Aiden and Olivia stood before a familiar place, one they’d lived in seemingly a lifetime ago. But here they were, Aunt Rachel’s. Aiden couldn’t remember ever wanting to see the house so badly, yet his feet anchored in place.

The telltale signs had been everywhere. Claws rent pavement, upturned yards, and so much more. The system had found its way here, and Aunt Rachel’s house looked like it’d taken quite the beating.

“Aiden…” Olivia muttered.

He stepped forward, wordlessly taking the lead. No more words needed to be exchanged between the two of them. The quiver in her voice said everything he needed to know.

The yard, once green and lush due to the sprinkler system, had craters twice as deep as he and maybe half his height across, almost like something had drilled into the ground. Odd, but compared to what caused his heart to race with dread, he didn’t worry about it.

Stepping past the yard, he made his way up the driveway from the sidewalk, headed up the L-shaped path, and stopped at the door—or what was left of it. Little but shards of shrapnel remained.

Aiden turned to Olivia and gestured for her to wait and made his way inside. Jaw clenched, he prepared himself for the worst outcome. He stepped across the threshold and into the hallway, looking around. There was damage to the house everywhere he looked.

Shattered glass from windows and assorted crockery. Water had, at some point, sprayed all over the walls and floor from where the sink had been annihilated. Aiden looked up through the hole to see the sky.

“Whatever came here, they weren’t friendly about it,” he muttered, trying to ease his unrest. Despite seeing signs of so much damage, he saw nothing to say that Aunt Rachel might’ve been home when all of this happened.

Two presences tugged at his soul from across worlds, lending their strength with his and helping him push forward. He looked around everywhere. The house was a mess, but Aunt Rachel hadn’t been there.

Finding nothing, he left out the way he came and saw Olivia nearly in hysterics. He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay, Oli. She’s not here. That means she might still be safe.”

“But l-look at all the damage,” she retorted, a shaky hand pointing at the yard and house. Then she pointed over at all the similar-looking houses on the block, each barely a remnant of what once was. “What if i-it’s like this everywhere, Aiden?”

“Oli, listen to me.” He placed his hands on both of her shoulders and firmly gripped her. “We knew this was a possibility. The others are already combing the area in search of survivors. They’ll send word—”

A red signal flare, actually a Flame Bolt skill one of the pyromancers had, blazed an arc through the sky.

“That’s a sign of danger. We have to go.” She didn’t look like she’d move anytime soon, so Aiden clenched his teeth, nearly growling, “Let’s go, Oli. Now.”

She shrugged away from him and glared as if he were the one who’d personally attacked Aunt Rachel’s house. “How can you be so heartless?!”

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“Now is not the time.”

She waved her arms around at the state of the neighborhood. “If not now, then when?”

Aiden wanted to help calm her down, but he didn’t have time for the drama. The Flame Bolt was only to be launched if a team encountered a threat too dangerous to face in the vicinity of survivors.

“Do whatever you want then,” he grumbled, waving her away and turning to leave. He made it two steps before a gust of wind slammed him from the front in an attempt to keep him there. It didn’t do much, really, aside from piss him off.

He clenched his teeth and took another step away, but a stronger gale nearly swept his feet out from under him. Doing his best to keep calm, he turned back towards his sister and crossed his arms.

“What?”

“Don’t want away from me, Aiden.” She pointed towards the house for what felt like the hundredth time. “Aunt Rachel might be in danger—”

“And what is wasting time talking about it going to achieve? Do you want her to die? Do you want to find her?” he snarled in return, stepping out of the way of another gust coming his way. “I know you’re upset about this, but just stop and think for two seconds. Where would she go if she weren’t here? When did the system arrive here? When did things pop off? Who can we ask?”

He pointed towards the smoke trail arcing its way through the sky.

Olivia, despite what Aiden expected, didn’t stop her wind assault. In fact, she channeled a raging tempest and rushed him. Admittedly, she was too fast for him to dodge. But she was also too weak to break through his high Durability attribute.

“What is your problem?” he growled, reaching his hand out to grab her ankle and nullifying her kick. She looked stunned for all of a second before he threw her away from him, catching her balance in a brief moment. “This is obviously not about Aunt Rachel, so spit it out!”

“Screw you!” she screamed, coming at him again.

Eesh, it’s gonna be this kind of day, I see. Having taken Josh, Ian, and James, Arkayan in tow, out to blow off steam often enough, he could see that Olivia had worked herself up. Why she went after him, who knew, but if he was good at one thing…

A punch landed on his stomach, but he didn’t budge. A kick smacked into his side, but he didn’t feel it. All her regular attacks did no harm, so she started to get creative. Her three disciplines, wind, light, and metal, were used aplenty.

To no avail.

He didn’t budge, nor was she strong enough to make him. “You’re getting nowhere with this! Quit throwing a stupid tantrum and just tell me what’s going on already!”

“You’re a jerk!” she screamed, throwing another punch.

He grabbed her wrist and jerked her off-balance. “And you’re a brat. What’s your point?”

“So you admit it?!” she growled, eyes wild.

“What the hell has gotten into you, Oli?” he asked, shaking his head and squeezing her wrist tighter when she tried to slip free. “This isn’t the time or place to hash out our differences. Grow up!”

“Screw y—ah!”

He yanked her forward and swiped her legs out from under her, letting her tumble forward and onto the ground. With his face set in stone, he spoke in a deadpan. “I’m leaving. Stop me, and you might get hurt. Do you understand?”

Rather than respond, she slammed a fist on the ground, splintering the cement, threw herself to her feet, and ran off. He couldn’t be bothered to put up with her antics when there were so many more pressing things going on, unfortunately.

Though, even with all of that, a part of him said to go after her. See what was wrong, comfort her, and figure out what caused all of this. But he couldn’t.

As much as he wanted to be her big brother, he needed to be Earth’s hope and Zion’s leader. He needed to be a hero.