As Riven and Jordan were finishing up putting the board game pieces away, they received a knock at the door. The day was pretty much gone, so they weren't expecting anyone, but when he answered the door, he knew this person.
"Joey? What's up?" Riven questioned.
"Get me and Wren on the link now," the boy responded back.
"What's wrong?" Riven didn't like the look on Joey's face. The look on Joey's face showed that he was scared of what was to come, but anger was also plastered on his face, like he already knew who he could blame for his problem.
"You'll find out during it, just do it."
Riven then let Joey into the house, having him sit down on the couch. He then put Wren and Joey in the telepathic link, but he first waited for Jordan to be done with the cleaning to invite him first.
"Wren? Joey has a few questions—" but Riven's words were cut off by Joey.
"Wren, what the hell!?"
Wren herself was on her bed, holding her forehead like she knew this would happen.
"Yeah, it was only a matter of time before we had this conversation."
Joey's eyes flared up even more. "So you knew and it didn't occur to you to give me a warning first!?"
"Can you tell us what's going on?" Jordan questioned, being as lost as Riven.
"Tell them, Wren," Joey said, crossing his arms.
"As of this moment, Joey Cross has sold himself to the Fallow Family. When you graduate the Academy, you will be placed in the Fallow Family guard as a main member."
The way Wren said it sounded like she was reciting someone else's words.
"You sold Joey!!" Riven yelled out in his head.
"I had no choice! I can't just give that much money to them and have them not question why I was giving it to them!" Wren pled her case.
"What about where you got it from?" Jordan questioned.
"I just said I got it from my own account. Luckily, my mom hasn't found out about it yet. Only Mom hasn't found out I told them this yet. If she did, she would've told them I don't have access to my account."
"That I understand—but why sell me off? Why not just say we're good friends and you realized I was struggling?"
"Do you really think they would've believed that? Oh, 'I'm good friends with a guy I know, so I gave over 1,000 units even though we've only known each other for around two months.' That would've definitely made people suspicious." Wren sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for what I did, okay? But luckily, I made it where you're my personal guard, meaning if things do happen with the Fallow Family, you'll just be by my side at all times."
"But my question is, why did they believe you? I'm a Wallborn, so they definitely thought I was weak, didn't they?"
"Yeah, they did. But after you got that light power, they started to believe my story more."
"Wait, Wren—what about Jude?" Riven had this lingering in the back of his mind, and by Wren's silence, he got his answer. Riven then got Jude inside as well.
"Jude?" the boy said hesitantly.
"Riven? Wait, if I'm hearing in my head…" the girl stopped talking. "Is Wren in here?"
When Riven responded with a yes, the girl had the same reaction as Joey—understandably.
"I know. I'm sorry," Wren replied.
As the two were going back and forth, the boys' father walked in.
"You know, I was trying to be mysterious and all, but you two are taking your sweet time." But the man stopped as he saw they had a guest.
"Shoot, our dad is here. Look, you two get each other's numbers and talk later. We'll have to talk later." After the girls got their numbers, Riven removed everyone from the link.
"Oh, and you are?" Kaden questioned.
"Oh, I'm Joey, sir. Nice to meet you." Joey still had a look of concern for what might happen when he gets older, but he'd have to save it for another day.
"You're Joey? My sons have said a lot about you, and the fact that you saved them—I'm truly grateful for what you did." Kaden started bowing, with Joey shaking his head.
"No, no, truthfully, if it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't be here."
"Well, I was going to help my sons with something, and since you're here, I'm pretty sure it can help you as well. If it works, consider this me paying you back."
"No, I don't want to interrupt a father-sons moment," the boy said frankly, but Riven pushed him on.
"Nah, you're already here, and he basically said he doesn't mind, so come on."
Joey gave in and started following them to the backyard, where they saw their dad having a muter.
"Dad, why do you have this? It costs over thousands of units," Jordan asked, being concerned about what his father had to do to get it.
"We'll get into that later. All of you, have a seat."
Everyone sat down as Kaden activated the muter, telling them he didn't want anyone else to hear them.
"Okay, now that no one will hear us, I have a question that will most likely be no, but still—might as well." Kaden shrugged. "So, have any of you boys heard of Resonance?"
"Well, I know the word Resonance, but the way you say it makes it sound like you're talking about something else," Riven replied.
With their father nodding yes, all of them shook their heads no, as he expected.
"I'll explain it the same way they explained it to me."
The three boys were confused by his specific word choice—they.
"Resonance is like Forced and Natural Evolution. Just like them, Resonance is combined with your soul—it ignites it. But it doesn't give you any cool flashy abilities like gravity, fire, or healing. What it does give you is inhuman strength and speed. Think of it like one of those people who awakened their physical ability and grew stronger each time they did—but for people who use Resonance, they don't have to awaken. Just by commonly using it, they can build their strength, speed, and durability to the point where they can be on the same level as Evolvers.
"But something they told me is that people who are evolved can't learn this inner ability. Now, what they said is probably true, but obviously, it could really help your chances of survival in the outside world if it does work. And obviously, I'd want that for my kids—and for the people who help them out."
"Okay, Dad, I'll bite. Who are they?" Jordan questioned.
Kaden sighed. "After a confrontation the family went through, I started going out, trying to get stronger to protect my family—so none of my kids could ever be taken again."
Even though Kaden whispered it, Joey still heard the last part, which made him look at the two boys beside him. He saw both of their heads lowered, which told him they knew what he was talking about.
"So I built up enough money to leave the walls and come back. That's why, after what happened, you guys didn't see me for a month. Thanks to some research on the black market, I found some things. These people were training others in the art of Resonance. I had to travel from here all the way to the Broken Veil. I had no money left to spend—if I ever did, I wouldn't be able to come back to the walls. So I had to sneak my way into Broken Veil City. It wasn't easy, but I was able to do it. Then I traveled to where the location said it was—at the top of a giant mountain—but I still pursued. I came too far. While climbing, I almost fell a lot of times actually, but luckily, your old man was a bit of a climber back in his day. When I reached the top, it was like a dojo, but almost no one was there, and everyone who was there hid their faces. I pleaded for them to teach me their ways, but the problem was, they asked for a steep cost. I told them I could not pay that. They were going to deny me, but I begged, even saying I would be their slave. Even though I couldn't see under their faces, I could see the look in their eyes—it was a look of interest. They said they would teach me some of it, but it depended on my progress, and I was determined. I trained day and night, learning the basics and training my body up to its maximum. Why do you think I'm in such good shape now?" The man then chuckled. "But after all the basics were done, they were intrigued with my progress, saying I grew faster than most. Hell, they even somehow knew I wasn't from the Broken Veil, yet they never reported me or asked how I snuck in there. They just told me they'd keep in touch and that they'd get their worth some way. So I—"
"Picked up gambling," Riven finished.
"Yes," Kaden said with his head down. "I picked up gambling. I had no choice. It was the only other way I knew to get a lot of money in a short amount of time. But my luck was shit. Your mom thought I was being addictive, but truthfully, I was just trying to pay a debt I didn't even want her to know about. When I came up with a quarter of the money, they actually came to visit. A man came to our door. You guys wouldn't know—your mother never knew about this since you all were out."
"So how has your training been coming along?" the man asked.
"I couldn't do much training. I had to try to make up the money since you all said you were coming back for your worth," Kaden responded honestly. He knew the man was part of the dojo, or whatever these people were, by the logo on his shirt. It looked like a man throwing a fist with what looked like pellets falling all around him.
"Oh, little Kaden, what we meant by that was your training. See, you impressed us. You grew faster than others in our organization. We never expected you to grow as fast as you did. Truthfully, we were going to kill you since you knew where we were located—and the person who leaked our location on the black market has already been dealt with. The form has been taken down from the site, meaning you are the only outsider. But if we kill you, your talent would be a waste. And I can tell by the reasoning you came to us—and by the look in your eye—that you would never abandon your family. So I came here to make a proposition. I see you have two children—used to be three—and I'm sorry for what happened."
Kaden looked like he was about to fight, ready to punch the man right there, but he held himself back. "What are you getting at?"
"We want to start a new branch—basically a new generation. See, your kids at this time are around eight or maybe ten?"
"They're eleven."
"Ah, even better. They're closer than I thought. Anyway, we want you to be our first member not inside our monastery. Instead, you're in the Black Halo—you're separate, not limited, and unemployed. Consider this us hiring you. No matter how much wealth we give you, do not leave the Black Halo walls. If you did, people would get suspicious of where you got the money. Don't even say you saved it—it wouldn't make sense. But I'm getting off topic. We'll give you the money, make up some excuse to your wife, but don't tell her what's going on—it could have consequences."
Kaden clenched his fists even harder at the man's words.
"But as for the children, that's a whole different matter. We want to teach them Resonance. Since they're kids, they'll likely progress fast. Even if they progress slowly, it won't matter to you. Keep teaching them."
"But there's one problem to that—you told me Evolvers can't learn Resonance, and one of my sons is already evolved. What if the other one does the same later on?" Kaden had a confident smirk on his face. The man raised his fingers—one, two, three—but then dropped the third and raised it again.
"Then keep trying. Make a kid who isn't evolved and is from the same woman, and teach them Resonance. Hell, you can even adopt. Since you're a test experiment anyway, tell your other kids about this. Also, make sure they keep us a secret. If this gets out, your family is in danger—not just from us, but from the Black Halo, Evolaris, Dawn, and the Broken Veil. They don't even know about this power, but something tells me they'll find out eventually. Their entire group isn't evolved—it's only a matter of time before they learn about Resonance. You should probably tell your kids when they get to the Academy. It could hurt their bodies if they learn it too young, but I don't really care. That's hypocritical of me to say."
The man then dropped something on their kitchen table. When Kaden looked at the numbers, he realized it was a card with information for a bank account.
"We'll deliver money in here every two months. Don't spend it all in one place," the man said as he walked out the door. When Kaden looked outside to see where he went, he had disappeared.
This gave everyone their answer on how he was able to afford the muter.
"So now it's time for me to try and teach you this. I'm doing it as an experiment to see if you could truly learn it or not. I mean, you are my sons, and I am pretty incredible. Sorry for you, Joey—you might not be able to learn it." He said those last parts looking at Joey, who felt offended. "So now, here's what I want you to do. Think of it as the opposite of an ability. Instead of feeling fear or adrenaline, feel calm and collected. Try to make yourself feel like flowing water that's just going with the tides, where it wants to go. Loosen your bones, release your palms, just feel at peace."
A small white glow started to shine in Kaden's hands. When he opened his eyes to see if anyone was doing it, he could see them following suit. But instead of a white glow, it was different colors. He could see all of them having not just one primary color but multiple. This confused Kaden. He knew this wasn't Resonance but instead most likely just their abilities. But why was it multicolored and not one primary color? "Maybe that's how it's supposed to look if somebody tries to channel Resonance."
When everyone else opened their eyes, they saw Kaden's hand and then looked at their own, seeing how different it was.
"I guess we can't learn," Riven said with a hint of disappointment.
"No, let's not give up yet. How about this—one of you channel that energy once again."
Riven then did as his father told him. Both Jordan and Joey could see Kaden line up his hand with Resonance once again. He then got up with the ball of white light in his hand and slowly placed it in Riven's multicolored flame that was growing in his palm. When he did, Riven heard a system prompt.
[System: A foreign energy has been detected. Would you like to accept this energy? Note: What happens after you accept it is unknown. Y/N]
"There's no harm in saying yes," Riven thought, as he used his mind to click Y. But when he did, he felt a burn in his chest. He then broke out in a cold sweat. The boy started huffing and puffing, gasping for air. "Come on, why am I always getting put in deep pain? I shouldn't be Prestige—I haven't leveled up, not even once yet. But at the same time, this pain feels worse."
When the glow disappeared out of Riven's hand, the boy collapsed, grabbing his chest and moving frantically on the ground. Kaden didn't know what to do. He did that for a hypothesis, thinking it just wouldn't go through Riven's light—but it did. He didn't think he'd put his son in pain.
"Shit! What kind of father am I, letting my own child be an experiment?" Kaden then grabbed his son. "Listen to me, everything's going to be all right. I gave it to you, right? I can probably take it back." Kaden then held his son and focused, but he didn't know how to take that power out. He didn't even know where to look for it.
Riven then started to scream. The pain was unbearable. When he Prestiged, it didn't feel nearly this bad. When he'd given himself a lot of stats at once, it felt like a breeze compared to this. Then he saw a system prompt.
[System: The user and system are being overfilled. System is trying to use countermeasures but can think of nothing.]
"I'm pretty sure I can do something," Riven then heard a small voice in his head—it was Jordy.
Jordy looked like he was typing around or something. After a few minutes, Riven saw a different screen.
[System: System is adapting to the energy invading the user's body. Progress: 0/100.]
As soon as that popped up, Riven saw something—Jordan and Joey looked to be going through the same thing as him. All the boys were down, yelling their hearts out like they were being burned alive. The pain was unbearable—until darkness.
They passed out.