A Universe of Bloody Evolution

'Leo,' a voice muttered in his head while something nudged his shoulder. 'Time to wake up. We got to move.'

He sighed, opening his eyes. "I wasn't sleeping. Not for a few hours now."

Nyx paused, tilting her head at him. 'I thought you wanted to rest. Your injuries...'

Leo waved her off as he stood up and stretched a bit. "I'm fine. Even my reserves are mostly recovered. Devour can take care of the rest."

'Then why?'

"Don't have a good answer for that," he shrugged. "I just woke up in the middle of the night, and that's it. I wanted to sleep a bit more, but each time I tried closing my eyes, my mind traveled back to the fight against Payne. So I stayed up, going through the memory again and again, looking for anything I could have done better."

'And?' Nyx prodded.

"And nothing," he chuckled. "Sure, there is space for improvement—I definitely should have used Decoy and Valron Protection—but overall, I did what I could."

The feline hummed. 'Seems unproductive if that's how you spent most of the night. That's unlike you.'

Leo couldn't even deny that. "Happens," he offered her a light smile. "Besides, I didn't completely waste those few hours. I messaged Naz'Tor about our communication problem. And wouldn't you know, he sold me something to solve it for almost nothing. I gotta say, even if he has ulterior motives, he is still a lifesaver."

Nyx narrowed her eyes. 'As long as you remember to be careful around him.'

"I am. No need to remind me," he patted her head as he went for the door. "One more thing. I asked him about light affinity. Apparently, it's as rare as I thought. No one outside of Ger can get it."

'Why am I not surprised,' she snorted, following him out of the room. 'Even when mostly dead, Geron is still gatekeeping his power.'

This made Leo wonder. "Do you think it's the same with darkness? Or any other affinity related to Old Ones?"

'Darkness is the natural progression of shadows, and we already know Voidlings can use it,' she pointed out. 'So I doubt Nikra is blocking it like Geron. No idea about others though.'

"So pretty much what I thought," he clicked his tongue. "The world is getting bigger and weirder with each day, hmm? Can't say I'm enjoying the quick pace. Some time without anything new happening would be nice."

'Maybe one day, Leo. Maybe one day...'

---

"I remember you always being on time before the Outbreak," Lily grumbled with her arms crossed. Once more, she had been waiting for him by the subway entrance.

Leo rolled his eyes as he stopped next to her. "It's hard to be on time when we didn't agree on any. All I said was that I would be here in the morning. Which I am."

His sister huffed. "Smart arse. Where is Nyx?"

"Around, like always... Better question. Where's Malcolm? I thought he would be here to see us off."

Lily grimaced. "He should be here in a few. He had to go help with some argument. Nothing to be concerned about."

"And instead of going with him to hurry it up, you came here," Leo raised an eyebrow, a smile tugging at his lips. "How surprising," he drawled.

"It's all your fault," she glared. "I barely got any sleep because you had me worried all night. You just had to go and pick a fight with Payne."

"Right... I'm not gonna even comment on that."

"Coward," Lily muttered, and Leo bristled despite knowing she was just doing that to get a reaction. Yet before he could say anything, someone cleared their throat, loudly at that.

"Am I interrupting something?" Malcolm said, looking between them with a light grin.

"No," he scowled, letting his sister have this win. He would find a way to pay her back sooner or later. "But it's good you're here. I have something to help us communicate, just like I told you yesterday."

With that, Leo reached into his soul and brought forth a single object. In a flash, it landed in his hand, and he instantly threw it at the other man, who caught it without a problem.

"What is it?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow, inspecting the small red tube in his hand.

"See for yourself."

The Abyss Walker frowned but did as was told. A moment later, he looked up. "A panic button?"

"Pretty much," Leo nodded. "You open the top, click the button, and I will know you need us back here. Sorry it's so simple, but that's all I could get without paying a fortune."

Malcolm gave him a large smile. "It's more than enough. Now for my gift. Twenty-two Essence bombs. A bit more than we agreed on."

Without a word, Leo took the offered bag and reached inside, taking out the first object in the way. It looked like an honest-to-god grenade. The Crystallized Essence that had to be a part of this was covered in a clay shell, while a single glowing, blue cord was sticking out at the top.

"Interesting," he muttered, activating Identify.

Makeshift Crystalized Bomb (Common):
A very simple, makeshift explosive created with basic materials. Despite its rough appearance, it is fairly safe to use. This bomb is roughly three times as strong as an overcharged Crystallized Essence. Have fun blowing things up.

Yeah, thanks a lot, System. Leo snorted and addressed Malcolm again. "How exactly does it work?"

"Pretty simple," the man pointed to the short blue cord. "You channel a bit of Essence into that, and after a minute, the entire thing explodes. We wanted to give you a longer timer, but this igniter is quite pricey."

"A minute is more than enough," he said, returning the bomb to the bag. "What if you overcharge it?"

Malcolm shrugged. "No idea. For obvious reasons, we didn't try to find out."

Makes sense. Leo nodded, and with a quick pull on his Essence, he placed the bombs in his soulscape. Hopefully, they wouldn't explode just because.

"If that's everything, we should go," Lily spoke up, ever the impatient one. "Malcolm, remember to keep hunting to a minimum. And for the love of God, don't let Dave out without an escort."

The Abyss Walker laughed. "Don't worry, I won't. Good luck, you two. Try to come back before tomorrow night."

"We will," Leo vowed as he shook hands with the other man.

Lily and Malcolm shared a brief hug, and with that, they were off. Nyx joined them a moment later, her form exploding into shadows and covering his body.

Yet, before Leo could activate a depowered version of Stealth Shroud, he had to ask. "What was that about the Dave guy?"

Lily almost stumbled as she jumped over a thick Vetilim root. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

Oh, but I do.

And so, with that thought in mind, he continued pestering her about this as they ran and ran. At one point, his sister got so annoyed that she decided to finally use her wings and claim the air for the time being.

Call me a coward again. I dare you.

---

With all the recent powerups and Lily's wings, it didn't take them long to reach the icy Wasteland. His sister, of course, had to stop there, her eyes drinking in the sights.

"It's beautiful," she muttered before grimacing. "Well, if you ignore those were humans not that long ago... I'm torn."

"Don't be," Leo shrugged. "What happened, happened. We have to enjoy what we can. Even if it's a Wasteland filled with deadly monsters..."

"When you put it like that..." She trailed off and offered him a grin. "Want to kill some stuff?"

"No. Nothing here is strong enough to give us a challenge. Besides, weren't you the one who said we should hurry?"

Lily crossed he arms, pouting. "Spoilsport."

Void, give me strength.

---

"So that's the only Void Gate in Wolford," Lily muttered as they stopped near the large structure.

"From what I've gathered, yes, this is the only one. We can check later to make sure," Leo commented as he watched the amalgamation of swirling energy in the middle of the gate. It had grown since he had left, by a lot.

Let's see.

Current Status:
This Gateway is still charging and won't activate for another: 3 days, 15 hours, and 6 minutes.

"It didn't speed up," he noted. "We still have almost four days. Should be enough to get the entire city ready."

Lily furrowed her brow as she turned away from the gate. "I thought you wanted to seal it."

"It ain't that simple," Leo sighed, running a hand over the hard surface of the gate. "I talked a bit more with Naz'Tor about it, and the Enchanted Matrix needs to be placed on both ends before activation."

"Which means..."

"Once the gate activates, I will need to go to the other side and then come back. Exactly," he nodded.

"Shite."

"Couldn't say it better myself, sis."