Anna sat next to Tycen, leaning her shoulder into his. She was so scared that Tycen had died from the fight when Serenity had told them that he was approaching something inside of her clicked. Anna did her best not to say anything about it; she wasn’t even sure what she was feeling. It was an odd sensation, though. The feeling of utter relief, feeling her body move without her brain telling her to do so, she floated toward him. Tears poured down her face that she hadn’t even felt, then the moment she collided with Tycen, she felt… well, she didn’t know what she felt.
Now, sitting next to him, she couldn’t help but think it was more than just relief or her teammate; no, her friend was surviving. Sure, she did feel relief, but the excitement, the joy, and the potential sorrow she would have experienced was more than she had felt for any friend. Perhaps it was some deeper feelings hidden, or maybe it was the first time she was confronted with loss. Anna wasn’t sure. She chose not to bring it up as the two of them watched the former slaves eat in silence, nervously wondering what the more powerful people looking over them would do.
Levi sat down next to the two of them with a plate of food for each. " Here y’all go, " he said, handing them the plates. It was some root vegetables with some cooked meat. Because Levi was a summoner, he always carried seasoning and spices, as they were summoning ingredients. The meat was soft and tender, perfectly seasoned.
“This is very nice,” Tycen said. “Thank you.”
“Of course, how ya feeling?”
“Better,” Tycen replied. “It’s weird being in this position though.”
“Oh?” Anna asked.
“I’m not used to people being afraid of me because I am powerful. I am not used to having the power. I don’t come from a long line of powerful people. I was the first to be a born magic-user,” he explained. “Now I look at these people who are so scared, I can’t help but empathize with their position. I’d feel the same.”
“I hear you,” Levi said. “In my world there are many forms of power. Strength is one form but is often the weakest form.”
“What do you mean?” Tycen asked.
“Being strong, physically, is great if you are always in a physical altercation or doing something that requires that. But it is limited in the larger scope of things.” He looked over his body. “This is the most muscle I have ever had in my entire life and there are people on my world bigger than you, Tycen. Sure they are big and yeah you definitely don’t want to pick a fight with them in person, but it’s easy to avoid such things. People with power that make a difference are ones who use fear, corruption, greed, and blame. That’s pure power. In my country we have our leaders elected, we call them Presidents. You would think that the most qualified person gets to be president of our nation.”
“They don’t?” Anna asked exacerbated.
“They don’t. Some aspects of it are popularity contests or fear mongering. They play on one specific aspect that a large group of people are afraid of and play that tune.”
“Then what?”
“They get elected, and for the next four years, there will be some kind of backlash. More and more, the nation has become divided because of these powers playing against each other.” Levi paused to take a bite. He finished his bite and then sighed. “I hate that type of power. I did my best to remain as far away from that as I could, amongst other things. So I understand you, Tycen, it’s strange to know that we are the ones who can influence and change the world.”
“You know,” Anna said. “I think I understand you a little bit more now.”
“Oh?” Levi said.
“You have dealt with people who have more power than you very similar to your old world. Rather than elected officials but they have influential power. There are systems in play that go directly against you. No summoners, no chaos magic, etc. No wonder you are so adamant about a lot of things.”
“True,” Levi said. “Most importantly is I hate being treated differently for something I had no control over.”
“That I understand well,” Anna said. She chuckled, “When we first met, I was quite rude to you.”
“You were doing what you had to do,” Levi said.
“Exactly,” she replied. “People like to take advantage of me or treat me differently because I was born into a family that has power. I had no choice. I understand the responsibility and I’ll gladly take it. It is not without it’s downsides, however. I could never make any true friends. Everyone saw themselves as beneath me or in service of me. I was very fortunate to gain Piper so early in life. The difficulty I discovered was she was able to make friends and connections at a much quicker rate than I could have ever managed. I understand how it feels to be treated differently. We cannot control every aspect of our lives but we can control how we steward that responsibility.”
“Damn,” Levi said. “That’s a truth bomb right there.”
“A what?” Anna asked.
“Never mind,” Levi said.
“Excuse me,” Serenia asked.
“What’s up?” Levi said.
“Uh…”
“Yes,” Levi corrected sadly.
“Most of us will be sleeping soon. The weather is warm enough for us to sleep out here,” Serenia said. “I do not think I will be sleeping however. Is there any way I could be of assistance?”
“Sounds good, I’ll have some of my familiars patrolling the town walls and keeping guard. Would you mind getting a head count and seeing what would be needed for housing?”
“I can do that,” she said. She bowed and turned away.
“Well,” Levi said, slapping his knees to stand up. “Tycen, rest up. Anna, do what you want.” He chuckled as he made his way to start preparations to rebuild the small town.
After his initial assessment, Levi had marked different houses. The buildings with a coal dust marking, dark black like soot, would be unsuitable for living, while the buildings with a white powdered sugar marking would be suitable for living. Then there was yellow sand dust that would mark could live in but needed improvements quickly.
In total, there were 30 houses or house foundations, but not all of them could truly be considered houses. Each of the houses was a decent-sized, one-story cottage, about the size of a log cabin, roughly 500-700 square feet. Levi really couldn’t judge without properly measuring. There were 12 that had black marks, which were absolutely not livable; these would be the highest priority. They would also be the ones that the magic-users would work on. These 8 houses with yellow sand, marking the house as livable despite a few glaring improvements. The new owners of the buildings could improve these houses.
“There are 50 of us,” Serenia said. Interrupting Levi’s thoughts. He looked at the smaller woman. Now that she was freshly showered and the grim removed, Levi got a better look at her face. She had freckles with light skin and Asian features. Her hair, which was once matted, was now put into two braids that fell halfway down her back. She had bruise marks around her neck and wrists. Her eyes were dark, and she seemed really tired.
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“How old are you?” Levi asked.
“Uh… I am 30,” Serenia said.
“You looked like you were the oldest?” Levi said.
“I am,” Serenia said. “The older women were taken, raped, then killed. They kept the younger ones around so we could potentially reproduce if they wanted.”
“I see,” Levi said. He gave her his best reassuring smile. “We’ll make sure you are all protected and this place becomes your sanctuary.”
“May I ask something that may come of as rude?”
“Please,” Levi said. She raised an eyebrow at his response but nevertheless still asked her question.
“Why are you helping us? What do you gain from this?”
“You needed help, I had the ability to help, so I helped. I gain the knowledge knowing that I did something good for the world,” Levi said seriously. His tone booked no room for mistrust in his words.
“That’s it? Altruism?”
“Or selfishness,” Levi shrugged. “They can be one in the same sometimes. How many of the people are family?”
She looked at him for several seconds before responding, “Most are their own families. The youngest are my little sister and brother, twins they are 7 years old. The oldest male we have is 18, there were some of those people who took us who liked boys.”
“Okay,” Levi said. “There are eight houses that can be good for some to move into with some work that needs to be done, flooring, windows, or anything like that. There are ten houses that are ready to be moved into now, I am not sure how to get you all beds and stuff but we’ll figure that out later. Each house has a furnace and a wood burning stove, with some cooking supplies. Some of the houses have furniture already some do not. Then lastly, there are 12 houses that need total work before they are ready. That will be something my team, familiars, and myself with be working on first.”
“I don’t believe we will need thirsty residences,” Serenia said. “As I said we are mostly families. Could those 12 buildings be converted into something practical to allow the village to thrive?”
“Of course,” Levi said. “What did you have in mind?”
“A blacksmith, we will need weapons,” Serenia said flint in her voice. “A bakery, a restaurant, a woodworking shop, maybe an armory? Things like that, anything else that you think might be helpful for us.”
“Good plans,” Levi said. His eyes glazed over as he looked at his inventory. Serenia, not knowing what was happening, looked behind her to see where his gaze went. She frowned as she saw nothing. As she turned around as he was plucking several items out of thin air.
“What is all of this?” she asked.
“Items that I don’t need, was going to sell but I’m good,” he said as his eyes were still looking through his inventory. He finally refocused his gaze as there were several items surrounding him. He went through them one by one.
“These are different armor and clothes that I have gotten in my time traveling. This will at least help you get your armory started. Anyone who wants to train can train with us. We will be here for a while as our three downed teammates recover.” He pointed to a box on the ground, “There are a few magic essences in there; this will help you get magic users in the village. You’re the first person I would say who gets one. This also means that you will need to choose a class. There are five-”
“I want to be a summoner,” she said. “That’s what you are, right? That’s how you have so many familiars?”
Levi stood mouth agape, words failing to come to his mouth, “I uh, yes.”
“I am not the only one,” she continued. The eldest male, Wyatt, echoed my sentiments. I believe he would be a good candidate for a magic essence. My last choice would be his girlfriend, Sunny. They want children. Despite the horrors we just faced, the two of them could potentially give birth to more magic users. That’s how that works, right?”
“Higher likely hood yes,” Levi said. “You also have a chance.”
“Oh, good to know. She also said that she wanted to be a summoner. So that makes three summoners, do you think we should have one of them be something besides a summoner?”
“It’s your choice,” Levi said. “I can train you as best as I can in the time that we have so you understand the basics of summoning. “
“We will learn and figure out the rest when you leave,” Serenia said. Her face was full of determination as she had decided for the rest of her new town.
***
“What’s going on with you?” Tycen asked Anna. She had been constantly looking over her shoulder to look at Piper.
“I’ve never lost someone before,” Anna said. “I almost lost two today. I…” she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “How do you do it?”
“In my culture death is not the end. We have a place where we all go after we die. Death is a see you later. If my time had come today, I would have been sad but I would have been happy to see my sister.”
“Do you not get sad anymore when people die?”
“I do,” Tycen replied. Sadness does not mean we don’t accept the loss; sadness means that the loss affects us. I am grateful to be alive; this team has been the best thing for me in a long time.”
“I don’t understand how to do that,” Anna said. “I have lived a lucky life where no one has died. A part of me wishes that wasn’t the case. I wish I was used to it so the potential wouldn’t be so crushing.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Why not?”
“There’s a story of a man in my town. He is an older man had several wives, each of them died from old age, illness, random monster, whatever it was they never survived. By the third death he started to become callus, cold to the world. Who could blame him? By the time his last wife died he didn’t even shed a frown. He had been expecting her death the time they met. The children of the woman were pissed, very upset that this man would treat their mother’s death so casully. The town turned their back on that cold callused man. Deep down though there was a piece of him that was locked away a piece of his broken heart that he had been constantly holding onto.”
“What a lovely children story,” Anna teased.
“It’s not really a children story,” Tycen said. “It is to remind us that death is sad no matter how often it happens to you, stay soft, don’t let the world turn you hard.” Anna looked at Tycen as he said those words. They resonated with her. “Stay soft, don’t let the world turn you hard,” she repeated over and over in her head until it stuck. She rested her head on Tycen’s shoulder until she nodded off asleep.
The following morning, Levi woke up to birds chirping. The sun had just crested over the dense forest treeline. He took a deep breath, tasting the air. Fresh dew had covered the ground. The hint of warmer weather was on the horizon. Levi stretched the sleep out of his body and walked over to the building in which his three companions were still resting unconsciously. Their skin was now scabbed over, and small traces of their hair were returning. They had lost almost everything in that attack.
Levi walked over to where Piper was lying still; her breathing was steady yet shallow. He grabbed her hand as it was mostly healed. Gently caressing her delicate skin. Levi had dealt with loss once and admittedly had dealt with it poorly. He wasn’t good with losing. Whether it was people, pets, items, or games, he was a sore loser. The prospect of losing someone in this world was so different. The danger was amplified, yet so was survival. Any magic user who was over one or two-star rank could live much longer than standard human life expectancy.
Levi found out that with magic, in general, most people lived to be older than what was normal on Earth. The life expectancy for humans was 125 years, and that was without any magic. The world was never overpopulated because of how frequently people died. It was a crazy juxtaposition.
Anna walked in and sat next to Levi. She nudged his shoulder with hers. Levi had noted that Anna’s rough edges had been softer since Piper had almost died. He hardly could blame her; death and loss are scary, unavoidable things in one's life.
“How did you do it?” Anna asked finally.
“Do what?” Levi replied.
“How did you recover from the loss of your dad?”
Levi snorted, “atrociously.”
“What do you mean?”
“I ruined relationships, I pushed people away, I became a shell of myself.”
“You hardly seem like that now,” Anna confided.
“Call it a lesson learned,” Levi replied. “How are you handling it?”
“Atrociously,” Anna said, smirking. “If I am honest, I have never really lost anyone. First Tycen and then Piper, I thought I was going to have the worst day ever and yet they both survived. I can’t help but blame myself. If only I were a little bit stronger, faster, or even smarter to protect them.”
“Grief does that,” Levi said. “It enters your brain and feeds you lies. There is only one person to blame for their pain and he’s dead. If you were stronger and they still got hurt but differently then what?”
“Then I get stronger,” Anna replied.
“Then what? Where does it end? At what point do you need to trust that we made the right decisions and the opponent made a better one? We had no business fighting a 4-star magic user. None at all, guess what? He’s dead and we’re not. My biggest mistake was letting grief turn into guilt, turn into shame, turn into apathy. That’s how I ended my life before I was brought here, apathetic and alone by no one’s fault but my own. Anna, I don’t want that to happen to you.”
Anna sighed, put her head down, and whispered, “I wish it was me and not her. Then you wouldn’t have to deal with loss again and have someone who can actually comfort you.”
“Is that what you think? That I would rather you be laying here instead of her?” She nodded slightly. “Let me put that foolishness to bed, I would rather no one be here. Anna if you were here I’d be still having these same thoughts about loss. Yes I love Piper, I also love you. You’re one of my best friends, ever.” He wrapped his arms around her as she cried on his shoulder. Levi had no other words to say as the two of them hugged.