"Nikra, the Lady of Darkness. She is the first Old Oo appear and grace the Universe with her magnifice. Beautiful aernal are the words that describe our Lady best, yet even they barely enpass the Darkness' majesty.

  Some might call her weak for the ck of a sed aspect, but those are all lies! Darkness is hiding everywhere, even in our hearts. And our Lady feel it, trol it and twist it to her will. Never doubt that, or it will be the st thing you do."

  ~Those who came before us by Unknown, Published before the 1st Outbreak

  For a brief period, perhaps a minute or even five, an atmosphere of plete silence pervaded the entire room. Looks were exged every now and theweerio, some pained, some thoughtful. Leo didn't speak; there was o. 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 ya pn to wait? If... if what I'm thinking is true, then I uand your hesitation, mate. But... you're holding yourself back, and..." The warrior's voice trailed off, his gaze shifting towards Laura.

  A subtle attempt at manipution, but not without a good point. I 't really wait much longer…

  Leo ran a hand through his hair, grimag at the grime it collected. "I know. Trust me, I know. I got locked only this m, but with how many Voidlings I killed on the way, I could have leveled up already."

  Looking at the evolutiohat appeared in front of his eyes, Leo sighed. "I have a perfect evolution ready, maybe even as strong as the Apex o will ge me, though. Probably a lot." He chuckled humorlessly. "Don't get me wrong, I will use it. Only a daft person wouldn't. But first, I must find Nick. At least someone has to know that I didn't go barmy before I evolve."

  Dyn smirked as he leaned forward and gave Leo a reassuring pat on the back. "Don't fret, d. Even if you were to evolve right here, right noould still reize the person hidden underh that ugly mug."

  Leo snorted, accepting the attempt to lighten the mood. "And don't you fet it... When we arrive at the roup, you will be the oo expin 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 pletely if you evolve... ving some folks of who you are is the least we do, mate. You t on us."

  Leo nodded with a smile. How a si of kindness ge a person's opinion of another... I just hope his attitude will stop jumping around if I heal Laura pletely.

  "Then I suppose it's settled," Leo decred as he stood up from the ground. "I will go 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 evolve and heal Laura fully before we leave for the old trainyard."

  Following, Dyn also rose aended his hand, which Leo quickly accepted, squeezing tightly. "Aye, that sounds like a pn... Thanks again, Leo. We would have been in a deep shite if it weren't for you. Now e, 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 two blocks away, but the way back will be much harder with three other people. Even worse if any of them are injured…

  Frowning, Leo held his hand up to stop Dyn. "Just a sed," he called out as he undid the ings 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."

  Dyn's eyes widened as Leo handed him the rifle. "Mate, we 't take this from you," he protested, cradling the bloodied on. It had definitely seeer days, but with everything Leo had gohrough, its dition was more than uandable.

  Leo shook his head, pushing the rifle bato Dyn's hands. "Like I said, I don't . Besides, in its current state, this thing is more of a dahan an advantage."

  And it's limiting my movement. A backpack is ohing, a rifle over half as long as my body is another. Leo thought with a well-hidden grimace. He had been thinking of abandoning the gun for a while now.

  Suddenly Tyler's voice broke Leo out of his musing. "I it," he admitted, taking the rifle from Dyn and carefully flipping it over. "Our old man had a simir 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 eve 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 firing... And even then, I'm far from the best."

  Dyn frowned as he watched his friend ihe rifle. "I still re you shouldn't be givin' it to us. Especially when yoing out."

  Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Leo repared to swiftly dismiss any additional objes. Thankfully, the you member in the room interjected, saving him from anument.

  "Let it go, Dyn," Tyler murmured, extrag the magazine from the rifle. "Bloke's right. Shite's clogged and dirty. Doubt it'll even shoot." The warrior shifted his attention towards Leo. "Where in the bloody hell have you been with this thing?"

  "Trust me, you don't want to know," Leo smirked. Where he hadn't been? That was a much better question. Not one he would ahough.

  Tyler shrugged, "Whatever suits you, mate... Now, do you have any more ammo? One full mag is nid all, but won't st for long if some bloody wankers kno our doors."

  Right, I almost fot... Quickly digging into his pack, Leo retrieved the scope and ammo boxes. "Here. Should be enough, eh?"

  As Dyn took the offered items, Leo noticed Tyler watg them with slightly widened 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 Leo's shoulder wherailed off. "Listen, d," Dyn said, meeting his eyes. "We've all lost someoo this bullshit. So if you wanna talk, don't be afraid to ask. No matter for how long, we are a team now, and a team supports each other."

  Yeah, let's not get too ahead of ourselves...

  heless, Leo just answered. "I appreciate it, but my dad isn't dead," but Edward is. "He was out of the try whebreak came, and if there is anyone who survive this, it's him... Now, I really should get going."

  Swinging the pato his back, Leo o the other two in the room and headed for the door. Footsteps followed shortly after, and he smiled lightly when a voice reached his ears.

  "Wait up, mate!" Dyn called out, aopped he blocked exit. "I apologize if I came on to. I didn't mean anythin' bad with what I said. I've known Laura and Tyler for a long time, and with you being a simir age, I guess I overstepped."

  Turning to face the older man, Leo sighed. "No harm done, man," he waved him off. "You just wao help, and I respect that. Just... let's try to avoid the subjey family, okay? At least for now."

  "You got it, d," Dyn grinned. "Also, about that thing I wao ask."

  Stopping the iory of his onry, Leo quirked an eyebrow. "Right, I fot. What is it?"

  Leaning against the wall, Dyn oward Leo's hands. "Before we came out to help you, I noticed you usin' shadows in your attack," he expined, and Leo nodded. "I wao ask how you gaihat teique. From what the bloke who passed by told us, assassins didn't get any of those."

  Hold up... teiques? 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 ce to get some more info, then I will bite.

  Brow furrowed, Leo voiced his question. "Teique? 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 gh those past few days?"

  A lot, but it doesn't really matter now. Leo grumbled internally. "Okay, man, now you are fusing me. What does my affinity have to do with a teique? Is it another name for skill or what?"

  Dyn shook his head. "No, nothin' like that. Let me expin quickly..." At Leo's raised eyebrow, the man eborated. "Right. You see, in the beginning, Mages received two skills and one basic teique chosen from five avaible options instead of the usual three skills."

  This wain…

  "Now, to put it simply, teiques are heavily System-assisted abilities reted to an affinity," Dyn expined. "They have their own menu and ranking. Although I 't see the rank of the one I have. The wonders of not having an affinity, I guess," he finished with a grumble.

  "Apart from that, all I know is that a teique be created by fog on a particur aspect of your affinity or, well, a teique. Besides that, I don't know much. Without an affinity, the System wasn't too forthing with information."

  System-assisted? Apart from Vital Strike, I don't really have anything simir... I wonder why I didn't get o. Is it really that hard to create? Yet ahing to test ter on…

  " I see it?" Leo asked. He couldn't deny his curiosity.

  Dyn nodded. "Sure, mate." Almost instantly, the fingers of his right hand lit up with blue lightning. Sparks danced across his entire hand, casting a soft glow on the man's dark skin.

  Holy shit. It takes me much loo form my shadoons. Is that why it is not a teique yet?

  "I only fuel Essend give the System a and," Dyn expined, slowly rotating his hand. "After the System fis job, I have total trol over the teique, or in this case, I decide when to fire or dismiss it."

  Quite handy, not having to stantly hold my Essence.

  "Is it strong enough to kill?"

  Dyn grimaced. "If I mao hit an eye or a ot, then sure, but anything else, and I'll just take a k of flesh out of them. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll paralyze 'em for a moment."

  Leo almost whistled. For something so simple, it seemed pretty strong. Especially sidering that Mages had it from the beginning. "Useful," he ented.

  Dyn 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 create my own teiques, theential is really endless. It makes me wonder if there is something different than a True Affinity. Gono ask him ter…

  "Fair enough," he finally admitted with a chuckle, refusing to tihis subject, at least for now. They wasted enough time as it was.

  Pushing the shelf that covered the entrance away, Leo addressed Dyn for the st time. "I'll be ba a few hours. Try not to get surrounded by a small army again, hmm?"

  "Aye, we will do just that," Dyn ughed. "Take care, mate. Until we meet again."

  Leo smiled.

  Until we meet again.

  Chaos65