“Nikra, the Lady of Darkness. She is the first Old One to appear and grace the Universe with her magnificence. Beautiful and eternal are the words that describe our Lady best, yet even they can barely encompass the Darkness’ majesty.
Some might call her weak for the lack of a second aspect, but those are all lies! Darkness is hiding everywhere, even in our hearts. And our Lady can feel it, control it, and twist it to her will. Never doubt that, or it will be the last thing you do.”
–Those who came before us by Unknown, published before the 1st Outbreak
For a brief period, perhaps a minute or maybe five, silence consumed the entire room. Looks were exchanged every now and then between the trio, some pained, some thoughtful. Leo didn’t speak; there was no need to. He would rather give them time to process everything and form questions worth asking.
“I…” Tyler tried to break the stillness, only to shake his head lightly. “How long do you plan to wait? If… if what I’m thinking is true, then I can understand your hesitation, mate. But… you’re holding yourself back, and…” The warrior’s voice trailed off, his gaze shifting toward Laura.
A subtle attempt at manipulation, but not without a good point. I can’t really wait much longer anyway.
He ran a hand through his hair, grimacing at the grime it collected. “I know. Trust me, I know. I got locked only this morning, but with how many Voidlings I killed on the way, I could probably have leveled up already.”
As he looked at the evolution menu that appeared in front of his eyes, he sighed. “I have the perfect evolution ready, maybe even as strong as the Apex one. It will change me, though. Probably a lot.” He chuckled humorlessly. “Don’t get me wrong; I will use it. Only an idiot wouldn’t. But first, I must find Nick. At least someone has to know that I didn’t go barmy before I evolve.”
Dylan smirked as he leaned forward and gave Leo a reassuring pat on the back. “Don’t fret, lad. Even if you were to evolve right here, right now, we would still recognize the person hidden underneath that ugly mug.”
He snorted, accepting the attempt to lighten the mood. “And don’t you forget it… When we arrive at the trainyard, you will be the ones to explain to them why you’re traveling with a monster.”
“We will do that and more, right, Tyler?” Laura smiled lightly, her cousin nodding in agreement.
“Aye.” Tyler took over from the girl. “You cleared the street and eased Laura’s pain. Bloody hell, you might even heal her completely if you evolve… Convincing some folks of who you are is the least we can do. You can count on us.”
Leo nodded with a smile. How a single act of kindness can change a person’s opinion. I just hope his attitude won’t turn around again once I evolve.
“I suppose it’s settled, then,” he declared, raising from the ground. “I will go out now and hopefully return with my family before dawn. There is more than enough time left if I don’t stop on the way… Then I can evolve and heal Laura fully before we leave for the other group.”
Dylan also rose and extended his hand, which he quickly accepted, squeezing tightly. “Aye, sounds like a plan. Thanks again, Leo. We would have been in a deep shite if it weren’t for you. Come, I will walk you out. There’s still somethin’ I want to ask you about.”
Oh? I just hope it won’t take too long. Nick’s house might only be a few streets away, but the way back will be much harder with three other people. Even worse if any of them are injured.
He frowned as he suddenly realized something. “Just a second,” he said as he undid the wrappings around the hunter rifle attached to his backpack. “Take it. I have been dragging it around like an idiot without firing more than five bullets. You three will probably find more use for it.”
The older man’s eyes widened as he handed him the rifle. “Mate, we can’t take this from you,” he protested, cradling the bloodied weapon. It had definitely seen better days, but with everything it had gone through, its condition was more than understandable.
Leo shook his head, pushing the rifle back into Dylan’s hands. “Like I said, I don’t need it. Besides, in its current state, this thing is more of a danger than an advantage.”
And it’s limiting my movement. A backpack is one thing, a rifle over half as long as my body is another, he thought with a well-hidden grimace. He had been thinking of abandoning the gun for a while now.
Suddenly, Tyler’s voice broke him out of his musing. “I can clean it,” he admitted, taking the rifle from Dylan and carefully flipping it over. “Our old man had a similar one and took me with him a few times. Had to learn how to take it apart and put it back together, or he wouldn’t even let me near his baby.”
Ah, so it was one of those. Leo chuckled. “Well. In this case, you already know more than I do. The most I’m capable of is aiming and pressing the trigger. And even then, I’m far from good.”
Dylan frowned as he watched his friend inspect the rifle. “I still reckon you shouldn’t be givin’ it to us. Especially when you’re going out.”
Leo suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and was about to swiftly dismiss any additional objections. Thankfully, the youngest member in the room interjected, saving him from another argument.
“Let it go, Dylan,” Tyler murmured, extracting the magazine from the rifle. “Bloke’s right. Shite’s clogged and dirty. Doubt it’ll even shoot.” The warrior shifted his attention toward Leo. “Where in the bloody hell have you been with this thing?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” He snorted. Where hadn’t he been? That was a much better question. Not one he would answer, though.
Tyler shrugged. “Whatever suits you, mate… Do you have any more ammo? One full mag is nice and all, but won’t last long if some bloody wankers knock on our doors.”
Right, I almost forgot. Quickly digging into his pack, he retrieved the scope and ammo boxes. “Here. Should be enough, eh?”
As Dylan took the offered items, Tyler watched them with wide eyes. “Enough?” He almost stuttered. “I suppose I wasn’t the only one in the family with a huntin’ maniac. Or did you find it on the way here?”
Leo let out a chuckle as the memory of his foster father crossed his mind. “The former,” he murmured, bowing his head. “I’m somewhat amazed that our fathers had never met. Or maybe they did, and we just…”
A hand fell on his shoulder when he trailed off. “Listen, lad,” Dylan said, meeting his eyes. “We’ve all lost someone to this bullshit. So if you wanna talk, don’t be afraid to ask. No matter how long, we are a team now, and a team supports each other.”
Yeah, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.
Nonetheless, Leo just shrugged. “I appreciate it, but my dad isn’t dead.” Even if Edward is. “He was out of the country when the Outbreak came, and if there is anyone who can survive this, it’s him… Now, I really should get going.”
He nodded to the other two in the room and headed for the door. Footsteps followed after him, and he smiled a bit when a voice reached his ears.
“Wait up, mate!” Dylan called out, and he stopped near the blocked exit. “My apologies if I came on too strong. I didn’t mean anything bad with what I said. I’ve known Laura and Tyler for a long time, and with you being a similar age, I guess I overstepped.”
Leo turned to face the man, letting out a sigh. “No harm done, man.” He waved him off. “You just wanted to help, and I can respect that. Just… let’s try to avoid talking about my family, okay? At least for now.”
“You got it, lad.” Dylan grinned. “Anyway, about that thing I wanted to ask.”
He paused checking his other weapons and quirked an eyebrow. “Right, I forgot. What is it?”
The other man nodded toward his hands. “Before we came out to help you, I noticed you using shadows in your attacks,” he elaborated. “I wanted to ask how you gained that technique. From what the bloke who passed by told me, assassins didn’t get any of those.”
Hold up… techniques? Is he just talking about an affinity, or am I missing something? I didn’t really want to reveal too much about my skills, but if this is a chance to get some more info, then I will bite.
“Technique? You mean affinity, right?”
“Affinity?” the man muttered as his eyes widened. “Right… of course you would already have one. Bloody hell, what did you go through those past few days?”
A lot, but it doesn’t really matter now, he grumbled internally. “Okay, hold up. Now you are confusing me. What does my affinity have to do with a technique? Is it another name for skill or what?”
Dylan shook his head. “No, nothin’ like that. Let me explain quickly…” At Leo’s questioning look, the man elaborated, “Right. You see, in the beginning, Mages received two skills and one basic technique chosen from five available options instead of the usual three skills.”
This word again…
“Now, to put it simply, techniques are heavily System-assisted abilities related to an affinity. They have their own menu and ranking. Although I can’t see the rank of the one I have. The wonders of not having an affinity, I guess,” he finished with a grumble.
“Aside from that, all I know is that a technique can be created by focusing on a particular aspect of your affinity, or, well, a technique. Not much more I can tell you. Without an affinity, the System wasn’t too forthcoming with information.”
System-assisted? Expect for Vital Strike, I don’t really have anything similar. I wonder I haven’t gotten one yet. Is it really that hard to create? Yet another thing to test later on.
“Can I see it?” Leo asked. He couldn’t deny his curiosity.
Dylan nodded. “Sure, mate.” Almost instantly, the fingers of his right hand lit up with blue lightning. Sparks danced across the entire limb, casting a soft glow on the man’s dark skin.
Holy shit. It takes me much longer to form my shadow weapons. Is that because I don’t have any techniques?
“I only provide Essence and give the System a command,” the mage explained, slowly rotating his hand. “After the System finishes its job, I have total control over the technique, or, in this case, I decide when to fire or dismiss it.”
Quite handy, not having to constantly hold my Essence.
“Is it strong enough to kill?”
Dylan grimaced. “If I manage to hit an eye or a weak spot, then sure, but anything else, and I’ll just take a chunk of flesh out of them. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll paralyze ‘em for a moment.”
Leo whistled. For something so simple, it seemed pretty strong. Especially considering that Mages had it from the beginning. “Useful,” he commented.
Dylan shrugged, a grin on his face, as the lightning flickered away. “Not as useful as having an affinity, is it?”
You got me there. If I can create my own techniques, then the potential is really endless. It makes me wonder if there are other affinities than True ones. Gonna need to ask him later.
“Fair enough,” he finally admitted with a chuckle, refusing to continue this subject, at least for now. They wasted enough time as it was.
As they pushed the large shelf out of the way of the entrance, he addressed the older man for the last time. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Try not to get surrounded by a small army again?”
“Aye, aye. We will see about that.” Dylan laughed. “Take care, lad. Until we meet again.”
Leo smiled.
Until we meet again.