Leo was with her when they began the talks. Audrey took them again to the same meeting room filled with the same red sofas. He stood behind her, stones floating in the air around his hands. he was exploring his powers more, good.

Given a few years Leo should prove a good asset for the people of Angel Heights. Victor knew a few Seeds with the same name as it. It was the Deepearth Geode, weak but useful in the right hand. if only he had a Lapidarist around to help him…

“What happened to Daphne out there?” Audrey questioned him.

“I…. made a mistake while out there. One of their stronger monsters came down to fight us directly,” Victor explained.

“It wasn’t his fault, Mrs. Wilson. We wouldn’t have made it out alive without his help!” Lillie came to his defence surprisingly. She gave him a sympathetic look and he nodded in her direction.

“It’s known as an Angelo. It’s a kind of monster with wings. That’s all they have in common though. Their abilities are so varied its hard to narrow down without a fight,” Victor explained.

“Is that what your screen told you?” she asked him.

“That and that they’re attracted to artistic pieces usually,” he told her.

Now that he thought about it, it wasn’t just them, either. Most of the monsters he’d found were single-minded like that.

“And you thought to engage that instead of running back to the Gate?”

“We needed the Seeds,” Victor replied.

“At the cost of one of mine,” Audrey grimaced back at him.

“Your people will be safer now, Audrey. Leo, Ashley and Lillie, all three of them have abilities that you need to nurture. So yes, if you want to believe I sacrificed your dear friend for them, do it. But don’t be stupid and reject what you’ve gotten out of it,” Victor stood up from his seat.

His throat was tied, and his hands bound. In a way, his Timewalking Seed had cursed him like that. Before he could’ve acted any way he wished and thought himself free. Now that he knew just how much he could do if he could loop back to the start again, his options were much more limited.

You don’t really know how small the pond is till you see the lake, huh?

“More monsters are going to start patrolling around here. I’m sure you’ve seen them in the skies already. Make sure to keep the noise down, or else they’ll find this base and raze it to the ground,” Victor said as he put his hand on the doorknob.

He opened it wide enough to leave, but was stopped by Audrey.

“Not flying. Not most of them. They’re roaming the streets instead,” Audrey told him.

What? He gave her an incredulous look before closing the door. Had they brought more land-based Vintarics this time around?

****

The answer to that question turned out to be a solemn ‘No’. Victor had been observing the streets for a while now, but all he found on them were Metamorphs and those balloon-like monsters that he’d seen before.

They seemed to work in symbiosis almost, moving around and scouting the streets before returning to the Gate. And even when they went about Los Angeles, they did so much less fervently than the Vintarics had.

Those bugs crawled over everything, getting into fights with anyone and anything they could. These ones seemed more…. Hesitant. They surveyed the area, then would dawdle around before returning back to their Gates.

Victor sat in an abandoned eastern-style café. There was maccha flavoured everything displayed on the menu, and a sickening amount of green covered in dust.

“What are we doing out here?” Ashley asked him. Her and Leo both looked antsy sitting behind an open window.

Victor raised a finger to his mouth, gesturing for her to stay quiet. A second later, a large Metamorph crossed the streets, with splotching noises accompanying him. he left a streak of his clay behind as he moved forward that was much bigger than the others.

Either a Brute or some other kind of Metamorph. There were a few thinkers with him as well, which made the group all the more dangerous.

“Practice. You need it with your Seeds to get better,” Victor told them.

“So why are we here alone?” Leo asked.

“Because the others need to defend Angel Heights in case anything happens. Any more questions?” he replied.

“So, pick one already!” Ashley told him. a little flame burst to life around her, but winked out soon after. She recoiled at the sight of it and Victor sighed.

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“I know you hate that part of the Seed, Ashley, but it’s strong. You’ll burn yourself and the others around you if you don’t learn to control it. And even though yours isn’t as bad, Leo, you still need the practice. Look at Loki and Amadeus, don’t you two want to be as strong as them?” Victor asked.

Reluctantly the both of them nodded.

“Good. Now, I think we’ve found our quarry,” Victor told them.

This next group was much easier, comprising of only a few adolescent Metamorphs that were barely a challenge for him at this point. Victor jumped over the window with the others following suit.

Instead of unholstering his gun, he instead pulled out a knife from the various sheathes around his body. He’d told them their reasons for being there, but the truth was that Victor needed the practice more than anyone.

He hurled the first knife with precision, but not before giving it a touch of his Enlarge ability. In the air the knife grew fatter and slower, until it was the size of a machete. The force on it was strong, but nothing compared to the Weaponsmith Heart’s abilities.

It embedded itself into the Metamorph’s chest, and Victor ran over to grab it. He took the oversized handle and twisted it up, cutting the Metamorph through the equivalent of a shoulder. Then he pulled out a pistol and blasted it in the face.

He would’ve enlarged that too, but the limits of what counted as a single ‘object’ wouldn’t allow it. Instead, Victor gunned down the monster and clasped his hands afterwards. He chose to Enlarge himself, and felt his body heavy immediately.

But as his body grew, so did his muscles. He was only about a foot or so taller by now, but it was enough for him to deck the next Metamorph in tow. He kicked a third but was too slow for the next one. That one sharpened its clay into a blade and slashed across his chest. Victor stumbled forward and grabbed a traffic light for support as he faced the monster.

He pulled out another knife and used Enlarge on it as well, despite the fatigue. It fit better in his own large hands, and he began to slash at the Metamorph. They clanged swords loudly, the Metamorph’s blade chipping away with every hit. Victor wielded the knife more like a club, and when he got the Metamorph on the ground he started beating it on its head over and over until it stopped.

His face was covered in clay and he took a deep breath before wiping it off. Across the street, Leo hurled stones while Ashley flung fire at the other Metamorphs.

“Aiming is the most important thing you can learn! Don’t think of it like a gun, because it won’t work that way!” Victor lectured.

They were doing well all things considered, but the Metamorph Leo seemed to be facing was refusing to go down. Victor joined the other man across the street in his fight, and slashed down with his machete-knife just as his enlargement faded. The knife cut through the shoulder, but stopped at something in the monster’s chest.

Victor peeled away to find that something to be a glowing chest piece. No way…

He slashed at the arms instead, which cut off easily. Then, Victor kicked the Metamorph to the ground, where Leo dropped a large stone on it. As soon as the clay started dispersing, he knew it was done for.

Victor crouched down low near the corpse of the monster and wiped away the mud. While he was doing so, his knife returned to size too, and he sheathed it to the sound of a new notification.

[Ability Unlocked: Sizing Boost]

Underneath the mud was a gleaming plate of armour that Victor could identify from a distance.

“Now how did someone like you grab this?” Victor asked idly.

“Vic?” Leo said in reply.

“Must’ve been a fluke. Dragons don’t usually leave it lying around. Well, good find either way!” Victor smiled as he grabbed the armour off of the body.

He cleaned it off as much as he could before examining it.

[[Dragonsilver Plate]: DEFENSE: 80 ABILITIES: Magical Resistance, Physical Resistance

A plate of pure Dragonsilver. Resistant to magical and physical disturbances both. Only Ancalagon’s own children know how to make this metal still, and they keep that in secret.]

Right now, it would do him no good. It would need straps put in, and then be fastened to his body. But once it was, he’d be glad to have the extra protection from his enemies.

“That’s a gleaming piece of metal, isn’t it?” Leo asked. When Victor tilted it, the light reflected a rainbow of colours off of the metal surface.

“It sure is. A real strong one too,” Victor replied.

“Could I use it?”

“If you mean for your Seed, nah. If it gave you anything, I bet it wouldn’t be in this form,” Victor told him.

“Are you two done?” Ashley asked from her location. under her were baked and burnt bricks in the form of Metamorphs.

“You’re getting better at that. Did you find anything on their bodies?” Victor asked.

“Nothing but a bunch of scraps. But I… feel stronger at least?” she told him.

“that’s good. Means its working. Or not,”

“Really?”

“You want me to tell you that it’s all in your head?”

“…It’s definitely working, jerk.”

“Call me whatever. Let’s just get out of here before the cavalry arrives,” Victor told her.

They snuck back through the back alleys towards Angel Heights. One of the first things they aw inside of the apartment complex were the extra survivors that they had grabbed. There were so many of them now that the complex was becoming crowded.

Leo would need to learn to master his abilities soon, because they’d need expansion of the place and quickly. Maybe he should’ve gotten them a Seed that allowed better development too, like the Constructor’s Glove o-

Victor caught himself thinking too long once again. Leo and Ashley stared at him with a hint of confusion and worry, and Leo even offered a Snickers bar to him.

“You need to eat to keep your strength up. Here,” Leo told him. Victor weakly accepted it and nodded.

“Me and Leo will go give the report to Audrey. Want anything?” Ashley asked him. Victor handed her the armour plate off his pack.

“Take this to her and ask if anyone knows how to punch a hole in it. Make it good enough to wear,” Victor explained.

“Will do, Vic.”

Victor sighed and sagged down near the wall. The other rescues in the hall looked at him with a mixture of awe and fear, in part due to his powers. A week or two ago they’d not even heard of magic and here he was doing it like he walked.

At least there was an upside to the entire thing. Angel Heights was more secure than ever. It and its surroundings stayed free of the monsters due to their effort in setting traps. and the number of Wielders was increasing while they were at it.

In a few years, they might even wrest control from the monsters and stifle the Gates if they were at it. He could easily see the base becoming comparable to some of the other greats in his past life, like Germany or Atlantis, or so he’d heard.

How many of those will even exist this time around? 10 years was a long time, and the butterfly effect could work in mysterious ways.

A scientist would kill to be in my position. They could test out a million theories, formulate something that he couldn’t even guess at. Which led to the biggest question of all.

Of all the people in the world, from across the globe, how had he managed to pick up the Timewalker’s Origin. And how had he forgotten about it until then?