ã€ŠThe Remnant Chroniclesã€‹


 Chapter 1: Afterlife

    Heat.

    Everyone always said that the smokewas what killed people. It wasn¡¯t. Not always. Sometimes it was the flames. Sometimes the heat melted the skin and the fire spread all the way inside. Smoke, no matter how thick and toxic, was the least of his concerns when his mouth had melted shut and his nose was charred all the way to the bone.

    How the fire had started didn¡¯t matter. It spread fast, and enveloped him in a matter of moments. He hoped his father, at least, had survived. His mother didn¡¯t. She was the first thing he had seen when he opened the door. Like a wailing crimson banshee, he saw her run screaming across the living room. She fell moments later, her body shut down most functions. Most. She still screamed as her blackened body hit the floor and broke apart at the knees.

    He loved his mother. He hadloved her. She had always doted on him. Her relentless love for him had, at one point, likely caused his early-teen rebellious phase. Stop loving me so damn much, let me live my life!He had gotten his shit together in his mid-teens.

    He knew, just as she knew, that she had spoiled him, and a spoiled teenager always reverted to a six-year-old when encountering any and all opposition. Even when that oppositionwas a mother¡¯s care and adoration. Luckily, he¡¯d matured quickly, giving him several more years of enjoying his mother¡¯s love before the inferno took it all away, this time forever.

    His father was somewhere in the house, though his screams were nowhere to be heard. He might¡¯ve been the first to die. He might be stuck in the garage, or the basement, maybe blocked by debris somewhere. He might¡¯ve been crushed by anything, at this point. Weirdly, that¡¯s what the melting son hoped for. That his father had gone quickly, never hearing his wife¡¯s screams or seeing his son turned to ash.

    He loved his father. While his mother doted on him enough for two of them, his father was always what he needed. If his mother¡¯s care for him were the storm, his father would always be the eye. He was the calm. No one had the power to talk him down like his father did. No one had the power to motivate him like his father did. He didn¡¯t always get what he wanted from the man, far from it. He always got what he needed, however.

    One would think that when your entire body was being burned to cinders, you¡¯d notice when it stopped. Like exiting an outdoor sauna and running out into the snow. The change from roaring heat to cold, cold fresh air. It was instantaneous. He didn¡¯t notice. It might be because his skin was the thing on fire, he didn¡¯t know. But the fact that it wasn¡¯tanymore wasn¡¯t the first thing he noticed, nor was it the weight of debris which had fallen on top of him suddenly lifting. It certainly wasn¡¯t the suddenly breathable air, or his sudden ability to actually breathe again.

    No, what he noticed first was the change of surroundings. Still screaming from the bottom of his crispy lungs, it was easy to notice when all the black smoke and glowing embers, all the rubble and burning childhood memories, just vanished and was replaced by a barely lit room with dark double doors and an unreadable sign over them.

    Unsure whether to stop screaming, he looked around with barely open eyes. He was most certainly hallucinating. It was just a coping mechanism. Maybe something like freezing to death, where at the end, you would feel warm and comfortable right before your body halted all functions.

    Turning his head to the left, he noticed a small stand carrying a vase and a small pot with a plant to its right. To his right he saw the mirror image of the other side of the room. The same exact kind of vase and pot, even the plant looked identical, though he didn¡¯t recognise the species. He wasn¡¯t screaming anymore.

    ¡°Violent. Check!¡± a voice from behind him said.

    Erik swirled around and practically jumped backwards towards the double doors, raising his arms in front of him to protect himself. Now in front of him was a small, more brightly lit reception desk filled with two neat stacks of paper, a smaller potted plant and a small rectangular box next to a small inkwell. Behind the desk stood a man with a gentle smile that looked more practised than well-meaning.

    ¡°What? Who are you?¡± Erik burst after a few seconds had passed. ¡°Where am I?¡±

    ¡°Peon #23, Paperwork Division of New Arrivals. I simply deduced that your death had a violent cause, and took the initiative to start filling out the form. Saves you some time, right?¡± the man said, keeping his practised smile the entire sentence.

    While obviously fake, he was better at it than most people Erik had met before. That said, a fake smile was always obvious. Erik was certain a genuine smile was impossible to fake. Fake ones were almost always kind of¡­ eerie.

    ¡°Right¡­ None of that made sense. And what¡¯s that about my deathyou so casually brought up?¡± Erik asked, but he felt he already knew the answer. It was obvious really, but some part of him was still clinging to the hope of life. That wouldn¡¯t change right away, he was sure of it, but maybe having it explained directly would speed up the process.

    ¡°Right, yes. One of those¡± the man started, then straightened his back and continued with a most formal and practised tone. ¡°I regret to inform you, dear arrival, that you have recently lost your all-too-precious life. As such, I, Insert Name, am here to help you through this most difficult of times, and to guide you forwards, so that you may one day soon look back at your life on its planeand be happy that you have started on a new journey here at Place.¡±

    ¡°Not even trying, huh? I¡¯m sure you could¡¯ve at least filled in oneof those blanks?¡± Erik asked, finding at least some humour in the well-practised, but still awful, welcoming speech. The peon¡¯seyebrow raised a little. Maybe he was impressed?

    ¡°That speech is aeons old, and severely outdated. I apologise, but no one really cares anymore. You are dead, and this is Afterlife,¡± he said, gesturing to everything around him with both his arms. ¡°As a Remnant, you don¡¯t share the same afterlifeas the Regulars do. Instead, you are here. Not Heaven, not Hell, not Pixelmania or any of the other ones. Anyway, it really isn¡¯t my job to tell you any of this, and as such, I won¡¯t. Name?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not telling you shit before you start making sense, Peon 35¡±. While the irritatingly polite face of Peon certainly had helped Erik calm down after a mildlyhorrific and painful death, now it was just starting to infuriate him again. Erik could remain calm in the worst of circumstances, but this was his lifethey were talking about. He wanted answers.

    ¡°Listen, bro¡­ I just fill out the forms. All the explanations, emotions and politically correct babble and nonsense comes later. So can we fill out this form so you can cry later?¡±

    That fuckingsmile.

    ¡°Erik Fried,¡± Erik relented.

    ¡°Age?¡±

    A remarkably small number of questions later, Peon Some-number-or-other opened the double doors and showed Erik to the next room. The room was practically identical to the one he was in, except there was a pair of double doors on two opposite sides, and the reception desk had instead replaced the vase and plant on one side of the room.

    A practically identical man to Peon sat behind the desk in the next room and rose when Erik entered. The second man nodded in greeting to Peon as Peon shut the doors behind Erik, staying behind in his own room.

    ¡°Welcome! Welcome! I¡¯m Peon #15 of the Frequently Asked Questions Division of New Arrivals! I¡¯m here to help you come to terms with your new reality of deadness! Spoiler alert! It¡¯s practically the same as liveness!¡± the new Peon shouted with gusto,

    ¡°So¡­ There are more of you?¡± Erik asked. He was actually intrigued at these guys who looked like twins, but seemed to be numbered at least as high as¡­ twenty-seven? What number had the first one been again?

    ¡°Oh, yes! There is at least one Peon for every division in every branch of Afterlife!¡± the new Peon answered, still almost shouting, but keeping a polite smile all the same.

    ¡°Can you maybe¡­ tone it down some?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Oh¡­ Yes, I can. Sorry,¡± the Peon said, starting out just the same as before, but really pulling it back straight away.

    ¡°Great. So you¡¯re here to answer any questions I may have about this place and the small issue of my death?¡± Erik asked, walking to the side of the double doors he had emerged from and leaning back against the wall.

    ¡°Indeed. I will answer to the best of my abilities, but be aware that there is a small limitation regarding time¡­¡± the Peon, now speaking like a normal person, answered.

    ¡°How long do we have?¡± Erik asked, looking around for a clock or something so he could keep the time.

    ¡°A day.¡±

    ¡°Shit, I thought you meant like 10 minutes or something. I don¡¯t have a full day¡¯s worth of questions, that¡¯s for sure. But why the time limit?¡±

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Well, any Remnant coming to Afterlife can only stay for three months. After that time has passed, they will be violentlyexpelled back to their world, unless they go through the portal voluntarily. The reason for this is simple - Afterlife is a rest stop of sorts. You die and come here. Here you will come to terms with your death, figure out what to do next before finally, and hopefully willingly, go back home.¡±

    ¡°Wait¡­ Back home? To do what, exactly? I¡¯m dead. Am I supposed to haunt people, or something?¡± Erik asked, already sensing that for every answer he got, he¡¯d get several new questions to ask. Maybe a day wasn¡¯t as generous as he thought it was.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s up to you. As a Remnant, you-¡±

    ¡°Stop. What¡¯s a Remnant?¡±

    ¡°A Remnant is¡­ lots of things, really. In your world, you have gods or legends, or stories of great people doing amazing deeds, correct?¡± Peon asked.

    He didn¡¯t even know where Erik was from? How many worldswere there for them not to even ask him that on the questionnaire earlier?

    ¡°Err¡­ Several religions, beliefs and myths, yes. That¡¯s what you mean?¡± Erik answered, shrugging in confusion.

    ¡°Excellent. Well, in all likelihood, many of those could be rooted in truth, and those gods and heroes were most likely Remnants. Beings of great power. Actually Remnantis more of a generalisation. Vampires, werewolves and such are different types of Remnants. We use the word Remnantbecause they are what is left of the First People.¡±

    ¡°First People?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the first to live in this universe. Some think they even created it, but no one knows that for certain.¡±

    ¡°So vampires and werewolves are real? And when they die they come here?¡± Erik asked. Hell, he was dead, and still he was asking two twins called Peon questions. It was the day to start believing in the supernatural.

    ¡°Yes, and yes, but no.¡± Peon answered.

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are real, and technically they do come here when they die, but also, they do not. You see, while Remnants come to Afterlife when they die, only the ones that haven''t awakened to their power come to Afterlife. Once, they say people were born with the power, and later, the Remnants could awaken to their powers while still alive. Nowadays, the blood has been so diluted and weakened that most never awaken to their powers at all, and those who do, only do so when they die. As such, the Afterlife was created to assist the ones who awaken to their power in death. It¡¯s a bit complex, as you might expect.¡± Peon answered.

    ¡°So, I¡¯m a descendant of a First People Person, but the bloodline is so diluted that my awakening to that power, even in death, was improbable, at best?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And since I didwake to these so-called powers, I woke up here in Afterlife, where I can stay for three months. Those already awakened to their powers, do notcome here when they die, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Peon was growing more enthusiastic as Erik showed his understanding of his situation. ¡°As one might say¡­ they be dead.¡±

    ¡°And¡­ Wait, so what am I, exactly?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh, I don¡¯t know that. That comes later.¡±

    Erik was impressed, and slightly terrified, of how many questions he could ask. He didn¡¯t even get tired of asking, or listening to the answers, no matter how long-winded some of them were. While he quickly got through the important questions about what, when, where and things like magic and the supernatural, the next hundred questions or so were more like extra tidbits of information that helped fill in the smaller gaps. It was actually quite nice.

    Given the time limit of one day, though, he didn¡¯t see the need to stick around and wait until he came up with more questions. If he stayed the entire day, that would mean more than one percent of his time in Afterlife. If that was the maximum allotted time he got for questions now, he was certain he¡¯d need all the time he would get later for whatever came next.

    With that, he thanked Peon fifty-three or whatever, and once again was guided through the next set of doors.

    ¡°Follow this hallway down that way. There you will undergo a genetic test and discover your bloodline.. Ta-ta!¡± Peon said, gesturing down to the right of the hallway and quickly shut the doors behind Erik.

    Since being a Remnant was genetic, or at least followed several bloodlines, there was a chance his mother or father would be here as well, but Erik knew the chances were small. Erik had asked how many Remnants there were in Afterlife at any given time, and Peon had said it was between zero and one, maybe two at the absolute most.

    The universe was quite large, and based on Peon''s complex explanation of the interaction of different worlds, the universe seemed to be¡­ multi-layered, as well? Considering the amount of worlds, or planets, those Remnants could be from, the chances were practically zero that Erik would spend his time with anyone from Earth, much less one of his parents.

    In some ways, that saddened him. He would love to see his parents again. Yet in other ways, ways he couldn¡¯t even describe, he wasn¡¯t sad about it at all. This mix of feelings both worried and intrigued him.

    Erik shrugged and went down the hallway. He shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, but the hallway was remarkably similar to the two previous rooms. The same vase on the stand and the potted plant was mirrored on either side of the hallway. Equidistant between the plant and vase was a set of dark double doors, and this pattern repeated endlessly in one direction, as he couldn¡¯t see the end of the straight hallway on the left side.

    To the right, in the direction he was told to go, there were only about a few dozen sets of doors to walk. He should have expected the eternal hallway-thing. Such a classic. Zero props for the interior designer of the place, though.

    He walked half the distance without seeing anyone else. He had stopped to hold his breath and listen for anything, but other than the sounds he made himself, it was deathly silent. It made sense. The chance of someone exiting from another room in the New Arrivals section at the same time as him were abysmal at best, even when his mother, and likely his father, died at mostly the same time as him, and one of them would possess a Remnant bloodline.

    A bit further than the halfway point, however, a set of doors in front of him opened, and a Peon showed a young woman out, giving her the same directions he had gotten. She looked human as far as Erik could see.

    She wore a black hoodie and black-and-white striped tights. The hoodie reached down to the middle of her thighs covering any other pieces of clothing she might¡¯ve worn except her also black-and-white shoes. Her hair was dark brown and neatly braided into one large braid, the length of which laid limp over her hood and reached the middle of her back. After the Peon shut the doors behind her, Erik called out to the woman.

    ¡°Hey!¡± he said. The woman turned the other way, and started walking. He tried again, lightly jogging towards her.

    The young woman slightly turned her head in his direction, looked straight at him for a brief moment, then turned her head back. She kept walking the entire time.

    ¡°Fine. Habla Spanish, maybe?¡±

    Erik stopped jogging and decided to take his time. He didn¡¯t need her. He just thought since they both were recently deceased, they could stick together, especially if they were both humans from Earth. If she was from another planet, she really wouldn¡¯t understand him, right? Maybe even if she did understand him, it was a cultural thing?

    A snicker came from in front of him. He looked around, but couldn¡¯t see anyone else other than the woman. A short while later, the woman stopped walking and burst out with a snorting laugh. What the hell?

    ¡°It reallywasn¡¯t that funny¡­¡± Erik said, continuing towards the now halted woman. It seemed she couldn¡¯t stop laughing, and kept it up until Erik had reached her. She didn¡¯t stop until a painstaking while later. Erik didn¡¯t mind. It was nice to see someone laugh in a place like this. Eventually, she managed to rein herself in, though still holding a wide smile.

    ¡°I¡¯m Jessie. I¡¯m sorry about earlier. I was just a bit bummed about the whole dying thing.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m sorry for your loss?¡± Erik shrugged and attempted a friendly smile. Jessie chuckled.

    ¡°Thanks. So, what are you? Wolfman or Dracula?¡± she asked, gesturing to keep going down the hallway along with her.

    ¡°Not sure yet. Do you know?¡± Erik responded.

    ¡°Witch, I think. So the story in our family goes, at least. Supposedly a long line of witches.¡±

    ¡°Well, duh. We¡¯re Remnants right? The long lineis literally the longest line. All the way to the first people ever, supposedly,¡± Erik said.

    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right, yeah. I retract my previous statement. I come from a frickin¡¯ long line of witches,¡± she corrected.

    The pair soon reached their destination, and were met with a Peon each. There was a single door behind each of them, on either side of a vase and plant. Figures.

    ¡°Mr. Fried?¡±

    ¡°Miss Callum?¡±

    The two Peons spoke in unison. The left one called for Erik, and the right one for Jessie.

    ¡°Well, I guess we¡¯ll see each other later. Good luck!¡± Erik said, and followed his Peon through his door. As soon as the door closed, Erik realised he didn¡¯t really know if they would see each other again. They were both going to be there for three months, but he didn¡¯t know if they would be around other people for that time. Did he just make a complete fool of himself?

    ¡°So, is this the genetic test to see what kind of Remnant I am?¡± Erik asked, looking around.

    Now that he had come to reallyexpect the same vase, plant and desk, this dark, undecorated tiny hallway felt eerily out of place. A single door was opened from the other side as he approached the end of the 10 metre or so long hallway, and he walked through the it. The Peon behind him didn¡¯t seem to talk much. Another Peon greeted him on the other side, this one carrying a stone slab like a smart tablet..

    ¡°I have your test results, Mr Fried,¡± the newest Peon said, gesturing at the slab with his head. Was there some kind of scanning system built into the walls of this specific hallway?

    ¡°You are a-¡± he started, then stopped suddenly. It wasn¡¯t so much that he stopped talking, but stopped entirely. Stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped¡­ everything.

    ¡°Yes..?¡± Erik asked.

    A hole in the wall beside the paused Peon formed from nothing, almost like a portal in movies or video games. A new face ducked out head first, this one not resembling any of the other Peons.

    ¡°Mr¡­ Fried?¡± the man asked, looking at the palm of his hand. Even in death, Erik sighed.

    ¡°It¡¯s pronounced freed,¡± he responded, but nodded yes.

    ¡°Of course, my apologies. Please, follow me.¡±

    The man then disappeared in the blink of an eye. Erik wasn¡¯t quite sure what to make of this, but he didn¡¯t have much reason to say no. Erik casually walked through the hole in the wall. He half-expected one of those white rooms, but this one was actually quite nice.

    It had more than two different decorations, it had a splash of colour, it even had a small refrigerator in one corner. A couple of brown glass bottles in one of the corners was all Erik could see in there. This guy had style. He was likely part of the upper echelon of this place, considering his office, though he looked identical to all the other Peons.

    ¡°So, Mr Fried. As you probably guessed, this is about your genetic test,¡± the man started.

    ¡°The small hallway was some sort of scanner?¡± Erik interrupted.

    ¡°Quite right. Listen¡­ The results¡­¡±

    The guy was scrambling. Erik figured something might¡¯ve been wrong when this guy had stopped the Peon to talk to Erik himself, but even this guy didn¡¯t know what to say right now. Was it thatbad? Maybe this had all been some kind of mistake.

    Jessie¡¯s family supposedly had stories about these things, that she came from a family of witches, but this was all new to Erik. None of his departed family members had suddenly risen from the grave as far as he knew.

    ¡°So, you can control those other Peon-things? That¡¯s neat,¡± Erik attempted to break the ice, or at least the silence.

    The man sighed and slouched his shoulders.

    ¡°Listen, Erik, was it? What I¡¯m about to tell you will probably shake you to your very core. Nothing will ever be the same. I¡¯m not sure your mind can even survive this news¡­¡± the man started. He seemed much more determined this time around. ¡°You¡­ are a Titan.¡±

 Chapter 2: Know Your Remnants

    ¡°You¡­ are a Titan.¡±

    Erik looked the man dead in the eyes. A small bead of sweat ran down the man¡¯s face.

    ¡°A Titan?.. Are¡­ are you sure?¡± Erik asked, his eyes wide and mouth open.

    ¡°One hundred percent. The test is never wrong.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I mean, that¡­ tells me absolutely nothing, man! Come on!¡± Erik said, twisting his face in his palm as he did.

    ¡°Wh-... Excuse me?¡± the man asked, looking more shocked now than earlier.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about any of this stuff, alright?! I found out witches were real a few minutes ago! You think the word titan is going to mean anything to me? Geez.¡±

    ¡°O-oh, haa-haha¡­¡± the man tried to recover, but his voice was cracking. He cleared his throat before continuing.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Times aren¡¯t what they used to be. An aeon or three ago I would probably be tossed out of here for even mentioning¡­ Titans.¡±

    ¡°Why? I mean, are they super rare or maybe just explosively evil or something?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°What? Oh, yes. Very rare indeed. Evil? That¡¯s always up to the individual. It¡¯s said the Titans were the First People, very likely the ones who created the universe. Not from the First People, but literally the First People. I didn¡¯t even know the tablets were calibrated for this outcome.¡±

    ¡°I mean¡­ Peon hundred-and-three told me that a Remnant, which I supposedly am, is literally the remnants, or descendants rather, of the First People, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but Titans¡­ Titans were the absolute first. The first First People, if you like. So much power they must¡¯ve had back then¡­ In your case, ¡®Remnant¡¯ is more¡­ literal than in other cases,¡± the man continued, his focus slowly fading away.

    ¡°Super First, got it. Not anymore, I take it?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°Well¡­ No one knows. There hasn¡¯t been a Titan since¡­ well, practically ever! They are thought extinct, or were thought extinct.¡±

    ¡°So am I a lab rat now, or can I go?¡± Erik asked. Did it even matter?

    The man sighed, then looked down on his desk resignedly. A short while later, he looked up at Erik, who was already moving through the hole in the wall.

    ¡°I wish you well, Erik Fried.¡±

    After Erik had stepped through the wall, the hole immediately vanished and the Peon with the slab started back up. After about a second, it sounded like it rewinded for a second.

    ¡°You are a Titan¡± it said, as if nothing had happened in the last five minutes. It was also incredibly casual when saying Titan, much more so than that other guy, at least.

    ¡°Yeah, thanks.¡±

    ¡°No problem. Please follow me to the District.¡±

    The Peon then took the lead and continued down the hall, continuing Erik¡¯s journey through Afterlife. Next stop: the end.

    A short walk later, the Peon opened a new set of double doors and guided Erik through.

    ¡°Welcome to Afterlife,¡± he said.

    Unlike the boring plants and vases he had become accustomed to, this was something completely different. Neon signs, shops and crowds of people. At least at first glance. All the neon signs were of varying sizes and colours, but after a closer look, they were all for the same place, and all the arrows and text pointed towards a stall straight ahead of him. All other shops he could see were closed and empty, and probably hadn¡¯t been used for quite some time. As for the crowds¡­ nothing but more Peons.

    He saw one familiar face, or at least one other than the hundred or so identical faces. Jessie. She was standing in front of the stall straight ahead. As it seemed to be the only shop open, that made sense.

    ¡°Hey! Witch, right?¡± he asked as he approached her and she turned around.

    ¡°Oh, hey. That took a while. That¡¯s right! How about you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Some complications arose. Turns out I¡¯m a Titan.¡±

    Erik mimicked an explosion with his hands around his head.

    ¡°Well, woo-hoo!¡± Jessie exclaimed sarcastically. ¡°And that is?¡±

    ¡°No idea. Maybe I grow big?¡± Erik guessed.

    ¡°Well, here¡¯s hoping,¡± she said.

    Behind the stall stood a petite, old lady, her hair white and skin wrinkly.

    ¡°Hello! Welcome to the District of Afterlife. I wish you could have seen this place in its glory days! Now we even simulate crowds with these gods-awful Peonites,¡± the woman greeted, and continued talking.

    At some point, she walked away, talking at the same volume all the while. Half of what she said following that, Erik couldn¡¯t even make out.

    ¡°That¡¯s great, lady. So, what do you sell?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°I just told you!¡± the lady complained when she returned, smacking Erik in the head with a roll of paper. ¡°Everything!¡±

    ¡°Is everything an actual thing here, or do you mean everything everything?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure what you mean¡­¡± the old lady said, shaking her head gently in confusion.

    ¡°Magic¡¯s real, I guess. I¡¯m dead, but not, and next to me is a witch. Maybe everything is an actual object of great quantum time paradox power¡­ or something.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± the old lady responded, turning her head to look behind her, as if searching for something. ¡°Nope, don¡¯t got something like that,¡± she answered a moment later.

    Jessie laughed.

    ¡°Food?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°In your rooms,¡± she answered.

    ¡°Drink?¡±

    ¡°Part of food.¡±

    ¡°Clothes?¡±

    ¡°In your rooms.¡±

    ¡°Shoes?¡±

    ¡°Part of clothes.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it? You managed to think of two categories of stuff?¡± Jessie interrupted, grinning at Erik.

    ¡°What? I hoped it¡¯d be four categories! You think of something!¡±

    ¡°Uhmm¡­ Toys..?¡± she tried after ten or so seconds, barely creaking the word out with a slightly high-pitched voice.

    ¡°Nope,¡± the old lady answered. Erik laughed.

    ¡°See? Not that easy!¡± he said. ¡°Wait. Do you actually sell anything?¡± he then asked.

    ¡°Of course! I got some¡­ things¡­¡± the lady attempted.

    ¡°Do you?¡± Jessie asked.

    ¡°I think so¡­ Maybe come back tomorrow, I¡¯ll show you stuff!¡±

    While it didn¡¯t seem like the old lady, calling herself Nana, was of any use on the goods front, she turned out to be really helpful when talking about magic.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this something you should have asked the FAQ-Peon about?¡± she complained.

    ¡°This place is messed up. I¡¯m sure when you know all these things beforehand, it makes sense, but I didn¡¯t know anything about any of this before my body practically melted, and next thing I know, I¡¯m in a random room somewhere, where the barista from hell tells me I¡¯m dead and asks me if I have any allergies? After the weirdest questionnaire ever, I¡¯m sent to the next room where the party-planner from hell hits me up with an AMA about magic and Remnants? How the hell am I even supposed to know what to ask?¡±

    The two women stood silent for a while.

    ¡°Party-planner?¡± Jessie asked.

    ¡°Well, at first. Turns out Peon Fifteen was okay. I¡¯m sorry, This has been a hell of an hour,¡± Erik apologised.

    ¡°As you likely know by now, the First People were very powerful magical beings. At the time, the universe was full of magic and wonder. Today, that magic is nearly gone, the lot of it. Things have changed. Afterlife was made a long, long time ago. It was a time when magical beings were in decline due to watered down bloodlines. People weren¡¯t born Remnants anymore. They had to die, only to reawaken moments later. With less magic all around, their bodies couldn¡¯t survive the sudden influx of powerful magic. Those few who did suffered from broken minds.¡±

    Nana fiddled with her thumbs. ¡°And so, Afterlife was made, for two main reasons: to help newly awakened Remnants come to terms with their death and¡­ to help them transition. By transition, of course, I mean turning into a magical being. At Afterlife, you experience these next three months just like you normally would. You live in the now, you will sleep and eat, and days will go by like they normally do. In effect, however, your bodies are practically at a stand-still.¡±

    She paused, looking at the pair to see whether they were paying attention. She smiled and continued.

    ¡°Without Afterlife, had you died and awakened to your bloodlines, it would only take a moment. The magic latent in your souls would infuse your bodies with magic, awakening your Crests in a mere instant. As you have lived your entire lives in a magic void, however, you wouldn¡¯t be able to take it. Your bodies would disintegrate just as fast, and the soul would implode in on itself.¡±

    Jessie and Erik stood silently, listening to Nana intently. There was nothing in Nana¡¯s voice or stature that hinted at lies or guesswork. These were facts, sounding like they were told by someone who was really there at the start of it all.

    ¡°Crests?¡± Jessie asked, surprising Erik. He thought maybe she knew all about this stuff.

    ¡°Aye dear, Crests. The key to your powers, to all Remnants¡¯ powers. Every Crest is unique to the wearer. When completed, it will be one or more marks on your bodies, symbols of your true selves. The symbol will evolve with you as you grow stronger, unlocking more power. You might have heard that the vast power of the First People was unlike anything we have now. That is untrue. Every Remnant can be just as powerful! It is only the lack of magic that halts growth. Anyway, here at Afterlife you will be well taken care of. Consider this an extended vacation. You will have your own rooms, tailor-made to fit your needs. The two of you are lucky. Rarely, if ever, is there two awakened the same day,¡± Nana continued.

    Jessie and Erik looked at each other.

    ¡°And impossibly, even from the same world?¡± she guessed.

    Erik hadn¡¯t thought more about that since the hallway where they met. Was he standing next to an alien right now? Actually, now that he thought about it, he probably definitely was, as Nana was almost certainly not from Earth. But Jessie, he hadn¡¯t asked. If Afterlife covered the whole universe, Jessie might be from somewhere entirely different!

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°Err¡­ Earth?¡± Erik tried, looking expectantly at Jessie.

    ¡°Yes..?¡± was all she said in response, seemingly just as unsure as Erik.

    ¡°Pizza?¡± Erik attempted once more.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Fiat Panda?¡± Erik said, much more certain this time. Jessie laughed.

    ¡°Yes!¡± she exclaimed, and the following awkwardness where the pair didn¡¯t quite know whether to hug, shake hands or simply nod in acknowledgement was quite¡­ awkward.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯d say we¡¯re from the same world,¡± Erik said to Nana, clearing his throat first.

    ¡°Ahem, yeah, seems right,¡± Jessie said, vocalising her throat-clearing instead of actually doing it.

    A short while later, Erik was feeling the effects of the day, and wanted to lie down for a bit. A few hours ago, he had been on fire, after all. He considered that for a bit. Was he as upset as he should have been? Just a short time after his mother and himself, possibly even his father, had burned to death in their own home, here he was laughing with two strangers while learning about magic and was seemingly in a very good mood, one short outburst excluded.

    He tuned back in to their current conversation, where Jessie was taking the lead in asking questions.

    ¡°So, when we do magic, is there any reliable way to know how much mana we got, and how fast it replenishes? If not, do we just feel it?¡± she asked. She was enthusiastic, at least. Turned out Jessie was hoping for a user interface of some sort, like those in games.

    ¡°Energy, my dear. It varies, as some Remnants adapt different ways of actually managing their magic. You shouldn¡¯t be worried about that. The same energy you have used your entire lives is what is also used for magic. You know when your body needs rest and when to stop running, right?¡± Nana explained.

    ¡°Err¡­ right. So you¡¯re saying sprinting, jumping, climbing and spells use the same type of energy?¡± Erik asked, a bit surprised. ¡°See, where I¡¯m from, we have plenty of video games, which I won¡¯t explain right now. Mana is a very common resource these games use to let you know how many spells you can cast before you need to rest, or otherwise refill it.¡±

    So, what about mana, Nana? You made it sound as if you expend mana just running around,¡± Jessie said, turning back to Nana.

    ¡°Hah, Mana-Nana!¡± Erik burst, then chuckled. He noticed a faint curvature of Jessie¡¯s lips and a stealthy chuckle from her as well. He¡¯d always had a terrible, and childish, sense of humour.

    ¡°Stop calling it ¡®mana¡¯. It is energy, what you use for everyday movement and labour. Why should spells be any different?¡± Nana asked. ¡°You are magical beings.¡±

    ¡°Because it takes a lot more energy to create a fireball from nothing than it does to lift a grocery bag, that¡¯s why,¡± Erik said, raising his eyebrow at Nana as if this was perfectly reasonable.

    ¡°Yes it does, so consider how many bags you can take in one go now that you¡¯re practically a cosmic entity.¡±

    Nana then looked at them both with dead eyes. The younger pair looked at each other for a moment, then back to Nana.

    ¡°Right¡­¡± Erik said, after clearing his throat.

    Things might have been a bit different than Erik and Jessie had learned from video games, but it might prove to be much more user-friendly.

    The two Remnants thanked Nana for all her help, and agreed to return to her tomorrow, if nothing else to see if she had stocked up anything to buy. They got directions to their rooms, and were on their way.

    ¡°So, where are you from?¡± Jessie asked as the pair walked towards a new hallway, this one with several doors to their own apartments in Afterlife.

    ¡°Well, until recently I didn¡¯t think Earth was specific enough, but maybe it is?¡± Erik joked. Jessie laughed.

    ¡°Right, but where on Earth? You have the features of a Statesman,¡± she said, looking at his facial features. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me saying,¡± she added.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m from the Scandinavian Empire. Born and raised, although my grandparents were from the States. Germany, to be more exact. And you? Based on your accent I¡¯d say¡­ UB?¡± Erik guessed based on her accent.

    ¡°Yep! Good ol¡¯ United Britain. Best place on Earth, provided it doesn¡¯t rain!¡± she waved her hand in front of her very showman-like.

    ¡°Can I ask¡­ How¡¯d you die?¡± Erik asked after a few seconds of laughter.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know. I don¡¯t remember. Maybe I was hit by a car or something? I don¡¯t think I saw it coming. You?¡±

    ¡°Fire.¡±

    Erik stared at the doorway they were walking towards while they talked, never moving his eyes. Jessie noticed this.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ That must be hard,¡± she said, looking down on their moving feet.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ It should be, but I don¡¯t really feel it. It might just be this place, but I don¡¯t know. Still, I know exactly what to do when I get back. I¡¯ll look for my father. He might still be alive. Even though it doesn¡¯t matter to me right now if he is. Is that bad?¡±

    ¡°I think I feel the same way. Dying didn¡¯t really hit me that hard¡­ I mean, maybe it¡¯s just the negative that doesn''t impact us here? We can both laugh and joke, right?¡± Jessie asked, thinking about her own death. She, too, had just found out she died and she couldn¡¯t be much bothered to care. It was actually pretty exciting, being able to revive as a full-fledged witch.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting that feeling, too,¡± Erik responded while a Peon opened the doors into the hallway. The two first doors on either side of the hallway had a Peon standing in front of them. These ones opened their respective doors, and showed the pair to each of their rooms. They both decided to go lie down for a bit.

    A while later, Erik woke from a gentle knocking on his door. He couldn¡¯t be bothered to get up right away, but he said loudly that the door was unlocked. He was fairly certain it was Jessie, but even if it was just a Peon, they probably wanted something, so ignoring the knock either way wasn¡¯t practical.

    Jessie opened his door, stepped through the doorway and shut it behind her.

    ¡°You slept yet?¡± she asked, audibly skipping through his apartment before becoming visible past the corner of his bedroom.

    The apartments were more like large, luxurious hotel suites, finely decorated with vibrant coloured plants and paintings, vases and even a fountain in the middle of the living area. At least, Erik¡¯s looked like that. He hadn¡¯t seen Jessie¡¯s room.

    ¡°Yeah, a bit,¡± he responded, stretching his torso and arms as he sat up. ¡°There¡¯s beer in the fridge if you want.¡±

    ¡°Score,¡± Jessie responded, then promptly resumed skipping, this time through his living room and into the kitchen. ¡°You want one?¡± she asked after Erik heard the refrigerator door pop open.

    ¡°Sure. I¡¯m just gonna change, make yourself at home.¡±

    Luckily, the clothes were both varied and fitting. Erik had been concerned they would have to wear typical institution clothes, but his tastes in clothes seemed to have some sway in which clothes he could choose from. It wasn¡¯t the same clothes as he used to own, but they were close enough, and even seemed brand new, mostly even an upgrade in terms of fitting. Erik grabbed a plain grey shirt and jeans with similarly plain black socks.

    Fresh clothes on, Erik walked out into the living room, where he saw Jessie lying in the corner of the large, grey couch. Her left foot was on top of the backrest further down the couch. He noticed she had changed her clothes as well, and probably showered.

    She was wearing a white shirt with three white buttons down from the collar, two of them unbuttoned. She wore a pair of jean shorts and white, ankle-height socks. Her hair seemed to have been brushed and now flowed down to the centre of her back. The colour looked a bit lighter under the apartment¡¯s lighting, which was more bright, along with the white walls.

    ¡°Looking good. I see I¡¯m not the only one with a few luxurious commodities in my room,¡± Erik said, sitting down on the couch half a metre away from her, right where she had placed a bottle of beer on the table.

    ¡°It¡¯s great, right? If we¡¯re staying here for three months anyway, there had better be some luxury!¡± she said, then took a sip from her own beer in her hand.

    ¡°Cheers to that, then,¡± Erik said, picking up his bottle and bringing it halfway between them. She tapped it lightly with her own bottle, and took another sip. Erik did the same.

    ¡°I had mostly wine in my fridge. It¡¯s like they know all about me, which is a bit disturbing.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I have some wine too, if you¡¯d rather have that,¡± Erik responded.

    ¡°I saw. I like to drink beer when just hanging out, wine is for larger get-togethers or parties.¡±

    ¡°I see. I mostly drink wine when I¡¯m at a fancy dinner or something, which isn¡¯t all that often,¡± Erik said.

    They both just talked about normal things for an hour or so. It was nice gaining a new friend in the situation they were both in, and at the very least, they had that in common.

    ¡°So, any thoughts about this whole Remnants and Crest thing?¡± Jessie asked, practically in the middle of a longer discussion about which was better, burgers or pizza.

    ¡°Not really had the time to put together all the pieces yet. Besides, I thought you knew about these things. Didn¡¯t seem like it with Nana,¡± Erik said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t, not really. I know my heritage, but no one has explained what being a witch is actually all about. I didn¡¯t even think any of this was real until today. I think I know of a few other types of Remnants though. In my family we have stories, not handbooks. Great when you¡¯re a kid, but going through all this with no reference book? Not fun,¡± she explained.

    ¡°Any good stories to tell, then?¡±

    ¡°Later, if I feel like it. If you¡¯re lucky, I¡¯ll tell you that story about my great-great and that time she fought a vampire pirate for a golden chalice, which may or may not be the Holy Grail,¡± she said smugly.

    ¡°Lie,¡± Erik protested,

    ¡°Yeah, alright. My Nan has told me and my sister a few stories here and there, nothing really exciting, though. I mean, not more exciting than the fact that her mother was a witch who once, for real, kept a town safe during the entire European War.

    Erik, who had just poured a mouthful of beer, nearly choked on it, but managed to swallow it a moment later. ¡°What?¡± he exclaimed, coughing a little.

    ¡°She did!¡± Jessie laughed.

    ¡°That¡¯s cool!¡± Erik said, visualising a woman, a witch, fighting back against half an army of Royalists all by her lonesome. He figured it probably wasn¡¯t as grand as he thought it was, but what if it was?

    ¡°I know! She left when my mother was born, though. No one¡¯s seen her since. Nan said her mother left for somewhere, since Nan was all grown up. It¡¯s a recurring thing in our family, I think, that we¡¯re considered grown up once we have children of our own. At least, it used to be.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s actually kind of beautiful, in a way. Even though your great grandmother had died and become a witch, she still raised her daughter until she could take care of herself. I¡¯m not sure how my life would¡¯ve been if one of my parents were some interdimensional kung-fu space wizard, but I think I¡¯m better for it, to be honest.

    ¡°I suppose. I¡¯ve never thought of it like that. My mum died when I was ten, leaving me and my sister with my father. He¡¯s a great father, but as a mechanic he had to work a lot to get the money to go around. And so, she couldn¡¯t take care of us until we had children of our own.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Erik said, not knowing what more to say. He¡¯d just lost his own mother not even a day ago, but losing family wasn¡¯t a competition. There wasn¡¯t any reason to bring it up without her asking. ¡°What about your Nan, or your sister?¡±

    ¡°She died when I was a teenager. She was never the same after mum died, but she tried to hide it when around us. I¡¯m not sure my sister noticed the same, but we had a good life, all things considering. I¡¯m just worried about my sister. She thinks her older sister is dead. I mean, I am dead, but only for a few months, and it sucks that she doesn¡¯t know that. I hope she¡¯ll be alright. She still lives with my father, but she always wanted to come live with me since I moved out.

    ¡°At least you¡¯ll be back, right? I¡¯m sure she can handle herself just fine. I¡¯m sorry for your mum and Nan.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, and I¡¯m not just saying that. It was fine long before I even got here, where fine is practically the lowest it can go,¡± she said, genuinely smiling at Erik. She then rose from the couch. ¡°Another one?¡±

    ¡°Sure. So what do you want to do when you get back? After the family reunion, of course. I mean, dungeon-delving and fighting monsters doesn¡¯t sound probable, does it?¡± Erik asked, speaking louder the further away Jessie got. As she got closer, fresh bottles of unmarked beer in her hands, he lowered his volume to normal again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I mean, I¡¯ve always wanted a tour of the Scandinavian Empire,¡± she said, showing a sarcastically wide smile.

    ¡°Well, once you¡¯re there, just shoot a couple of fireballs up at the sky and I¡¯m bound to find you eventually,¡± Erik answered with a laugh.

    ¡°You think I¡¯m joking¡± she asked, her face taking on more serious features as she looked at him. Her eyes showed she wasn¡¯t in any foul mood though.

    ¡°Actually, no, I don¡¯t. If you want to, you can come. I don¡¯t know what to do next, so why not travel the world with the only other one like me I know. We could be a power couple,¡± he answered, smiling at her.

    ¡°Couple, eh? You sure work fast!¡± she chuckled.

    ¡°I meant Power-duo, but that doesn¡¯t sound as good,¡± he corrected himself, but Jessie was laughing too hard at him to listen. ¡°Oh, shut up.¡±

    ¡°So, we have a deal?¡± Jessie asked, holding her hand open between the two.

    ¡°We do,¡± Erik answered, grabbing her hand and shaking it.

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    A few minutes later they both said good night and went back to bed. The next morning, after a nice, long shower, Erik knocked on Jessie¡¯s door for breakfast, then they both headed to Nana¡¯s stall.

    ¡°Morning, Nana.¡±

    The young Remnants greeted her with wide smiles.

    ¡°Morning? At this hour? Pfft, youngfolk,¡± she complained, but smiled nearly as wide as they did.

    ¡°It¡¯s barely nine! I think¡­¡± Erik complained right back. ¡°So, what have you got to sell us today?¡± He looked at the old lady with an expectant look. He wasn¡¯t expecting her to have much.

    ¡°What do you need, kid?¡± she asked back, wiggling her eyebrows knowingly.

    ¡°That depends on what you have!¡± he returned.

    ¡°I have everything you need! Just name it,¡± she grinned.

    ¡°I¡¯d like a¡­n ice cream, please!¡±

    ¡°In your freezer,¡± she said, her grin growing wider.

    ¡°Fuck. You?¡±

    ¡°Still nothing,¡± Jessie said, disappointed in herself.

    ¡°What do you sell, woman?¡± Erik asked loudly and in a faked deep voice.

    Jessie chuckled. ¡°Oh gods, is that your hero voice?¡± she groaned.

    ¡°Quite,¡± he said in the same manner, holding his gaze firmly at Nana.

    Nana sighed and laughed a bit herself.

    ¡°I have only what you need, I promise. The fact that you don¡¯t require anything is why I don¡¯t have anything,¡± she explained.

    ¡°A ha! Ye olde shoppe of requirements! Your secret is out at last, I say!¡±

    ¡°What are you even supposed to be, a freaky mediaeval knight crossed with 60¡¯s Superman?¡± Jessie groaned.

    ¡°Quite, I say! Indubitably or¡­ some-such.¡±

    ¡°Stop it.¡±

    ¡°I refuse,¡± Erik said, still with the voice.

    ¡°Stop it.¡±

    ¡°I say nay!¡±

    ¡°Stop it, or I¡¯ll firebolt your ass to ¡®ye olde¡¯ kingdom come!¡±

    ¡°Fireball, surely.¡±

    ¡°Fire bolt.¡±

    Nana, at this point, had long since started ignoring the pair. From deeper inside her shop, which only looked like a stall from the front, she could see that the young woman called Jessie was really enjoying herself, despite her acting annoyed. The old woman chuckled to herself and shook her head as she carried on with her own business. The pair soon shuffled away without saying goodbye to the old woman, as they were still in the middle of teasing one another.

    ¡°Certainly, a ball maketh more sense!¡± he said.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a bolt, you dolt.¡±

    The pair returned not five minutes later, and were still on this, though Erik¡¯s voice had returned to normal.

    ¡°I mean, where do you even get bolt from? Frost bolt?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called fire bolt everywhere! Also flame bolt, some places, but mainly fire bolt!¡±

    ¡°Nowhere is it even called that! You¡¯re confusing it with frost bolt! Unless you¡¯re confusing it with Thunder bolt. Oh, hey Nana,¡± Erik said, genuinely a bit fired up in their conversation now. He greeted Nana normally, though.

    ¡°You just left,¡± Nana said, confused as to why they both returned so quickly.

    ¡°Yeah, I wanted ice cream. Don¡¯t know about her though,¡± he said, licking his ice cream while turning to look at Jessie.

    ¡°I just wanted some peace and quiet from you,¡± she said. Then licked her own ice cream.

 Chapter 3: Pain, Fever And Two Hurting Remnants

    The following week, the two Remnants did what they could to learn as much as possible about magic and Remnants. They did this while helping Nana out in her shop. This, it turned out, meant they did absolutely nothing. Unlike Nana, who had probably done this for millenia, they were awful at faking work. Nana made it seem natural.

    Besides this, they looked around the complex some more. They never attempted going the way they initially came from, but they went most everywhere else. They had found a pool in a room illuminated with, unexpectedly, sunlight.

    It was warm, with a gentle breeze running past them from time to time. They had spent a few afternoons in this room, being waited upon by Peons. What had previously been a modern luxury apartment complex was now a full on resort.

    The pool even had a beach, where Jessie was more comfortable relaxing in the sun with a towel underneath her. Erik was more comfortable in a deck chair.

    ¡°Do you think this tan will carry over to Earth when we leave?¡± Jessie asked after wondering about something for about a minute.

    ¡°Probably?¡± Erik answered in a high pitched voice.

    ¡°I mean, I¡¯m surprised I even got a tan. Our bodies are supposedly practically frozen in time, right? How am I getting a tan?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Good old fashioned temporal displacement and quantum entangled dark matter particle technology. That¡¯s always the answer,¡± Erik answered, almost professionally.

    ¡°Do you know any other big words or just ¡®quantum¡¯? Jessie asked.

    ¡°Of course! I did mention temporal displacement, right?¡± he joked.

    ¡°If you had only stopped there.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t need to know what big words mean, I just need to know I know the words, pup!¡±

    ¡°Pup?¡±

    ¡°I said that, didn¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°You really did.¡±

    Eight days post-death, the pair discovered another room. They were sure they had been there earlier, but hadn¡¯t seen anything out of the ordinary. Now, however, they saw something quite pleasing. At least for Erik.

    ¡°Oh, yes! Exactly what we needed!¡± he shouted into the newly discovered room. They were still standing in the dull hallways of normal Afterlife.

    ¡°Please, no.¡±

    Inside the new room was a large, brown wooden cabin, with a dark tiled roof. Through the windows shone a warm, fiery orange light that flickered slightly.

    ¡°Hell yes, and you¡¯re coming with me. We¡¯re going skiing!¡±

    Jessie groaned when she got back out of her apartment. She was clad in thick outer clothing, which had enough surface area to cover her entire body thrice over.

    She wore large ski boots which were incredibly hard to walk in, and the outerwear certainly didn¡¯t help. Even under her outerwear she wore thick, wool and cotton clothes. On her head, she had skiing goggles with a dark orange tint.

    She somehow managed to walk all the way to Nana¡¯s shop, where they were supposed to meet up. Having an actual need of something not provided by their rooms, Nana¡¯s shop actually had something stocked - skis.

    Jessie was more baffled by this than the winter hellscape they had found, especially since she had been working there part-time for a week now, and hadn¡¯t seen anything resembling skis.

    ¡°Erik has gone on ahead of you, dear. He told me to pass the message along,¡± Nana said.

    ¡°Of course he did,¡± Jessie sighed. ¡°Skis please?¡±

    Nana handed the overdressed girl a pair of skis designed for slalom. Jessie attempted to graciously accept the skis, but barely managed to grab them at all. She wandered away with one ski over her right shoulder and between her barely moving legs, and the other horizontally crossing her chest and the other ski.

    The difficulties of walking were magnified when entering the white hellscape where the cabin was. Instead of walking on solid ground, it quickly turned soft and cold, and nearly twenty centimetres deep in some places.

    After a few minutes of further struggling, she arrived on the patio outside the cabin, where another set of skis were propped up to the outer wall of the brown cabin. Jessie mimicked this, and before opening the door, she tossed her snowy white hair out, ruffling away as much snow as she could before doing the same with her clothes. She then entered the cabin.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± was all she said when she was greeted by Erik, who was sitting nice and comfy on the sofa in front of a massive, lit fireplace. The interior of the cabin was actually quite beautiful. A lighter shade of wood made up the walls, which was decorated with red and blue curtains, and several picture frames in gold and bronze.

    The furniture was all magnificently carved wood from the chairs to the table. It was old-looking, but had a certain charm that Jessie couldn¡¯t do anything but love. What angered her was the couch-decor.

    Erik wore a dark green woollen sweater, regular denim trousers and some thick black socks, also made of wool. That was it. He calmly smiled at her, waving around the room with a large red mug in his hand, as if to show her around.

    ¡°Beautiful, right?¡± he asked.

    ¡°What the fuck? Why aren¡¯t you dressed? We were going skiing, remember?¡± she said, anger filling her voice.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± he asked, not certain why she was so bothered.

    ¡°So let¡¯s go? Get dressed,¡± she said, pointing towards the door she had just stepped in from.

    ¡°No, no, this is skiing!¡± he said, waving around the room once more. ¡°Take those clothes off, grab some hot cocoa or coffee, and get comfy!¡± He then proceeded to take a slurping sip from the steaming mug in his hands.

    ¡°Skiing is out there, in the snow,¡± Jessie stated. ¡°With skis.¡±

    ¡°Nah, no one does that anymore. Skiing is sitting inside a warm cabin with friends and family, having a cosy time in front of the fire. Laughing, playing games and making jokes until someone inadvertently opens the first beer of the night. From that point on, that¡¯s what we call downhill skiing,¡± Erik laughed.

    ¡°I had mentally prepared for actual skiing¡­ But that doesn¡¯t sound so bad,¡± she admitted. ¡°Though I¡¯ve never been skiing before.¡±

    ¡°Trust me, it¡¯s this. Besides, the weather is awful. Didn¡¯t you see? It¡¯s snowing mad out there.¡±

    ¡°Of course I saw, I was just there!¡±

    ¡°Relax! If it clears up, we¡¯ll go skiing,¡± Erik said, pronouncing skiing as if it wasn¡¯t the true meaning of the word.

    A few hours later, they were both sitting there, laughing, joking and having a good time.

    ¡°Another batch of hot cocoa, madame?¡± Erik asked, getting up to go to the kitchen.

    ¡°You know what, I think I want a nice cold beer right about now,¡± Jessie responded.

    ¡°Oh, going downhill, then. I got you,¡± Erik said, opening the fridge and taking two bottles of nice, frosty beer out. As soon as the cold beer exited the fridge, condensation covered the glass like mist.

    ¡°Downhill is what normal people call afterski, right?¡±

    ¡°Hell no! Also, what?¡± Erik exclaimed. ¡°I¡¯m normal.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the difference, then?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no difference, I¡¯m just norwegian. Hell, all scandis are more or less the same¡­ Except the Swedes¡­ bless them, they try.¡±

    ¡°The difference between afterski and ¡®downhill skiing¡¯? And don¡¯t say the latter is a sport, ya dolt,¡± Jessie said, with a knowing smile on her face. She grabbed the ice cold glass bottle being handed to her, her hand instantly wet from the condensation on the outside of the bottle. She took a sip, and placed the bottle on a coaster on the table. While probably magicked here somehow, she didn¡¯t want to ruin the beautiful woodwork.

    ¡°You know me too well, already. Downhill skiing is your average get-together with your friends and family, where it doesn¡¯t really matter if someone pukes all over the floor, because that vomit is filled with love,¡± Erik started, then took a sip of his own before continuing.

    ¡°-except in a skiing lodge! Afterski, on the other hand, while still happening at a skiing lodge, is basically just a nightclub where people are overdressed in a whole different way. That means, like at all nightclubs, the puke is only filled with misery, heartache, bad decisions and music so loud you can only hear the high tones and only feel the bass.¡±

    ¡°Not a fan of nightclubs?¡± Jessie asked.

    ¡°Not a fan of nightclubs. Big fan of downhill skiing, though!¡± he laughed, bringing his bottle towards Jessie.

    ¡°Cheers,¡± she said.

    The morning after, during breakfast, Erik got a vague flashback of the night before. He looked at Jessie, wanting to say something, or ask something, only he didn¡¯t know which words to use.

    ¡°We swore never to speak of it again,¡± she said, her eyes dark and bloodshot.

    ¡°Right,¡± Erik said.

    Three days later, the two Remnants saw something unexpected. Having found a room with a pool-beach and another with a winter hellscape and a nice cabin in it, unexpected was hard to come by. There were no other words for it, however.

    ¡°Is that¡­?¡± Jessie asked.

    Erik took a look in the direction Jessie was looking, and somehow did a genuine double-take. ¡°I think it is.¡±

    The Remnant, a tall, ashen-blonde woman looking like she was in her mid-twenties had her hair neatly braided in one thick braid which seemed to gently flow over her right shoulder and down along her body. She wore a green tunic and black shorts of some kind of leather. Green thigh-highs lead straight into a pair of brown leather boots.

    The entire ensemble resembled a classic starter-costume for Ranger-classes in some games. Her hair did nothing to hide the woman¡¯s most defining feature, however. Her ears¡­ were pointy. They weren¡¯t human-y pointy, they were pointy-pointy. Like german shepherd-pointy. Like elf-pointy.

    Not only was this the first other Remnant the two had ever seen besides themselves, but it was a real, genuine elf. While the elf didn¡¯t seem to notice the staring pair, she started walking in their general direction. Her walk was immensely graceful. It was like the elves of Tolkien¡¯s works brought to life. Well, Afterlife.

    The pair, who sat a small distance from Nana¡¯s shop taking a break from work, didn¡¯t seem to catch the elf¡¯s interest at all as she lusciously moved to the front of Nana¡¯s stall. Being greeted by Nana, the elf smiled, showing a beautiful set of white teeth surrounded by soft, thick, pink lips. What came next was the real shocker, however.

    As the elven lady greeted Nana, a wave of cacophony and hellish sounds reached both Erik¡¯s and Jessie¡¯s ears, and they both covered their ears in pain in complete sync. It was like a thunderstorm in their heads, rattling their brains.

    The immense headache following this was one of the worst things Erik had ever experienced. Besides burning to death, obviously. Jessie looked to feel exactly the same. Nana stood resolute as ever, and even responded to the green-clad girl.

    Unsure what was happening, a new wave came unto them once more as the elf spoke again. While being sort of prepared that time, it was just as bad as the first time.

    Nana pointed over towards the doors to the apartments, and the elf smiled a gentle smile. Suddenly, she noticed the pair sitting to the side, hands covering their ears in pain. She seemed to understand what had happened to them, as she apologetically bowed, smiled and went on her way.

    Curious, the pair immediately rushed over to Nana¡¯s.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± Erik asked, his head still spinning and throbbing.

    ¡°Oh, that one? She¡¯s an elf, dear. I would recommend staying away from her, at least for now. You two and her aren¡¯t quite¡­¡± Nana started, trying to find the right word for whatever that was. ¡°Compatible yet,¡± she finished.

    ¡°You got that right. A bulldozer just ran over my brain,¡± Erik groaned.

    ¡°What do you mean yet?¡± Jessie asked, curiously looking towards the elf now entering the hallways with their apartments. She had a gleam in her eye that Erik didn¡¯t know what meant. The elf looked back just then, smiling at them.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t really magic beings yet, and languages from other magical realms can be¡­ hard on your bodies. Know that that woman will feel the exact same pain you just did if you talked to her. You should talk to her once your Crests are more developed, however. The things you can learn from each other. That¡¯s real beauty,¡± Nana said, suddenly somewhere else in her mind.

    ¡°I think you¡¯re right,¡± Jessie said, also somewhere else entirely, still looking towards the doors the elf had entered, which were now shut.

    ¡°So elves are a thing,¡± Erik said. They were both once more in his living room, having a drink and enjoying each other¡¯s company. ¡°And the Peon told me about werewolves and vampires, so we assume those are things as well.¡±

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°He told me about clowns,¡± Jessie interrupted.

    ¡°Right, and clowns. Of course that¡¯s a thing. And you¡¯re a witch, I¡¯m a titan, and we just heard an elf speak, and my brain practically liquefied.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think ¡®elf¡¯ is her Remnant type. Like, we¡¯re both human even though we¡¯re not the same Remnant type, right?¡±

    ¡°I guess¡­ But maybe not really? You¡¯re saying that even though she¡¯s an elf, she can be a witch as well, which I suppose is true.¡±

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re probably not human anymore, not really. Humans don¡¯t die and come back to life some time later. Maybe this has fuelled the vampire and zombie stories from back home? ¡®To become a vampire you need to die with vampire blood in your system¡¯?¡± Jessie asked, contemplating her own humanity.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think ¡®The Vampire Journals¡¯ didn¡¯t accidentally get things right, but maybe you¡¯re on to something. But how can we interact with her if she makes our heads melt just from speaking?¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t hear anything Nana said?¡± Jessie asked, sighing.

    ¡°Elves are a thing, Jess. Why would I listen to an old woman when elves are real?¡± he asked, gesturing enthusiastically with his arms.

    ¡°Because she explained it? The elf is from a whole other world, maybe even another dimension as far as we¡¯re concerned. If magic is what took us here, that means magic took her here as well. I don¡¯t think the magic of Afterlife bothers with translating everything.

    You can understand me just fine, right? No headaches when we talk,¡± she continued.

    ¡°Well. Not as much, maybe,¡± Erik joked.

    ¡°Because we¡¯re from the same place. And when I say place, I don¡¯t necessarily mean Earth, I mean¡­ that elf could be from a whole different universe.¡±

    ¡°Universe?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know the limits of Afterlife. It might be¡­ interversal? Is that a thing?¡±

    ¡°Superversal! Afterlife just keeps on surprising you, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°Superversal is not a word.

    ¡°It is now. We¡¯re past science here, Jessie. We¡¯re ass deep in liquid magiscience here. We can call it whatever we like!¡±

    ¡°Magiscience isn¡¯t a word, either,¡± Jessie groaned. ¡°Nana said our Crests needed to develop more for us to interact with the elf. Maybe that means our magic might be the solution, not the Afterlife¡¯s magic. You¡¯re a titan now, I¡¯m a witch. We¡¯re technically not human, especially not when we get our Crests.¡±

    ¡°So, you and I from Universe A can¡¯t tolerate the elf because she¡¯s from Universe B, but human us could have understood a vampire had he been from Universe A? Is that your theory?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. So I¡¯m thinking it¡¯s more the actual language. Like a song where the sound file isn¡¯t supported by your phone, only instead of refusing to play it or give an error message, it just tries it anyway and just screeches instead of playing the song.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re simply just¡­ incompatible?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°Well, we can look at her just fine. Had she understood our alphabet, we could probably communicate. Even body language might be hard, since we have no idea what kind of culture she¡¯s from. Have you ever seen anyone bow before? Like, for real?¡±

    ¡°Never. So, until we get our Crests, the only thing we can do is star- I mean, admi- err, I mean, stay away from her?¡± Erik asked, intentionally fumbling his words.

    Jessie laughed. ¡°Yep. For her sake, too.¡±

    The next morning, Erik wasn¡¯t feeling good at all. His chest was hurting intensely along with his head and practically every muscle in his body. The pain varied from place to place, even the type of pain. His head was refusing to interpret any visual signals, and had locked his eyelids shut. It also felt like it vibrated, which did not feel good at all.

    As his brain knocked around, repeatedly hitting its own protective skull, it felt like he suffered a barrage of small concussions. His muscles refused to do anything apart from aching, possibly because his brain was having a fiesta all by its lonesome. The aching could only be described as a slithering ache, like the muscles had been replaced by snakes that were also poisonous to the touch.

    The worst of all was the pain in his chest. It was a searing pain much worse, he reckoned, than actually having his chest on fire and melted away. He didn¡¯t remember hurting so much when he was¡­ alight.

    He couldn¡¯t help but let out groaning screams every now and then. He had completely lost control of his entire body.

    He heard gentle knocking on his door. He didn¡¯t say anything. He didn¡¯t move anything but the parts that moved all by themselves. It knocked again, just as gently. Erik wasn¡¯t sure how long it had been since the initial knock, but it felt like hours, if not days. He screamed.

    Jessie opened the door and rushed in, letting the door slam into the wall with a bang. She rushed to him where he lay in his bedroom, covered in sweat and, in all likelihood, every other bodily fluid possible. He wasn¡¯t sure, but it seemed just like his luck that a pretty girl would come to take care of him, and there he was covered in his own bodily fluids, scaring her off. She didn¡¯t leave, though.

    At first, she looked panicked. She buzzed around, finding towels, both wet and dry, warm and cold. She then rushed around some more, finding no more than three different glasses of water, as if the type of glass would mean anything. A fourth glass with an amber liquid was appreciated, however, though Erik figured that glass in particular was one hundred percent panic.

    Erik saw her next to him, holding a wet, cold towel to his head before she vanished, like smoke. The next second, if that, she reappeared from the door to his bedroom. He didn¡¯t know if he was hallucinating or not, but something wasn¡¯t making sense.

    ¡°I talked to Nana, and she has purposefully and severely downplayed what getting our Crests feel like. You¡¯ll feel like this for the rest of the day, but should wake up tomorrow with just a soaring high fever, muscle-aches, headache and mild-to-aggressive tendencies towards suicide,¡± Jessie explained.

    Inside, Erik felt better. Jessie joking around even now really did help. Inside, meaning his mind, not inside his body. That place hella awful.

    She did what she could for him, but eventually left him to be. She realised that he wouldn¡¯t want her to hover around him all day. That would make him feel bad. And also, he might have then had to do that for her in return, whenever she started her ¡®awakening¡¯. He really didn¡¯t want that.

    An unknown amount of time later, Erik managed to crawl into the shower before passing out. Somehow, he had managed to turn the water on first, as he woke some time later soaking wet, the skin on his hands rubbery and wrinkly.

    A few minutes later, he had also somehow managed the soapy bit of a shower, and rolled around on the floor on a pile of dry, clean towels and bathrobes which was somehow weirdly comforting. Finding a dry bathrobe, he somehow got it on correctly, and went out of his bathroom. It was nice that there was always enough stuff for what he needed.

    As he opened his apartment door to knock at Jessie¡¯s, her door opened as well almost at the same time. The scantily-clad, long legged woman exiting was definitely not Jessie. Thank the gods it wasn¡¯t Nana, either. The curvaceous, ashen-blonde elf paused, stared at Erik for just a moment, then smiled a sinful, almost mischievous little smile, before closing the door behind her and walking deeper into the hallway, presumably to her own apartment.

    Her lithe movements truly were a sight to behold, especially given her state of dress. For a second, one blessed second, he didn¡¯t feel any pain whatsoever. That second ended much sooner than every other second had the last day.

    Approaching Jessie¡¯s door, it once again opened by itself, and another woman showing a lot of skin appeared. What would have truly surprised Erik at this point, was another elven lady. It was Jessie this time.

    ¡°Oh, fuck!¡± she exclaimed, covering her bikini-clad body quickly by closing her bathrobe and tying it up. ¡°Heeey,¡± she tried, acting like nothing had happened. She looked down the hallway for a second, spotting the elf and looked back at Erik with a wry smile. ¡°So, I did a thing¡­¡±

    Jessie¡¯s apartment was the mirror image of Erik¡¯s in terms of construction, but the style and decor were different, likely fitting her tastes rather than his. Jessie placed two ice cold glasses of water on the sofa table in front of him, then going back to the kitchen area to get something to drink for herself. Erik immediately grabbed both glasses, pressing one against his temple and the other up his shirt and against his chest.

    While the burning sensation had calmed a little bit, he still felt like he was submerged in embers, but his head and chest had it the worst. Jessie came back a moment later, sitting next to him on the couch.

    ¡°So I¡¯m stuck in my room having a magic awakening which feels like dying three times over, and you go to the beach to pick up chicks?¡± Erik said, feigning hurt with an attempt at a smile.

    ¡°It just sort of happened,¡± Jessie started. ¡°I was nervous about going through what you were going through, so I went to the pool to calm down and relax. The elf was there, so we greeted each other wordlessly. I had my sunglasses, so of course, I kept checking her out, and noticed she did the same.¡±

    ¡°But how did-¡± Erik started, but stopped to focus on moving one of his glasses to a hotter area. ¡°How does that work? You can¡¯t talk, right?¡±

    ¡°The first day, it was kind of awkward. The second day, oof! That elf needs a leash. Not even an hour after I got to the beach, we were back in my room. No talking needed, just hot, mind-melting, crazy se-¡±

    ¡°Thanks, got it,¡± Erik interrupted, trying not to visualise it. Jessie giggled in response. ¡°So I¡¯ve been out for two days?

    ¡°Three, actually. Enough for a lot of encores, if you know what I mean,¡± Jessie said with a sly wink.

    Had he really been out for so long? Everything was just a haze. All he could remember was pain and fire.

    ¡°I checked up on you, you know! Several times a day, but you were out.¡± Jessie said, almost apologetically.

    ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t know it had been that long. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not mad. And thanks,¡± Erik said, smiling at Jessie.

    Two days later, Erik wasn¡¯t in as much pain any more. He had noticed red bruises on his chest, itching like mosquito bites. He guessed that was his Crest forming, reaching his outer skin layer.

    Nana had said the Crest would be almost like a tattoo, which Erik wasn¡¯t all that happy about. He didn¡¯t have any tattoos, nor did he want one. He didn¡¯t mind them on other people, and he understood why people got tattoos, but he wasn¡¯t the type for it.

    Right now, he felt like immediately after he¡¯d burned himself on the stove, and holding his body under cold, running water. His skin felt oddly tight, but didn¡¯t really hurt anymore. He had felt well enough to hang with Jessie the past days, who still hadn¡¯t started feeling the effects of her Crest.

    Jessie had split her time between Erik, Nana¡¯s shop and the elf. Erik didn¡¯t mind the highly sexual relationship between the women, as it allowed him time to rest and relax. He had even visited the winter cabin just to lay in the snow to cool.

    What he did mind about it was the two young and beautiful women indulging right next door. He was just a man in his early twenties, after all. There were only so many things his mind could distract itself with before thinking about it.

    The following day, Jessie didn¡¯t answer when Erik knocked on her door, and Erik went around their usual hangouts to look for her, but she was nowhere to be found. He returned to her door, attempting a knock again, but still didn¡¯t get an answer.

    He opened the door as he thought maybe her Crest had started developing. Erik had barely managed to let out a scream when his ¡®awakening¡¯ had started and Jessie was at his door. He had mixed feelings about the scene in front of him.

    Both naked women in front of him were breathing heavily, and the amount of limbs writhing around was hard to keep track of. It was unclear whose body was on top of the other, but what was happening was plain as day; both of them had started developing their Crests. With a stressed sigh,

    Erik got to work, getting wet towels, cold water and blankets to cover the girls up. Both the girls knew he was there, but didn¡¯t seem capable of acknowledging that fact. Maybe they tried not to, as when Jessie let out an audible groan, the elf likewise tensed up and seemed to be in more pain than earlier. Of course they were trying to keep silent, they couldn¡¯t speak to each other unless they wanted an interdimensional headache.

    When it was the elf¡¯s turn to let some sound out, Jessie almost rolled up into the foetal position in response, her body tightening. Erik didn¡¯t experience anything other than a dull headache, however.

    ¡°Okay girls, I¡¯m going to have to split you up,¡± Erik said, and Jessie¡¯s eyes locked onto his with a fierce expression.

    Erik understood why she reacted that way, and when she looked at the elf beside her having no adverse reaction to his loud words, she relaxed again, at least as much as she could given the circumstances.

    ¡°You¡¯re both hurting each other. The couch pulls out for some reason, so I¡¯ll put one of you there,¡± he said in response, leaving the bedroom to prepare the sofa.

    When everything was ready, he placed an arm under the elf¡¯s thighs and the other under her back, lifting her up and carrying her to the couch. She groaned something, and the tiny amount of pain in his head somehow gave meaning to the words. He didn¡¯t understand her words at all, but the meaning behind them was somehow translated; thank you.

    Erik did what he could to care for the girls the following days, but like him, they were mostly sleeping the days away. They were never conscious at the same time, and they both asked about the other when they were present enough to speak.

    Erik learned that his newfound power to know the meaning behind the elf¡¯s words worked both ways, so she knew the meaning behind his words as well, even though her Crest hadn¡¯t developed enough to do the same.

    He also realised that the girls¡¯ relationship wasn¡¯t purely sexual, but both of them cared a lot about each other. How that had happened with barely any communication, he didn¡¯t know, but he was happy for Jessie.

    Her name, or rather, the meaning of her name, was Floral Pattern of Plentiful Colours. It was a mouthful to say, so he tried to avoid it whenever they talked, but he did say it a few times, and she did confirm that was her name.

    However the translation worked, it was possible to communicate with her from now on. When they were feeling better, Jessie moved to the couch as well. They couldn¡¯t understand each other quite yet, but the unrelenting pain whenever they heard each other speak was mostly gone. It allowed them to laugh more openly and without restraint, so obviously Erik couldn¡¯t stand to be around them. New couples or intense flings were always obnoxious for other people.

    Jessie hadn¡¯t deserted Erik, however. The three of them hung out a lot over the next few months, and Nana had been right; they could learn a lot from each other. Her name was Nwhirenahosuo, which was much more difficult to say than Flower Pattern of Plentiful Colours, but Hosu was the equivalent of her family name or surname, and she didn¡¯t mind being called that.

    After Erik, and eventually the two women, developed their Crests more, communication got easier between them, and it wasn¡¯t any longer just the meaning of their words that got through, but it became clear to understand, and the pain went completely away.

    Erik¡¯s Crest resembled something like a black hole, where from the centre, four black, curved lines swirled outwards and grew thinner. On each of these lines were one large hexagonal shape at its root, and two smaller ones along each line, the last one right at the thin end of the lines. Nana had explained this during the first week, but they wanted a reconfirmation when all their Crests were mostly developed, at least visually.

    All Crests were different, in one way or another, and the core of the crest would fill with a symbol signifying the Remnant¡¯s core power. The remaining month or so in Afterlife would mainly build this power into something more or less unique to the person, though also based on their type.

    A Werewolf would be a lot less likely to have a core power to fling fireballs than a witch was, though it wasn¡¯t impossible. A werewolf would be more likely to be able to inflict disease or enhance themselves or others, for example.

    The shapes further away from the core of the Crest were additional powers, which wouldn¡¯t actually grow on their own, but had to be absorbed from crystals or gems. They wouldn¡¯t be able to get any of these in Afterlife, however.

    Hosu was just as ignorant about these things as Erik was, as her own world was also a magic void, just like Earth. Her apologetic bow on her first day in Afterlife was because Nana had told her to speak less loudly, it turned out.

    Erik and Jessie both found that odd, but they had probably expected elves to be a magical species, not just another species similar to humans. All the games, books and films had lied to them.

    What they had been right about was their relationship towards nature. Hosu lived in a treehouse. The tree itself was her house. The house hadn¡¯t been built on or in the tree, but it had been grown.

    Her people abhorred the idea of damaging nature for one¡¯s own benefit, but the uncomfortable conversation about how houses were built on Earth went fine, as she understood that they were from a whole other planet, and cultures varied, even among the elven planet. It didn¡¯t seem like they were that different, all things considering.

    They had wars among their different nations just like humans did, and some nations were more theologically inclined than others. They had no magic, except for in their stories, just like Earth. If there were any Remnants around, they were hiding, or at least not making it known they had magic.

    Erik supposed there had to be living Remnants back home. According to Nana, Remnants were mostly blessed with long lives, especially if they kept getting stronger.

    Getting their Crests, core powers and other abilities from absorbing gems was only the first step in becoming a magical being. The powers would all be ¡®low-powered¡¯ at the beginning, but they could grow stronger over time, if the Remnant tried to do so.

    Erik jotted down Nana¡¯s explanation for this, but it didn¡¯t make much sense to him, so he tried translating it to more familiar terms.

    To grow a power, the Remnant had to do three things; They had to gain experience, kind of like weapon experience in some games, where using this and that weapon gave experience in that weapon type. This was the most logical, as this was just like everything else: do something over and over again, get better at it.

    The next part was something Nana called ¡®contemplation¡¯, which sounded much like meditation. Erik didn¡¯t have much experience with meditation, but he figured it was meant to clear his mind.

    Contemplation, on the other hand, was meant to be used after the ¡®experience¡¯ part, where he would look back at his previous experiences where he used his powers, figuring out how they work, what they could do if he had used them differently, and so on. This didn¡¯t mean much to Erik, and neither did the fact that Nana said that ¡®his soul would help¡¯.

    The third thing was perhaps even more abstract; realisation. Nana had said this was split into two parts, though where one part ended and the other began was unclear at best.

    This was the natural progression from the second step, as after one had meditated on how to improve, they would both have to realise how to do it, then make it real. Erik thought this was a stuck-up way of explaining something, but Nana, in her own mysterious way, only said that his soul would help with this as well.

    He supposed that somehow quantifying his growth and ability to do magic wasn¡¯t as easy as in games, where the character sheets just showed everything you could and couldn¡¯t do, as well as how powerful this and that spell was. He hoped his soul really would help him out.

 Chapter 4a: Changes

    Leaving Afterlife proved to be bittersweet for Erik and Jessie both. They planned to see each other again soon, but they would both miss Afterlife. It had been a nearly-three month vacation with good friends. They would also miss Nana a lot. She had helped them quite a bit, and she had prepared them as best she could for the next part of their lives.

    Erik didn¡¯t have much to go back to, as his mother was dead, likely his father as well, and his friends thought him long dead. He would search for his father, if only to tell him he was alive, and that he shouldn¡¯t mourn him any longer.

    While he cared for his old friends, they had likely already grieved him and moved on. Erik didn¡¯t feel right exploding back into their lives with magical powers only to leave them again, and so the first part of his life had ended. Part two was just beginning, and it promised magic.

    A portal had appeared in the centre of the plaza where Nana¡¯s shop was located. Hosu couldn¡¯t see the portal, and Nana had said that since she came to Afterlife after the pair of humans, hers wouldn¡¯t open yet. The portal would stay active for one week, after which it would violently suck in Erik or Jessie if they hadn¡¯t gone through it yet.

    Erik and Jessie didn¡¯t actually see the same portal, as Erik¡¯s portal and Jessie¡¯s were two different ones, and they couldn¡¯t interact with the other¡¯s portal at all. Jessie decided to stay a little while longer, so Erik would be the first to leave, planning to go through the portal the same day it appeared.

    He knew it was because of Hosu. The women had grown to really love each other, and now they likely would never see each other again. If possible, Erik would have left sooner just to let them have more time together. He loved them both, and wanted both to be as happy as possible. He would at least see Jessie again, as they had planned for Erik to travel to the UB in the following days.

    Hosu, who he had learned so much from, and heard so many stories from, was the most difficult to say his farewells to. He could only hope they would meet again one day. Erik turned back around towards the three women seeing him off, smiled at them and waved. He then fell backwards into the portal and disappeared.

    Memories of fire, smoke and wailing woke Erik from something resembling sleep. It had been so long since he had thought about the day he died, and it had been even longer since he felt anything about it. His body shivered at the thought, until he thought about his mother, burning alive right in front of him.

    Without delay, tears gushed from his eyes. Around him was nothing but burned ruins of the place he used to call home. Even the fireplace was mostly crumbled to ash, with only a few bricks and a small amount of concrete holding its old form. The amount of destruction from the fire was enormous, much more than Erik thought possible. He¡¯d thought at least the foundation was supposed to hold, but everything was gone.

    Erik got up to his feet from the horizontal position he woke from. He awoke right where he remembered dying, though the debris that had fallen on him back then had been moved, probably to recover what was left of his corpse. When considering that, why didn¡¯t he wake up where his remains were? He was happy he didn¡¯t wake up in a grave far beneath the surface, of course, but he wondered why that was.

    Looking at the blackened remains of his house, there probably wasn¡¯t much left of his corpse anyway, and most of it might already be scattered to the wind.

    It was nighttime when he returned from Afterlife, and all he could sense was a slight tingle on his chest and a weak breeze on his skin. There weren¡¯t any lights around, so Erik struggled to walk around the house, where debris littered most of the ground beneath him.

    He had of course woken up completely naked, as the clothes he wore the days of his death weren¡¯t magical and weren''t resurrected like he had been. He had already figured as much, so he was only slightly disappointed. He would have to find some clothes somewhere and come back in the morning, as he had to search for his father. If he could find somewhere he could go online to read the newspaper from the day he died, he might not even need to come back.

    The problem was, he didn¡¯t have any money or clothes, and he would be trying to lie low, hoping he wouldn¡¯t get recognised by anyone. He lived in a rather small town in the norwegian region of the Scandinavian Empire, and when the town and the immediate vicinity around it had less than ten thousand inhabitants, a large percentage of them would be able to recognise him. He didn¡¯t want to have to explain magic and resurrection to anyone.

    As Erik reached where the main entrance of the house used to be, he sighed inwardly at his own stupidity. It wasn¡¯t like there were any walls blocking his exit anywhere, so why had he headed towards the door? Before he could step over the threshold, however, he heard a weird snarling sound, like that from a massive dog in a bad mood.

    Erik moved his foot back from the doorway, and retreated back to the fireplace, hiding behind what little material there was left. As the snarls closed in, he also started hearing massive footsteps, and it sounded like there were a lot of them, unless they just walked very short steps quickly. As the dark figures walked past his house, he could make out two absolutely massive dogs, walking around and sniffing the air.

    The two dogs didn¡¯t seem to notice him, and continued on their way towards the town proper. Those weren¡¯t normal dogs at all, they were way too big and massive, and when they got closer, the sounds they made sounded¡­ wrong, somehow. Erik had other things to do than being eaten alive by these dog-like things, so he decided to leave a few minutes later, when he couldn¡¯t hear anything. He just had to keep alert.

    All the neighbours¡¯ houses were completely dark, and even the streetlights were down for the count, it seemed. It wasn¡¯t too unusual, but the timing was bad. He snuck through the gardens of four houses, hoping they had left some clothes out to air, like people did in the movies. No luck. Everyone would certainly have dryers.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    The fifth house he snuck around, belonging to some of his parent¡¯s friends, Erik noticed something odd. He had gone around the back of the house, not seeing anything out of the ordinary while looking for clothes, but when he got back to the front of the house, he noticed the door into the house was shattered in pieces.

    In the dark, that was all he could see, but as he ventured closer, he also noticed a broken window, and massive claw marks along the outer wall.

    He bent down underneath the window, holding his breath and focused intently. He couldn¡¯t hear anything, so it probably wasn¡¯t from those dog-things he saw earlier. If it had happened a few days ago, maybe the house would be empty for now?

    Erik took a chance, and walked into the house. More large claw marks filled the walls and furniture, and the whole place was a mess. There were certainly not anyone here anymore, and Erik hoped they weren¡¯t home whenever this happened.

    He walked around the ground floor, looking for a bedroom or closets, but didn¡¯t find any. He saw two sets of shoes in the entrance hall, neatly placed on a shoe rack. Back at the entrance was a staircase he climbed, finding three bedrooms on the second floor. He knew the couple had a kid in his pre-teens, so when the first door he opened looked to belong to a young boy, he closed the door again and went into the next one across the hallway.

    This looked more like a master bedroom, as it was both larger than the kid¡¯s room, and much more simplistic. It had a wide wardrobe, a large bed and one night stand with a small lamp on it, and that was it. Erik tried turning the lights on, but it seemed the power was out, or a circuit had triggered its failsafe.

    Erik opened the wardrobe and found a man¡¯s shirt, some underwear, socks and jeans. He wasn¡¯t happy about wearing another man¡¯s boxers, but it was an emergency. If his life depended on it, he would use someone else¡¯s toothbrush if he had to, though the circumstances where he had to brush his teeth to survive would likely be more complicated than the situation he was currently in.

    Immediately dressing himself in whatever he found, he was suddenly much more comfortable, and now just needed to borrow some of the shoes he had noticed from downstairs.

    Back into the second floor hallway, he looked around and found no trace of claw marks or other kind of damage, until he felt a hole in the floor as he stepped on it. It was deep, but not large in circumference. Erik felt around it, and noticed several more in the immediate vicinity. Judging by the distance between the holes, it was likely from the claws of a large paw. If those things had been up here, all they did was walk normally, not like downstairs where they seemed to have mauled everything around them.

    Erik got on his knees, feeling around after more holes, and quickly found more leading deeper into the hallway, where Erik hadn¡¯t been yet. He followed the tracks until the floor felt¡­ oddly soft. And sticky. Without any windows around, this area was pitch black. He couldn¡¯t even see the outline of his own arms, so he felt around, wondering what he stepped on.

    As his right hand touched a cold, rigid object, Erik couldn¡¯t constrain a panicked gasp as he pulled himself back. It had only been a short moment he touched it, but deep inside, he knew what it was he had touched. He just hoped it wasn¡¯t the young kid.

    Several minutes later, Erik had found a flashlight from a kitchen drawer hanging loosely from the remains of the counter. At least the flashlight worked. He had brought the flashlight upstairs, and saw that it was indeed the kid¡¯s body that lay there, all the way at the end of the corridor, right in front of a dresser. What was most worrisome was the fact that the corpse looked far decayed already, and he wondered why he hadn¡¯t smelled anything.

    Erik hadn¡¯t worked in medicine or the police, and he had no experience with the decay of human bodies, but he figured it was at least a month old, maybe more. The troubling part of that was that no one had retrieved the bodies. There was no police tape around. With the front door in ruins, someone had to have noticed that¡­ unless there weren¡¯t anyone around anymore.

    The hour he was there, he also found the boy¡¯s parents. His father was on the ground floor, under the remains of the kitchen table, which was why Erik hadn¡¯t found him the first time around. The mother was in the bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom. Both the kid and the mother seemed to have been running from something, so the father had likely tried to protect them when whatever had done this attacked.

    He was the first to get killed, as his loved ones tried to escape upstairs. Why the mother and the kid had split up, he didn¡¯t understand. He had to admit that he didn¡¯t know what he was doing, and had to leave it at that.

    He did take the father¡¯s phone from his pocket and a charger from their bedroom, in case he found somewhere with power he could charge it, hoping it wasn¡¯t too protected, so he could go online.

    Erik left the house mentally exhausted, planning to head towards the town proper. Normally it was thirty minutes away, but considering the beasts walking around, he had to keep his eyes and ears open, and walk carefully.

    When Erik reached the hill overlooking his hometown, the sky was already a few shades brighter, and the sun would rise in an hour or so. With the additional light from the sky, it wasn¡¯t hard to see the ruins that were his hometown.

    He had suspected as much when he saw several houses similar to where he found the dead family on his walk here, along with several power poles knocked over, the power lines ripped apart. He¡¯d also seen several cars mauled and rolled over.

    All of that was nothing compared to the town proper. There was barely anything left standing. Everything he had known was gone. Not just his family, but his home. The destruction was unlike anything he had seen, and suddenly, finally, his return from Afterlife was all too real.

    He wept for the first time since the fire three months ago, where he and his mother had died. All that was left to do here was figure out if his father had died, either in the fire or whatever calamity had struck his hometown.

    From the hilltop, Erik could also see at least three of the monstrous hounds in the ruins, but more was likely to be obstructed from his view. He couldn¡¯t go to the town proper, but he decided to skirt around the edge, hopefully finding the most recent newspaper or something that would help him understand what was happening.

    He also needed to meditate, as that would allow him to understand his core power, and help him use it, but that was something he could only do when he knew it was safe around. He didn¡¯t dare sit down and meditate with massive, hungry dogs around. He hadn¡¯t even meditated before, and wasn¡¯t sure if he even could, as the number of things racing through his mind would definitely take most of his focus.

    He had yet to look at his Crest since he returned, so he hadn¡¯t even looked at the symbol in the core of the Crest, not that that was what mattered. The symbol would be there for the rest of his life, so he was in no rush just to look at it. He¡¯d felt the tingle of his skin changing on his chest when he returned, but that was long over, so it should be finalised by now.

    His thoughts went on to Jessie, as he hoped her return to life would be met with happier circumstances than his. He soon went down the hill towards the town.

 Chapter 4b: Changes

    As night fell once more later that day, Erik had skirted around the edge of the town for hours, sneaking into houses and hiding from the dogs roaming the entire area. Erik wasn¡¯t sure why they remained here, as there was nothing around to hunt. Everyone was gone. Unless they were guarding their territory?

    The different newspapers Erik had found mentioned little of them, except the last two he could find, dated the 22nd and 23rd of February. It had been late January when Erik had died, meaning it was mid-April when he returned, since he returned a week earlier than he absolutely needed to. That meant his home had been gone for about two whole months.

    The oldest of the two newspapers mentioned a ¡®monstrous dog sighting¡¯, but didn¡¯t even print the article on the front page. The next newspaper was something else entirely, as it was a lot thinner, and featured the monstrous dogs on the entire front page, naming them ¡®Hellbeasts of Side Valley¡¯, Side Valley being the next town over, half an hour or so by car towards the east.

    That had been the first town they attacked, and by the look of things, it wasn¡¯t the last. If his own town was attacked that same day, or the day after the last newspaper, he wondered how many towns, how many cities and countries they had ravaged by now. The articles about them in the last newspaper mentioned that the dogs had ¡®proved resistant to military weapons¡¯, but also that they didn¡¯t seem to kill for food.

    In fact, they proved somewhat ignorant of the life around them, as they mainly seemed to target buildings, cars and infrastructure. They seemed more intent on destruction other than survival, but the fact they were resistant to bullets was worrisome. Erik knew beforehand that the dogs did hunt humans as well, but hopefully it wasn¡¯t that often.

    The family he had found dead in their house hadn¡¯t been eaten whole, but they had lost a few parts which Erik hadn¡¯t found around where their bodies were, so he figured the monsters hunted humans to feed when they were hungry, and otherwise went for destruction, maybe killing those that were in their way.

    Their behaviour was something completely unfamiliar to Erik, and he longed for an online connection to find out what else had been written about the hellbeasts the last month. He also had to find a newspaper from the time of his death.

    If his father had died along with him and his mother, it would be mentioned, along with what had caused the fire. Erik hadn¡¯t thought about that, since most fires were accidental, but seeing the state of his house, he was unsure. The fire must¡¯ve burnt a lot hotter than normal, if it practically disintegrated bricks and concrete. It also spread too fast, he realised.

    Everything had happened so fast, but he¡¯d thought that was the panic, adrenaline and pain. It wasn¡¯t, it couldn¡¯t be. It had been at most a minute between the fire started, and he had died, and before that nothing was wrong. Considering the destruction of his town a relatively short time after the fire, Erik couldn¡¯t help but feel both were connected, and he had to admit that his father immediately became his prime suspect.

    Erik had left the town ruins a few hours ago by now, and when he figured he was far enough away from the hellbeasts, he started looking for a car. Considering the state of the electric grid, he didn¡¯t even consider an electric car, and seeing that gasoline or diesel cars were much louder, he had to be sure he was far enough away from any and all hellbeasts. He couldn¡¯t be sure if they would chase him down or not, but better safe than sorry.

    The problem was, the further away he got, the fewer cars were around. Luckily, there are always some houses around almost no matter where you go, and it didn¡¯t take him long to find one with a working car outside, and keys to the car inside the house. The entrance to the house was shut, but unlocked, so he didn¡¯t even have to break in. Still, he did steal a car, so that point was probably moot.

    With a car in his arsenal, he was ready to get moving, as he wasn¡¯t feeling tired at all. His destination was set; he was going to the UB. Jessie lived in an apartment outside Leicester, where she grew up, so he was going to England, more specifically. He hoped he¡¯d find a way to cross the sea, probably from Calais or maybe near Bruges in the West Coalition, possibly Amsterdam or Rotterdam in the States.

    He had to admit he had never considered travelling to the UB without an aeroplane, so he had no idea where he could catch a ship from. He¡¯d check to see if he could find any road sign pointing towards a harbour with a ferry crossing to the UB all along the way to Calais, the only place he knew he could cross using the Channel Tunnel.

    That meant travelling south, into the swedish and further across the danish regions of the Scandi Empire, then west through the German States and into the West Coalition.

    By car, the journey was through almost half of Europe, so he could only hope the situation wasn¡¯t as dire the further he got from his home. Hopefully, he¡¯d find an end to the hellbeast influence somewhere, hopefully while still in the Empire, but he couldn¡¯t be sure.

    Erik stopped the car a short while later, as he had a decision to make; he could either travel towards, and eventually through, a city, or he could avoid bigger population centres and travel the longer way through small towns instead. The hellbeasts would likely target the bigger towns and cities rather than smaller ones, but the same could be said about the military - they would focus on defending the cities, especially if those were targeted by more hellbeasts.

    That meant the cities involved higher risk, but potentially higher rewards as well, as the military could tell him more about the invasion, and possibly even help him get to the UB. Erik decided against it. He wanted to get further away from the hellbeasts¡¯ starting point, which seemed to be really close by, before daring to venture into a city. He hadn¡¯t seen any other people yet, so best case there was a large area closed off for civilians.

    Erik had barely driven by the next small town when the car was violently pushed off the road by a hellbeast charging into its side. Erik had luckily noticed the large beast charging towards him hundreds of metres away, and had tossed himself out of the driver¡¯s door, letting the car continue on. The beast didn¡¯t seem to notice this, but if it did, it was more interested in destroying the car rather than killing Erik.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    His body rolled several times after he hit the asphalt, eventually coming to a stop right as the car was attacked. Erik felt bruised, but only lightly. He had been told his body would be stronger now, but he still felt the pain.

    The doglike beast shook its head after the head-to-car collision it had caused, but seemed otherwise unharmed after the major crash. It turned to look at Erik before it snarled deeply, lowered its upper body slightly, and charged at him.

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    Erik ran into the woods by the roadside, stepping into a small puddle. He heard the large beast following him, but since it was so large, it would have more trouble than him in the forest. Erik didn¡¯t look back as the charging beast was kind enough to growl loud enough to let him know it was still there, but luckily it didn¡¯t seem to get any closer to him.

    It didn¡¯t fall behind either, and Erik could only thank his new magical body for that, as he felt himself running just a bit faster than he¡¯d ever done before. If it weren¡¯t for the forest obstacles to avoid, he felt he could go faster still. He ran for several minutes, until he realised he¡¯d made a terrible, terrible mistake.

    A young boy, maybe eight or nine years old, was about fifty metres in front of the sprinting Erik. The boy was covered in dirt and tired clothes, and further behind him was a couple of pitched tents, one blue and one in a camo pattern. There might be more people around, and Erik was leading the beast right towards them.

    As soon as Erik noticed this, he stopped, his feet sliding half a metre on the mossy ground before completely stopping. He turned to face the beast, which was much closer than he had thought, and it rammed into him before he could do anything. Erik flew right into a tree, crashing through several smaller branches as he did. The air vacated his lungs with a heavy gasp, and the world started spinning.

    After this, the hound didn¡¯t seem as interested in Erik as it was the boy and the tents behind him. The beast lurked away from Erik and towards its next target. Erik couldn¡¯t let this happen. He was supposed to have magic - he could do something about this¡­ if only he had tried meditating, connecting with his power. He had no chance against this beast otherwise.

    He closed his eyes, his head still spinning. He tried holding it together, but it proved more difficult than he initially thought it would be. He inhaled and exhaled. Inhaled. Exhaled.

    Eventually, he felt it. Something was tugging at his mind. It was more a gravitational pull than a string or rope, as it pulled his entire being. He gave in to the pull, not sure if he was falling or flying towards it. Suddenly he crashed against a large pool of something, smashing hard into it, but then gently being enveloped by it, sinking deeper.

    He didn¡¯t know this, but if he could see his Crest right then, its core was filling with colour, washing away the dark grey of the symbol that had appeared in the swirling centre. He was deep in magical energy, and he was absorbing it. He had thought his body already magical, but that was just a drop of what it could¡¯ve been.

    It was more like residual magic from his time in Afterlife than anything else - it was nothing. He couldn¡¯t absorb all of this at once, and he was out of time. He also felt that most of the pool was somehow out of reach. He had to grow stronger to get at it. Unsure when he became conscious of what he was doing, the moment he realised it, he willingly snapped out of his meditation.

    The beast had barely moved ten metres from earlier. If Erik had known how fast it would go to connect with his power, his magic, he would¡¯ve done it right from the beginning, but Nana had said it could take mucthe beast inching ever closer to the kid and the tents.

    ¡°Hey!¡± he yelled, getting the hellbeast¡¯s attention, at least for a second or two. ¡°We¡¯re not finished yet.¡±

    Erik felt his own magic pour into the stick. When it was released, a greyish-white substance shot from the end of the stick with a horrid ¡®plff¡¯. The icky substance flew at the beast, slowly coating it.

    The beast roared in anger, and charged at Erik, or at least attempted to. Its movement grew heavy and slow, and it wasn¡¯t long before it stopped its movement entirely. All it could do was growl at Erik, as its body was stuck in the glue the stick had shot out. Erik rushed in close to the beast and started pounding it with closed fists.

    While his body was strengthened by magic, it was by no means hitting the beast harder than bullets, and yet the doglike creature¡¯s skin started splitting apart and its teeth loosening from its mouth. Erik¡¯s hands bruised as well, but he¡¯d be damned if he wasn¡¯t taking the beast down before it could hurt anyone else.

    The now hardened glue covering the hellbeast slowly cracked from the hound¡¯s strength, and the beast gained more room to move, further increasing the decay of substance hindering it. The creature¡¯s eyes glistened with rage and fear both as Erik was slowly beating it to death, until it finally broke free.

    The beast raised its massive paw and struck Erik¡¯s head with unbelievable speed and power, and the man was sent flying once more, this time unconscious before he even hit the ground.

    Erik woke an unknown time later, the boy from earlier looking at him from above. The boy¡¯s face was filled with wonder and curiosity, and when he noticed Erik waking, he shouted for his mother.

    ¡°Mum! He¡¯s awake!¡±

    A lady in her late thirties rushed towards the pair from outside the tent.

    ¡°Please, stay still. You¡¯ve had your bell rung quite hard. I wasn¡¯t sure you¡¯d survive, but¡­ your wound doesn¡¯t look¡­ quite as bad now,¡± she said, clearly growing more confused by the end of the sentence.

    Erik sat up with a groan, massive pain ringing all throughout his head. It felt like a thunderstorm inside him. The rest of his body felt fine, except his hands which were still bruised.

    ¡°Are you a superhero?¡± the boy enthusiastically burst out with a wide-eyed grin on his face.

    ¡°I sure am,¡± Erik said jokingly, and looked at the two with a smile.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re not the best since you lost, but even bombs don¡¯t work against those monsters,¡± the boy responded, a little less fervour this time. The boy¡¯s mother looked at her son nervously, as if scared Erik would react poorly to the kid¡¯s unfiltered words.

    ¡°Well, this is just my origin story, you know. I¡¯ll get better at it, I promise,¡± Erik said, the mother visibly letting go of some of her tension.

    ¡°That fight was so cool! What¡¯s your power? I mean, you must be super strong since you could even hurt that monster, and what was that gooey stuff you stopped it with? Was it webbing?¡± the boy continued.

    Erik spent the rest of the day and night with the mother and child. He learned a lot more about the situation he had found himself resurrecting in, but the information the two had was outdated, to say the least.

    The military had attempted to hold the beasts back, but it had proved futile. There was nothing they could do to even hurt the beasts, as armour-penetrating bullets, bombs and anything else they could come up with proved ineffective. The only thing these things did was prove the beasts were also dependent on the laws of physics, as they would be blown away, but otherwise unharmed from the blast.

    The last they had heard, the European military was holding their own further south, but that was weeks ago. A lot could have happened between then and now. The pair of them used to be six people from the last town Erik had passed on the road, but some had left and others had died finding food in the town.

    Erik asked them both if they wanted to come with him, as he was travelling south, but the mother said no. They hadn¡¯t been attacked ever since they had left the town behind, with the exception of the one Erik had led right to them.

    As far as she was concerned, they were safe so long as they kept away from the town, and she had already managed to make some fishing and hunting gear, and had kept both her and her son fed with nothing but hunting and foraging for a week.

    She only asked that Erik tell the military, if he found them, where they were and that they could come get them with a helicopter or something. Erik understood, but was still reluctant about leaving the pair behind.

 Chapter 5a: Whatéˆ¥æªš In The Box?

    Erik was close to several government buildings at the border, which was likely where the hounds had been patrolling when he arrived there.

    He rushed inside one of the buildings, as there was a small kitchen he could see through one of the windows. The doors were all open, which didn¡¯t surprise him at all. Even if they had been locked, there were several broken windows he could have easily climbed through.

    He rushed back out with a medium-sized kitchen knife his magic didn¡¯t react to at all. He got close to one of the hounds and stabbed it with the knife. It did rip the beast¡¯s thick skin, but only barely. He tried again with as much force as he could, but it only went a little deeper.

    Erik wanted to test the knife for just that reason; would it work if he used it? Could he grab a knife, or a sword, or even a gun, and it would kill the monsters when a magical being used the weapon?

    The results were mixed. Had the beast been just a normal animal, he would definitely penetrate the thick skin with the amount of force he had used, especially considering his improved strength. The fact it managed to rip the outer layer, however, meant it had a slight effect.

    Finally, he focused on his own magic. He reached into the pool of magic he constantly felt in his chest, trying to lead it through his arm and into the knife. As the magic reached his hands he felt resistance, as if the magic didn¡¯t want to leave him, or the knife actively refused it. He felt like he got a trickle of it through, however.

    Focusing on keeping the slight flow active, he once more stabbed the beast, and the knife went through skin and muscle, although it took more force than Erik had hoped. The low rumble of the beast stilled.

    After putting down both hounds, Erik attempted cutting himself with the knife as well. He had to see if his own defence was as high as that of the monster dogs.

    He attempted it without the flow of magic first, and while it did cut him, it didn¡¯t draw blood before he used a bit of strength. He was definitely not impervious to damage, but he was much more resistant to it than a normal human.

    He figured his bones would almost definitely stop a bullet, but he was certain it would hurt like a right bastard.

    His motorbike was perfectly alright, and seeing that he had already killed the beasts patrolling the area, he took the time to search for food and camping supplies. There still wasn¡¯t any power around and Erik figured the entire northern Scandinavian Empire was dark. It was likely the dogs had spread both south and east, towards Finland and beyond.

    He found a larger bag he packed the new stuff into, tying it to the back of his bike. He also tied a bulkier black box on the front, above the headlight. He could still see good enough, though it was slightly in the way.

    He still wanted to avoid most towns, as he still wasn¡¯t confident enough he would win in fights. All it would take was one beast he didn¡¯t see coming, or one that didn¡¯t charge at him directly, as his frisbee-shields only covered a few metres on either side of the frisbee centre.

    All it took was one dog from his side, or one with enough intelligence or instinct to get away from the frisbee Erik threw straight at its face. He was on the lookout for one more thing, however, and that was gems.

    If he wanted to get stronger quickly, that was the easiest way right now. Rock shops or nature museums would likely be his best bet, as he wasn¡¯t sure the tiny diamonds or rubies inserted into rings or bracelets would even be viable for absorption. It was the raw material he was after, not how pretty it was. He¡¯d be on the lookout, as he didn¡¯t know where to find such a place.

    Halfway towards the border to the Danish region, Erik finally found at least a trace of the military in the vicinity of Gothenburg. The sun had already set, and the sky had darkened, but it was still not entirely dark out yet.

    He drove through what could only be described as a war zone, complete with craters in the asphalt, military vehicles smashed to pieces and signs of fire. There were also hundreds of military personnel scattered around the area, likely dead for weeks.

    Erik knew it was bad when no one had retrieved the corpses of their fallen comrades. All the civilians scattered around all the way from his hometown to here was one thing, but this was the first site he¡¯d found of actual defence, not just fleeing people.

    Erik took this opportunity to test how his magic affected guns. While his intuition said it wouldn¡¯t work, largely based on how the knife had fared, it was at least worth a try. He took a rifle lying on the ground in between a couple of soldiers, not knowing which of them it belonged to, and tried holding it.

    Erik had never been part of the military, and had never even held a real gun before. He placed the butt firmly against his shoulder to test the comfort. He figured the most comfortable stance was the right stance, otherwise gun manufacturers should redesign their weapons.

    When he felt he had an okay grasp on it, he tried running his magic through the weapon, first from his shoulder. He experienced much more interference now than when he tried with his knife, so he changed the flow to go from his right hand. Like on the butt, he could barely even touch it with his magic.

    Eventually, this proved to be the easiest way, as the handle on the barrel with his left hand proved impossible, just like the butt. It might have something to do with the materials it was made from, he wondered.

    In the end, he couldn¡¯t manage to get his magic all the way to the bullet, as he had to keep the flow going, otherwise it would almost immediately dissipate. This was the reason he didn¡¯t have high hopes for any ranged weapon, not just guns.

    He couldn¡¯t keep the magic flowing to the projectile without touching it, and a projectile you have to hold in your hand and bring it to the target yourself was simply just a small melee weapon, after all.

    Erik left the gun behind. He had no need for it. Erik continued on for an hour or two until he could barely see anything other than what was right in front of his headlight, and camped for the night.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    The next day he drove past a few other war zones, and he was surprised how quickly he reached the Danish region. He turned onto a long bridge, and was faced with blockades along the entire highway crossing the bridge.

    Hoping there were still people alive in the area, he parked his bike close to the blockade, which was basically just one huge wall. Before he could call out, he himself was shouted at from a helmet-wearing man on the top of the wall. The man shouted in Norwegian, which warmed Erik¡¯s heart more than he thought it would. At least some had survived.

    ¡°Hey! This is an active battlefield, what the hell are you doing here?¡±

    Erik looked around. It didn¡¯t look ¡®active¡¯, but perhaps it meant that hounds could attack any minute.

    ¡°I live here?¡± Erik said half-jokingly. ¡°Listen, can you take me to the UB? As close as possible to Leicester would be nice,¡± he yelled in a casual tone, looking up at the weapon-wielding man.

    ¡°Are you armed?¡± the man responded, completely ignoring Erik¡¯s attempt at a joke.

    ¡°I got a knife and some rocks. Oh, and frisbees, if that counts. Some screws.¡±

    The man stared at Erik. He wasn¡¯t even going to comment on it, Erik could see that. He turned away from Erik.

    ¡°Open the gate! Got a civvie on the other side!¡± he yelled, and vanished from the edge of the wall.

    A few moments later, the gate creaked and opened, three armed soldiers coming out in all haste, two of them going straight for the motorbike and the third leading Erik inside with an arm on his back.

    All of them threw several nervous glances further down the road onto the mainland. Erik realised these people were looking quite haggard. He didn¡¯t consider how they felt in this situation. Their countries were gone, maybe even their entire families. Everything had been taken from them, and they couldn¡¯t do anything about it, as the villains of their story were practically unkillable. Considering they still had to fight them, putting their own lives on the line at the same time¡­

    As they had all entered the military camp, the gate was shut, and the tension he could sense all around him immediately lightened. Soldiers pushed his motorbike further away, and parked it along a deep green truck along the rails of the bridge before starting to search it.

    A cap-wearing woman with broad shoulders and a different attire than the soldiers walked straight towards Erik.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make a mess of my stuff,¡± he shouted over to the soldiers near his stolen bike.

    ¡°Good day, sir. My name is General Mathisen. Welcome to Bridgefort, the northernmost European defence zone still standing. May I ask your name?¡± she greeted, reaching her arm out towards Erik.

    ¡°Afternoon, ma¡¯am. Sir?¡± Erik awkwardly attempted. ¡°I¡¯m Erik Fried.¡±

    ¡°Mathisen is fine, Mr Fried. May I ask¡­ have you been out there until now? I hope you haven¡¯t crossed the sea in some heroic attempt at being a complete idiot?¡± Mathisen asked. She kept her face almost completely static, but Erik realised that was exactly what she thought he¡¯d done. Were people doing that?

    ¡°I came from up north, and I¡¯m not the only one. The woods seem safe, so I¡¯ve gone off road when close to a town. There¡¯s a mother and her child further north, living in tents in the woods. Are you attempting to rescue those left behind?¡± Erik asked. He didn¡¯t think they were, as he would¡¯ve seen a helicopter or something if they did.

    Just then, a scream sounded from the area where they took his bike. A soldier was on the ground, quickly crawling backwards away from the bike.

    ¡°Private Vik, what the hell?¡± the General screamed at the panicked man.

    ¡°The-the box, ma¡¯am!¡± he tried, pointing towards his bike.

    ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t make a mess of my things,¡± Erik interrupted.

    ¡°What about the box, Private?¡± the general said, a bit calmer now. She was looking at the two other pale-faced soldiers standing stiffly next to the bike, looking into the black box on the front of his bike.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s¡­¡±

    A clear answer didn¡¯t come.

    ¡°What¡¯s in the box?¡± she asked the other two, who couldn¡¯t even look away, much less respond to their general.

    Mathisen stopped her advance, turning to Erik and grabbing him by the collar of his stolen shirt.

    ¡°What. Is in. The box?¡± she asked with a deeply terrifying grimace. Erik did all he could not to make a pop-culture reference joke, and the soldier on the ground finally shouted what was, in fact, in the box.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Hellbeast!¡±

    The two soldiers looked up at Mathisen as she rushed over to look for herself. Her eyes practically glazed over when she saw the decapitated head of one of the beasts they had fought for months, whose kill counts numbered among hundreds of thousands by now, versus their own zero.

    The general looked at the rising number of soldiers and other military personnel around. Erik saw her thoughtful expression, and knew exactly what she was thinking. They could be killed. He wanted everyone to know that too.

    However, there was nothing they could do about it, other than helping him and Jessie if he could get her to help. They had agreed to explore their new powers together, not fight off an invasion of magical beasts. He¡¯d understand if she said no.

    ¡°Mr Fried. Where did you get this hellbeast head?¡± the general asked in a deep and commanding tone. Several of the other soldiers visibly grimaced.

    ¡°I killed it,¡± he said.

    ¡°You killed a Hellbeast? You expect me to believe that? The whole world is fighting these things, and we have yet to confirm a single kill.¡± The general¡¯s words grew angrier and angrier, but when she was done, her face changed to a more regretful one. A small glimmer of hope, maybe?

    ¡°I killed two, but I couldn¡¯t fit the second one in there. I didn¡¯t want to steal another car as that would make the woods much more difficult to traverse,¡± Erik explained truthfully.

    He¡¯d decided to at least tell the military what they needed to hear, and right now that was the fact that magic existed, and it could kill these beasts. He needed their help, after all. And the world needed him.

    ¡°You expect me to believe that, do you?¡± the general asked, her hope now much more apparent on her face and demeanour.

    ¡°The evidence is right there, isn¡¯t it? I don¡¯t think anyone else has claimed a kill, so why would I do so, with evidence, fully expecting to have to kill some more with you watching before you¡¯d believe me?¡±

    ¡°You can kill more of them?¡± she asked.

    By now, everyone gathered in the vicinity were talking and whispering amongst themselves. The susurrus quickly became loud.

    ¡°I can, and I will. It isn¡¯t free, however. I need you, just like you need me. I can¡¯t teach you to kill them, just so you know.¡±

    ¡°We will speak somewhere more comfortable,¡± she said, looking around at the excited soldiers. ¡°Colonel Ashleigh, get Major Svensson and meet me and Mr Fried in Command in fifteen minutes.¡±

    Colonel Ashleigh, a pretty woman with straight, blonde hair and blue eyes saluted the general, and jogged away. The general led Erik towards the biggest temporary building in the camp, as far as he could see, and followed him inside.

    ¡°Mr Fried, I want you to be completely honest with me right now,¡± she said, sitting down behind a desk covered in paperwork, printed pictures of Hellbeasts and maps. She gestured to Erik to sit on the opposite side, on a much less comfortable chair. He did so.

    ¡°I will be,¡± was all he said.

    ¡°Did you kill one or more beasts on your way here?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°You can do it again?¡±

    ¡°I can,¡± he confirmed.

    ¡°That¡¯s all I need to know. You have the next ten minutes before the colonel and the major get here to change your answers, and I will let you leave here without any trouble. If you haven¡¯t changed your answers by then, you are, from then on, neck deep in shit if you can¡¯t deliver on your words, as I will, in ten minutes, decide not just for me, but for the entire world, to trust you to save us all.¡±

    The general spoke slowly, succinctly, and to the point. She wasn¡¯t going to waste words, not when the fate of the world was at stake. ¡°As you might realise, I don¡¯t really have the authority to decide this, but considering the state of the world, I don¡¯t care much about that. If I¡¯m court-marshalled by the end of this, I¡¯ll be happy so long as we win this war, do you understand?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re my kind of gal,¡± Erik grinned at the much older general. ¡°With your help, we can save the world.¡±

 Chapter 4c: Changes

    Erik eventually left them, as he couldn¡¯t convince her otherwise. With new information in hand, Erik decided to try to keep away from towns and cities entirely. He quickly went back to the last town to find a few things he could use his power with, and a bag or backpack to keep the things in.

    He had also asked the woman if she knew where he could find a motorbike, preferably an off-road one in her hometown, and had been given directions, though she couldn¡¯t promise it would be there, or if it worked at all.

    Among the things Erik had collected in his new, stolen backpack were a few children¡¯s frisbees in a semi-transparent purple colour, a few boxes of assorted screws, a yellow bouncy ball and quite a few pebbles. The problem with his power was that he knew that it worked in quite a few different ways, but he didn¡¯t know how it would work, and with what, before he touched the thing.

    He¡¯d tried his flashlight, and his magic somehow wouldn¡¯t react to it. The same applied to the cellphone he¡¯d taken, a bottle opener and nails. He wasn¡¯t sure what made some things, like the screws, work but the nails wouldn¡¯t, and it irked him. He would have to run around touching everything to see if it would be helpful to him.

    What also worried him was the fact, while he knew what his power would make the stuff do, he didn¡¯t know the effect of it. He considered the stick he had used on the beast the previous day. He had gotten a feeling of what it would do, and he just did it. He hadn¡¯t known how long the glue would last, how fast it would dry, or how brittle it would be when solidified.

    Against the massive beast, it had only lasted for a quick minute before the creature managed to break it open from within. That meant he would have to test the new things he¡¯d found out before doing it in a fight, where his life or that of others was on the line.

    Therein lay another problem; since he didn¡¯t know how effective the thing would be, it wasn¡¯t exactly safe to test them just wherever. It should be an open area, where he could potentially be attacked by the beasts lurking around, and even then he wouldn¡¯t know the effect of the power in close quarters.

    He had really gotten an annoying power, and he could only hope Jessie would have a better one. She should be back in a few days at most. Erik was worried what she might do when she finds out there¡¯s been an invasion of beasts unlike anything the world had ever seen during her absence. He hoped he could get to her before she did anything rash.

    Some words Nana had said during one of her explanations, was that magical bodies were quite impervious to mundane things, and the most effective way to take down a magical monster or a Remnant was magic. Erik considered the beasts again. If bullets or bombs barely made the dogs flinch, but Erik could harm them with nothing but his fists¡­ They had to be magical in nature.

    That brought about a whole other concern for Erik. After thinking on it for quite a while, he had boiled it down to two theories, neither any better than the other. It could mean that magic was having a renaissance. His list of consequences this could bring were likely very incomplete, but he figured one of the things would be a resurgence of magical beings.

    This could even explain how there suddenly were two people from the same planet appearing in Afterlife at the exact same time. It didn¡¯t explain why no one else from Earth appeared in the following months after that, however. It might just be a coincidence, after all.

    What it meant for the beasts, was that this wave of hellbeasts was just the beginning, however. More magical beasts could appear if the magic was coming back. For all Erik knew, it could maybe even affect the tides and temperature, but he couldn¡¯t know.

    His other theory, the one he found more likely, was that another Remnant was the cause of all this havoc. Erik had wondered why he hadn¡¯t heard anything about any Remnants his entire life, as it was unlikely there were none at all on Earth. That meant most of them, however many there were, were keeping it secret.

    Erik understood why. The world wasn¡¯t ready for magic, nor would they simply let magical beings live in peace. Erik wasn¡¯t sure whether it would be like in the movies, where the governments of the world would capture and experiment on them, but if they didn¡¯t, the media would be even worse still.

    Erik had told the mother and son from earlier to keep his ¡®superpower¡¯ a secret, as he wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted the world to know just yet. The beast invasion might make it difficult to hide for long, but he wanted to know how the world was dealing with it before showing off.

    If another Remnant was behind this, they would have to be stopped, one way or the other, and the militaries of the world would likely not be capable of that if magic was involved. Based on the strength and numbers of the creatures that might have been summoned by some magical power, the Remnant was likely much stronger than Erik, and he¡¯d need help if he was to stop them and he feared just Jessie wasn¡¯t enough.

    In this weird mental state, where Erik was happy to be alive again, feared for his world and worried about his future, the newly reborn Remnant crossed roads, mountains and rivers on his stolen motorbike. He kept clear of those towns he could, no matter how small, but kept on the road between them, to maximise his travelling speed.

    When a nearby town was marked by road signs, Erik rather went into the forests, circling the towns from afar before getting back on the road somewhere further away from the towns. This wasn¡¯t always as easy, as the norwegian landscape was a whole lot of mountains and cliffs, forcing him to backtrack more than a couple of times and find another route. He didn¡¯t want to stray too far from the roads as he feared he¡¯d get lost in the unknown environment.

    He wasn¡¯t surprised that he didn¡¯t find any other people roaming around the often dense forests, but he was worried how far south he would have to go to find some kind of trace for any military defence attempts.

    He didn¡¯t search the towns, but he should have spotted at least something along the roads, whether that be military vehicles smashed by the roadside or anything else. There were quite a few cars along the road, some even with dead people in them, though those were few and far between.

    Many seemed to have managed to escape their cars, but didn¡¯t make it far, as there were quite a few corpses along the road as well. Erik felt cold inside as he looked at all the dead he drove past. If he was angry or sad, he wasn¡¯t sure, but it made him think of his father.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    He hoped he lived, that he got away. He sure as hell hoped he wasn¡¯t behind all this. If Erik was a Remnant, the bloodline was from either his father or his mother¡¯s side.

    Since he saw his mother die, and didn¡¯t see her in the Afterlife, she couldn¡¯t be doing this. If it was his father, then he would have died sometime earlier, but he had never been gone or missing for three months as far as Erik could remember.

    Supposedly, magical beings like Remnants also aged slower, especially as their magical powers increased, but he knew his father had visibly aged in the twenty years Erik could remember back to. It could¡¯ve been a trick, but Erik wasn¡¯t so sure.

    At night, Erik camped out in the woods to decrease the chance of being attacked by the hounds. He cursed himself for not even thinking about camping gear when leaving either his hometown, or the town he had stolen the bike from. He had several pebbles and frisbees, but not even a single blanket.

    He had also forgotten clothes and food, though he didn¡¯t feel hungry even after more than two days since he resurrected. It might be because of his magic, but also everything else that was happening.

    Sleep came slowly that night, and he dreamed of magic and wonder, trials and challenges, monsters, blood and death. He woke before the sun the next morning, and didn¡¯t go back to sleep. He was mentally exhausted. His body was practically fully healed, as the damage done to him was practically only a concussion from the paw strike. He still felt sore where he was struck, but that was it.

    Maybe it was too much to hope for that his mind would still be as low-maintenance as in Afterlife. He missed whatever magic made everything seem so okay. He got ready to continue on.

    Late the previous night he had passed Oslo, barely escaping a few hounds that seemed to be patrolling the highway. After slowly falling behind for a few minutes, they had given up and stopped chasing him. Were they ordered in some way to stay in a certain area?

    Right now, Erik was close to the Swedish region of the Empire, and in just an hour or so, he would be crossing the divide. He was even less certain where to ride from there, as he wasn¡¯t as familiar with the roads and towns.

    As he crossed the border, he was ambushed by two hounds coming from out of nowhere. He barely had time to react, but managed to throw himself off the bike, barely avoiding a pouncing hellbeast. The dog-like animal landed in a roll, and was quickly back on its four feet.

    The second hound charged at Erik a moment after, and Erik dodged to the side, trying to reach into his backpack at the same time. The beast grazed his side, and the force was enough to throw him in a spin, likely with a broken rib or two.

    Luckily, the beasts weren¡¯t used to their prey fighting back, so when he was down they were in no rush to strike at him again. Both inched closer to the Remnant with a hungry growl. For their part, that was a mistake.

    Erik had the time to reach into his backpack, finding just what he was searching for, and pulled the things out. With a box of screws in one hand, and pebbles in the other, he was ready to fight back.

    The man threw one of the small rocks at one beast as hard as he could while still being mostly accurate, and another at the second. As the rocks hit their targets, a deep boom sounded in the vicinity. The dogs fell limply over on their sides.

    It wasn¡¯t over yet, and Erik knew it. The pebbles made a concussive blast, and Erik was intrigued at how powerful it had really been. It proved quite effective against the hounds, but he didn¡¯t know for how long.

    The problem with the stick he had used previously, was that he couldn¡¯t attack the parts of their bodies that were covered, as that might reduce the structural integrity of the solidified mass keeping the creatures at bay, as well as not harm them in any meaningful way.

    That meant he had no choice but to attack whatever part of them was sticking out.

    It was likely a good way to keep one out of the fight while focusing on the other, but he would have to see how long the concussive blast would last on them.

    As soon as they hit the ground, Erik grabbed a small handful of screws from the box, and threw them at the closest hound. Unlike the stick and pebbles, he had to use more of the screws at the same time, the reason for which was made apparent the moment they landed on and around the target beast.

    As Erik felt his magic in them activate, each of them shone blue and lifted off the ground, hovering there for just a second after which they released a blue-ish plasma between two or three other screws.

    The result resembled a bird-cage of lightning, and Erik could soon smell the grilled meat of the dog. Its body started to smoke as it convulsed.

    The second dog rose to the ground quickly, just when Erik was picking out more screws to throw at it, and by now it clearly regarded him as a threat.It charged at the man without even a thought, but Erik had prepared for that as well.

    Throwing the screws back into the box, he picked up the frisbee he had prepared at the same time, and threw it straight at the monster. As Erik activated it, the frisbee turned itself from its horizontal flight to a full stop with its top side now facing the beast instead of towards the sky.

    The beast paid it no mind as it rushed its target. The sound like that of a bird hitting a window reached Erik, now with a new batch of screws in his hand. Hoping the frisbee-shield was one-directional, he threw the screws at the confused beast.

    It was bleeding from its mouth, and had visibly lost a few of its large brown-ish white fangs. The force it must¡¯ve had when hitting the invisible magic wall must¡¯ve been enough to push a large truck out of the road. Had it actually rammed into a truck though, it would probably come out from that completely unharmed.

    Did the fact that the shield was magic completely nullify the beast¡¯s resistance, or could the entire creature have crushed itself in the impact if Erik¡¯s magic had been stronger? How much of the force it impacted dissipated in magical ways before the monster was affected by the remainder? Was the third law of physics wrong when magic was involved?

    The screws flew past the invisible shield without a problem, and Erik activated them right as most of them hit the creature. As it had a slight wind-up time, Erik was glad the beast had hit the wall with such force, as it was likely concussed and did nothing but shake its head sideways.The second beast was quickly taken down, filling the air with more smoke and smells.

    The lightning-emitting screws lasted for about five seconds, which Erik hadn¡¯t noticed from the earlier tesla bomb, seeing as he was attacked before it had died out. It seemed that was the maximum time for the concussive rocks and the high-voltage screws both. A short while later, the frisbee fell to the ground, the magic in it vanished without a trace.

    Erik picked it back up, but it didn¡¯t feel right in his hands. It was the same instinct he felt when he grabbed it and knew what it could do, but it was more hollow now. Erik charged it with magic again, feeling nothing unusual. He then tossed it and activated the shield once more.

    It had lasted ten seconds the last time, and did so the second time as well. When it had fallen to the ground the second time, Erik reached down to grab it, but it unceremoniously cracked and broke apart in several pieces. The pieces didn¡¯t give Erik any feeling at all as he lifted them from the ground. It seemed these were too poor quality to survive the magic coursing through them.

    Unsure whether the monsters were dead or just incapacitated, Erik moved closer to the last one taken down, and he felt more than heard it still breathing, weak as it was. He checked the other one, and it was just as the first.

    They would likely survive, and he didn¡¯t know when they would wake up, so the Remnant considered checking his bike to see the damage and leave. That wouldn¡¯t help in the long run, however. He couldn¡¯t be the anime hero who always left his enemies alive, only for them to turn to the good side because he had said something that resonated with them.

    These creatures had to die, because the less of them there were, the better for everyone. He could use this chance to experiment a little.

 Chapter 5b: Whatéˆ¥æªš In The Box?

    After the intense conversation, Erik was left alone in Command to wait for the colonel and the major, and meanwhile, the general went to get him some food and water. He knew what she was planning.

    She was going to hire him as a civilian contractor, using him as an asset, moving him wherever she pleased, make him kill whatever beast she wanted, and get some recognition to herself, her troops, or both.

    Erik didn¡¯t mind, so long as she gave in to his demands as well. His demands were, after all, a boon to them both. Erik was surprised when his food arrived. He was sure he¡¯d get some type of ration, something rehydrated from a bag. When he got a full-on hamburger and fries, his stomach churned in excitement.

    He hadn¡¯t been feeling hungry at all since he left, but he had eaten a little bit. He was still not sure if he needed food, how much of it, or how long he could go without it. Even if he didn¡¯t need it, his body yearned for it right now. He waited politely for the man from the mess to place the tray down in front of him and turned to leave before he attacked the burger.

    When he had ravaged the burger to completion, and halfway done with the fries, a woman cleared her throat behind him. He turned around, two fries hanging limply from his mouth. It was the colonel from earlier. She was alone.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, my name is Angela Ashleigh,¡± she said.

    ¡°Hi,¡± Erik said, his mouth still full. She smiled.

    Another woman entered the building from behind Colonel Ashleigh, who moved out of the way. It was another attractive woman. Erik realised what the general was trying to do. She was trying to get him over on their side, trying to manipulate him with beautiful women. It was a good effort, but women were the last thing on Erik¡¯s mind right now.

    ¡°You must be Erik. I¡¯m Major Svensson. A pleasure to meet you,¡± she said, much more formally than Angela, who became visibly embarrassed.

    ¡°I am, Major Svensson. Any first name?¡± Erik asked, looking over at Angela with a smile.

    The major wore a helmet just like most others outside and her hair was braided tightly into a ponytail hanging down her left shoulder, barely reaching her chest. It had hazel colour and was quite shiny, revealing that she likely took good care of it. Next to the colonel, Svensson was a head shorter with a slimmer build.

    ¡°Of course, sir. Emma,¡± she responded.

    ¡°At ease, Major,¡± Mathisen said as she entered Command. ¡°He¡¯s a civilian. He¡¯d prefer to use your name rather than rank.¡±

    ¡°Of course, sir.¡± The major visibly relaxed her stance, but somehow looked more uncomfortable that way.

    ¡°Please, all of you, sit,¡± the general said as she went back to behind her desk. The two soldiers did as told, Angela sitting next to Erik, followed by Emma next to her. ¡°Have you reconsidered, Mr Fried?¡± she asked when everyone was sitting down and paying attention. Erik was still picking up one fry at a time, eating it calmly.

    ¡°No, General,¡± he said. The colonel next to him tensed up, unsure what they were talking about. She could see in both their eyes, however, that a war was raging between them.

    ¡°I see. In that case¡­¡± the general started, her eyes suddenly transforming from that of a raging sea in a storm to calming waves at the beach.

    Somehow, this tensed the colonel up even more, and Emma just looked confused at the two of them. Had the general really backed down on something? The major had never seen that happen before. General Mathisen was known to be one of the most stubborn officers ever, and she would always get her way, one way or the other.

    ¡°Colonel Ashleigh, Major Svensson,¡± the general started after a short while of complete silence. ¡°You are hereby relieved of duty from the Scandinavian Empire¡¯s Military Power and the Emergency Council.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± the two exclaimed, rising from their chairs in near-perfect unison.

    ¡°Sit!¡± the general ordered in a harsh tone.

    The two sat down with reddening faces, and Emma stared daggers at Erik as she did. Erik wasn¡¯t sure what the General was doing, but he was intrigued. This wasn¡¯t heading in the direction he thought it would. He continued eating.

    ¡°General, what-¡± Angela tried, but was only given a hand signal to stop.

    ¡°Let me finish. The two of you are both exemplary soldiers, and I believe you have what it takes to assist Mr Fried in finally taking the upper hand in this war. Colo-.. I mean, Angela,¡± the General corrected herself. ¡°You are among the greatest military strategists in the world right now, and there¡¯s nothing I wouldn¡¯t do to keep you under my command. Under normal circumstances. Emma, you are among the best marksmen and CQC-officers in Europe. There¡¯s a reason the two of you are here on the frontlines with me. However, since Mr Fried arrived here a short while ago, things have changed.¡±

    ¡°What the hell does he have to do with anything? He¡¯s no one, just a civvie!¡± Emma shouted, losing what little remained of her composure.

    ¡°He killed a Hellbeast,¡± Angela whispered to her side, as if the others couldn¡¯t hear her.

    ¡°He killed two,¡± Erik leaned over and whispered.

    Emma¡¯s eyes grew wide, and she seemed to panic. She kept it bottled up, however, and she calmed after a short while. She sat up straight and stared at her general. Mathisen cleared her throat, attempting to disregard the last twenty seconds or so.

    ¡°As I was saying. You will no longer be under the jurisdiction of SEMP or the Emergency Council. I want you to assist Mr Fried in whatever way you can. I could have ordered you as officers of the military, but I need him to be completely autonomous, and I also want him to be able to trust you. He can¡¯t do that if you are under my command,¡± she said, looking expectantly at Erik.

    He nodded in confirmation. He wouldn¡¯t have. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could anyway, but it was at least a gesture of good faith from the general, which Erik appreciated.

    ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee he will treat you well, and I have no idea what he will use you for, but I trust he will do what¡¯s right and what¡¯s needed. Of course, I¡¯m giving you a choice to follow him. It¡¯s up to the two of you, but I won¡¯t trust anyone else with this. If you decide you won¡¯t do it, I¡¯ll transfer you from my command to somewhere else. Mr Fried, you will of course have whatever resources I can give you, and I¡¯ll pull what threads I can for you. Do note, however, that this is completely unsanctioned, and I can make no guarantees. I can only ask you to accept these girls¡¯ help, should they offer it after this.¡±

    Silence filled the building. Emma and Angela both looked at each other, at Mathisen and at Erik in varying intervals, carefully considering this. Angela was the first to speak up. She looked at the general with determination.

    ¡°I¡¯ll help. I don¡¯t know what I can do,¡± she started, then turned towards Erik, who smiled at her. She smiled back. ¡°- but I¡¯ll do what I can. If you¡¯ll have me.¡±

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Erik said with a nod.

    Emma wasn¡¯t as easy to convince. She went out for some air after a few minutes had passed, and stepped back in after a while, still undecided. She took both Angela to the side to speak, and even the general. Eventually, she wanted to talk to Erik, who obliged, and they both stepped outside.

    ¡°Listen, I¡¯m not as gullible as Ashleigh. Whatever magic you¡¯ve weaved here will only get you so far. I won¡¯t hesitate to arrest you if you can¡¯t deliver on what you¡¯ve promised. Do you understand?¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I understand. Does that mean you¡¯ll help?¡± Erik agreed.

    ¡°Not until you tell me how you plan to do this. How did you kill that Hellbeast?¡± she asked, pointing towards where his bike was. It seemed she had gone to see it for herself when she had stepped out earlier.

    ¡°Magic,¡± Erik responded.

    ¡°Magic?¡± she asked, a tinge of annoyance growing in her voice.

    ¡°Yeah. If you join me, I¡¯ll show you stuff you thought you¡¯d only see in movies.¡± Erik said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t flirt with me,¡± Emma groaned.

    ¡°I¡¯m keeping that part more or less secret, but if you won¡¯t join, no one will believe you anyway, considering you don¡¯t even believe it yourself. So I¡¯m fine with telling you the how.¡±

    ¡°You really intend to keep to that explanation?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Emma sighed, and went back into Command. Erik followed her, just barely hearing Emma¡¯s words as he entered the door a few seconds behind her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with them,¡± she said.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± the general said, smiling at the girls. ¡°Keep in mind that you technically won¡¯t be part of the military any longer, so you shouldn¡¯t tell people you are. You aren¡¯t even black ops. Technically, you¡¯ll be mercenaries, I suppose.

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°Now, let¡¯s talk details,¡± the general said, folding her hands together in front of her chin.

    The four spent the next hour in Command, talking about how the general could help with her resources, and how Angela and Emma could assist him. As far as he was concerned, they would have to help with logistics and acquisition of gear, and hopefully support and intelligence.

    They agreed, but they also wanted to fight the beasts. Erik wouldn¡¯t stop them, but he couldn¡¯t promise he could protect them, nor did they want him to. This was their job, or it had been, at least.

    The general could help by providing a chopper and pilot, at least to the UB, where she could pull some threads to get them further assistance from an air base close to his destination.

    During their talk, Erik told an abridged version of his story, and that he was looking for clues about his father, who may or may not be dead. The fact that he may or may not also be behind the Hellbeast invasion, he kept to himself.

    In regards to his previous request back when they first met, General Mathisen also apologised for not being able to send anyone into enemy territory to pick up any remaining survivors. After the initial evacuation, nothing they had sent in to scout or surveil the area had returned. All they got were final transmissions of a rather confusing nature before the comms went down. Everything past Bridgefort was designated a no-go zone.

    They did have cellular at the base, and several generators provided power, so the general sent an intelligence officer to gather what information he could about Erik¡¯s father. It wasn¡¯t good news the officer brought back, but Erik was sort of happy about it just the same.

    His father had died in the fire along with his mother and himself. In fact, what little remained of him was right in the entrance of the house, where fire investigators surmised the fire had started. The officer brought with him a printed picture of the front page of the local newspaper where Erik lived. The title said ¡®Mysterious fire kills family¡¯, and in the article, it mentioned his father, his mother and himself as their only son.

    That was true, of course, but it didn¡¯t escape the notice of the general. Erik hadn¡¯t considered that, and didn¡¯t have a half-truth prepared for that line of questioning. He decided to tell the three of them the truth.

    ¡°So you believe someone is behind this? A person? A Remnant?¡± Angela asked, to confirm what she¡¯d heard.

    ¡°I believe so, yeah. There¡¯s another one in Leicester I think can help, which is why I¡¯ve been travelling that way,¡± Erik explained.

    ¡°How sure can you be that this other one isn¡¯t the one behind this?¡± Emma asked.

    It was clear none of them believed his story, but they had little choice but to go with it for now.

    ¡°I was with her the three months after we died, in the same place. Don¡¯t get me wrong, both me and her can kill these things. But we¡¯re new at this, which is why we need help.¡±

    ¡°And crystals or gemstones will help you get stronger?¡± Angela asked. From her disbelieving tone, it sounded like he was telling her about alternative medicine. That wasn¡¯t far off, he had to admit.

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re supposed to. I haven¡¯t stumbled upon any in the woods or on the road, obviously, so I can¡¯t say for certain what will work and what won¡¯t.¡±

    Erik decided to stay the night at Bridgefort. The following morning, a pilot would take him and his two companions to the air base near Leicester, and Angela would talk to the leadership over there, passing along a missive from Mathisen, while Erik and Emma would go find Jessie.

    After that, they would seek out various rock shops, museums and so on, requisitioning what material they needed. After that, if Jessie would join them, the Remnants would have to train to fight as they would get more powers added to their arsenal.

    As night descended, however, the soldiers at the walls shouted that an attack was incoming. Moments later, Bridgefort was drowned in the loud sounds of gunfire, explosions and monsters crashing into the thick wall standing firm between the beasts and people.

    Erik rushed over to the wall he¡¯d entered earlier that day and climbed the small metal stairs to get on top of it. Right behind him were Angela and the general.

    ¡°How many?¡± Erik asked the scout that had given the warning. A couple of others were shooting short bursts close by and it was hard to hear, but the scout raised two fingers in the air. Just then a hellbeast rammed into the wall beneath Erik, and the wall shook and rumbled.

    ¡°Mr Fried! This is your chance to get in my good graces and prove yourself,¡± the general said.

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Erik said casually, and saluted as he dropped down the other side of the wall. He brought his stuff when the alarm rang, of course. As he landed, he cushioned himself by bending his knees, a frisbee already in his hand.

    ¡°Soldiers! Fire up all the generators and get those floodlights on! I think you¡¯re all going to want to see this,¡± the general said, and everyone stopped firing.

    A few on top of the wall had visibly panicked when Erik dropped down, but the general had motioned that it was okay. The fact that she had to believe he was telling the truth, didn¡¯t mean she did. If he died down there, she would personally sign the paperwork telling the SEMP he was a mentally unstable civilian with suicidal tendencies.

    The floodlights were mostly off, as they drew quite a bit of power. They were turned on to do a quick search a few times a night, but she had now ordered them all on. One after the other, people manned the large torches, and they aimed them at Erik and the beasts.

    The gunfire had been replaced by murmurs, but everything turned completely silent when the civilian that had knocked on their door earlier that day threw a small plastic frisbee towards the hellbeasts and the frisbee stopped in mid-air.

    The sprinting dogs stopped right in front of the frisbee, as if met by a wall. Except they didn¡¯t stop. They smashed into something. There was nothing to crash into, but by the help of the floodlights, they saw blood trickle out of the frontmost beast¡¯s mouth. They had never seen any of them bleed.

    The civilian then searched his backpack of goofy stuff before he ran towards the confused monster dogs. He was fast! A few soldiers shouted to keep away from the frisbee, but the man rushed straight past it unhindered, and ran past the closest dog. Something audibly clinked, but no one saw what as they all focused intently on Erik.

    The stupid man rush-kicked the next dog in its face, which amazingly seemed effective. The dog was pushed back slightly, and the man followed up with a punch before grabbing its massive snout with one hand. He stuck his other hand down the beast¡¯s throat for a short second, before pulling it out again, finishing with a punch to its throat.

    The man then retreated backwards, always keeping his eye on his enemies. Some had noticed the bright lights around the closest dog by now, but when Erik retreated past it, everyone else noticed as well.

    A blue light strobed all around the beast, and it kicked sporadically with its legs until the light show stopped. It didn¡¯t move after that, but Erik went closer to it with a knife in his hand. They knew that wouldn¡¯t work, and as the soldiers whispered that to each other, the civilian stabbed the metal into the beast¡¯s neck.

    The squelch as he retracted the knife was audible to everyone on top of the wall due to the almost eerie silence. Erik then cleaned the knife on the dirty fur of the beast before he went back towards the wall, picking up his frisbee which was now lying on the ground.

    ¡°The other one,¡± people murmured. Angela looked towards the beast his new boss had fought in close quarters. It was melting from the inside. A yellowish goo trickled out from increasingly large holes all over the beast. Never before had she seen anything like this. She looked back at Erik¡¯s confident stride back towards the wall. What was he? The man looked up at the large gathering of uniforms atop the wall.

    ¡°Mind opening the door?¡± he asked.

 Chapter 6a: Remnants Assemble

    As Erik walked through the gate to Bridgefort, a massive burst of cheers blasted all over the camp. Everyone ran down the narrow stairs from the wall, pushing and nudging each other as they did.

    Erik was amazed at the amount of hugs he got from the weeping men and women in uniforms. He didn¡¯t know what to feel. He sort of understood what this meant for them; they had been fighting not only a losing war, but a hopeless one, for months on end. The beasts had spread further and further, even taking to swimming across the sea to invade more land, and they couldn''t be stopped. All over the world, these beasts were winning. Until now.

    The crowd separated to let the general pass. Mathisen walked closer to Erik than she had ever been, and the crowd fell silent in suspense. The older general squeezed the man between her arms in the biggest hug he¡¯d ever been on the receiving end of. Even she was crying by the time she let him go.

    She stood straight, turning to her people, who all stared at her, not knowing how to react. After a few seconds, they all stood at attention, except former Colonel Ashleigh and former Major Svensson. They weren¡¯t military any more, and that decision was now visible with pride on their faces. The general noticed, and smiled.

    ¡°Tonight,¡± the general started, her voice empowered by her authority. ¡°- drinks aren¡¯t limited by rationing.¡±

    The general said this as she had already started walking away, having passed through half the staring crowd already. As she finished her sentence, the uniformed crowd went absolutely nuts. Erik noticed Emma¡¯s reaction being especially wild.

    The rambunctious celebration lasted well into the night. Erik got the chance to get to know both Angela and Emma better, as the three randomly met among the scuffling crowds several times during the night.

    Angela, whose name Erik didn¡¯t feel was the most scandi of names, was actually British. She had requested a transfer to Mathisen¡¯s command as soon as she heard that Bridgefort was holding. The general was her role model, and she knew that if the world was about to end, she wanted to stand beside General Mathisen as it did.

    Emma was from the Swedish region of the Empire, and she had grown up in the military from when she was a young girl. Her father was an officer, and her mother died a few months after Emma was born. Her father died some years later, and Emma had from then on been raised by her godfather and his wife.It just so happened that her godfather was also a general in the SEMP.

    She had also requested a transfer to Mathisen¡¯s command, though that was when Operation Bridgefort was still in the planning phase. Both Angela and Emma could be counted as military elites, especially considering their age. Angela was the same age as Erik, twenty-four, while Emma was two years younger.

    Erik also got to know a few of the others, feeling like the main attraction that night. He wasn¡¯t used to, nor did he really appreciate the attention, but he was happy for them. They had reason to let loose for a night.

    He learned a bit more about the invasion, and how far it had progressed. The rest of the continent was much better off than the northern part of the Empire. As Erik had guessed, they had found the invasion¡¯s starting point from somewhere near Erik¡¯s home, and the monsters seemed to spread out from there in most directions.

    They had gone south towards the rest of Europe and east towards Asia first, but soon took to the sea, the first ones to reach the western colonies only getting ashore a week ago.

    And so, the war had spread even across the Atlantic. Some had even reached Africa, having gotten through Europe in its entirety. Why the beasts spread out and seemed to be gunning for infrastructure rather than food was a mystery, though humanity had pondered whether they were controlled by someone or something.

    An alien invasion was in fact the top theory for quite a few people, and the governments of the world couldn¡¯t ignore that possibility either.

    Erik decided not to share all the details with everyone. Angela, Emma and Mathisen were enough for now. He hadn¡¯t even shared everything he knew with them yet, but would probably talk about it more with his new companions.

    Mathisen didn¡¯t need to know everything, but those who would be with him might need to know. If everything hit the fan and he could¡¯ve avoided that situation by sharing some information beforehand¡­

    Before Erik went to bed that night, he checked in on Command, and found Mathisen by her desk, all alone. She told him to come in and he sat down in front of her desk. She looked thoughtful and it took a few seconds of silence before she said anything more.

    Despite her contemplating demeanour, she didn¡¯t want to talk shop. She asked Erik details about his life, what he enjoyed doing, his hobbies and so on. Small talk was likely something she didn¡¯t get a chance to do often, so he kept them chatting a while longer, before eventually turning in for the night.

    Despite the thin, rolled out mattress and all the noise that went on until morning, Erik felt like he¡¯d slept better than ever. Yesterday was a win in more ways than one. He¡¯d finally found people, and he learned more about his father and the state of the world. He¡¯d also been promised help, both in the form of transportation and manpower. He had additionally been promised resources, but that was currently too abstract to really consider.

    ¡°Morning, sir.¡±

    ¡°Morning, boss.¡±

    Angela and Emma sat down on the other side of Erik¡¯s table, each with their own tray filled with various breakfast foods. Angela had lots of beans, sausages and bacon, while Emma had loaded up with bread, ham, cheese and a side of orange and apple slices.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t call me that,¡± Erik said, putting a spoonful of cereal and milk in his mouth.

    ¡°Sir or boss?¡± Angela asked jokingly.

    ¡°Either. You know I¡¯m not going to order you around, right?¡±

    ¡°We figured as much,¡± Emma said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean we should just do as we want, though. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be ready to follow orders when you give them, otherwise we¡¯ll do what we can, when we can, and try our best to advise you as we go along,¡± Emma finished with something resembling a smile, and Angela nodded in agreement.

    ¡°What¡¯s got you in such a good mood? Never seen you smile before. You¡¯re not a morning person, are you?¡± Erik asked. Emma giggled, as if trying to prove a point.

    ¡°Not at all. I¡¯m sorry about yesterday. It¡¯s been a rough couple of months. You killing those things yesterday¡­ It made me hopeful, I guess. Just don¡¯t push it,¡± she finished, pointing her butter knife at Erik¡¯s face with a smile.

    ¡°Morning, girls, Mr Fried.¡± Mathisen sat down next to Erik.

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    ¡°Morning, General,¡± the three said in unison.

    ¡°The pilot will be ready in an hour. We¡¯ll have you all in Leicester this afternoon. He will take you to the air base set up around there, from which you will be based until you feel ready to take on this invasion with full force,¡± Mathisen said, obviously not knowing how to relax a little before work.

    ¡°Relax, General. We talked about all this yesterday. Nothing¡¯s changed, right?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°No, I suppose not, Mr Fried. I¡¯m just a bit excited, I think.¡±

    If anything, the general¡¯s demeanour suggested the opposite.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Mathisen. Look around. Everyone¡¯s all jittery and excited. Some of them have barely slept after last night¡¯s party, and they don¡¯t look half as miserable as they did yesterday. Even Emma smiled and apologised!¡± Erik said, grinning at Emma who responded with a huff.

    All around them were tired and haggard-looking soldiers and other personnel, barely sitting upright as they tried putting some food into their mouths. Even so, all of them were smiling, joking around with each other, laughing at every bad joke they heard in the vicinity.

    Hope. In reality, the only thing that had changed from the moment Erik found these people.

    He couldn¡¯t imagine how they had even managed to keep fighting the past few months without any hope. What would he have done if he lived when the invasion started? Most likely, he¡¯d just die the first day or two. A lot of people had, and he wouldn¡¯t be any different.

    Some had made it out. The evacuation was assisted by the government, the SEMP and even a bunch of other countries that had available air units. Still, most of the death toll from the invasion could be linked to that first week alone, and the dead were mostly from the Empire.

    If he¡¯d been alive, then, he would likely just be another statistic right now. Instead, he could try to fix all this.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty amazing. I wonder if we¡¯ll be famous or something!¡± Emma said with wide eyes.

    ¡°No!¡± Mathisen and Erik both exclaimed, and looked at each other.

    ¡°What I mean is that the last thing you will want to do is draw attention to yourselves. If someone is behind this invasion, you would instantly become their primary target,¡± Mathisen said.

    ¡°I just want to be able to live my life by the time we get the invasion beat,¡± Erik explained. ¡°Being famous is not on my agenda, trust me.¡±

    ¡°Think about it, Emma. It¡¯s fine for us, it¡¯ll likely even be good for our careers in the long run. But for Erik, it¡¯ll be different. He¡¯ll be famous for being different, for being able to do magic. The real thing¡­ supposedly. He will just be treated as a dance monkey. I get why he doesn¡¯t want that,¡± Angela said.

    ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll do it covertly, I guess,¡± Emma said, crossing her arms and leaning back on her seat. ¡°But I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s the one who¡¯ll screw that up.¡±

    ¡°I have to agree to that assessment. I hope you realise this, young man, but you are a bit flashy. I mean, how you acted yesterday¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, I agree,¡± Erik agreed.

    The three stepped on board the helicopter after saying their goodbyes to the Bridgefort outfit. As soon as they got out of the hurricane-force winds from the rotors, a masculine shout greeted them.

    ¡°Hi there!¡± The man from the front of the helicopter had long, black and curly hair, tied into a bun on the back of his head. He also had a thick beard, with two mirrors installed in front of his eyes and under his large headset. He pointed to another set of headsets and gestured that they should wear them.

    Angela, who had been the first one into the helicopter, had already grabbed one, and was in the midst of putting it on. She grabbed two more, handing them out to Erik and Emma.

    The brown-skinned man in the front gave a thumbs up and turned forwards, looking at his dashboard full of lights, buttons and dials. As Erik fumbled to put the headset on, Angela looked on, which was a bit awkward. After Erik gave her a thumbs up, she placed her hand on his cheek.

    Suddenly, a slight static could be heard from the device around his ears, but most notably was the white noise-like silence. Angela removed her hand and smiled.

    ¡°Better?¡± she asked in a normal voice, which Erik could hear through the radio in the headset.

    ¡°Yeah, sorry. New to this,¡± he explained before turning to Emma, who had also put the device on her head and turned it on. She gave a thumbs up to the pilot.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard a lot about you. Mr Fried, was it?¡± the pilot said, flipping a small lever or switch in the dash.

    ¡°Call me Erik. Hope you don¡¯t believe everything you hear,¡± Erik responded. The pilot then muttered something unrecognisable into the radio, then proceeded to lift the helicopter from the ground. After a short hover, they went further up, clearing any and all nearby obstacles.

    ¡°What I believe is that this garrison had one hell of a party last night, all in your honour. That¡¯s all I care about,¡± the pilot said as the helicopter started to move forwards.

    ¡°Your name?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°Amir. We¡¯ll be arriving in seven hours, give or take. I trust you¡¯ll tell me if any of you start feeling ill?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± the three said in response.

    ¡°Good, good. AC only works in front, it can get hot back there,¡± Amir said, looking behind him to his three passengers quickly before turning back ahead. ¡°I¡¯d love to see the blonde one button down a bit,¡± he said, as if there was nothing wrong in saying that on the radio.

    ¡°Amir?¡± Erik said after a second or two of awkward silence later.

    ¡°Yessir?¡±

    ¡°You should keep those things to yourself,¡± he said, and Amir looked panicked as he turned around to face Erik. Angela and Emma both looked at Erik with surprise in their eyes. Was he in the wrong here? People weren¡¯t supposed to talk like that freely, normally.

    ¡°You speak Arabic?¡± Emma asked.

    At that moment, Erikrealised what had happened. He thought back, and realised Amir had said that last part in Arabic.

    ¡°Sorry, sir. I would never do anything too untoward,¡± the pilot explained, his expressions showing that he really meant it. Erik figured he wouldn¡¯t. He probably wouldn¡¯t still have his job if he wasn¡¯t professional most of the time.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Erik said, sitting back in his seat. ¡°- are we there yet?¡±

    ¡°We just left, sir¡­¡± Amir said.

    ¡°Let me know if something interesting happens, then!¡± the man responded, closing his eyes to relax.

    A kick in his left leg woke him up a while later. Emma pointed towards the shut door, and Erik got up from his seat, looking out the window of said door. A couple of hellbeasts were swimming beneath them, fighting the large waves that attempted to push them away. Erik sat back down after he couldn¡¯t find any more than two of the beasts.

    ¡°Where are they headed?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°Somewhere between the States and the Coalition. Antwerp or Rotterdam, most likely. We¡¯re nearing the shores near Norwich, UB. You¡¯ll want to pay attention,¡± Amir said, his voice a bit tense. ¡°We¡¯re entering the warzone in a few minutes.¡±

    Intrigued, Erik sat up front in the seat next to Amir, getting a good view from the front of the helicopter. As the shore grew visible, so did all the choppers, the barricades and ground vehicles on and around the shoreside.

    A few hellbeasts were blown away while attacking the barricades, but were otherwise unharmed. As Erik¡¯s helicopter flew above them, a couple of dogs ran back to sea in a rain of gunfire and explosions, but new beasts arrived on shore seconds later.

    ¡°Why are they giving up?¡± Erik asked, having thought about that earlier at Bridgefort, but hadn¡¯t asked.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know,¡± Angela answered, looking out her own little window just as a British soldier got caught between a monster and a barricade. ¡°They¡¯ve done this from the get-go. If we can hold them for a little while, they retreat for a while, only to try again later. That¡¯s why Bridgefort wasn¡¯t constantly besieged. It¡¯s a bit worse by the sea, as there are instead multiple groups making landfall at different times at different places.

    All attempts at marking them have failed, as even paint gets washed off in the sea. We don¡¯t know if the same beast attacks the same place several times, or if they alter their course, but we think they keep going for the same target. GPS tags on the ones attacking Bridgefort has determined the same ones attacking multiple times, but the data set is small.¡±

    Erik considered this in silence for the next while. In less than an hour, they would reach the airbase outside Leicester. The helicopter passed by several smaller villages and farms where people seemed to live just like normal. Like the world wasn¡¯t at war against monsters. It warmed Erik¡¯s chest.

    The feeling only lasted a mere second before his heart turned cold and hard.

    ¡°Drop me off there,¡± Erik said, his voice as cold as his eyes as he pointed at a Hellbeast that had somehow gotten through the barricades by the shore and gotten inland.

    ¡°Yessir!¡± Amir said, turning the helicopter slightly to alter its course.

    ¡°You two head to the airbase and deliver the message. Meet me at the address I gave you later tonight.¡±

    The two women nodded, but didn¡¯t confirm his order by vocal response. Already he was giving them orders, something he had said he wouldn¡¯t do. They didn¡¯t seem to mind and they had even said they would follow his orders if he gave them.

    Erik opened the door, letting a rushing storm of air inside the helicopter, and removed his headset. He picked up his Backpack of Stuff, which had become the official name for the stolen backpack filled with a collection of unusual items, and dropped down to the ground.

 Chapter 6b: Remnants Assemble

    Angela shut the door behind him, and kept looking out the window until Erik couldn¡¯t be seen anymore. She and Emma smiled at each other knowingly before they signalled the pilot to keep going.

    Erik landed on a narrow straight of asphalt. Quickly approaching him was a yellow car, the headlights blinking rapidly. Erik moved to the shoulder of the road, and the car rushed past him, the people inside waving in fear at him, signalling danger.

    A few seconds behind the car came the beast, and the people trying to escape the monster had no intention of stopping to rescue Erik, as they were long gone already. The beast, now more interested in Erik than the yellow car, didn¡¯t prove any smarter than the rest of its ilk, as it rammed straight into his invisible wall.

    As its face got smashed in, Erik threw a handful of screws at his victim, and the match was already over. He grabbed hold of his knife, forced his magic through it, and slit the monster¡¯s throat with it.

    As he removed the knife, the metal that was its blade had visibly corroded, and was almost liquefied at certain points. Erik ran more magic through it, and in less than a few seconds it was broken beyond repair.

    The Remnant sighed and tossed the handle away. His magic wasn¡¯t much into recyclability, it seemed. He broke everything he used his magic on. The knife was understandable, as Erik spent a good deal of effort forcing the magic into the knife, unlike the other stuff he used, where his magic and the object seemed made for each other, and united in perfect harmony.

    Still, that didn¡¯t mean the items survived the massive influx of magic. The screws that made his Tesla Bomb all melted, his frisbees shattered after two uses and the yellow bouncy ball that he used on the defence of Bridgefort turned to acid sludge, meaning it certainly wasn¡¯t reusable.

    The sticks shattered and the pebbles turned to dust. Erik wasn¡¯t sure why the frisbees could be used twice, though he was happy they did. They weren¡¯t as easy to find as regular rocks or screws were.

    Erik looked around, and found no one. It seemed it was just that one beast that got past the shoreline. There weren¡¯t any people around to observe his deeds either, luckily. But how would he hide the monster corpse? He deeply wished for a looting ability that turned the looted corpse into rainbow smoke or something, but he had no such thing, nor anything to dig a grave with.

    If anyone discovered the corpse of a Hellbeast, there would be no chance to continue on covertly. The world would never stop until they found what killed it, and Mathisen could only help so much. The entire trip here was, at least for General Mathisen, just to deliver a message to the air base, hoping they would follow her lead to go rogue, for all intents and purposes.

    While it wasn¡¯t really defection, it was certainly possible they could be convicted of that in court. To prevent that, Erik had to give results, but it was still too early. He had to grow stronger first. When he was ready to fight back for real, he would make himself known if they needed him to, but right now, everyone needed him to lay low.

    He pushed the massive dog-like being out of the road and into the brush on the roadside. He covered the corpse with branches, straw and whatever else he could find, but when he was done, there was only one way to describe what was in front of him; a suspicious mound.

    It was perfectly noticeable and obviously man-made, but hopefully no one would even bother with it. Hopefully, everyone using this road would travel by car, which could make it a bit more difficult to notice, Erik hoped. He grabbed his backpack tightly and went on his way, heading in the direction of Leicester.

    A few hours later, Erik had been wandering around the town centre for a little while. He felt awkward wearing the deep-green casuals of the SEMP, but it was the only clothes they had available at Bridgefort after he showered there that morning.

    He looked like a background character in a low budget war film, and he felt constant gazes focusing on him as he wandered around. Luckily, he had been given some cash to be able to buy what he needed when he arrived, and he didn¡¯t waste a second when he spotted a clothes store.

    He always had trouble buying clothes as he wanted them to fit him in a certain way, which was neither too tight nor too loose. It didn¡¯t sound too complicated an order, but clothes usually followed trends, which for the last ten years or so meant the clothes were as tight as possible.

    Erik had hated this development, and had been forced to buy in bulk whenever he found a pair of jeans that fit him just right. He had never been skinny, nor really fit, but he wasn¡¯t large in any sense of the word. He had flab, or at least, he used to. Erik just noticed when trying on some clothes, but they seemed a bit larger on him than he expected based on the size. When he looked at himself in the mirror, a slimmer and fitter man looked back at him.

    He wasn¡¯t body-builder material, and it certainly wasn¡¯t the body of a gym monkey, but he looked like he was working out regularly and eating healthy. His flab was just gone. It made it slightly easier to buy clothes as well.

    Decked out in new clothes, courtesy of the Scandinavian Empire Military Power, he headed back out, much more comfortable as he walked the unknown streets. Reaching the apartment building he had been looking for, Erik long-pressed the button next to a sign marked ¡®Callum¡¯.

    After half a minute or so, he tried again, but still didn¡¯t get any response. Having no idea where Jessie might be or what she might be doing, Erik had no choice but to wait around, hoping she¡¯d return shortly.

    He watched the passing cars to make time pass faster. It was a trick he¡¯d been able to do since he was a kid. He could almost completely zone out, making minutes pass by like seconds, so long as nothing made him lose focus. He didn¡¯t know how much time had passed when he finally did lose it.

    He didn¡¯t know what distracted him. That could happen sometimes. He looked around just to be sure, but didn¡¯t spot anything particularly interesting. He sighed, but didn¡¯t bother zoning out again. He walked around restlessly for a few more minutes until a young woman caught his attention.

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    She was walking towards him on the sidewalk, with long blonde hair and a pink hairband on her head. She wore clothes that showed off her long, skinny legs. She noticed Erik, and watched him watch her walking closer. She walked past him with a smile, only to press a key into the keyhole on the door Erik was waiting by. She pulled the door open, visibly straining as she did, but had no problem holding it open. She turned to Erik instead of walking inside.

    ¡°Would you rather wait inside?¡± she asked, completely unprompted.

    ¡°Uhh¡­ Do I know you?¡± he asked, hoping he didn¡¯t look too confused.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± she said in an obvious attempt at flustering Erik a bit more.

    ¡°I¡¯m waiting for someone,¡± he said, just realising she already knew that beforehand after he said it. What is happening right now? Luckily, the girl didn¡¯t seem to mind his answer.

    ¡°And wouldn¡¯t you rather wait inside?¡± she asked again. Her smile was wonderful. Warming.

    ¡°Uh, no, it¡¯s alright. She probably won¡¯t be long,¡± he responded.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a she, is it? Girlfriend, perhaps?¡± the girl asked with a wink.

    ¡°Oh, gods no. I mean, we¡¯re friends. She¡¯s with another friend of mine, actually-¡±

    ¡°I knew it!¡± the young woman said, her angelic face suddenly much more normal. ¡°I knew she met someone, but when she talked about you she didn¡¯t have that¡­ spark. Also, she isn¡¯t usually interested in guys,¡± the girl continued.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Erik asked, even more confused now. The girl, still holding the door open, stepped in front of the door with one foot and stepped forward with the other, stopping the door from closing and getting closer to Erik. She got real close to his face, as if analysing him.

    ¡°I¡¯m Sophie,¡± she said with a smile, her face suddenly that of a divine being once again. How did she do that? ¡°I¡¯m Jessie¡¯s sister.¡±

    Erik wasn¡¯t sure why he didn¡¯t even consider this girl to be Jessie¡¯s sister. Now that he knew, he even saw some resemblance. The way the girl had flustered him was probably the reason why he couldn¡¯t focus.

    ¡°Oh! Hey. I¡¯m Erik. I¡¯m sorry, I should have realised..-¡±

    ¡°Oh please, you had no reason to know that! Besides, I¡¯m the pretty one, so I would¡¯ve been hurt if you recognised me by memory of her,¡± Sophie interrupted. ¡°Anyway, coming in? I¡¯ve been living with her since she got back, so I¡¯ve got keys to her flat.¡±

    ¡°R-right¡­¡± was all Erik managed to say as Sophie waved him inside.

    He followed behind her, a bit weirded out. That was very unlike him. He felt like he could handle most situations just fine, with only minor deflections by joking and so on. He hadn¡¯t been ready for whatever this girl was doing, but that was exciting in and of itself, he thought.

    ¡°Ta-da!¡± she said, gesturing to the entire flat as Erik walked inside behind her. It certainly wasn¡¯t much. Besides the entrance, there were three doors, one of which led to a tiny balcony above the street where Eric had waited.

    The other two doors were right across the room from the balcony, one of which led to the one and only bedroom, the other to a small bathroom. Everything between those doors were a small kitchen and a tiny living room area with an old sofa and a tiny square table.

    While it was a whole lot better than the ashen remains of Erik¡¯s house, it was nothing short of a travesty compared to the luxury apartments in Afterlife. If Erik hadn¡¯t lived on the road for the past week, he couldn¡¯t understand how Jessie could even live in a place like this.

    Even so, her sister had moved in with her? Into this small space? There had to be some serious amount of love involved from both of them if they both thought that was okay.

    ¡°This looks great,¡± Erik lied without any attempt at hiding it.

    ¡°I know, right? I love to walk around naked in here,¡± Sophie said, entering the kitchen with one tiny step.

    ¡°What?¡± Erik said while clearing his throat.

    ¡°You¡¯re such an easy target. Sis will be back in a few minutes I think. She¡¯s visiting dad.¡±

    ¡°No worries, I guess. How, uhh¡­ When she..-¡± Erik tried, but had no idea how to even ask the question. While Sophie looked at him questioningly, he thought for a moment in silence, rather than seeming more like a monkey than he did already. ¡°Was everything alright when she was gone?¡± he attempted after a moment.

    ¡°Oh¡­ No, not really,¡± she said, looking down. ¡°But she¡¯s back now,¡± she continued in an attempt at making herself feel better. It didn¡¯t look like it worked, as her divine features still looked a bit rugged, and her eyes were glistening in the weak light from the lamp on the roof.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have-¡±

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t be. Jessie told me about your circumstances, and at least she came back to someone. I¡¯m sorry for your loss, by the way.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. How are things now that she¡¯s back, though? That must be¡­ different?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sophie said while laughing slightly. ¡°Magic really exists, huh? I suppose I started hoping those family tales were real when the invasion started. They didn¡¯t mention having to actually die first, otherwise I¡¯d have started hoping she¡¯d return to us someday. But then, what if she didn¡¯t? How long should I have held onto that hope? I¡¯m sure that would¡¯ve broken me completely, eventually.¡±

    ¡°I suppose. How¡¯s your father doing?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s better now. He didn¡¯t handle Jessie¡¯s death well. I mean, he worked and drank. Barely slept. Repeat. He withdrew from me. I understand that he didn¡¯t want me to see him lose it. But I needed him, you know?¡± Sophie was tearing up at the thought, and she could barely hold her voice from cracking by the end.

    ¡°Hey¡­ I¡¯m sure he tried his best for you. Is he alright now, though?¡± Erik said, stepping closer to Sophie, but didn¡¯t do more than that. He just met this girl, and he¡¯d never had such an emotional conversation with a stranger before. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this?

    ¡°I think so. When Jessie got back here two days ago, she found me. Later we went together to dad. There was a lot of crying involved, a bit of anger. Not specifically targeting anyone, of course. I think he¡¯s still having a hard time believing she¡¯s back, so she wants to spend some time with him. He¡¯s taken a few vacation days, and I don¡¯t think he¡¯s even touched the bottle since then. It¡¯s getting better, I hope,¡± she said.

    Two days ago meant that Jessie too left Afterlife a few days earlier than she had too, if Erik did his maths right. He returned seven days ago, the same day his portal appeared. Maybe she missed her family.

    Erik felt a tingle unlike anything he¡¯d ever sensed before just then. He looked around, but couldn¡¯t make sense of it. It was like a low buzz in his ear, a little voltage running through his tongue and mild goosebumps all at once. He felt a sense of direction from it, but after a few seconds, it stopped moving. Something was pulling at his senses, but he couldn¡¯t pinpoint where exactly he was pulled to. It started moving again, and the door opened moments later.

    ¡°Hey sis!¡± Sophie said, wiping a tear from her cheek with her finger, giving her sister a wide smile, despite her red and puffy eyes and cheeks.

    Jessie entered the room, wearing one of her signature black hoodies. This one depicted a skull with a heart-tattoo on its temple with the words ¡®Death¡¯ in heavy metal lettering above it.

    ¡°Erik!¡± Jessie said, sprinting two whole steps and attacked Erik with a big hug. ¡°You¡¯re here!¡±

    ¡°Hey! It took a bit longer than expected, but here I am,¡± Erik explained, hugging her back tightly.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe most of the Empire is gone! That must¡¯ve been hard for you, returning there to find nothing but ruins,¡± Jessie continued, eventually letting him go.

    ¡°Yeah, that took me by surprise for sure. It wasn¡¯t easy getting past all those Hellbeasts, I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    ¡°How did you get here? That¡¯s still beast territory, isn¡¯t it?¡± Sophie asked as if she hadn¡¯t considered that before now.

    ¡°Let me tell you a story of bravery, magic and more bravery!¡± Erik started, and started telling his story, starting with his resurrection at the burned down ruins of his old home.

 Chapter 7a: Behold The Titan

    ¡°You can kill those things?¡± both girls interrupted halfway through Erik¡¯s story. Erik asked them to hold their questions until the end of the story, and despite their frowns, they did as asked. Ending his story when he arrived at Leicester, the two had no lack of questions to ask him.

    Before that, though, Jessie ordered her sister to buy some beer and bring it back while she made dinner for them. Making dinner, in this case, meant throwing some frozen food into the oven for half an hour, but that didn¡¯t make it less appetising in the end.

    ¡°So you¡¯ve killed Hellbeasts?¡± Jessie asked before her first forkful of lasagna.

    ¡°Five, I think,¡± Erik said, thinking back before nodding in confirmation. ¡°I think they¡¯re vulnerable to magic, actually.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re certainly unkillable by other means, or so I¡¯ve heard,¡± Jessie said.

    ¡°Yeah. That means you¡¯ll probably be able to witch them to death too, you know.¡±

    ¡°What if I can¡¯t, though? I mean, we can¡¯t be sure, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s actually part of the reason I¡¯m here. I got some help from the military stationed between Sweden and Denmark, and some new friends that are at the nearby air base right now. They want me to help them win the war, but I need your help. If you can give it, of course,¡± Erik said, looking at Sophie at the end. ¡°I understand your family needs you-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it, obviously. The moment I got back and learned of the invasion, I was heartbroken. If I can help, even just a little, I have to,¡± Jessie explained, also looking at her sister.

    ¡°Of course she¡¯s helping!¡± was all her sister said in response to their stares.

    ¡°That reminds me - what can you do?¡± Jessie asked, her mouth full of pasta and tomato sauce.

    ¡°Err¡­ stuff? I mean, it¡¯s just a bunch of weird stuff. What¡¯s your power?¡±

    ¡°Oh! It¡¯s really cool!¡± Sophie exclaimed, her eyes practically glowing with pride.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Erik said, looking at Jessie.

    ¡°It¡¯s multiple things, like you. I call it ¡®Call of Nature¡¯, and it lets me cast a spell for each natural element. One fire spell, one water spell, an earth spell and a wind spell. Like Nana guessed, some are offensive and some are defensive,¡± Jessie explained.

    Nana, who was a fount of knowledge for recently reborn Remnants, had guessed that based on Jessie¡¯s Crest. On her chest were two bird wings, one pointed upwards with sharp feathers, the other with thicker plumage pointing downwards. The left one looked like a predatory bird¡¯s wing, like that of a falcon or eagle, and the other resembled that of an owl.

    The Core was right in the middle, and each wing had one row of circles along the bones, and another along the edge of the feathers. She also had one extra line of circles straight down from the Core.

    Like Erik¡¯s, the first circle in each row was larger than the rest. With the additional row, Jessie had one more row for absorbing powers, and one more major power than he did. Sometimes, the Crests could be used to tell what kind of abilities the Remnant was suited to, and Nana guessed that Jessie¡¯s would either be both offensive and defensive based on the two different wings.

    That didn¡¯t mean that was Nana¡¯s only guess, as it could also mean something like hard and soft, or even up and down considering the directions they were pointing. Erik¡¯s swirl was harder to pinpoint, as it was uniform. That could mean that there either wouldn¡¯t be that much variation in his powers, or that the differences weren¡¯t easily quantified.

    ¡°Can I see yours?¡± Sophie creaked with enthusiasm.

    After dinner, Erik removed his shirt, letting Sophie see his Crest from up close. She touched his dimly glowing red core with her index finger, following the swirls to one of the ends.

    ¡°Why are your thingies hexagonal?¡± she asked. This had been discussed in Afterlife as well, but the general consensus was reasons. It didn¡¯t seem to matter at all, but it was always geometrical shapes.

    ¡°Hey, you said the name of your power was Call of Nature, right? Did you name it yourself?¡± Erik asked, trying to focus on something else than the pretty girl touching his chest.

    ¡°No, it came to me when meditating on it. Didn¡¯t you get that? That¡¯s how I learned what I could do at the beginning,¡± Jessie explained.

    ¡°I have to say, I completely forgot about meditating. I just did it for a few seconds when I fought that first Hellbeast.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s dumb! Nana said meditating is one of the most important parts of being a Remnant. It¡¯s how we¡¯re supposed to grow stronger!¡±

    ¡°I know, I know. I¡¯ve been busy, okay?¡± Erik excused himself.

    ¡°Do it now,¡± Jessie ordered. Erik could only sigh in response, and sat back down on the couch. Sophie stepped back and stared at him along with her sister.

    How was he supposed to just do it, with the rest of them just watching him? It was weird, right? Still, he had to try. There was no way Jessie was letting it go otherwise.

    Almost immediately after settling down, the massive sea that was his magic hovered in front of him, everything else pitch black around him. He didn¡¯t know this, but his red core was glowing brighter in front of the girls he was with. He tried searching for the feeling he got when touching things his power worked on, but he had to eventually figure out another way to do it since nothing seemed to happen at all.

    He felt the edge of the sea with his hand. It was both warm and cold, wet and dry. It made him unsure whether the pitch black was actually the sea, not the other way around, but he couldn¡¯t be sure. Eventually, something did come to him, but it wasn¡¯t the name of his power suddenly appearing in his head. It was something else. Someone else.

    ¡°Behold the Titan,¡± the figure said, growing ever more clear, yet still giving off no real details. It was clearly humanoid, but still seemed blobby. It was red, like the light of his Core, streaked with black. It undulated as it spoke, but stilled again when observing Erik.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Erik asked. He ran through several other questions, but none of them made more sense to ask at this moment.

    ¡°Behold the Titan. Carry the Cross,¡± it responded.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means.¡± Erik tried reaching out to the figure, but despite its apparent closeness, he couldn¡¯t reach it at all.

    ¡°Carry the Cross. The Titan is reborn.¡± The form faded, all signs of it gone in a second. Erik woke from his meditative state.

    ¡°Unexpected Arsenal,¡± he said, not sure quite where those words came from. He felt like he knew a whole lot about his power now, but that too seemed to fade, though slowly.

    ¡°What else?¡± Jessie asked. Her voice was hard to hear, like he heard it through jelly.

    ¡°Zero. Zero?¡± he said, more guesswork than knowledge.

    ¡°Same as mine. I think it means the rank of the power. You remember?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Nana said there were different scales for tiers and ranks all over the universe. So tier zero, rank zero?¡± he guessed.

    ¡°I think so. We agreed to call that Iron-tier, right? So what does your power actually do?¡±

    ¡°I feel like it goes something like ¡®Manifest spiritual power.¡¯ and a bunch of limitations, but I forgot all those already. That¡¯s weird.¡±

    ¡°So how have you used it so far? I don¡¯t know what that means. Mine explains the different effects of the different spells, though specific details elude me, too,¡± Jessie said.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°I get a sense of what certain stuff can do when I touch it. When I infuse magic into the thing, I can activate it, and it does that thing. I have a plastic frisbee that hovers in mid-air and extends an invisible shield a few metres around it. I have screws that turn into lightning bombs,¡± Erik explained, slowly getting all his senses back in order after his meditation. It wasn¡¯t supposed to feel like this, right?

    ¡°Cool!¡± Sophie exclaimed.

    ¡°That does sound cool,¡± Jessie agreed.

    A little later into the evening, Erik told Jessie his plans for getting stronger, including how the military and his new friends, Angela and Emma, could hopefully help. The details would be gone over later that night at the air base, but he was planning to get a good supply of gemstones to expand his repertoire quite early on.

    It was especially recommended to at least get his major powers down first, as they would be the base of his powerset. If he filled out an entire row of one major and two minor powers first, the rest of his major powers could be slightly skewed towards fitting with the minor powers instead of his core and major powers. That wasn¡¯t necessarily bad in any way, but could force him into a path of development he wouldn¡¯t be suited for.

    As his powers evolved, meaning going up in tiers, they would develop based on his usage of them and how he meditated on how to improve with them. It was easier to make all of his powers go in one direction if they all started at base, rather than skewed towards a certain thing.

    One example Nana gave was if he had a spell-based major power, with one fireball minor power and a firewall-power, his second major power would be slightly skewed towards either spell-based or fire-based powers, rather than mobility or strength-based powers.

    That wasn¡¯t bad, but it limited his growth to that direction, practically making him a mage-type Remnant. Supposing he started with the spell-based major power only, his second major power could just as easily become a strength-based one, giving him a better chance at developing into a swing-and-fling archetype.

    Erik found all this easier to consider if he thought of it in RPG-terms and he thought he understood it fairly well. He could still get all his major powers as spell-based powers out of the gate, but he was assured his personality and soul had at least some part in what powers he got. He was only scared he got really evil powers, as that would say a whole bunch about him he didn¡¯t even know himself.

    Jessie wanted to join him to the air base later that evening, and Sophie gave them no choice in the matter whether to bring her or not. She was going. Erik didn¡¯t mind either way. In fact, he enjoyed Sophie¡¯s company. She had a bubbly personality he felt like he really needed right now, all things considered.

    The next few hours, the three talked about new beginnings and plans for the future until an army convoy churned through the streets outside the flat.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s our ride¡­¡± Erik said, getting up from his seat to look out the window. ¡°I thought we were supposed to be low-key.¡±

    Luckily the convoy didn¡¯t exit their vehicles with megaphones. Emma left the frontmost vehicle, looking around. She noticed Erik through the window on the third floor and looked at him apologetically.

    ¡°Guess we¡¯re off?¡± he said to the worried girls behind him.

    Out on the street, Erik went straight towards Emma, but was all but manhandled by a couple of soldiers, being pulled towards another vehicle than Emma¡¯s.

    ¡°Let go,¡± Erik said, calm as a lake on a still day.

    ¡°Come with us, sir,¡± one of the soldiers said, trying to pull him further. When he noticed a couple of other soldiers doing the same to Jessie and Sophie, the weather around said lake changed.

    ¡°I promise you, you will not get me into that car without my consent, soldier,¡± Erik said, his demeanour completely different. The other soldier grabbing him let him go, but the one who had ordered him around still kept his hands on him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me taser you, sir,¡± the soldier said, reaching into one of his back pockets, pulling an electrical device out.

    ¡°Try me,¡± Erik said. He did.

    The device clicked several times as the soldier pushed it against Erik¡¯s torso, but the Remnant barely flinched other than a repeated twitch on the corner of his mouth. A few seconds later, the device stopped, and the soldier looked nervously at Erik¡¯s eyes. Erik then pushed the soldier back with his hands, the soldier practically flying back until he hit the car three metres or so behind him. Erik looked at Emma, who looked equally as annoyed as Erik.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± he asked her.

    ¡°They don¡¯t know what to do in a case like this. Cut them some slack. They promised not to hurt you,¡± Emma said, though whether she believed her own words or not weren¡¯t obvious.

    She looked Jessie and Sophie up and down, before nodding in greeting at them. Jessie nodded back, but Sophie only looked nervously around.

    Erik went over to the car they wanted to put him in, gesturing to the driver, still in the car, to drive the window down.

    ¡°Room for four?¡± Erik asked, leaning into the car through the window.

    ¡°Uh, yes?¡± the driver said. Erik smiled and thanked the man.

    ¡°Emma, Jessie, Sophie, you¡¯re riding with me. Shotgun!¡±

    Erik then entered the car in the front passenger seat, eyeing the soldiers around the rest of the girls as the girls wandered off towards his commandeered vehicle.

    The soldier he pushed gave Erik a violent stare, but got into another vehicle with the other soldier. Soon enough, they were driving off.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Erik asked openly in the car. The driver was really busy focusing on the road in front of him.

    ¡°They¡¯re just nervous. I don¡¯t know the details about the missive from the general, but it cracked some shells, so to speak. The convoy is under Colson¡¯s command. The guy you pushed,¡± Emma explained.

    ¡°The guy who tased me, you mean?¡± Erik asked in a corrective manner.

    ¡°Yes, the guy who tasered you. The rest of them don¡¯t know anything, but he¡¯s putting them all on edge. Don¡¯t give the rest of them a bad time, please.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try. So do they know?¡±

    ¡°They know some, I guess. Like I said, I don¡¯t know the details of the missive Angela gave the brigadier.¡±

    ¡°Do they know we can kill the Hellbeasts?¡± Erik asked, and the vehicle they were in swerved back and forth, almost crashing into an oncoming car.

    ¡°Well, he does,¡± Emma said with an annoyed tone. Erik looked at the driver, who looked incredibly tense.

    ¡°Hey, you can keep a secret, right?¡± Erik asked with a calming voice.

    ¡°I, uh¡­ Y-yessir?¡± he responded, having got the vehicle under control once more.

    ¡°Great! Anyway, Emma, meet Jessie-¡± Erik said, gesturing towards Jessie. ¡°- and Sophie, the bubbly little sister.¡±

    Sophie smiled at Erik, then greeted Emma. Jessie shook Emma¡¯s hand, as the two were seated next to each other. Sophie and Emma were seated on opposite ends.

    ¡°You¡¯re the other one?¡± Emma asked Jessie, eyeing the driver as she did.

    ¡°I suppose I am. We should talk when we arrive, I think,¡± Jessie said, getting a nod of approval from Emma.

    Ten minutes later, the convoy stopped outside the gate to the air base, and soon moved on through the opening gate. A line of soldiers were waiting for them outside a hangar they stopped in front of.

    Erik, not much for waiting for orders, casually stepped out of the vehicle, stretching his arms into the air. A middle-aged man practically reeking of authority walked towards him, only temporarily stopping to share a few words with Captain Colson, who still looked quite angry. The brigadier soon stopped in front of Erik.

    ¡°Good evening, Mr Fried. I¡¯m Brigadier Bumley, in charge of the Leicester air base. I hear you¡¯ve already had an exciting first meeting with the British Royal Army¡­ I apologise for the captain¡¯s behaviour. I hope we can start over in a more agreeable way for both parties.¡±

    ¡°Well, what¡¯s a little light tasing between future friends, am I right?¡± Erik said, looking over at the captain, who merely grunted in response as he walked away.

    ¡°Quite¡­ General Mathisen¡¯s missive has been both eye-opening and quite lacking in details. I hope you and I can talk more in a less public arena?¡± the brigadier asked.

    ¡°Of course, Brigadier, that¡¯s why I¡¯m here. I want Angela, Emma, Jessie and Sophie to join, if that¡¯s not too much to ask. I realise my whole squad is me and a bunch of girls, so you can bring in a couple of guys if you like,¡± Erik answered. The brigadier took a few moments to respond to that.

    ¡°Of course, Mr Fried. I would like to bring Captain Colson along, if you wouldn¡¯t mind too terribly.¡±

    ¡°My mind is nothing if not malleable, Brigadier. If you trust the man, I¡¯ll give him a chance,¡±

    ¡°Much appreciated. Shall we?¡±

    The group were led into the hangar, immediately turning left to climb a narrow staircase. They followed a catwalk across the hangar and into a meeting room on the opposite side of where the hangar gates they entered from.

    The meeting room featured an old-fashioned blackboard, a CRT TV and a collection of desks and chairs. The desks were pushed together to form one large table, with the chairs placed all around.

    ¡°This looks like ancient school-equipment,¡± Jessie commented, and Erik agreed. It was like he was back in first grade.

    ¡°The invasion has stretched our resources quite thin. This is only a temporary camp, after all, and there¡¯s only so much fancy equipment to go around. We have modern computers and radio equipment, of course,¡± the brigadier explained, gesturing them to sit down in the chairs of their choice. Captain Colson and another man entered the room a minute later.

    ¡°We should start by officially welcoming our guests and greeting them appropriately,¡± Bumley started as everyone had seated themselves. As you know, I¡¯m Brigadier Bumley. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you Jessie, Sophie.¡±

    ¡°Sorry to interrupt, but where¡¯s Angela?¡± Erik asked, only slightly worried.

    ¡°She¡¯s communicating with General Mathisen at Bridgefort. She¡¯ll be along shortly,¡± said the hitherto unnamed third UB soldier in the room. Erik nodded to him. ¡°I suppose that makes me next. I¡¯m Major MacLeod. Pleased to make your acquaintance,¡± he continued.

    He got several nods of greeting in response, but silence reigned absolute for the next short while, only interrupted by the major¡¯s clearing of his throat. It was clearly directed at Colson.

    ¡°Captain Colson. Pleasure,¡± the angered man lied.

    Erik¡¯s group was next, and they all introduced themselves one after the other. Emma didn¡¯t use her military rank as she did, which didn¡¯t escape the notice of the other major and the brigadier. Angela entered the room during the introductions, and she ended by introducing herself to the room, mostly for Jessie¡¯s and Sophie¡¯s sake. She, too, avoided stating her rank.

    ¡°Introductions out of the way, I would like us all to now talk about this missive, handwritten by General Mathisen of the SEMP. I will begin reading the most critical part,¡± Bumley said, before reading a part of the missive. ¡°For the sake of the future, and any chance of us winning this wretched war, I beg you to assist this civilian contractor, Erik, and his team, in whatever way you can. Understand that this is not a request for aid, nor reinforcement. This is to be considered a personal request, avoiding any and all usual channels. Let it be known that I, General Mathisen, hereby place any and all responsibility for the actions of this team on myself and my rank.¡±

 Chapter 7b: Behold The Titan

    The room was completely silent, but Colson¡¯s face was almost audibly red. He had quite likely read through this himself, along with the major and the brigadier, but having someone in the room to direct his feelings towards only made matters worse. Meeting the stare of the brigadier, he calmed himself slightly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I need to tell any of you what this reads like,¡± Bumley said a short moment later. ¡°What I wonder is, why would a highly decorated general of the SEMP write this, if not forced? Bear in mind, I do not think anyone forced her hand. This has the tone of a career suicide note, and even despite the goings on in the world right now, this is highly unlike the general I know quite well,¡± he continued, expecting some kind of response when he finished.

    ¡°So long as it stays in this room, at least for now,, I will explain her words as well as I can,¡± Erik said, receiving a nod from the brigadier. ¡°Having escaped from Norway and crossed Sweden, I found Mathisen¡¯s regiment at Bridgefort. As a civilian refugee, they let me in, but when they discovered my baggage, Mathisen herself interrogated me. I guess, with her being on the frontlines, she saw the slightest chance of turning this war around, and made a decision no one in her position would normally do. This war isn¡¯t normal, though.¡±

    ¡°What was your mysterious ¡®baggage¡¯, Mr Fried?¡± MacLeod asked.

    ¡°The head of a Hellbeast,¡± Erik explained. The brigadier and the major nodded solemnly in response, likely already thinking something of that note. The captain, on the other hand¡­

    ¡°Like hell! Those things can¡¯t be beat! They can¡¯t die. They won¡¯t die, no matter what we throw at them! There¡¯s no way you could kill one, no matter what you¡¯ve led the general to believe!¡±

    ¡°Captain!¡± the major shouted. The captain calmed himself, but he made no sign that he was finished with this.

    ¡°She decided that I, and by default, Jessie here, would give this world one final chance to actually win this war. Former Colonel Ashleigh and former Major Svensson were dismissed from duty, and given the chance to join me in this endeavour. Blindly, they accepted. Later that night, two beasts attacked Bridgefort. Mathisen trusted me enough to let me prove my claims to her or die trying, and the two beasts were quickly dispatched. You should be sad you missed the following party, Captain,¡± Erik said, facing the captain at the end.

    ¡°Lies!¡± the captain said, knocking his closed fists into the desk in front of him as he stood up. Erik had waited for just that, and pointed a stick at him. Before anyone could react, a greying white goo shot from the tip of the stick, quickly enveloping the captain from the torso down. The goo solidified quickly, stopping his movements. The major and the brigadier both rose from their chairs in surprise,

    ¡°Mr Fried, what are you doing?¡± the brigadier yelled.

    ¡°Proving a point,¡± Erik responded, unconcerned about how the brigadier and the major were reacting. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s temporary.¡±

    ¡°The fuck is this?¡± the captain screamed, visibly straining against the concrete-like substance.

    Erik placed the stick on the desks in front of them, and it turned to fine sawdust as everyone stared at it. A few tense moments later, Bumley sat down, eyeing the captured captain with worry. The major followed suit in exactly the same manner.

    ¡°Magic is real. I realise how that sounds, but that doesn¡¯t argue the fact. What¡¯s important for you to understand, is that magic is what can kill those monsters.¡±

    The discussion stopped after this, at least temporarily. The brigadier wanted to show Erik¡¯s group something, but demanded that the captain be released before that. Erik rose for the first time since sitting down, He walked closer to the captain, and everyone, even his group, tensed up.

    Erik lifted a finger to his ear, and the room somehow turned even more quiet. The concrete surrounding the captain made a slight crack sound, and Erik clenched his fist, punching the concrete at the base near the captain¡¯s legs.

    The material violently broke apart near the area of impact, and the captain could move his legs once again. He then struggled more, slowly breaking out of the rest of it. Erik easily stopped the fist flying straight at his face with his own hand.

    ¡°Easy, Captain. If nothing else, he¡¯s proven that he has some means that we don¡¯t. Whether that be technology or magic doesn¡¯t matter right now,¡± the major said, clenching the captain¡¯s shoulder tightly with his hand. Eventually, the captain ceased struggling. ¡°Take five, Captain. Meet us in hangar three,¡± the major said, then led the rest of the group out of the room, then out of the hangar.

    As the group, Colson excluded, wandered the base towards hangar three, the major walked alongside Erik, obviously struggling to find some words to say to the man. Behind them, Angela and Emma were making acquaintances with Sophie and Jessie. The brigadier walked further behind them, deep in thought.

    ¡°Out with it, major,¡± Erik said. Anything was better than the tense silence.

    ¡°Was that real?¡± MacLeod eventually asked.

    ¡°Which part? Also, yes.¡±

    ¡°That was magic? It looked like a stick?¡± The last sentence was stated more like a question.

    ¡°It was. See?¡± Erik answered, pulling out another stick from his trusted backpack, handing it to the major, who grabbed it instantly.

    ¡°It¡¯s a stick¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Erik answered. It really was.

    ¡°And you can do that with this? Is it like a wand?¡± the major asked, staring at the stick he kept rotating in his hands, trying to figure out the trick. Erik chuckled at that.

    ¡°Not a wand, no. I can do weird things with weird stuff,¡± Erik explained in his own mysterious way.

    ¡°Can you do it now?¡± the major asked.

    ¡°Quite a few people around, but¡­ I can show you another trick?¡± Erik said.

    ¡°Of course!¡± The major gave the stick back to Erik with enthusiasm, but was slightly disappointed when the man put it back in his backpack. The maybe-magician pulled out a frisbee in its place, gaining him a confused stare.

    ¡°This one¡¯s less flashy, and shouldn¡¯t cause too much of a commotion in the evening dark,¡± Erik explained, and tossed the frisbee in front of them. The frisbee stopped in mid-air, rotating to an upright position.

    ¡°It hovers?¡± the major asked, walking slightly faster to reach the magic frisbee.

    ¡°Among other things. Sophie, Jessie, check it out,¡± Erik said, getting the girls¡¯ attention and pointing towards the frisbee.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s the shield?¡± Sophie asked, running past Erik and towards the frisbee. Just then, the major looked at it closely, attempting to walk around it to look at the other side. He bumped into the invisible wall it projected with a thump.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked no one in particular. Sophie approached, touching the empty air all around the frisbee.

    ¡°Woah! How far does it go?¡± she asked, also to no one in particular, as she ran to the side of the frisbee, her hand touching the wall along the way. She got three metres away from the centre, and her hand slipped past. The major did the same thing, only in the opposite direction.

    ¡°Woah¡­¡± was all he said as he reached the end of the wall, walking around it and towards the centre again. ¡°Why a frisbee?¡± he asked, just as the frisbee fell to the ground in front of him. He checked the wall again, but it was gone.

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    He then, with all the gentleness he could muster, tapped the plastic frisbee with his foot. He looked up at Erik when nothing more happened. Erik snatched the frisbee from the ground, drawing a cross on the front and back with a marker from his backpack, then returned both things to the pack.

    ¡°I ask myself that every single time, mate. Every time!¡±

    The major, now much more enthusiastic with his questions, couldn¡¯t keep his mouth shut until the group reached hangar three. The people in the front waited a short while for the brigadier, who had also seen the frisbee-wall, but hadn¡¯t been able to touch it himself. He looked even more deep in thought after that, and he had inadvertently walked slower since then.

    ¡°So what¡¯s in here?¡± Sophie asked, looking to the major and brigadier both.

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait for Captain Colson,¡± the major said, and after a few minutes, the group was all together again, not everyone as happy about that as they could have been.

    ¡°Ease up, Captain. I think you¡¯ll regret antagonising these people,¡± the major told the still-flustered captain.

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Colson answered, but didn¡¯t seem genuine.

    The major sighed, then showed the group in. This hangar was locked tight with both physical locks and digital ones. It seemed to require two different hand-prints, which the major and the captain gave by placing their hands on a medium-sized screen on the side of the gate.

    The personnel in the vicinity stared at them when the gate opened, but no one came closer. Erik wasn¡¯t sure if they knew what was in here, or if they weren¡¯t allowed near.

    The answer to that came quickly as the group entered to a loud roar and thumping, the ruckus easily overheard by most of the base. It rapidly became obvious what they were keeping in there. The light gradually lit the inside of the hangar as it turned on, revealing a large steel cage with a lone Hellbeast inside.

    ¡°You captured one?¡± Jessie asked with a grimace.

    ¡°Yes. We¡¯ve been experimenting with ways to kill them. I¡¯m guessing most bases have one captured by now, as that really isn¡¯t the most difficult to do,¡± the brigadier started to explain.

    ¡°The difficult part is, as you know, killing them. We¡¯ve tried everything from fire, to acid, to bombs shoved down their throats, but nothing works. Even radiation is completely ineffective, making us wonder if even nukes will be enough,¡± the major continued.

    ¡°What they want you to do, is kill it with your tricks,¡± the captain intruded into their conversation. A few seconds of silence followed the statement, only interrupted by the brigadier¡¯s throat clearing up.

    ¡°Well, yes. You claim to have proved yourself to General Mathisen, and while I don¡¯t want to doubt her words¡­ I would want irrefutable proof. I trust you can give us this, Mr Fried?¡± Bumley said, clearly interested in what Erik would say next.

    ¡°Why?¡± Erik asked, meeting only confused silence from both his own group and the UB officers.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± Bumley asked.

    ¡°I mean, why would we show you? What¡¯s in it for us? Will you agree to help? Keep in mind, we¡¯re nothing but a rogue outfit, and we¡¯ll strive to keep it that way. We¡¯re not military, nor will we be. Mathisen has promised all the help she can give, even the resources she isn¡¯t technically allowed to give. Will you do the same?¡± Erik said.

    ¡°You have shown us enough that I can answer that quite clearly, Mr Fried,¡± Bumley started, but was interrupted by Erik¡¯s next words.

    ¡°Please, call me Erik.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Erik¡­ Yes. If you can show us you are, in fact, the real deal, my regiment is under your command. We¡¯ll-¡±

    ¡°What? You can¡¯t be serious?¡± Colson exclaimed.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± the major interrupted, having finally had enough. He pulled the captain back a few steps.

    The brigadier took the opportunity to finish, saying, ¡°We will, of course, keep to Mathisen¡¯s plan. You will all be kept strictly off the books, until such a time as you feel it is okay to enter the military and the public¡¯s eye. We¡¯ll strive to keep everyone else off your backs, though I can sadly make no guarantees that it¡¯ll work for long.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s acceptable, Bumley. Jessie, would you do the honours?¡± Erik said, turning to Jessie. ¡°We still don¡¯t really know if you can kill them, so two proverbial beasts with one spell, right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be honoured to,¡± she said, stepping forwards, carefully inching closer to the massive cage keeping the monster separated from the rest of the group.

    Bumley seemed surprised that another person would claim to be able to kill the beasts as well. Erik stepped up to her side as he was as interested in seeing this as the rest, though the rest didn¡¯t step any closer, simply keeping their eyes firmly placed on the cage.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got two offensive spells, earth and fire. Anything particular you want to test first?¡± Jessie asked with a grin.

    ¡°They did say fire didn¡¯t work right? How about we prove them wrong?¡± Erik said, giving the captain an obnoxious smile.

    Jessie¡¯s hoodie lit up from the inside, giving off a deeply red light. The light flickered and moved like a lit candle in the wind, but it didn¡¯t go out. Erik was more interested in her than the beast right now, and was surprised when Jessie¡¯s eyes glowed as red as the light from her Core.

    ¡°Inferno!¡± she said in a deep voice, reaching her hand out towards the beast. The monster was suddenly covered in weirdly crimson flames that spun around its body quite rapidly. Erik temporarily lost control of his breath as he watched the magical flame.

    The flames started melting the thick steel bars of the cage, and it would be easy for the beast to knock the bars away from the rest of the cage at that moment. Still, it didn¡¯t do anything but roar in pain as its own flesh melted much faster than the steel around it.

    The smell of barbequed meat filled the hangar in an instant, and after three full seconds of blindingly bright flames and intense heat, everything went dark. The intense light the flames gave off disappeared, and while the lights lined on the ceiling were still lit, no one could see much of anything for the next ten or twenty seconds, as they had all stared wide-eyed at the bright flames.

    ¡°What the fuck was that? You have four of those spells as your Core power?¡± Erik yelled at Jessie in a high pitched tone. ¡°I make frisbees hover!¡±

    Everyone except Jessie and Sophie stared at the melted cage with the ashen remains of a monster within with gaping mouths. Everyone was in awe, including Erik. That spell was way more powerful than any item he could use! And she had four of them.

    It wasn¡¯t impossible that Erik could find a thingamajig with the same kind of potential power, but he hadn¡¯t yet. A task for his new friends, perhaps?

    Erik looked back at the people they were proving themselves to, and Jessie did the same, her eyes having returned to normal again. Bumley and MacLeod had no words, but their expressions could write entire novels. Colson, on the other hand, fell to the floor, landing on his knees and hands. He sobbed, and tears started to drip to the floor beneath him.

    ¡°We¡¯re saved¡­ We¡¯re saved,¡± he repeated over and over until he instead cried harder and louder.

    Everyone turned to him, but were just as speechless at the sight of the crying man as they were the magical inferno they witnessed a moment earlier, again with the exception of Sophie, who bent her knees down in front of him, placing her hand on the crying man¡¯s shoulder. She said nothing for the first dozen or so seconds, but the man was calming down.

    ¡°They¡¯ll win. I know they will. But they need us as well, you understand?¡± she eventually said as the man had returned to only sobbing and heavy breaths. Colson looked up at the angelic face of the young girl, and nodded. Sophie returned the gesture with a smile, and helped the man up to his feet.

    ¡°I need to apologise-¡± he started, but Erik stopped him.

    ¡°You don¡¯t. Have you lost anyone, anything, Captain? In this war, I mean?¡± Erik asked, sounding out his suspicions. The man only nodded in response.

    ¡°The captain¡¯s brother and sister, both exceptional officers, were among the first to die as defenders of the shoreline of England,¡± Bumley explained, getting the captain¡¯s grateful gaze in return. ¡°Many have suffered terrible losses these past few months. Like Captain Colson, I suspect many have already given up, and will prove resistant to the hope you will eventually bring. As agreed, you will have our full cooperation and discretion. I will talk to the men stationed here and root out the ones who won¡¯t be part of this desertion. I will have them reassigned elsewhere. I hope you will trust the men and women who remain with the truth, so we can better assist your endeavours?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Brigadier,¡± Erik said after seeing Jessie¡¯s affirmative nod. ¡°We¡¯ll trust your judgement.¡±

    ¡°Excellent. Give us a few days. In the meantime, you should lay low, and likely stay away from the base. I¡¯ll take care of your accommodations until then,¡± Bumley said.

    ¡°Sounds good. We have some stuff to take care of as well. A few days will likely do us some good,¡± Erik said. The brigadier nodded, and turned to leave the hangar, the major following suit.

    Colson remained, and the brigadier turned around a dozen steps later to see what was keeping him. The captain walked up to Erik and Jessie, his red moistened eyes showing a determination Erik hadn¡¯t previously seen from the man.

    He stopped a few steps in front of them, raising his hand to his head in salute. A good distance behind him, Erik saw the brigadier and the major replicating this action. Erik acknowledged this with a nod, and stretched out his own hand towards the captain.

    ¡°Happy to have you on our side,¡± Erik said, giving the captain a genuine smile.

    Colson looked down at Erik¡¯s hand a moment, not wanting to break the salute off, but eventually did, grasping the given hand tightly. Without another word, the captain joined his superior officers as they left the hangar.

    Minutes later, Erik and his gang were ready to move out, having been given a transport back into Leicester proper. MacLeod returned to them, informing them of their accommodations at a hotel, three rooms booked in Erik¡¯s name. They drove off in their transport a moment later.

    ¡°Who¡¯s up for drinks?¡± Angela burst as they had crossed the gate of the air base.

    ¡°We should be ready early tomorrow morning. Drinks can wait till the war is over,¡± Emma responded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be a spoilsport,¡± Sophie complained, Angela nodding in agreement to her words.

    ¡°I¡¯ll gladly join,¡± Jessie said with a grin. Emma looked to Erik for a fraction of a second until she realised how doomed she really was.

    ¡°Bed at midnight, at the latest! I¡¯ll personally rouse you all at 0600 hours sharp!¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡± Angela saluted with a devious grin.

    ¡°Are we sleeping at the hotel as well?¡± Sophie asked her older sister with puppy-dog eyes.

    ¡°If Angela and Emma are okay sharing a room, then there¡¯s a third room available, right?¡± Jessie asked the group. Angela and Emma confirmed. It would make it easier for Emma to get them all out of bed that way.

 Chapter 8a: Suck It In!

    After a long day, and an even longer night, Erik woke to the sound of Emma¡¯s voice. Emma had had a few drinks herself, and went to bed around 1 a.m. The rest had been up until past 3 a.m, enjoying a small afterparty in the siblings¡¯ room. Their room had been the furthest away from Emma¡¯s and Angela¡¯s room.

    Luckily, the hotel didn¡¯t have a lot of guests in the middle of the week in the midst of a monster invasion. Few were travelling at this time, and most of the hotels around the world were catering for government officials and military personnel, along with some others that were more or less important to the proceedings of the war.

    ¡°Morning!¡± Erik said, having slept like a rock for a few hours. He felt completely fine. All the tiredness in his muscles and bones had already gone, and his mind was clear. He did feel like the alcohol he¡¯d drunk that night didn¡¯t impact him as much as it normally would, and that might be because of his magical nature.If he was stronger, faster and healed quicker, it was practically a given that alcohol wouldn¡¯t be as bad for him anymore.

    As Emma left to wake Jessie and Sophie, Erik got dressed, brushed his teeth and headed straight down to the lobby. Angela arrived shortly after along with Emma, Angela looking the worse for wear out of the two by a mile. When Jessie and Sophie joined them, the same could be said for Sophie as her tangled hair, baggy and reddened eyes cried out for more rest.

    ¡°I just realised I don¡¯t have to join you guys,¡± Sophie said in a yawning voice.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ actually true,¡± Emma realised. ¡°Alright, you can go back to sleep.¡± Without further ado, the ragged girl turned around straight away, and marched back to her room.

    Jessie looked as well-rested as Erik did, so the magical constitution-theory was holding its ground for now.

    After planning the morning out, the four left the hotel in order for the two Remnants to gain more strength. Emma and Angela entered a taxi they had summoned from the hotel lobby, while Erik and Jessie entered another.

    As there was a war raging, they had to use their resources as effectively as they could, and splitting up made more sense as they could visit more places in the same amount of time. That said, Erik and Jessie were to visit the closest places they could find crystals, gemstones and minerals, while Angela and Emma were tasked with places further away.

    The idea was that they didn¡¯t have to bring back a haul that same day. The Remnants had been told that they would get a sense of what gemstone would fit them well, so they had decided to gather up a large amount of them, see which ones were the best fit for either, then absorb them.

    As they weren¡¯t able to do this at Afterlife, this had only been described to them, and they didn¡¯t yet know what that feeling was like.

    Erik and Jessie visited their second rock shop for the day. The elderly man who owned the store gladly helped them look around, though the abstract nature of what they could tell him they were looking for didn¡¯t make it easy for him.

    Jessie had discovered a part of her Core power she hadn¡¯t understood until the first shop they visited.

    Along with the four spells, nature could talk to her. She¡¯d thought it to be a description more like a flavour text than anything else, but as she gazed upon an amethyst geode in wonder, it talked to her. This wasn¡¯t like a voice she heard, or a sense of the amethyst¡¯s will, but she got a sense of what it was. It described its own nature to her. ¡®Nightglow Harmony¡¯ it said.

    Erik and Jessie didn¡¯t understand what that meant, but a lot of other minerals and crystals gave a similar description. A few didn¡¯t, and the Remnants figured those were either fake, or not powerful enough, for lack of a better word.

    The same ones that didn¡¯t talk to Jessie, didn¡¯t give either of the Remnants any sense of power either. The rest felt either like a small trickle running back and forth between the Remnant and the mineral, a small river or waves from the sea.

    They instinctively knew that the more strength in the push and pull between them, the greater the match. They bought the ones with the greatest bond between each of them, leaving the weaker ones behind. Luckily, Major MacLeod had given them a credit card they could use, meaning everything was bought and paid for by the United Britain Air Force. Even so, they had no reason to buy the ones with a weak link to either of them.

    At the second store, Erik found a gem with the most powerful link he¡¯d sensed yet, Jessie naming it ¡®Sovereign Faith¡¯. The owner of the store called it an imperial gold quartz, a quartz crystal coated with iron and titanium. It had an almost rainbow-like sheen of gold, orange and pink.

    The push and pull he felt from the quartz was that of a massive waterfall pushing down on his entire body, quickly retreating back to the crystal before once more pushing him down.

    It was an intense feeling unlike anything he¡¯d felt before, with the possible exception of that first time he reached out to his magic to save the young boy in the forest. He knew he had to have that crystal, and so the owner collected it for them. Jessie didn¡¯t sense more than a slight trickle from the thing, meaning it was definitely his for the taking. He wanted it now.

    Jessie didn¡¯t get a similar sense before their fourth and final stop that day. They had already spent hours and hours travelling from shop to shop, as these stores weren¡¯t to be found just around the corner.

    Hers was a diamond, rough and uncut, but quite large. It cost a small fortune, but she felt the same as Erik had with the quartz from earlier, though she likened it to being strapped to the front of a submarine as it dolphined under and above the surface of the sea repeatedly at massive speeds.

    As the difference in their perceived links mostly differed, Erik¡¯s trickle was thought to be much like Jessie¡¯s cold breeze; they didn¡¯t know which were the stronger links. Still, the UB military getting the eventual tab, they bought that as well. The diamond gave her the name ¡®Brightless Bond¡¯.

    All in all, excluding the two they felt the strongest bond with, they had gathered twelve additional crystals or gems with what they called high affinity to either of them. As the pair had a total of nine major slots to fill, it was barely enough for just those, but seeing that there were even higher affinities out there made them doubt whether or not to fill them all out at once.

    Additionally, if they only got one or two of them filled out immediately, they could start training with their new abilities, getting a sense of what their eventual style of fighting would be like while getting used to their powers. As it was, Jessie had only fired her spell on one actual target, and it was caged.

    Erik had been up close and personal with several beasts by now, but had already stuck to his protective shield and tesla bomb-combo most of those fights. It worked in given conditions, sure, but he would definitely end up in situations where sticking to that one tactic would be the end of him.

    They also had to learn how to fight. While Erik wished he would get a magic sword, he still didn¡¯t really know how to use one. Jessie, if purely based on her Core ability, could develop into a mage-type Remnant meaning she had to stand back and throw spells at the enemy from afar. That didn¡¯t mean she could stand still all the time, however.

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    They were only just starting out, and needed to train in combat situations. Hopefully the UBAF could help with that as well.

    Things were different with the second group. Angela and Emma had visited only their second place for the day when they were wrapping up, ending up in a hotel room for the night.

    Emma was lounging around in her pyjamas, sorting their haul on the corner table in their room. Having no idea which mineral was which, she purely sorted them based on looks first, then size. She had a problem with the ones that looked the same, but had slightly different colours.

    Were they different types or not? This was a huge problem, as the pair had procured over two hundred different gems and crystals, some of them costing more than Emma had ever had in her bank account at one time.

    She hummed to herself happily as she sorted through the gems, paying little to no mind about the girl laying in her own single bed across the room. She only looked over at Angela occasionally, immediately getting annoyed at the sight, then turning back to sort some more gems.

    Why did that woman have everything? Angela lay on the bed in only a buttoned down shirt and her underwear, listening to music or audiobooks or whatever from her phone and in-ear earbuds.

    Her legs were long and beautiful as she stretched one of them into the air occasionally. Angela was relatively tall, not too skinny, and was nicely toned all over. Emma wasn¡¯t interested in women in any way, but if she had been, she would¡¯ve been all over Angela long ago.

    They were about the same age, Angela being a year or two older. Emma didn¡¯t know Angela¡¯s sexual orientation, either. Why would she assume a girl like her even would¡¯ve had a chance? She was short, skinny and without those beautiful curves.

    She¡¯d been told she had a really attractive face, but that sounded more like a thinly veiled negative comment on the rest of her. ¡®At least your face is okay¡¯.

    She had never even had a real boyfriend, only a few flings that didn¡¯t amount to much. As soon as she gave them what they wanted, they grew bored. Emma shook her head in an attempt to shake the thought out of her head. She took a quick look over at Angela before refocusing her efforts on getting the gems in order.

    One thing she had always been good at was getting, and keeping, order. She had to keep playing to her strengths. Maybe she¡¯d find someone after the war was over. Her military career might crash after that, but the boys she¡¯d grown up with were all military boys. Maybe she needed something else.

    Angela noticed Emma¡¯s red face intermittently looking over at her, or more specifically, her legs, whenever she stretched. Emma¡¯s face quickly grew red, and when she turned away again to sort all the stuff they¡¯d bought, the redness would slowly dissipate. Angela wasn¡¯t sure what it was about. Maybe she was mad Angela wasn¡¯t helping out? She had asked before she jumped into bed, but Emma said she wanted to do it alone.

    Angela really believed that, as Emma had always been a very orderly girl. She was super independent, and always cleaned up the messes of everyone around her, both literal messes and otherwise. She was by far the strongest person she¡¯d ever met, including all her superior officers over the years.

    That didn¡¯t mean the girl didn¡¯t have problems, one of them being that same independence. A few of the men at Bridgefort were interested in her, but they didn¡¯t dare to approach her, as her strict personality and ignorance of such things made her practically unapproachable.

    If anyone did approach her, the flirting and wooing would fly straight over Emma¡¯s head. Some thought she might not be interested in men at all, but Angela personally knew one of the girl¡¯s exes. He said the problem was mainly because Emma was too focused on her career, and didn¡¯t show any interest in him, even in private and off-duty.

    Maybe, when this war was over, if they couldn¡¯t return to the military, she¡¯d get her priorities straight. Angela was just as involved in her own military career, but she knew it wasn¡¯t everything, and personal relationships were just as important for your own future, whether that was just friends or something more.

    That said, she wasn¡¯t feeling very lucky in love the past while herself. She was sick of military dogs, everyone wanting to be an alpha. She wanted something else, though she didn¡¯t know what. Still, this wasn¡¯t the time. She was still young, and this war would have to end for other stuff to start mattering. Angela pulled out one of her earbuds as Emma looked over at her once more.

    ¡°You need help, Emma?¡± she asked with a genuine smile.

    ¡°I got it, don¡¯t worry,¡± Emma responded, facing back towards the table.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a break? We can see if we find something on the telly to watch?¡±

    ¡°The TV is on that wall, and my bed is there,¡± Emma said, pointing to the objects in question. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything.¡±

    Why the TV was hung on the wall to the side of one bed instead of facing both from the front didn¡¯t make any sense in a two-bed hotel room. Emma huffed and went back to sorting.

    ¡°Come on, we can both watch from here. We¡¯ll cuddle!¡± Angela tried, patting her hand on her bed, gesturing to the younger girl to come over. Emma¡¯s face flushed a little, but she eventually, after a few more back and forths, gave in.

    Twenty minutes into the boring TV-program they started watching, both had fallen asleep, Angela the big spoon in the narrow bed.

    ¡°So, how are we doing this?¡± Erik asked, both him and Jessie having returned to Jessie¡¯s hotel room. Sophie was right there with them, looking through all the crystals and gemstones and whatnot. There were dozens of them, though her sister had explained that most of them wouldn¡¯t even be used, as they didn¡¯t feel right to either her or Erik.

    ¡°Maybe just put it up there?¡± Jessie responded questioningly.

    ¡°Who first?¡± Erik then asked.

    It didn¡¯t really matter, but both of them were nervous, and eventually, Erik was chosen to be the first to try to absorb his chosen quartz. He removed his shirt and sat down cross-legged on the floor.

    Jessie couldn¡¯t help but notice, just like last time in her own apartment, that he looked healthier and more fit after he returned to Earth. She had noticed it on herself as well. She hadn¡¯t become skinnier like Erik had, but had grown similarly toned. She was far from muscly, thank god, but her stomach, breasts, ass and legs were all firmer. She enjoyed the new youthful body. It was like she was sixteen again, though luckily more matured still.

    The red glow from the centre of Erik¡¯s chest truly reminded Jessie that Erik, and even herself, weren¡¯t technically human anymore. That¡¯s why Jessie didn¡¯t much enjoy the look she saw her sister give Erik in her peripheral vision.

    Erik was a good guy. He was super kind, always wanted to help, and could really listen when you talked to him. Sophie¡¯s last few boyfriends weren¡¯t. Her previous one broke it off with her a few weeks after Jessie died because she didn¡¯t care about him anymore.

    The girl was heartbroken and mourning the loss of her sister, and that jerk went on and broke her heart twice over. Jessie never liked her little sister¡¯s boyfriends, but in her defence, they were always jerks.

    Sophie, being as beautiful as she was, had always been popular, much more so than Jessie. She had a thing for the bad boys, who hurt her over and over again, but still found new ones to crush on, giving her heart to them so they could crush it in their hands and return it to her as soon as they were bored of her.

    Erik would be a massive leap forward for her sister. But he wasn¡¯t human. Was that fair to her sister? Jessie herself wasn¡¯t human anymore. Did that mean she had to stop being her sister? Of course not!

    She decided not to meddle. If they wound up together, they would. Given her sister¡¯s massive attractiveness, Erik probably didn¡¯t stand a chance, unless he was crushing on either Angela or Emma by now. Both were strong and beautiful women, and had decided to join him without even knowing him.

    ¡°So, that didn¡¯t work,¡± Erik said, forcing Jessie out from her own thoughts. Erik was placing his quartz against one of the larger hexagonal slots on his Crest.

    ¡°Just, like, suck it in!¡± Sophie exclaimed.

    ¡°I can¡¯t ¡®just suck it in¡¯, I don¡¯t have lungs in my chest!¡± Erik complained, quickly realising his mistake. As Sophie laughed flirtingly, Jessie considered a different way. ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t have blowholes or something like that. You know what I mean!¡±

    ¡°Try holding it there, and focus on the link. Your magic tends to feel like water for you, right? The ¡®sea of magic¡¯ inside you, the rivers and streams and waterfalls the gems feel like? Try soaking up that water, letting it inside of you. Drink it, submerge in it, let it pull you with it or maybe try to let the water run into your ¡®sea¡¯,¡± Jessie thought out loud.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try all those thousands of things you just said,'''' Erik joked half-heartedly, rolling his eyes.

    He shut his eyes, focusing on his link with the quartz. The massive waterfall threatened to crush him, or rather, his spirit, seeing that there was no real pain involved. Erik then focused on his sea, visualising himself between the waterfall and the sea, standing in the middle of the dark void between them.

 Chapter 8b: Suck It In!

    It somehow worked, though what to do from there, he didn¡¯t know. The waters of the two didn¡¯t join together, as the sea was a self-contained sphere, and the water from the waterfall fell into the nothingness-void he himself was standing in.

    He felt a tug at both. The tug was always there to his sea, but when he felt himself being dragged in both directions, he had an idea. He focused on the tug, rather than the sea and waterfall, and could feel the links growing more taut and physically present.

    Both sources were linked to his chest in now visible lines; his sea¡¯s link a deep, swirling black, reminding him of the shape of his Crest. The link to the waterfall was deeply golden, with white and black accents moving across the link both ways. As the links were both connected to his Crest, he didn¡¯t feel the need to move the connection somewhere else. Instead, he pulled as hard as he could with his focus. The separate entities moved closer to each other as he pulled on them. It was working.

    ¡°The Titan is reborn. Carry the Cross. Behold the Titan.¡±

    Erik heard the familiar voice uttering the same three phrases he¡¯d heard before. He looked around, but couldn¡¯t find the figure anywhere. He felt his focus slip just a little, and the two entities he tried joining together stopped halfway. He felt his grip on the links loosening, as if the links turned slippery.

    The voice talked again, this time louder and deeper than ever before.

    ¡°Join the Titan!¡±

    The form appeared in front of Erik for just a second, before it approached closer still. The next moment the form had enveloped Erik, the sensation warm, but dangerous. Erik felt himself losing focus and grip on the links, but despite that, the sea and waterfall didn¡¯t fall further apart. The ethereal shape surrounding Erik was taking the slack for him.

    ¡°Join the Titan!¡± the voice repeated, audibly straining now.

    ¡°No way you¡¯ll join me, whatever you are! I¡¯m doing this myself!¡± Erik shouted, reaffirming his focus on the links, getting a good grip once more.

    Erik pushed the form away from him at the same time, and it simply vanished. On his second wind, Erik pulled as hard as he could, the two entities moving closer and closer to each other until they, a few seconds later, turned to a bright white light.

    Erik was blinded by this, but felt a massive surge of his magic envelop him much like the unknown form had done, but with a more familiar feeling. Moments later, he could see the two joined forces as one. His sea was calm as far as his eyes could see, except at the point the sea met a tall, straight cliff.

    The waterfall, somehow even larger than it had been previously, let water crash into the sea with enormous violence. Atop the cliff was even greenery in the shape of trees, bushes and grass. It was a somewhat beautiful sight. Erik sighed in relief and retreated from his meditation.

    Jessie and Sophie stared intently at Erik from the moment he closed his eyes. The light on his chest grew brighter, as it appeared to do whenever meditating or using its power. In a few seconds, something new started happening, Jessie being the first to notice.

    The quartz in Erik¡¯s hand touching one of his major power slots also started lighting up, and the crystal started merging with Erik¡¯s skin. As the crystal grew smaller in size, the hexagonal symbol on the Remnant¡¯s chest filled in return. It was hard to see the marking as Erik¡¯s hand and the small remains of the quartz were in the way.

    A moment later, when the crystal was about half its original size, Erik visibly strained and looked to be in pain. He opened his eyes, but was otherwise unresponsive as his skin reddened all over his face and torso. The red light from his Core grew brighter than Jessie had ever seen her own or his, but the light from the quartz started dimming.

    Was he going to fail? Jessie didn¡¯t know that was even possible, as Nana hadn¡¯t said there would be any kind of trial or challenge when absorbing powers.

    ¡°This looks bad, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Sophie asked, unable to look away from the man bathed in bright red and dim golden light.

    Jessie didn¡¯t respond. The younger sister saw Jessie¡¯s fists clenching tightly. Something was definitely wrong. They hadn¡¯t mentioned this could go wrong! She couldn¡¯t let her sister go through this if it could hurt her, could she? They were both powerful enough to win this war without those stupid extra powers they thought they needed. They didn¡¯t need them if it put them in danger.

    Erik¡¯s eyes, open but unfocused, turned pitch black, with only thin swirls of gold barely visible in the black. The quartz in his hand grew brighter once more, and Erik looked determined once again. His Core didn¡¯t dim, but the quartz was suddenly absorbed much quicker than earlier, only taking a few seconds until it was completely gone. He¡¯d done it! He beat it, whatever it was.

    Sophie barely withheld a wide smile and looked to her sister. Jessie was wide-eyed, pale and looked terrified. Her clenched fists had loosened to the point of simply hanging there limply on either side of her hips. She fell to her knees, unable to look away, unable to do anything. She breathed heavily, gasping for air.

    Sophie dashed over to her sister, managing to catch her before she fell from her knees and to the floor. She held her up, yelling at her. She didn¡¯t respond. What was happening?

    Busy with her sister rather than Erik, Sophie didn¡¯t notice the lighting in the room returning to normal in a quick flash, Erik slowly waking up moments later. By the time she noticed that, Jessie was also coming back to her senses, though wet from cold sweat and still deathly pale.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Erik asked, quickly getting up and coming over to help Sophie with her sister, who seemed to have been through something else while Erik meditated. ¡°Did she absorb her diamond as well?¡±

    Sophie was crying now, but shook her head. Jessie looked at Erik with intense fear in her eyes for a moment, but seemed to realise there was nothing wrong a few seconds later. She managed to catch her breath over the next couple of minutes, returning to normal after five.

    ¡°What was that, Jess?¡± Sophie asked, still panicking.

    ¡°It¡­ It was powerful,¡± was all Jessie could respond.

    She stared at Erik, unable to keep her eyes off him. She had stared at him non-stop for the past five minutes. She looked deeply unsure, but at least she didn¡¯t look terrified anymore.

    Sophie didn¡¯t know why. It was just Erik. Nothing had changed. He was visibly sad at seeing her sister¡¯s reaction to him after his absorption, and Sophie felt warmth inside her chest.

    He was funny, and oddly decisive when it mattered, but she hadn¡¯t seen him this serious. It was clear he cared deeply for her sister. She knew this wasn¡¯t the right time, but she wished someone would look at her the same way. Not as sad, but as caring. It had been a while since anyone, except her sister, did that.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s like that feeling you usually give off¡­ but thousands of times more powerful. There¡¯s a tingle, usually. It¡¯s stronger now. It¡¯s fine. But earlier it was¡­ it wasn¡¯t even scary, it was threatening to dominate me, my senses, my¡­ life,¡± Jessie explained.

    ¡°You feel that tingle as well?¡± Erik asked, having thought back to when he was alone with Sophie in Jessie¡¯s apartment, feeling that sense of something approaching, his body tingling all over.

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    He¡¯d realised it was Jessie when she opened the door, and could sense the feeling coming from her. He hadn¡¯t asked, though. They had been too busy, and it didn¡¯t seem important. That sensation had been there ever since, always pointing to Jessie. Now, he could barely feel it anymore.

    ¡°Yeah, but it isn¡¯t just a tingle anymore. It¡¯s much stronger. It still has that slight sense of dominance, of control. It¡¯s weird, but it doesn¡¯t feel dangerous anymore. I¡¯ll be fine in a few,¡± Jessie said, now looking at her sister, who was looking back and forth between the two Remnants with an odd expression. She didn¡¯t know what the expression meant, as she hadn¡¯t seen it on her sister¡¯s face before. ¡°I promise,¡± she smiled at her sister, wiping away her younger sister¡¯s tears.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Erik said, looking into his best friend¡¯s eyes. Despite him knowing he didn¡¯t do anything on purpose, he felt the need to get it off his chest. Jessie smiled, and sat up.

    ¡°Whoo! Anyway, I need a shower after that. I¡¯m all tense, still. Give me twenty!¡± Jessie said, getting up to her feet quickly, pulling her own sister up with her. She went into the bathroom immediately after pulling out some new clothes from her bag she had packed from home before they went back to the hotel.

    As Jessie shut the door to the bathroom behind her, Sophie couldn¡¯t help but notice that her sister didn¡¯t lock the door. Again, that intensely hot feeling in her chest grew from out of nowhere. An awkward silence between Sophie and Erik ensued until the sound of running water from the bathroom broke it.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Erik said to the younger sister this time. She looked at him, wondering what he was apologising for. That moment was it. He looked at her the same way he looked at her sister. He had a serious expression on his face, and his eyes were warm, kind. He wasn¡¯t mad, but genuine. He wasn¡¯t sad, but empathetic.

    ¡°For what?¡± Sophie smiled.

    ¡°Your sister wasn¡¯t the only one who had to go through something just now. You were frightened as well, though in a whole other way. That¡¯s also because of me,¡± Erik explained. As he talked, Sophie went to sit on her bed. Her expression told him she didn¡¯t care about all that, especially since everything went fine in the end.

    ¡°You really love her, don¡¯t you?¡± she asked, her expression unchanging.

    ¡°Of course I do,¡± Erik said, sitting down on Jessie¡¯s bed in front of Sophie.

    ¡°I probably shouldn¡¯t ask, but what is your relationship with my sister, really?¡± she asked, looking towards the unlocked bathroom door.

    ¡°She¡¯s my best friend. The last few months, she¡¯s become like family to me. She and I really connected, in a way I haven¡¯t with anyone else in my life," Erik explained, telling the truth about how he felt.

    ¡°You know, she said the same. I just don¡¯t understand-¡± she started, but stopped herself. She looked flustered, and turned her head down.

    ¡°Don¡¯t understand what?¡± Erik asked, not sure what she meant.

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    ¡°Please? As Jessie¡¯s sister, I consider you my family as well.¡±

    ¡°You both say the exact same thing. ¡®Friends¡¯, ¡®family¡¯. There¡¯s obviously more at play between you. She didn¡¯t even lock the door when taking a shower. You¡¯re clearly more intimate than you both say you are. It doesn¡¯t matter to me, but I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re lying about it," Sophie said, her eyes glistening more and more. Despite how Sophie was obviously feeling, Erik chuckled slightly in response.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen your sister naked several times, sure. We¡¯ve changed in front of each other, we¡¯ve skinny-dipped. Heck, I¡¯ve walked in on her going at it with Hosu more times than I¡¯d like. I mean, they¡¯re both beautiful, sure, but as I said, she¡¯s family to me. They both are. The fact that she¡¯s into girls probably helps, I guess, but I don¡¯t feel anything more for her than I say I do,¡± Erik explained, Sophie¡¯s expression changing multiple times over the past twenty seconds or so.

    ¡°Hosu?¡± Sophie ended up asking. She looked confused and Erik realised Jessie hadn¡¯t told her sister about the love of her life.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t say too much. It¡¯s Jessie¡¯s tale to tell, but Jessie is deeply in love, just not with me. There was someone else in Afterlife, and the two of them connected as well, just in other ways,¡± Erik smiled. ¡°I¡¯d never hurt your sister intentionally, I hope you know that.¡±

    ¡°I do. I just thought you were¡­ that you were lying, I mean. The way you two¡­¡±

    ¡°Behave just like the two of you do?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°I guess you kind of do that, yeah,¡± Sophie said, contemplating.

    ¡°I won¡¯t steal her from you,¡± Erik said, finally realising what Sophie was acting so emotional about. ¡°You¡¯re sisters! I just hope you¡¯ll want to keep me around as well. Consider me your pet dog, if you will,¡± Erik grinned. Sophie let out a laugh, finally.

    ¡°You¡¯re hard to pinpoint,¡± she said, now smiling. Erik loved her smile. It really brightened the world around her.

    ¡°Says you. I haven¡¯t forgotten how you teased me outside the apartment building yesterday. But how so?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re such a dork at times, but it¡¯s obvious that you¡¯re doing it intentionally. If you act stupid, you¡¯re doing it for a reason. You¡¯re decisive, but pretend you¡¯re not unless it really counts. I¡¯ve seen you stand up to military guys, not even an ounce of nervousness inside you. You force them to do what you want them to, and I don¡¯t know if they even realise,¡± Sophie explained.

    Erik thought about her words. She wasn¡¯t wrong, but none of this was new to Erik. He knew who he was, and he knew what he was doing. She was wrong about him not being nervous those times, but he was glad he didn¡¯t let it show.

    No, none of those specific things he said needed thinking about from Erik¡¯s view. What he was thinking as he looked at the girl, was how much attention she had paid him, and him not even noticing.

    Jessie opened the door to the bathroom just then, and left the room. Her hair was wet, but not dripping, and she wore nothing but underwear, the bird-like tattoo between her breasts clear as day. She sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the two beds, grabbing the diamond on the table before she did so.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m ready,¡± she said after taking a deep breath. Sophie looked panicked as she watched her sister exit the other room, but looking over at Erik somehow calmed her. The man stared at the mostly naked woman in front of him, but nothing in his eyes showed any sign of lust or wanting. He gazed into her eyes, he was just as determined as Jessie was.

    ¡°You sure?¡± he asked. Sophie¡¯s face turned from panic to calm the moment she saw his expression. He had told her the truth earlier. There really wasn¡¯t anything else between the two. She could see it now.

    ¡°No. But I¡¯ll never be readier,¡± Jessie said.

    ¡°For me, I had to focus on both my ¡®sea¡¯ and the waterfall, pulling them into each other by their links to my Crest. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll be the same for you, but I hope that helps,¡± Erik explained.

    ¡°Probably won¡¯t, but here¡¯s hoping.¡± Jessie said, staring at the diamond in her hands. Brightless Bond, she¡¯d called it.

    ¡°Have you decided which wing you¡¯ll put it in?¡±

    ¡°I feel like neither is the right choice. I¡¯ll do the fifth first,¡± Jessie said, placing the diamond beneath the Core of her Crest, in the large circle not on either wing, but on the lower end between both.

    The smaller circles following that circle weren''t even connected to the rest of the Crest with the exception of a curvy line from the bigger circle before them. The smaller circles, her minor power slots, were like fruits on a hanging vine beneath the two wings, though Jessie wasn¡¯t happy about the tattoo-like Crest on her chest going down into her cleavage the way it was.

    Jessie closed her eyes and focused. Erik and Sophie looked at each other in anticipation, and after a few seconds, her Core¡¯s red light grew brighter, just as it had with Erik.

    She was within her magic now. Moments later, a purely white light started glowing from the diamond. Erik looked questioningly at Sophie, who understood what he was wondering about. She nodded to him, and faced her sister once more. The same had happened with him.

    He hoped she wouldn¡¯t be interrupted like he was, as it nearly made him fail. The diamond started getting absorbed, and after an uneventful ten or so minutes later, the diamond was completely gone. The large circle beneath Jessie¡¯s Core had a fully white marking, gently glowing.

    As Jessie opened her eyes, Jessie¡¯s eyes were similarly white in their glow, but that quickly turned to normal. Sophie was happy nothing bad had happened. Uneventful meant everything went fine. Right?

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t as easy as I thought,¡± Jessie said, standing up, but looked a bit dizzy.

    ¡°I know right? Nana never mentioned it being anything special.¡±

    ¡°No, she didn¡¯t. Did you feel anything?¡± Jessie asked Erik, sitting next to him on her bed.

    ¡°No, not really. Certainly nothing like you did,¡± Erik responded, thinking back to when he exited his meditation earlier, noticing Jessie on the floor, her younger sister panicked.

    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s good. That means it was either the type of power you got, or something else that happened. I hope it won¡¯t be the same for the rest of your powers,¡± she shuddered. Erik agreed, of course.

    ¡°So, time to see what we got?¡± Erik asked.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Sophie asked the both of them.

    ¡°No. Just like with the Core power, I can feel it, but the feeling means nothing to me. We have to meditate on it,¡± Jessie said.

    ¡°Are you sure nothing bad will happen?¡± Sophie asked nervously, looking more towards Erik than Jessie.

    ¡°Not at all. You didn¡¯t feel anything, so you¡¯ll probably be fine. So long as Jessie¡¯s also meditating, she shouldn¡¯t notice anything either, even if the same does happen again. Her mind will be elsewhere,¡± Erik explained, though he was only guessing.

    ¡°Just to be careful, let me start first and when I¡¯m under, you can go as well,¡± Jessie said, immediately closing her eyes. Moments later, her Core glowed brighter.

    ¡°Take care of her if something happens,¡± Erik told Sophie before starting his meditation. She determinedly nodded. Erik went inside his magic once again.