Time was of the essence and they didn’t plan to waste any of it. They had to act quickly, every moment wasted meant that they gave the mutants more time to grow stronger. The problem was that they all were injured or exhausted to some extent, even Jim was not in his best condition and they needed to rest for a few days. This time they made careful preparations and planned for every possible confrontation.

After three days Jim, Jake, Emma, Evelin, and Max were finally done and began their journey. This was the group that would travel to the west to investigate the situation. After careful consideration Jim decided that it was better for Solaire to stay behind, he was still injured and his ability was not a big help if they were ambushed or fought in a group battle.

The group of five should be more than capable of surviving and fighting against any threat that they come across. Jim alone would be enough to fight most rank three, and the others were there as insurance and to make sure Jim didn’t accidentally kill himself.

Another point they discussed was the establishment of a sort of research institution. After experiencing the dangers of abilities like Troys they knew that they had to experiment more with them. These abilities were not random and had some sort of system behind them.

They had to find out how to find and use these abilities to their advantage. They seemed by far their best option in surviving this whole mess and knowing the limits of these abilities was essential for their survival. They needed to know what was possible and what was not.

The only starting points they have until now are Solaires ability to control fire, Troy's ability to influence the mind, and Jim’s sixth sense, as well as his ability to temporarily strengthen his body. The most fundamental thing they found out was the feeling of this new energy, learning how to sense it.

Only a few people know of this information because Solaire made it clear how dangerous this knowledge could be in the wrong hands. Even with a few people knowing and training in this sense they had some discoveries over the past few days. They found out that talent played a crucial role in learning this sense.

Jim for example had a pretty bad sense for this new energy, Solaire seemed to be mediocre better than Jim but not by far. Jake on the other hand who started to train similarly to Jim was now leagues above not only him but also Solaire.

Over the constant fighting with the wolves, Jake experienced a quality change in his ability to perceive this energy and can now reliably see the aura of others. This was a huge advantage and one of the reasons why Jim decided to take him with him on this exploration.

If the problem in the west was indeed a poison of supernatural nature it was most likely related to this new energy. The advantage someone would bring who can perceive said energy, was self-explanatory.

The problem was that to learn more about this sense they needed more people who can use this sense and experiment with it. This pushed them into a dilemma. If they tell more people their progress in research would drastically increase, but similarly the risk of this information getting into the wrong hands would also increase.

They had to be careful of which one they would tell this about and while they were gone Dave was preparing a list of potential people that he trusted and could be of use in this research. Furthermore, it was decided that Jake would lead this research, as he knew best about this new energy and how to sense it.

At best Clay - who found this information to begin with - would lead the research, but he was gone for weeks now and Jim believed that he was long dead.

They hoped that the people would find more abilities when they learn to perceive this new energy. Jim’s ability was rather hidden and it could be that many more people in the church had similar abilities and just didn’t know about them, because they didn't know how to use them.

These were all plans for the future and now Jim’s only priority lay in finding out if his family was still alive, or long dead. Jim was still not in peak condition, but he could activate his ability if needed.

The best thing they found out was that there was someone who had a gas mask. They at first believed it was impossible to find a gas mask in the ruined city, but asked the survivors of the church anyways and a man in his forties actually said he had some in his basement.

It seems like every city had its doomsday preppers and to their luck, he was one of the few that survived, he belonged to the very small percentage that was actually prepared for a situation like this, too bad that he wasn’t home at that time and if Solaire didn’t save him he would be dead like anyone else.

Marking the location on a map they first went to this house to get the gas mask and killed every mutant on their way, they soon reached said house. It was almost completely intact and they quickly found the basement and the gas mask.

With this Jim felt prepared and there was nothing more he could do. They began their journey to the west and it was as unspectacular as it could get. They fought some mutants on the way but the strongest was only at the second rank and not a threat. The closer they got to their destination the fewer mutants they encountered.

After a while an unsettling feeling spread through the group, as the absence of mutants waiting at every corner didn’t give them the feeling of safety, but instead caused the opposite.

By now it was common to see mutants everywhere and it was strange for it to be this silent. This silence didn’t feel peaceful at all and the group was on edge; even fearful.

Such silence was something they didn’t experience for a month. There was always some sound in the city and even if it was just the wind that carried the sound of far battles, there was always some sound. The increasing absence of said sound caused the group to be more on edge.

The west side was really vacant of any mutant, human, or any other lifeform. They were of course the occasional corpse littering the streets, but with so many mutants roaming the street it was hard to find a corpse that was not yet half-eaten or separated into pieces.

Everyone who searched for their loved one would find rarely a complete corpse, making it almost impossible to identify them. This further worried Jim that he wouldn’t even be able to recognize his family even if he found them.

This feeling of anxiety was finally broken, when they heard a sound from one of the ruined houses. Immediately drawing their weapons the group looked nervously at the house, where the sound came from.

Poking from the debris of the building was the head of a black cat. Like any other animal it was mutated and Jake quickly confirmed that it was of the second rank. Hearing this the worry in their heart eased, but they were still careful.

This was the first mutant they encountered in a while and it seemed suspicious. The cat walked with its head down, swaying left and right as it walked. It seemed weak and Jake also noticed something strange, “Guys the aura of the cat is some-”

He abruptly stopped himself from talking, as the cat finally lifted its head and they were greeted with bloodshot eyes, a trail of blood flowing down its fur, from not only its eyes but nostril, mouth, and ears. From every hole of the cat scarlet blood flowed, not long after it fell to the side; dead.

Jake was the first to react, as he finally noticed what was wrong and shouted, “RUN!!”

Everyone in the group was tense, to begin with, and hearing Jake’s warning they didn’t waste a single second, before running for their lives in the direction they came from.

Running without stopping for even a moment, Jake eventually halted his track after they got quite a distance away from where the cat died. Catching his breath he wheezed, “We.. should be… far enough now.”

Following him the rest of the group also stopped to catch their breaths. Only Jim and Max quickly regained their breath and were not too exhausted.

After a while, Emma said, “So this is the poison Dave spoke of. We didn’t even notice we were already surrounded.”

Shaking his head Jake replied, “I don’t think we entered it yet. The cat most likely wandered away from the poison, but was already infected and beyond saving. I just wanted to bring some distance between us to be safe. We should notice it if the poison affects us, but you never know.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Thinking for a moment Evelin asked, “What exactly did you want to say? Something about a strange aura?”

“Right, the aura was indeed strange. I don’t know for sure, but it seemed like it was… mixed. You may not know this but the aura of each and everyone feels special, unique to them only and the aura of the cat just now seemed to be not pure, it was impure like it was mixed with something else.”

Nodding his head Max said, “This pretty much confirms that this poison has its origin in this mysterious energy. The only question now is if this is a natural phenomenon or the ability of some mutant.”

“Doesn’t that mean you should be able to see the poison?” Emma asked with curiosity.

“What do you mean by that?” Jake asked with curiosity.”

“I mean if you can sense from the aura of the cat that it is different and mixed with something strange, then you should be able to see the poison in the air. It has to affect you somehow after all,” explained Emma with a straight face.

“You are right! If I can sense it on the aura from the cat I should also be able to sense it in the air,” said Jake excitedly.

After a while, Jim said, “Good me and Jake will go onwards, you will stay here. Jake will wear the gas mask in case he can’t perceive the poison, I have the strongest body from us and should survive for a while.”

“That is beyond stupid! You can’t just-” Interrupting Emma, Jim said, “This is my own decision and I will not risk the life of any of you, but I also can’t go on without finding an answer so I can only risk my own life.”

Emma wanted to refute, but stopped herself and just said, “Come back safely.”

Nodding his head, Jim said with a smile, “It won’t take long.”

The group felt unwell letting Jim and Jake go alone, but they also couldn’t stop them. They could just hope that they would return safely. Jake pulled the gas mask over his head and followed Jim back to where the corpse of the cat was.

Confirming that it was dead, they moved on in the direction of Jim’s house. They went on and Jim didn’t feel any effects of a possible poison when Jake, who walked beside him, suddenly halted in his track.

With wide open eyes, he removed his gas mask and Jim just wanted to question him, when Jake said, “We found it.”

In the eyes of Jake only a few meters ahead, an imposing veil in light violet obstructed their way. Standing tall at about a dozen meters, it covered every house he could see. No matter where he looked he saw this veil of violet consuming the city.

A few meters behind this veil they could see one mutant after the other lying on the street, long dead. They were covered in dry blood, shriveled up like an old grape as if they lost all of their blood.

The corpses were ghastly pale and outwards completely unharmed, showing that they died from the poison. For a moment both of them were frozen, watching this strange scene.

Eventually, Jim came to Jake and grabbed the gas mask from his hand, and said, “I guess I will get going then.”

Slightly nodding his head Jake said, “Be careful and… come back.”

“Of course, who do you think I am,” replied Jim with a slight smile on his lips. Turning around he put the gas mask on and began to sprint to his house. He should be fine with the gas mask, but he didn’t want to stay longer than he needed to.

Spriting along the streets he ignored the scenery around him, only occasionally looking at the corpses he came across. He had a goal and was sure to finally find his answers.

The closer he got to his house the bigger his feeling of unrest grew. He didn’t know what it was, but the closer he got the harder it was to keep going, it almost felt like he was losing energy, but his breathing was still normal and he should have more than enough stamina.

Not caring about this he pressed on and eventually got closer and closer to his destination. Suddenly he halted in his tracks, as he found one of the houses in the street, not more remarkable than any other, peak his interest without good reason.

Standing before it he saw how the door was slightly open and he was drawn inside. He instinctively knew that inside all the answers he searched for waited for him.

Jim got closer, took one last deep breath, and opened the door fully. The layout of the house was familiar to Jim and he knew it like the back of his hand. His own house had after all the same layout and was commonly used in their city. Standing at the entrance a long hallway followed all the way to the end of the house.

Tuning at the end left you would find the stairs leading upwards, while a small door below the stairs leads to a small cellar. On the right side of the hallway were two doors. The one in the middle was an entrance to a bathroom.

If you turn right at the end of the hallway you would see the second door that leads to a small passage that follows into the living room. The living room was connected to an open kitchen. That was about everything on the ground floor, it was nothing special, but enough to live in.

Going up the stairs you would reach the first floor, which consists of another five rooms. Jim and his family used three of these rooms as bedrooms for himself, his parents, and his sister. One room was another bathroom, while the last was used as a small storage room, which had a ladder that was attached to the ceiling, that could be folded out.

This ladder would lead to their attic, where they stored all sorts of things, like their Christmas decorations or some old photo albums. Taking in his surroundings Jim felt after a full month finally at home. Even if it was not his own house in his eyes the house was replaced by his own, as a river of memories rushed past his eyes. All the things he did, felt and experienced in their small house.

“Jim, dinner is ready!” Dwelling in memories he heard the call from his mother for dinner - the sentence he heard countless times. Running through the hallway Jim turned around the corner that he crossed so often; each and every time he was called for dinner.

Tears gathered in his eyes as Jim turned around the corner, looked at the kitchen, and saw the back of his mother. She turned around and smiled at him. Seeing the smile of his mother with her beautiful long black curly hair. Jim reached out with his hand.

“Mothe-”

Before he could even reach her the vision of his mother slowly faded away like dust in the wind. Stumbling forwards Jim wanted to catch the small particles before they completely vanished, to embrace his mother before she was gone.

“Mother… no please… don’t leave me.”

With only half of her face still intact she spoke, “Jim. Be sure to live a happy life and protect your sister.”

“She is right.” Turning around Jim saw his father seated in his chair, reading the newspaper like he always did. With his reading glasses dotted on his nose, his short brown hair fell from his forehead - a replica of Jim's own.

“Stop always quarreling with Mia, you should protect and help each other. As your mother said, she is very wise after all, haha,” laughing about his own compliment his father smiled, "You are a grown man now... I’m proud of you son.”

Saying this just like his mother his father faded away, turned into nothingness, swept away like a leaf on a cold autumn night. Slowly the world turned back to reality and he saw the real scene of the living room. Laying against the wall of the kitchen counter he saw how his father was holding his mother in his arms.

Both of them… dead.

After all this time of uncertainty, he finally found his answer. At this moment he felt indescribable pain and grief, yet felt so relieved to finally see them. He could tell that they died happily, he could after all still see their smile, the smile they preserved to their last breath.

His vision turned blurry, Jim rubbed his tears away and came over to his parents. They were peacefully laying beside each other. Jim’s father had slung his arm around his mother and they were holding something in their hands.

Looking at their bodies closely he found no obvious injuries and Jim was not sure about their cause of death. Inspecting them more closely he found on both of them two small puncture marks on the skin, resembling the bite of a snake. Looking at their hands Jim finally recognized the object they were holding. Slowly lifting their grip he took the object and held it in the light that came through the window.

It was a necklace with a chain of silver and a pendant that resembled the moon, in the middle of it was a small violet stone embedded. This was the necklace his sister always wore. Grasping it strongly in his hand Jim took a deep breath.

Looking at his parents Jim was overwhelmed with emotions, relief, fear, grief, rage... despair. He was unsure what he should be feeling and his face was constantly changing in emotions. Closing his eyes Jim calmed himself and looked around the room.

Only now did he realize that a corpse was lying on the couch who had the same marks, more obvious on his throat. Jim recognized him as one of the co-workers from the company his father worked for. Jim should be filled with rage for the unfairness of this world but he couldn’t bring himself to be angry when his parents died peacefully. Deep inside he expected that something like this would happen.

Deep down Jim always knew that his parents were long gone and he only feared how they met their end. He wanted them to at least die peacefully, with as little pain as possible. His parents were humans that never regretted a single of their decisions and seeing them at their last moment Jim knew that they would have not chosen differently even if they could rewind time.

Jim was sure that his sister was still alive. He knew his sister better than anyone else and the only place she would be in would be their own house. Tucked away in her room, cowering in fear. His parents gave their lives to protect her and he was sure to do the same.

Taking a last look Jim didn't waste any time and stormed off in the direction of his house. It was not far and the closer he got the denser the amount of corpses became. It almost seemed like the cause of the poison was in his own house.

Rushing through the door he frantically searched the rooms, not finding a single living soul. Going to the first floor, he found at the end of the corridor just in front of the doors where his parents had their bedroom, Mia’s room. Coming closer to the door Jim saw how claw marks followed along the hallways.

Similar marks were already on the ground floor and Jim breathed roughly under the gas mask. Looking at the door Jim was surprised to find out that it was slowly rotting away in an unnatural violet color.

Not knowing what else to do he slowly opened the door. The room inside slowly revealed itself in front of Jim’s eyes. Following along the walls, floor, and ceiling the room began to rot away, as this unnatural color could be seen all around the room.

Looking in the middle of the room Jim was startled for a moment and eventually called, “Mia…?”