A Universe of Bloody Evolution

"There you are!" Frank shouted. "I've been looking for you the entire night... Well, some of it, anyway. Were you out?"

Leo shrugged as they passed through Eden's border and continued toward the main building. "The Nightmares are gone from the city, and I had some stuff to do. Seemed like a good idea not to bother everyone here when they rest."

"Aye, I guess that's fair," the Fallen said. "You sure there are no Nightmares hiding anywhere else? If it's really safe, then I could get a group going for night raids."

"For now, it is." He raised his hand before the other man could say anything. "But I have no idea about tomorrow, two days from now or a week. There are plenty of small towns nearby; Nightmares can come from there."

"Shite, you're right. Here goes my perfect plan."

Leo chuckled. "I never said that you shouldn't go out. Just stick close to the safe zone and always keep your eyes peeled out for danger. You can usually see and hear a Nightmare coming from far a mile away. Well, Collectors, at least, and I'm pretty sure you can handle a Scouter as a group."

Frank hummed, scratching his chin. "That could work. But just in case, would you mind watching over us if we wanted to go a bit deeper into the city? Not too far, just somewhere with more Voidlings."

Would I? he mused and shook his head. "Sure. It's not like I can't practice in the meantime. Just let me know beforehand, okay?"

"You got it, mate." The other man clapped him on the back. "Oh, and before I forget, we can have that training session in the evening today if you are free."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Already have a group ready for London? You're fast."

"Mostly ready," Frank corrected. "I still have a few people to ask, but I will get that done before the evening. So what do you say?"

"Bring them to the town square when you have everybody. It's cleared out for the most part, and nobody will get in the way. I will be waiting there."

"Will do," the man said as they stopped next to the entrance to the office building. "I would like to talk a bit longer, but time waits for no one. I got plenty of stuff to do and idiots to scream at. I will see you later, Hale."

"No worries. I can entertain myself for a while." Leo waved him off. "But before you go. You know where Dylan is?"

Frank stopped in the middle of the entrance, furrowing his brow. "If I remember correctly, he should be with the other mages somewhere behind the warehouse. No idea what they're doing there, though. You gotta ask them or Tony."

He nodded. "I will just go there and see for myself. Thanks."

"No problem. Have fun with the nerds," Fallen called out as he disappeared into the building.

Leo snorted and resumed walking, his long strides carrying him toward his new destination. Plenty of survivors watched him go, their eyes following his every movement. Some even stopped working to gape at him, but at least no one tried to say anything.

And just when they were getting used to my old form. He shook his head as he turned the corner. Just like Frank said, a small group of people, including Dylan, were strewn around the empty area there.

Would you look at that, he mused in his head, watching dozens of multicolored streaks of light dance in the air. Sometimes, they were joined by tiny bolts of lightning, streams of flames, or even bits of flowing water that fought to destroy the pure Essence.

The entire group was so taken with their exercise that none of them even noticed his approach. Leo sighed and cleared his throat loudly.

Like a domino, the streaks of light disappeared one after another as at least two people yelped when their eyes fell on him. To make it more amusing, everyone took a few steps back, leaving only Dylan standing in the same spot.

Cute. He snorted.

"Ah, Leo!" the older man exclaimed. "What brings you here, lad? I thought you were out in the city."

He shrugged and came a bit closer, ignoring the whispers from the rest of the group. "I'm taking a break, and we haven't talked in a while. You managed to evolve since I left for London."

True to his words, Dylan, like most of the high-level survivors in Eden, obtained the Ascended Human evolution. It might not be anything special, but it was good to see that everyone was steadily progressing.

"Tyler and Laura did, too," the mage commented. "I thought of maybe going for the Fallen Human evolution, but well..."

Leo offered him a knowing look. "Tyler?"

"That and my own hesitation. Even after seeing what you and Frank can do, it ain't easy abandoning a part of your humanity."

"Yeah, I can understand that." He glanced at the other humans nearby. "So what are you all doing here? That was a nice light show, but quite frankly, I don't get the point."

"It's a little experiment we came up with together," Dylan perked up, excitement shining in his eyes. "Mostly, it's just helping us practice control over pure Essence. Though lately, we also started throwing our System-given techniques into the mix. We are hoping that maybe by manipulating those, we can get an affinity, even if it's a minor one."

Leo blinked. He didn't expect that. "And how is it going for you?"

"Honestly? Quite good." The mage grinned. "The lightning, fire, and water you saw just a moment ago? Those weren't techniques. We summoned those elements with our own willpower. They are still weak as hell, but it's something."

It definitely is, he thought, scanning the entire group. "And it's only you five doing this?"

"For now." Dylan nodded. "I report every finding to Tony at the end of each session. If our hard work pays off, then other people will follow in our steps."

So they are like some sort of an R&D department?

While Leo found this entire idea interesting, there was something he could offer them that should speed up the entire process by quite a bit. After all, there was no reason for him to withhold information like this any longer. He could always say that he learned those things from Naz'Tor.

I wouldn't even be lying this time.

"I might be able to help you all out with your affinities," he said, earning Dylan's and the rest of the group's attention. "There is a skill I learned that is apparently used by everyone in the Void to develop and strengthen affinities. Don't get me wrong, it ain't easy to get right, but once you do, the sky is the limit."

Quite literally at that, he added in the safety of his mind.

"You would do that?" Dylan's eyes widened. "Don't you have better things to do than teach a bunch of low-levels?"

Leo chuckled. "I'm on a break, remember? Besides, I can only give you the basic steps and explain how the skill works. You will have to figure out the rest on your own. From what I learned, everyone enters their soulscape differently."

"Well, then, I can't say no to an offer like that." Dylan smiled and turned to the rest of the group. "Ya bunch of dunderheads, come. You heard the big man himself. He is gonna teach us a skill. Sit down and listen."

Even if the other four humans hesitated to join, they still did after Dylan glared at them. They all sat down in a circle, and Leo explained everything about Soulscape. He didn't spare any details, sharing all he learned from Nikra and Naz'Tor.

Although, even after he described the ability to develop affinities, they all were more excited about the prospect of hiding items inside their soul. Those people really needed to work on their priorities.

'You are helping everyone lately,' Nyx suddenly spoke in his mind.

Keeping himself from reacting to the sudden intrusion, he replied, I would love to say that I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart, but it's far from that.

'Oh?'

Those people are gonna help us fight against the Supercluster and maybe even against Payne's group. The stronger they are, the better for all of us, he explained. I can spare some time if it means they won't be completely useless. Regardless, it's a win for me.

'I see..." Nyx muttered and remained silent for a moment. 'Do you ever wonder how it would be if you didn't have to worry about other people? If it was only you against the world?'

Leo cut off from the discussion happening next to him and focused on the unexpected question.

I don't, or at least I try not to, he answered in their link. Nothing good ever comes from thinking about stuff like that. Our situation might not be the best, but it's far from the worst. We just have to keep working to make it better.

Nyx hummed but didn't say anything. For a short moment, the silence continued in their link, and Leo used this chance to excuse himself from the group of mages. He told them all he could; the rest lay in their hands.

How is it going in London? Anything changed? he asked as he walked toward the safe zone's border.

'Not really. Malcolm and Lily are working on preparing their low-level people for the move. Aside from that, I've been on a short hunt with a few humans. Nothing too exciting.'

Still no level?

'No,' Nyx grumbled. 'I am tempted to jump into the Supercluster and just absorb the Essence there.'

Please don't. Leo blanched.

'Just kidding. I have another round of babysitting soon. At least this time Malcolm is coming, so maybe we're going to hunt something stronger.'

Good luck, then. I'm on my way to prepare a little surprise for this evening's training session.

Nyx snorted. 'Please let me know when everything's ready. I wanna watch their reactions.'

Leo grinned. Oh, trust me, I will.