~~~Lee~~~

Lee opened his eyes with a smile on his lips, but it didn't last long. He knew now that Stanley had found some good people to stand beside him in the war, but he also knew that the war wasn't going well. Hang in there, Stan. I know you can win this.

It still took him a second to come back to the here and now after... everything. But it helped that the ceiling in Jamaal's was easy to recognize for its uniqueness after Lee had particularly enjoyed his breakfast one day and insisted on giving Jamaal a fancier light scheme than everyone else got.

Not that he needed his eyes. Mana Mind showed him everything already. Even if he'd lost track of things for... a minute? Or longer, considering there were more people in here than he remembered and all of them seemed upset. Well, almost all of them. Aasha was the only one completely unbothered by recent events as she tugged clumsily at his hair.

Lee looked up past Aasha and met Saira's gaze from where his head rested in her lap. "Did I miss anything?"

She shook her head mutely, eyes glistening.

"Amy?" Lee said, turning to the other woman. "You come out of that okay?" She looked fine physically, but her soul felt... shook.

She grinned at him, the expression only slightly forced. "Of course! Hell, that was almost mild compared to the usual shit you pull." Her smile faltered. "Is he... will Stanley..."

"He'll be okay," Lee stated. "I know he will." Stanley was still there in his mind, and still... cold, but looking at him now, he could have sworn the chill was fading. Not a lot but definitely less severe than it was.

"Are you well?" Saira gently brushed sweat-damp hair off his forehead, drawing his gaze back. "Truly?" Her fingers felt cool... but with a noticeable tremor running through them.

Lee nodded as well as he could in his position. "I... think so."

He didn't mention the debuff on his status. It would be gone soon enough.

[Liquid Mana Contamination(Psionic)](05:12)

Your body has been suffused with Psionic Energy that is incompatible with your Liquid Mana.

Effects:

-23% Liquid Mana Capacity

The negative percentage was dropping along with the timer, and Lee could see why. Or rather, he couldn't see, and that was the problem.

There were blank spots in his otherwise consistently mana-dense body. He assumed those spots were the psionic energy, but he couldn't actually detect anything. At least, not with Mana Mind. His core was fine, at least, and it looked like it was actively displacing the foreign energy with liquid mana.

Psionic... He'd wondered about Stanley's power, and now it looked like he had a big clue. The debuff wouldn't give him any information about what it actually was, but Z might know...

"You were burning up," Amy said before he could ask someone to fetch the alien. "Like you had a seriously bad fever." That helped explain why he was so sweaty... and possibly why his body ached. Though both effects were likely related to the debuff.

Alejandro, who up until now had been content to watch, nodded his head in agreement when Lee glanced at him. So did Trak. "Forgive me, my lord. I could not diagnose your injury and so did not dare to experiment..."

Lee made no move to get up just yet but offered an explanation with a question. "Have you ever heard of psionic energy?"

Trak tilted his head, large ears twitching. "I have heard mention, but I'm afraid my knowledge does not extend further."

"Is that what he was using!?" Amy asked. "That's like... a psychic thing, right?"

Trak nodded. "I do believe it is a type of mental energy."

"Definitely," Lee said, thinking back to everything he'd seen Stanley do through their connection. None of it was close to what he thought of as psychic, but he also had never noticed Stanley using mana—not that he knew if he even could notice something like that through their soul. "Apparently, it doesn't play well with mana. Or not liquid mana, at least."

"Mana contamination!" Trak exclaimed. "Of course! How could I have failed to consider something so obvious!? It explains the fever and..."

"Dude, chill," Lee said before the little guy could freak out anymore. "I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"That's..." Trak's soul frowned. "Contamination should linger... unless... your liquid mana?"

Lee finally sat up and shrugged. "That's my guess. It looks like it's forcing the psionic energy out." His body still felt a little achy, so he only turned slightly to look back at Saira and Aasha. "What I really want to know is how is she so calm?"

The experience hadn't been a picnic for him, and he could only imagine what everyone else felt. Except he didn't need to imagine; Jamaal was in here, watching silently, and the poor guy's soul felt... not good. A far cry from the baby.

Saira smiled. "She knows you. What is there to..."

"I call bullshit," Amy said, climbing to her own feet. "You've got to be shielding her somehow. I’m guessing it’s the vines." Lee couldn’t tell either way, but the vines swaddling Aasha sure looked powerful with the amount of mana inside them, and he wondered briefly how deadly they would turn if something threatened the baby.

"Believe as you will." Saira stood smoothly, outwardly calm, but with a shadow of... something lurking deep in her soul. She offered her free hand to Lee. "Shall we? I suspect there are others who might be relieved to know that you are well."

There were. He hadn't left the courtyard fast enough, and now, vines or not, Aasha was probably the calmest soul inside Three... though the other kids were alright. The adults were the ones taking it the worst. "Jamaal," Lee said after letting Saira pull him up. "Sorry about that. You okay?"

"O-of course!" he lied. "I'm sure I will be perfectly fine." Less of a lie.

Then he straightened and smiled, a wry expression of acceptance and not quite regret filling his face and soul. "Please do not apologize on my account. Instead, I would ask you to forgive me for my lacking resolve. All of us here have remained by your side, not despite the burdens you carry, but because of them. So please, do not allow my momentary weakness to weigh upon you. I am with you to the end, no matter if I waver along the way."

Where the hell did that come from!? Lee stared at the man who had worked his way closer throughout that speech and now stood directly in front of him. "Um... thanks?"

"Good man!" Amy clapped Jamaal on the back with a chuckle and a grin. "But be careful with those heartfelt confessions. Look, you made him blush."

Saira smiled, and Alejandro reached for the door with an identical expression. "We good to go then?"

"Yeah," Lee said. "But... could you all give me a moment with Saira?" He ignored Amy's smirk and blatant wink. "I need to talk to her about something."

They left, and Lee forced himself to focus once they were alone. He could feel the mix of emotions coming from Saira, curiosity being only one of them. "So..." He realized he wasn't sure how to broach the topic, so he just came out and said it. "Aasha. You weren't shielding her, were you?"

She smiled, but Lee felt that shadow of doubt again. "I told you, she knows..."

"I believe you, but I also know you're worried." He glanced at the baby in her arms. "She's too quiet, isn't she? Too calm about... everything."

Saira's smile held, but a lot of the more pleasant emotions in her soul dimmed behind a rising and protective worry, even as her hands gripped Aasha tighter. Lee pressed on before he made her feel any worse. "I think I know why, and it's not a bad thing!"

"What are you talking about?" Her smile finally fell away, and Lee caught a fresh glimpse of the predator lurking behind her eyes. "Aasha is perfectly fine."

"She is!" Lee exclaimed. "I just wanted to... I think I can show you what I'm talking about!"

"Explain."

"I will. Just..." Lee closed his eyes and focused on his own soul, and more importantly, on the tether running from him to Saira. He wanted to quiet all the other links while amplifying their connection... Unfortunately, it wasn't as straightforward as he'd hoped. He tried everything he could think of until, finally, he stumbled onto the obvious solution and asked the creator of the soul link itself. Three, can you...

The link between them expanded, and Saira gasped.

She had to be used to his loud soul by now, but Lee knew this was far beyond that. For him as well. He didn't even need to open his eyes to know she was staring at and through him, but he did anyway and stepped closer, reaching out for Aasha as he did. "May I?"

Saira took a few seconds to respond, and each second felt like an eternity as the weight of her attention on his soul climbed higher. Finally, she blinked and shook herself, confused and with a touch of suspicion. "What is this?"

"Do you trust me?" Lee asked, knowing that right now he couldn't hide anything from her and knowing that she knew that.

"Of course." Her suspicion vanished, and she passed Aasha into his arms with only curiosity lingering in her soul.

Aasha stared at him the same way she had all day, and Lee backed up to give himself some distance from Saira. It didn't affect the link between them, but it allowed him to feel Aasha's soul more clearly, and through him, it should allow Saira to do the same. "Can you feel that?"

"Is that... her?" Saira whispered. "What... what is that feeling?"

"I didn't figure it out until a minute ago," Lee said, smiling. "Her emotions are so much simpler and cleaner than ours that I couldn't place it at first, but I see it now. She's learning."

The baby in his arms was a sponge as she stared up at him—a sponge in a good way. Her little soul churned away nonstop as her mind hungrily absorbed everything she saw, heard, and touched. She might even be feeling the mana in and around her...

"That's not all," Lee said, and focused past the hunger for knowledge that made up most of her soul to the overarching background framework that held everything else together. "I know why she's so calm."

He turned, angling Aasha's gaze back toward Saira, and they both knew the instant she saw her mother. It would have been impossible to miss even if they didn't see her eyes widen and her tiny fists wave fitfully. Emotions that had always been there in her soul, though mostly in the background, now brightened into unmistakable clarity.

They were simple emotions, but then again, they didn't need to be complicated. Gazing upon her mother filled Aasha with joy, comfort, and love.

Lee soaked it all up and fed it through his link to Saira. "She's calm because she has nothing to fear. She knows you and so knows that she is safe. It doesn't matter what else is..."

Saira moved faster than Lee could follow, even with Mana Mind. One moment she was across the room, and then she was in front of him and taking Aasha into her arms with tears sparkling in her eyes. Happy tears. "I love you too, Aasha," she said vehemently. "Always and forever!"

The baby responded with a joyful burble and some more uncoordinated hand waving.

Lee let them have their moment and took a few steps back, content to enjoy the sensations coming from both of them. Until Saira finally pulled her face away from the gurgling baby sometime later and looked at him with some alarmingly strong emotion of her own. "Thank you for this!"

"It's nothing," Lee said quickly. "You were worried, and I just wanted you to know there was nothing..."

Saira was kissing him before he could react, and it was... a lot. The amplified soul-link between them was still going strong, and it went both ways. He could feel her lips on his and his lips on hers. More than that, he could feel her passion. A raging bonfire of overwhelming emotion unlike anything he'd ever felt.

The embrace didn't last. Something... shifted in the emotional storm, and Saira's lips slowed in their frenzy, then stopped. She stayed close, her forehead resting against his, and Lee could feel their breath intermingling while his racing heartbeat slowly eased up.

This wasn't quite what he'd had in mind when he asked her to stay behind... but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed it.

Except her soul felt... conflicted. "Saira..."

She put a finger on his lips, silencing him. "I won't apologize for kissing you this time," she whispered, and her mouth curled into a smile. "Because I know you enjoyed that."

"I did," Lee said with a smile of his own. There was no way to deny it with the link between them.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"But I am sorry," Saira continued. "Because I'm afraid I've changed my mind about you."

That was confusing, especially since her soul didn't match what she was saying. Aasha added her own input to the moment by squealing from Saira's arms, and they both pulled back to look at the excited girl as she flailed her arms.

"Don't worry about it," Lee said softly while they both basked in the glow of Aasha's bubbly little soul. "The heart wants what it wants... and I really don't mind."

"I know," Saira said, a touch of sorrow creeping into her voice. "That's the problem." She took his hand, her fingers gentle as they traced over his skin. "You see, before I only wanted to..." Her lips quirked up into a smile. "Jump your bones. As some might put it."

"Oh." Lee winced. "You, ah... you heard that?"

"I did. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case."

That was... still okay. But did she have to keep hammering the point home? It was starting to feel a little... personal.

"Now," she continued. "I want more... because I think I'm falling in love with you."

Oh. Well, that explained the feelings he was getting from her soul, but not why she seemed upset about the whole thing... until he realized. "It's me, isn't it?"

He could feel her emotions, her passion, and her... love. It was a powerful emotion, and he could feel it, but it all came from her, not him. "I don't feel the same way."

She smiled sadly. "The downside of seeing so deep into another's soul, I suppose. Though it would have been... amazing."

Her soul did some... interesting things at the end of that sentence, and Lee saw what could have been. Their bodies writhing against each other beneath the stars... moonlight reflecting off glistening skin while the night's chill failed to penetrate through the heat of...

Then he was back inside, and Lee couldn't suppress the shiver that chorused through him at the intensity of that... whatever it was. Saira noticed, and her gaze was hungry, if still a little sad.

Lee opened his mouth but had to cough and clear his throat before he could get a single word out. She'd definitely done that on purpose!

"Saira," Lee finally said, forcing his thoughts back to the present. "I know this might sound strange, but... I'm not sure if you really know me."

She stared into him. "You say that now? When we know each other better than words can describe?"

"I barely know myself!" Lee said. "Hell, most of my life is a complete blank! I could have been a terrible person before..."

"No," she said. "You will not dissuade me so easily. You have proven yourself time and again. Few men would have done as you did, and I will not have you disparage..."

"I'm not trying to dissuade you," Lee said, taking her free hand in both of his. "What I was trying to say is... well, I don't really know you either."

She closed her mouth, and he pressed on. "Right now, it feels like I do. I'm sure it feels that way to you too, but I don't think it's the same thing. We've been through so much since we met, but how much do we actually know about each other beyond those life and death moments?"

Saira frowned. "You are wrong. It is in those moments that we see who we and others truly are. Everything else is meaningless drivel that we use to fill the awkward silences and dance around our feelings." She gestured back and forth between them. "This here is real. It is truth. I know what I feel, and I know who you are, even if you do not agree."

Lee shook his head. "Maybe I'm different. Maybe I don't see things the way you do, but I don't think that's the case. You're right about how much the big moments matter, but they aren't everything. We've fought side by side. Hell, you've saved my life more times than I can remember. You've saved my brother's life! How could I not love you for that!?"

He sighed. "But that isn't the same thing, is it? That's not the kind of love you're talking about. It's not loving you for you. Not all of you. It's love for an idealized, perhaps even mythical, version of a person... What I'm trying to say is that I don't know you well enough to love you for who you really are, and I doubt you know me well enough either."

She only stared at him with a scrutinizing gaze, but at least she appeared to be thinking about it now. "I know you love your children more than yourself. I know you're passionate, powerful, and, frankly, more than a little terrifying."

She liked that last bit, and her grin returned.

"But I don’t know your hopes and dreams, I mean, other than the obvious ones we all share. I don’t know why you feel so sad when you look at those flowers beneath your tree. I don’t know..."

Saira put a finger on his lips again, silencing him. "So," she said, leaning closer. "You're saying we must get to know each other better?"

"Exactly! I'm sure you just got caught up in the moment, and..."

"Lee Cascade," Saira said while staring intently into his eyes. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Um..." Lee swallowed, trying to moisten his suddenly dry throat. That was not at all what he was trying to do here... or was it? "I... am?"

"Yes," she replied softly, her gaze lingering on his lips a little too long before snapping back up to look him in the eye. "When and where?"

"I mean, I can't exactly take you out on the town, but..." Lee tried to ease away from the hungry look in her eyes and realized his back was already against the door. When had that happened? He glanced frantically around the apartment they were currently inside of. "I know a great place where we could grab dinner some night!"

"Tomorrow night."

"S-sure."

Saira beamed and finally backed up. "I'll be looking forward to it."

"Me... too," Lee said, and he realized he was smiling, despite the slight panic of his now racing thoughts. What had he just agreed to!?

Her gaze shifted to the door at his back. "We should probably get out there."

"Right!" Lee jumped to open the door and only then remembered to ask Three to fix the soul-link. He didn't even realize how much feedback he was getting from Saira or how much he'd enjoyed it until it fade... "Ah!"

"So," Amy said, standing directly on the other side of the door and grinning wickedly at him. "Tomorrow night?"

How had he missed her standing there? He could see the entire building!

Saira brushed past Lee while he stood frozen in the doorway, her hand warm and lingering against his side. "Look after him, Amy. I'll need him alive for our date."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Also, I might need you to babysit."

Amy grinned and stuck a gauntleted finger out for Aasha to grab at. "So I get to watch this cutie, and you have to take care of Lee? Deal!"

"Hey!" Lee said, finally finding his voice. "I'm... not that bad."

They moved off together laughing and then ducked their heads to whisper about something...

Lee waited in the doorway while he tried to come to grips with what had just happened as well as get his buoyant mood under control. Well, buoyant, but also nervous. Seriously!? What had just happened!? He'd only wanted to comfort Saira. Now she might be in love with him, and he was supposed to take her on a date tomorrow... He wasn't even sure what that meant, and he'd never even been on a date before! At least, not one he remembered... He must have had dates before, right?

Regardless, he might want to get some advice before then. But from whom? Alejandro? Yeah, that was a good idea. He still had some time... he could prepare.

Lee took a deep breath and walked after the women.

It got a lot louder the moment he stepped through the door, and Lee focused on that instead of acknowledging Amy's smirking expression as the women returned to fall in beside him. It wasn't hard because there was a serious problem out here that required his attention.

The kids were playing with flying discs, a new game by the looks of it, and one that involved jumping from disc to disc in a sort of race around the entire courtyard. It couldn't be easy with how the discs slid around, but they were making it look that way.

None of that was the problem. It was that Lee hadn't made the runes powering the discs... Obviously, he'd known about it before stepping foot out here, but now it was time to get some answers from the person responsible.

Gabriel stood on the second-floor balcony, on the sidelines of their game, with a very serious feeling in his soul as he looked on. The feeling shifted into fear the moment he met Lee's gaze from across the courtyard. He definitely knew he'd broken the rules... but Maria wasn't angry where she stood next to him.

Lee headed their way but took his time by heading for the stairs instead of jumping straight up. He studied Gabriel's creations along the way.

Aside from the obvious fact of Gabriel's soul in the runes, they also stood out for their lack of uniformity. It wasn't something Lee had really thought about or even noticed before since he always copied his runes through his soul storage, and so they all came out identical. The differences here weren't enough to consider them flaws, but it reminded him of his early days...

"Uncle Lee," Gabriel said at his arrival, with only a quick glance before returning his gaze to the courtyard. "I..."

"I give permission," Maria interrupted.

Lee wasn't sure she should have done that, but she was Gabriel's mother, and he wouldn't challenge her authority. At least not right in front of him... "Okay."

Gabriel flinched at the word but didn't glance away from the courtyard. He flinched again when Maria put a hand on his shoulder. "Keep watch," she said, then turned to Lee. "Come. We talk."

He followed her a short distance away before the woman turned to face him. She didn't have good news. "The children feel you and your brother fight. Feel through soul links. Three not block enough."

Lee winced, but she went on before he could say anything. "They feel fear, but anger, too. Gabriel..." Her soul swelled with pride but also a touch of sorrow. "He want to help. He ask me first, and I give permission but tell him to watch for... mistakes."

There was defiance in her soul, as if she expected him to countermand her decision, but Lee only nodded and repeated his agreement again. "Okay. He's your kid, Maria. A good kid." He smiled. "Plus, his runes are good. You don't have to worry about them failing."

Some of the tension left her, and her gaze returned to her son in the distance, the touch of sorrow rising in her soul. "He growing up fast."

She left unspoken that it was too fast. Which sent Lee's thoughts back to Aasha. How fast would an E-grade baby grow? Would her childhood be even shorter than Gabriel's and Anita's? It was probably a good thing, if so. Childhood was a luxury, and maybe humanity would get used to it in the future? How long would it take for people to forget what things used to be like?

"No, is good thing." Maria straightened and shook off her melancholy. "Thank you for not be angry with him." She touched a finger to Lee and sent her magic flashing through his body. "Alejandro say you well, yes?"

His debuff was long gone after... everything. "I'm fine, Maria. Thanks." He nodded toward Gabriel. "Go back to him. He still needs his mother, no matter how grown up he thinks he is."

"Every man need his mother!" Maria scoffed, but she couldn't hide the warm glow his words lit in her soul.

Lee watched her go and considered if he should try repeating the experiment he'd done with Saira. Especially if he could pull it off without the kids noticing... except maybe they should notice. They should know how much their parents loved them... They probably already knew, but it was another thing entirely to truly know. He'd ask.

"Amy, can you get Z off the roof for me? I want to ask him about..."

"Z!" Amy yelled. "Get your butt over here!"

"Amy. Lee," Z said, appearing at their side in a blurring streak before Amy even finished yelling. "How may I assist?"

"Thanks, Amy," Lee said dryly to the grinning woman. "I don't know what I'd do without you..."

To the alien, he asked, "What do you know about psionics, and what were you doing on the roof?"

"Mrs. Morales ordered me to watch the human offspring. I was to rescue any who was in danger. Am I still to obey her orders?"

"Absolutely."

"Understood. Have heard of psionics. A non-mana class. Considered one of the weaker ones."

"Non-mana..." Lee mused. "Are there a lot of those, and how does that work? Isn't mana in everything?"

"Many. Don't know exact numbers. All absorb mana, but some convert it into other energy. Psionic. Stamina. Health. Some elemental types. Others."

"Okay. But why is psionic considered weaker?"

"Requires a strong mind. Strong will. System doesn't help with that. Hard for most to compete with mana skills."

That did not match with what Lee had seen. "Z, my brother just killed one of the so-called eternals with psionics. But not only that, I'm pretty sure he killed it back in time. Is that... possible?"

The alien went as still as a statue inside his armor. His soul did the opposite and flashed almost too fast to sense through a wide range of complex emotions. Along with some not-so-complex ones. Like fear.

Eventually, Z opened his mouth again. "You live. So assume brother lives. Is he... well?"

Not the most comforting way to start off, especially when Lee remembered Stanley's... coldness. "Why wouldn't he be?"

"Should not be possible." Z shook his head, then froze. "But maybe..." he trailed off.

"Maybe what!?"

"System does not grant skills to alter the past. But a high rarity psionic skill... maybe combined with the will of a..." he trailed off again.

Amy came to Lee's aid this time and knocked on Z's helmet with her own gauntleted knuckles. "Hello! Earth to the alien!"

Z flinched. "Pardon. Hard time believing you. But know you aren't lying. Maybe you are mistaken?"

"I don't think so," Lee said. "That thing had hurt someone... almost killed him, and Stanley... well, when it was over, he was..." Lee thought back to what he'd seen of Zeke in that brief aftermath. "Well, he wasn't completely fine, but he was no longer dying, if that helps."

"It does not. Even gods do not alter the past. Must be another explanation."

"Why don't they?" Amy asked. "I mean, you call them gods. Isn't that like... a miracle or something?"

"Many try," Z said. "Lot of stories. All fail. Usually before they die or vanish from reality."

"Is it the system?" Lee asked, feeling an all-new worry creeping in. "Does it... stop them? Or punish them?"

"Don't believe so. System rules mostly about higher grades interfering with lower-grade worlds. Though I am no expert."

Lee focused on Stanley, but nothing had changed. He was still there and still asleep. It also felt like he was still creeping away from that cold thing he'd been becoming. Or had that been the system doing something to him for breaking a rule... they had already broken one rule with the source, right? And there had been that flash of... something at the end there.

"I'm going to go work on some stuff," Lee said. Whatever was happening with Stanley, Lee needed to help, and he'd already started. The new rune on their soul was a fantastic first step, but he could do more. He had to do more. "Let me know if you remember anything else, Z."

"Yes... Lee." He couldn't read the alien expressions on Z's face behind the helmet, but the alien's soul was working furiously on something. "You have given me much to consider."

Lee only made it halfway to the garage when adult voices began calling for the end of fun in the courtyard. He watched Gabriel pull the runes back one by one, and Lee smiled. Things were not exactly ideal right now, but they weren't that awful either. He had an amazing family around him, a fantastic apprentice, and a date for tomorrow night...

That last part felt almost... wrong. Especially because he was looking forward to it. Should he really be enjoying himself while Stanley was in trouble? Worse, was he only leading Saira on when he might die at any moment?

Not that anyone was truly safe anymore, but he had been feeling better about their chances lately, and that was despite his run-in with a B-grade shadow god. At least until it went slightly off the rails tonight...

Stanley had felt extra angry after the B-grade... Hell, he’d been downright miserable. Had that encounter led Stanley to whatever happened tonight? That cold anger... and Caffeine sleeping in their soul! How had he missed that? Stanley had been under attack, and Caffeine had been sleeping!

Lee suddenly remembered something and stopped in his tracks. Caffeine growled at the shadow god...

Sure, Caffeine had woken up to help at the end, but now Lee was seeing the expression on the exhausted pug’s face in a new light. Caffeine had helped save Lee from the shadows, and he’d paid a price for doing so. It made perfect sense with Stanley’s worsening mood over the last couple of days. Of course Stanley would be upset if Caffeine was hurt!

I’m sorry, Caff, Stan. I’ll make it up to you both! I promise!

Lee hurried his pace with fresh guilt as a prime motivator. He felt terrible and worried for both his brother and Caffeine, but it wasn’t all bad. One small comfort that had come out of this was that he now knew without a doubt that Stanley was powerful enough to win. He only had to not lose himself in the process, and Lee could help him do that.

Somehow... he would find a way.