felt the world still as Mr.Bradely rubbed his brow, a frown decorating his face.


    "I gave you as much time as I could, I''m sorry if it seems forced but please behave yourselves at your posts." Bradley''s complexion was visibly distracted.


    *******


    Of ALL people to be put under Eian could not imagine someone worse than Jacob, apparently, the man was high up in security.


    After devouring a quick breakfast Eian was reluctant to leave his mother at the cafeteria where she was to be given a job, but Elisa urged him to comply, they could not risk alterations just yet.


    Martin was there with him, nervous as ever, Eian tried to just ignore the man, he barely knew him and the man was a whinny bitch.


    They were being led into a storehouse slash warehouse, it was the other building away from the houses and Bradley''s office.


    "Alright kiddo. Time to earn your keep." Jacob''s smile taunted his knuckles with a target.


    "How?" Eian resigned himself, he had to find a way to get out and quick preferably by not endangering Elisa.


    "I would prefer to start you on something easier, but we are short-handed. Deaths all over, our job to protect the surrounding areas from enemies until they shit themselves running or die, it''s pretty hard without more men." Jacob shrugged and led Eian and Martin.


    Arriving Martin and Eian were given no weapons, Jacob straight up told them they were not trusted enough to have guns, and if they found something lethal on them there would be trouble.


    As the passed Eian noticed the storehouse was being worked thoroughly, unarmed men of all sizes and colors were moving supplies ranging from food to clothing in at the direction of taskmasters who were surrounded by a few bulky bodyguards.


    He also noticed certain doors, which when opened, clearly led to downwards, meaning at least one entire floor was down there, guards were stationed at each of these.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.The more he saw the more Eian dreaded escaping, he himself could escape easily but just in here there were at least a hundred men, taking into consideration the scope of the compound there could be anywhere from two to five times more, and his mother would die to any stray bullet.


    "Easiest job ever, while everyone important is out working, you''ll be their runners, like giving candy to a baby." Jacob pointed at a single guard on one door.


    "Ya?" Martin looked at the guard confused.


    "Joe, giving the kids here something to do. Radio''s got too much static, so use ''em however." Jacob glared at Joe to prove a point before leaving them both with Joe.


    Eian stepped beside Joe, wearing a simple blue security suit with ''SECURITY'' in a vivid yellow splayed over.


    "Joe is it?" Eian asked.


    "For fuck''s sake I''m Blake, Jake''s just a dick. You, the taller one, go through the door and down the stairs. Report to the guy down there you''re his radio replacement." After Martin left downstairs, Blake squinted with distaste at Eian before snorting and promptly ignoring him.


    A slow crawl of an hour later Eian was thoroughly convinced this was the most boring job ever, watching idly as laborers moved up and down, wholly ignoring them.


    He found it strange he was put here to just placed here and forgotten, but then again he had nothing more to do.


    Blake wasn''t chatty but being stuck together for so long people tend to make conversation.


    "So, what are you guarding? Guns, drugs, money?" Eian doubted money would be valuable for the foreseeable future but stranger things have happened.


    "Ah, you''ll see." Blake shrugged off that question.


    "How long''s your shift usually take?" Eian was bored out of his mind already.


    "Till lunch, we get eight-hour shifts, then we get replaced and back to it the next day." Blake sighed, he leaned against the wall for a while.


    Chatting away Eian idled away the hours, occasionally he would have to report to Jacob whom was outside, the lack of anything resembling a fan made him soak his shirt.


    His worry for his mother was a constant worry, these guys might try to do something to her, sexual harassment could only be the beginning.


    Blake was surprisingly forthcoming on certain things, though he evades certain sensitive topics, any man would likely do the same after hours of boredom.


    "Hey, Blake, my mom''s here too. How do men treat women here?" Eian tested waters.


    "Here how? " Blake turned to look at him confused and perhaps suspicious.


    "Bradley just assigned us to work. Jacob brought me here and told me my mom would cook." Eian explained, he had actually said the cafeteria.


    Blake turned to look at the door they were guarding.


    "Well. She''s probably in the caff, that''s where the only cooking happens." Blake raised an eyebrow and shook his head.


    "IS she safe there?" Eian shook his head.


    "Probably." Blake shrugged.


    That only made him want to go check on her even more, but the ''how'' was the problem.


    "Does anything ever happen?" Eian complained, bored out of his mind.


    "Yes," Blake responded deadpanned.


    "Like what?" Eian stared at him oddly.


    "...Attacks, this whole thing is just a small operation, a recent addition. The local gangs have tried to push us out several times." Blake explained, he stared at the ceiling.


    "Push out..." Eian oddly remembered the gunshots of last night.


    "Let me rephrase, put down. As into a grave." Blake gave him a knowing grim look.


    ''Knew it.'' Eian sighed, he felt he was going to be shot at again in the near future.


    Eian scrunched up his face in distaste, that meant his mother was in more immediate danger around here, any attack nearby could accidentally hit her.


    Looking around Eian tried to see if he could find an excuse to go speak to her, warn her ahead of time.


    Eian realized after a few tries Blake wouldn''t be having any of it, however, once alerted it was impossible to invent a reason to get away without Eian incriminating himself.


    He was stuck, and if an attack happened his mother would be defenseless.


    Then a sudden spasm occurred Eian groaned, at first he thought it was his stomach but when power followed just above the belt, energy coalesced then pumped in rhythm through what felt like veins until it projected outwards through even fiber of his body before surging back in a tidal wave to its resting point.


    Despite it taking much longer for some reason, his core had, for the first real time, finally formed, despite the grim situation Eian smiled.


    The question as to why it had taken so long was for another day, his spirit and mind had fully powered up normally and were in top condition.


    Eian wondered how long the last point in Body would take to settle in.


    *****


    Hours passed and it turned out attacks were more common than Eian had thought, and, as the first shot rang from outside the warehouse, Eian hoped the guards protected the perimeter enough for a breach not to occur.


    Every working laborer ran towards them and was ushered into the guarded doors by Blake, the ceiling high shelves obscured the place, Eian couldn''t tell if enemies were even inside.


    If the door leading down had anything of value the attackers were probably after it, so Eian was on alert.


    "Shit! What now?" Eian looked at the guard.


    "NOW? Now we stay and make sure no one goes in there." Blake pointed at the door as the last nearby laborer rushed in.


    "Whats down there?" Eian asked.


    "People damn it! Here!" Blake cursed, pulling out a baton and handling it to Eian.


    Eian stared at the baton, he glanced at Blake, briefly considering bludgeoning him to death but hesitated for many reasons.


    "What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?" Eian glanced around and stared at Blake, guns made him nervous he was not fully sure he could take bullets yet and not die.


    "Fight obviously." Blake snorted.


    With time, the shots slowed down, though a few were ringing from outside.


    As the shots finally ceased, they waited until a young man ran up to them and gave them the all clear, the young man looked haggard and out of place here.


    Eian wanted nothing more than to run towards the cafeteria, but Blake might actually shoot at him, abandoning his post and leaving a dead body would also incriminate Eian.


    Slowly the laborers began to emerge, Eian grit his teeth and debated whether he could convince Blake to take him to see his mother.


    "No." That was the answer he received.


    Shortly after Blake confiscated the gun, a laborer called Blakes name, Eian turned and looked at him funny.


    "What?" Blake glared at the laborer.


    "Ezrael has something to say." The laborer spoke weirdly, Eian was getting creeper vibes from him.


    "Bud? You high or something?" Blake watched the laborer funny.


    "What? No." The laborer shook his head slowly in denial, almost robotically.


    "Then get back to work. And stop talking funny." Blake pointed at the distance, the laborer hesitated shortly.


    "He said your boss will want to know what he has to say." The weird guy responded.


    "Get back to work." Blake was visibly bristling.


    "I''m sure Bradley will want to know." The laborer flinched slightly, before scurrying away.


    Eian saw the laborer freeze a short distance away, suddenly jolt as if woken, then he scanned his surroundings and walked away.


    "Who''s Ezrael?" Eian asked as he watched the guy wander away confused.


    "Beats me," Blake answered bored.


    "Don''t you think you should report it then?" Eian hatched a quick plan to check on his mom.


    "Not really. An idiot down there is probably just bullshitting us." The guard shot Eian an annoyed look.


    Eian figured if he brought information to Bradley he could take a quick peek at his mother on the way, maybe even escape through the wall with no one the wiser.


    "Doesn''t hurt to check, and if anything I can deliver the news," Eian responded slowly.


    "For fuck''s sake." Blake turned to look at him with angry eyes.


    Blake glared at him for some time.


    "Fine, let us just check." Blake sighed, Eian suppressed an emerging smile silently praising the power of boredom.


    Upon entering the door Eian glanced at the descending stairway, no decor and it was solid cement without tile.


    There under was Martin and another no-name security guard, a brief discussion occurred between Blake and his co-guard.


    Eian silently observed the hallway they now stood in, Martin and his work-buddy were guarding at the end of the stairs but ahead lay several door-ways.


    The doors were sealed heavily and made of metal, which alerted Eian something or someone of value, or danger was inside each.


    "What is this place?" Eian wondered aloud, nobody answered.


    Blake got the direction and headed towards a door seemingly at random, Blake opened the hatch allowing him to view in.


    Eian waited, Blake suddenly trembled which was worrying, he ignored Eian''s questions before turning at observing him as though for the first time.


    Watching he wondered if the guard had changed his mind, or if he was angry, Blake rubbed his jaw.


    The light feathery tickle probed the back of Eian''s head, he scratched it, the feeling remained and it felt weird.


    "We should talk." Blake interrupted his thoughts.


    "What? You want me to take the message to Bradley?" Eian hid his smile, he hoped so, though he couldn''t fathom what information as had not spoken to anyone.


    "No. I mean about escaping." Blakes words spooked Eian, they were almost robotic as though someone who was getting to know his own voice.


    Filtering through scenarios Eian tried to gauge Blake''s motive, was he trying to blame him for something or was it a test?


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about." Eian narrowed his eyes at him


    "You''re here against your will. Your mother''s in danger but you are confident enough to escape on your own, am I right? We can help each other." Blake listed his thoughts.


    "Look, I don''t know what game you are playing. You''re part of the staff here and you expect me to seriously believe you want me to escape?" Eian snorted, pigs would sooner fly, though that might be possible with magic...nevermind.


    Blake nodded, and remained silent, he appeared to be choosing his words carefully.


    "I''m not part of the staff," Blake announced after some time.


    "Bullshit." Eian crossed his arms.


    Stepping to a side Blake gestured to the locked door.


    "May we speak face to face? I''m Ezrael and I''ve been waiting for someone whom could help." Blake announced, weirding Eian out slightly.


    ******


    Later in the night, as he lay on a single bed in a small isolated room, Eian debated the information he had just been presented, things did not look bright.


    The question was if he could trust the information to be fully reliable, he had so little information on his new informant it made him skeptical at best to trust him.


    Ezrael was his name, and the possibility of being locked in a room like his was terrifying, he would never get his mother out without violence trapped that way.


    Time was ticking and his situation didn''t look bright, Ezrael presented a solution, risky and prone to error, but a solution none the less.


    What really had Eian grinding his teeth was Edward, finally he ''deemed'' show his stupid face in front on Eian again.


    While Eian was intending to bed down Ed came in without warning, surrounded on both sides by guards they retreated at his request.


    Fidgeting, Ed was clearly anxious, which Eian found inappropriate, he should be shitting bricks preferably without lube.


    "Hey. Ah, em. Dude I''m trying to get you released." Edward bit his lip and looked down at the floor.


    "Why? I like it here." Eian''s voice was sickly sweet, face filled with sarcasm.


    "...Wha'' ya want me say, E? ...I didn''t WANT you to be here." Edward grit his teeth clearly defensive.


    "Can you get my mom out at least?" Eian was almost sure he could escape if his mother was safe, all his plans were too risky with her in the picture, including the one he was picturing.


    Edward rubbed his forehead, sweat trickling down his neck.


    "I don''t think so. Bradley''s adamant you both have to be here for some more time. They''re planning on eventually leaving his place to group up with the rest of their people. Bradley says he will let you go then." Edward explained.


    "I DON''T! ...Ed, these people keep other people in cages! I don''t trust these people to not hurt my mom or kill me while I sleep." Eian managed to calm his anger and lower his voice from an octave to a whisper.


    "Shit E, we trying nigga. Russel''s trying to think of something too, but short of storming the place we got nothin'' much to go on." Ed chewed his fingernails.


    "Russel''s with you?" Eian frowned, he found it strange their old friend would even associate with Edward.


    Edward smiled bitterly, self depreciatingly grunting.


    "Yeah, he came to find you and when he heard what happened well... He''s doing really good by the way. I mean really really good. My sisters and ol'' man are safe too." Edward scratched his head.


    "If...What if I break us out? Can you guys drive us away?" Eian grasped at straws, whispering.


    "Wow wow wow, slow down there nigga. That''s crazy talk, we''d have these guys breathing down our necks gunning at us the whole time." Ed did calming motions.


    "We can get out of state, with the shit-storm going on they won''t bother following." Eian pushed, it was his only other shot.


    Edward''s eyes grew wide, he got a thoughtful look in his eyes and he seemed to be fighting an inner dialogue.


    "I...I''ll try something dude, gimme'' some time." Edward was sweating looking depressed.


    Eian shot forward, eliciting a squeak from Edward as he grabbed him by the cuff.


    "You owe me, man. You got me into this mess, I want my MOM out of this asap." Eian bottled up his anger and let him go.


    Both guards entered as soon as Eian had let go, eyeing him intensely with their hands gripping weapons.


    Edward left with a simple nod, he was clearly angered as well, well tough luck Eian was far more pissed at him.


    This visit concluded one thing for Eian however, he wasn''t getting any help any time soon, if he was going to get out he would have to do it himself.


    He only hoped he wasn''t making a horrible mistake.

 Alternate 7

    After finding him, outside the warehouse, Eian walked towards Jacob, he was in deep discussion with a few security personnel, when he spotted Eian he reacted as expected.


    "What''s Blake want?" Jacob followed up frowned and folded his arms.


    "Blake says he has a prisoner problem." Eian watched as Jacob swore, his face contorted.


    "Why did he even tell you about them?" Jacob visibly grew red and muttered something under his breath.


    Eian shrugged, he had to play along and better Jacob blame Blake than him, Jake rubbed his eyes before calming down.


    "Forget it. Go." Jacob pointed back into the warehouse.


    Marching forward they entered, passing the ceiling high shelves worked by laborers, they quickly reached Blake who was still at his post, calm as a cucumber.


    Yelling ensued, curses and insults were stoically endured by Blake, flinching only when Jacob looked as though he would get violent.


    Eian observed cautiously, so far everything was fine but the moment things got violent it could go badly.


    Jacob commanded them both downwards, they quickly collected Martin and his partner also, Jacob ordered Eian and Martin to stand apart from a little away.


    "Where is he?" Jacob asked both his guards.


    "Check it out. There, bit out his tongue." Blake explained pointing.


    "What?" Jacob went towards the door and opened the eye hatch.


    Eian smiled as Jacob trembled, his body shook for a few moments, Eian watched mildly fascinated as Jacob was dominated.


    Dominion was Ezrael''s PSI power, he could control the feeble minded and even alter their memories, Eian was intimidated by it, but he would do many things to escape, kill even.


    They had struck a deal in which they would capture Jacob and use him to escape, Ezrael had been steadily mind controlling a few people and altering their memories preparing himself for an escape.


    Eian''s arrival was simply fruitious to them both, as Ezraels control had both a distance limit and a limit on how many people he could control if the controlled got too far away his control broke.


    Ezrael had been hesitating simply because he had no onecompetent to help him in case of trouble, with Jacob guiding them escape would be easier.


    Eian stared at the line of doors, there were probably many more people held captive here, he couldn''t see inside the cells but he could imagine.


    It was impossible to save them all, of course, escaping themselves would be tricky and taking more people only exaggerated the risk futher.


    It left a bitter taste to him, but he wasn''t a superhero and this wasn''t a world where being good led to good results.


    ******


    "Attacks happen almost every day or every other," Ezrael added as they discussed plans inside his cell, the warden had handed over the key to Ezrael long before Eian had arrived.


    Jacob and the two security guards stood silently and stared at the walls unresponsive on the side, Eian and Martin in front of him.


    "That just means we have to get out even faster." Eian felt jittery, something about escaping was hiking up his adrenaline.


    "Yes, but these three are my limit. Having him will boost our chances to get out. We just need to grab my son and your mother." Ezrael clarified and was referring to Jacob.


    "I''m not sure that''s smart. Where is your son?" Martin was visibly fidgeting.


    "Bradley has kids in the rooms above his office." Ezrael clarified.


    "And how are we going to get him?" Martin stressed.


    "We ARE going to get Ez. I''m not leaving without him." Ezrael bared his teeth at Martin, Eian understood his stance he wouldn''t leave his mother either.


    "...That is not what I''m saying. I just think it is going to be hard, honest." Martin lifted both hands defensively.


    "Then let us be clear. With. That." Ezrael squinted at Martin.


    Eian was still unsure as to how he felt about Ezrael, his power was dangerous, but he was his best chance to escape without a conflict.


    There was also the problem that Eian did not know how he was affiliated with this criminal group, for all Eian knew he could be from a rival enemy gang or something along those lines.


    Eian didn''t ask simply because he could just lie, plus he didn''t quite like how Ezrael seemed to know so many things about him.


    For all, he knew Ezrael could be controlling him already, simply considering the thought was terrifying, as soon as he was able Eian wanted to get away from him.


    "Let us get them both then. We hide, wait for an attack and escape under the distraction." Ezrael outlined his plan.


    "Why not just run now?" Martin rubbed his hands together.


    "Idiot, they''ll just follow us on vehicles. Can you outrun a car?" Ezrael shook his head as he answered the obvious.


    "Steal a car?" Martin inquired.


    They fine-tuned their plan a bit more, but it was pretty basic, making it any more complicated would just lead to more room for error in Ezraels opinion.


    Each attack happened either at night or early morning, that meant it would likely happen early in the morning tomorrow as it happened early today unless there was another attack during the night.


    They decided to not steal a car as it may alert the other guards and raise suspicion and have their escape thwarted.


    *****


    The cafeteria was made of rows of tables and a kitchen at the back, it was busy as the women cleaned, his mother was on duty.


    A few workers turned to stare at their group entered, Eian resisted the antsy urge to rush out with his mother, but it was best to wait until her shift ended or an attack.


    Retrieving Elisa was the first step, every second had Eian on edge, every second was another chance to be discovered.


    As her shift ended she reluctantly stepped out, looking at Jacob with fear, she briefly sent a questioning look to Eian, Eian nodded.


    "What''s happening? Where are they taking us?" Elisa shuddered, Eian brought his index finger to his mouth, hushing her.


    They made their way slowly, Eian whispered to her in broken Spanish about their plan.


    Escorted they passed Bradley''s office easily and continued without hurry.


    Going up a few floors they passed easily with Jacob as their guide, Eian''s heart almost stopped as another guard stopped them.


    "Cheif? Whats up?" The guard asked.


    "Let us pass," Jacob responded.


    "Uh...You spoken to the Admin? He told me to not let anyone in." The guard shifted nervously.


    "You''re questioning me?" Jacob asked quizzically.


    The guard looked at Jacob puzzled, he remained silent, perhaps stunned.


    "Of course not, just...you know how Bradley gets... I''m going to get chewed out for this." The guard fidgeted silently, unaware what to do.


    "I''ll deal with it," Jacob answered, as per Ezrael''s command.


    "....Alright, Chief just... well just remember you said that." The guard fumbled with some keys and opened the door and let them pass.


    As they passed Eian watched as father and son had an emotional reunion before him, within the room the son had been held in, it included a bed and an attached bathroom.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.Closing the door behind them they remained there roughly a few hours waiting for the next attack to resume their escape under cover, then to prompt their escape without anyone the wiser.


    As they waited Eian felt a surge of energy it filtered through his body and this time he recognized it as Qi, at long last, he was at his peak.


    A few minutes passed in relative peace, it was promptly ruined as he heard a voice outside the door.


    "Whats happening?" Bradley''s voice rung out.


    Turning Eian''s hope tumbled as Bradley entered with two guards and the one from outside, he looked perturbed.


    The guard was explaining to Bradley and Jacob remained frozen, as Ezrael was clearly not sending commands.


    Elisa was shaking and Eian clenched his fists, a conflict was possible as Ezrael could not control so many.


    "Wait? Jacob? Whats the meaning of this? I''ll put you in a cell for this!" Bradley was growing red in the face.


    "Ezrael," Eian called his attention silently.


    "On it." Ezrael closed his eyes and focused.


    Eian watched as Bradley twitched before dropping to his knees clutching his head, at the same time his guards reacted one grabbed Bradley as the other gripped the gun at his side.


    "Whats happening!" The guard grabbed Bradley.


    "Heart attack?" Eian added hopeful, shifting uncomfortably.


    One of the two guards under Ezrael''s command collapsed as Bradley groaned and mumbled incoherently, the guards grew further agitated at this.


    "Fuck, shut up! Jake help me with this." The guard demanded as he placed Bradley on the floor, checking his vitals.


    "All of you stay still." The other guard unsheathed his gun and pointed it to the ceiling.


    "Woah! woah, wow. Honestly? Come on? Chill!" Martin raised his hands defensively which contrasted with his thin sinewy build.


    "Hold still!" The armed guard threatened him briefly flashing the gun at Martin before aiming at the ceiling again.


    Jacob was, of course, unresponsive, Ezrael was sweating with effort and Eian noticed he was breathing heavily.


    "JAKE!" The armed guard yelled to an unresponsive Jacob, he pointed the gun at Jacob.


    Eian had enough, drawing Qi from his core he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and powered power from his core through metaphysical veins, the energy felt like lightning.


    Power coursing through his body and blasting forward with an enhanced step, Eian punched the armed guard with the power of a sledgehammer, a resounding crack made Eian instinctively flinch, no pain.


    The security from the door reacted, reaching for his gun, but Eian was too quick as he spun and swung his fist randomly, after the impact he kicked at the one holding Bradley straight at the face.


    The first guard blocked with his arm and screamed as his arm snapped, the neck of the other twisted all the way to the back with a cracking meaty snap before hanging limp, both fell to the ground shortly.


    Without thought Eian stomped the guard with the broken arm, ending in crunching bones and a short silenced scream.


    Fight over, Eian was left shaking and breathing heavily from surprise, adrenaline filtering through his veins prevented him from dwelling on his actions.


    Taking in the scene almost made bile rise up, Eian gulped, imagining the taste burn his throat.


    "Holy. Shit. To God? Fuck? Honestly?" Martin was the first to respond, his eyes were bulging.


    Elisa''s response was much more graphic, she bent over and vomited, Eian watched her through dilated eyes and numbed horror.


    He killed them, Eian stared especially at the final victim, his head resembled a crushed watermelon, a few teeth were attached to a piece gum, blood was spilling everywhere the body a gushing crimson fountain, so much blood.


    He heard someone call his name and he blinked, refocusing Eian grabbed his turbulent emotions and pushed them to a side.


    "Eian. Get in." Ezrael commanded as the remains were being dragged inside already.


    Everyone got in, Eian sorted through his thoughts, they still had to escape.


    "I think we need to clean that up." Eian didn''t recognize his own voice.


    "Honestly? You think!" Martin growled.


    "Shut up!" Ezrael rebuked him angrily.


    They did TRY clean it, scrapping the remains off the floor but the blood stains remained.


    Elisa remained in shock and Ezrael junior was sobbing, holding on to his father.


    "Shhh..Shh.. Ez relax they were bad guys, remember?. Alright, no one panic. Luckily there aren''t any cameras installed here yet." Ezrael reassured them.


    "What about the scream?" Eian was worried someone coming to investigate.


    "I have Bradley and Jacob under my control. They can explain it away if anyone comes, they''re both high up in command." Ezrael explained easily.


    "But what about him?" Martin pointed to the unconscious security guard who was not Blake.


    That guard had lost consciousness when Ezrael relinquished command to take over Bradley, Ezrael looked at Martin in the eye.


    "Kill him," Ezrael said simply.


    "...Woah man honestly... what?" Martin looked visibly shaken looking from Eian to Ezrael.


    "Eian do it. Shhh." Ezrael calmed his son stroking the back of his head while the boy cried.


    "What?" Eian stared at him dumbfounded, Elisa turned and watched him also, she looked frightened.


    "My sons watching. I can''t." Ezrael explained.


    "You want me to kill someone unconscious?" Eian was still dealing with killing the other three.


    "You already killed three. What''s the problem?" Ezrael asked.


    "I ... the others would have attacked us," Eian replied looking at Elisa who was shell-shocked.


    Ezrael looked at them both before sighing and closing his eyes, Jacobs body walked mechanically and grabbed the unconscious guard.


    Under Ezrael''s command, Jacob dragged the man to the only bathroom in the room, a sharp crack emanated from within.


    Elisa held herself and Eian was afraid to approach her just yet, she needed time, He needed time.


    "Alright now we just have to sit tight wait. An attack will happen eventually." Ezrael said.


    It was already fully night and Eian had a feeling he wouldn''t like sleeping, the others were much the same, each in their own thoughts, Eian reflected on the ease of killing.


    Was that what he had to do now? How many more lives would he have to end before he found peace?


    *****


    The escape continued early in the morning as soon as the sun was peeking out, they heard the attack happen from outside as shots began firing, they easily passed security with both Bradley, Blake, and Jacob.


    Loud bangs cracked from outside as they exited, guards were running all over paying no heed to them as they went behind the building, with little security it would be simple for Eian to crush through the cement ten-foot high wall surrounding the compound.


    Eians spirits soared, escape was imminent, one last step till freedom, it was so close he could taste it.


    "Ready?" Eian asked him.


    "Yeah, let''s go." Ezrael motioned him forward.


    Eian touched the wall, channeling an empower he broke through easily by shattering the cement wall with an easy image.


    His mother and the boy were the last to exit, they were not combatants and thus a liability.


    Clearing the premises, Eian''s spirit froze and died when bullets started shooting at him, a sharp stab hit his arm out of nowhere.


    Martin dropped like a sack as well as Jacob and Bradley whom dropped robotically.


    "Fuck!" Eian encased himself in armor, chips of rock broke off with every shot.


    Looking he spotted what was clearly a lookout shooting from atop his pickup truck, Eian charged, his encased feet sounded like the beating drums of war.


    Bullets deflected off him easily, and his attacker emptied his cartridge before speeding off in the vehicle.


    With two empowers Eian stomped the ground, the earth roared as the asphalt beneath a front wheel exploded, the vehicle flipped.


    The gunman inside never emerged, he was likely bruised, knocked out or worse, Eian had little time to worry.


    Running back to the group, Eian realized the kid was crying, turning to look, the kid''s father was on the floor groaning clutching his middle, clearly hurt.


    Elisa was holding her mouth closed, and Eian cursed under his breath, nothing was going according to plan, Martin on the other hands was face down on the floor.


    Inspecting Martin closer, Eian realized he had taken a bullet which went straight through his head, what first looked like a spray of blood was bloody brain matter looking a bit like ground meat.


    Tightening his stomach at the thought, Eian realized that could have well been his mother, they had to be more careful.


    "Mom. Grab the kid tight. I''ll take us out of here." Fully encased in armor Eian grabbed the injured man, the other two climbed atop his armors shoulders.


    Using his reserves quickly Eian bounded away from the place, even carrying the lot of them, his empowered steps each took him far with each stride.


    His mother and the kid clung to the back of his armor, holstering on his uncomfortable armor, he made a poor horse and their tailbones were taking a bruising.


    They easily escaped abandoning all fallen men without looking back, without Ezrael''s control the rest were not allies anyway.

 Alternate 8

    Richard took in the scene, the thick wall had been destroyed as thought bulldozer wrecked it from within, it was so thick normally even a vehicle would not pass through colliding.


    This destruction allowed enemies inside the compound, resulting in a surprising amount of property damage as well as loss of personnel.


    Add that to the number of problems they were already facing and you had a hairy monkeys ass shitting down on his day.


    The major loss had not come from that however, both a Chief of security and his head administrator were found here, Jacob was being accused to aiding their enemies by Bradley and Bradley didn''t even know how he got there.


    "Boss?" A replacement to Jacob glanced at him with trepidation.


    "What?" Richard gritted his teeth in anger.


    "Warden says he has more info on Jake." Jacobs replacement said, Raphael or more commonly Rafe.


    "Am I going to like it?" He breathed in deeply.


    His silence was all the answer he needed, he let the man lead him away as his people worked to barricade the destroyed wall.


    He was led to the warden under the warehouse, where they kept their debt prisoners as well as captured enemies with valued information, as well as some other goods.


    The warden was sweating, perhaps from the abnormal heat, or perhaps from the information he was about to give, likely implicating him.


    "What." Richards question was also a statement, he was angry enough to kill, gruesomely.


    "I...Well, you know Jacob..." The warden rubbed his hands nervously before launching into an explanation.


    He left the office with more questions than answers, why would Jacob take a prisoner out along with two semi-prisoners.


    More investigation only led to more questions, Jacob had also taken a woman and the son of the prisoner, who''s guarded room held the bodies of four dead guards.


    The impossible seemed to have happened, somehow Jacob had betrayed him and perhaps either Bradley knew about it, or was taken, hostage.


    Then for some bizarre reason instead of escaping through a stolen vehicle, which would have been smarter, they blew a hole in the wall during an attack and stayed there instead of continuing to escape under cover, mind-boggling.


    The actual damage to the wall could be explained away, Bradley had already put together certain people were affected by the dream slightly differently, it was why they were taking so many people in.


    Bradley, himself and his men did not have what Bradley had pieced together was a ''guide'' through the dream, seemed unfair but such was life and they already had a young man with healing abilities under them, soon there would have been more.


    Richard himself was the last to die in his version of the dream, he killed the two other men and the woman was easy to control once terror set in, she was so useful and pretty to boot, a shame he couldn''t find her now.


    He had figured out that the tattoos on his body would respond to his touching if they were blinking, after choosing spirit once and passing the whirlwind the pain stopped him from choosing it again.


    Choosing spirit hadn''t shown any results and until he emerged from the dream here did he find out it took more to gain magic.


    Returning his thoughts to the escape, he actually had no idea who other people were, few people did actually and he wondered if they weren''t spies meeting up with agents inside their ranks.


    Still of all his people Jacob and Bradley? Those two were pretty high up and had demonstrated absolute loyalty in their own way, up until now.


    Richard felt a migraine emerging, ever since he had been placed in this shitty project things had gone downhill, luckily he couldn''t report it as communications were down, something was scrambling all signals.


    A remote place, while competing with small-time gangs for control, it was dangerous simply because the higher ups refused to give further aid that absolutely necessary, they felt he had enough resources to compete, which until now he had sort of agreed.


    ''This is a mess.'' Richard scratched his brow with concern, with these many losses their enemies would only grow bolder.


    Already they received attacks day after day, despite better arms, better organization and better men there was only so many people they could lose.


    It was a meat grinder out here for his men, and procuring resources took far too much manpower than he liked, having to go further and further each time, competing with other survivor groups.


    Perhaps it was time to get information straight from the horse''s mouth, he had not done so because he was afraid of killing him in a reckless fit of anger.


    Walking down the hall flanked by three guards Richard opened the door, Jacob was a mess, at least his face was, his nose was broken and missing teeth, blood was on the ground.


    His hands were cuffed behind his back, and he was tied to a kneeling position, it had to be very uncomfortable.


    "Jake, Jake, Jake, you''ve seen better days old friend." Truth be told Richard wasn''t enjoying seeing him this way, but traitors had to be taught a lesson, anyone else would have already been in pieces.


    "I dn''t d'' it B''ss." Jake''s words were a bit blurry due to the missing and broken teeth.


    "Fix his teeth," Richard ordered, Jake sighed in relief, Richard shook his head his intentions obviously misconstrued.


    After Jakes'' teeth were fixed, Richard felt more prepared to continue and he now had the option of breaking his teeth if he grew angry.


    "Brad says otherwise and his dead guards are compelling evidence," Richard explained, anger mounting, he had to watch that before he accidentally killed Jakey.


    "Bossman, I''m loyal I swear. Please, Bradley''s lying." Jake looked around desperately, eyes watery, Richard could understand because he was considering killing him and slow, real slow.


    Bradley himself was under scrutiny, Richard hadn''t beaten the man because he was in a much less incriminating position, his hostage excuse held a bit of weight.


    Still, Bradley wasn''t to be trusted just yet, he would be under heavy watch and his duties would be downgraded to less important matters.


    The man was smart and Richard was desperately understaffed, killing indiscriminately might push his men over the limit, balancing fear and morale was difficult.


    Bradley had been trying to get him to invest in these new magics rather insistently, was that just something to distract him?


    "Prove it." Richard gave him a chance, Jake had always been a loyal friend and killing him out of hand would make him uncomfortable, for a while at least it was nothing new, necessary was necessary after all.


    "How?" Jacob trembled on the floor kneeling.


    "Easy, your little friends who got out. You''re going to get them back here and I want to personally watch them die." Richard still considered killing Jake regardless, he was a liability, but Richard wanted to trully know if they were spies and what information they stole.


    "They aint my friends boss, I~" Jacob shook his head vigorously.


    Anger mounting Richard lifted his hand up, silencing him before he made him lose his temper.


    "I. DON''T. CARE. Find them, bring them here and I''ll not dice you up like a salad." Richard promised, he would have to think up something else if he decided to still kill him.


    "Yes of course!" Jacob nodded vigorously.


    "Your replacement will be in charge and you will be restrained and unarmed the whole time. MAKE sure you don''t disappoint me Jake, or I''ll make you die so horribly, the devil will look like a saint, understood?" Richard asked.


    "YES! Yes! Thank you Boss, thank-you." Jake actually bowed his head several times.


    Richard looked him in the eyes, Jake seemed honest, but desperate men did desperate things, his gut instinct told him something was odd about the whole situation as well.


    Who knew? Perhaps Jake was honest, and he was innocent, weirder things had happened, but he needed more information, time to interrogate Bradley.


    Still, he needed those people back here, interrogated and made an example of.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.*****


    Jake stared at the floor of his cell, he knew the guards outside by name, they beat him up regardless.


    Sweat dribbled down his neck when he saw the Boss, the whole time he was absolutely sure he was about to be turned into a mutilated corpse, brushing so close to death he freaked.


    He was accused of being a traitor, Jacob knew what happened to traitors and he was personally responsible for dealing with them, he never thought he''d be in this position.


    What baffled him was how, he had lost time, close to an entire day was blank, starting when the little shit whom escape spoke to him, he was central to all this he was sure.


    Jake was going to find him, how he didn''t know the ''how'' quite yet, but when he did, he would have his mother fucked like a whore in front of him by every fucking man here, the little shit would be impaled from ass to mouth and roasted over a pit, this was personal now.


    He wasn''t stupid, Jake knew the Boss would still kill him regardless, he''d have to try to escape, but he also needed to make progress and actually find the kid, after everyone dropped their guard he would escape.


    Gritting his teeth Jake grew frustrated trying to hatch a plan to get revenge without dying, it would be hard, very hard indeed, security on him would be tight.


    During this time Jake remembered Edward, he was the little shit who even brought up Eian, was he in on this?


    Either way, it was his only lead, for now, he''d search him out and hopefully they hadn''t fled to the boonies, he knew exactly where Edward was.


    If he had the Devil''s own luck maybe the kid and his bitch-mom would be there, lined up for him like strung chickens.


    A knock on his cell got him alerted.


    "Time Jake." Rafe was dour, fully serious and now his replacement.


    "I''m ready." Jake took a deep breath.


    "I''m not. Why''d you do it Jake? Didn''t think you''d jump ship... you leading me and the boys into a trap Jake?" Rafe looked at him with a frown.


    "Believe me Rafe, I didn''t do anything, that little shit did something to me. We''re gonna find him and tear his guts out." Jake explained.


    "Really? That''s a pretty lame excuse Jakey." Rafe sighed and leaned against the wall.


    "Things have been weird Rafe, it''s a new world. You heard Bradley anything''s possible." Jake grit his teeth and fumed, it did sound stupid.


    Raphael stared at him, judging, waiting and scrutinizing him all over for far longer than Jacob was comfortable with.


    "Bossman told me to do this. So I will Jakey, but you lead me into a trap and Believe ME, I will put a bullet in your head before I die. Understood?" Rafe grimaced, he looked like a man marching to his own death.


    "For fuck''s sake, Fine! But get me up and let''s start, every minute means they get farther away." Jake grunted angrily.


    *****


    Driving towards Edwards little ''fortress'' they barged in with minimal trouble, breaking in the front door and pulling out guns yelling at everyone to put their hands up.


    They grabbed everyone fleeing, taking them to hold hostage, as they went deeper in sounds of alarm grew as well as people scrambling for weapons everywhere until they came into a standstill in an open spaced room.


    Several people got down on the ground, but several stood holding weapons varying from handguns to tools like machete and axes.


    The defenders were greater in number to them, but they were outgunned, still, if they attacked some of them would die, they tried talking first.


    "Who are you?" A young black man held a machete up like a baseball bat, ready to swing despite being almost across the room from them.


    "Get down!" Jacob ordered Rafe pushed him to a side, a pointed look telling him who was in charge.


    Several adults, including young adults and teenagers, stood ready, few were armed with pistols but others held their empty hands as though they held something invisible to throw.


    "We are here for your friends who killed some of our people," Rafe explained.


    "What''s he talking about? Edward?" The black man turned to look at the shifty young man.


    "I...I don''t know!" Edward had his hands up.


    "Your fucking friend killed my men and framed me for it!" Jacob felt himself almost frothing from rage.


    "Jake, shut up." Rafe shoved him motioning for two men to hold him back.


    Turning to look at the young men Rafe explained.


    "The Latin kid, he killed some men in his escape, the one Jake here pulled up with, you were with them." Rafe pointed to Edward.


    "Eian?" Edward stuttered.


    Rafe turned to look at Jacob, he nodded that was his name.


    "Yeah him," Rafe explained.


    "He''s not here." The young black man said.


    "Where is he?" Rafe demanded.


    "I don''t know and even if I did I''m not selling out a friend." The black man''s knuckles tightened around his ''sword''.


    "Ballsy, ain''t ya? Look, let us search round a bit, and if we don''t see ''em we are leaving. Hows that?" Rafe crooked a cocky smile.


    "I don''t trust you enough to let those people go, not to mention lower my guard and let you surround us." The black kid WAS ballsy.


    "I~" Rafe opened his mouth to speak but lost his head mid-sentence.


    Jacobs ears shattered, the black kid was shouting, screaming Jake clutched his ears from pain, dropping dazed to the floor.


    Watching around from the floor Jake had trouble sorting his thoughts through the haze of pain, fumbling he saw Rafe staring at him, his eyes wide with alarm as all hell broke loose.


    The severed head was there on the floor as Rafe''s body slumped dead on the floor, all around of combat had begun, Jakes'' eyes widened.


    ******


    Several hours later Richard watched as his men returned, the sight had him gashing his teeth, too few returned and most were injured further infuriating him, Jake was going to die.


    There was, however, something else, a select few people were being dragged in before him, a few prisoners, two young girls among them.


    Most of the prisoners looked scared, as a matter of fact, HIS men looked scared, they should be, of HIM.


    "What happened?" Richard growled.


    "They''re monsters, it had to be a trap." A man flinched away from like a beaten dog, worthless.


    "Wheres Jacob?!" Richard raised his voice, hackles rising.


    "He got away." The answer provoked him till he howled in anger.


    HE was going to find Jake, tears out his testicles and force feed it to the man, but first.


    Growling he grabbed the nearest man by the throat, throttling the idiot, restraining him were several men by the time he realized he lost his temper.


    Spitting on the floor Richard marched back to the mansion, he needed some entertainment, he''d have one of his men send a woman up to him.


    Wine and women, that would distract him from this blunder, if there was one thing he realized it was that he could take any more chances, Bradley had to die, unfortunately.


    *****


    Half stumbling and half dragging himself, Jacob stared at the sky in a daze, he was so fucked, how had everything gone so wrong so fast?


    His ears still rang uncomfortably, that fucking nigger with the machete did something, he opened his mouth as if to yell and his ears burst.


    Everything happened so quickly, the armed opposition attacked them when they were down, Jake did not stay to watch but casualties on his side were high.


    Ever since the dream and those new powers were changing people, they were fighting back, that went against everything Jake knew.


    Ransacking his memory Jacob tried to discern how Rafe died, the image of the machete kid came to him crystal clear.


    After his ears rang, bowling him over like a truck, he saw the kid swing the machete strongly yet hitting nothing, then a spurt of blood splashed his face and he fell to the ground.


    He reminded through the memory, trying to puzzle out what happened, the kid, it had to be the black kid, somehow he killed Rafael from afar after knocking them all on their asses.


    He had heard and known about magic, it was all everyone could talk about, but when it came to nitty-gritty details few knew anything so Jake had decided to continue working and let the boss tell him what to do.


    An epiphany sparked inside his mind, an idea took root and grew, he realized what his mistake was, he realized what his boss and everyone back at base was, perhaps only Bradley had realized it soon enough and only a little else he''d push more quickly.


    The answer was simple, they had to gain power, the power that was used on him and the power the dream presented like a feast before them, already the sheep were using it and so they had to adapt.


    The balance of the world was now a perverse rat race, all who got stronger faster would shape the new world and thrive.


    Dropping to his knees Jacob stared at the floor remembering everything he could piece together of the dream.


    Tearing away the fabric of his long sleeve to reveal his bare forearm Jacob stared at the numbers, he had been lynched by his teammates, so he had been the first to die.


    Body read four, mind read three, and spirit read three, he remembered choosing a frozen door when he selected spirit, he stopped at three because nothing discernable happened.


    No vision like the first one, no additional power, heck he saw no benefit to Spirit, increasing body clearly made him stronger and increasing mind supposedly made him smarter but spirit was different.


    ''Body then. Body only.'' Finally Jake smiled, he would select Body and grow in strength.


    He wondered how strong he would be if he got it to a hundred? Would he bend titanium like a toothpick? All of a sudden he was eager to find out.


    A man needed goals Jake smiled as he pictured his first goal, Eian that little shit had landed him here, the little shit and his whore mother would die.


    Then as he killed him, Jake made plans of what to tell him, starting with what he would do to his mother, truly it was competition which drove men to better themselves, Jake wanted to see what he could become.


    He wouldn''t go back to being a henchman, that seemed too low, too mundane, this was once more the land of opportunity and Jake meant to seize it by the neck and choke it.


    Richard was another goal, for too long he had been his lackey and it was Richie''s time to be someone else''s bitch, his.

 Alternate 9

    Eian broke into a random house in the suburbs, here they were far enough Eian was sure they were not in danger of being followed, at least for a day or two.


    Ezrael was sweating and Elisa was tending him in the couch, his kid Ezra was still sobbing, poor kid must be traumatized.


    "I think we''re good for now." Eian wiped his brow, he had blocked all entrances already.


    "We''ll need a first aid kit. Try to find one." Elisa was watching the injury to his abdomen.


    "Do you even know how to treat it, mom?" Eian frowned.


    Elisa shot him a disapproving frown, Eian found it disheartening that she was being a bit weird.


    "I have another idea." Eian was skeptical but he knew they could be injured at any moment.


    Elisa simply raised her eyebrows and remained silent waiting for him to continue.


    "Ma, YOU don''t have an element yet. That means you can still choose one. I think it would be best you chose life, that will make you heal him." Eian pointed at Ezrael.


    Eian explained the elements to his mother in more detail, he was vague on Water, Air, and even Death but he could make reasonable assumptions.


    "And how are we going to do that? I''m not killing those crazy people running about if that''s what you''re asking. Killing is evil and a last resort, Period." Elisa folded her arms and looked at him pointedly.


    "OF course not! Well...not unless they attack us first, anyway ma I saw a few wild dogs running about hunting." Eian raised his hands in a peaceful gesture.


    "You want me to kill dogs?" Elisa raised her brows.


    "Well...it''s better than killing people, and I don''t think it''s only dogs..." Eian licked his lips.


    "What else is there?" Elisa frowned.


    "I''m not really sure," Eian remembered how empty the streets were on the way here.


    "How...Oh lord. Are you saying it''s even more dangerous out here?" Elisa looked to Ezrael.


    Ezrael hacked up, shivering slightly but he got their attention.


    "I didn''t sense anything around during the day," Ezrael spoke.


    "Sense?" Elisa looked at him funny.


    "My power lets me sense more or less the direction of living things through their thoughts...if they''re close," Ezrael replied.


    "How close are we talking here?" Eian asked.


    "Not sure really, never tested its limits but at least twenty yards," Ezrael spoke.


    "That''s not very far." Eian shook his head, Ezreal shrugged helplessly.


    Eian saw Elisa debate something before she waved at him to speak in private, Eian patted Ezrael''s shoulder and left.


    "I don''t know how badly hurt he is," Elisa whispered.


    "Is he dying?" Eian whispered back.


    "I don''t what the bullet hit, it might fully heal on its own or he could be dead in a few hours." Elisa took a quick look at Ezrael.


    "All the more reason to hurry mom." Eian looked outside, it was well into the afternoon.


    "...And the boy? We leave him here alone with his father whom might die at any time?" Elisa looked at the saddened child.


    "I don''t see much options ma, I can protect you, but if we take the kid we are only increasing the danger, plus Ezrael probably won''t want his son to leave his side," Eian explained feeling sympathetic.


    Their talk concluded Eian approached Ezrael.


    "Ezra listen~" Eian started


    "I know, I can hear your thoughts." Ezrael smiled, lips and skin pale.


    "I thought I told you not to do that." Eian closed his eyes, slightly annoyed.


    "I know, I''m sorry, listen Eian. Do what you got to do but..."Ezrael waved him closer.


    Eian knelt beside him, bringing his ear closer.


    "Listen, if...if I die please take care of Ez." Ezrael was breathing heavily.


    "Er. Well, that''s kind of obvious I''m not just going to leave a little kid to fend for himself out here." Eian looked at the kid.


    "Heh. You''re a good person, you''d be amazed how many would." Ezrael smiled thinly.


    "Look, man, we''re gonna go out and try to be back as soon as my mom can heal you. We''ll hurry." Eian explained.


    Ezrael nodded in agreement, each time Eian wondered if he was reading his mind, seemed invasive.


    Elisa followed Eian out the door, they left easily and Eian kept his guard up, all he had was a damn chair leg as a weapon, Elisa held the sharpest kitchen knife they would find then attached it to a broomstick to make a flimsy spear.


    With Eye''s of the Earth Eian felt the vibrations upon soil, gravel, cement and pretty much anything considered ''earth'', it gave him a hazy image of his surroundings.


    Something Eian found eerie was how overgrown everything looked, grass on lawns looked tall enough to be attended for a month, not the measly week that passed, trees, on the other hand, had shed their old leaves and grown newer more vibrant ones.


    His spiritual earth scan revealed only small animals burrowing in nests, they made their home within the earth and abandoned homes, what made Eian frown was their abundance and size, he assumed some were rodents and if so a rat the size of a fat cat was alarming.


    *****


    Their search was slow and meticulous as Eian was unwilling to break in randomly into homes just yet, after all the large vibrations he felt within could well be people and who knew how they''d react to strangers breaking into their shelters.


    Instead, he searched and found something else, an abandoned house, it had clearly been abandoned long before the events transpired, in fact, it looked by far more run down than any other on the block.


    Inside the abandoned house Eian felt several small vibrations, some form of small animal had made a nest within, Eian smiled it was perfect.


    "In there, I think there are biggish animals inside." Eian pointed at the house.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation."How big?" Elisa looked disturbed by the prospects.


    "Er..like a poodle big maybe?" Eian tried to get a better read.


    "Ugh, I just hope we don''t get rabies." Elisa shuddered.


    "Yeah, well I think you''ll be able to heal us soon anyway," Eian explained.


    Eian tore open the corroding gate easily, the overgrown grass was a hindrance though, Eian made sure nothing was around as the waded through the grass.


    As he approached the wooden door, he wondered who owned this tiny cement shithole before everything, then he kicked in the door, the lock broke easily and the door fell off its hinges.


    The sudden intake of his next breath made Eian want to vomit, there''s nothing quite as disgusting as rotting animal feces with the potent smell of urine.


    "Ugh." Eian covered his mouth and face, backing away.


    "We can''t go in there sweetheart, we''ll get sick," Elisa explained.


    "Can we cover our faces?" Eian asked.


    "I don''t think that will work." Elisa argued.


    "Give me a second then." Eian closed his eyes.


    Spreading his sense he targeted the nest, it was a small house so Eian hoped this would work, activating empower twice Eian focused.


    Using earth magic this way took more concentration and power than Eian usually preferred, placing his hand on the cement he sent a surge toward the nest.


    The cracking sound of cement sounded out, along with a chorus of beastly shrieks.


    "Get ready!" Eian warned his mother as he felt the monsters racing towards the door.


    As the rats ran out his mother skewered a rat the size of a dog, it screeched viciously from the injury.


    Eian expected the animals to scatter at the sight of humans, instead, they charged at them with needle-sharp teeth.


    Activating Rock-armor, Eian crushed several like ants, but they also attacked his mother.


    Elisa stabbed her home-made spear recklessly at the beasts, but she got bitten more than once and her clothes meager protection.


    Eian crushed several rats attempting to chase them away from Elisa until enlightened he grabbed her and hoisted her up from the ground and unto his armored shoulder.


    Once up high she was safe to kill the large rodents, Eian ceased his efforts to kill them leaving that to his mother.


    The remaining rodents fled into the grass, with his mother injured Eian decided his time was better spent helping her than to kill the nasty fuckers.


    "Ma, you okay?" Eian lowered how seeing her leg injuries.


    "NO! I just got infected teeth into my legs." Elisa was sweating.


    "And your tattoos?" Eian asked.


    "Who cares? I need medicine!" Elisa yelled, cradling her leg.


    "You''ll heal faster if you choose life. It''s the door that looks like a mini-jungle." Eian explained.


    Elisa looked at him with a dissatisfied frown, then quickly selected something and went into a trance, Eian sighed with relief he hoped everything worked out.


    Shortly after his mother blinked and began yelling, Eian held her down as he saw her body convulsing.


    She coughed and slapped his hands away, sweating and bleeding, but relatively energetic.


    "I feel even worse now," Elisa complained, before coughing.


    "Yeah, sorry I forgot to warn you about that." Eian smiled awkwardly.


    "It''s like that for everyone?" Elisa gave him a shaded look.


    "The way my group described it was different for each, but we all chose different elements so..." Eian shrugged off the rest.


    Eian carried his mother, he had to take her back and perhaps disinfect her wounds, her powers would be available to her in a while.


    "Aae your other tattoo''s still glowing?" Eian asked.


    "No. Why?" Elisa glanced at him, question evident.


    "fuck...We''ll need to try again tomorrow." Eian explained.


    "Why?" Elisa pinched his flesh, he hardly felt it.


    "You need two points in spirit to heal people Ma." Eian explained.


    Eian started turning back towards the house the other two were at.


    "Help me then, Ezrael can die without treatment." Elisa tugged at his shirt.


    "You''re hurt," Eian said it saw a final statement, which earnt him an ear pull.


    "I''m your mother and I say we need to help the gentleman who helped us escape. Just, ugh, no more rats. Please." Elisa frowned and pinched his hardened flesh for his minor cursing.


    Eian walked down the sidewalk, he felt something approach, turning he saw a red-headed disheveled woman running towards him with feral eyes.


    "Oh shit." Eian set down his mother.


    "SHES SICK! Try not to hurt her." Elisa warned.


    Eian easily restrained the woman, following his mother''s orders.


    "Now what?" Eian asked he didn''t know what to do with the crazy lady.


    "I... wait. Hello?" Elisa looked at the woman''s face.


    The red-head thrashed and tried to bite her, Eian held her back as his mother flinched slightly.


    Wrestling with the red-head was easy but Eian was actually worried she would hurt his mother or that he would break her.


    There wasn''t much he could do to help her either.


    "We have to try to let her go somewhere," Eian explained.


    A few seconds passed in peace, Eian noticed his mother was staring at the woman again.


    "Ma?" Eian asked.


    The woman was also unnaturally still now, they were staring at each other as though each other''s face was the most interesting thing in the universe, both nonresponsive.


    ''Oh shit.'' Eian began to worry.


    *****


    Elisa was somewhere else.


    Inspecting the room she realized it was once a woman''s bedroom, everything from the pink walls to the shattered mirror next to upturned makeup gave it away.


    The room was in disarray, black cracks splintered like hair-line-webs everywhere as though space was eating away at reality, her small area was clear and spotless.


    The front door was open, white light filtering in, flashing.


    "Hello?" Elisa trembled, this was scary.


    The silence was her answer, an unhealthy feeling of wrongness made her hairs stand on end.


    "Hello?" Elisa asked again, her voice echoed this time.


    The air became chilly, she heard dark whispering in the distance.


    "This isn''t funny." Elisa shivered and started making her way to the door.


    Bright light filtered from what looked like a hospital hallway, staring at the floor the mesh between bedroom and hallway disjointed and forced, Elisa found every door locked along the way.


    Elisa followed it slowly watching the details, the cracks were following her, as if her presence lent stability to a small area.


    She had to stop a few times to calm herself, it was frightening, she felt like a helpless woman walking to her inevitable murder.


    She heard a single sob, coming from far ahead with uncomprehensive whispers following the sound.


    At the end of the hallway was a door slightly ajar.


    "Hello?" Elisa was breathing heavily.


    ''Well might as well.'' Elisa took a deep breath and walked towards the door.


    It was a patients room, the red-headed woman was laying on it unconscious.


    A sofa was on the side, Elisa edged along the room wary of the sleeping woman.


    "Help me." A voice whispered behind Elisa.


    "AHHHHHHH!!!!" Elisa jumped forward, stumbling.


    A hand grabbed her, it was the shadow of a man.


    "HELP ME!" The sound turned furiously deep, masculine.


    Elisa kicked her assailant, who shrieked at the contact, throwing itself back a distance.


    The shadowy demon pounced at her, kicking blindly and pushing against its assault she tried to fend for herself.


    Its body felt light and spongy, almost like a pillow wrapped in a thick blanket, and its cries grew louder the more she fought.


    As the shadow dissipated Elisa heard its voice.


    "....please, ...I don''t... want to die....not again." The shadow said.


    Elisa watched slowly as she saw the woman woke, heart pounding.


    "Who are you?" The red-head asked, fear in her voice.


    Then Elisa was staring at the woman and her son in the sidewalk, bewildered and confused, accompanied with a small migraine emerging.

 Alternate 10

    When his mother came awake relief flooded into him, he had restrained the red-head but it easily became apparent she was unresponsive along with Elisa.


    Elisa for her part seemed dazed, she was out of balance stumbling and confused, Eian, however, kept his eyes on the threat.


    Upon waking the redhead''s head crashed into he chin and Eian had braced himself for a fight, which never came, the woman simply trembled and struggled to get free.


    "Let go!" The woman screamed.


    Surprised Eian did just that, she scampered away from him, he focused on her face for animosity, only fear was there.


    "You are?" The redhead''s voice weak and dry, as though she hadn''t drunken water in weeks.


    "Uh..." Eian held his hands forward ready to grapple and restrain her.


    "Back! Don''t think I won''t call the police!" The woman stood and looked ready to run, she seemed to have gotten the wrong impression.


    "I...don''t think that''ll work," Eian explained, watching her for sudden movements.


    Without warning the woman bolted the other direction, she was pretty slow but Eian figured it was for the best, talking to a crazy lady would be a hassle anyway.


    Eyeing the crazy woman disappear around the corner Eian helped his mother stand on injured legs, she leaned on him for help.


    "What happened?" Eian demanded, anything weird could be of danger and he wasn''t happy not knowing something.


    His tone earned him a light smack on the cheek, barely more than a pat really, it would not have hurt him even before forming his core.


    "Son, watch your tongue." Elisa''s scolding reassured him slightly.


    "Ehehm, sorry. What happened?" Eian asked in a much more subdued manner.


    "....I''m not sure." Elisa''s eyes were staring off into space, thoughts elsewhere.


    "Are you hurt?" Worried as he was Eian wanted to know.


    Elisa shook her head clearly more confused.


    "I think it''s time to take you back ma." Eian was definitely worried about her now.


    "..No. We still have to help Ezrael." Elisa said.


    "Aye, ma...it''s getting pretty late, plus you can barely walk." Eian looked towards the declining sun for emphasis.


    "Well let''s hurry then." Elisa insisted.


    Frustrating as it was she refused to quit, which while admirable was disturbing to Eian.


    The dream world HAD told him night was more dangerous than the day, but that was also meant to test them and it was still early into the upheaval.


    Also, he had noted how those rats had targeted them immediately, he was not an expert, but animals behaving that way towards a greater foe went against instinct in his opinion.


    Still, Ezra DID need help, and Eian was grateful for his help so he would go along at least for now, he was confident in his prowess after-all, if things got bad he could outrun almost anything.


    *****


    They found another nest of pests inside a home, this one was infested with ants the size of golf balls.


    Clearing the house proved impossible as the monsters swarmed them, but they managed to kill plenty before and while fleeing.


    Elisa had cursed as the stinging critters were worsening her mood, Eian''s protection proved beyond the overgrown pest problem.


    The sun had begun to set, Eian scanned the surrounding houses, searching for more manageable prey, he evaded larger targets for fear they were aggressive humans.


    Something brushed Eians scans, a single large vibration touched the floor far behind him, more to his left side, it vanished quickly after running towards them slightly.


    Eian turned and kept his scans running and his eyes revealed nothing but houses and trees, his mother asked him what happened and he explained, after moments of no movement he gave into the possibility it might be imagined.


    ''Might just be stress.'' Eian made sure to keep his guard up though, nothing was about to catch him off-guard.


    The street lights were not turning on despite the encroaching darkness, which was odd, their previous captors had not lost electricity, so why this area?


    The overgrown foliage coupled with oncoming dark was not a real problem, his earth senses and acute vision were more than enough to overcompensate.


    As he passed Eian observed, the suburbs were mostly regular one-story houses with small lawns, only an occasional two-story house was around and never a three-story, they were still more luxury than anything they had ever owned.


    Wondering, Eian imagined over what that would have been like, living with a father that actually wanted him, maybe even brothers and sisters, going to high school without part-timing.


    Time to go out and have a steady girlfriend, instead of just on and off relationships that failed due to lack of time on his part, girls tended to think he was not interested when he said he had to go work after the third or fourth time.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.He remembered being small and wanting a popular gaming console once, the name of the console and the game had long faded but the memory of his mother crying when he asked for one was still fresh and he didn''t understand why till he was older.


    ''Shit!'' Thoughts distracted Eian almost missed when something was charging at them.


    A barking growl was already hurling towards them, Eian''s reflexes allowed him to turn, channeling Qi into his arms, and cover his mother.


    Claws, fangs, and saliva were all he saw before his hands were wrestling with the monster, its tackle tripped him to the floor.


    Teeth were flashing and Eian cupped its jaw and held it away from his face, this left one of the beast''s claws free to rake across him, though his flesh resisted leaving only scratch marks.


    Wrestling the monster''s arm, and pushing its face away he rolled atop the bulk of the beast.


    "Kill it!" Holding the monster down Eian held it''s ugly face down.


    Then the monster surprised Eian, it''s arms gained otherworldly strength, its free claw raked his chest and parted earth-enforced flesh reinforced in Qi.


    The arm he was holding was wrenched from him, and its head slapped him silly before its bulk pounced on him.


    Channeling empower cost Eian most his remaining energy, summoning rock armor set fire to his fumes.


    Using the last of his energy Eian browbeat the monster with his added weight from the armor while Qi-enhancing his muscles, the creature''s bones snapped and the sidewalk cracked from his impacts.


    Eian''s armor crumbled within seconds a and he threw himself atop the monster, holding it down and randomly punching it through its violent thrashing.


    Once its injuries grew severe the beast alternated between whining and growling, only then did Eian get a clear view.


    The monster was some form of a large cat if a cat''s paws could stretch and become similar to clawed fingers and its fur was grey with strips of black, it''s hind legs claws were similarly stretched.


    Eian had broken one of its arms and it was dragging itself away from him, grabbing it''s left hind-leg Eian stomped down enhancing his stomp, bones cracked eliciting a piercing howl.


    Eian repeated his stomp through its violent rolling, ignoring its razors sharp claws as he worked.


    The monster''s growls grew weaker and inoften, finally, only mewls and whining remained.


    The stupid cat thought it could one-up him, well he showed it and its pitiful begging wasn''t fooling him, this thing was a killer through and through.


    Only one limb was working and only just, still the beast tried to drag itself away from them, these animals apparently fought to the bitter end.


    ''If nothing else at least it''s got a strong will to survive.'' Eian didn''t pity it, it was either them or it and Eian knew he''d choose himself a hundred times over.


    "Ma, kill it." Eian pointed at it, blood following down his injuries.


    "Your bleeding!" Elisa stressed and she tried to stop the bleeding.


    His mother had been screaming and stabbing the creature throughout the fight, but she hadn''t been much help as the target had been rolling and grappling with him.


    Wincing at the brief touch on his injuries Eian pointed at the dying monster.


    "I''ll be fine. Kill it, you need to get your spirit up." Eian reminded her.


    "I already have enough," Elisa said finally.


    "Why didn''t you say anything?" Eian rubbed his face exasperated.


    All he wanted was to lay down and sleep and a bath wasn''t out of the question.


    "...Eian, I''m going to lash you if you keep talking to me like that." Elisa gave him a disapproving look.


    "Well just kill it anyway." Eian shrugged, the simple truth was he was better at killing things.


    Without answering, Elisa huffed and begun stabbing the cat with gusto, venting frustration.


    Elisa muttered something about misbehavior and stupid insect bites under her breath, but Eian heard it well enough his five senses were beyond good.


    *****


    On the way back Eian hurried them along, his core was empty, his senses impaired, unable to use eyes of the earth without spiritual energy.


    He did, however, manage to help his mother quickly get back to the house, even with his core empty his body''s natural strength was a magnitude higher than a pre-apocalyptic human.


    Elisa''s legs were still injured so finally Eian relaxed as he saw her try healing herself, it was a resounding success.


    Now they were waiting for her spirit to grow stronger, she could heal herself at spirit one, but healing others needed more, Eian still remembered that.


    ''I just hope it''ll be enough.'' Eian was worried, as much as he wanted to be optimistic he was no doctor and knew not how much care Ezrael''s injury needed.


    "I think it''s time. Try healing him." Eian pointed at Ezrael.


    He was in a bad way, sweating and feverish, pallid and weak.


    "...take the bullet out." Ezrael wheezed.


    "Is...that a good idea?" Elisa looked at his weakened body.


    "...better than...opening me up again to take it out. Eian. Take Ez away. Please." Ezrael asked he looked tired.


    "One sec." Eian motioned his mother.


    Once slightly out of hearing range, from Ezrael and his son, Eian explained what he hoped would help.


    "From what I understood try focusing on his major injury first. Alex would always do that so the worst heals and the lesser hurts don''t really matter till later. Can you take the bullet out?" Eian explained and finished with a question.


    "I...I don''t know. This is all so sudden...We have pliers to try." Elisa played with her hair.


    "Ma, you can do this," Eian reassured her.


    "Right...That''s ...right." Elisa didn''t look convinced.


    They both went back to the couch where Ezrael was laying.


    While guiding young Ezra away Eian felt a pang of guilt, this might be the last time the poor kid saw his father.


    Eian did not know what it was like to have a dad, but he knew what having a parent was like and the thought of losing that was scary, more-so considering Ez''s age.


    The only things he could do now was wait, and pray, and if necessary try to calm the kid.


    Then Ezrael''s screams started and Eian had to hold his son down, the kid''s desperate cries were like sandpaper on sunburnt skin.


    ''Let''s hope this works.'' Eian bit his lip over the chilling sound.

 Army Reports

    Major General Scott Lenard Jackson sighed and leaned on his desk, troubled at even more terrible news.


    They had lost another power plant, the planet seemed to finally be retaliating at humanity''s continued abuse.


    Earth-quakes, active volcanoes, and a Tsunami in the Caribbean was all the news he got before lines started giving trouble, with news like this it was a surprise they were still clinging on.


    Not to mention the sun was bearing down unnatural amounts of heat, temperatures were higher than any normal summers, he pitied people near desert climates.


    ''I''m getting too old for this.'' At fifty-five, he had already been seeing his retirement in the distance.


    The first thing they had done was call in at Washington for orders, then when the satellites went down he got together all senior staff and voted on what to do.


    He got in contact with local police forces and began addressing civilian unrest, evacuations, arrests, and deputization were all too common for his liking.


    Knowing human''s inherent tendency to violence during times of crisis, he brought up the point to raise shelters for civilians.


    Major military installations were mostly concentrated in the South-east and they were working around the clock to re-organize with what they had on hand.


    A major problem for the army was deployment and desertion, soldiers in countries abroad were now all but cut off.


    Thankfully, some of the families of officers and soldiers alike had been living in military housing communities and many others were based on dorms, else, even more, might have gone off to God-know-where.


    It may be selfish of him to prioritize evacuations on local soldier families, but in his opinion, it would prevent the soldiers from running off in a foolish attempt to save them.


    Who could ask a man fight for his country as his family fends for themselves? Not to say they did not evacuate regular civilians though, it was their job and DUTY to save them.


    ''When the hearts of men turn cold and grow apathetic to the suffering of others.'' Scott sighed, as he read the most recent crime report.


    Criminal organizations were in a prime place to take advantage of this crisis, unregistered or stolen fire-arms, add in deeply ingrained ruthlessness and you have a monster problem, apart from the ACTUAL monster problem.


    With inherent organization and callous selfishness, they could consolidate their power without expending resources on helping people.


    Already he had reports of rampant kidnapping, rape, coldblooded murder, and looting, not to mention all other smaller crimes he had no time to even consider addressing.


    All in all, they were parasites, experience had taught him they should be gutted root and stem, instead, lawyers advocated humanitarian rights to animals wearing only our skin.


    "Sir?" A lower ranked officer deferred to him.


    "Hmmm?" Scott eyed him with his slate-grey eyes, he knew they unnerved him.


    "Uhh.. Sir, you''ve been staring off into space for a while now." The officer said.


    "I was just thinking. Report to Jones, tell her we have to do another meeting. Soon." Scott dismissed him.


    As the officer fled Scott sighed, he should not have treated him that way, stress was getting to him.


    His son and grandchildren were safe, it had been a major relief but his daughter in law was still missing, he was fond of the nice girl and the children needed their mother.


    She had become crazy, poor children had watched their mother go berserk, the oldest, his grandson, had held her down before she claws at his face and ran out on them.


    Some form of Ghost-like monster had attacked them prior, it wasn''t uncommon and a major problem also.


    ''I only hope we find her.'' Scott sighed, his son was almost unfit for duty and Scott could not hold it against him.


    They had found these possessed people and thankfully humanitarian laws dictated they imprison them at first, unfortunately, media portrayed too many apocalyptic films.


    Violence was the first option people turned to, Scott could only pray for the poor souls who died to a shoot-first-ask-later mentality, at first people believed they were ''Zombies''.


    Happenstance and the good grace of the Lord had allowed them to find that there was a way to save them.


    They were now in the process of spreading the news as far as they could, those poor people needed saving.


    ''And this.'' Scott looked at his arm, covered beneath his overly hot military uniform was a set of tattoos.


    As odd as it was for a soldier, Scott never wanted tattoo''s, as a universal blood donor he saw it had more cons than pros, especially as he grew older.


    THESE tattoo''s, on the other hand, were a completely different story, when he woke to a cottage in a desert with unfamiliar faces he was confused.


    Training and experience let him easily lead his group to victory, coaching and leading ingrained in him.


    There were few disagreements in his group, which he managed to easily quash before they became problems, morale must never falter or all is lost.


    He began with a simple four in Body which at his age was fantastic and with a Mind rating of Five, the highest in his group of four, by the end he was at Body nine, Mind six and a Spirit of eight.


    As he soon learned once he awoke he was one of the most singularly-powerful people on Earth now, average combined were fifteen downwards since everything became much harder to gain strength after that.


    Unfortunately, he was now stagnant, as a leader his role was one of supervision, allotting jobs and deciding the best course of actions.


    Still his newly revived youth and strength pulsed and urged him to action, he felt like a spring chicken, well if a spring chicken could outrun Olympic runners.


    There was much they did not know of these new developments with civilian and personnel alike volunteering new information every hour.


    Sorting through that mess was a headache and they had to assign specialists to unravel it, regular staff had many more problems to deal with.


    The specialists were working around the clock inputting and taking down any information about their new abilities, soon they would have to reassign everyone to different duties depending on their powers.


    Magic, the world was truly going crazy now, and...perhaps it truly was the end times as the bible pertained, still he would do his job till he dropped dead.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    A knock on his wooden door alerted him, it open before he said ''come in'' which was rude, not to mention against protocol so it could only be one person.


    "You called?" A smooth familiar voice entered.


    "It''s against protocol to just waltz in you know." Scott smiled, at his old friend.


    "Feel free to file a report, I doubt Washington will reply." Jones smiled that sarcastic smile of hers.


    They lapsed in silence, the loss of communication was troubling.


    "I''m sorry about your son." Scott blurted, he''d been unable to say it for some time, it was a harsh world they lived in, now more than ever.


    "....I know, I''m sorry about Blair too." Jones looked up at the ceiling, Scott''s mood turned morose at his daughter-in-law''s name.


    The silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife.


    Jones, snapping out of her fudge, walked towards his cabinet, she pulled out a Blue Label, wonderful whiskey.


    Two cups of the stuff were filled and one placed before him.


    "You mind?" Jones held out her cup.


    "I feel I should be offended." Scott snorted.


    "Oh hurry up will you?" Jones whirled her whiskey.


    Scott touched her glass briefly, a frost spread from his finger-tip, slowly it covered the glass entirely.


    The drink chilled quickly and Scott restrained his power from shattering the glass.


    "Look at the bright side Scottie, even if the world goes to hell. At least you can make chilled drinks." Jones took her whiskey like a shot, one gulp.


    "Optimism from you? The world must really be ending." Scott smiled at the banter.


    Truth be told Scott was glad on his choice of water, especially with the imposing heat, he felt snug the heat no worse than a regular summer day.


    The water element was the most versatile, defensive power, offensive power, environmental control, and utility all in one.


    Truly it was the middle ground, while only the life element could heal Chi energy could as well, thus Scott was a jack of all trades allowing him to face almost any foe.


    "You''ll drink that?" Jones eyed his drink.


    "Of course, don''t be greedy. Who knows when we will get some more." Scott quickly chilled his drink and took a sip, before the thief stole it.


    "Tch, cheapskate." Jones shook her head.


    Scott smiled, they had known each other for quite some time, having a wonderful work-relationship and a solid friendship.


    "So? You didn''t invite me here for that." Jones pointed at the whiskey.


    "No, I''m sure you know we lost another plant." Scott hit the jugular.


    "...I know, it''s a major problem. We''ll have to focus on the remaining few, cut off supply and prioritize." Jones bit her lips.


    "We will have to speak to the others too." Scott sighed, sometimes democracy should be demo-crazy.


    "Peters? He''ll want us to go out and tackle every threat at once, head on." Jones said wistfully.


    "You agree?" Scott frowned.


    "Almost, relax Scott, I know we don''t have the people power." Jones shook her head, Scott noticed how she evaded saying man-power.


    "I''m glad you see the big picture. We still have to give some ground to Peters though, he does get things done, but there''s a proper order to things." Scott smiled.


    "Is that all? You know I agree. Mostly anyway," Jones shrugged as she added the last piece.


    "On what?" Scott raised an eyebrow, he wondered what she disagreed on against him.


    "Scott. I know this is hard." Jones started with that tone that told Scott a lecture was coming.


    Scott straightened, steepling his fingers.


    "Scott, how do you think it looks like when you have your son doing paperwork?" At least Jones didn''t bullshit with him.


    "Oh? I would expect you of all people to understand me." Scott''s tone turned hard.


    "He''s a MARINE Scott, he swore himself to duty. Just like Jason." Jones'' fire left her, but she shook her head and stared back at him.


    Scott deflated, just like her son.


    "I can''t lose him. The kids need a parent." Scott defended himself.


    "They have you, don''t they? Besides your son''s a strong man now, he''ll do well out there." Jones argued.


    Scott''s eyes narrowed, why was she so insistent on this? He asked.


    "....He asked me to talk to you. His comrades are ostracizing him. It makes you both look weak." Jones admitted.


    A long time passed, Scott fought with himself, pros and cons warring.


    "I''ll think on it." Scott sighed, she was right and his son was old enough to make his own choices, even if they hurt.


    Scott watched his glass, he chilled it to slush and guzzled it down, slamming the cup down.


    "Fine. What else?" Scott gritted his teeth and frowned all business.


    "We need to deputize more people. Light duty, of course, guard duty and maintenance mostly. Just enough to free up those on active duty, they need more sleep." Jones explained.


    "More? At this rate, we''ll have more civilians than soldiers. Performance''ll drop." Scott pointed out the problem, despite knowing it was inevitable.


    "As long as they perform." Jones shrugged.


    Scott eyed the bottle of whiskey, it looked more and more tantalizing by the minute.


    Motioning his cup, Jones readily poured them each another, Scott chilled them and took this one slow, he had to be coherent after-all.


    "How much?" Scott took a sip.


    "Eh?" Jones looked at him confused.


    "How much of this country do you think we can save?" Scott gazed at his cup, feeling helpless.


    "...Best case scenario? If every other base is doing about the same as us? I''d say about half." Jones looked up.


    "Half? Best case scenario. Half." Scott scoffed, half the country.


    Half of one of THE most powerful countries in the world, good God above, how would the other countries fare?


    Unstable countries in the Middle East and Africa, underdeveloped countries all over the world, how would they even have a chance?


    Then there''s the other problem, the countries that DO surive and are led by Unethical leaders, what will they do once the world power shifts?


    Hopefully not another world war.


    "Remember, people, aren''t helping either. Looting, property damage and close to all-out-war on the streets." Jones reminded him.


    Scott scoffed again, he was well aware.


    "And the animals," Jones added as she finished her drink.


    The animals, they were not anything of the sort, they were monsters now no doubt in his mind.


    Monsters somehow grew far faster than humans, they also turned feral, attacking humans almost on sight.


    Bullets worked for the most part, but it was a close call sometimes, Scott was not looking forward to seeing one that grew too quickly.


    "Any updates on that front?" Scott waivered.


    "No. Animals don''t seem to grow with these though. The guys on it think that may have something to do with their speed." Jones pointed at her uniform sleeve, where the tattoo markings were.


    "Huh? That so?" Scott looked at them.


    "Yes." Jones looked at it absently.


    "So you''re saying it''s limiting us?" Scott eyed his fore-arm, briefly wondering if it could be removed.


    "May-be, we might just turn into monsters without it. Mutating uncontrollably doesn''t have an appeal." Jones clarified.


    "How nice of them. Those gods?." Scott said sarcastically, gods, there was only one God and none of those pretenders were Him.


    "No need to be sarcastic Scott, ancient civilizations would, of course, associate powerhouses with godhood." Jones chided him lightly.


    Scott remained silent on the matter.


    "Well, I''m off. See you at the meeting Scottie." Jones got up and left.


    "Hm? Yeah, bye." Scott waved her away.


    ''She could at least have put the bottle back.'' Scott sighed at his old friend.

 Alternate 11

    Elisa watched, in horror, as blood seeped from out of Ezrael''s wound.


    She had managed to extract the bullet, the boy anguished cries almost distracted her and there was something primal about seeing blood spilling, it was worsening her jitters.


    Now she was furiously trying to use what her son promised would heal Ezrael''s injury, hand over the wound she poured energy forth with the image of a cross shining like a beacon in her mind.


    Disturbing, was how nearby blood flowed back into the wound, the abdominal muscles spasming in pain, Ezrael''s screams deafening all else.


    The overlay of flesh scabbed over, but the skin was clearly still swelling and bruising visibly, so she poured and pushed even more of her energy forth.


    She felt some new yet odd sensation weaken, it was near the middle of her chest, in came from within her chest but not in her chest, did that make sense?


    Somehow as that sensation weakened, she felt the flow of energy slow to a crawl, and no matter how much she pushed and fought it mattered little as the energy dwindled slowly.


    Soon it was dry, there but an ineffectual sensation of weariness turned to complete exhaustion, she could push no more.


    ''That..was...intense?'' Elisa marveled at the sensation of weakness, pushing a muscle until the brink of collapse, the release of stress that was the essence of what she felt.


    As Ezrael''s screams quieted to groaning she sighed, there was nothing more she could do.


    Worry and hope were everything she could feel now, her emotions in conflict.


    Ezrael was clutching his wound panting, or was it wheezing, both? Elisa really did not know the difference.


    The couch Ezrael lay on was covered in blood and with his exposed chest it lent a feeling of a ritual occurring, Elisa blushed when she realized she had been pressing on his abdomen, it was indecent.


    ''I definitely can''t do this to Eian.'' Elisa shuddered at her reaction if she heard her baby screaming like this.


    The young boy''s sobbing alerted her that time was still rolling forth, she held herself realizing she was shaking.


    She heard muffled sounds as Eian spoke to the boy, hopefully comforting, she realized she had to go there.


    Walking away from Ezrael, Elisa approached the door the two boys were in.


    "Ma?" Eian looked at her, she was shaking.


    "I...I think it''s done... No, it''s done." Elisa clarified.


    "And my Dad?" Junior was watching her with teary eyes, Elisa wasn''t sure how old the boy was but he couldn''t be more than twelve.


    "He just needs some rest. Go check on him, don''t bother him too much." Elisa shooed him away, the boy bolted leaving both Elisa and her son alone.


    Eian hugged her, she welcomed the embrace, they were family, they supported one another in hard times and she was glad he never treated her badly how other teenagers treated their parents.


    "Ma? How are you? How is he?" Eian asked she was still shaking.


    "He''s...I can''t know. There, there was just so much blood." Elisa admitted.


    "It''s fine ma, look at me I''m fine and I lost some blood too." Eian pointed to the angry red claw marks he had, Elisa cringed.


    "We need to get those healed as soon as possible also." Elisa touched the wounds reminding him, Eian winced.


    "I''m fine it already stopped bleeding, nothing serious was hit either." Eian shrugged.


    "You''ll still get sick. The hospitals are likely already looted also." Elisa scolded him, but they already had this argument so she knew his answer.


    "No problem, you can just heal it later. His abdominal injury could be more serious, so heal that first." Eian repeated what he had told her before helping the man.


    Elisa sighed, she was not sure what to make of his new attitude, he was much more intense ever since that nightmare of a dream-world experience, commanding even.


    Her son was a lot of things, immunity to pain from injury was not one of them, he would complain about physical education class and be never immune to slacking off on his off time.


    In her opinion, her son was smart enough to excel in school, perhaps not enough to get a scholarship like his friend, but he never needed summer school and sometimes forgot to do his homework.


    He could have the mental drive needed, she knew he could, whenever he saw his grades dropping he would focus, relentlessly hunting down his goal, but once they went up he slacked again, he did just enough to get by and pass with about average marks.


    Weary, Elisa plopped down on the bed taking note of the ceiling of this particular room, it was a child''s room and had some sort of cloth atop the ceiling depicting stars.


    Elisa briefly wondered where everyone else went, the streets had been completely devoid of people after their escape.


    Thinking she wondered if they fled the city, it was a small one after-all perhaps the police or someone else had rescued them.


    Elisa decided they had to find somewhere safer as well, so far the monsters were easily killed by them, especially by her son, that last monster was menacing and for a moment she froze and that there were monsters that strong to begin with was concerning.


    ''More people, better walls, and food.'' Elisa listed her thoughts, so far they mostly scavenged leftover meal-materials the tenant of the house had left.


    Staring as they waited Elisa felt the tension grow between her son and herself, she remembered how he killed those men.


    He killed bad men, true, but that he could do such things and walk it off the next day had her worried, power was a dangerous thing, it corrupted the hearts of good men.


    The image of Eian stomping that poor man''s skull into a bloody pulp would haunt her for weeks if not years, she worried for him, what if he became cold and indifferent to such things?


    Every good mother wanted what was best for her child, Elisa wanted her son to be a successful and good man, upright and honest.


    She had researched men''s clothing, choosing respectable clothes for him, insisting his attire be impeccable, lack of money did not justify dressing like someone off the street.


    Eian recently had begun slacking off on her teachings, much to her detriment, he no longer listened to her every word like an obedient wonderful baby boy he had been, she blamed that rotten Edward, despoiling him so with his slobbish views on the world.


    No matter what she said he seemed determined to look little better than a hoodlum, how was he to get a good job looking that way?


    First impressions were everything at a new job, a worry that was likely irrelevant now, however, or at least for the foreseeable future.


    She had given him space about the dead men, hoping he would speak to her about the issue but he seemed to have forgotten already, as though killing was the way of the world now.


    It was difficult for her to admit, but perhaps she had done a poor job as a mother, everyone said a good child needed a good father and mother, she tried but perhaps it was too much for her to fill both roles?


    She had no idea what young boys wanted or did in their free time, she scolded and was hard on him because that was how HER father had been to her.


    That did bring some unwelcome memories with Eian''s father, the running and the fear, but thinking on that too perhaps she had been too hasty, it was a bad habit she had never managed to leave behind.


    "Sweetheart..." Elisa started.


    "Yes?" Eian turned to her, his gaze questioning.


    "I want to talk to you. About what happened back at...that place before we escaped." Elisa burst into a fit of nervousness, hoping he would respond well.


    "...Did they hurt you?" Eian''s eyes hardened and he patted her shoulder reassuringly.


    "No. Not that. I mean those men you killed." Elisa opened her mouth to continue but found herself lacking words.


    Eians eyes clouded over, face slackened and he stared at her with worry.


    "I...They were bad people and we needed to escape." Eian took a deep breath and his eyes grew hard again, resolved.


    "I... I know I''m worried about you. Killing...it is not something to just brush off sweetie." Elisa placed her hand on his reassuringly.


    "I''m fine ma." Eian slowly retracted his hand away from hers, his face a mask.


    "Are you sure? I love you sweetie and you can always talk to me." Elisa frowned, was he growing ashamed of her worry?


    "Thanks, ma, but I''m good. Remember they had guns so it might have been us if I hadn''t acted." Eian nodded and gave her a soft smile.


    It worried her that he thought that way, but he seemed adamant not to talk about his feelings, Elisa sighed when did parenting get so hard?


    They spoke some more on other topics, distracting themselves on old times and what they could do, eventually Elisa drifted to her bed, Eian said he would stay up a while longer, but she was too tired to think.


    Bedding down, Elisa closed her eyes and prayed to alleviate her worries, faith would get her through, it had worked before whenever things were hard, and dark days lay ahead.


    *****


    Eian stayed up late, he was glad his mother was still on his side despite having killed people, bad people true, but living people none the less.


    Fears tend to not listen to reason and he was not sure how he would take it if his mother judged him evil, it had always been just him and her.


    His feelings on the killings were a bit complicated, a tiny vicious part of himself enjoyed hurting bad people, but for the most part, he felt it had been a necessary evil.


    The social part of himself, ingrained into him by school told him what he did was an evil act, but that was a part easy to ignore, his mother and his own safety were all that mattered in the end.


    Walking over to check on Ezrael he looked at the man, his breathing had calmed and while he still looked pale his wound looked mostly healed.


    "How are you feeling?"


    "Better. Like I''ll live." Ezrael smiled.


    "Good. Then...I think we can go our own ways tomorrow." Eian exhaled the breathe he was holding.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it"What? Why?" Ezrael shot up and winced.


    "We escaped. Mister, look it''s nothing personal but your power. Well, it''s dangerous." Eian nodded feeling only slightly guilty.


    "Ah. Well...can you reconsider? Please, and no offense I did help you escape. Plus I really think we cover each other''s weaknesses." Ezrael grimaced.


    "You can read my mind, and you do it without my permission with me unknowingly, how can I ever trust you?" Eian raised his brows.


    Eian was half convinced Ezrael had already brainwashed him to help him in some way.


    "I. Look I can teach you and your mother how to defend against me and other Psychics. I can do it only because you have no defense in that area." Ezrael clarified.


    Eian looked at him questioningly, mildly intrigued, that did sound useful, but was it worth the risk?


    "Alright how?" Eian asked, he was intrigued but also worried Ezrael might get desperate and Dominate his mind, he should have put more thought into this.


    "It has to do with your mindscape," Ezrael explained, turning himself to sit, wincing at every movement.


    "Mindscape?" Eian wasn''t sure if he had heard it before, did Ul tell him about it?


    "Inner mind or subconscious world are other words. Listen you''ll need at least five in Mind to construct it properly." Ezrael explained.


    Then he had to go out hunting, and he had just chosen to put another point into spirit recently.


    His debacle with the collector must have given him enough, or close to because even after he hit full power he had a remaining point.


    Tired as he was, his core empty and spirit recovering it had to wait for another day.


    "I only have four in there." Eian sighed, referring to his mind points.


    "Then we can work on that later." Ezrael seemed self-satisfied with his convincing.


    "You can teach my mom then." Eian frowned, feeling used and trying to get something first.


    "Oh? She has that many points?" Ezrael seemed surprised.


    "Why does that surprise you?" Eian knew but he asked anyway, skeptically he narrowed his eyes, anger mounting.


    "Oh? Well, I sort of assumed...well since she had no guide in the dream." Ezrael chuckled softly, licking his lips.


    "Great, so you are in the fucking habit of poking in everyone''s head." Eian was definitely pissed.


    "Hey...I''m sorry but I needed to know what kind of people you were, my son''s wellbeing is at stake here." Ezrael raised his hands in mock surrender.


    Eian grit his teeth, wrestling with the urge to berate the man, he held off in the end somehow, but that had to stop.


    "Look. I''ll stay, and you''ll teach us, but if I find you are somehow manipulating me. I''m leaving." Eian growled.


    "Understood and I am sorry but my son comes first." Ezrael nodded, helplessly shrugging after.


    Annoyed Eian decided to get some fresh air, he stepped outside and sat on the porch.


    He scanned the darkness, his eyes unfailing and mind sharp, he enjoyed the brisk air for a moment, standing there he felt his eyelids begin to droop.


    He heard a noise in the distance and shot up, looking around he saw nothing and everything remained silent save for buzzing insects.


    ''I need some sleep.'' Eian rubbed his weary eyes and stepped inside, barring the door.


    *****


    Waking Eian stretched, feeling refreshed as well as glad nothing had broken into the house during the night.


    Staring out he noticed it seemed close to noon, he supposed it was normal as he had gone to sleep late as well as exhausted.


    Getting off the couch he stretched, relaxing for the first time in a while, his stomach growled, loudly.


    "Ma?" Eian got up off the bed and exited what seemed a teenagers bed, the game posters, and undersized clothing led to the assumption.


    He heard bustling around as well as unhurried footsteps, exiting the room he found a strange scene, along with someone he recognized.


    The red-haired woman was sitting drinking something that appeared to be a cup of water while the other two adults spoke.


    It was so bizarre, so unreal Eian rubbed the fog from his eyes to ensure he was seeing right.


    "Sweetie? Are you awake? Let''s get that treated." Elisa pointed at his scabbing chest.


    The healing was quick and easy, Elisa''s healing seemed to be faster than Alex''s had been, Eian wondered why was the dream not wholly accurate or had something changed?


    "Breakfast? Brunch?" Elisa asked after he was healed properly, a neat set of scars ran through his chest.


    "I''m fine, what''s she doing here?" Eian pointed at the red-haired woman.


    "First of all, it''s rude to point, manners sweetheart, also Kristal here was unsure of where else to go." Elisa clarified.


    Eian closed his eyes and sighed, apparently they were taking in strays now, another mouth to feed, which depending on food stores may be a problem.


    He was also worried they would keep getting more and more people, how would they feed them all and how would they know they were good people?


    As Eian thought of the problem he noticed Ezrael''s previous point of view on reading their minds if roles were reversed would he do it to Ezrael?


    His answer soured his mood instantly, still, it did not mean Ezrael was trustworthy yet.


    "I''m also grateful for your help Miss Elisa." Kristal nodded with a smile, oblivious to Eian''s thoughts.


    "Oh, not at all, I barely knew what I was doing." Elisa blushed and smiled prettily at the compliment.


    Those two women continued speaking, while weird it made him glad his mother had a woman to speak to, he knew he would feel weird surrounded by women.


    Eian turned to look at the two Ezraels, father and son were poking at their respective food, seemingly in deep thought.


    Shrugging it off, Eian walked and joined them at the table, a plate of food was untouched, likely his.


    Digging in Eian quickly stuffed full his mouth swallowing the food down, his meal vanished.


    "So." Ezrael cleared his throat getting their attention.


    "Yes?" Elisa tilted her head in question.


    "Your son. Eian wants me to teach you how to form your mindscape." Ezrael did not mention anything else from last night.


    "My what?" Elisa turned her head at Eian.


    "It''s to protect your mind ma," Eian repeated Ezrael''s vague explanation.


    "It has many other benefits also." Ezrael nodded but tilting his hand in a vague gesture.


    "Excuse me, but what are you all talking about?" Kristal interrupted.


    Eian closed his eyes and sighed, would they have to explain everything a thousand times?


    This presented a problem if they joined more people or vice versa, how many would need teaching?


    Also, Eian was not the type to trust just anyone, even this young woman could potentially be dangerous.


    "It''s a defense against situations like yours." Ezrael tsked at Kristal.


    "Situations...like mine?" Kristal''s eyes grew confused, Eian noticed a trace of fear.


    "Yes, you were clearly possessed by some...being capable of using Psychic energy. A malevolent one at that." Ezrael nodded solemnly.


    "Then...can I learn, also?" Kristal was much more focused on Ezrael now.


    "I...well not now. If you were possessed in the first place your Mind likely had to be low, to begin with. Either that or something powerful attacked you. How high is your Mind?" Ezrael tilted his head in question.


    Kristal mumbled an answer, which even Eian had trouble hearing, at further prompting she answered again.


    "Three." Kristal looked down at the table.


    Eian frowned, he had begun at three at first, was he liable to be possessed at four also?


    "Yes. Average. You''ll need at least two more in there I''m afraid." Ezrael shook his head.


    "I don''t see why I even need it. We should be looking for somewhere safe." Elisa frowned at glanced at the door.


    Ezrael looked at Eian dumbfounded, he raised an eyebrow at him in question before shrugging and looking back at his mother.


    "Missus Elisa I''m surprised your son has not told you, there is no place safe. Not anymore. I''m sure you have taken note of the lack of police officers, military personnel and other types of law enforcement? The truth is they likely have their hands full already. I''m not even sure they are still operational." Ezrael explained.


    Both of them only had an instant to process that, Eian already had a bit of this talk with his mother but perhaps it would click more from a stranger.


    "Why?" Both Elisa and Kristal blurted out.


    "...How would I know? Maybe there is a bigger threat, maybe they are focusing mostly on certain areas? There could truly be a million reasons why, but we need to proceed as if no help from the government will be forthcoming." Ezrael said staring at them both intently.


    Ezrael painted a grisly picture to the two women, sparing not even his son, who did not bat an eye to all this.


    Describing the worst case scenario of having to rebuild civilization, all while fighting the newly mutated creatures in the world.


    Their only advantage was now magic, all three new energies ready for humans to dive into and master, together with their advanced education perhaps they could even rise to greater heights than before.


    Ezrael went into a few steps they would first have to reach, training warriors for defense and organizing themselves.


    Throughout the whole thing Eian raised an eyebrow, it seemed as though Ezrael had put a bit of thought into this.


    By the looks of it, he also seemed to want to establish himself as capable, perhaps to make himself the leader.


    Eian had no problems with listening to Ezrael''s advice if it made sense, but he would sooner eat shit before following a man with an inflated ego and Eian wasn''t sure which one Ezrael was yet.


    God knew Eian wanted very little role in leadership, babysitting people seemed like a hassle, so Ezrael was welcome to that role but Eian and his mother were leaving if things got ugly or stupid.


    "...I...I understand, but what can we do?" Elisa was forlorn.


    "Relax ma, I can handle the monsters." Eian inputted, he didn''t want her to fall into depression or something.


    "For now," Ezrael added.


    "What?" Eian turned to look at him with a frown.


    "I''m sure you can handle everything for now, but the monsters will only get stronger. To keep up we need to keep growing also." Ezrael clarified.


    "I know, I''m planning on hunting today." Eian flattened his frown into a neutral expression.


    "Will that... Listen...Eian, you are strong but one person can only go so far alone. If you are out fighting, who will defend the base? Who will grow food? Who will create armor, housing, and weapons?" Ezrael changed tack.


    "There''s plenty to scavenge." Eian scoffed.


    "As I said, for now. What about a year from now? Two or ten? You are thinking short term. You can''t just wander about forever hoping to find everything." Ezrael explained.


    "I know that. It''s obvious, but we need to get strong enough first or the monsters will just kill us." Eian argued.


    As a matter of fact, Eian still wasn''t a hundred percent sure he trusted Ezrael, nor his power ''Dominion''.


    "Yes, but you''re only looking at pieces. When people don''t have something they don''t just go around making or finding it, they ask others for help and trade for it. That''s how you build society." Ezrael argued.


    "We don''t have to build society. People are still out there." Eian argued.


    They went back and forth on a few things before realizing they were both just speaking the same thing but in different sequences.


    Eian''s idea was more, get strong then look for other strong people to build with, Ezrael''s found people and start building and grow strong together.


    The end result was much the same, simply a difference of priorities.


    In the end, they simply agreed to whichever came first, if they found a group of good people who were holding out they could join them, meanwhile they would try to increase they fighting potential as much as possible.


    As they were speaking of groups, an errant thought entered his mind, Russel and Edward were likely still looking for a way to free him.


    ''Oh shit, wait. Fuck!'' Eian stood suddenly, those bastards knew Eian and Edward were connected somehow!


    They likely went looking for them at Edwards house, those murderous bastards were capable of anything.


    While Edward was a bad friend, Eian didn''t want him dead, and Russel had always been a good friend to him.


    There was also the matter of whatever family both of them had over, he really had not thought things through by just escaping randomly.

 Alternate 12

    On a high-ish class area where rich people lived and regular little security booths stood, there were several three or even the occasional four-story buildings with adequate spacing between, each was fancy in its own unique way.


    A few weeks past the high-earning middle class lived here, now it stood deserted like all others, funny how everyone just got up and ran, or died.


    Eian had rarely come here, he disliked associating with Edward''s people, they were a snobbish bunch of dysfunctional guys who thought too much of themselves, a little money and they pretended to be better than everyone else.


    He found it funny money couldn''t help them now, just as it didn''t help half the world, people were people and they had trouble rich or poor.


    Eian peeked over the corner, he was going to get a major scolding from his mother, again.


    Only his enhanced eyesight let him see his target; the apartment building sported clear damage, Edward and his crew had a large house with several which they had used as their base, rent was high but nothing compared to what they made.


    No person stuck out to his eyes, there was not a soul in that area he could see, the front door was ajar with an unknown pile covered with tarp beside, which led Eian to believe it may be abandoned.


    Approaching slowly Eian observed the surroundings, there was still clear evidence of a bloody fight, the smell of decomposing flesh waiting to greet him.


    The pile turned out to be decomposing bodies, most were stacked up and already burnt, Eian wondered who burnt them and why.


    A soft near indiscernible breeze caught his attention, focusing further it proved unnatural, Eian turned to the roof of the nearby building.


    Eian noticed a man staring in his direction, cursing Eian bolted, he let his guard down, again.


    Burning time, Eian dashed to the corner of the block and ran circles until he was sure he had lost the sentry.


    Slowly making his way back, barely winded though the heat made his body sweat, Eian got to their current hideout; a ransacked cheap fast-food restaurant.


    Jumping inside and shutting the entrance Eian went to the back, where was likely the manager''s office.


    "People are there, they saw me but I think I lost them," Eian admitted to the group.


    "Do you know who they are?" Ezrael was casual at first, his eyes sharpened soon.


    "No. Could be anyone really." Eian sighed, sitting on the only unoccupied chair.


    Elisa stood and begun pacing, the new girl Kristal was watching them with mild interest, Ezrael looked concerned while his son was whistling a tune on the corner.


    "Then? What do you want to do?" Ezrael looked at him like a dangerous animal, Eian grunted at him, getting angry.


    "Fuck, I don''t know." Eian scratched his neck, after calming his nerves.


    "I''m not placing my son in danger. You get that right?" Ezrael quizzed.


    "I''m not charging in dumb as fuck either," Eian answered testily even as his indecision was gnawing at him, his mother reminded him about language.


    Elisa turned and looked at him.


    "We ...should just leave." Elisa wrung her hands, shame evident.


    "I...agree? Slightly, or maybe they can help us?" Ezrael stared at the ceiling, their path unclear.


    "Help us!?... Help us how?" Elisa seemed surprised at the suggestion, Eian listened, he wanted to help his friends but not risk his mother.


    "I say...let us greet them, with the proper caution of course. At worst we can just leave if things look bad, if they are your friends, maybe we can warn them? At best, we join a group which can help us survive." Ezrael explained.


    At the sound of crunching wood Eian started by grabbing a bat, he hadn''t had time to find a proper weapon, the blocked door at the front had been slammed or shattered.


    Eian braced himself empowering earth allowing his spirit''s flow easier while channeling Qi up his arms.


    A gentle double knock at the office door, made Eian curse himself stupid, they should have left already.


    "No need to fight, just making sure you aren''t enemies. I''ll go in alone, please don''t attack me." A newcomer''s voice came from the other side of the door, though the voice was a trace familiar Eian couldn''t place it.


    As the newcomer emerged, Eian first thing he saw of the man was his grim scowl as dark as his skin, then his eyes fell on Eian.


    For his part, Eian took this time to thoroughly analyze his face, then a distant resemblance from a corner of his mind came.


    It took some time to come to grips with reality, matching the near past with today, it felt weird to see him like this.


    Russel stood straight, clean-shaven from his head to chin, dark skin with newly toned muscles of a warrior and an overall bulk denoting a strength, straining his undersized worded T-shirt.


    His frown turned neutral before turning into a joking smirk, Eian noticed his distinctive nerd glasses were missing.


    His old slim friend had been swapped with an upgraded Hulk version, thick upper body with a slim waist and a square jaw.


    "So...sup bro? Long time." Russel joked.


    "You hit the gym." Eian smiled awkwardly.


    "Heh, the exact one you did bro. Hello, miss Elisa." Russel added before politely nodding to his mother in acknowledgment.


    Four other confident men entered and surrounded Russel at his behest, though their posture relaxed further as Russel vouched for them, Eian recognized none of them, perhaps new friends?


    Each was as different from each other as the elements themselves, Russel was the only black man, Russel didn''t like being called colored so it stuck to Eian, which likely didn''t endear him to other black people though.


    A bulky full blonde Caucasian with had an air of authority and strong jaw, secondly was an Asian man fanning himself moving weirdly, a guy whose suffocating attire screamed Goth, and the last looked Polynesian with a figure of skin and bones, a distracted or dazed expression on his face.


    ******


    After a brief greeting, Russel asked them to follow him to a safer place to speak.


    He led them to another block entirely, several blocks down actually, it was clearly more modest than the previous place, the pale paint scraping off from the building at seemingly random spots.


    While of similar size, being three stories, this new home looked out of maintenance even before everything went to hell, entering Eian realized it split into a multitude of unique apartments.


    Russel did warn Eian and crew that some of their group may be hostile due to a fresh attack, Ed and his people especially.


    Hearing this, Eian did feel guilt but he decided it was best to hear what his friends had to say before jumping to conclusions.


    Elisa protested slightly, but conceded as this was Russel, Eian''s mom always trusted him for his impeccable conduct.


    Entering the hallway, which looked as though people threw everything around haphazardly, everything looked disorderly, closer to a dump from a ghetto than apartments.


    This new place was large and quite a bit away from where Edward''s base had been, another piece of information filed away within Eian''s mind, painting a picture of desperation.


    Russel spoke mostly to his crew, the residents hanging here were dejected, Russel did try to talk to Eian a couple of times, but he seemed to have his hands full with his group.


    "Like what we did with the place?" Russel asked, quirking an eyebrow at them, Eian still felt weird seeing him without glasses.


    "What happened here?" Ezrael was the first to ask.


    "Had to relocate, I''m sure you have more than an impression, at least by now," Russel answered, smirking as though he was privy to some hidden knowhow.


    "What?" Ezrael frowned, confused.


    "Manners, please stop meddling in places you shouldn''t." Russel''s voice grew serious and tapped his temple, Eian recognized a hint of anger in the statement and that look.


    Eian heard Edward in a heated argument with his father as they passed an apartment, they both sounded distressed as well as many others, Eian still wanted to punch Edward''s face.


    Russel made sure no one bothered them long, though many people looked angry or depressed, some crying even, which was natural with the times but things were adding up to a bad picture.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.Finally, they arrived into what must have been the only comfortable living room with enough space plus extra, Russel''s four friends blocked the entrance, Eian frowned, he trusted his friend but being heavy handled was annoying.


    "If you want something, spill it," Eian voice had a trace of heat.


    "Excuse me?" Russel focused on Eian, question in his eyes.


    "You''ve got all these guys around us Russ, it''s annoying." Eian pointing at his goons at the door.


    "Oh!? No bro, they''re here to protect you all." Russel dispersed the thought with his hands frantically.


    "What?" Elisa spooked, she clutched Eian''s arm feeling intimidated.


    "No please, you misunderstand." Russel kept both hands up in peace, Eian eyed the machete at his side.


    "Then clear it up." Eian patted his mom''s arm, growing highly annoyed at Russel for putting her in this state of distress.


    Russel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, shaking his head and sighed before beginning.


    "They assaulted us E, murdering then kidnapping some of their friends and family," Russel answered gesturing behind the door to the hostile bystanders they had passed, Eian felt all eyes on them.


    "Who?" Eian had a good idea, but...well he just wanted to be sure.


    "Obviously those pieces of shit who had you, E. As you can expect Ed is livid, they took his sisters." Russel sighed and wiped some sweat from his shaved head.


    Eian stayed silent, a weight of profound guilt gripped him, some of those people might have been innocents, maybe even children.


    Quickly overwhelming the emotion with anger Eian found his emotional footing, it was not he who did those things, each person was responsible for his own actions.


    Still a small part of his mind argued he had been reckless and gotten people hurt, but for now he could not let that consume his resolve, he and his mother came first.


    "Why did you bring us here?" Ezrael was looking at Russel''s goons with some agitation.


    "I told you to stop doing that." Russel frowned, raising his voice a half-octave, startling Ezrael.


    Eian clicked at the warning, Ezrael was simply being a dick again, though that brought up more ideas on his enhanced friend''s abilities.


    "You..." Ezrael opened his mouth and closed it with a snap as Russel glowered.


    "Yes. I can feel you trying to read our minds. AGAIN, stop it or else. The only reason I have not taken action is because of him." Russel gestured at Eian as he grew more serious.


    Eian smirked, the asshole deserved it and if Russel was capable to seeing Ezrael''s machinations, then that was a mountain off his back.


    This presented a wonderful opportunity for Eian himself, however, as Ezrael''s power was a constant worry, by very nature humans were distrustful.


    Eian had known Russel for years since the second year of primary school, that was their first class together.


    "He''s not brain-washing me either, is he?" Eian asked his friend.


    "What?" Russel looked at Ezrael again, alarm coloring his voice.


    Retreating a step back, Ezrael raised both hands in surrender, his son grew wide-eyed, alarmed at his father''s behavior.


    "No! No, I''m not! That''s crazy?!" Ezrael looked around for help.


    Eian shifted from one foot to the other, getting lazy standing around while Russ inspected them closely.


    "......No, you''re safe bro." Russel confirmed after observing each of them intently.


    "You sure?" Eian still felt a little queasy about that.


    "Yeah. Sure as gold." His friend reassured Eian, a small trouble vanished.


    Ezrael for his part looked relieved, though he did glare at Eian before folding his arms, disappointment clear, Eian shrugged he didn''t care.


    "That''s useful. Dominion?" Russel looked at Ezrael, brow raised.


    Ezrael confirmed it along with a reluctant sigh.


    "I developed Farsight. I''ll explain it to you later bro, we have to talk first though." Russel replied before the question even formed on his lips.


    Then he started explaining their situation, Eian felt a migraine incoming.


    "We were already starting with our plan really, it was to bust you out...now we have to bust even more people out AND they will be more attentive." Russel shook his head, then shrugged.


    "So...what do you want me to do?" Eian asked.


    "I want you to help us get their families back bro." Russel rubbed his head.


    "Yeah, I get that, I mean how," Eian asked.


    "I don''t know how you managed to escape, as well as kill a few of their men, but your expertise there would be essential." Russel reasoned, Eian briefly wondered if Russel looked into his mind.


    Was he asking Eian to fight those people? He was capable of taking bullets but there was almost an entire army waiting for them there.


    "..." Eian pondered that.


    "Absolutely not," Elisa answered.


    "I''m sorry? Miss El...that''s not your choice." Russel looked apologetic.


    "What do you mean?" Elisa''s complexion grew angry.


    "I''m sorry Mrs. Elisa, but Eian''s old enough to decide if he wants to help us or not." Russel nodded to himself but looked at her apologetic.


    "Eian''s my son! And I am not letting you get him killed, we are leaving." Elisa shouted at Russel, standing abruptly.


    "Ma...let''s hear him out first. Please, I don''t~" Eian started


    "What!? Do you want to go fight those people? Sweetie, they have guns, and there have to be at least a hundred of them." Elisa got more frantic by the second.


    "Excuse me? Fighting? The direct approach is for people who drew short for brains." Russel raised his hands in a calming gesture.


    Eian almost laughed as his mother''s mouth hung open and snapped it shut, while funny Russel was being a little indirect and unclear, so he warned him about that.


    Elisa sat down with a frown after Eian convinced her to listen to Russel, then they continued their discussion.


    "We want to excavate a tunnel underneath towards where-ever the prisoners are being held," Russel said.


    "Dig...Digging? That''s your plan?" Eian gave him a skeptical look.


    "Yes with luck we can distract the guards and grab the prisoners before the enemy even notices," Russel said.


    "That''s a lot of luck you''re betting on." Eian answers.


    "Work in progress, it would have been easier if you had not gone and broken out, but knowing the layout would be a great help. If we think of something genius we will go down that route, but we don''t want to wait too long either. Some of these people were women bro, you know what that can lead to." Russel gave them all a pointed look.


    Elisa turned to him, having calmed down slightly once it was clear Eian was not going to be asked to run face first into a shower of lead.


    "You...think, those women are being...raped?" Elisa added with a look of utter shock.


    "I hope not, but I don''t want to wait weeks and find out they were. Or ended up dead," Russel added lastly with a sad look.


    "Alright easy enough to tell you where, but how are you going to dig under to get there?" Eian asked, Russel still didn''t know Eian could shape Earth and he alone could not possibly do it quickly.


    "Already am, I have a few Earth-Elementalists around, managed to procure a few shovels in nearby stores, was planning on using them to build up. As for the Elementalists, we need to get their Spirits leveled up faster, we will also need more of them. You look strong which means you invested in Body, so you can help them get stronger." Russel gestured around to two men.


    "Eian''s also an earth Elementalist." Ezrael added glumly from his corner, he was clearly still annoyed at Eian.


    "Elementalist? Excellent, that''ll help tremendously." Russel nodded, a smile growing and he eyed Eian carefully.


    "So you use earth too?" Eian asked, curious.


    "Sorry man, but I was actually advancing on the air-element before we landed on this problem," Russel answered.


    "Air? How does that work?" Eian asked he had little experience with that element.


    "Like you would expect, but air manifests as a physical force also, force barriers negate kinetic force. Once I combine all three energies my attacks will be a notch sharper and stronger. Psi and Qi are my limit for now." Russel answered with a slight smile.


    "Three? You can use them together?" Eian had used both Qi and Spirit, but each felt completely separate.


    "My more devastating attacks are a combination Psi and Qi already, and I am improving to assimilate a cutting wind to its edge," Russel answered.


    "How about Body and spirit? Can those two be joined?" Eian asked quickly, anything Ul had not taught him would be invaluable.


    "That''s the Adept route as my guide explained, but it builds on your foundations, we can go over it later. For me the first two eliminate the restrictions each energy has, good thing too, or else being a savant would be the easiest route to power, though it still sort of is, short-term." Russel answered.


    "Savant?" Eian felt a bit overwhelmed with all the information, there was just so much he did not know.


    "Oh, sorry heh-ha, my university friends, and I, discussed all of these things together, we all coin certain terms. So we each know a bit more than the average person." Russel licked his lips and explained.


    Apparently, savants were people who focused solely on one discipline, either Qi, Spirit or Psi individually.


    Russel further explained there were the two hybrids types, the first hybrid focused on two disciplines while the second type focused on all three.


    Every choice could make you stronger, but specializing and having a clear understanding of what you were going for could, apparently, elevate you entire weight-classes more powerful.


    Russel continued explaining that Eian should have a clear idea of how to get stronger, or he might just flounder around.


    His friend pointed towards his current weapon of choice, a plain machete, explaining it was useful to him.


    Eian learned Russel planned to have him mostly help others get stronger, tackle this problem and then help him establish a safe ''zone'' of sorts for survivors.


    Meeting ended, they were being led out to another room, space was a premium so they would have to share, Eian stayed behind with him for a short time after his mother exited the door.


    "You need someone else to fight?" Eian asked his friend, once his mother was out of earshot, he DID feel guilty.


    "...only if it becomes necessary." Russel nodded solemnly.

 Alternate 13

    Training people was weird, for a multitude of reasons Eian found, for starters human morals limited them, mostly possessed humans ran around and their humanity did not permit them to kill them, in any other circumstance Eian would be tempted to help free them, but he had priorities for now.


    Animals were around sure, but any animal which would help Eian advance was far and few in between, mostly gigantic insects OR what looked like the evolved form of a pet, though he did see the occasional pigeon the size of a grown turkey, Eian wondered at their taste.


    He killed a wolf monster with three layers of teeth, it was agile but lacked the strength to outmatch him, so far the most dangerous thing they had encountered was a swarm of fist-sized bees, they were crimson in color and their stingers particularly nasty.


    Fleeing the bee''s had been their only recourse, Eian could swat them down sure, but they lacked appropriate weapons to kill many of them, and now that they were away safely Eian looked at his trainee''s.


    Two things bothered Eian, first was the fact animals were growing slowly larger, bugs, in particular, seemed to grow especially quickly, but other animals were noticeably a margin larger.


    Secondly, he wondered why everything was always so far away, apart from houses which tended to be closer, all stores seemed to be a long walk, a vehicle would have been a godsend, as is his team was out of breath relatively quickly, hampering progress.


    Whoever designed America clearly never thought of the idea anyone would have had to WALK long distances.


    Russ had given him a team of three, who was supposed to be moderately motivated to learn compared to others, they were each to focus on being Savants as Russel wanted to get them combat-ready yesterday.


    Russel had at least the sense to not team him with people related to those kidnapped or dead, a recipe for disaster thankfully avioded.


    The woman, Susan, was already a life user and a real bitch, she spoke little with Eian but eyed him constantly with an eyebrow raised and disapprovingly, it felt like she didn''t think he was fit to be the leader.


    The other two men were already earth Elementalists, elemenatlist being the going term for savants who focused solely on Spirit, thus neither focused on Body like Eian, one was scrawny, the other slightly chubby.


    Savants were divided into Elementalist, Esper, and Martial Warrior or Warrior for short, each specialising in a single discipline Spirit, Psi, or Qi.


    "Do you even know where to go?" Susan asked, leaning most of her weight on one leg, arms crossed and dissatisfaction clear.


    "...I''m open to suggestions." Eian wanted to lash out at her tone, but truly he was indecisive on direction.


    "That''s it? So your completely lost?" Susan leaned forward, putting her breasts in full display, Eian wondered if she thought she could manipulate him.


    "I''m not lost. I just can''t find anything big enough to be a challenge and not accidentally kill you all." Eian explained.


    "So you''re saying we''re so weak, and you''re ''Oh'' so strong? Please get over yourself, we can take care of ourselves." Susan rolled her eyes at him and whispered something about typical men which he only caught due to his enhanced senses.


    Grinding his teeth, Eian almost left them right then and there, this bitch was full of shit and being an ass about it.


    He restrained himself taking a deep breath and discarded the thought, the other two did not deserve that, not yet at least.


    Instead, he would heed this bitches advice and damn the consequences, he was positive he could survive after all.


    "Fine, let''s do it your way." Eian shrugged, not showing emotion on his face.


    ''...Keep talking... I''ll punch your teeth out and laugh as you regrow them.'' Mentally, Eian wondered how old this bitch was.


    "Oh? What a gentleman." Susan kept rolling her eyes, Eian let that last one slide, any more and he would do as he promised himself.


    ''Man what a bitch.'' Eian wondered what she had up her ass, probably a giant thorny rod, along with the fact she had probably never had an orgasm.


    As they walked, Eian ensured to ignore any more of her inane ramblings, thankfully she kept on harping only to the other two men, those two seemed lovestruck.


    It was amazing how much she reminded him of Jessica, same superiority complex and bossy tone, she probably thought she could get by with just her looks alone or the promise of a lay, whichever.


    The woman wore a blue-dress like she was going shopping, wearing a fancy slipper on each foot, Eian wondered if she expected to run in those, at least they were not high-heels.


    As tempted as he was to just shove her into the first monster they encountered, hoping it would swallow her whole, inwardly he decided against it, she would likely give the poor animal indigestion.


    Eian stopped worrying about the groups safety, he searched out the biggest threat he could find.


    Following deep vibrations throughout the entire block Eian reached a two-story building absolutely crawling with random noise, the sounds of movement briefly made him wonder if people were inside.


    Calling out to the house, there was no response, Eian warned any possible inhabitants he would be going in, in case there actually were aggressive people taking shelter inside.


    The bitch, Susan, actually huffed at his warning, he briefly considered whether that counted towards his promise, in the end he ignored it, the other two men were a nervous wreck with make-shift weapons.


    Kicking in the front door, Eian spotted blood, the foul stench of decay made him shudder, while Susan vomited, the other two men looked alarmed.


    At the source of the blood was something resembling viscera, gore, and fur, the fur made Eian think some animal butchered here while the smell told him it was likely recent.


    The door led straight to an open space with a kitchen and dining area, off to the side was the living room, not a door separating them, yet other doors led to three other directions.


    There were bloody drag marks on the tiled floor, leading toward some noise behind a door by the far-right corner which lead to a room.


    "Stay behind me, you two keep her safe and in the middle. She''s the healer." Eian said, tone serious and focusing himself for battle.


    "Oh, how manly. You going to tell us you have seven inches next?" Susan barked a sarcastic laugh.


    Faster than the wind he swooped down and grabbed a rotting piece of discarded flesh, repositioning himself to stare at her, his other hand racing and catching her neck in a vice-grip, he restrained most of his strength at the last second.


    She squeaked in either surprise or pain and before anyone could react he grabbed and pulled her forward, placing the rotting meat in front of her face aggressively.


    He was on the brink of shaking her, despite everything, he knew women were naturally weaker than him, especially now that his body had been remade, but this woman pushed him to his limit.


    "Look bitch. I don''t have the time nor patience to baby your ass. We are going in there. To. Kill. Understand?" Eian glared into her terrified eyes, she nodded meekly.


    "Hey dude... er, let her go? Err...Please." The chubby man''s grip on his weapon was tight and hands white, but he looked terrified, his partner had equally wide eyes.


    "None of you are fucking taking this seriously enough. Look at the blood for fuck''s sake, something in THERE can jump out and kill you in the next ten seconds. Be. Ready." Eian growled at both men, who gulped and nodded.


    Of course, Eian had positioned his body by now to be facing both them and towards the room the blood led to.


    Rules established and feeling only slightly ashamed, Eian huffed, the only woman who could tell him what to do was his mother, she was the only woman who had his best interest at heart, even if he disagreed with it sometimes.


    The girl was shaking as he let go after she nodded, both men being cowards they backed down and obeyed, good thing too as he did not want to smack them a bit too for just being enthralled by the bitch.


    "Alright. Let''s go." Eian calmed his rage to manageable levels, breathing really helped, thanking Sarah mentally.


    The door was slightly ajar, which gave Eian a parital view of bloodstains and the mutilated carcass of a rotting man.


    The walls and door obscured his vision, but he heard cloth and movement on the other side.


    Approaching slowly, moderating his breathing Eian knew there were three sources of vibrations there, denoting three enemies.


    Entering meowls were followed by claws and teeth, lots, Eian swung his bat upwards, catching a ball of fur and tossing it to the side.


    Another set of claws was heading towards him before he could get his swing back, so he kicked and caught its face, its momentum made him lose balance slightly but he regained it in time to swing and catch the last monsters face.


    Swinging Eian aimed at the one directly in front of him, he heard struggle from behind as the beast he caught with his foot had passed him due to its own leap.


    Kicking the beast and shoving it back into the room, Eian focused on the two beasts finally getting a good look at the monsters.


    Too many teeth and a jaw which unhinged as the howled, Eian saw something that might have looked like a cat monster.


    Swinging he caught the initial beast in the face again, the second lept a moment after, he spun away avoiding it''s lunge.


    The first beast looked dazed, while the second ran up to him, he kicked its face like a football before baring down his full might in an overhead swing.


    A crunch later, a beast was down while the dazed monster was shaking its weary head, Eian hit its skull again with minimal force, and it dropped down moaning.


    Looking outside, Eian inspected his teammates, they had managed to subdue a beast, not without injury as the two men had bleeding lacerations and the woman clutched her right arm, clearly injured.


    The cat-monster was twitching slightly, they had pummeled, stabbed and likely brutalized it without care or precision.


    It was still alive, Eian sighed, this bunch was filled with amateurs.


    "Someone, put it out of its misery damn it." Eian sighed, then the noises alerted him to danger.


    Bursting from nearby doors, more monsters emerged, yowling in rage, at least five in total.


    His team freaked, screaming as they ran to him, they all hid behind him as though he represented safety.


    The monsters charged as one, using power for the first time, Eian channeled Qi towards his brain, a trick he learned recently from Russel, time slowed ever so slightly as he did, tiny yet that little advantage gave him a major edge.


    ''And they''re cowards. I hope this is worth it'' Eian noted as he sighed, it was going to be a long day teaching this lousy bunch.


    Despite it all, Eian figured he could bear with it if it meant rescuing the twins, Ed''s sisters.


    Every hour that passed he would imagine images of them either violated, beaten, or both.


    Those thoughts weighed heavily on his mood.


    *****


    Upon their return, just as the sun was going down, Eian noticed many hostile stares once more, after such a long arduous day, he almost wanted them to provoke him, he needed someone to vent his frustration upon.


    On the contrary, the team he trained were quiet and submissive, keeping to themselves and sneaking glances at him, that suited him quite fine.


    Passing by he noticed someone approach, Edward, and his father, despite everything Eian was worried for Ed''s sisters, he did know them for quite some time, friendly girls.


    "This is all your fault." Edwards father glared daggers at Eian.


    "And we''ll fix it. Move, I''m tired." Eian replied, he understood his stance, but he was not in the mood.


    "You little piece of~" Ed''s dad opened his mouth and rattled off, Eian shoved him aside, forcefully entering.


    Ed also had his eyes on Eian, but he cared little, he got Eian in a mess first and Eian simply got out of it in any way he could, he had made peace with his decision, and he would help save Ed''s sisters anyway.


    Hostile glares followed him everywhere, some people bad-mouthed and cursed at him, he ignored them, these people were doing little to fix it, some were too scared of their assailants.


    It was their family members and yet only about half of them were truly helping, the others had either given up or were depending on them, Eian hated the latter more.


    Already food stores were dwindling and Eian dreaded the immense task it would be to feed them all, they needed a steady supply of food, not that Eian was fully sure he would be staying.


    Russel, along with the leader of Ed''s little gang, and a few more notable and respected people around were already rationing their supplies.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.People were unhappy, morale was at an all-time-low and things could blow at any moment, empty bellies could lead to looting and infighting so they gathered all their supplies in one spot, and put it under heavy guard.


    All this information was clear to him as he made his way to the top floors, where the notables had taken residence.


    His group dispersed at the entrance of the building, so Eian was alone when he went to sign off for the day.


    They had made progress, but the two men were lacking in courage and the woman, Susan, was forced to heal them again and again, hindering their progress significantly.


    None of them had any form of training, leaving Eian to wonder if they had even undergone the Dream in the first place.


    Reaching the top Eian heard brief discussions taking place, it looked like he was one of the last to return, the group he had been given really needed it though.


    As he entered, Russel was in deep discussion with a few others about today''s training and their progress on the tunnel, Ezrael, who had a much better memory had drawn a general layout of the enemy compound.


    Eian listened to a myriad of topics and couldn''t help, but wonder why they were considering demon summoning? That could not possibly be safe.


    "E! You''re back! Any progress?" Russel asked when he finally saw him.


    "I guess. The group is... better." Eian held back from saying ''useless''.


    "Haha, your expression ol'' friend. Sorry, despite having motivation, not all people are like us, the average person did not get a guide." Russel smiled, Eian wondered how many people actually got one.


    "It''s not just that, they''re... well cowards really. Anytime something popped out they ran behind me." Eian sighed, he''d had to use unnecessary power several times.


    With Russel''s smile becoming a knowing smirk, he nods and gestures around himself to the people lounging about.


    Eian noticed most looked tired, including Russel, who had recent bloodstain splatter on his clothing and grime clinging to them.


    He counted roughly fifteen in total, both men and women, of all sizes and filling the room with chatter as well as the stench of battle.


    Not all of them looked dangerous, but Sarah had not looked dangerous either, and she was might be capable of incinerating this building with enough effort.


    "Not everyone adapts well E, you, me and these fine gentlemen and ladies are doing well. The others need more time, but we need them too. Eventually, we will need farmers, engineers, managers etc." Russel explained.


    "...That feels a long way off." Eian rubbed his face, all he wanted was a bath, food and a bed.


    "For now let''s focus on getting the twins, and everyone else back of course. One step at a time, we might be dead by next week, so no use planning for next year, agreed?" Russel visibly deflated a bit at the mention of the girls.


    Edward, Eian, and Russel had been friends long before Ed''s behavior formed a schism between them, of course, they were familiar with each others family.


    "Don''t worry we''ll get them back. Sure as gold. Bruce, help Eian get some food." Russel smiled again while patting Eian on the shoulder in a friendly gesture.


    Bruce was a beefy bulky man, he had clearly invested everything into Body, how strong he was Eian truly couldn''t tell, but he had a face that was perpetually scowling.


    "I''m tired, send Aaron, he''d love to." Bruce pointed to another slimmer yet fit man.


    "As long as he doesn''t hit on him. E''s not gay, at least...not as far as I know." Russel announced, Eian''s eye twitched.


    "That''s blatant discrimination. Suck bovine testicles, you degenerate African. Bruce, I prefer you take it up the rectum." Aaron announced, pointing his middle finger at Russel and Bruce.


    A brief friendly chattered happened before Aaron agreed to go, Eian was ready to go an hour ago.


    Before exiting together, Eian felt a bit awkward around this guy, if you didn''t know he looked completely normal, a fit white guy and moderate features topped off with extreme-light-brown hair.


    One would never expect him to be a homosexual, not that Eian had much experience with them, he had no problem as long as they left him alone.


    "Quit fretting, I am considerate of peoples stances. I know ''flirting'' is uncomfortable for you ''hetero'' men." Aaron laughed good-natured while waving his worries away.


    "Okay." Eian shrugged, that was all he wanted to know before they went.


    Upon exiting the room the woman from before, Susan, who apparently followed him, looked startled to see him, her eyes growing wide.


    Strangely, lacky one and lacky two, both members of the team were long gone, and she stood there alone.


    Eian briefly wondered how petty she had to be to come all this way to pick a bone with him, especially when all he could think about was food and sleep, the bitch.


    "Ah! You''re out, listen~" Sarah had somehow swapped her torn bloody dress, she was brushing her new clothes when Eian interrupted her.


    "Look. I''m hungry and tired. If you''re gonna yell at me, go yell at Russel, it was his idea to add you to my team, and he knows me." Eian grumbled, he just wanted food, a bath which would likely not happen, and lastly sleep.


    "No! No, I just wanted to say sorry, about how I acted earlier. Sorry!" Susan waved her hands in front of her, she shook her head also.


    Saying her part, she scurried away as though a hoard of monsters were after her, Eian blinked and she was gone.


    "Impressive, I considered those to only happen in dramas." Aaron looked genuinely impressed.


    "Huh?" Eian watched him confused, it might just be his tired mind, but he was sure he missed something there.


    "Follow me, I''m sure exhaustion has caught up to you, if not physically at least mentally." Aaron chuckled at him as he walked towards food-storage.


    Eian stared at him blankly for a moment before groaning and following, it was getting pretty dark.


    ******


    Surprisingly there had been some water, apparently summoning water was not hard, some ''know-it-all'' likely knew how to convert their energy into any other element, or there was a water elementalist around.


    Of course, he was only given a bucket and a tiny bar of soap, but it good to feel refreshed as dirt, grime, and blood were a terrible combination.


    Eventually, after humanity adapted, if they even survived, Eian wondered how these new powers would affect civilization, so many things would be easier, yet like all things they could be abused by evil.


    As the last vestiges of light faded, Eian marveled at how adept his eyes were at seeing with such detail with so little light, he could see cracks on the tile in enclosed darkness.


    Making his way towards the apartment his mother, himself, and both Ezraels were assigned, it was a tiny thing with two beds given to both Elisa and Ezrael''s son, Eian and Ezrael made themselves comfortable with what was available.


    They were away from troublesome people, and the guards were supposedly neutral, but Eian still had a habit of blocking the entrance with a couch before they went to sleep, it would not stop intruders but it may slow them down long enough for him to wake up and take action.


    Elisa and Ezrael''s son were allotted the two small rooms on either side, while Eian and Ezrael each got a dark little corner of the main room made up of a living room and kitchen, two in one.


    "Sweetie? You''re back, have you eaten?" Elisa asked him, as she poked her head out from her bedroom on the right.


    "Yeah, thanks ma. Goodnight," After his mother''s similar reply, Eian went straight for his pillow, and sheets on the floor, ever since forming his core he could sleep on almost any surface without bother.


    In the darkness was Ezrael at a little dark corner of the apartment, using couch pillows for support getting comfortable.


    As Eian sat down Ezrael got up and looked at Eian, Eian hated he had no defenses in place to prevent his intrusions, but Russel promised to keep an eye out on him every day.


    He personally would prefer to be as far away as possible from the man, but the goal of ''protecting them'' it was much more feasible if they were in stuck together.


    Eian noticed Elisa, his mother, did not share the same concern over Ezrael''s powers, whether it be from ignorance or naivety.


    "Eian. How was the day?" Ezrael asked, tone polite.


    "Fine. Got stuck with a crappy team. Babying them all day long." Eian answered and shook his head in dismay, not wanting to go further into detail, hopefully, tomorrow would be better.


    "Good, good. Listen... do you think you can convince your friend, the... colored one, to call off the rescue mission?" Ezrael asked.


    "No, and he prefers you calling him black, he''s not a rainbow." Eian watched him out of the corner of his eye, suspicious.


    Ezrael waved the concern away, growing bolder.


    "I don''t think it''s in our best interest to go looking for trouble when we already got away," Ezrael answered, Eian watched him funny, did he think the other people would just abandon their family?


    "You realize he''s not the leader here right? Most people here had someone stolen, they aren''t going to abandon their families." Eian explained to him, as though explaining to a child.


    "Yes, well I spent the day asking around, most people with abilities are here with your friend. Russel? Without their help, the other people won''t risk it." Ezrael explained.


    Eian was almost sure this guy spent the whole day reading people''s minds, he wondered if he should care, most of these people didn''t like him, but it was a matter of principle, confusing.


    Ezrael had a point and if Ed''s sisters hadn''t been taken Eian might have even agreed, horrifying as that might have been, knowing it was likely there would be conflict, there would be a loss of life, Russel was downplaying it for Elisa.


    The twins were familiar to both Russel and himself, despite being raised in a lousy environment they turned out okay, polite and playful whenever he saw them.


    Eian was not abandoning Ed''s sisters, even if it meant getting his ears chewed out by his mother, not only for Ed, but Eian wasn''t sure he could walk away and not have nightmares for the rest of his life.


    He had seen those twins grow up.


    "Russel won''t change his mind. Ed''s sisters were like distant family to him." Eian answered, and to him.


    "... Damn it." Ezrael answered, his intense stare alerted Eian to something.


    "You''re fucking doing it again, aren''t you?" Eian took a deep breathe, grit his teeth and glared at the bastard.


    A stray thought made Eian wonder if he was doing the same thing to his mother, the thought further threw sparks to his fury, especially when he could be doing other things to her.


    "Your mother isn''t going to like the idea of you going there to fight." Ezrael''s words confirmed that he was at least in his head, and that sounded too much like a threat to Eian.


    Standing and marching forward, fury clouding his judgment, Eian felt the blood rushing up his face as he bared his teeth in seething aggression.


    Falling to the ground half-way clutching at his head, Eian felt his mind slowly picked apart, then something immense was seized his very being from inside his skull, and begun crushing it.


    Quashing his thoughts, he felt his body begin to twitch without command, desperate Eian funneled energy from his core, he sent a jolt up his spine from his core towards his mind.


    Not a tiny surge as before, but a full-blown tidal wave, the weight upon his mind did not lessen, but he could bear it, for now, fighting back he forced his limbs to obey.


    Strainingly pushing his thoughts and limbs forward, an uphill battle, his control slowly slipping from his grasp, like an adult slowly unclenching the closed fist of a petulant child, and flopping him to the ground.


    "What are you doing!?" Ezrael''s voice was fear-riddled, shaking and usually high-pitched.


    "Fuck you!" Enraged, Eian tackled the bastard, his rational mind crumbling beneath an assault, turning him primal.


    Surging Qi to his head, he pummeled Ezrael''s face, once, twice, and thrice, he heard a cry of but the speaker and words were lost to him.


    When the pressure on his mind froze, a great weight slid off his mind, as he realized his breathing and thoughts were hazy, ragged, and uncontrolled.


    Fuming amongst mindless anger, Eian halted his fists as a tiny part of his rational mind advised, he wasn''t about to kill this man.


    "STOP FUCKING WITH MY HEAD!" Eian yelled, his abrupt use of QI on his mind ceded, leaving him aching.


    "Eian! Wh, what are you doing?!" His mother''s panicking voice brought him fully back to earth.


    Taking in the scene, he realized he was in trouble, again, from the dark it must look like he punched Ezrael unprovoked.


    Ezrael''s nose was bleeding, and his eye looked as though it was swelling, lips bleeding while he may, or may not, have a few broken teeth.


    Overall he was laying down pitifully on the floor, moaning, Eian tried to sort out his thoughts, the task monumentally difficult.


    "He''s jumping into my head without permission. Again, like always." Eian argued it was the first thing he remembered clearly.


    "Are you turning violent? You could kill him!" Elisa rebuked seemingly ignoring his argument, shocked he would act this way.


    "Don''t talk about things you don''t know anything about!" Eian defended, his pitch increasing slowly, wincing as his headache worsened.


    "I...I know attacking people is barbaric, I taught you better than this!" Elisa argued her voice panicked, her hands were frantic, flinching while she stood still, eyes wide, equally in shock at his defiant tone.


    That was it, he was fed up with this crap, and how the fuck was he supposed to get proof of mind-reading or mind control?


    Elisa, however, seemed to have reached some sort of conclusion as she rushed past him, kneeling over the injured Ezrael as she begun to heal him, igniting another spark to his anger.


    On top of everything, he was still angry, an emotion he was all to familiar with, not wanting to lash out at Elisa, Eian decided it was time to high-tail it.


    "Look. We can talk tomorrow," Eian was finished trying to justify himself, he couldn''t think clearly due to a throbbing headache, and he needed sleep.


    Unconsensual mind-reading was a violation of dignity, privacy, and his rights, or at least it ought to be, it was tantamount to mind-rape.


    Closing his eyes, Eian massaged himself just above his eyes with one hand, the pain unending, in fact as the fight was over it was growing worse.


    Unknowing if it was suppressed stress, the Psyche attack on his mind, or fast use of too much Qi to argument his mind, but he was at his limit.


    Iboprophine would help, hopefully, if he could find some, he wanted nothing more than to shut off his brain.


    "How can you say that to me? Eian, look at him, you could have killed him!" Elisa was frantically scolding him, her voice filled with emotion, she was not even looking at him, full focus on her patient.


    "Whatever ma," Eian''s skull pressed into itself in a throb of agonizing pain, he walked away from her.


    "Young man? This discussion is not over!" Elisa turned to look at him, and he noticed some tears streaming on her face.


    "It is, I''m going to find some sleep. We can talk tomorrow," Eian ignored all her other words, and his anger easily made him ignore the little voice in his head telling him to try convincing her he was in the right.


    Moving every obstruction from the door-way was easy, slipping outside also, it helped that Elisa was so weak, slow and currently tending to someone.


    Once out in the hall, he brushed past inquisitive looks soon leaving the building entirely, she would likely hound him all night if he stayed.


    He found a place easily, using Eyes-of-the-Earth, he made his way to a desolate little building nearby, it would be perfect for staying the night, he ensured nothing was truly inside, his powers were new and he felt weird relying on them completely.


    Barring all entrances with stray furniture, he scrounged up whatever he could to make himself as comfortable as possible, the last thing he remembered was blacking out, his mind stumbling to find relief.

 Alternate 14

    Waking up, Eian yawned before piecing together the events of the previous day hazily, looking around in mild confusion he shook the last vestiges of sleep away.


    Anger, shame, mostly anger flooded straight from his chest, mastering himself as he knew how by exhaling slowly, he reviewed his turmoil with an objective mind, anyway her turned it his mother should have been on his side.


    He could understand part of her actions, as well as surprise, but if their roles were reversed he was sure he would have sided with her over a man they barely knew, Ezrael.


    Discounting all evidence, she should have asked what happened, he was not a child to be yelled, nor berated, he noticed this was becoming a trend of late, her raising her voice.


    His stomach growled, alerting him to more pressing needs, despite having to confront Elisa again, he decided it was best to get it out of the way later.


    There was nothing she could actually do to him anyway, what was she going to do? Hit or spank him? The thought made him chuckle.


    Edward''s sisters were also still in danger, that soured his mood quickly, Anna and Alisa were not going to save themselves.


    Anger fading it was quickly replaced with bitterness, he took a deep breath and got up, he still had to train that lousy group to be useful in record time.


    Already the tunnel was being built, so the time for confrontation was nearing if not quickly, they needed more combatants, as well as supplies.


    Eian was not an idiot, he saw was that their side had all the disadvantages, they lacked fighters with experience, they lacked quality weapons, and they had nothing to defend themselves with from ammunition.


    In all, they were placing their bet on being sneaky smart, he hoped there would be other advantages also, he had to discuss more of these concerns with Russ, an idiot he was not.


    Their one advantage seemed to be that their enemy was lacking in people with powers, there was that one guy with healing powers he remembered but very few others seemed to even be aware of it.


    ''If only we had bulletproof armor.'' Eian sighed, already negative thoughts were dampening a new day.


    Stretching, Eian delighted in the feeling of his joints popping and flexing first thing in the morning.


    He needed to grow stronger, yesterday had not yielded a power-up to Eian, he needed more, much more, enough to protect people he cared about and not be taken advantage of.


    If he had power like those who created the dream he and his mother would never have landed in this mess, and more possibly Ul had assured him with enough power regular projectiles would become harmless.


    He wondered how far that was, a small part of him wanted to find out, he wanted to rush out murder his way through a throng of vicious monsters and emerge the victor.


    Chuckling at the image he realized that part of him was rather childish, something akin to the want of being a hero, a dream not too long ago, now something similar could be achieved.


    The more mature part of himself realized that growing stronger meant more opportunity, once the world stabilized, people would likely employ people with these various powers.


    THAT part of him, on the other hand, realized money was at his literal doorstep, which was fine as long as he wasn''t used to committing murder, that was however for the future, first, he had to survive.


    Not that any of that was a guarantee, if none of that worked, Ul guaranteed him more training that meant other worlds placed value on soldiering, he was sure he could find opportunity there.


    *****


    Walking towards their base he noticed the usual hard-stares and angry muttering, as long as it stayed at that level he was fine.


    He walked towards the apartment room his mother, he, and both Ezrael''s shared, Kristal had bunked with other women, the unguarded door was wide open and yet several people were waiting nearby with diverse expressions, mostly confusion.


    Worried, Eian began to jog up and upon entering he was stopped by two familiar men or rather young adults like him, Bruce and Aaron, they let him pass further in once they recognized him.


    Inside he found his mother speaking with his friend, Russel, he turned to look at Eian and his face lit up.


    "E! We got a problem." Russel invited him in with a waving motion at himself.


    "What?" Eian was confused, he wondered where Ezrael was, he was sure he did not injure the man terribly, his mother was tending him immediately after either way.


    Elisa began to speak, but Russel quieted her, asking her to let him explain.


    "That kid''s real gold. He''s fucking dangerous." Russel started by surprising him, Russel wasn''t one to cus lightly in front of older people.


    "Kid? You mean Ezrael''s son?" Eian was referring to Ezrael.


    "No, well, yes. Let me explain." Russel rubbed his chin in an inquisitive way.


    Eian stared at Russel waiting for him to continue.


    "The kid is Ezrael. THE only Ezrael." Russel that like a bomb, only to further confuse him.


    "What? Ezrael isn''t... did I?" Eian grew a bit concerned, Ezrael was the name of both father and son.


    "That''s what I''m saying... he''s not the kid''s father," Russel explained further.


    ''A kidnapping?" Eian remembered the kid was terrified when the adult was injured, so that didn''t make sense either, maybe an older brother or uncle?


    A chill ran down Eian''s spine, it couldn''t be could it? No, there would have been signs.


    Then again, he never questioned it, the kid rarely spoke, and while the father and son were both Caucasian in truth Eian had not tried to find facial similarities or any.


    Events had caught him by so quickly he really didn''t have time to process everything, including what the kid even looked like.


    "The kid is an esper E, he has been in control the whole time." Russel broke the news to him, blunt as a sledgehammer.


    As Russel explained Eian got the picture slowly, the boy, Ezrael had been controlling the adult ''Ezrael'' and pretending to be his son.


    The ''Ezrael'' who Eian knew was actually named Nathan, Eian jotted that down, this above all was the weirdest thing happening to him since the dream started.


    They pieced this together last night when Russel came to see the commotion that was occurring, as Elisa healed Nathan, Russel examined his mind and found a ''mental-link''.


    He found it curious and broke it, after breaking Nathan free to gain control, they puzzled everything out easily from there, though Nathan was near incoherent.


    Elisa chose this time to break into the conversation.


    "Please remember he IS a scared little boy," Elisa said that got an eye twitch from Eian.


    "Are you sure she isn''t a zombie?" Eian asked his friend, who nodded.


    Elisa stared at him with a frown, opening her mouth before Eian cut her off, he wasn''t in a good mood for her optimism or whatever she had, nor her ignorance, Society was dead and social norms with it.


    "Even if he is eight or ten. There is a reason criminal children are put in Juvie mom. You realize this kid killed that man back when we were captured? He was the one controlling Jacob." Eian explained, he let his mother digest that horrifying fact.


    "Golden. We got a homicidal kid." Russel sighed, he looked worn, with dark bags visible even with his dark skin.


    Before Elisa could speak Russel explained he had two people with high mental attributes guarding the actual Ezrael, for now.


    A high mind attribute made being susceptible to Psychic forces less effective, Russel used himself as an example.


    A person with Mind at a high level was near impossible to control by someone in the same weight class once they had their defenses up.


    Eian wasn''t so sure, but he didn''t know what else to do with the kid, or rather Ezrael as it turned out.


    "What will we do with the kid?" Eian asked, feeling a bit leery at being near him.


    "We don''t have much free time, I hope he''ll cooperate for now and then we can deal with this later." Russel shook his head sadly, clearly not about to enjoy the duty.


    "That''s it Russ? You''re just going to let him off?" Eian was a bit skeptical as he had been controlling a grown man, not to mention murdering a guard through someone else.


    "I want to hear his side of things before we make a decision E." Russel sat down, shrugging.


    Eian pondered on the subject of the kid some, Ezrael had been hiding behind a mask this whole time, he likely didn''t trust Eian and for good reason as the sentiment was mutual.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "I am going to talk to him again, I thought you would want in, so I put it off." Russel looked at Eian, questioning.


    "...as long as you guarantee I won''t get turned into a mindless zombie. He got me in the head pretty hard." Eian scratched his head, remembering last night''s headache, he did not want a repeat.


    "You got it E." Russel patted his back encouragingly, smile wide.


    Elisa surprised them by telling them to be careful, Eian wondered if she even understood what was going on fully, his mother was stuck in the world of the past.


    With that Elisa remained silent looking at the floor, lost deep in thought, Eian hoped she wisened up soon, her behavior of late was extremely jarring.


    ******


    Walking into the particular room Aaron and Bruse were guarding, both Eian and Russel passed them with a simple nod.


    A small child of perhaps nine or ten sat, his bored expression brightened immediately upon seeing them, now Eian got a clearer view of the kid.


    His moppy black hair was coarse and dry, his nose pointed, and his clothes were a striped colorful t-shirt with a short kakis pants.


    "About time." Ezrael looked at Eian in the face neutrally.


    "You little shit." Eian grit his teeth and held in his anger.


    "You already beat me once. Are you going to do it again? That HAS to be abuse." This time Ezrael''s neutral look vanished, and Eian thought he could see some concern there.


    Briefly Eian was at a loss for words, then he got angry again.


    "I punched some poor bastard because of you." Eian accused, feeling weird for glaring at a kid.


    "So what? He is not innocent, did you ever wonder what he''s done to others?" Ezrael got up and glared at him, balling his hands.


    It was funny, a kid that reached him to his chest at around five feet was aggressive, Eian chuckled.


    "Both of you relax, AND kid, no funny business." Russel glared at him.


    Eian closed his eyes and calmed himself, anger would not help him here.


    "Is your name even Ezrael?" Eian asked curiously, Ezrael looked at him seriously before nodding.


    Ezrael remained silent for some time before their combined glares pressured him to elaborate.


    "...Yes, lying about my name is hard, I don''t always respond to a different name." Ezra huffed, crossed his hands and sat down.


    "But pretending to be someone else is easy," Eian grumbled, feeling stupid for being tricked by a kid.


    "It''s not all that hard really, fooling people''s a lot easier than it looks. A bit of crying here and there, an innocent poker face, and tadah." Ezrael explained, waving his hands about dramatically without humor.


    "How old are you? You don''t talk like a normal kid." Russel inquired, head cocked to one side while massaging his jaw.


    "I''m fourteen," Ezrael said almost defiantly, sticking out his chin proudly.


    Eian snickered, the kid looked ten, by any standard, that earned him a glare from Ezrael.


    "That IS not funny. ...always the same." Ezra glowered at Eian, the second part was mumbled as he stared accusingly at his stubby legs.


    "Why were you possessing Nathan even after you escaped?" Russel asked seriously, arms crossed.


    Ezrael looked at him with calculating eyes, Eian wasn''t sure they could trust anything he said at this point.


    "Nathan and I were in a cell with a few others before they moved me. Long story short, I got people killed with a breakout attempt." Ezrael looked at the floor and sucked on his teeth.


    Eian and Russel listened to him, one frowning, the other patient.


    "That does not explain why you did not let Nathan go after you got out." Russel pointed out, patiently.


    "Yes, it does. I got HIS people killed in my dumb escape. He is also going to want to kill me once he knows I took control of him forcefully, not being treated like a kid was just a plus." Ezrael looked at the floor, remorseful, Eian wondered if it was even real.


    "What do you mean his people?" Russel rubbed his head while frowning.


    "...Check his back, I''m sure you''ll find what you are looking for." Ezrael snorted.


    "Did I sound like I wanted a half answer? OR do you want to waste my time? IF you want we can just let you rot here." Russel threatened imposingly, raising both eyebrows.


    "Fine. He is part a damn gang. There happy?" Ezrael sat down and folded his hands.


    "Golden, just golden." Russel threw his hands up irritably.


    "Hey! In my defense I was desperate! Who knows what those people were going to do to me! For all, I knew they were going to harvest my organs or sell me to some pervert. Also, Nathan deserves all he got and more." Ezra argued with a half-pout.


    Ezra embellished his story a bit more, but they could not prove anything, all they had was his arguably questionable testimony.


    "How did you make that guy use your power?" Eian asked, referring to Nathan and Dominion.


    "I got Dominion pretty easy, everyone wants to help a small defenseless kid. After I woke up, I was caught by Bradley even before... everything started so I tried to escape...Dominion works sort of like, ...like computer connections? I can send the signal through other people under MY Dominion." Ezra explained glumly.


    "You know we cannot trust you, right?" Russel tapped his head for emphasis.


    Ezra nodded meekly, looking at the floor like a scolded child, even now Eian wondered if this was all some convoluted act.


    "I can''t keep you here forever, but I''m going to lay some ground rules, and eventually, if you behave, we can find some middle ground," Russel explained.


    Russel began a list of things Ezra could and could not do, most were common sense things, like not attacking peoples minds without permission.


    Eian zoned out, wondering how he, or anyone, would sleep at night knowing what this kid had done, or could do.


    An evil pragmatic part of him wondered if it was not best to just...snap his neck... or rather exile him, but that was a death sentence for a kid his size.


    After their discussion was over, Russel herded Ezrael out and Eian went to sit down to talk to his mother.


    *****


    Elisa could not understand much of what was happening, everything was going so fast and felt surreal, the dream, the kidnapping, new powers, her son, everything was just...unsettling.


    She thought things would calm down now that they were with a larger group, instead, she finds her son beating the man who helped them escape while speaking in what might as well be another language and right after they found out some innocent people were killed and kidnapped, it was just all so much.


    To make things worse Russel, perhaps Eian''s truest friend, came in and blew her mind by telling her Ezrael was not Ezrael, all of this in the span of a few hours.


    Why was no one making any sense? Healing powers and her son''s climatic muscular change along with that intimidating armor she could accept, she learned to expect that in the Dream to some degree, but mind control?


    To be truthfully honest, her son''s new look brought back many unwanted memories.


    She spent all night turning the apartment over with worry, Eian had left last night and no one seemed to know where.


    Everything was piling up on her, and perhaps she had finally reached her limit? Her son''s new demeanor had been a cause for concern since their escape.


    While he demonstrated some normal emotions, Eian''s brutal murders were something she still had not made peace with, and she worried he was turning violent, or even apathetic, a result from hanging out with Ed and his little crew of miscreants perhaps?


    Russel had brought more information, painting a completely different picture from what she had imagined.


    Still though...the little boy? He seemed so innocent, but she heard what he said through the room walls, it hardly dampened sound.


    Now here she, in the same position, AGAIN, having jumped to conclusions without giving her son a proper chance to explain himself, someone she was expected to have trusted fully.


    How different would her life be if she had more patience? Perhaps her son would have a father, or perhaps not, but it was an old wound that still itched from time to time.


    Now here he was before her, looking stern and arguably angry, not a surprise Eian always had a touch of anger in him and she did blame him unjustly.


    The silence was uncomfortable, they rarely fought, and when they did it had always been Eian doing something he should not, she just wanted everything to go back to how it was.


    "Have you eaten?" Elisa tried to break the proverbial ice.


    "No, I''ll get something downstairs before I go. Right now actually." Eian looked at her again, wearing a frown.


    "I... I am sorry. I don''t know what to say." Even to herself, her voice sounded like an excuse.


    "...Look, I''m going, I have some people to train right now." Eian got up, massaging his brow and taking a deep breathe then exhaling slowly.


    "I still want to talk to you." Elisa sighed, he was stalling, but perhaps some time would be good, for them both.


    "Later, I want to help the girls first. That''s more urgent." Eian was obviously referring to the twins.


    When Eian left he looked oddly determined, but at least he was talking to her before he would have likely stormed off, perhaps not all his changes were bad?


    *****


    Having left his mother Eian felt something he had never felt before, a mixture of betrayal, anger, and depression.


    She seemed uncomfortable and at least apologetic to some degree, but he felt it was best he stay away from her for now, she was judgmental, how had he missed that his whole life?


    He had lived with her so long that the thought was foreign, and he obviously would not just up and leave, but he needed time to think over how he would live his life, not the way she wanted.


    Starting with rescuing the twins, that was a goal he could see in his immediate future, after...well he could decide that after everything was over and if he was still breathing.


    For now, it was time to train, no more Mister nice guy, the faster he trained weaklings the fast they could advance, then he could dedicate more time to train himself.


    With Power that felt like the weight of mountains within his chest, and his swirling core bursting with Power he felt unstoppable, a landslide ready to be unleashed.


    Feeling ready, he determined that killing a few mindless monsters sounded like a relaxing vacation.


    As soon as he found a damn good weapon to kill with, a baseball bat sucked proverbial balls.

 Alternate 15

    Eian hardly slept nowadays, wake, train newbies, kill monsters, repeat, that was his daily routine which included a few meals of preserved foods, though they were dwindling.


    AS a daily reminder, Russel assured him he was always an invite to the elite meetings, which spanned a variation of topics, everything from food, equipment, skill knowledge and their overall progress.


    While attending, Eian still felt leery a pair who were advocating for demon summoning, thankfully most people shared his reservations which caused a bit of a divide.


    "So the vote is still no?" Russel looked around the room for confirmation, counting hands quickly he reaffirmed the situation.


    "But it WILL solve all our problems! Demons are versatile and the nearby monsters are not close to being a threat to them!" Carl growled, his Scandinavian eyes piercing, his significant other, Misha, an Asian woman nodded along with him.


    "Perhaps, but the votes shine clear as gold. We don''t care what you two or the others practice outside, but please don''t summon any-demons nearby." Russel calmly explained the situation.


    Visibly, Carl''s face grew crimson, but he restrained himself with a tug from the Asian woman along with a few words so low even Eian couldn''t hear it, they both sat down while Carl visibly waved his hands in exasperation.


    "On to daily progress then." Russel was the spokesman, likely because no one else wanted the dumb job, Eian would hate to talk so much all day.


    "Things seem to be on schedule, we figured out how to solve all the little hiccups so far. Thankfully, today we will definitely make significant headway." Two men caked in dirt stood side by side, the older of the two spoke.


    "Yes, again good job. Please remember we have more to do though, focus on what I told you." Russel thanked them.


    Eian had contributed his two trainee''s to help with the digging, a few others also joined.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll save them soon," Russel whispered at him low, Eian nodded politely.


    On the matter of the rescue, Eian was feeling things had grown stagnant, he knew it would be stupid to barge in and attack head-on, but these days seem a test of patience.


    So far, three days of hard labor from these Earth Elementalists, the tunnel was about ten percent complete.


    At first, that may seem slow, but progress would speed up once more diggers started, most of them were still training up their powers during most of the day, so the progress was good for what little they had.


    Eian couldn''t help but feel the time spent was wasted, the twins could already be dead, and that thought weighed on his actions.


    Like everything else in the world, things always seem better when you imagine it in your head than when you carry it out in person.


    The digging duo had also face a bit of a delay in deciding the location of the tunnel, as well as the gritty details of everything from width, height, and structural integrity.


    There were other things delaying the digging team, which only consisted of those two men so far, such as making sure they were digging in the right direction, underground it could be tricky.


    The tunnel itself was small, barely about to accommodate two large men, squeezing together, this was to ensure the tunnel would not simply collapse atop them.


    It had been started in the basement of a supermarket, it was as close to the targeted compound as they would risk.


    That said the finished tunnel would be close to a minimum of a hundred and twenty yards, perhaps up to a hundred and fifty.


    "Excellent and the forge, Amanda?" Russel turned to a cloaked figure, Eian had only seen the person in passing.


    "I need more time, more metal and more people too. It''s easy to soften the metal, but I need proper tools to hammer it and I am neither a black-smith nor a metallurgist. Maybe a digger can shape it." The cloaked woman shrugged helplessly, she was wearing a stuffy jacket which should by all rights be boiling her alive.


    ''Amanda'' briefly turned her hood to look at Eian and the duo excavators who each had high earth-spirits, her hood covered her face entirely and the rest of her attire covered any curvature he would associate with women.


    An interesting concept, Eian had not tried to shape molten rock, and iron had been beyond him before, he wondered if that was still the case.


    "Tomorrow will be busy for everyone, but maybe one of the new Earth-savants can do something," Russ answered, tapping his chin gazing off into the distance.


    "Shaping metal is supposed to be near the human limit," Eian added, remembering what Ul once told him.


    "And the diggers are too busy, but maybe you can do a few tests later tonight with Amanda?" Russ asked looking at Eian.


    "Sure." Eian agreed armor would help him not waste energy reinforcing his body from mundane attacks.


    Earlier Eian suggested Russel the need for armor and weapons, Russel had informed him they had already visited the topic, which resulted in creating a forge nearby, Eian had not seen it yet, but it was not realistic to think anything would be achievable in a day.


    The forge was led by their strongest Fire-mage who would create armor, the armor would obviously not stand a sniper bullet nor a cannon, but properly done perhaps normal ammunition.


    Though some people may lack the ability to move in full plate Eian, Russel, Bruce, and a few others had no such restrictions, unfortunately, they had not gotten to the point of arming people yet as it was all still a bit experimental.


    For now, the forge would focus sorely on armor, regular tools could be repurposed, thus double as weaponry, speed and efficiency were vital for now.


    The meeting ended shortly thereafter, people were exhausted, Eian, Russ and Amanda, however, had more to do.


    They stayed while everyone left and Eian wondered if the heavy jacket was due to paranoia from Amanda to not burn herself in the forge.


    Amanda for her part was neither breathing heavily nor moving uncomfortably, all things he himself would feel under all that, even her feet were covered in thick boots more suited to the outdoors than in.


    Earlier if not for her voice and Russel calling her by gender, Eian would not have known the person under all the clothing was female, a blunder thankfully evaded, that would have been awkward.


    ******


    Amanda led them to the forge, in all it was a crude thing, looking like a fire-hearth more than one would expect of a forge.


    On the floor and sprinkled on the wall were bits of cooled metal which had clearly fallen in a molten state, the room was filled with various pots, pans, and miscellaneous metal items.


    Clearly, someone had been busy experimenting, as more than one forge was unlit or half-made, the room appeared ransacked, upturned chairs, tables full of metal junk and the half-eaten remains of food.


    "I''m still trying to make a tough enough crucible, I have a few ready to be tested, but I''m not sure if making it from steel is decent for iron. They are the same thing aren''t they?" Amanda asked looking at Russel.


    "Steel has a certain percentage of Carbon which creates a superior bond. Depending on the percentages you can have several types of steel also, as well as adding trace amounts of other elements. I haven''t the slightest idea of how to go about making those though." Russel admitted.


    "God. A book on this would help. Any chance of that you think?" Amanda shook her entire hood in dismay as Russel shook his head in denial.


    Looking at the metal around Eian wondered how powerful her spirit was, likely close to the human-limit if she could melt steel.


    Not that Eian was an expert on elemental fire, either way, Sarah had been, and the details she shared had been brief, supposedly she could resist the same temperature of her flames.


    In retrospect Eian supposed your spirit adapted to you to your chosen element, Eian''s body was more resilient, which meant his body had gotten tougher, like rock, Sarah became immune to her own flames, and for the life of him, Eian had no idea what Alex or Jessica had gotten.


    Then a crazy idea struck him, Sarah was resistant to an absurd amount of fire, and so should Amanda.


    "How much heat resistance do you have?" Eian asked.


    "Uh what?... Oh, I haven''t tested it really. Risking my face to verify would be a retard''s way to die, but everyone says it''s hot outside while everything feels cool to me." Amanda admitted shrugging helplessly.


    Russel eyed him carefully, smiling slightly.


    "What are you thinking?" Russel asked, turning his full attention to Eian.


    "Well if she IS immune to fire, or at least to high enough temperatures, can''t she just mold the metal like clay? She wouldn''t even need tools." Eian answered, hoping it was that easy.


    Both of them stared at him like he had sprouted a new head, Russel was curious while Eian could not tell what expression Amanda had under all that.


    "That''s... I would like to say brilliant, but we can''t be sure if she would not simply lose the hand." Russel smiled and looked at Amanda.


    "You want me to risk losing a hand?" Amanda turned her head at Russel, expression hidden but her voice sounded shrill.


    "No no no. We can do simple tests. Start small and work our way up. Surely you will feel discomfort long before an injury." Russel explained.


    "Or maybe she could just put her hand near it and see if it feels hot from the air?" Eian explained.


    "And then what? Stick my hand in?" Amanda put both hands on the area her hips should be, the body language clearly said she was glaring at him.


    "E, you ARE not helping." Russel shot Eian a dirty look.


    Eian phased out from the rest of the conversation, he had said his piece and wanted to sleep, especially since Susan would be a hassle tomorrow.


    It was late and electricity had been gone now for some time, it was weird as though someone spitefully cut off all current from the vicinity, everywhere Eian went had no current.


    ******


    Today was the first-day Eian''s two earth trainees were joining the digging team, they were some of the first to reach seven in spirit respectively, they both passed their first bottleneck, making it unproductive to keep training them.


    Unfortunately, he was still stuck with Susan, at least she was not being a bitch to him anymore, in fact, it was weird how little she complained now, though she still reminded Eian uncomfortably of Jessica.


    Russel wanted her to train up her body and form a core, since a durable healer would be a godsend, a difficult task considering she would have to pass her second bottleneck to achieve it.


    There was no shortage of enemies to kill Eian had noticed, but they were so weak they barely yielded any power to him, even Susan weak as she was would take long in gaining strength here.


    Thought everyone who went out agreed that a select few monsters who were a league or leagues stronger than others, these were considered elites, rare and despite that still a non-threat factor.


    Having reached his third bottleneck Eian found the ability to kill most these monsters easy, most were weaker than the little goblins in the dream, apart from the elites, and not to boast but he did kill far-more-than-half of all the monsters his group encountered.


    The earth element was almost useless in combat without a strong body to handle the strain of an Empower, thus both his trainees were almost as useless as in the beginning, Susan could only kill subjugated monsters due to being the healer with a weak Body and Mind.


    In three days Eian had only reached a total of twenty-two, Nine in Body, while choosing to remain Four in Mind, and Nine in Spirit, slow progress though perhaps amazing since he had finally breached his third bottleneck.


    While Eian had wanted to better protect himself from Psychic attacks, more so now especially due to Ezrael, he put it aside for the twins, Mind would not help him much against bullets.


    Today, was a good day, Russel wanted him to focus on training ONLY Susan, which meant half his burden was gone.


    He did not remotely like her, but at least now he could make some serious progress, hopefully, the other teams were making as much progress, he even hoped for more.


    Others teams were working on different elements, but everyone unanimously decided to stick a healer to each team along with one expert, they had been told to go in different directions.


    Eian had heard of a few losses, whether accidents, overconfidence or plain bad luck, very few, perhaps six at most.


    Not all strong people could leave and train, however, some stayed to protect the base, others to scavenge, and some like Russel guarded Ezrael and made sure people did not riot while carefully planning their next move.


    At the start, only four training teams were sent out, only the strongest were put in charge since they would be the most familiar with their powers, the rest of the teams were formed mostly of regular people who were with Ed''s group.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.There were a grand total of eighteen people who were considered well prepared, Russel and Eian among them, most of these came from a group Russel created, he was gathering up people at his university before bringing them all here, including Bruce and Aaron.


    Being at a high-end school, Eian''s friend, Russ, found many capable people there, Eian was surprised most of them even stuck around and did not bolt to go save or visit their families.


    "So...today it''s just us." Susan pointed out mildly.


    "Yeah, easier for me. Same routine, I''m going to try to weaken them and you grab the finishing blows." Eian advised Susan nodded gripping a fire-ax they had managed to find.


    Susan got into a vehicle parked away from their base, their people had finally hijacked a few vehicles around town.


    Although gasoline was limited it was the reason they were able to move about quicker, Eian had little experience with cars as he used solely his motorcycle before.


    Susan parked the car not too far in a residential area, small family homes littered here along with garbage and refuse.


    Exiting Eian immediately got to work on finding prey, he wanted to finish training Susan to focus fully on improving himself.


    "So...why are you here?" Susan asked idly as Eian tried to find big prey or large quantities of small ones.


    "Same as you, I want to save those people," Eian answered, still searching the area.


    "I get it, but I mean is there someone, in particular, you want to save?" Susan persisted, which begun to annoy him.


    "Yes, now let me focus," Eian answered curtly, he wondered if she was bored or something.


    Thankfully Susan quieted with a sigh, he wasn''t dense, but he wasn''t sure if she was actually interested, curious, or looking for something to use against him later, besides he certainly had no interest.


    There were a million things more important than girls at the moment, especially since his stress levels were piling up, days without much rest wore away at him.


    The more he thought about it, Eian found it strange how neither he, Sarah nor Alex had ever demonstrated simple signs of humanity with the dream, people get tired and winded from doing the same thing over and over.


    In the dream, Eian had been a machine, no sleep, no stress, no long-term fatigue, he never fell into depression, though that last one may have just been him.


    He found a nest of cockroaches, each the size of a coffee mug, Susan gagged and Eian wrinkled his nose at the sight.


    "I would wish for anything ANYTHING but this." Susan shook her head weakly, voicing her distaste.


    "It is a free powerup." Eian pointed out, not liking the idea any more than she.


    "Ugh, they''re disgusting. You''ll owe me for this." Susan answered shuddering.


    "Whatever, let''s hurry. I want this over also." Eian answered curtly, he did not like it but he was not about to complain about it.


    The monsters scattered in all directions as Eian and Susan killed indiscriminately, smashing them to a disgusting paste.


    These insects were the first Eian noticed had not swarmed them in an attack, instead, they fled as they both crunched them, whittling down their numbers like a farmer harvesting wheat.


    Perhaps it was because they had no way of harming them, or perhaps another reason, whatever be the case they fled and they were left with little to kill a few short minutes into the massacre.


    Rotten food and eggs the size of golf-balls remained deep inside, Susan crushed the eggs, each time with a shudder, Eian did not envy her, the shattered eggs were a disgusting mess, not to mention the smell.


    Susan got a single increase, she chose Body, her healing was at eight, enough for most things, and they wanted her to not die to a stiff breeze.


    They continued searching for monsters, finding nothing more than empty buildings, Eian could feel lone-monsters, small in stature, which turned and fled too quickly to catch.


    It was weird driving through a town which had been teeming with people a few days prior, although he had no idea what he would do with them Eian kept a lookout for people, finding none.


    The left the residential area and headed for a plaza, hoping that there they may find something there, a collection of small stores bunched together near small drive-through-fast-food joints.


    "Found one," Eian warned her as he headed for the nearest store, a drug store.


    A single large monster taking ponderous steps which easily alerted him to its movement inside the pharmacy, this particular monster was larger than most by Eian''s estimate, something he had begun to notice becoming increasingly more common.


    This beast would be at least a hundred pounds over his weight, a good thing rock armor would tilt the scales on his favor.


    After opening the door and entering, for the umpteenth time Eian was thankful they had been driving this time, walking or running that distance would be annoying as hell.


    Eventually, local gas would be impossible to grab, but he figured that was a way yet, hopefully, they could find a solution.


    As Eian scanned in the monster''s direction he noticed scrunching noises behind shelves, he got the impression of it tearing at something on the floor.


    Susan came to a stop right behind him, using him as a shield, he was the vanguard so she was following his instructions, in the dark store Eian was grateful for his keen senses as the noises stopped.


    It had noticed the intruders to its ''den'', standing fully it barely towered the shelves and bellowed a spine-chilling roar, so much so Eian felt Susan back away towards the exit slightly.


    Shelves and products went scattering in all directions as the Beast bull-dozed it''s way through towards them, Eian saw a greyish blur barreling powerfully towards him.


    "Get further back," Eian ordered, surprised Susan had not run out on him, not that she had before, but they had not encountered a monster this large yet.


    Eian encased himself in armor, drawing lightly into his core, strengthening his durability and enhancing his mind, even so, the monsters speed was such its charge was only slightly less of a blur.


    Eian dug his feet into the earth, his armor cracking the tiles sinking in slightly to grant him more leverage, the monster slammed into him with a thunderous crack, it''s assault threw him unto his backsliding as his armor carved a path of broken tile.


    He smashed through a few shelves fully encased, though his armor had severe cracks, drawing them shut Eian rolled and stood, the monster gigantic maw roared, demonstrating rows of teeth and a pair of tusks.


    The monster drew itself back, retreating at a distance, through the slit in his armor for sight and the low lights, Eian couldn''t catch many details, but it certainly trotted with greater care now.


    Eian caught sight of a cracked grey carapace, as the monster moved.


    ''Damn thing''s tough.'' Eian tched, realizing anything slamming itself against him in such a way and walking off was supernaturally durable.


    Lifting himself to his feet, Eian caught movement and rolled right, crashing into upturned shelves and products.


    Scrambling he got his arms between himself and the beast as it almost hurled him unto his ass again, instead, the collision was evenly matched as Eian strained his armor to push back.


    Grabbing the monsters arms, Eian got a glimpse of its boney horns as they gouged small chunks from his helmet, repositioning himself Eian let the monster''s weight throw it off balance.


    Seizing the chance Eian threw his armor''s entire weight atop it, the monster buckled as Eian gripped a horn tightly, he punched it''s face with his free hand before kneeing it and using his entire weight to plant the monster''s face on the tiles.


    The floor cracked, and the monsters clawed arms raked his armor and its head shook viciously attempting to get free, his armor had a hard time gripping the texture of the monster''s hide.


    Eian grappled with the monster, all attempts to mount it failing as it thrashed and roared while bashing its head on the floor only to feel the floor give way.


    Finally, the horn snapped eliciting a furious growl, enraged the monster tackled Eian backward having no leverage as its maw came close to his face.


    Its jaws clamped unto Eian''s well-protected head slowly crunching stone, Eian got his armored hands between its jaw holding them at bay, each with one hand.


    Eian''s heart raced, the monster''s jaws had stopped, but his spirit was not without limit, as soon as he ran out of power his skull would be crushed.


    Eian strained as the monster''s clawed forelimbs tore chunks from both sides, eventually, it would grind down his armor and kill him.


    He heard screaming or a woman''s voice shouting, but he ignored it, trying to pry the jaws of the monster apart, Eian felt the empower slack, resummoning another and another, draining his reserves in a vain attempt to get free.


    Desperate Eian pulled more Qi, it swam through his veins as cold lightning, never leaving his body, it was useless within the armor, dampening only the blows he suffered from the tackles.


    He considered abandoning the armor, if he was quick enough he may have enough time to get out of the monster''s jaws, what would follow would be a near-impossible to fight, however.


    He tried to push Qi towards his armor to no avail.


    Thinking furiously he tried something else, his spirit channeled energy to pass from his body to the outside, even now he could feel that energy flow from his spirit located by his heart to the outside.


    Instead of pushing Qi through his body then to the outside, he pulled his spiritual energy inwards towards his core.


    He felt his core strained, a weight he never knew pulsed unto his body, his body felt like lead and his bones of steel.


    Reacting almost chemically and immediately his core expelled an excess energy near double outwards, it nearly slipped his control, but Eian guided it to his armor, which had almost completely been bitten through, once more the armor rebuild itself.


    His armor moved, the reformation pushing the monster''s jaws apart, Eian''s grip tightened and he heaved, a tearing sounded and a guttural scream near deafened him.


    Gripping both Jaws Eian pried them wide apart further, then he grabbed the monster''s entire head, wrapped its neck in a vice grip against its feeble struggles and twisted, sounding of rocks grinding against each other.


    It''s thrashing continued and Eian twisted it''s neck again, even to Eian''s impaired hearing the grating, crunching and snapping of the vertebrae were felt and Eian saw the beast spasm and twitch.


    Eian''s armor lost it''s enhanced strength a few seconds thereafter, leaving him sweating and confused as to how he strengthened it.


    "Eian?" Susan''s voice made him turn to look at her.


    "Yeah," Eian said dumbly, feeling a little out of breathing.


    "Is it dead?" She looked from him to the monster.


    "Yeah." Eian stared blankly forward.


    "Let''s take it back. I think the other''s will want to see this thing." Susan said, fear creeping into her voice.


    "Yeah." Eian let his armor crumble to nothing, trying to focus his thoughts.


    Eian turned to get a proper look at the monster, eye''s widening as it''s carapace crumbled to reveal the monster beneath, much like his rock-armor.


    ******


    The first thing Eian did when he got back was a bath, Susan went off the woman''s section without another word.


    She dismissed questions from onlookers, though Eian told Russel they would talk in a while, he wanted to be clean before they spoke.


    Emerging Eian felt his old self, it had been a while since he had come close to death, and it felt vastly different from within the dream.


    For once, Eian was glad all the training he had undergone there, without it he would be very dead today, if not before.


    "So?" Russel asked, waiting near outside the bathing area.


    "Can you not fucking wait until I have a shirt on? And That shit almost bit my god-damn head off." Eian muttered annoyed, at least he was wearing pants.


    "Okay...so?" Russel asked, ignoring Eian''s annoyance.


    "So? Check the damn thing out. See what''s so special about it." Eian grumbled.


    "Kidding dude, haha. No worries, I checked it out already. Bones are like steel and the skin''s tougher than gator-hide. I''ll see if we can eat it, maybe the hide will make good armor." Russel said shrugging.


    "What type of monster is it?" Eian asked, annoyed at the timing of Russel''s antics.


    "Looks like a buffalo had a love child with a boar and then replaced its front limbs with clawed arms. It also has a few bones protrusions at the elbows." Russel described.


    "I know what it fucking looks like, I mean I put it on the back of the damned car. IS it something natural now? Where did it come from? I''ve seen a few monsters that are different from normal now. This is what my guide meant by mutation?" Eian asked, annoyed to have to spell out his question.


    Russel and Eian were making their way to the monster corpse as Eian crawled into a shirt.


    "If I had to guess. Yes and yes. As to where it came from? Who knows. Maybe a local boar or buffalo evolved, mutated or whatever wild magic does to animals nowadays." Russel shrugged.


    "This is the strongest one I''ve seen yet. Russ, I''m not so sure many people can kill these things. It protected itself with something like my rock-armor." Eian said lowly, keeping an eye out to ensure no one overheard.


    "Really? That is... not unexpected, but worrying. If monsters are using elements already, things will get messy fast." Russel turned to look at the corpse.


    "Everyone needs to man up, or they''ll die. There is no way we can protect people who aren''t contributing. Everyone needs to do SOMETHING." Eian said quietly, speaking only the last word a bit louder.


    "I know bro. Calm down, I never said things will stay this way. I''m just focusing on saving the girls first. We are making significant progress on that front." Russel''s lips strained, the hard glint in his eyes said he was annoyed.


    "I''m just letting you know straight up. I''m leaving if people here aren''t pulling their weight. I''m not dying for idiots who don''t want to protect themselves." Eian finished.


    Russel watched him closely, closing his eyes and shaking his head.


    "Neither am I. E, I would not be here if I had not heard you were in danger, remember? Let''s focus on the immediate problem THEN worry about Ed''s crowd of ''friends''." Russel did make his fingers do a quick quote on quote gesture.


    "...Look, I''m sorry. I''m stressed ''s all." Eian rubbed his forehead feeling guilty.


    "I get it. We all are. Look if you don''t feel like going out, maybe help the digging crew today? They''re doing a lot better since we have more diggers today." Russel suggested.


    "Nah I''ll go out again. I just wanted to show you how bad things are getting out there. I''ll need to be stronger if we are charging in soon." Eian gathered himself and breathed out.


    "Good. I am keeping an eye on the kid by the way. GUYS! Take it upstairs!" Russel said before turning and heading upstairs.


    Eian watched as a few men dragged the gigantic carcass upstairs, it''s weight was over the top, Eian went through a bit of trouble stuffing it at the back of the car.


    As soon as Susan came, newly refreshed and clothed, they silently boarded the car and drove out, fearing for the first time that perhaps the outside was growing faster than he could keep up.


    The few days he spent babysitting the other two might have set him back more than he had thought, though the same might be true for most people around the globe.


    Most people would want to protect their families, and most people had more than one close relative, in some ways it was for the best that it was just he and his mother.

 The Conquerors End

    On a world not his own, Ul watched as the dark skies burned, monitoring his breathing to cool his rage as he saw the most hated Enemy, visible even from this distance.


    The rage he felt was nothing compared to what he had once felt, that had cooled over with his creation, a part of him he had used in the forge.


    They had brought the fight here, after years of sacrifice, years of suffering and death, to challenge a true Monster from myth itself.


    The denizens of this world feared to speak It''s three names, like beaten dogs they kept their heads down for fear of alerting Its wrathful gaze, but today true warriors came to face it and etch Its names into the annals of History.


    "Ready!" A dwarf whose name eluded him called.


    At the command which was the signal, Ul''s Qi surged throughout his body, his armor bound to himself eagerly accepted his power, further reinforcement was unnecessary and he would likely need every ounce of power he had soon enough.


    He had come ready, his armor was fully powered by deep-spiritual wells in the form of crystals, they would mitigate even the greatest of blows until their reserves ran dry.


    His gauntlets and chest piece sported auxiliary crystal-wells from which he could draw to supplement himself and he had drunk an elixir which quickened his Qi recovery exponentially.


    His helmet was tied to prevent any form of mind-altering effects or tricks the Enemy could hold, all this and still the Enemy might triumph over them.


    "Geeet SET!" The second command briefly made Ul slightly nervous, there was little doubt he would likely die this day.


    Soon he would join the fray, but instead of focusing on his inevitable death, he focused on the most recent memory of hatred, an aftermath of when the home-world burned.


    Flesh golems molded from THEIR fallen kin, their faces twisted in eternal damnation, vampyre lords turning dwarves into horrific ghouls driven mad by their hunger for the flesh of THEIR kin, and the archliches raising their armies of skeletal undead from THEIR dead while burning, desecrating, and murdering even children.


    He clenched his great-battle-ax, it was the greatest of his masterpieces, designed with purpose and hate so deep he could feel the rage clearly burning from within the weapon, he had prayed for it to live up to this final task, begging a blessing from the heavens.


    He made it extensively in the years of war following the old traditions: One purpose, Three Great Offerings, and then Thirteen diverse enhancements varying from physical to spiritual.


    Briefly, Ul played with a tiny talisman on his belt, it appeared a simple clear crystalline-bauble with a tiny nail inside, a toy more than a final trump, but several inordinately expensive materials went into its creations, favors upon favors and hours of refining power leading to working sleepless nights.


    "FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!!!!" The dwarf hollered the command, Ul knew what came the next instant.


    His head jerked back, the explosion of air temporarily pressed against his lungs as the distance between him and the Monster diminished.


    Focusing his Qi, Ul''s mind raced, the world slowed to a Crawling Chill, and yet the battle up ahead still raged faster than mortal eyes could follow.


    Forcing more Qi to the limit, he saw the others, his brothers-in-arms as they raged in dire combat against the Monster, It''s demonic wingspan twisting and turning as It floated in the air in defiance of gravity, performing unbelievable feats of aerobics.


    The Being''s three-heads snapped at Its attacker''s, battle-hardened veterans, trained specifically for aerial combat, swung at It''s darkened green scales, most of their relics of power finding purchase and most simply inflicting shallow scratches.


    A smaller brown scaled wyvern, roared and swooped at Ul attempting to intercept him mid-air, it died as his ax''s swing near-completely bisected it from skull to tail in a mess, it''s corpse falling to the ground below, Ul''s stride un-halting.


    He caught a glimpse of a comrade knocked by the Monster''s tail sent flying to the ground, Ul prayed he survived the fall.


    Another comrade was caught between two heads and torn viciously in half, and discarded as It focused on the other enemies swarming It.


    At this point he had reached, sending a silent prayer to the heavens he released a blow of pent-up fury, all three energies swirled and blended perfectly.


    Strength from Qi, Weight from Earth, both honed by his Mind into a blow which could cleave a mountain in half, the very air raptured at his blow.


    The impact rang through his arm, his bones rattled but intact, he was Earth-born, Unyielding.


    His skull collided with scaled flesh, it was like running head-first into a mountain, the collision knocked him briefly senseless as he begun to fall.


    As his mind reasserted, he gripped his ax harder, as to not lose it, his fall halted as his arm held him up with little effort, startled he looked up in surprise.


    Finding his ax embedded within the Monster''s flesh, having cracked a scaled the size of a buckler, the entire axehead had penetrated flesh.


    Ul barked a laugh until the Monster''s roar and subsequent spin sent him and his weapon spinning off into the air, Dwarves roared as they fought, Ul included.


    A short distance away dwarven mages flew a top platform of levitating metal, they glided about controlling their flight and holding the bulk of the Enemy''s army at bay.


    The greater Drakes, the arch-liches, of the Enemy''s army was engaged by smaller teams of lesser-experts, these monsters were a threat themselves, but nothing compared to the Enemy.


    The lesser wyverns were inconsequential and the occasional rider even less so, falling to blade or spell, their only contribution to the Enemy was shielding their betters from harm with their bodies.


    These enemies crowded the skies, but they fell like flies in swarms to the ground below, to Ul they fell as though through thickened syrup.


    Normally dwarves fought on the ground, closest to the earth, that was how any-sane-dwarf fought, but against this Monster, they had to improvise.


    Ul channeled his Spirit summoning a boulder of earth beneath his feet, he caught sight of the Enemy and launched himself at It, obliterating the summoned earth beneath his feet.


    Fire sprayed at him, Ul had perhaps one-tenth of a half-second to summon earth and launch himself in a random direction, he had a better chance living by swimming in the core than bathing in THAT fire.


    He saw a mage-comrade die, it burned his casing of summoned Mithril-armor, then his ACTUAL armor beneath, and finally fried the unfortunate dwarf within, all faster than it took to think it.


    Against a Monster like this, they had to keep the assault going, It''s regenerative abilities were god-like, despite their blades design to hamper regenerative abilities.


    Once more Ul righted his course and shot at the Enemy, he aimed and landed a glancing hit shattering a scale on a hind-leg as the monster flew past.


    Ul swore and followed in the air, dwarves crowding and assaulting the Enemy, but they were not alone, wyverns, both living and dead came to their Master''s aid.


    Another strike pierced deeply into the underside of It''s boney right-wing, the explosion of wind altered him when the Monster''s claw came for him, Ul kicked himself off getting his weapon between himself and the claw, the blow sent him flying smashing a wyvern and rider to gore.


    Valorous dwarves all around him maintaining their assault, they fought on, forgoing their fear, honing their rage and unleashing it, killing and dying.


    Thankfully reinforcements arrived continuously, but it would not last, peak-experts were not as common as the clouds, if they did not kill the Enemy, their numbers would dwindle until they were picked away one by one.


    Ul fought on, a difficult battle, to follow a beast in unfamiliar terms, but each of them had no choice, and they had their training and experience to fall back on.


    Seconds felt like hours, their reserves of power dwindled slowly, but they fought, scoring both superficial and vicious wounds, but their Enemy was not weak.


    Roaring the Monster spun at every chance, flicked them with Its tail, breathed It''s fire upon them and swiped them with Its claws.


    The Monster''s Horde was near endless, Ul cleaved straight through any wyvern which got too close, but every half-second he spent on a useless minion was time NOT spent attacking the Enemy.


    Ul did not count time, such a distraction would kill him, he landed blow after blow, evaded tooth and claw, as well as tail and breath.


    Furiously Ul dug deeper, pushed harder and his ax once more bit at the Enemy''s injured wing, a savage roar echoed and Ul threw himself off as Fire washed over the space where he once was.


    Fellow dwarves seized the opening, renewing their assault, but Ul was not idle, deliberately crashing into a wyvern of bone and decayed flesh, he blasted it to pieces by launching himself off it and towards the Enemy.


    The dwarves struck, again and again, the wounds on the Enemy fading and stitching, but Ul hoped those inflicted by him would not heal.


    Striking again Ul aimed at the Monster''s wing, seeing the slow-healing wounds of his ax there, his masterpiece was working, a savage grin spread on his face and he swung again while a team of dwarves occupied the attention of all three heads.


    Ul nearly slipped as the Enemy careened downwards at an angle, sparing no time for thought he swung again and again before a warning from a fellow made him jump off.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Ships from the clouds provided aerial support from afar, they rained blasts seen only as light and fire unto lesser enemies, their force-shields besieged by endless wyverns breathing toxic fire.


    No ship dared approach the Enemy, a target so large would burn instantly to Its fiery breath, instead they attempted to keep the lesser monsters at bay.


    Ul roared in anger as the Enemy flew them straight through one particular ship, they had been heading in this direction for some time and the outcome was inevitable, the ships could not move as fast to evade the Enemy.


    Brave dwarves fell wearing suits designed to slow their fall, they were swarmed by enemy wyverns, the dwarves fired their powered cannons, summoning bullets and blasts of molten steel unto the horde.


    Such weapons were only useful for lesser foes, some wyverns fell, but the more powerful drakes shrugged off such attacks and butchered Ul''s people, but he had to focus on the Enemy, he hardened his heart.


    This was not the only battle, however, far below raged another, a city which spanned horizon to horizon, as far as the eye could stretch was under siege.


    They had come forward, they had rallied every dwarf with sorrow in their hearts, they had come for judgment, they had come to answer the cries of Fallen, they had come for Justice.


    In the vast city of the dead, preserved flesh clashed upon steel, horrifying constructs of flesh and bone clashed with golems of earth and steel, undead warriors with tortured souls clashed with stout warriors armed with grim determination.


    Towers and buildings burned and fell, craters opened, the dead rose while their howls mingled with the roars of the dying, this city built on death was under siege.


    With precise steps, Ul summoned earth to race the sky, scowling as the hated Enemy righted himself mid-air tail-swiping yet another brave expert to blast towards the ground.


    But the Enemy was injured, Ul persevered towards him as his fellows followed, murdering every lesser monster between them and their quarry.


    The Enemy''s speed and power were vast, but not without limit and together THEY would prove it, even the greatest of monsters can be slain.


    Ul felt the fire''s immense heat before he saw it and was away before it hit, still he hounded the Enemy on Its domain.


    Blasting forward to slash at an opening Ul saw his fellow dwarves hammering at the injured wing, periodically sending the Monster into small dives.


    Ul powered his lungs with Qi and screamed a warning, fire blasted a hapless dwarf too slow to obey, growling Ul drew on the reserves of power from his armor to his spirit.


    The battle was fierce and Ul had begun to fear the Enemy''s strength would not flag, but he refused to cede, not after all their sacrifice, he would sooner fall in battle than dishonor the Fallen.


    Slashing and tearing through the Enemy''s flesh was not simple, but Ul persevered, once more he swung strongly at the tattered wing of the great Fiend.


    Cutting down to the bone, they all fell, powerful roar momentarily deafened Ul to all else, striking again Ul struck bone chopping said bone to the marrow.


    The wing worked furiously and the Enemy spun, clawed and breathed fire, Ul dodged as his allies persevered, buying time for their fellows to land hits and evade.


    Another fully powered swing broke the bone, hanging by tendon and skin alone, Ul roared in triumph as the blasted Wyrm fell.


    Plummeting down in what spanned an eternity to warriors of their caliber, but finally, their hated Enemy crashed through a tower, demolishing it completely, they followed cutting through all resistance of lesser drakes.


    Undead swarmed the streets in droves, but these were lesser creatures, no match for war-tested peak-experts, they were crushed by layers of stone in an instant.


    Clearing the crash site of lesser beings was simple, but the Enemy rose and bellowed three furious roars, spewing fire which blasted apart entire buildings of stone and mortar.


    But Ul smiled, this was their domain, their Enemy was now standing on earth, and though tired here dwarves were battle-forged.


    A war-cry erupted from their battalion, Ul stomped the earth, a pillar rose shattering into the lower-jaw of the leftmost head, diverting that head''s intended breath.


    Dwarves sank into the earth, immediately vanishing from sight as the Enemy clawed and lashed Its tail at them, Ul leaped towards the leftmost head.


    Overconfident, the Enemy breathed fire at him, Ul laughed as he hurled himself out of the way the same way he flew the sky, hitting the ground three pillars shattered against their hated Enemy.


    Dwarves emerged from beneath attacking furiously, wounds piled slowly, but Ul''s smile stretched further, Its reserves had to be dwindling.


    The Enemy stomped the ground, breathing fire while roaring with all three heads, It''s breath melted even the stone beneath their feet, but these dwarves could swim in regular lava all day, as long as a hit was not too direct, they went uninjured.


    They summoned hardy stone, pummeling the Enemy and burying It under rubble, but It freed itself each time, with blasts of fiery hell or sheer strength, thus even their combined earth could not hold It.


    Ul tapped the earth, slowly the ground beneath began to swallow the Enemy, It roared pulling Itself free breathing fire, melting the stone and It propelled itself a distance with a single leap.


    The dwarves followed, leaping through the air or swimming through earth towards their Enemy, laying in wait the Monster''s lesser creations swarmed them, but were once more demolished.


    As he approached Ul''s eyes widened and he threw himself away from a fiery death, another ally burned, Ul roared, THIS was THEIR domain.


    Shattering the entire Earth beneath the beast Ul forced the Enemy a few feet into the air briefly, a boulder landed atop the Monster pummeling him back down, might as well have dropped water for all the damage it did.


    Aware such a thing would not kill it, the dwarves followed under, using their combined to sink the Enemy deeper, like quicksand.


    The Enemy resisted with its spirit attempting to manipulate the earth, Its claws found purchase on stone, it breathed fire unto the earth to melt it out of their control but dwarves did not relent.


    The Enemy heaved as Its shoulders and back smashed their work, the dwarves renewed their assault, some were drained of Qi others of spirit and some of both, drawing from already exhausted reservoirs.


    Deeper still they took it, It broke their stone, crushed it as porcelain, It''s three jaws spewing fire which burned straight through the earth, incinerating a careless ally.


    With a deafening roar Ul felt pushed against the earth, their descent stopped and a surge of power shattered the earth and pushed it aside, the Enemy had opened up a lightless cavern, not that the darkness hampered a dwarf.


    Ul frowned as he felt a resistance to his earth-shaping, the dammed Monster was manipulating the earth, halting even their combined might, perhaps they had exhausted themselves, either that or the Monster was on its last legs.


    Here and now, the Enemy''s chest was ragged, It was exerting Itself keeping the earth still, free from the influence of their interference.


    Still, Ul was no fool, It was impossible for the Enemy to truly tire out, no doubt Its strength would return eventually, they had already weakened It with a continuous assault, the Fiend had to die NOW.


    His brothers knew this, as one they gathered their flagging strength and barrelled into the spacious chamber the beast had hastily created, they had to kill it with their arms.


    An explosion of fire, far weaker than its breath exploded from Its entire body in a blast, Ul protected himself by encasing himself in solid Immortal-grade-armor, most his fellow warriors used lesser protection, such attacks were useless, but the breathable air was gone.


    It mattered not Ul could hold his breath for hours on end, and if absolutely necessary a function from his helmet could also filter oxygen directly to his face by supplying Qi.


    The chamber was small, but everyone moved at the same time, the enemy clawed at him, Ul rolled and swiped at Its arm, drawing blood.


    Another dwarf was caught in the jaws of the middle head, and another chopped its tail, they battered the Monster together, its regenerative abilities had ceased.


    As the Enemy crushed the dwarf in Its jaws and thrashed, Ul dodged fire from the mouth of the right head as another dwarf similarly dodged the left head.


    Noble brothers climbed atop the Fiend picking at Its scales as It heaved them off, crashing unto the walls and stomping some under Its heels, but dwarves were sturdy.


    Surprised Ul watched as the middle head fell limp, the Enemy''s other two heads roaring in agony.


    Ul and an Ally distracted the remaining heads, they closed the distance, at a distance Its breath would kill them.


    A heroic dwarf got a jump from behind, stashing his sword into the eye of the left head, a claw lashed out and crushed the dwarf, but Ul''s Ally seized that opportunity to attack.


    As the Monster thrashed an explosion of fire erupted again, Ul got under the right head and slashed at the unprotected throat, cutting deeply into an artery which spurted burning blood.


    A swipe came for him, Ul jumped over it to hit the wall on the right and then blast himself on the Monster''s head, blinding an eye and then another as it spewed blood in It''s thrashing.


    He felt the Enemy''s control over the earth slacken, instantly he crushed his final trump, a talisman, summoning a spike of blessed Titans-steel larger than his entire body, boosted by his Qi it slammed into the skull with a resounding crack, nailing the head deep into the earth as brain and blood splattered like crushed fruit.


    That took far more energy than he had been comfortable, but the result was worth it.


    With the second head dead, It''s control over the earth vanished completely, he used only his earth-senses to guide him to the final head.


    His remaining Allies were viciously evading the Enemy''s arm, the other arm had ceased to move, the remaining dwarves brought the ceiling down on the Enemy, entrapping It, they worked furiously to hold it in place.


    Ul hit the Enemy''s head with everything he had, he felt it twitch, It''s Qi had likely run out, his ax was biting much deeper than before, he felt the others help, but his battle-ax was a master-work parting Its flesh like lumber.


    For every dwarf in the home-world he hit it again with the strength of a collapsing mountain, his Qi reserves were guttering out, but he hit it again until IT spasmed and went still.


    Ul didn''t know how long he spent swinging at the Enemy, but he recovered eventually to realize their victory for what it was, they had completely beheaded the final head of the Dragonic Bane.


    The Conqueror was dead.


    This was far from a complete victory, the Dragon''s brood of arch-liches still led his armies, but without their leader, they would likely descend into anarchy.


    Even if they did not, liches, even the most powerful of the draconic arch-liches, were fodder compared to their Master, their home-world and many others would be safe from them.


    They dragged the corpse to the surface, messaging for back up, the body had to be destroyed completely, the ashes would be purified and scattered to the cosmos, nothing would be left to chance.


    And it''s soul would be broken down, draining Its power permanently until It re-joined the great-cycle as a mere mortal soul, perhaps then it would atone for all Its atrocities.

 Alternate 16

    Carl drained the death energy off the host, who promptly fell limp on the floor, he wasn''t dead, not yet.


    His girlfriend, Misha, propped the man on a sitting upright position, he would be recovering soon, Carl knew from experience.


    The elderly man, the previous host, woke slowly, Carl wanted to get moving, he had things to do, but he wasn''t selfish enough to leave an injured man lying in the middle of an apocalypse.


    Bolting upright the man asked a few frantic questions, he asked the date, about government-help, his lost family members which Misha attempted to answer.


    The frightened senior man looked panicked at what little they could answer, but he quickly apologized and fled as fast as his legs could take him in a random direction.


    His clear life signature vanished, his death sense and power were enough to scare any of the nearby wraiths, however, it seemed they lost that fear as soon as they gained a host.


    Occasionally he would spot a confused ghost either wailing, or wandering the streets confused, or being eaten by other more vengeful wraiths, which then fled at the sight of him.


    He had tried communicating with a few of the more confused ghosts, a few seemed to accept their fate and vanish... to somewhere, some had requests to help their loved ones, Carl sympathized but he had to decline, some of these... reacted violently and became akin to wraiths and the rest simply broke down crying or continued wandering.


    These wraiths were what had been possessing people, Carl had seen it happen and of course he ''put them to rest'' them if they got too close.


    Once their target vanished Misha began to expound on a previous point, one which did not involve wraiths nor their unfortunate hosts.


    "You still can''t control more," Misha spoke with the surety of a college professor, choosing to speak to him instead of sending.


    "I can''t take on any more as familiars. This. This is different from that." Carl clarified as they made their way back to base.


    "Are you certain they won''t be a danger?" Misha frowned looking up thoughtfully to the sky.


    "A bit, but I set things up properly. I doubt they are dumb enough to attack humans alone." Carl explained, stalking forward.


    Carl felt a living person trailing him and he looked back, the target froze and bolted like a deer fleeing a hunter, vagrants occasionally did that.


    ''Huh... Not the same one, and clearly not Russel.'' Carl frowned, he hoped that random person wasn''t stupid enough to mess with his bindings.


    Truth be told Russel''s Psi ability stirred his paranoia, not that he thought Russel was the type of person to do anything malicious with it, but the idea of discovery was troubling, not to mention the idea of being watched was creepy as hell.


    ''You felt that?'' Misha sent after looking around with him.


    "He ran away as soon as we turned." Carl kept looking back.


    ''One of ours?'' Misha asked as she scanned the area.


    "Didn''t look like it, we will find out when we get back either way. I''ll also check the containments tomorrow, either way, worse case a few weaklings lost matters little, I''ll just make more." Carl shrugged.


    That was the end of that and they made their way back to the base safely and started their shift guarding the little troublemaker.


    Carl looked outside the window, the blistering heat of the midday sun made the air visibly twist at times, his power over death helped little in that regard.


    Frustration was welling up inside him, he should be out there getting stronger to protect Misha and rescue these stupid people Russel insisted on rescuing, instead he spent his day inside guarding a boy bearly old enough to hold civil conversation.


    A gentle touch on his hand made him turn to look at his lover, Misha''s eyes were gentle and soothing, she wanted him to calm down and he appreciated her efforts, despite her own problems.


    Giving her a quick peck on the lips he turned his focus on the boy, a dangerous child to be sure, but Carl''s mental defenses were always in place and Misha''s were also.


    Carl was currently undecided but leaning towards the opinion of abandoning him outside, the boy was clearly a danger.


    ''Calm down,'' Misha patted his shoulder but spoke directly to his mind.


    "Why? It was a mistake to come here. We agreed to come because Russel insisted it would be quick! Instead, we''ve been here nearing a fucking week!" Carl growled at the window, speaking out loud.


    ''Soon, either they free the captives or we can return ... afterward.'' Misha said via telepathic waves.


    "And why should we lose? I mean, I don''t care about the people here, they''re thrash. I''m sure they are not jumping up to help me either, or you, or any of the others. If anything they''re glaring at us like we''re the problem." Carl looked at her dark eyes.


    Carl rubbed his face, annoyed at being put on babysitting duty almost daily, Russel let his friend ''Eian'' do whatever he wanted while trying using ''logic'' to convince him to stay, biased bastard.


    He wasn''t an idiot and to be truthful, Carl understood to some degree, he and Misha both had ten points in Mind, just like Russel, that gave them both a stalwart defense against psychic attacks as well as unique abilities.


    Others had high mental defenses, but it was best not to take chances with a power as dangerous as Dominion, even Carl knew that, but being on nanny-duty was still an annoying waste of his potential.


    It was best to simply plant a bullet at the back of the boys head before he became a threat, Carl knew the look of a scavenger when he saw one, this Ezrael was trouble.


    "Not only that. They refuse to listen!" Carl continued venting his frustrations.


    ''Legends and paranoia are both difficult things to overcome, it is not unexpected for them to be skeptical.'' Misha soothed him.


    "I know, I know. But damn, I mean it''s not rocket science, let a couple of demons loose on the bastards, if anyone deserves it, it is them." Carl grumbled softly.


    ''The word ''demons'' itself makes triggers something primal. Too much superstition.'' Misha sent silently.


    Silently stewing Carl looked outside watching the clouds drift without care, after some time he reached a conclusion.


    "I''m going to talk to a few of the others. It''s beyond stupid to risk our lives for something that doesn''t concern us." Carl said lastly.


    ''You''ve tried before love, Bruce thinks himself invincible along with a few others," Misha started.


    "Bruse has an inflated ego, he thinks he can muscle out of any problem." Carl snorted.


    "...and the others still want to do a bit of good, they haven''t realized that world ended.'' Misha sent finally.


    "...Then we have to make them see, we should be evacuated to the West, the L.A. has to have some form of government providing shelter. It''s a major city, that means abundant military or police aid." Carl rubbed his jaw, a bit of subtle growing due to inattention.


    Misha lapsed into silence and looked outside playing with her hair, he did not have to wonder at her thoughts, he knew what had been in her mind since they came here.


    "They''re fine, they had a head start towards L.A., and my brother is with them," Carl looked at her, trying to assuage her fears.


    ''We should have gone with them.'' Misha looked down at the floor, he could feel the aching hurt through her message.


    "...We still will, I promise." Carl turned to glare at Ezrael, who was a partial source of his annoyance.


    ''Even if we follow them...how will we find them?'' Misha grabbed his arm, leaning into him for comfort.


    Carl looked at her sympathetically, he could understand it was a big state, and with communications temporarily down...finding relatives would be almost impossible.


    "...Things will get better, not today, not tomorrow, but someday." Caressing her arm to provide comfort he added more. "Someone has to eventually fix the communication problem, when that day comes we''ll definitely find them. Besides...they''re probably somewhere with soldiers or at least police officers, there might be many places to check, but we will find them, even if it takes weeks or months." Carl added trying to cut down her fears.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.''Everyday...it just makes it more unlikely we find them.'' Misha sighed fretfully.


    ''True.'' Carl thought grimly, though he did not let her know it, it had been a major mistake to come here, but he didn''t think telecommunications would go down, now they were here with no idea how to find their family members.


    A quick look proved the boy, Ezrael, was staring at the wall uncomfortably, Carl was desperate to be gone already, the people here were assholes and not worth the risk.


    Carl sighed and waited, once his shift was over he would get back to his project, hopefully, he could finish it in time to be of more use.


    Despite his talk, Carl himself did not like the idea of abandoning people in need, he would do it if he had to, but he was willing to help in ways that did not risk himself and Misha.


    Russel had an annoying way of tying up his time, if he had all the time in the world he would have already been ready and rescued those people in record time, idiots.


    *****


    The next day, his hellhound had scouted an abandoned home which had been already been looted, he had managed to kill and drag an overly large canine dog which looked to be transitioning into a wolf, he trapped it in a containment circle.


    Carl chuckled grimly at what animal rights activists would have done to him under normal circumstances, it would be a shit-show for sure, now everyone had bigger worries.


    This particular residence was not near his intended target, the base of operation of this criminal organization, whatever the hell its name was.


    It would not matter however, he had thought of everything, and taking a vehicle out would have raised some eyebrows, more people would have likely wanted to go with him or take more interest.


    Instead, he and Misha simply walked to a distance, with the excuse of patrolling for monsters and scavenging for food, an easy enough thing to do with his familiars.


    Carl stared at the inscriptions on the floor, three circles were needed, one for the summoner, an especially intricate one for the demon and another for the warder who was Misha in this case.


    Everything on the demon''s circle had to be perfect, the demons he was trying to summon would normally not be much threat, but he had been warned sometimes stronger ones try to jump ship into a delicate summon.


    That was where Misha came in, her job was to purify and sever any external demonic influences on him, she was intimately familiar with his three familiars who lounged around in their containers.


    Loki the imp, Thor the hound and Hell the shade, he named them after Norse mythos, he had Icelandic descent and it seemed humorous, especially since he had only a vague idea of the whole religion, or myth, or whatever.


    Those three demons were weak enough for him to control himself, useful even being tier one and considered food by demonic ecosystems.


    ''Ready.'' Misha addressed him.


    "Yeah, I''m ready here too," Cal announced finishing up inspections.


    Activating the circle, Carl opened his mind, finding himself in an icy wasteland, ''looking'' around he sent out a signal and waited.


    The response came slowly, distant, Carl waited patiently, inspecting he took in the sight, this plane varied greatly, last time he was in a desert environment and the time before that an ocean floor.


    He could feel nothing here, only his a vague visual his brain interpreted as real, sort of like seeing with his eyes as he could ''move''.


    Finally, the demon appeared before him, a large imp the size of a five-year-old human, bony spines stretched from it''s hunched figure.


    It came crawling cautiously on all fours towards him, sniffing cautiously and seeming ready to flee.


    "Deal." The imp grunted at him, eyes narrowed.


    "No, but~" Carl started simply, he had another plan ready.


    "No? NO DEAL?!" The imp turned ready to bolt.


    Carl grabbed it, a slow strain began in his mind as he held it down, the creature squealed with a primal fear which showed in its struggle against him.


    "No kill! No kill." The imp squealed fearfully, Carl grunted and shook his head at its cowardly behavior.


    "Hold, you stupid thing. I''ll make you a damn deal then." Carl growled, annoyed at its behavior.


    The creature quieted and watched him in fear, shivering as though the cold had finally caught up to it.


    "Deal?" The imp repeated cautiously.


    "I''ve got a body ready for you." Carl frowned unpleasantly, he knew imps were stupid but he didn''t think it would bolt so easily.


    "Body?" The imps eye grew wide as saucers briefly.


    "Yeah." Carl frowned.


    "Who deal?" The imp said eyes guarded now.


    "I need you to do something for me. Well, a few somethings really." Carl tried to smile encouragingly, not sure if the dumb thing would even understand the expression.


    "Deal." The imp nodded quickly, baring its needle teeth in mock contrast to his.


    ''Well time to continue on.'' Carl though glumly at the task of trying to educate the stupid thing.


    ******


    Jacob looked at the house, he had been tailing a few of the groups that were leaving the apartments where the black bastard who killed Rafe was holing up.


    Somehow people always turned in his direction, at any time, night or day, they could tell where he was even before he saw them sometimes, it had led to a few close calls.


    The group had grown slightly in size from the original survivors that had attacked him while he went to get the bastard Eian, the bastards were taking regular visits outside, which at first seemed like the perfect chance for him to strike.


    Although he was stronger he didn''t fancy going against a group with superpowers while they were grouped up, he was simply waiting for a chance to ambush them.


    He had moderate success, killing a weakling who strayed too far from his group, they hadn''t even noticed him.


    His target, Eian, was even there! Jacob had seen him, leaving several times with a group of four, then his chance slipped his grasp as they had acquired several vehicles, which made it impossible for him to follow them recently if he tailed them on a vehicle he would be made apparent easily.


    Jake wanted nothing more than to attack Eian and that bitch mother with him, to let this be over with, but he had seen something which had changed his opinion recently.


    He had watched from afar as Eian had arrived with the giant corpse of a monster, which was offloaded from the truck, Jacob was sure Eian had killed it, he had tailed Eian before the vehicles enough to know the girl was not a strong fighter.


    That meant Eian was strong enough to bring down a monster like that without a gun, Jacob had never seen him use one, this meant he had to be careful in enacting his revenge.


    Eian was an impossible target for now, although Jacob was noting a certain direction in which he went off to hunt, that would come in handy soon.


    Jacob wished he had not lost his gun, at first he tried looking for one.


    In America of all places finding another one seemed impossible, all the nearby gun stores were already looted, everything was just gone and scrubbed clean, even a handgun would help assuage his worries.


    The things he was seeing were getting freaky quickly, the other day he had killed a goat with two heads, how a god-damned two-headed goat had somehow appeared in California was a good question he asked himself, perhaps a zoo or a pet, either way, he didn''t care, it was dead.


    He had also seen a lot of dogs running around growing weirder, cat-like-things were another constant, weird birds and big insects too, top it off with a few vagrants that fled at the mere sight of him, made for a truly weird experience.


    Rarely a vehicle would sometimes drive by, those times he would catch only glimpses of the drivers, people whom never stopped, they had other goals in mind.


    Back to himself, however.


    Jacob wasn''t sure how he would stock up against another strong opponent without a gun, during the last few days Jake had grown stronger, he killed the crazy zombie-people, regular people and even monsters.


    His muscles were far more pronounced and felt to be made of steel, still, if he could get this powerful he was sure his targets already were also, he had caught up to do.


    He hunted day and night, munching on a few scattered food-supplies left in broken houses, sometimes he found small groups people huddling within, they were usually not much threat, they were usually gullible too, and he grabbed they usually had food which he helped himself to, they couldn''t complain after anyways.


    He kept checking in on the activities of Eian''s group from afar, watching for weaknesses he could exploit when he caught sight of something odd.


    A pair compromised of one averagely built blonde man, along with an Asian woman had walked somewhere, instead of driving, a chance for an ambush if he ever saw one.


    As he was getting prepared to spring his ambush, it was thwarted almost immediately, the duo had both turned in his direction as he encroached too closely, he had been forced to bolt.


    Damnation, it was simply frustrating to see how competent these people were, if only he had a rifle or something to kill them with from afar.


    Perhaps he should try running them over with a vehicle, but that much noise would alert them too quickly, but it was an idea to consider.


    He would need to monitor them more carefully, now that they were aware of him, it would be much more tricky.


    Jacob found it weird though, these two did not look as though they had been fighting, it made him wonder what they were doing.


    Looting was likely not it, everything edible had long been scavenged from the nearby buildings by their own people, and so walking to do small errands was out of the norm.


    He would need to see what they were doing, perhaps he could kill the man and capture the woman, she would likely be easier to interrogate for a weakness.


    Women tended to talk more when faced with certain...consequences of not speaking, Jake smiled at the thought, he had been living like a savage for these last few days.


    Still he just need to be patient, hunting was all about patience, you needed to watch for a weakness and seize the opportunity.

 Alternate 17

    Eian was awake sitting down on the floor, reflecting on his most recent near-death experience.


    The pouring of spirit into his core and his reminiscent memory of rushing energy, like an amped suger rush, he was too into the fight to focus on what he had done immediately.


    He had not checked his QI reserves directly after the fight, but the more he pondered the surer he became, he had combined Qi and Spirit.


    That was the only explanation he had for the unexplained surge of power, he had not gotten a clear feeling for that energy, full of adrenaline as he was, but the brief explosive feel was unlike either Qi and Spirit.


    Pressure, saliva and a low growl from a greedy throat, the shaking of his armored head, the inability of his spirit to hold againast the monster.


    Strong jaws clamping down on as he was unable to fight back, Eian''s closed his eyes, his ears hearing the crunch of armor again.


    His spirit unable to go further, only dwindling in strength as he struggled, his Qi reinforcing only his body when he needed it for something else.


    Desperation, it had clicked then, as he desperately needed his inner power to work, to meld, the violent unexpected backlash expanding outwards as uncontrolled pressure.


    As he felt the energy once more, he wasproven right when the energy far exceeded the amount of Spirit which entered his core, it was out of the norm, his core violently expelled the new-found chaotic energy which seeped into his muscles and burned itself out a few minutes later.


    ''What can I do with this?'' That was the question in Eian''s mind as he focused.


    He could ask Russel, and if he did not figure it out soon he would, as getting stronger, to help the girls, was still the most important objective, but he toyed with the idea of learning by himself.


    Deciding that was enough thought without action Eian stood up, grabbed some food, and went out to begin his day. Deciding he would experiment a bit today, on weaker monsters first, this was something new to him, and he wanted to test the limits.


    Eian was taking Susan along today, she was steadily advancing, it was annoying to Eian as his progress was stagnant, but there was a vast difference of power between them still, it was expected that Eian would advance slower, as frustrating and bitter as that truth felt.


    She had been calmer of late, she had either been scared of him or had learned her lesson to not mess around when there was a lot of important work to be done, she had opted to remain quiet most of the time now and for that Eian was grateful to whichever god had seen to that up until recently, but now she seemed nervous.


    Eian had noticed the tension in the group growing, even among the friends Russel had brought along, a few wanted to get in contact with family, he could sympathize with them but rushing off without information was idiotic, a point Russel had drilled into his people.


    Speaking of family, Eian was on speaking terms with his mother, cordial and inquiring about each other''s wellbeing mostly, while she was apologetic, that did not mean she had changed so Eian waited and watched ensuring she got the hint.


    Russel was bust almost too busy, he had to try to keep everyone focused on the mission, he seemed to have stopped hunting which relaxed his training to keep things running smoothly, and while it was admirable, Eian was not sure he could have stood to do the same in his position, still someone had to do it.


    Edward and his father had secluded themselves from Eian, occasionally Eian would see Ed and he looked as if to say something but chose to remain silent and leave, evading him every chance they got, Ed spoke to Russel sometimes.


    Eian had caught them speaking, but Russel had always kept a distance from Ed since a while back and Eian wasn''t about to meddle, Ed likely wanted to know when they would be getting the girls back.


    Today Eian decided would be the day he venture further, almost out of the city near a few mountains, the wilderness outside the confines of civilization might have stronger monsters, something he was eager to see.


    A lot of California was barren, hills and mountains which sometimes held forest, but the closest forest reserve was a twelve-minute drive away or so, that was before everything went to hell and some streets became blocked.


    If there was nothing nearby, then he could simply drive back into the city and keep killing the weaker monsters, that would be a hassle however.


    Eian recalled a retreat his school had held when he was a kid, it was not too far off, although back then the class had simply been running around having fun in the park.


    They were driving through back roads as most main streets usually had accidents blocking portions.


    "You expect anything in particular?" Susan looking in direction briefly, since his difficult fight she seemed to become nervous.


    "No. The forest means more animals, more animals means more monsters. I''m going with that." Eian shrugged.


    "I can''t ever recall anything much being around here," Susan answered.


    "Bears?" Eian asked, he thought he had once heard of bears somewhere, but he could be wrong.


    Eian for his part was completely in the dark towards what these parts held, birds and raccoons maybe.


    "I never went outside the city limits to explore." Susan kept pushing her hair back behind her hear, nervous.


    The car slowed, and Eian spotted several vehicles blocking the road, the vehicles surrounded a distinct building, the blockade was assembled there clearly on purpose.


    The building was clearly a church of some sort, and although it was quiet it was not the same quiet as the rest of the deserted city.


    Eian watched, wondering who was within, the building had clearly been reinforced and had to be the work of several people, a large group of survivors.


    He wondered if they would be hostile at first, he usually would not think people taking residence in a church could be dangerous, but that did not necessarily mean they had to be religious.


    "Eian, you want to go around?" Susan looked at the church.


    "Yeah..." Eian rubbed his jaw and motioned for her to reverse.


    To further add to his hesitation Eian noticed how some vehicles were propped sideways and supported from behind, held together by chains and rope, a single opening on the barricade appeared to lead to a choke point, perfect for funneling intruders.


    Eian already had problems with the first group of people he had encountered, for all he knew these people were zombie cultists.


    As Susan began to reverse a man came out of the building, he raised his voice in a casual greeting, he was wearing a Kevlar vest and wearing a policeman''s uniform.


    The man had his hands in the air as a peace gesture, walking slowly and watching them closely as he approached.


    "You think we should go?" Susan asked him.


    "I''ll see what he wants first." Eian exited the car, copying the man''s posture.


    The man had his hair trimmed short, almost bald with a big boned body, with muscles that would have stood out before the dream, he had a neutral half-smile.


    "Good morning to you young man. You couple passing by?" The ''policeman'' asked, looking from Eian to Susan in the car.


    "Yeah," Eian didn''t feel like explaining.


    "Oh..., well it''s nice to see other people...... Listen son, mind me asking a few questions? Haven''t had much contact with others." The man asked nicely, he was looking around Eian searching for something.


    "Are there more officers in there?" Eian asked skeptically, there were definitely more people hidden, he almost asked him if he was an officer.


    The man''s smile became a neutral face, but he wasn''t giving off hostile intentions.


    "Don''t think I''ll be answering any of ''those'' questions until I know more about you. Sorry son." The man added the last part as he raised his hands a bit higher, showing Eian he meant no harm.


    "I don''t know you either." Eian pointed out, unwilling to give random trust.


    "Understood, but if you''re looking to come in, then I have to ask you to leave," The man watched Eian expectantly.


    Eian stared at him, looking at his eyes, he was taller than Eian, standing at about six feet, and they both considered each other for some time.


    "...please be on your way. Don''t want any trouble." The man shrugged, looking back to the church quickly.


    Eian nodded not wanting to further aggravate the man, Eian watched as he walked away backward slowly in his uniform, keeping his hands raised but eyes focused on Eian intently.


    "He wasn''t looking at you too happy," Susan responded plainly.


    "I doubt anyone is ''happy'' right now," Eian stated at the hidden barb.


    "Maybe next time I''ll have a turn?" Susan smiled at him, causing him to frown.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    They reversed backward out of the lane and went a different direction towards the forest.


    "You think he knew a good place to evacuate towards? Anywhere heavily defended?" Susan asked, a trace of hope entering her voice.


    "Since he''s hiding in a church, I doubt it," Eian answered looking out the window briefly.


    Their conversation stopped when they beheld the forest from afar, even from the distance, it looked far more spread out than Eian ever remembered.


    He had noticed the trees, lawns, and shrubbery had been overgrowing in the actual city, now it was clear it was much worse inside the forests.


    A herd of white-tailed deer was grazing between the forest and themselves, the herd boasted a few specimens of abnormal size and the largest of there were the size of horses, with his eyes Eian could make out little details he could not have seen before.


    The animals all had their necks straight, looking in the direction of the forest, during this time Eian wondered what held their attention.


    As one, the animals set off towards the town, Susan backpedaled immedietly to move out of the way, in full reverse Eian felt a jolt as a wheel hit something.


    Luckily for them, a few seconds later the first of the herd fled around them, ignoring the vehicle completely.


    "Fuck! Move the damn car." Eian ordered.


    Susan pressed the gas and the vehicle groaned forward at a snail''s pace, the wheels screeched and the car refused to move quickly.


    "Fucking hell! Stay here," Eian hit the side of the door and got out.


    One of the back wheels was flat and the rims bent, there was smeared goo under the car and they had run over some form of beetle-monster with shattered remains of its hardened carpace, its insect body was crushed but pieces of it had punctured their transport, which would not move without replacing a wheel, maybe not even then.


    That was all he got to see before a pair of antlers almost gored him, and after some last minute-dodging the buck immediately stood upright on its rear legs then kicked him in the arm and chest with its two front legs.


    Stumbling backward Eian exploded in motion a second after, tackling the overgrown animal with his shoulder, he felt bones snap and the buck fell on its side while several others rushed in.


    He managed to grab another buck by the antlers and hold it at bay, another came from the side trying to gore him, throwing himself to the side dragging the buck along with him.


    A sharp snap of a neck later and Eian was sure the second buck was dead, he got up quickly and watched as the third buck joined the retreating herd.


    ''Smart bastard.'' Eian massaged his bruised arm, where the buck attempted to trample him with an amateurish punch.


    "What are they running from?" Susan''s head peeked out from the shattered window on Eian''s side.


    "I don''t know, and I don''t care." Eian brushed himself off.


    His Qi flowed through him as easy as his breathing, shooting forward Eian kicked one of the smaller doe in the shoulder before it knew what hit it.


    As it hit the floor, the herd attempted to trample him, Eian activated empower and earth armor as they surrounded him.


    Startled by his transformation, the deer halted with little distance, some running into him, then he smashed into them, swinging his armored fists wildly and stamping the injured.


    Each blow broke bones, and lucky hits outright killed his foes, following animalistic instinct the uninjured herd members fled, leaving their dead and condemned behind.


    As the herd cleared Eian let his powers drop to conserve power, the armor crumbled off him immediately.


    The remaining enemies were too injured and mewling in pain, Eian watched them with a trace of pity, but he needed this.


    "You kill those off. I''ll look for wheels." Eian gestured at the injured with his chin and turning his gaze to search for cars..


    "Were they running from something?" Susan stressed again.


    Eian turned and saw something in the distance, it gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, and there was definite movement coming from it.


    He caught sight of a pair of bucks surrounding the large slender figure, but they soon dropped from its swift attacks.


    His eyes adjusted to the gleam and at first, he thought snake, then he realized it had limbs, a dark chocolate-red snake with taloned limbs.


    It then bit into the dead buck, surprisingly it crunched off the animals head, Eian would have expected it to try to swallow it whole.


    Instead, the reptile tore at it by stretching its gaping maw wide as if to swallow large chunks before clampings its jaws and severing large portions of the dead white-tailed buck.


    "E-Eian, that''s a big snake..." Susan shrunk away.


    "It has four legs. Four. Another mutant?" Eian wondered why everything was growing extra parts.


    As he inspected the animal, Eian noticed the animal had a slightly wider torso than he would associate with snakes.


    "What do we do?" Susan asked him, speaking in a hush.


    "I''m not sure if I have something that will pierce its scales..." Eian wondered if the animal was as powerful as his last opponent.


    Still, he came all the way here to test out his new experience with his power of Qi and Spirit, and this might be the perfect opponent, lucky how his spirit was only a bit used.


    A large reptilian monster, he wondered if they could drag it to base after it was dead, the scales or perhaps other body parts might be useful.


    Snake and crocodile leather was tough and Eian imagined this thing would be no different, or perhaps stronger, not that he knew a thing about working it.


    Still, there was no harm in trying, while he was at it he may as well take a few dead deer.


    "Take cover," Eian advised, eyeing the distance between him and the monster.


    "YOU be careful... making my way back alone will be terrible." Susan gave him an encouraging half-smile.


    "Ha-ha whatever," Eian shrugged her callous-remark away.


    He was unwilling to fuse Qi and spirit until he was closer, the last time the combined power exploded outwards until it drained itself.


    Channeling Qi toward his limbs was second nature, Eian charged as the snake-thing fed upon its prey, it soon turned and saw him charging.


    A hiss emerged from its open maw, its serpentine neck tensing and straightening, poised to strike, Eian saw it coming and veered to its left.


    The biting motion missed, but its tail caught him by surprise acting as a whip, the scaly flesh momentarily pushed all the air from his lungs, Eian hit the asphalt shoulder first.


    Cursing his amateur mistake, Eian encased himself quickly in rock-armor, the follow-up strike of its tail barely budged him but shards of stone broke off.


    From so close Eian could make out the stripe pattern of the repitile, it flowed horizontally and alternated between a thin white line and followed by thicker crimson line then a chocolate lines.


    The serpent-like-monster moved as a blur, its jaws snapping at him, Eian put his armored arm between him and the teeth.


    Quickening his thoughts took but a second and Eian realized this monster was on the level of the boar-bull, it was a danger.


    The teeth were quickly clamping down on his arm, punching its face only made it shake his arm, unable to fully concentrate he then pain shot up his arm.


    Angry he got a clear shot at its scaly throat, the reptile''s arms blew him backward a few steps in a hasty defensive push, armor and all.


    On the floor, Eian experimented, once more he guided his spirit and crammed it into his core, which promptly exploded with power.


    As the serpentine hissed and came at him jaws agape, he felt his armor tighten, the rock around his arm reformed.


    Full of power, he felt as weightless, his actions flowing by near-instant thought, his next punch snapped the bastards face and elongated neck meters away.


    The monster''s body trembled as it swayed unsteady, Eian followed up kicking at its torso, the most of its body skidded a few steps.


    Then he was hit, presumably by its tail, and Eian staggered to the side until he was lifting himself from his armored elbow.


    The monster jaw was unhinged, its jaw hanging limp.


    Eian shoved himself to stand and the monster lunged around him, instead of at him, Eian kept its face within sight.


    Arms out and ready he then took a crack at its face, the neck of the monster swayed, dodging his attack while hissing.


    Eian felt something around his legs, looking down he saw the tail wrapping around him, he tried jumping but his legs failed to take off fully.


    Then he was being squeezed, the monster had fully wrapped around him, his armor resisted the constriction, and the reptile''s eyes stared at him from outside his range.


    Struggling out of its grip Eian wiggled and shoved out of its attempt to crush him by constriction.


    Precious seconds passed in what felt like a futile struggle for Eian, periodically punching, kneeing or elbowing the monster''s body, eliciting sharp hisses of pain.


    Despite his clearly superior strength, it was tricky to slip the monster grasp due to it''s large, long and heavy body.


    Also, Eian''s muscles periodically locked up, before he had to force it to obey, his breath was heavy and his body sweating from exertion.


    Throughout the encounter, the monster kept its face well away from him, fearful of his hits.


    When finally he staggered out of its coils, Eian threw himself away, none too gently, unwilling to get caught immediately after.


    He caught a tail-lash on a leg, sending him to the floor on all fours, he dashed away and turned to face it.


    It lunged sideways, trying to encircle him with its body again, expecting just that Eian took off at its face, the monster tried dodging but Eian tackle-hugged its neck.


    The weight of his armor took him and the serpentine neck to the floor, the enemy thrashed as it tried dislodging him, Eian moved upwards without letting go.


    The creature''s body rolled, taking Eian with it as it attempted to dislodge him, Eian squeezed the neck, which felt as thick and tough as lumber.


    But too much time had passed and he could feel the explosive power dwindling, his thoughts felt slow and his limbs were trembling.


    Once more he guided what remained of his spirit to his core, this attempt was severely more complex, his earth energy slipped his grasp a few times.


    On his third attempt he met success, the energetic explosion much more subdued, but it worked, and he felt it reinvigorate him.


    Gritting his teeth, he felt his face, back and chest soaked full of sweat as he squeezed, he felt the veins on his forehead throb, his back and arms tremble from strain.


    Eian blocked out sound, even the monsters thrashing movements as it clawed and choked, nothing mattered but the squeeze.


    ...


    He became acutely aware of someone speaking his name distantly, he was unarmored and he felt dainty arms pull at him.


    Desperate eyes, panicking eyes, watched him, he felt something change, his breathing became easier and he tried to speak, mumbling incoherently.


    He felt tired, he figured he could rest, someone was clearly next to him and so he could take a break, he could always think later.


    He let his head sag and drifted off to a turbulent sleep.

 Alternate 18

    Hot, that or boiling alive were adequate words Eian felt described his situation, his waking mind didn''t register the passage of time, he couldn''t understand what was happening at first.


    All he understood was misery, he could hear disjointed mumbling, women or men, maybe both, but there was more than one, that he knew.


    Faces would stare at him, but in his state he understood nothing, his mind did not interpret the visual information, almost like seeing sounds, nonsensical.


    While not agonizing, he felt hot one minute and then freezing another, he was also sweating rivers, which made him want to bathe in boiling water.


    Finally, he clicked, a fever burned within his veins, a strong one.


    "I think he woke up." A familiar voice registered, Eian tried to place it, failing.


    Still uncomfortably cold, Eian rubbed his arms for warmth, taking in his surroundings to figure out answers.


    "Eian, are you alright?" Susan''s voice made him turn his head in her direction.


    She stared at him, worry marring her otherwise fair features, the thought made him blink in recoil and realize he was definitely dying.


    "What happened?" Eian took in everything around.


    "I would like to know more on that also." The familiar voice answered, a man.


    Turning Eian realized the speaker was the previous ''policeman'' with whom he had a brief conversation, along with half a dozen similarly dressed men, all armed.


    He looked around noticing he was on a bench covered in a layer of cushion, there was also a wide variety of people staring at him.


    Eian started to get up, shocked and worried they were captured, he wasn''t sure how he would fare against heavy fire while weakened.


    Susan placed her palm on his shoulder, shaking her head and motioning for him to relax before explaining.


    "Without the car, I couldn''t take you back, this was the closest place I knew of with people." Susan gently made him lay back down.


    "Why didn''t you just heal me? I''m fine." Eian frowned, she trusted too easily.


    "No no, you were poisoned. Saw that big lizard outside. George n'' I let you both in," The policeman''s partner interjected before Susan answered.


    "Who are you anyway?" Eian was getting annoyed at his snark.


    "Yes, you''re rude. Not even a thanks." The second officer pointed to the two large doors.


    "Fine, thank-you." Eian sighed, rubbing his aching head.


    Susan remained silent, but she alternated between watching him and the ''officers''.


    "You didn''t answer my question though. A quick healing would have been for the best." Eian looked at Susan, keeping his tone as subdued as possible.


    "...It wasn''t working." Susan looked away from him to the floor.


    "Wash his mouth," Another elderly lady voiced in.


    "What do you mean it wasn''t working?" Eian ignored the lady but tried to lower his voice further.


    "Wasn''t working means it wasn''t working! What do you want me to say?" Susan growled, to which several ''officers'' chuckled.


    "Are you sure?" Eian asked delicately, he couldn''t help but lift an eyebrow.


    "Yes. I''m. Sure. You got a fever, and everything I tried wasn''t fixing you to better shape." Susan explained, her arms crossed and face surly.


    Food for thought, Eian wondered if that was normal, he didn''t recall ever getting poisoned, but he was almost sure Alex mentioned something about it, didn''t he? His time in the dream was a bit blurry now.


    "Excuse me, since you''ve nothing else to discuss, mind filling us in? We let you in, but we don''t feel too comfortable leaving in the dark." The man interrupted his thoughts.


    ******


    The policeman in uniform Eian met before introduced himself as George Bakers, his fellow officer whom Eian assumed was his partner introduced himself as Christopher Allen.


    The second officer, Christopher, was fit, but in a more lean way, and he still had a bit of baby fat on his cheeks, also Eian was eye-level with him.


    Eian was flanked by two officers, they were not being aggressive, but they expressed concern for the motivations of Eian and Susan.


    They refused to not have Eian answer his questions, quoting that they had to know if Susan''s story and his coincided, and when it did they visibly relaxed.


    After answering their questions the rest of the policemen scattered and intermingled within the band.


    This group of survivors was much larger than Eian had first anticipated the policemen had been helping locals get out towards Los Angeles safely, providing aid and rescuing the injured or incapacitated as well as attempting to reunite several children to their parents.


    As a result, the officers had elderly and underaged minors to take care of, the minors were a mixed bunch some excitable and playing with magic, others sullen and silent.


    Going by how the group also had a few complete families, all whom for one reason or another had been unwilling to brave leaving for safer pastures, Eian figured these children''s parents were either lost, effectively leaving them as orphans, whether literal or not.


    Feeding and even dealing with these children was already something Eian could envision as a problem for years, a child needs parental support to develop proper values.


    Eian could only imagine, all his life he had no father true, and that caused problems early on, but these children had neither mother nor father.


    Personally, Eian was impressed, despite all the problems the group was trying, each child was assigned a ''nanny'', usually one of the elderly.


    They also had medical specialists, two doctors, and three nurses, they were obviously overused, seeming a tired crew of specialists.


    They were rescued from the local hospitals and medical certain, furthermore, the original number was higher, but the other medical staff left in a big convoy headed to L.A before the communication went down.


    In all, the officers were helping people until communication was interrupted after they lost contact they had no way of knowing what was happening outside.


    As expected Eian noted most of the officers, in particular, were bulky and carried themselves with an air of professionalism despite their dire state, he even saw one light a cigarette with a finger, these people were at least aware of the three magic.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Strangely the priest of the church was within the group, and currently giving a sermon, he kept most of his teaching toned down for an audience of other faiths, but people listened, likely because there was no other form of entertainment.


    Perhaps Eian was being too cynical, he had a healthy respect for religion, but he never liked going as a boy, even if his mother dragged him, it always seemed like a lousy way to spend half your weekend.


    Religion wasn''t something he put much thought on, sure he always figured someone out there was watching, if only to not have to think on the fact that there wasn''t, a much more depressing thought.


    Now, the thought made him wonder what was actually out there, was this all the plan of some greater being? Or were the ''gods'' Ul served the only true forces along with them, if so what of the afterlife? And all the other questions faiths endlessly debate upon.


    Religious thoughts aside, there were a few problems that came along with such a group, prominent among those was food, a question Eian asked Officer Allen, and his response made Eian blink twice.


    "We starting eating the deer, figured they were already attacking us, so once we killed them...well one thing led to another and there we go." Officer George gave him a genuine laugh.


    "You''re not afraid its ...uh harmful? Those ''things'' aren''t normal anymore." Eian wondered what strange effects magic and mutation would have on animals.


    "Don''t say? The size might have clued us in." George smirked at him.


    Eian''s humor died and he frowned at him, deadpanned, the meat could be poisonous, and much like the gigantic four-limbed-snake that bit him, who knew what magic did to mutants, and what properties they gained.


    "Are you...glaring at me?" Raising an eyebrow down at Eian, George was playing with a half-smile on his face.


    "I don''t see how feeding children something ''dangerous'' is funny," Eian answered seriously.


    "...Lay off son, I tested it first myself. Ourselves." The officer corrected himself before he snorted, killing off his humor.


    "I still don''t see the need. It hasn''t been that long." Eian insisted, even he could still find food everywhere.


    The first officer, George, was clearly losing patience, he gestured at everyone currently as the only priest addressed them.


    "Good food''s hard looking, try feeding all of them. Seems like everyone and their grandmothers are scrambling for stock. We are hard-pressed to haul in enough, not enough men, not anymore." The officer''s face saddened slightly at that remark.


    That statement seemed to imply a lot, but Eian had no way of knowing what happened, perhaps a few officers died? That seemed the most likely.


    The conversation fell dead there, George seemed tired as he listened to the priest go on and on about faith and hope, as well as the tests of the creator.


    Susan was off speaking with a few people, hopefully collecting information, or improving her healing techniques, in which case Eian would jump for joy.


    Instead, he looked on as she healed a few injured, as well as enter into a conversation with both a doctor and patient simultaneously.


    Susan had insisted they stay some time, which dampened Eians enthusiasm, but it made sense as he still felt a bit shaky around the edges.


    As she attended to the aches and pains of a few people which began to herd her towards the doctors, Eian watched them ask questions and nod, Eian did note that they weren''t surprised about supernatural powers.


    Eian wasn''t sure if everyone worldwide had undergone the dream, but it seemed likely, even here among scattered survivors he noticed many among them being physically fit, few people were overweight.


    Even the officers were giving her a friendly reception, it was strange how well received Susan was, they had to have at least one healer in this large gathering.


    Eian had a pressing concern, he wanted to know if any type of rescue or plan was coming in from the government.


    "So... what''s the plan?" Eian asked the officer.


    "Hmmm? Plan?" George turned to look at him with confusion, distracted.


    "You know...the ''big'' rescue. The government has to be dong something." Eian threw it out there.


    "Don''t say? Don''t know to be honest. Too busy helping people on the ground, I... Sure, the bigwigs were telling us the big cities were the place to be, but after that? Zap, zero, radio went down too quick." George sighed and leaned back on the chair.


    The priest finally came to an end with his sermon, to which Eian let out a breath of relief.


    "Yes Aye. Are you absolutely sure you want to leave? We could use a few extra hands. Your girl especially." The other officer, Christopher, briefly looked and nodded at Susan.


    "She is not my ''girl'', and I told you, we still have to help the captives." Eian implied an accusation in his tone, he had already asked for their help.


    "Been through this son, we aren''t going to help you on your word alone. Besides these families need our help. Hands tied kid," Officer George replied with a sigh.


    ''Cops.'' Eian scoffed at the thought, they were supposed to help people, people were in danger of dying and they refused to help even slightly.


    Exiting the church took some time as he still felt a bit unwell, but in the end, Eian was relieved to find his paranoia unwarranted.


    He had been skeptical, but that and the fact they let them leave was what finally convinced him they at least weren''t dangerous and likely officer in true.


    The people who were around also seemed in good condition, although their morale seemed down the gutter, a few children had been crying, and families sequestered themselves in their own circles.


    The officer, on the other hand, seemed worn down, tired from their constant watch, bags under their eyes and a few were twitchy, jumping at almost anything.


    "Swing by anytime Miss, your welcome to stay if you get tired of grumpy." Christopher waved at Susan with a good-natured smile


    "Thanks, he grows on you." Susan returned the smile, nodded, laughed.


    The officers'' group were at least generous enough to drag and fix the damaged wheel of their car, the gigantic snake-thing was also loaded into the back, the tail and head were spilling out.


    The group inside the church did take the deer meat though, which left Eian feeling sour, he earned those kills, Susan had offered it to the group since ''they needed it more''.


    Biding a lackluster farewell Susan waved at them as they sped off, the drive would be quick, though Eian worried about the serpentine-cadaver in the back.


    It was getting a bit dark, and Eian noticed the end of the day was approaching.


    "They seemed nice," Susan stated casually.


    "To you. How long was I out for?" Eian watched as the day began to wane.


    "A few hours, try not to die on me Eian. I can''t bring you back if you die." Susan replied simply, unamused.


    "...I didn''t expect to be poisoned." Eian replied.


    "Even if it wasn''t the doctor said you''re lucky you aren''t infected. Animal teeth have tons of bacteria." Susan looked at him quickly.


    "Well, can''t just heal that?" Eian asked.


    "I don''t know. Eian, WE don''t know. If not for the doctor..." Susan stopped the car.


    "Why are you stopping?" Eian turned to face her fully, feeling a bit uncomfortable at her use of his name.


    "Listen, I know you''re a lot stronger than me. I do, but you''re still human. You''re not made of metal. WE don''t know what we ''can'', or can''t do yet. Be more careful." Susan lectured.


    "Yeah, we don''t know so we have to learn. Either way, it''s not like I want to die." Eian shrugged it off.


    "I''m serious here. I almost thought you were dead." Susan said quietly.


    She drove the rest of the way in silence, while he reflected on her words, he may have been too overconfident.


    ''I still need to get stronger,'' Eian said to himself, it felt like the world was holding him back, he couldn''t do anything to save the people he wanted to help.

 Alternate 19

    Pride was Eian''s mistake, accepting help was the most pragmatic solution, he needed validation, proof that he was on the right path, and the price he paid was the likelihood of lagging behind somewhat.


    The blatant truth was: Eian had no idea how strong he was compared to others, he had been injured by a giant lizard of all things, and if he hadn''t killed it he could have gotten Susan killed, furthermore if she hadn''t been there he would likely be dead from its venom.


    He tossed and turned all night chewing on that, he made up his mind, pooling information was obvious, he hadn''t learned everything yet and help was right here.


    With a group the size of theirs with people who each seemed moderately capable, there were bound to be people with helpful insights for him, at least he hoped so.


    While within the dream each of his teammates, Alex, Sarah and yes even Jessica, went down a different path of self-improvement, leaving him with little second-hand opinions.


    He left before his mother rose for the day, it was still pre-dawn, Eian was thankful his body functioned optimally on reduced sleep, he went to find the person whom likely knew the most about magic here: Russel, a quick conversation led to questions.


    Finding him was easy, he was always obsessing over the map, Ezrael was at the scene hovering over the corner while Aaron along with a woman Eian minimally recognized, he didn''t know her name.


    "Hey Russ, bro can I talk to you for a minute?" Eian waited by the door as Aaron did a little wave.


    "Hm? Of course." He stayed watching over the map for a few long seconds.


    "I mean, uh...like it''s about a power problem. I, uhhh...need some help. " Eian started.


    "Power? Type?" Russel looked at him, finally focusing his full attention on him.


    Eian pointed at him forearm "These."


    "Ah, Ron you and Marg keep an eye on Ezreal if you would be so kind?" Russel got up, stretching slowly while motioning for Eian to follow.


    Some discomfort eased, he had always felt weird asking for help, and thankfully his friend knew him well enough. Russel was quiet and introspective as they ascended to the ceiling where they had a clear view of the pre-dawn stars, only a short walk and thin fence of metal wire separated them from a great drop to the street below.


    For his part, Russel rubbed his chin delicately while observing him. "I have taken to teach Ed recently."


    Eian blinked, he thought Russel had been too busy to train people, also Eian hadn''t had much contact with Ed. "...I just want some advice or an idea of what else I can do."


    "Allow me to clarify. E, you and Susan can join us." Russel explained, gave him a patient smile, a small part of Eian wondered how he memorized everyone''s names.


    He couldn''t help but stare. "..."


    Russel nodded slightly before continuing. "It''ll be educational for both of us, compiling and contrasting information is a vital priority, additionally in a group of four we can tackle larger threats."


    "I''m not sure that''s a good idea...Ed''s uhh..." Eian shook his head.


    Russel folded his arms and nodded. "I know he is angry, and you are angry. I understand E. Realize, you dug into this one though. You made the choice to call him. Nothing good has ever come from his crooked employers. Their ilk has a tendency to tie off loose ends." Russel was referring to his call to Edward.


    "The hell Russ? I didn''t think Ed would bring that crazy bastard!" Eian though Russel was shrugging off how careless Ed had been.


    It was true, when the man died back in their apartment Eian didn''t know what to do, but the last thing he expected was for Ed to bring that black-suited bastard Jacob, he wasn''t Sarah who always knew the next step and that cost Martin his life in the subsequent escape, which he also bulled into. Now that he began to think Eian realized he could have done everything in a much different manner.


    "It''s irrelevant E. Their view of us ks quite apparent, an obstacle." Russel lifted both hands in a truce, seeming to bear a great burden unto himself.


    Eian closed his eyes and took a moment to calm down, returning to his previous train of thought. "Do you know something that can help or not."


    "Absolutely E, nevertheless, I need to see you live in action, a demonstration on our respective talents would surely enlighten us both. But you know, Ed..." He left the implication there.


    "Fine," Eian sighed, if he had to put up with Ed for a day of learning, he would.


    Eian watched as Russel nodded while processing his answer, reflecting on the stark difference between the once under-average-build, far-sighted guy he had been before he left for college.


    It felt other-worldly standing here talking about things that were fantasy up till not long ago, it was insane.


    When Eian was along, or with complete strangers it was fine, he could just play along, but seeing his friend become something else as well felt surreal.


    For once Eian thought on his choices, he was coping with problems right now, but before he didn''t know what to do, that landed him here.


    "Welcome to the team, E. Well officially." Russel stretched out his hand, looked at him with a smirk playing on his face.


    Resisting to roll his eyes, Eian smiled slightly. "Quit being so dramatic."


    "In actuality, I have a little surprise prepared for you." Russel''s smile became genuine.


    "Hmm?" That raised his eyebrows a tinge, he wasn''t expecting the sudden change in topic.


    With pronounced emphasis Russel dug around his pants-pockets, emptying them out, before checking his shirt pocket.


    Then without much ceremony, he chucked a small trinket at him, mouthing ''catch'' before tossing it at him like a coin to a beggar.


    Upon inspection Eian realized it was an uncut murky stone of some sort, similar to olive jade, roughly an uneven square with the edges rounded off, metal bands were wrapped around the stone with a loop and thin cord holding it.


    It reminded Eian of those crazy people who used stones to purge negative energies, or whatever, though now... maybe?


    "The hell''s this bro?" Eian asked as Russel eyed him with a speculative glance.


    "It belongs to you, finders rights. A small fortune in a small package, likely worth its weight in gold, lucky you." Russel''s smile grew. "It works as a spare well. You know what those are right?"


    Remembering, Eian inspected the raw stone with renewed focus. "Like...the ones in the dream? Those that gave you extra spirit energy, that right?"


    "Ah, so you are aware...indeed, functionally they act as a weak battery for spiritual energy. A reserve for difficult situations." Russel was nodding, Eian could see he was a bit disappointed at not showing off.


    Eian inspected it, remembering the ring they had gotten in the dream, he remembered using the ring at least once.


    "How- no wait, where''d you even get this?" Eian imagined their uses while trying to figure out what Russel meant by finders rights.


    "Any thoughts?" A single amused chuckle came after, for a moment it reminded Eian of a much simpler time.


    Eian shook his head, dispelling his nostalgia, but also as a statement that he had no idea where such wells came from, the one in the dream was found on a crushed skeleton.


    His friend, however, nodded as though he knew this already. "Remember that bull-boar monster you brought back? We found a cavity within its chest. Lodged inside was that."


    He took some time, staring surprised straight at his face. "Don''t fuck around. Really?" Looking for any indication of a lie, when he got none he wondered if all monsters had them.


    "My word on it, E. Struck gold there." Russel''s expression remained genuine.


    Linking himself to the item was as easy as he recalled, he sent a tiny sliver of his spirit and a few minutes the well was linked.


    "Hey so..." Eian began questioning him on the nature of such wells.


    A few questions more and Eian learned, that not all monsters had these stones, no pun intended, not even the giant snake-thing Eian brought back, though they did a search.


    His friend expressed more than a little bit of frustration on that regard, these power sources had the potential to be the greatest breakthrough in the science of magic, but the scarcity made them unviable.


    As Eian asked his final question the roles reversed and then in return asked Eian a few on-point questions regarding his power progression.


    Everything from his fighting style to his techniques to the levels of each of his tatts, Eian felt it was a bit invasive, but it didn''t stay the same always so in a year or two it wouldn''t matter.


    "Excellent E, direct your effort into Mind option as a follow-up," Russel interjected as he finishing asking Eian for a detailed report on his powers and his progress.


    "Why?" Eian asked, he was eager to do Body or Spirit next, there was something uniquely tantalizing of achieving his first ten.


    "Largely as a precaution. A firm defense to PSI is beneficial. Trust me. I have an idea in ''mind''." Russel patted temple, trying to be witty.


    Eian gave it some thought, wondering if he even had enough time, they were to do the rescue soon, at least he hoped it was soon.


    "Actually, I''ll feel a lot safer taking bullets if I get Spirit or Body up to ten also. Maybe both" Eian reasoned.


    Russel shook his head. "I understand, but my plan will maximize your beneficial gains."


    "Right and what''s that?" Eian waited for him to explain, Russel tried being evasive, but Eian wanted to know everything about the decision if he was going to veer from his mentors allocated path.


    They went back and forth in a friendly argument, but Eian wouldn''t budge, increments were difficult, and finally despite Russel playing hardball, Eian managed to have him gave in, though with some reluctance.


    "The plan is to have you bind an armor piece," Russel answered, at last, a touch of disappointment crossed his face briefly.


    "Bind? You mean like with this?" Eian showed Russel the olive-stone.


    "Similar, but in actuality, binding an item with Internal and Psyonic energies connects the object as a pseudo-extension of yourself," Russel explained.


    "Right...that doesn''t sound better than just wearing it." Eian shrugged not seeing the point, he was using so many big words it was a bit difficult to follow.


    To that, Russel smiled "The traits are the gold highlights here. The connection between you bolsters the utility of the object."


    "Bro, explain."Eian crossed his arms, waiting for more, that was not specific nor at all helpful.


    Instead of actually sighing Russ bowed his head in disappointment and said it instead, "Sigh... E. In ''theory'', an item enchanted to be ''fire-resistant'', this is ''in theory'' you understand? We lack resources and understanding to create ''those'' items. Binding such an item will still provide you with some benefit, but your specific case should be inverted, some of your physical resistance will improve the armor. In addition, due to the connection between you, you can bypass normal restrictions and empower the object with your Qi. So long as you hold it."


    That, on the other hand, was something he could very much picture as being useful, but he still wasn''t sure they had enough time, once he completed his next upgrade he would be at twenty-three total.


    For now, he was stuck at Body:9, Mind: 4 and Spirit: 9. A grand total of twenty-two.


    "What ''theory''?" Eian frowned, he wondered where he could find such an item.


    "From what I have gathered, a specific item can impart a trait to your body, however, our meager available skills cannot create those items of even low quality. As Ed would put it, we got TLI, too little info." Russel explained in his fancy speech.


    "School''s only made you worse." Eian was regretting his decision a bit, Russel was really beginning to give him a headache.


    Russel ignored his comment and continued, "....Amanda likely has your armor prepared by now. Testing it out now would be ideal, for adjustments later." , as he finished Russel motioned him to follow.


    ******


    When he got to the forges he was surprised by the changes, last he saw this place had been a turned over garbage heap.


    It still was, but now people bustled in and out, but instead of trash there was none, but the discarded metal parts from than before were larger and simply piled in a heap by the door.


    Where Amanda was here alone last time, now there were no less than eight people, and it was still early in the morning, the sun had yet to rise.


    As for Amanda, the woman wearing clothing from head to toe was missing, instead, there was another woman giving orders to the other lackeys.


    "Am! Eian''s plate if you would be so kind." Russel spoke to a woman Eian did not immediately recognize.


    Eian watched Amanda working face first into a blazing furnace, for some reason she was showing her face now, her overcoat replaced with a black tank top, although her legs were still covered in thick garments, while those insufferable boots covered her feet.


    She was nothing special, not pretty nor beautiful, she had a pointy nose with brown hair, bags under her eyes, other than that her skin was pale as though it had never seen the light of day.


    Overall, she looked like she would fit in a crowd easily, her features somewhat reminded him of a certain type of persecuted people from before, but he couldn''t put his finger on it.


    As soon as Russel spoke her tired eyes drifted lethargically to rest on them, then sighing she walked towards another woman.


    "Kristal, get the one for Elisa''s son, please," Amanda commanded.


    The attention shocked them both, he had completely forgotten her, he felt a bit weird as the redhead''s attention came fully upon him.


    She stared at him for a while before nodding at Amanda, "Sure thing Am." Kristal disappeared past some shelves, giving Eian a quick smile as she hurried off.


    Eian watched Kristal go with a bit of curiosity, noting mentally the workshop was where she had snuck off to. He barely had time for his mother these days, thus people like Ezrael and Kristal sort of were put at the back of his mind and forgotten.


    "So, the crazy bastard himself shows himself at last." Amanda walked forward towards him, looking tired every step of the way.


    Russel got between him and Amanda. "E has been occupied Am. Spare him kindly."


    "Aha, busy much? or just too busy to show up for a quick size up? We had to roughly estimate it, an estimate second hand from your mom, you better fit, got it?" Amanda said huffing irritably after a quick compliment from Russel.


    That caught Eian''s attention, as he hadn''t been informed. "How long have you been making this?"


    "Only since you first asked for it. Bruce needed his first, but Russel''s was a close second." Amanda clarified with a sharp glare in Russel''s direction.


    "You have one? Why aren''t you wearing it?" Eian looked at Russel questioning him.


    Russel snorted, "Logically? Outside is at a hundred degrees, in addition to the complications sprouting up here? No time to leave E, I have not had use for it, yet."


    Kristal took that time to arrive hefting a large unwieldy breastplate with some strain before Eian could go one of the other workers helped her to bring it.


    She smiled lightly, but face quickly changed to something more serious, "Hurry up and stop fighting with Miss El. Family infighting is terrible." Kristal chided him lightly, she quickly got back to doing something or the other.


    Eian narrowed his eyes at her as she went back to her business, his problems were none of her concern, she best butt out of it, while he appreciated the fact his mother had a friend, but she was a complete stranger to him still.


    Perhaps sensing the fouling on his mood Russel spoke. "Don it E." Gesturing wildly at the armor.


    Watching the armor Eian was not enthused, it wasn''t pretty since the coloration was a wild splatter of metallic sheens, an unpredictable pattern of blacks, greys, and silver.


    It had shoulder plates interlocking loosely and tied to the rest of the armor plate, those seemed mostly even, though Eian kept feeling something was off about them, in his opinion, it may hinder him from fully lifting his hands above his head.


    A neck extension protected the lower jaw and the back of the neck, favoring the sawed-off upper-half of a bucket which was then welded unto the plate armor.


    There were small plates sloping downwards away from the groin and buttocks area, like a tiny mini-skirt, which seemed would provide some protection there, while allowing his legs freedom.


    In all, not anything resembling a normal uniform breastplate from a movie, in most places, it looked as if an amateur repeatedly molded the piece with both hands.


    It was worth a mention that, save for the attached shoulders, the whole thing was: one-big-stiff-solid piece, the comparison made him chuckle, but Eian wasn''t sure how restrictive it would be, it was far larger than what he would have expected and likely spacious inside.


    "It looks a bit uhhh....it looks like it''ll just hang off me loosely." Eian looked at the giant piece of armor, trying to not say how ridiculous he felt he would look.


    Amanda snorted and muttered something about ingratitude.


    "E, never wore a tux? Appearances are deceiving." Russel looked at Eian smiling slightly.


    Amanda kept muttering angrily until she raised her voice higher to be heard. "You have to wear padding under it, you uurgg..., without padding it''ll chaff you."


    He almost took a step back from sheer surprise at her tone, "Oh. Right sorry." Eian took a second look at the armor, perhaps with padding, it would fit.


    He was a bit concerned by the lack of head protection, however, and while Eian felt uncomfortable asking possibly-offensive questions to an irritable Amanda over her work, in the end, it was he who was going to wear it and fight in it.


    "What about my head?" Eian tapped the neck-protection, making sure to try to stay neutral, a bullet through his brain, like poor Martin, sounded like a tragic way to go.


    Clearly, she was annoyed at his many questions, Amanda sighed. "We have an attachable one, the problem is visibility, if we welded it on, you would only be able to see forward."


    "Right. Can I see it?" Eian wanted to see the helmet, plus he wasn''t sure why they didn''t just make the helmet separate.


    "Sure thing, we made that thicker than the rest of the whole thing, same thing for the shoulders." Amanda gave a quick order for the helmet to a nameless worker.


    Again, he wondered why they didn''t just make a regular helmet, instead, integrating the bottom part unto the breastplate.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Why this?" Eian pointed at the neck and jaw protection, he still thought it favored the upper portion of a bucket.


    At his question Amanda narrowed her eyes with a pout, clearly taking offense, instead of answering she looked to Russel exasperated.


    "E, you can only bind one solid piece. The upper half of the helmet won''t be bound, nor the shoulder plates. She had to make them thicker to compensate." Russel explained looking a bit embarrassed, Eian was a bit cross, he could have simply explained it earlier.


    Now Eian sort of felt like a jerk, not that he felt it was his fault since he knew nothing about this whole process, Russel literally just dumped the whole thing on him out of nowhere.


    "We''re trying to figure out if we can make the different interlocking plates be bound as a single piece, but so far testing with neither Bruce nor Russ are producing leads," Amanda explained further.


    "That innovation would permit us to bind a whole interlocking set of armor, nevertheless, it seems unlikely." Russel shook his head sadly.


    Eian looked at the armor as the worker came with a more conventional helmet, it fit into the bucket-like neck-portion of the armor with room to spare, fitting like a small bowl fitting into a much larger one.


    "Moment of truth. Padding time." Amanda clapped once and rubbed her hands, a hint of an amused smile popping out.


    If Eian could groan, sigh and shake his head in defeat, he would, he was sure he would look ridiculous. Why couldn''t he get the armor suit he wore in the dream?


    ******


    He was right, Eian hated the armor, and the padding, and the absurd belts and buckles which made it remain rigidly in place, thankfully the armor fit.


    The absolute worst part was how it made him look, and feel as he walked past a crowd of confused people, it felt like going to prom night in a clown costume.


    Though that was an exaggeration, while the armor itself had been uneven Amanda and Russel draped a white cloth over it, covering some imperfections and preserving some of his dignity.


    Russel had congratulated him, to which Eian was sorely tempted to knock a few teeth loose, he was mollified when his friend chose to join him in humiliation by donning his own armor, while Amanda had smiled and demanded gratitude.


    They were heading outside to the transport, their preparations completed, and the start of their training would commence.


    "Iron man? or that tin-man from wizard of oz?" Susan smiled at him.


    "Shut up." Eian was testy, his voice bouncing weirdly inside the tin can of his helmet.


    "Wooo, someone''s touchy." Susan''s voice was playful, and he could almost imagine her wagging her finger at him painfully.


    The armor was heavy, but not so much so that he would be incapable of running, the worst part was the heat and the neverending need to drink more water.


    Luckily for him, even with the padding the armor was easily removed with a bit of help, putting it back on was another matter altogether, but it seemed Amanda, or more likely someone else, had enough sense to facilitate the ability to toss it off in a fit of rage.


    For the first five minutes Eian kept fighting the urge to throw the damn thing off, instead, he suffered through it, but he did remove the helmet since he was guzzling copious amounts of water.


    Russel declared it a success and asked him to take it with him on the hunting trip to acclimate himself to it, so far he was hating every second.


    Susan was teasing him since she saw him this morning, her wide-eyed expression soon shifted as she almost burst out laughing, Eian could see she was still tempted as she was giggling in his direction from time to time.


    Feeling oddly constricted Eian walked alongside three others: Russel, Susan, and weirdly Edward, Eian felt awkward with Ed, he had been evading any contact.


    Surprisingly Edward remained mostly the same over the last week, though some of his fat had vanished, he had to be working on things other than Body enhancements, Russel assured him he had grown.


    Susan also had put muscles in her thighs and her arms were lean, mostly she was a healer and sometimes Eian wondered why Russel wanted her to go Body and Spirit.


    He still wondered how Russel bloody talked him into this, with the ''apparent logic'' they all had to learn from each other and a few gifts.


    Another rather unwelcome surprise was that Edward was carrying around a loaded handgun, a regular 9mm Glock by the looks of it, he also wore a hunting jacket and a hefty fire-ax slung on his shoulder.


    Eian pointed at the gun, it didn''t make sense: a gun would either scare everything or make something really big come their way.


    Edward looked at him with a dead-panned frown, he shook his head at him, choosing rather ignore him than speak, Eian was fine with that.


    "Enough of that." Russel clapped the door side meatily with one hand, gathering their attention.


    A spell enveloped them as they entered the vehicle, completely sealing their lips shut, so much so, that they could discernably catch the sound of apartments.


    "So...what are we doing today again?" Susan asked, she was in the driver''s seat and starting the engine.


    Russel was flipping through his ledger. "Training. To the forest, if you would. I have multiple objectives on the agenda." His voice was distracted.


    Driving off everyone was silent save for the sound off Russel''s flipping pages and his nonsensical self-rambling.


    "Awwwk~ward." Susan mentioned, Eian shook his head and looked out the window.


    "Bitter rivals, just waiting till the other dies, to spit on their grave." Russel intoned with sarcasm.


    "Com''n ma nigga, lay off." Ed sighed, turning to look out the window, but opposite direction.


    "Hmm, simply refrain from conflict, both of you, kindly." Russel added, otherwise nonpulsed at what others may regard ''racist'' remark, but friends had a longstanding free pass.


    Eian found it unfair Russel included him into his statement, he hadn''t done anything!


    "I ain''t done nothin'', chill," Edward mumbled.


    "Nothing is also part of THE problem, conflicts should be resolved, however, this is unfortunate timing." Russel shot back.


    "Fuck off dude, we''re chill IF, we get ''em back." Edward closed the topic.


    "Fine." Russel sighed, once more flipping pages, pulling a pen and scribbling notes.


    Russel had previously told Eian they would begin in three days, everyone was on edge, and he realized Ed was mumbling to himself in silent decibels constantly.


    "So. How comes all of us are going out today?" Susan aimed her question at Russel.


    "You want the list? I need to know each of our strengths. I also aim to provide us a good learning opportunity." Russel said.


    susan pointed at Eian."Him? What about me and the other guy?" Susan finished by pointing at herself and Ed.


    "You''re the medic. Although Ed is far behind Eian and I, in physical strength, he is capable of proper support." Russel added, confusing Eian as he watched Ed was still skinny.


    Edward sputtered at the statement, interrupting his mid-mutter, then his muttering began again, ignoring them all.


    "Oh? So, you''re stronger than Eian?" Susan briefly looked at both men at the back through the rear mirror.


    Russel temporarily stopped scribbling, after a brief thought he explained. "Strenght, as you put it, is a complex equation to accurately take into account. Eian and I both have similar attribute totals, but we focus on very different fighting styles. Eian fights defensively and up close, while I prefer an explosive offense from a small distance."


    "You''re no fun." Susan giggled playfully, Eian wondered if she was taking this seriously enough.


    "I prefer to not look a fool." Russel nodded, as though he were serious, but the hint of a smile was crossed his otherwise tired features.


    A few minutes later, with nothing in between but small talk, Ed''s muted mutterings, and the occasional rampaging animal, they were at the forest line, the road ahead was littered with cracks, and the grass was waist high.


    "Attention. Susan, Ed, E, if I tell you to cover your ears, oblige me if you would all be so kind." Russel explained as he closed the door while exiting the vehicle.


    Their reactions were each different, Susan remained silent and paid attention, while Eian asked ''why'', Ed complained about a ''last time'' with a curse.


    "I have a sonic attack E, disorients enemies, especially if they have good ears," Russel explained.


    That was weird, interesting, but weird. "How''s it work?" Eian asked.


    "You''ll see, I want to teach you, now let''s hunt some game." Russel started to leave the vehicle.


    "Right. Which way?" Eian followed him out gazing into the dense forest which was previously a conservational wildlife reserve.


    Russel clapped him lightly on the back, "Locate movement with that Earth-sense, then relay me the details."


    "Right..." Eian got to work, he was a bit surprised Russel wasn''t showing his supposed ''Farsight''.


    He scanned the mountain, it was covered in green overgrown vegetation, and several areas instantly caught his attention, he relayed that to Russel.


    "Details and direction, if you would," Russel asked politely.


    Eian pointed and gave a rough estimate, Russel closed his eyes grew silent and Eian waited.


    "Hmm...that direction. Wow, wild pigs." Russel whistled in appreciation.


    "You can see them?" Susan asked with a touch of skepticism, Eian mirrored that somewhat.


    "Far-Sight. Keep up." Russel waved them forward.


    They ran a short mile, despite Russel and himself wearing armor, Ed and Susan were the worst off, but neither was breathing overly heavy.


    Eian caught sight of the boars speeding at them with thunderous steps and squeals, tusks forward and menacing, the boars thick and bulky, their speed unnatural.


    The swine squealed in rage, or perhaps howl, Eian didn''t know the difference, so he prepared himself


    "Ears!" Russel''s warning reach Eian late.


    His head rung and Eian fell to the floor, staggering around to regain balance, his ears were shot, after the confusion passed he figured he must not have covered them properly.


    The charging pigs were affected drastically more, their charging formation disintegrated into anarchy, and their bodies colling into each other, and soon all were thrashing on the ground, their squeals annoying.


    Edward was already rushing forward and chopping in with a hefty fire-ax, Russel urged them forward, the hunt was easy, well placed stabs upon disoriented opponents.


    The only pig to reoriented itself had too little time to do any harm, they descended unto it like an angry mob, with nothing but a beaten mess left behind.


    "Huh, easier than usual," Susan remarked, she had managed to get the warning in time.


    "Yeah, how''d you do it?" Eian found it useful to learn, if weird, but still annoyed at his previously ringing ears.


    "It''s a reinforced battle cry. Enhance your shouts with Chi. When attempting, well, reinforcing your ears does help, or it can knock you off your loop." Russel explained.


    Experimenting did not wait till the next battle, when he did, unfortunately, his first try left him disoriented.


    "Unfortunate, the vehicle is too distant. So much food, yet too little time." Russel looked at the cadavers.


    Eian and Russel could track wild animals in perfect sync, with Russel''s added intel they were ready for everything.


    The weirdest thing Eian saw was a crimson colored fox, it sat and stared at them from a distance when they got closer, it lit on fire and ran faster then they could reliably catch, leaving a smoldering trail in its wake.


    Then a small pack of savage wolf-coyotes appeared and they were busy, next they managed to locate a host of charging constrictor snakes, and even the occasional stray badger or hawk, most were larger than average, or brightly lit.


    "Why is everything so big?" Susan grumbled as they finished spearing a bird, it had flown down from above and attempted to spear Russel in the chest, the impact rang his chestplate.


    Eian and Edward found her turn of phrase amusing, while Russel was blabbering about bruising.


    When Russel calmed down he took a wild guess. "My opinion is animals natural instinct to associate size with hunting capacity. If you are smaller in comparison: you are prey. If you are equal: you classify under competition, and if you are larger: then you are considered a predator. That is all I can assume."


    He kept explaining his theory, but it didn''t hold a lot of weight in Eian''s opinion, plenty of weird monsters were around.


    Snakes with extra heads, an invisible bobcat which ambushed them out of nowhere, and Eian felt shudders each time he saw marble-sized insects converging on dead animals, he always dreaded ant bites, and those things had to pack a nasty bite.


    Edward kept swearing a trio of squirrels was following them from treetops, they toggled in and out of vision fashionably eerie, until Russel used farsight, they appeared from thin air and fled.


    They found a burrow of bloodthirsty hares with ninja-jumping skills, they were sturdy for their small frames, jumping at them like rabies-infested vermin.


    "Fuck those things." Ed spat at the floor.


    "You sound like him when he''s frustrated." Susan pointed at Eian, to which Edward shook his head irritably.


    Russel interjected. "Ed''s become more buster, both have an anger problem."


    "Two of you have it out for me or somethin''? Lay off." Edward kicked the hare and went silent.


    Eian shook his head, Russel often liked the sound of his own voice, though he had to admit he was good at explaining things.


    "Anger?" Susan looked at Eian, likely remembering Eian''s outburst at her, which had been completely justified given her attitude.


    "He mellowed out a bit, his facade may deceive you, but back in middle grade..." Russel began a whole story, Eian sighed he hated that one.


    Eian was beginning to think they were in it together, they wandered the forest searching for more prey as Russel regaled Susan of a time Eian gave a bully a black-eye in middle-school.


    Edward didn''t keep quiet this time. "Smacked ''im on his ass for bein'' racist. Story''s so old man."


    "Over there." Eian pointed, eager to escape Russel''s cliche storytelling.


    Russel stopped, frowned, focused, then ensued with a brief nod, "A white-tail herd, excellent."


    Then to his surprise, after epically slaying two white-tailed deer Eian unceremoniously got the option for a level up, his Mind was quickly upgraded to five, he was ready to bind his armor.


    "Tonight E, Qi binding''s a bit tricky." Russel patted his back, Eian disliked how often he kept doing that.


    "I wanted to get my Body to ten..." Eian looked at hit tattoo''s: Body stable at nine, Mind at glowing at four, and spirit at stable nine.


    "We won''t sleep tonight if we can help it E, but this could be the difference between you living and dying." Russel pointed out.


    "And me?" Edward perked up.


    "I''ll help you tomorrow," At Russel''s words Edward grunted his disapproval.


    Susan took this lull to point at the deer. "Jerky sounds good, are we taking these back?"


    "Regrettably no, let''s focus on food at a later date. We have enough rationed out for two days." Russel gave his head a slow shake.


    ******


    Carcass''s attracted predators, Edward noted this when Eian sensed movement in a location they had previously visited, Russel even described the beast to them, which made Ed''s imagination run all the wilder.


    Dusk was in, no way that would be helping his fraying nerves, there was something uniquely terrifying being in a dark place with potential monsters surrounding you, especially since he lacked supernatural abilities of detection like Eian and Russel.


    While the monstrosity that was a beast did still resemble its original counterpart if you could ignore the uncharacteristic a long mane trailing its spine like a blonde mohawk, as well as the four uncharacteristic elongated-fangs for teeth.


    Russel keeping the beast in focus as they went towards it, their target was snacking on the dead deer they had left behind not too long ago, the sound of tearing flesh vivid, but the animal quickly sensed them in the air, halting its feeding, Ed lost track as soon as Russel shouted a warning.


    The darkness prevented Ed from seeing clearly, everything was dulled, but the speed was not an issue, only the darkness, the dark blur caused Ed to swear as he heard the tearing wind, Ed nimbly retreated backward just as a large dark figure got between him and the charging animal in an instant.


    The collision sounded as heavy fleshy smack, that of flesh impacting and splattering on pavement, the blurred monster growled in pain, Ed''s mind releasing his fire-ax while quickly drawing out his firearm.


    Now Ed watched the atypical mountain lion mesmerized as the caveman inside him fed him spikes of adrenaline, he was trying to line a shot, but it faded into the background around them, weaving with the confidence of an apex predator.


    Another blur later, and his first shot missed, or at least he assumed it did, Susan screamed this time, but Ed caught the sound of the wind.


    "Ed, STOP! Ammo is worth gold!" Russel shouted through the air, Ed compromised by keeping his finger on the trigger, while aiming, and not shooting the distorted monster.


    Ed deduced Eian was inside the gigantic suit of stone-like armor, either that or he was basically screwed as bullets wouldn''t penetrate all that stone.


    The two fighters were suddenly deep into a grapple on the floor, then Ed caught Russel slashing the air with his blade, his attack was visibly a distortive line in the darkness, Ed didn''t catch sight if it hit.


    Russel ceased assistance, as Eian gained the advantage easily killing the injured beast, crushing it with fists like boulders, it died in crushed pulp, but the meaty crunch sent shivers into his spine, the sound unnatural.


    As he saw the monster Ed envied them, Russel and Eian both had amazing powers while he was stuck far-far behind, life blowed, especially since he likely wouldn''t help much in saving the girls.


    "We campin'' Russ?" Edward stared into the darkened sky.


    The night was already upon them, and he wasn''t sure how long Russel intended to say.


    "Idiot. Here? In the middle of a forest?" Susan turned and shook her head at him.


    "Hey, just sayin''. I got al'' night. ''D kill for some wings though." Ed patted his belly.


    "We aren''t sleeping if we can help it Ed. Eian wants to get ten in Body, and I agree the idea holds merit." Russel added.


    "That won''t be today dude, not at this rate," Eian added unhelpfully.


    "''Bout that. E hogged the last kill too." Ed pointed at the dead lion, but he also meant the previous encounter.


    Russel looked between him, and Eian. "He killed it, fair and square."


    "I know, but I could use a few too. Can we go back to deer-hunting? Fuck, the snakes were better than this fucker," Ed pointed at the saber-toothed mountain lion.


    One monster couldn''t be split fairly in Ed''s opinion, at least with multiple opponents Ed had a chance at getting kills, with one big monster Russel or Eian were likely to get the kill.


    "Hm, but perhaps bigger beasts are better. At our stage improvement borders tedious labor." Russel was staring in Eian''s direction.


    Edward threw up his arms on the brink of exasperation. "Fuck. Look, I''m all for Eian gettin'' more buff, but why bring me if I''m not gonna get nothin'' outta this" If they started hunting big monsters he wasn''t going to get any kills.


    So far, that had not been the case, but was annoying, between Russel and Eian''s dynamic duo, Ed wasn''t getting much in the way of kills, and that was an utter waste of his day.


    Eian was getting most of the kills with his ability to summon gigantic armor and crush things to death, while Russel could chop them from afar with distortive slashes of energy.


    The chick, Susan, wasn''t getting much either, but Ed didn''t think she would be doing much fighting against Richard''s men, she''d likely stay behind and heal any person to survive an injury.


    In the few mounting hours, Ed had only gotten one point, one, while Eian had also gotten one, the difference between them was staggering.


    Thus it stood to reason Eian was getting an almost unfair amount of kills, the point of the teams was to share, not so? At least to an agreeably fair ratio. The fact Russel was letting it slide was irritating, the mosquitos the size of roaches were also unsettling and adding to growing list of complaints, Ed might as well have gone with another team.


    "The hell? Not everything''s about you." Eian''s voice sounded weird, then his shell of rock collapsed to reveal him standing puffed up inside a metal suit.


    Anger mounting Ed snapped, "''S not ''bout you either."


    "The hell''s your problem?" Eian folded his arms, watching him with a stare.


    That was it. "My problem? My problem? MY FUCKING problem is THEY could be FUCKING DEAD by now dipshit! Instead, we''re here wanking off like fuckin'' monkeys! Look at you, ya fucking dressed like you''re gonna fight, yea? Five-hundred-fuckin''-years-ago." Ed realized he was shouting by the end, and his breath was uneven.


    Eian took a step back, face stunned momentarily, and while the other two remained silently stunned, Eian didn''t, not for long.


    "ME?! YOU got me into this shit Ed! How the hell, was I supposed to know what would happen!" Eian shouted back.


    Ed growled clenched both his fists to resist the animalistic, and irrational urge to threaten him with his weapon. The though spooked him momentarily, and left Ed was once more wondering: what Eian thought would happen? Richard''s men were killers, Jacob was a prime example, it''s obvious they would retaliate if Eian killed their men. If he had escaped without murdering them it would not have come to this! He and Russel could have come up with something else!


    "ENOUGH! We are in a BLOODY forest, SHUT IT." Russel interjected himself between them, pushing them apart.


    The chick, Susan, seemed frozen in time with wide-eyes, but Russel''s intervention broke the moment and Ed felt some angry drain away, feeling completely embarrassed, that in turn brought back some anger.


    "We will take to powering you heavily tomorrow." Russel reasoned, looking at Ed as heat rose to his cheeks.


    "Can''t we just fuckin'' split man? All my tatts ''re low." Ed argued mostly out of reflex, he hated how reasonable Russel was being, he wanted to rage and yell at Eian, he could almost imagine Russ being condescending.


    Still, Ed did hate having to split kills so many ways, when it was just two it was a lot faster for him to grow, points in Mind had boosted his dexterity and perception, which had improved his aim vastly, he could shoot a handgun at slightly over a hundred yards, of course, his speed at lining up shot at that range was still a bit of shit, but accuracy was there.


    "Too dangerous Ed." Russel shook his head at him.


    The last smoldering of fire went out, Ed sighed. "Fine, let''s grab some fuckin'' food. My belly''s growlin''."


    Trekking through the forest in search of kills he didn''t speak, neither did Eian, while Russel tried to bring up some conversation, it ultimately fell dead as only Susan responded and timidly.


    Ed looked up at the stars, hoping against all odds that the girls were still unhurt, he didn''t believe it fully, but if they were alive and unmaimed, at least there was some hope.


    He prayed all day, he was never religious, but way-way back, before life truly became shit, and his asshole father actually had a stable job, he remembered his mom taking him to church, and strangely he could recall the prayers of the Lord with more clarity than ever before.


    In the face of great adversity, after his mother passed, Ed hadn''t seen much point in prayer as it seemed God often abandoned you when needed him most, where was God when Ed had to drop out and well..... put food on the table, but now he''d rather throw himself at His feet for a chance to save them.


    Finishing yet another of his silent prayers Ed looked around as Russel described the next targeted goliath beast, "Fuck." Anxiety was going to kill him, Ed spit on the earth and began a new prayed as he followed Russel as he led them through dense forest.


    He was likely not going to get this kill either.

 The First Call

    Whispers, he followed them here not quite sure why, although, there was an opening on the ground and the dreary rain left him soaked.


    He followed because of the feeling of wanting to end it all, to finally be free, to get rid the hurt. palms sweating in anxiety, trembling from hurt, breath stuttering in agony.


    "Why have I reached this point? Hope?" He stared back, remembering the lifeless husk of his friend he had left behind.


    ''Power~freedom~knowledge.'' The whispers spoke not in words, more ideas, and feelings, but with a masculine overtone, he felt there was something there that was just outside his understanding, an important distinction in gender.


    There was one word it kept repeating, and it was a promise, a feeling of certainty, somehow deep in his subconscious he knew: whatever it was, he would keep it, it drove him crazy to believe it, to the point of overriding his rational mind.


    ''COME.'' It promised him freedom, an escape from despair.


    He wandered endlessly through green mountain landscape, he had left the destruction in Santa Ana some time ago, he had no one there, not alive.


    He had been so excited, at first, he had powers, magic powers, who didn''t want those? But his power had not been enough, staring at the entrance he wondered if he would die, then he wondered if he cared.


    The monsters here ignored him, he had simply walked through the woods, and nothing had attacked him, the same could not be said for the idiot who followed him, a friend from life before.


    Leaving behind his life, he entered the cave feeling empty, he just wanted that emptiness to go away if the whisper could take it all he would not care.


    He had not spoken, nor eaten in days, a normal person might worry how he was still alive as if something gave him strength.


    He did not watch the scenery in the cave, the lighting soon became too dim either way, though if he did perhaps he would notice the carved


    ''Release. YOU. Come.'' It was in the air, following through his body, it gave him something, a drug, and he followed uncaringly, his death would be release, life was just suffering.


    Blind, he was soon blind and he was wandering down tunnels, he tripped, skinned his hands on the rough ground, but he followed the whispers.


    It guided him, his insight was strong enough, he had opened the gates of his mind, he had passed the limit his parents had birthed him to.


    He had been so proud of it, Ashley had been overjoyed, sharing in his excitement, their son too young to understand, he thought...he thought a great many things that would not come.


    The burn, there it was again like a weight crushing him from his shoulders to his chest, he felt wetness, not from the rain, wiping them, he cursed, then spat snot.


    "AHHH!" His pain echoed from him, he heard skittering from deep within the tunnels.


    He stood, staring at nothing, his power radiating from him in waves, it fed him an outline: a wall there, a branching tunnel, the rain flowing down deeper in the caves, everything but life, nothing living was here.


    "Why am I here! A trap? If that''s so, HURRY UP!" He broke off as he tripped, falling to scrap his knees and sob.


    ''Come.'' The voice was steady, patient, as though he could wait eternally for him to come.


    "What do you want!" He screamed, he had come all the way here on vague promises wondering at his sanity the whole time.


    ''To. Gift. Come.'' It went silent.


    He was beyond doubts, he didn''t care anymore, so he got up despite being sure he was bleeding from multiple cuts.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.Even in the darkness, he could sense he was descending, enhanced mental capabilities had many uses, touching the walls gave him faint impressions and from those minuscule impressions: he clued together the tunnels.


    With his mental map aiding him, he followed something in the air, a thickness, difficult to describe but something ethereal was here, physically it sent shivers and made his hairs stand on end, static.


    Through the static he could hear the whispers, the call, he followed, curving through winding tunnels branching off endlessly.


    Touching the walls he could piece together that it was recent, everything was recent, yet devoid of life, if something was alive near him he would sense it.


    He heard noises, skittering, clicks, and scraping rocks, but they came from tunnels he was not traveling, and he didn''t care enough to venture there.


    Despite it all, he somehow was passing tunnels filled with what he was sure had monsters, but to approach: they did not, it went against everything he had come to expect.


    An eternity in darkness it felt, but he followed, a growing urge of desperation to escape Despair and soon he sensed something in the distance: A presence.


    There was something, he could feel a tangible weight, a presence with enough discipline to move mountains, and it was patient, eager but retrained.


    ''Come.'' This time fear twisted his heart, despite believing himself beyond such things.


    He could feel...''eyes'' on him, and not just sight, but knowledge, this thing could see him in his entirety, from his body to mind to spirit, down to his soul, everything that was himself this thing knew.


    The sense of left him uncomfortable, similar to being seen as a pig, or an item on display at a supermarket, there was a hunger in its gaze, not hunger as he knew it, but a powerful urge.


    "Will you kill me?" The question was stupid, somehow he knew the answer, but the rational part of his mind was ever present, asking stupid questions.


    ''Your. PAIN. Be. Free.'' The promise was there, and he felt it was true.


    Trembling with emotion, he hobbled forward, the presence looming, growing larger in his mind as he descended further along the curved passages.


    At last, he could feel the presence, he was in the antechamber before it, and yet when his physical senses told him nothing, only his insight let him glimpse at what was not there.


    He swallowed, feeling nervous, sweating from exertion, and shivering from adrenaline, he rubbed his hands, hesitating briefly.


    This was it, one way or another, the end was in sight, he took some time to clean his face, rubbing away excess grime from his wounds, more out of nervous habit than necessity.


    "Come." The voice was physical and raw, unused to the speech in his language, he could hear it all in that one word, the being could say so much with so little.


    Entering the chamber, he felt the presence, utter darkness loomed, and so he could not see, yet it did not move, he could hear only his own breathing.


    He felt the Being stare at him, measure him, and then it spoke.


    "YOur PAin. A Gift, bring it. Come forth." The tone was strong, but cautious, controlled to not surprise nor frighten him.


    A step forward, and he felt something rub against his cheek, he recoiled but stopped, then he forced himself to remain still as it happened again.


    "BLInd MeDdleSome children." Disgust lined his voice, so strong it was a mental slap on the face.


    "What?" He looked around blind at the darkness, reeling from the backlash.


    A feeling of a tap to his head, then his chest then his stomach."Here. Here and HERE. Defiled you, Unnatural. ORDER." IT spat the word ''order,


    "Is that a problem?" He wondered what the creature meant, not understanding fully.


    "NO. Must BReaK." Then he gasped as some changed, agony flooded him and he fell to the floor screaming.


    Shock. He jolted awake at a current. His eyes opened and he could see. Truly SEE. Despair was gone, just gone as if he had never suffered and he looked around.


    "Complete. A gift for a gift." His benefactor said, and he gazed at his form.


    Its horrifying form loomed, its torso comprised of interlocking plates like insect-carapace which segmented into seven large sections, from there random several miscolored eyes stared, while appendages and limbs hung and moved.


    A short while ago, the visage would have sent him fleeing, but now, he simply knelt in gratitude.


    Death, it was not something to despair, everything ended, life was to be enjoyed, to seek, explore, and change.


    He could not live burdened of others, his mind was opened, freed from the shackles of useless and invented thoughts.


    Aiden lifted his eyes, a changed man and a servant, as his benefactor trembled, a face emerged from its center, a mimic of his previous-self, it twisted in grief, crying.


    "GO. My enlightened. MY creation. Lead the lesser." Tn''Ygloth spoke his will, it wanted to grow and it was his task to bring it more.


    Aiden opened all seven eyes, smiled showing his needle-sharp fish teeth and his barbed tongue-lashed a meter into the air.


    "YEss. MaStER." Aiden bowed, chaos had freed him from the useless notions, more would need to see the way.


    The skittering of thousands came, Aiden howled maniacally, a joyous task, life was to be lived, his master''s benevolence need be boundless.

 Alternate 20

    Russel rubbed his head from stress, for quite some time now he had been dealing with meeting after meeting, his allotted workforce left much to be desired, incapable of performing minor tasks without his input.


    Only Bruce, Aaron, surprisingly Carl, and a few of the others he brought took care of themselves, that list included Eian, which was why it had been unexpected when he asked for help, unexpected but fortuitous in timing as it gave him an excuse to adjust his plans earlier.


    He fully expected there to be some level of conflict, Eian was not one to seek and fix his social problems, he preferred to evade them altogether, Edward was different when he had a problem with someone he usually made it known, then forever cut them off, Eian was too close a friend in this case.


    Contrary to what Eian thought, his aim here was not to resolve his problem with Ed, Edward was correct when he said this debacle with his sisters needed resolution first.


    No, one of the lesser reasons was to see if the two could work together without grabbing each other''s throats, better here at this instant than under gun-fire.


    The truest of Russel''s major concerns stemmed from Ed''s people, to put it lightly they were: shady, confrontational, ignorant, as well as angry, and it took all his convincing to prevent a mob, he wondered if Eian noticed how close it had come, luckily they were cowards and a few intimidating displays cowed them, thank Bruce for his brute strength.


    The attack from Edwards associates came in unexpectedly, he had not predicted Eian would burst out on his own, his skills none-withstanding, he had assumed he would be too afraid of his mother''s potential death or injury in the cross-fire.


    Alas, he killed some men in the escape, Russel did not blame his friend overly, at least not in the sense of morality, more in the lack of forethought, but that fell in line with his character, Eian''s proactive approach led them to this.


    If he had bided his time, they could have easily rescued him, then reallocate themselves, thus their dispute would be all but forgotten and seen as nothing more than an excessive hassle by now.


    Another of his goals had been to relocate and scatter their forces, Elisa was being taken somewhere safe by Bruce, the man was a beefy monster, Kristal was with them along with a few other non-combatants, though even being combat efficient meant little if their temporary allies shot at them with guns.


    The reallocation had to be subtle, taking a few here, another there, a gradual process to not arouse suspicion, Russel feared it was already too late, some people had mysteriously been found murdered, from both his people and Edwards.


    This was driving up the tension, each group blaming the other for their losses, their deaths were not accidental, the wounds were ruthless, one particular man had had his head bludgeoned to much, none had animal-wounds on their corpses.


    As such Ed''s people had grown far more aggressive, with a few fist fights and shouts erupting daily, and Russel was slowly losing their respect through ''inaction'', call him callous, but he preferred if many of them died in his plan.


    Unfortunately Ed was now a pariah amongst them, as many blamed him for associating with Eian, the whole thing was a mess waiting to boil over, hopefully, his plan would work.


    Russel predicted even if they won, there would be inevitable backlash, as he had ''seen'' a few of the prisoners would be irrecoverable, dead, he had carefully kept that information to himself, though thankfully Edward''s sisters were still relatively intact, he was disgusted by the man he had seen, ''Richard'', Edward had been kind enough to identify him.


    For now, at least, they were taking a break, Eian was simply staring off into space as Russel had just explained their objectives, while Ed was doing his little mutterings again, a strange habitual ritual he had taken to.


    Susan was sitting by Eian, Russel wondered what her story was, she did not come with his group from the university, which meant she had been with Ed''s group instead, however, not many people knew much about her, still, she had no family kidnapped, thus, she could work with Eian without problem, and while Russel had convinced her to become a healer, he certainly didn''t fully trust her yet, but she had done nothing to warrant excessive paranoia.


    So many problems, irritating that no one else wanted to step in and resolve it, except perhaps Carl but the man was a bit opinionated, sure he could lead people, but to deal with people whom at the moment acted like unruly children was another thing altogether.


    At least Eian could handle himself, while widely ignorant of subtler powers and skills, he held a solid grasp of his staple abilities, in addition since he boasted such high defense he was unlikely to die easily.


    Body: 10, Mind: 10, Spirit: 3; after glancing at his attributes Russel sighed: attaining loftier heights had become tedious, and still yet he had not uncovered how to pass neither his mental nor physical limits, in addition to the lack of progress on hybridizing his elemental abilities.


    Looking at the rising sun he decided it was time. "On schedule. My friends?"


    Their little camp was simply a small shaded area under a tree, there was a small pond of water off a small track he cleared, this place had been a reserve prior and he assumed people did not venture here often.


    "I NEED a bath, spare clothes at least. " Susan shot him an annoyed glance, busy untangling the blonde bird''s nest she had for hair.


    He watched her carefully, he would understand her, with time, he was good at that sort of thing.


    Russel stood and soon the others also got up, Susan, in particular, looked miserable, her hair was now slightly less of a mess, but she also looked dejected, she also kept complaining, luckily very very quietly.


    Russel had to admit, the heat was...excessive, in all the little water they brought had dwindled to near nothing, it had been refilled at the pond, unhealthy though it may be, Russel figured it was the lesser of two evils as they boasted a healer amongst their ranks.


    He smelled, Russel knew, and while it disturbed him, he ignored it along with the discomfort of mostly harmless bee-sized mosquitoes, along with the added baking effect his armor imparted him throughout the day.


    Eian had his typical introspective look, he had never been one to volunteer information, and half the time he seemed trapped in his own world, while their friendship was deep after many years, although loyal Eian was no expert at socializing, too passive, a hurdle Russel had crossed, Eian was a welcome friend in an age where everyone cared more about their image rather than the person in question.


    For now, the priority was getting stronger, and so he found Eian''s ''Empower'' image particularly intriguing, testing it would be his first priority, once he found himself in an adequate environment to weave a viable alternative.


    Russel took note of Edward stretching and yawning particularly loud, speaking out what was on his mind, "Cool. Fuckers ain''t gonna kill themselves."


    Russel noted that was his way of reminding them he wanted a share of the metaphysical pie, Edward was... a complicated friend, he trusted him, but...his ''career'' choice negatively impacted him once.


    He smiled at Ed''s games, subtle Edward was not, nor was Eian for that matter, Susan, well Russel had not yet had enough time to learn much on her, she was a minor risk factor.


    One of his high school teachers had outright told him he would not give him a recommendation due to his poor choice in friends, it was with some guilt he had distanced himself.


    He could clearly recall Ed spiking his soda with some random coconut rum he found in his dad''s cabinet, they had been seventeen, the guy was a bit of a troublemaker.


    Not for the first time Rus contemplated on whether he himself was a bad person, Eian, despite the difficulties, remained Ed''s friend, and Russel had not the heart to tell him any scholarship was unattainable due to Ed''s influence.


    "E, some assistance, would you?" Russel waited, Eian nodded and seemed to doze off.


    "There." His friend pointed north-west.


    He nodded, taking a short breath, he closed his physical eyes and moved outside himself, he rose ghost-like into the air, catching the world in grey detail, for now, this was all he could do, in the future, he should be able to throw his mind vast distances quickly.


    The first catches were easy, a pond teeming with an infestation of mutated disturbing amphibians, their base design clearly being frogs or perhaps toads? Either way undergoing heavy mutations made them too diverse to differentiate; limbs, heads, tails, the basic attack between the pond-scum was a murk-vomit-attack, which thankfully Eian took the brunt of.


    Each varied in color and size, strangely not all seemed fully formed, some were enlarged tadpoles, others froglets, some were stubbier, more toad than frog, while others were hybridized with long or short tails accompanied by weird legs.


    Their heads averaged slightly larger than basketballs, with the rest of the body dripping clear fluids that he would never otherwise touch.


    Rus was not at all worried, sure they had scary teeth, but compared to other more ferocious enemies from the dream these were lacking.


    A murk-red spotted-frog, in particular, seemed mostly normal until its jaw split open in three segments, spewing two sperate tongues with teeth growing out of them, Russel severed both in one quick-fluid motion, the monster fell croaking in pain.


    Then he threw himself sideways, easily evading the hurling of disgusting fluids, his armor made his movements slightly clumsy, but he corrected his path easily enough.


    It helped that he was so fast, he could catch the movements of all his enemies easily, evading felt like underwater dodgeball, he danced circles evading the sprays.


    Strangely some of their enemies fled, clearly the smaller ones, that was something Rus was keeping track off, why did some animals attack recklessly while others fled?


    Russel was in no hurry, he watched Edward close the gap between himself and his enemy, bringing down an overhead chop from his ax on another grotesque monster, he mostly dodged the murk although a bit of splattering from Eian caught his arm on his left.


    Russel smiled as he noted his friend was getting slippier, his mental augmentations were paying dividends, his perception and reflexes we also improving to constant battle, you did not need strength if your opponents could not hit you.


    Ed quickly sank his fireman''s ax unto its neck of a frog leaper, Russel lazily killed one from afar, his slash dissecting his opponent''s skull, Eian stomped his opponents underfoot invulnerable, and Susan watched them with a frown.


    "God-Damnit!" Ed cleaned the murk off his arm scrapping it with his shirt, revealing flesh which visibly became inflamed, his left arm was hit, looking burned acidicly.


    Russel patted his only female companion, spooking her slightly. " Miss, check Ed. Venom could be an issue." At his words Ed looked up concerned.


    A brief check-up revealed it was in fact not, at least not yet, Susan poured a bit of healing and Ed was flexing the arm, good as new, unfortunately, he lost his shirt revealing his frame.


    "What? Stop starin''." Ed held his weapon two-handed as though to ward off their eyes.


    Honestly, Rus did not understand his fascination with the axe, it was too heavy to easily swing with his frame, the small bladed head required some precision, and he was clearly unaccustomed to handing it, swinging it with neither thought, practice nor finesse.


    "Move your skinny ass." Susan laughed, then smirked at him, eliciting a growl.


    "''Ey! ''Ey! They didn''t work for it either! Few days ago they~" Ed pointed at him and Eian.


    "WHATEV"S." Susan interrupted in a giggling fit as Ed''s face coloured.


    "Agreed. Onwards." Rus nodded along with her to get them moving.


    They were in a small clearing now, ample space for ten times their number, tall trees blocked the sun and no grass grew of the shaded soil, here Eian was scanning movement for potential enemies.


    Thus began their search anew, Russel''s projection racing forward through the air, at Eian''s behest, he soon found himself navigating the woods, he could feel the animals this close.


    He caught sight of the monsters soon enough, always strange they were, Russel knew that but he found the crew of anthropods particularly disturbing, each unique in its own way, and their size instantly caught his attention, the largest was the size of a medium van.


    Two were the most notable, the biggest had thick carapace with a headless-ant-torso attached to its beetle body, but the slimmest was a flying hybrid of wasp and mantis, with scythe-like limbs, wings, and a bottom stinger, the other two were on land but lesser degrees of strange.


    As he got closer, the wasp-mantis who was in the air looked in his direction, catching him slightly by surprise, but he ignored it''s gaze and descended slowly.


    ''Surely...'' His eyes widened as the wasp sliced him.


    ''Gurh'' His senses blacked out momentarily as the was scythe cut straight through him, flaring pain, instantaneously Russel was returned to his body.


    The disorientation faded quickly, "ugh...Fight!" Russel groaned at the sudden onset of a migraine.


    Eian watched him funny, "What''s~"


    He interrupted his friend. "Hurry!" Russel pulled out his blade, an attack readying along the edge of the weapon.


    He was forever thankful to his memory plane, without it, his concentration would be too unbalanced to form his attacks.


    Enemy movement was break-neck, Russel caught their twisted visages with difficulty, but to the others, the enemies would be onerous opponents to track.


    The pack of scuttling insects attacked, bursting from the trees as one disorganized mob of screeching noise, their maniac screams could unnerve the spirits of the deceased.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Eian armored himself and interposed himself in front of the team, but Russel had already thrown the first strike, placing a clear-cut on the flyer''s wing, it righted itself immediately.


    The Beetle was the first, colliding heavily into Eian heavily, Eian rolled a few feet, then they began an intense melee, trading blow for tackle, the beetle''s muscles containing substantial force on par with his friend.


    He wasn''t wasting time, as the wasp, unsurprisingly, glided straight at him, Russel sent strike after strike, forcing the creature to take crippling damage, then he was in the flyers melee-range.


    The earth exploded, the last two enemies at the far back hit small trench, thankfully leaving only the flyer in front of him.


    A blast caught him, the wasp-mantis screamed and Russel felt it as a psionic wave, a tide crashing upon his mental fortress, he endured it stoically, the others fared far worse.


    Simply looking told him Eian was off-balance, and his match took a downward spiral, the beetle pushing him back with his friend unable to think straight.


    Not wasting time, Russel did something he knew he would later regret: guided by instinct, his Qi accelerated his mind, the world came into focus, added detail emerged, and he caught sight of tiny particles floating in the air.


    Even his once-nimble opponents slowed to be manageable, but Russel''s brain was baking under pressure, though for now, he could fight.


    His following empowered physical slash further crippled the wasp, one-handed, he severed the stinger aimed at him, while his other fist had another target, the entrenched, striking the air with an open-palm, the air distorted and the strike caught a spiked-soldier bull-ant in the face, whom promptly fell back into the pit.


    Too late he caught sight as the last opponent sped past him, he was unable to see distinguishable features, Russel hoped Edward could deal with it, or Eian, where was Eian?


    "GAh," Ed screamed, "Fuck this!" Ed was likely in danger, but Russel had no time striking out continuously, holding two enemies at bay with lightning reflexes.


    The resounding roar of bullets surprised Russel, but then he was cutting off a limb from the wasp, while simultaneously tripping the other opponent with alternating palm-strikes.


    The wasp''s scythes came at him, Russel took a step back, dodging, before placing his footing proper and shooting forward, with an enhanced kick.


    Catching an opening he struck doubly, a distortive strike and the actual blade, two attacks in one, the wasp/mantis fell bisected almost in two pieces, by the midsection, it was alive but he quickly cut off another limb, Russel parried its retaliation and jumped back, retreating.


    Crashing weight suddenly surprised him, he had taken too long, the final opponent, previously entrenched, was a top him, a thick soldier-ant whose chitin was interlayered with spikes, like a bulldozer.


    His air expelled, with pain catching up to him on the ground, clearly, he was bleeding from somewhere, and while he would have some bruising tomorrow his fortunes still paid off, his armor took the brunt of it, then Miss Susan screamed.


    ''Sh-eet.'' Russel swore, rolled sideways, got up, then charged.


    Eian''s fight had progressed evenly at a short distance, with parts of carapace and shards of rock littering the ground, while Ed was holding his hand on the floor, likely injured, but the final monster was dead at his feet.


    Staring at the charging enemy he did what he could, "Here! Over, HERE!" Russel blasted the enemy with a battle cry.


    Russel saw Ed lever his gun at it, baring his teeth in a snarl and releasing a roaring shot one-handed, then the earth under the enemy exploded a second later.


    Susan was on the ground backing away from the entire fight, but the spiked-ant, her aggressor, staggered at their combined assault, it hissed a roar and charged at him.


    This time he was ready, Russel charged in, mental energy carried along his Qi, then if one paid attention, they would notice an after-image distorting in the air, shooting forward shoulder-first.


    The spiked-ant staggered at the impact, Russel''s charge swiftly turned into a fully powered double-swing, two strikes simultaneously caught the ants face, he cut like it like cardboard.


    The head went flying in the distance and the body collapsed, unable to operate without input, Russel turn to help the others.


    "''S''not fuckn'' dead!" Ed was gritting his teeth, staring at something while holding his hand.


    Russel turned to look, "Conserve ammunition." his breathing relaxing.


    He had expended a substantial amount of his Qi in flashy attacks, all the while his mental strain worsened his migraine, which made his movements inefficient.


    Ed meant the wasp, even now as it was nearly bisected, with limbs shorn off, it dragged itself along the ground towards them, and Russel claimed his kill stabbing it through the cranium, between the eyes.


    As for Eian''s fight, he had torn the upper ant-torso clean off his opponent, apparently, it wasn''t enough as he had then pummeled the beetle until its shell cracked then caved inwards.


    Taking in the scene Russel''s racing mind relaxed, his migraine lessening to simply discomfort rather than aching pain.


    Ed was still on the floor, in clear pain, Russel went to him.


    "Hah~Hmmm..." His friend was panting, gritting his teeth in agony, clutching his bloody left hand with his right.


    "How bad?" Russel demanded.


    His eyes widened, Ed''s hand was missing the two lowest digits, and half of his middle finger, while part of his palm was hanging limply by a shred of bone and skin, it was all disproportionate like the rough work of a saw.


    And last but not least the blood, "Susan! Here! Eian, find his fingers!" Russel knelt next to his friend, whose face was red and breathing ragged.


    A second later Susan was there."Show me." She grabbed his mangled hand.


    Russel gripped her hand before she started. "Hold off, this needs surgical precision."


    "Fuck! Rus, FUCKN'' FIX IT!" Ed stammered sweating excessively and losing colour.


    "Remember back with the pencil? The stab in your knuckle?" Russel attempted to give him a smile of encouragement, though it probably fell flat.


    "Fuck. Ain''t, SHIT!" Ed wheezed and his eyes were looking frantic.


    There was much more he could try to say, but he doubted Ed was in the mood to listen further, instead he grabbed the two halves of Ed''s palm and held them together for Susan.


    "Gaaaah,*pant* GAWWWD, FUCK SHIT!" Ed was rocking himself forward and back.


    "Stay still." Rus chided him, to which his friend laughed sickly.


    Finished aligning the palm, he provided instruction, "Attend please Miss Susan, DO NOT seal this area." Russel pointed at where the fingers went.


    "I''ll try." Susan nodded, looking a bit green, but wearing a somber look.


    "Caution please, do this properly." Russel watched her intently, she needed to understand the severity of the situation.


    If she screwed up and sealed it completely, thus wrongly, Ed hand would still be missing his fingers, to fix it they would have to reopen the flesh and bone to then reattach his fingers.


    "Fuckfuckheuckckck.*ha*ha*ha*" Ed was completely out of breath by the time the palm had sealed.


    There had been a few chunks of flesh missing, but they regenerated as the bone sealed properly, those patched of new skin stood in complete contrast to the rest of the otherwise healthy flesh.


    So far the injury had no scarring, but the new flesh was pale white, never having seen the light of day kind of skin, he commended Susan for her control.


    There was still more to do, the hand was still incomplete, and he knew the healing element had limits, regrowing fingers was certainly possible, but Susan was no true mage, nor doctor.


    He wouldn''t put it up to chance that she could reconstruct the fingers properly with a simple image, there was a keen difference between a True Healer and a simple life Elementalist.


    "There, hold, please. We require the missing digits." Russel addressed both Ed and Susan.


    Turning, he saw Eian nearby, holding something in his hands, concern written clearly on his expression.


    "You have them?" To his question, Eian nodded and showed him, holding them forward in his hands.


    Russel took a deep breath and closed his eyes, the fingers were in pieces, he was not a doctor, but he strongly suspected attaching each piece apart at a time would be excruciating.


    He quickly deduced the best way to repair the damage and induce the least amount of pain to his friend, who was looking a bit pale and anemic, Susan looked uncomfortable.


    Taking the fingers from Eian he matched which pieces went where, in a morbid puzzle to solve, truthfully playing with the digits was an unsavory task.


    They had to work quickly before the flesh died, he wasn''t sure if that would be an issue as he was neither a doctor nor healed, but better safe than sorry as the missing digits were already looking unhealthy, yes he was paranoid.


    "Miss Susan, I will require you to reconstruct Edward''s injured digits." Russel sighed, rubbed his temples with one hand.


    Prior to the dream, Russel doubted Edward would have ever been able to have a fully functioning hand, it was a truth Russel took with a barrel of salt, creation, and destruction, these ''natural'', or perhaps unnatural forces could bring either.


    The procedure began, he hoped this went smoothly.


    *****


    Russel stared at his inner workings, inside a tiny room he lay on a single person mattress of a whited tiled floor, a single door gilded with his favorite color ''gold'' ironically a few words were engraved ''knowledge is worth its weight in gold''.


    He made it a habit to take small timeouts here, observing himself for any signs of mental damage, a concern brought up by his endless paranoia.


    The walls appeared as solid cement, although they held up admirably a few cracks emerged here and there, overall he could visibly see the damage receed, that was good, that meant he had not taken permanent damage.


    More concerning was potential damage to the other rooms, quietly he stood and ''walked'' over, opening the golden-etched door.


    ''Excellent.'' Russel always felt reassured when he saw this room.


    A familiar library made up the inside, complete with the front desk where the librarian would normally reside, along with a few desks joint together in one single file for students, which was unnecessary here.


    This was where he found his love of reading and it stuck, everything from the rows of shelves, six total, brown wood he normally associated with oak, immaculately neat as though recently dusted then varnished to shine.


    He recalled the ceiling being painted plain white, which while reflected here made him question some: the material, he was never quite sure, perhaps sheet-rock, in life he never bothered himself to ask.


    The lighting was superb, which was in keen contrast with his memory, here he could open a book and read, whilst in life he had to move to the desk area.


    If he ever found a place as strange as it was here in life he would feel disturbed, instead here he found comfort.


    Books upon books which always made him smile, each one read a title, the titles were either eye-catching gold, plain silver, or a darkened lead, the titles were insightful, he easily knew what each contained.


    The library itself was strange, despite the division into sections reality bent a few rules here, or perhaps flexible would be a better approximation.


    He looked at the section he was looking for, it read: ''dream knowledge'', and it was where he drifted naturally, the organization was comfortable, categorized natural as to almost flow.


    Here this row of books further split into columns labeled appropriately: Inner-Qi, Insight, Elements, Hybridization split into three large branches, another branch read ''essence'', whilst the final section was labeled as ''unclassified''.


    This particular section and all its branches took little space inside the room, but it was not always rigid, of that he was certain.


    Sometimes he would walk past one section take a curve to see another section and upon returning to his previous ''location'' the books would be different.


    What Russel found particularly strange was that he always found what he wanted, although sometimes the information was lacking, perhaps incomplete or...forgotten.


    The worst parts he disliked were the books that were spotty, with just enough information to imply a puzzle, but missing the vital piece which completed the context.


    ''Spells Applications and their Matrix Creation'' The book was titled, and it was the only book with a golden-etched spine, the one beside was a highlighted silver, briefly catching his interest were the words ''Elements and Inefficiency in Applied Images''.


    Briefly, he debated on taking it, but he had no need for that yet.


    Instead, he grabbed the first book and ambled over to another room, this one was made of beaten steel, titled ''Experiments''.


    Inside was something similar to a boxing arena, only much larger with several wood logs surrounding the center, without looking he knew there was a camera overlooking the scene.


    Instead of stopping he kept going and entered the room that was his goal, this one was labeled ''Battle-Ready.'', there was only one thing of interest here.


    Here he stopped, biting his lip as he watched a monitor, a montage played through it, and on the screen center, it read ''Striking Arts''.


    Below the words, he stared at himself in the previous room performing a repeating montage, he moved through a series of projected attacks: blade-strike, palm-strike, and shoulder-tackle.


    He pondered on his movements and he wondered not for the first time if they were ideal, his performance today had been less than ideal, he needed powerful spells, and this one was versatile but weak.


    If he perfectly focused on sharpness and power on ''only'' his projected slash, perhaps his first strike would have landed the killing blow to the wasp in a single well-placed hit.


    "Russ." A voice whispered in his ear, he ignored it.


    He opened the book, looking inside and begun to read. ''Energy needs form to function, without form energy simply spills outwards uncontrollably. The creation of such forms are...''


    "Rus." A hand shook his shoulder and he opened his eyes.


    "Huh?" Russel came awake to staring at Edward''s visage, his friend looked at him with some concern.


    "S''gooooo ma nig. Here." Ed let him go, gave him a quick pat with his fully restored hand, and exited the vehicle.


    Staring, Russel noted that indeed they were at their destination, some well-to-do citizen''s house, it was grand and everyone would fit inside decently, despite the broken door and a few shattered windows it looked decent.


    As Russel wondered what happened to the owner he noted that Bruce was standing guard, then he noted as Eian rushed out and flew past him to enter, eager to see Missus Elisa himself.


    Opening the car door from his side, Russel walked forward scanning the darkening sky, he easily noticed they were inside a parking yard, trees scattered and growing out of bounds.


    For now, this would be the solution, too many of their ''friends'' were becoming rowdy, and it was best they separate their vulnerable members, for now, the rest of them would simply have to keep their eyes open.


    There had been some debate to allow Ed and his father to come, mostly from Carl, but he had swayed them, although Ed''s dad was under constant watch, the man was an ignorant sort.


    Goodwill was running low however, they had to act soon, otherwise, Russel notice his college friends were beginning to have second doubts, Rus had these doubts himself, but he believed this a just cause.


    The idea of attacking a well-armed encampment with ruthless criminals seemed to unnerve his friends, that and concern for their own families, the thoughts of him putting people''s lives at risk for well his cause was...burdensome.


    Russel didn''t really care much for his parents, as they were a bit distant despite him being an only child, they were not bad parents per say, once more his suspicion grew to convince him he had been a mistake, his parents often made careless comments and dropped enough clues of their lives prior, his mind simply pieced together the picture.


    "Welcome home, Rusty." Bruce gave him a smile that Russel knew he thought was sarcastic.


    "Thanks Bee." Russel gave him a genuine smile, to which his friend sniffed disdainfully.


    "Killjoy." Bruce entered and waved him inside with his beefy hands.


    The stranger''s house looked comfortable enough, though he would have to reinforce it, for now, the previous owner had obviously fled in a hurry.


    Yes, this would definitely work, for now, just a few more improvements here and there, blocking the entrances and searching for wraiths or their possessed victims.


    Lots of things to do and little time to do it, starting with the agreement he had reached with the police officers, Russel knew they would be an invaluable asset if only he could convince them.


    The delegation he had sent had made some significant headway, but he needed to personally go to seal the deal, otherwise, he risked looking insincere, he also planned on presenting more substantial evidence on the doings of their enemies, at least Ed had the sense to record his phone calls with them, but they still needed a bit more.