Chapter 12: Even the smallest advantage – Cassis

They slipped inside Cassis’ parents' house, shutting the window behind them with practiced efficiency. The moment the latch clicked into place, Cassis released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. They had made it.

The tense silence of the house broke as footsteps approached. The rest of his family and their guests—Nadine and Violet—entered the kitchen, their faces a mix of relief and concern. The greetings were brief but heartfelt. His father, Marcus, stepped forward as Joseph Morrison approached, and the two men exchanged a firm, almost wordless hug—the kind shared between men who had seen too much, fought too hard, and lost more than they cared to admit. When they pulled away, Joseph’s gaze fell to Marcus’ missing arm, his expression darkening.

“Damn, Marcus,” Joseph muttered, shaking his head. “Glad you’re still with us.”

His father merely shrugged, but Cassis didn’t miss the shadow lurking behind his eyes. He had seen it before—a quiet, creeping despair in those who had lost a part of themselves, both literally and figuratively. He knew what came next if his father remained in that mindset. Marcus had always been a protector, shouldering the responsibility for those weaker than himself. If Cassis didn’t get him back on his feet, back into the fight, he would lose him in a different way—one even harder to recover from.

Turning to his family, Cassis wasted no time. They needed to move quickly. “Listen,” he began, his voice steady despite the weight of the situation. “Baby Jessica is under a silencing spell.” He carefully avoided the word ‘curse,’ knowing how negatively people reacted to it. “It will break in about two hours and forty-eight minutes.” He tapped his timer, making sure they all understood the urgency. “Before that happens, we need to awaken my father, Violet, and Noah. We need every fighter we can get, dad, and awakening will make the children harder to kill. They’ll need less food, less sleep, and they’ll have a better chance of surviving.”

His mother’s lips pressed into a thin line, but she nodded. Benny, Joseph, and Elena shared uncertain glances but didn’t argue. There wasn’t time for hesitation.

“Mom,” he continued, looking directly at her, “you, Liam, Joseph, and Elena should start stocking your office. Grab as much food and water as possible. Move the desk and shelves out—we’ll need the space. If you can, bring down a couple of mattresses so the kids and we can rest in between fighting. The room is small, but it’s the safest place for us when the monsters come.”

Arianna, standing beside him, remained quiet but alert, nodding along as he laid out their plan.

Then, Nadine stepped forward, locking eyes with Cassis in a way that made it clear she wasn’t backing down. “If my daughter awakens, I will be with her.” Her voice was calm but firm, a mother’s unwavering resolve.

Cassis held her gaze for a moment before nodding. He understood that kind of determination. She would protect Violet no matter what.

“Benny,” Cassis continued, turning toward him, “you’ll come with Arianna and me. We’ll awaken Noah first.”

Benny stiffened slightly, but he nodded. He understood the importance of what they were about to do.

His father had remained silent throughout the discussion, standing with quiet authority. Now, he reached to his side, gripping the handle of his hammer with his remaining hand. He didn’t speak, but he didn’t need to. He was ready.

Cassis took one last look at everyone in the room. They were exhausted, frightened, and worn thin by the last twenty-four hours. But they were still here. They still had a chance.

“Let’s move.”

They went back out through the kitchen window, barely having had a moment to rest. Cassis was tired, but his concern lay more with Arianna. She wasn’t used to this kind of strain—not physically, not mentally.

"Are you okay?" he asked her through the party chat.

Arianna’s response was immediate, her inner voice steady despite her exhaustion. "Yeah, I’m tired, but we can do this. It’s safer with me here. I can’t use heal yet, but soon. Still, in case something goes terribly wrong, I can buy a small healing potion."

Cassis met her eyes, searching for any sign that she was just putting up a front. But there was only determination there. He nodded. They had no choice but to push forward.

They crept outside again, sticking to the shadows. "Be careful out there," he warned her. "I don’t know if I can protect you with a group this vulnerable."

Arianna rolled her eyes and shot back, "I’m the second strongest fighter in this group. I think I can protect myself quite well."

He knew that, of course, but it didn’t make it any easier. Every time she got hurt, something twisted inside him—because she shouldn’t be in this world. And that was his fault.

Out loud, he addressed the group. "Arianna and I will take Dad first. We’ll look for a group of monsters, and if we manage to awaken him and beat up two more, we’ll come back with them. If you hear anything other than us coming towards you, run back into the house. It’s not far, and the window is open."

The two children, Violet and Noah, were eerily quiet. Violet, only eight years old, clutched her mother’s kitchen knife in both hands, her small fingers white-knuckled around the handle. She was old enough to understand—understand that she would have to kill something, because the monsters out there wanted to kill her first. Noah, just five, looked confused but didn’t make a sound. He was too scared to cry, still traumatized by the monster attack just an hour ago. He hadn’t made a sound on the way to his parents’ house either. But they couldn’t worry about that now, first he had to survive physically before they could take care of his poor soul.

Cassis, Arianna, and his father moved around the house, keeping low and using the parked cars as cover. They crouched behind his parents’ car, scanning the street for movement.

Cassis listened intently. The growls and shuffling movements of monsters echoed in the silence of the apocalypse. He gestured for them to wait and crept forward, his body low and movements precise. His heightened senses from awakening made it easier to pick up on their surroundings.

There—just around the corner. Three goblins. They were hunched over something, their sharp claws digging into flesh. It wasn’t a human, thankfully—just a dead dog.

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Disgust curled in his stomach, but he pushed it aside. This was the opportunity they needed. Three monsters, just enough for his father’s and the children’s awakenings.

He turned back, motioning for Arianna and Marcus to follow. When they were in position, he told them. "We go on my mark. Dad, you take the one in the middle. Take it out fast. Arianna you take the left one. Don’t kill it but beat is within an inch of its life. Can you do it?"

Instead of answering Arianna readied her bat. His father shifted his grip on his hammer.

The goblins had their backs turned to them and were still eating the dog. Together the three of them lunged. Cassis used the poker to stab through the right goblin’s arm in a single, fluid motion. The creature let go of its knife but started shrieking. He punched it in the face and followed up with a kick to its head. It crumbled unconscious but alive. Arianna bludgeoned the left one first in the throat to keep it from screaming and then all over its body, staying away from its head in order to avoid killing it. It still managed to scream a bit, but it was muffled.

His father had rushed together with them. He had a lot more problems with his goblin as he wasn’t awakened yet and only had one arm. The gobbling swung its knife at him and caught him shallowly in the stomach. But his father didn’t even flinch. He surges closer to the goblin and hit it in the head with his hammer again and again. Cassis caught the goblin’s knife before it could plunge it into his father’s side. Then the goblin’s skull caved in with a sickening crunch, its body hitting the ground in a heap.

His father inhaled sharply, his body stiffening as a faint glow surrounded him. He had awakened. He was shortly disoriented by the status window but Cassis couldn’t give him much time. “Arianna, Dad take that goblin and carry it back to the children.” He took his own goblin and did the same.

They hurried back toward the house, moving swiftly and carefully with the goblins unconscious. The moment they came around the corner of the house into the backyard the small group they had left behind tensed with quiet, heavy anticipation. The two goblins didn’t even twitch, they were out cold. They put the goblins down in front of the two children.

Cassis turned to Nadine, who was kneeling beside her daughter. "Violet, are you ready?"

Violet was trembling, her knuckles white around the kitchen knife she had been gripping for dear life. She bit her lip, eyes darting between the goblin and her mother.

Nadine didn’t hesitate. She took Violet’s small hands in her own and wrapped them around the knife’s hilt, her voice steady but soft. "I’m here, sweetheart. Just push down."

A sob escaped from Violet’s lips, but she obeyed. With her mother guiding her, she plunged the blade into the goblin’s chest. The creature spasmed once, then went still.

A brilliant glow enveloped Violet’s small frame. She gasped, her breath hitching. The glow faded, and Violet stared down at herself, tears streaking her cheeks. But she wasn’t the only one stunned.

"What...?" Nadine murmured, eyes unfocused as she stared at something only she could see.

Cassis furrowed his brow. "What’s wrong?"

Nadine shook her head, then looked at him. "I got a system message. It says my dependent awakened to Rank F, but because she’s under the age of 14, I have the authority to see and manage her status, skills, and even class."

Cassis barely had time to process that before his attention shifted to Noah. The boy hadn’t moved, hadn’t reacted at all. He still stared blankly, unblinking, as if his mind were elsewhere.

Benny’s hands curled into fists. His worry for his son was palpable.

"Noah," Benny called gently, kneeling in front of him. But there was no response.

Cassis saw the moment Benny made his decision. With a deep, shuddering breath, he took the knife Cassis’ mother had given him and carefully placed it in Noah’s tiny hand.

The child didn’t grip it. His fingers remained limp.

Tears welled in Benny’s eyes as he wrapped Noah’s hand around the handle himself. "I’m so sorry, son," he whispered. Then, with his own hand guiding Noah’s, he plunged the blade into the second goblin’s heart.

The same glow enveloped Noah, and Benny also got a message

"Same here," Benny said, his voice oddly strained.

Cassis glanced at him. "You got the same message?"

Benny, still holding onto Noah, nodded slowly. "Yeah. I have full access to his status, skills, and class management."

Cassis opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a deep, guttural roar echoed from somewhere nearby.

The air shifted instantly; tension thick enough to choke on.

Cassis snapped to attention. "We better get inside the house before continuing this discussion."

No one argued.

Without wasting another second, Nadine and Benny grabbed their respective child and moved swiftly towards the kitchen window. The group climbed inside one after the other, closing the window and then pushing down the blinders on the inside.

The house was quiet—at least for now.

The other group had done well preparing the office. The small space was now lined with two mattresses on the floor, all non-essential furniture cleared out and repurposed as barricades. The living room was now an obstacle course, its layout designed to slow any invading monsters.

Cassis nodded approvingly. "Good work."

His mother wasted no time. The moment she laid eyes on his father, she crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him, murmuring something only the two of them could hear. Cassis didn't pry, but he kept a careful eye on his father. Marcus Walker had always been a strong man, a protector. Losing his arm had been a devastating blow, not just physically but mentally. Yet here he was, standing tall again, hammer in hand.

He has to keep fighting.

And tonight, they all would.

From now until tomorrow afternoon, when the monsters would finally be drawn back into their home dungeons, when the mana concentration in the air would decrease and, finally, Jessica’s crying would stop because she wouldn’t be in pain anymore.

Elena and Benny were locked in a silent embrace, clutching Noah between them, their tears dampening his hair. Joseph held Jessica in his arms, rocking her gently. She still wasn’t making a sound under the lingering silence curse.

Liam approached Cassis and Arianna. "We did everything we could," he said quietly, gesturing toward the office.

Inside, bottles of water, packets of jerky, and other easy-to-eat provisions had been neatly arranged.

Cassis checked the timer. [02:03:58]

They had a little over two hours before the silence spell on Jessica lifted. Two hours before every monster in the area would hear her cries again.

Not enough time to rest. But enough time to prepare.

He turned to the group. "Everyone, gather around. We don’t have much time, but I’ll explain how to meditate to find your elemental affinity."

There was a ripple of confusion and curiosity, but no one argued somehow already used to Cassis taking charge. They all settled onto the mattresses or leaned against the office walls, giving him their full attention.

"If we’re lucky," Cassis continued, "some of you might unlock your affinity before the timer runs out. If not, at least you’ll know how to do it whenever you take a break between fights since we will take turns fighting at the door. Sleep probably won’t be an option, but meditating will help restore your energy."

It was a half-truth. Meditation could help with exhaustion, but more importantly, awakening an elemental affinity would make them a little stronger. They wouldn’t get a skill with ther element yet – that would only happen at level 5 and depend on their basic class – but they would also raise their mana saturation percentage which would strengthen their bodies and minds. And they needed every advantage they could get.

Violet and Noah, still reeling from their awakenings, sat close to their respective guardians. Violet was gripping her mother’s sleeve tightly, while Noah remained quiet, his wide eyes darting between the adults as if he didn’t fully understand what was happening. At least he wasn’t catatonic anymore. Awakening had helped with that, too.

Elena frowned. "Cassis, how do you know about this?"

Cassis barely hesitated. He had prepared for this question. "Sapphire told me."

It was his go-to answer now, whenever he needed to explain knowledge that should have been beyond him. Sapphire—his and Arianna’s divine patron, their guiding beneficent deity. It was vague enough that people wouldn’t question too deeply.

Elena exhaled and nodded, accepting the explanation.

Arianna shot him a look but didn’t say anything. Through the party chat, she simply said: "It feels weird to be the answer for everything. And just why do people believe it? You’re a very convincing liar."

He smirked slightly before refocusing on the task at hand.

"Alright. Close your eyes. Breathe. I’ll guide you through the process."

With time running out, they needed to get stronger.

Because soon, the real battle would begin.