"Leo!" A voice greeted him once he left Adam's room. "Gd to see you alive and strohan before. We will really need you tomorrow."

  Lookiween Cra and Holden, Leo raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I guess... Anything you need now? You know you don't have to see me off whenever I e here, right?"

  "I'm aware," the leader sighed. "I just thought to clue you in about tomorrow before you leave. I don’t know how much time we will have for that once Frank and his people arrive."

  Leo hummed, nodding. "I see that... Alright then, go on. Be quick, though; I still o reach my little hiding hole for the night."

  "Aye," Holden agreed as they slowly walked towards the backdoor, eyes following them from each side. "Cra, please find Diana. She needs help figuring out the exact teams for tomorrow."

  Giviraditional mock salute, the redhead turned on her heel. "Roger, Roger. See ya, Leo."

  Leo tipped his head lightly towards the woman before turning to Holden. "So..."

  "We decided to go with froups. I want to switch fighters with each rotation, give one some time to rest while the other takes over. It should be less risky if everyone is at their peak."

  Not a bad idea. Not everyone is like me. Hell, going bad forth with a bunch of scared humans might tire even me. Leo cluded. "What about the exaumbers?"

  "Not including Adam, I have fifty-three people here. About fifteen of those handle your usual Voidlings without a problem," Holden listed, grimag. "There are a few more who fight, but they are underleveled. I don't want to risk them."

  Are you fug kidding? Leo stopped, giving the other man a stern look. I k was bad, but e on!

  "I know, it's not looking good. But there's nothing we do about it now," Holde out a long sigh, shaking his head. "That's one of the reasons why I agreed to Frank's terms. We need more capable people. If he somehow make them adapt once we settle in the new Safe Zohen so be it."

  You should have thought about it earlier. It might be too te now.

  As much as Leo wao throw some sarcastic remark in the older man's face, he held back. It would ge nothing apart from damaging their already brittle w retionship. Holden knew well that he messed up; now he had to fix it. Or, like he already pnned, let others deal with it.

  What a mess. Not mihough. As long as Adam and Ava are fine, I don't care.

  "Whatever," he finally shrugged. "What you do with your people ter on is not my problem. Just remember our deal... And speaking of. My family. When is their turn."

  Holden narrowed his eyes but still answered quite calmly. "Third group. I pn to make it smaller, no more than six civilians. Just in case something goes wrong with Adam."

  Smart.

  Even if this was his godson they were speaking about, Leo uood the dangers of esc him through the city. They still had no clue how the boy would a the open, where Voidlings could appear at every er. With fewer people to proted him on site, ces of anything terrible happening should go down quite a bit.

  "If we don't enter too many surprises on the road, each group shouldn't take lohan two or three hours. Of course, that includes returning here," Holden tinued when Leo remained silent. "The Sun is out for close to seventeen hours each day. Even if Frank takes his sweet time to arrive, we should still be fine."

  Leo's eyebrows jumped a bit upon hearing all the information. Seems they at least got the logistics down.

  "Sounds good." He stopped just by the exit. "One more thing though. Frank and I. Did you tell your people what to expeorrow? I doubt your friend is gonna hide what he became."

  Holden winced. "I gave everyone a heads up about some special allies I agreed to work with. Only my fighters know what exactly you are. For more I need Frank here. Five me, but between you and him, he is less intimidating."

  "Fair," Leo snorted. He still thought it was a bad idea to leave most of the group in the dark for so long, but again, it wasn't his problem. No matter what would happen, Adam and Ava were getting to that new Safe Zone.

  Still, ohing's for sure. He grinned uhe hood. Tomorrow m will be eaining as long as Frank and Holden stop people from panig too hard.

  The Night is ing. Find a secure shelter or prepare to fight for your life. Nightmares are waking.

  Bonus experiend Ether be obtained during the night. Good luck.

  And that's my cue to leave.

  Obviously, the other man also received the same message as he had already moved to open the door. "Time's up. I will be here an hour after dawn," Leo stopped in the doorway. "Oh, and Holden? You really should evolve before tomorrow. At this point, you are only wasting your potential."

  The older man froze, hesitation practically oozing off his body. Leo didn't eveo be in his head to know that.

  "I will see what I do. Take care, Hale," Holden replied, still stiff as a board.

  Leo could say more, expin every single advantage of evolving, but even if he had time for that, it wouldn't matter in the long run. Holden wasn't holding back because he didn't know what an evolution could ge. Quite the opposite in fact.

  Despite all his words about accepting evolutions and what they represented, he was still scared. Scared about losing what he had. Scared about being something simir to Leo or Adam. And most likely, he was afraid about people fearing him.

  Well... I said my part. The rest is up to you, mate. Good luck. With a final nod to Holdeepped out, disappearing into the darkness.

  The Night is here. Good luck.

  The System's warning echoed in his head as Leo dived into the only building he ko be safe. The thrumming of his heart slowed slightly with each breath he took. He was safe, more or less.

  That was very, very close. He grimaced, stepping deeper into the house. Nyx, you here?

  His new partner didn't waste time answering, her somewhat sleepy voiing through their link. 'The bathroom.'

  Uh oh. Leo chuckled, his gaze falling on the rge feline, her curled body easily taking over half of the bathroom floor. I see someone was already sleeping.

  Nyx raised her head, eyes narrowed. 'After the feast we just had? Why wouldn't I? Sleep is a pleasure I will never give up, no matter what you say.'

  Of course, of course. He answered, still ughing. Suppose the love for naps is universal for cats, even those from the Void.

  The feline huffed, turning away from him. 'Like you humans are aer. Almost the same in every damned Universe.'

  Noting this information for the future, Leed. Fine by me. He settled down against a wall, on the opposite side from Nyx. Ready for tomorrow?

  'I see nothing to be ready for,' she mumbled, still not looking at him. 'Unless you have ged your pns and I will be no longer responsible for clearing all dangerous Voidlings on the way?'

  No, everything stays the same. It's just... I don't even know. It's as if I'm fetting about something. Do you feel it too?

  Finally, Nyx turo him, her head tilted. 'I 't say I do... Will you let me?'

  Leo nodded, knowing well what the feli. Instantly, a massive presence surged through their link and right into his mind. It settled there for a moment, searg.

  'Curious,' Nyx whispered. 'Just like what you felt ihe Safe Zo seems to e from your ied instincts. What are they trying to say? I have no idea. It's you who o uheir true message.'

  But how? You said it yourself, I ime to adapt to them fully. For now, they are weak.

  The Voidling nodded. 'Indeed, but thihink about your time with Hunter. Maybe somewhere there lies the answer.'

  He furrowed his brow and dived into his mind. There wasn't much to search through; his time with Hunter was short at best. Still, he went through every memory, letting all the old emotions aions embrace him.

  Yet, as the process tihere was nothing special he could find, nothing that could help with this mystery. Or at least that was the case until the st memories pyed out in his head.

  I think... Leo opened his eyes, meeting Nyx's waiting orbs. This might be it.

  'Prepare. Be ready.'

  The words of a beast that died to protect him echoed in his mind, loud and clear. They carried a message, one he had almost fotten about with everything that had been happening i day.

  He was worried about something. He muttered in the safety of their link. No... The weather. He gave me this warning when the winds got stronger. Nyx, do you have anything?

  For a brief moment, only silence surrouhem.

  'I know the Void hides mas, including what you would call natural disasters.' The feline answered slowly, measuring every word. 'I don't know what they are all called, how they appear, or evehey e. Maybe if I ure Voidling or ied everything from Huhen I could tell you, but...'

  Nyx shook her head. 'No... I doubt even he knew what exactly was happening. There would be at least some bits and pieces about those things in my mind if he did. He just felt a threat ing and warned you to get stronger in time.'

  Leo scowled. And Nikra? She really didn't know anything?

  'She did,' Nyx quickly replied. 'Like I said, the Void hides many horrible secrets... Nikra withose disasters destroy much of her home universe without the help of a single Voidling. Yet, remember Leo, all of that happened before the creation of the System, and even then, Nikra udied those things. She only saw them e out of o wreak havod disappear without a sign.'

  Shit... He sighed, leaning harder into the wall. So pretty much we are going in blind?

  The feline snorted. 'ly. You got stronger, just like Hunter wanted. And his warning still stands. We just got to be careful.'

  I really hope this will be enough, Nyx, I really do.

  'It will,' she vowed. 'Now get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us. Good night.'

  Leo chuckled at the very familiar words.

  Yeah... I guess we do. Good night.

  Chaos65