In the small alcove surrounded by a shear cliff of stone, stood four pure white pillars equally spaced around an equally pure white circular stone foundation. The pillars glowed a faint white blue, maintaining the portal between two pillars. A trail of destruction and blood splatter lead directly to portal. Twelve-inch-wide claw marks cut into the ground leading up to the portal. The stone unmarred, stood proud, pristine.

Rebecca held her children, wrapped in chains, afraid to move. Afraid to drop her cocoon of protection. She was somewhere new. She hated that. She trusted Ethan, but she was given no information about where they were headed. Joe had let her, and her children know they couldn’t leave the Safe Zone. But she didn’t know if anything could get to it.

A million thoughts raced through her mind. She was the only one still conscious. Mark had held out the longest, but whatever had done had knocked him out, then the chaos irrupted, and everything went dark, silent. After a moment that passed faster than a thought, they landed hard, the light of her chains returned.

Haley was the first to pass out, she had tried, but like her mother, she was overwhelmed. Haley had focused more on learning attack skills, but was still behind. Rebecca remembered Ethan fighting, he hadn’t had any way of defending himself that she could see. Rebecca was glad Haley at least started. But kicked herself for not even trying. She made a mental note to see if she could ask Mark if he could suggest something to her, and her daughter.

Checking her children, Rebecca found they were fine, just passed out. She tried to wake them, but she got no response. A tinge of worry gnawed at her; afraid they wouldn’t wake. Moving on she tried to find Ethan. She knew she had pulled him to her just as Mark had made his move. He had been right there, nestled between his kids, in her arms, in her chain cocoon. She had no idea how portals worked, she didn’t know if he had slipped out, or there was some other weird magic going on.

Sending out a single chain, slowly she swept back and forth, listing as she tapped her Mana chain down. She had worked with a blind man, and spent time talking to him about how he used his cane to see. Still afraid to open up her shell, she thought back to him, and wondered if he was alive.

Bob? Bobby? Robert? Something like that. I wish I could remember his name. Damn it, Ethan where are you?

She swept back and forth, cautiously she probed. Afraid to search too far in case she left the Safe Zone, she decided to push out more chain, drawing from her Mana even more, Rebecca wove the chain around her and ventured out, she thought if randomly waving it about wasn’t going to work she’d try and fill the Safe Zone until she found Ethan.

Before she got too far, she felt something land on her chains. The chains lightly compressed above her, and Mana rushed out to compensate for the added pressure. Then she heard the nightmarish howls she recognized as Ethan’s voice.

Quickly she dispelled her chains, Ethan landed on top of her, Mark and Haley pinned her arms down. Ethan’s screams now at full volume drove a panicked fear through very part of her body. She only knew a need to help him, stop him from screaming whatever it took. She felt the pain in his voice more than she heard. Freeing her arms from her passed out children she wrapped them around Ethan and threw her weight to the side, flipping both of them over. He fought her, clawing at everything and nothing. Still his screams echoed out of the alcove, ringing her soul, like a bell. Tears flowed freely from both of them, Rebecca called to him, and he screamed at the heavens and hell that gripped his mind in pain and terror.

[Rebecca, Rebecca! You have to listen to me.] Joe screamed at her through Soul Connection.

Rebecca screamed at Ethan trying to comfort him, trying to help. Panic swept across her, her voice broke, as Ethan’s voice grew more horse by the second.

[You have to restrain him, restrain Ethan! It is our only hope, he is going to claw out his eyes. I can’t repair missing parts! REBECCA! PLEASE!]

Warm blood sprayed out of Ethan’s mouth, splattering Rebecca in the face. Waking her from her panic momentarily. She heard Joe’s words, but felt nothing. Her husband was dying. Ethan was dying. He was so much stronger than her, she fought to stay connected to him. Mana flowed, light bloomed around them, chains wove up his arms. Fingers once digging, ripping into flesh now caught only the chains. Still Ethan thrashed, trying to escape whatever nightmare he was trapped in.

Rebecca could feel the chains breaking, reforming, breaking once more. Over and over, she poured herself into them, still they broke.

When did he get so monstrously strong?

Blood began to froth and bubble in his throat, his screams nothing more than wet painful moans. Now fully encased in Rebecca’s chains, she spun him around as she stood. Like a caged feral animal he fought, she saw fear, anguish and torment burn in his eyes. Rebecca felt her body shudder with her own fear. Pulling him in, she summoned him to her Soul.

--

Haley a woke. Alone, on the platform. The portal long since gone, the night sky, dark forget the swirling mass of cosmic clouds. Deep blues, soft purples, and rich oranges swam across the trees outside the alcove. She stood, and peered out, wanting nothing but to walk amongst the trees exploring, feeling the flow of Mana she felt assault her.

She felt the tidal wave of Mana rush across the land before her, over and over it came. It was freeing, after months in the Training Fields, she had forgotten what it felt like to have wind brush across her skin, blow through her hair.

[Careful. You’re at the Edge.]

“Joe?” She said, almost frightened at her own voice. It carried further than she was used to, her senses felt heightened, accelerated.

[Behind you. Please step away from the edge.]

Turning around Haley and saw her mother holding her father, unmoving. Chains sprouting from her mother, wrapping around her father, binding him. Blood dried had ran down his face, was splattered across her mother’s face. Her gray outfit stained dark brown, her father in pristine white, dressed like he was at some weird college party.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What is going on? What. What happened to Mom and Dad?”

[I do not know. Your mother has summoned your father to her soul realm. I am not permitted to enter there. I believe she wants to be alone with him, but I doubt he is allowed to use skills while he is summoned there.]

“Is he… Is he going to be, okay? He has a lot of blood on him, and her?”

[I can’t say. Right now, I can say that his body is fine, I have repaired it as much as I could. I am unsure of how much you can handle, so I will be frank. He did that to his self. Nothing attacked him as far as I can tell. He was straining to process the Guides he consumed, but he wasn’t in danger of being attacked. Then we crossed over. As soon as he got here, he started to scream. I felt overwhelming fear, terror, and something else…]

“Something else?” Haley asked, trying to process everything she was learning. She had passed out, and missed out on a lot.

“My dad ate Guides?”

[Consumed. Not ate. But I guess it’s not too far off since he ate me. But as I was saying there was something else, I don’t want to exaggerate or make an assumption, but it felt like something powerful touched his soul.]

“Wait. You’re throwing too much at me. My dad ate someone? What the fuck is going on? Who the hell is touching someone’s soul? How is that even possible?”

Haley walked slowly towards her parents, it felt odd. They were frozen, a soft warm light surrounded them, her mother had tear stains that had dried and carved through the blood her father had sprayed across her face. Her father had dried blood covering his face like he had eaten an animal alive, running down his chest. His weird clothes were clean, like he had gotten dressed after he gorged on his feast. Chains wrapped around his arms, legs, feet and hands. He looked like a bloody crucifix, with a crown of her mother’s chains.

[It would be best for us to handle that when your mother returns. It is more complex than you think. I have my suspicions but we would need your parents here so we can gather and compare the information. As for touching someone’s that happens all the time. That is what magic is, you exert your Will on reality, your Soul connects with the world. Soul Connection is the perfect example. It literally connects your souls; your Will uses Mana to form a bridge between the two souls. Or more from what I can see in how your family uses them.]

“How long until their done? They look like statues. Don’t we have to get moving? Aren’t there monsters coming?”

[I have no way of knowing; we just have to wait. It shouldn’t be too long; your mother is close to running low on Mana. She has, as far as I can tell, spent a lot of her resources to contain your father. As long as we remain here, in the Safe Zone, we should be safe. Monsters, beasts can’t come here.]

“Contain?”

[He… Was fighting something. She attempted to restrain him, but as far as I can see, you, and your families’ stats have been stunted. Minus your father. I suspect your levels are around 15. But you lack titles, achievements. Your father is level 25, on the verge of evolving. He has many titles and Achievements, and some skills that add stats. She used much of her resources, as well as what I believe to be the maximum chains she can summon. It was a battle of Will’s and I believe a part of your Father allowed her to restrain him.]

“Joe, where are we?” Haley asked as she walked around her parents, listening to Joe. She still hadn’t decided if she liked Joe. He was helpful enough, but she had just kept getting told to wait for an explanation for what he was. Let alone who he was.

[We are the base of the first of many mountain ranges in the Endless Plains. Your father wanted to reach here, so he could lure the Drake down the mountain, and into the Training Fields. I will let him explain as to why, but I can say he plans to defend this area for sometime in hopes of leveling himself, and your families’. In the direction the of the opening of the alcove, is where your father was summoned here, a few weeks away. To either side, if you go far enough are the edges of the Endless Plains.]

“So, in the middle of nowhere, by a mountain. Got it.”

[I see you are your father’s daughter.]

“What do you mean?” Haley asked, catching Joe’s tone.

[He does the same thing. Take a multitude of data points, boils it down. Over simplifies it, and then says ‘Got it’ as if he actually understood what was told to him.]

Haley couldn’t find a fault in Joe’s words and tone. It felt warm, and familial. Like an old friend of her dad’s, she’d just meet. In fact, she hadn’t thought of it in a long time, but she had gotten that from her father. But it was more of a family joke. She was drowning in questions, but she didn’t know what she wanted, or needed to ask first. But she had a strong feeling Joe would tell her to wait. Everyone was telling her to wait. She was tired of waiting. She was tired of everyone telling her what to do.

Haley walked away from her parents, towards the edge of the Safe Zone. She could feel the flow of Mana swell as she got further away from the center of the Safe Zone. It felt comforting, reassuring.

“This is Mana flow.”

She had no idea where that came from. She had never heard that term before, but it felt nice, it felt right.

“Joe. Are there two types of Mana?”

[In a way. Yes. But what are you asking?]

“I feel like the Mana of the Safe Zone is different, than the Mana out there.” Haley pointed towards the forest boarding the exit to their little safe place.

[We should wait for your parents. Mark should be away soon; his resources are almost full.]

“Mark?” Haley felt stupid, she had completely forgotten her little brother. She turned from the constant pull of the Endless Plains, looking for Mark. Without realizing it, he was still where she had awakened, she couldn’t understand how she hadn’t noticed Mark when she came to. She remembered waking, she remembered the forest being the first thing she saw, as if he weren’t there. But now he stirred, a soft groan as he sat up.

[Where’s mom and dad?]

“Still prefer Soul connect, over talking? They are stuck in some weird T pose meditation thing in her soul. Don’t go near the edge, Joe will tell you to stop. Doesn’t matter how much you are pulled there.”

[Why would I be pulled into a forest? That’s stupid. We are in a new place, full of monsters, only an idiot would want to go into an alien forest at night.] Mark turned his head searching for his parents. [I see dad and mom fought something, and mom won. Glad their okay. Hi, Joe.]

[Hello, Mark, your dizziness will pass. You used too much Mana.]

[I figured. Are they injured?]

[Nothing that can’t be healed on its own. Though I am unsure of your father’s mental state. Or exactly what happened.]

“You two just gonna chat it up like I’m not here?” Haley broke up the conversation. Something bugging her Mark had said, “You don’t feel a pull into the forest?”

[I told you that it is a stupid idea, so no I have no desire to enter a forest at night, and I was getting an update I am sure you already had, meaning you are fine. So, I didn’t need to ask how you’re doing since you’re ready to go berry picking in an alien forest with monsters.]

“You can be an asshole you know that? Would it kill you to ask how I am doing, maybe I am little shook up?”

[Yeah. So Joe, do we have a time table on mom being done, I am assuming they are in her Soul Realm, talking.]

“Asshole” Haley said under her breath as she walked back towards the edge of the Safe Zone. She felt the pull, the Mana outside of the Safe Zone.

I don’t want to pick berries in the forest. I just feel like I should be out there. Not here, where everyone keeps telling me what to do. Haley, stop asking questions. Haley, wait. Haley not right now. It’s getting old. And there is something about…

Haley’s thoughts drifted as she walked on, she felt called.