Holly stalked forward with feline grace and sat down beside Oscar. Mark rose a brow at her.

“I thought you and Ethel had a lot to talk about.”

Holly shrugged with a good-natured smile.

“She said I only had to see what you guys were doing here, so I took the opportunity to roam when she went to get another stack of documents.”

Mark squinted his eyes at her.

“I’m sure she’ll love that. But you should not be ‘roaming’ without an escort.”

Holly nodded glancing over to Ocsar and back at him.

“You’re right here aren't you, so I don’t see the problem. Plus I needed to see what this place was like without the rose-colored glasses.”

At this point the ferret Mark had seen before poked its head out from behind a curtain of holly’s hair.

“...And how’d we do?” Mark asked slowly.

Holly took a moment to squint and then nodded.

“Let's just say I can see why my dad chose to remain here. You seem to be pulling off naturally what took me so long to instill in my own faction.”

Now it was Mark's turn to furrow his brows. He hadn’t expected her to be a pillar of some other faction.

“To be honest it's frustrating to see you all work as one with such ease. I’d say Ethel was right but when I think of the smug face I kinda don’t want to.”

Mark couldn’t help snorting.

“Yeah, you get used to it. But she’s usually right about these types of things.”

Holly didn’t respond, instead, she hummed and seemed to be thinking to herself.

The ferret from earlier gathered its courage and scampered down Holly to land on the nearby planters, it paused at Oscar, and he in turn rubbed its fur before sending it off.

When it got to Mark it gave him an assessing eye and then climbed onto his thigh, sniffing him as it did so.

Holly cocked her head and turned to look at the ferret.

“Dash thinks you smell funny, kinda like the lost but not the same.”

Mark glanced up from the small creature.

“The lost?”

Mark knew of animal connections. Ethel and Boe were prime examples, but this seemed slightly different somehow.

“Yeah, it's what he calls humans that carry either too much Corruption or are well on their way to becoming one. However, it feels restrained. More like it’s a part of you than an underlying illness”

Mark chose not to say anything and Holly didn’t push it, instead, she turned to look out over their territory.

“Why did you guys decide to create this Order, Mark?”

Mark tried to rub the ferret's fur but it shied away.

“That’s easy, the official reason was to avoid being absorbed by other factions, but the honest answer was that we wanted to create a place where others could rest. An island in the storm I guess.”

Aura began gently leaking from Holly, but at the same time, it came from Dash as well, as though they were connected. Glancing over Mark could see two more sources of power on Holly's body besides her own.

“Did you know during the invasion only a few places opened their doors to others? When the waves of Corrupted hit, it was sink or swim. Those that didn’t band together had to find shelter and there weren’t many places that were willing to disrupt their lines or open their gates. Your’s was one of three.”

Mark's throat had closed up, but it wasn’t because of fear. The feeling of Holly’s Aura was that of a tender embrace.

It wasn’t a roaring hearth, calling others to rest in its warmth like Daphney’s, but it was similar. Like the warmth of a friend leaning up against you in times of need.

Mark reached forward again, and this time Dash let his finger brush through its fur.

“Ethel’s offer aside, I just wanted to say thank you, and that I’m going to one day return the favor.”

Mark continued to scratch Dash’s fur but couldn’t help asking.

“What is it that you want to do?”

“What I’ve been trying to do since the beginning, protect everyone. Even though just a couple of weeks ago I was simply a vet, I want to make sure my people are safe.”

Mark's finger stilled and he looked at Holly. Ethel wasn't playing fair.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Now that you’ve seen our territory, what are your thoughts on the interview?”

To her credit, she didn’t pause for long.

“I’m not sure… I’ve worked hard to make my faction a place to be proud of, it would feel like I’m abandoning them.”

Mark swallowed down the last of his resistance. She'd wanted him to see this one way or another

“Then bring them too. If you’re interested, give Ethel... give us a chance. Try for an interview.”

Holly's face went through a series of emotions but settled on resolve.

“I’ll think about it.”

Mark scratched Dash for a couple more seconds before getting up.

“Right, Oscar, how about I show you the areas I have in mind for the fields? We’ll take Miss Holly back to Ehtlel on the way.”

The father-daughter pair nodded as he led them down the staircase one more time.

After Mark dropped Holly off and took Oscar down to sections that had been reduced to rubble, he checked on the Clinic’s progress again.

From there Mark made his way back to their building and climbed the stairs to their private level. When he got there he traveled down the hallway to the room he’d lent Terry.

Knocking on the varnished wood, Mark waited, but when he got no response he opened the locked door himself.

Nothing but an empty room and screwed sheets greeted him, checking and finding the bathroom empty Mark frowned. The window was wide open –the boards having been pried down– for a second Mark's heart lurched and he stuck his head out to survey the street below, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Mark was about to leave when he spotted a scrap of paper on the floor, moving to it he could see it had probably once been on the bed but the wind must have blown it off.

Picking it up, he unfolded the page. It only had a few words scrawled on it but it was enough.

“Thanks for the place to rest, I’ll find you when I’m ready.”

Mark frowned, he’d hoped to talk with the guy but it looked like Terry wasn’t ready. Mark had really hoped he’d gotten through to him but there was no time limit on grieving, if this was what he wanted Mark wouldn’t force him.

There was still a lot of work to do but nothing that couldn’t wait till tomorrow. As it stood, NAS had heard the Loyalists were going to be joining them on the mission, so they had moved forward with their candidate, asking to meet tomorrow morning. Which of course got back to the Loyalists, and they had requested their candidate be received at the same time.

This caused a fair amount of attention to gather on them, Jonathan was busy prepping their patrols for the meet. Mark couldn’t decide which he liked more, being ignored by everyone or having them vying for their attention.

This left Mark with little to do for the rest of the evening, but he then remembered that Sam was on duty at the spire.

He wanted to make use of this time and find a place to use [Meditation], but heading to his room felt wrong so he decided to find a new spot.

Walking out the same window Terry had used to ‘escape’, Mark lifted himself into the air and changed his course to that of the spire.

The trip was short and sweet, Mark was just able to make out the circus-sized tent they’d set up from their rooftop, so when he pushed himself he could get there in under five minutes.

As Mark got nearer he spotted long queues spiraling out from the tents along with crowds of people huddled together staring on at the structure.

Mark would have thought people's desire to see the spire would wane, but it hadn't, or rather it had changed. There was a nervous excitement about the people going to see the spire. Everyone wanted to be the one to figure out the mystery behind the standing question.

Mark landed near one of the entrances and noted more of Shelby’s people here than he remembered. Bypassing the lines Mark got to the front and noticed Sam currently sitting with her back against the spire as she leafed through a stack of documents, referring to a tablet balancing on a nearby chair.

Mark also noticed another smaller tent set up in the center of the space. They didn’t allow people to remain in her for long, so by the time Mark got to Sam he threw her a questioning glance.

When she looked up and followed his gaze, she let out a snort, as a relaxed smile came over her features.

“Our ally Mr. Shelby insisted on it, saying he needed to be as close to the spire as possible to cover if we needed. The guy barely sleeps, but when he does, it's in there.”

Mark shifted to an open chair.

“If he’s happy then I guess. I’m actually here because I need help.”

Sam adjusted herself on her chair, getting a more serious face.

“Shoot.”

“Hmm, it's nothing big, I just want to test some things, and it could be dangerous. Jonathan ‘gently’ reminded me to be careful, so this is me doing that.”

Sam’s brow could not have been more raised, she gave Mark a dry hum, but her face shifted to a much softer smile.

“I'm glad you guys work things out. What were you thinking of doing?”

Which wasn't quite right, Jonathan still hadn't let Mark take a look at his condition, but Mark would fix that soon enough. He went on to explain what he was thinking of trying and she got a thoughtful look on her face.

“Are you sure you want to do that now, here?”

Mark shrugged.

“As far as I can tell it shouldn’t have any outward manifestation, but it's the biggest unknown for me at the moment so I need to figure it out before we get out there.”

Sam's face showed inner turmoil but then went slack as she sighed defeated.

“You know I’m always up for an experiment Mark, go ahead, I’ll be here, if anything goes wrong I’ll snap you out of it”

Mark nodded his thanks and tucked his legs under himself.

Dropping into [mediation], Mark began to top off his reserves and prepared himself for what he was about to do.

As a precaution Mark sent out a link to Sam and only when it was in place did he allow himself to trigger his skill.

For a while now Mark had been trying to find the right time and person to trigger this skill around because he honestly didn’t know what to expect.

Reaching through his chest Mark pulled breath into his lungs and pushed his Spritual Limit release to its boundaries.

It felt like an expanding balloon, the world stretched as a burning ignited in Mark’s chest once more.

It felt different more pure, more his own but still at the forefront of his mind. For a time Mark was suspended there, waiting for something to happen, as far as he could tell the skill was currently active. He could feel it tightening in his chest, getting harder to maintain, like holding a breath for too long, but other than that, nothing.

Then without any other option, Mark opened his eyes, and when he did, he froze. The world had become a washed-out canvas of greys. All color and light seemed to have left the expanse around him. Everything from the tent walls to the people milling around him, their every movement leaving trails of grey about them.

It was then that Mark realized, that while he could see them, he couldn’t feel them. Humans moved around the space like hollow imitations, leaving cold empty trails. Mark was surrounded by people and yet he’d never felt more isolated in his life.

Fumbling, Mark canceled the skill and tried to take a ragged breath, but the bleached world remained. His lungs screamed for new air but he couldn’t turn the skill off.