Sleep released the three newly empowered as morning light crept through the house.
Aryn got the worst of it, sunlight straight to the face.
He groaned, rolling onto his side and waving a hand in front of his mouth to push his morning breath away.
'Bathroom. Yup, now!'
He shuffled down the hall and rummaged through the cabinets until he found a toothbrush. The Redd household was always stocked. Jaxon and Kaia's parents had a habit of keeping extras of everything, especially things guests might need.
Aryn splashed water on his face, wiping the crust from his eyes before washing again. He brushed his teeth, leaning against the counter as his thoughts scattered.
'UI.'
The display slid smoothly into his vision.
A few icons hovered there, some familiar, some new.
One had a yellow exclamation mark. Another showed a heart with a green pulse line running through it and the last was an open book, a stylized hand writing across its pages.
He selected the yellow icon first.
[Alerts]
[Any current notifications will be displayed immediately.]
[Current Alerts: None]
[Past Alerts]
Aryn tapped into the past alerts. The list populated briefly, map warnings from the night before, the UI integration process, and confirmation of completion but nothing new.
He returned to the home screen and selected the heart icon.
[User Vitals]
[Physical Output: Normal]
[Physical Integrity: Normal]
[Control: Normal]
[Fatigue: Rested — No warnings]
'Looks like a health app,' Aryn thought. 'Physical output… strength? Speed? Integrity must be damage or something.'
A notification appeared at the top of his vision.
[Spirit: This will reduce confusion..]
[Physical Output: How hard and fast the body acts]
[Physical Integrity: How much damage the body can take or has taken and recover from]
[Control: How well the user regulates power]
[Fatigue: How close the user is to collapse and may show any abnormal status]
Aryn nodded.
'Simple. Direct. No ten paragraph explanations that I wouldn't understand.'
He smirked. 'I can work with that.' He opened the book icon next.
[Tasks]
[Current Tasks]
Attain greater mastery of [Pulse]
[Completed Tasks]
Use [Pulse] once
[Adaptation confirmed]
Summon Orc Scout
[Adaptation confirmed]
Aryn tilted his head slightly.
'Spirit… is this like quests in a video game or something?'
A response appeared immediately.
[Spirit: Tasks track conditions that lead to adaptation. Completion does not grant power. Logged changes reflect the user's adaptation to Spirit use and manifested abilities.]
"…Hmm. So I basically get stronger..."
Aryn nodded, lips pursed in thought yet satisfied.
He closed the UI and finished brushing his teeth.
When he entered the kitchen, Jaxon was standing at the counter making toast while Kaia ate a bowl of cereal. Without looking up, she slid another bowl across the table toward Aryn, already filled with Frosted Loops.
Aryn caught it easily and they ate in silence. Not an awkward silence, but a heavy one. They were all thinking the same thing.
Kaia broke it first.
"Wait." She stopped mid bite and grabbed her phone, tapping rapidly. "I don't know why I didn't think of this yesterday. Even though the phones are down, I can still see the last known location Mom and Dad were at."
Jaxon froze. "What?"
She turned the screen toward them. "The mall. Hollowfront Mall."
"Seriously?" Jaxon's face lit up. "Let me see!"
Aryn watched them, hope plain in their eyes. He wanted to share it and by no means was he a pessimist.
But his mind went to the map. To the red dots clustered around the park. To the goblins Jaxon had mentioned. Small, yes, but there had been a lot of them.
"Well," Aryn said, hooking a thumb toward the door, "guess we know where we're headed."
The mood shifted. They knew getting there wouldn't be easy.
Jaxon exhaled. "I'd rather look for my parents together than alone."
They nodded together eyeing each other for a second, a look of confirmation.
Shoes were thrown on and bags grabbed. The battered weapons and armor scavenged from the gnolls were left behind, too damaged to be trusted.
Soon, they stepped back onto the street.
It was… quiet… Almost normal. They headed toward the mall, moving quickly but carefully.
"Think you should call Gregk right now?" Jaxon asked.
"Nah," Aryn said. "Let him heal. If we need him, I'll summon him."
As they walked, Aryn brought up the map.
[Maps]
A minimized display appeared in the corner of his vision. With a thought, it expanded, transparent and hovering over reality. Three red dots appeared ahead on the map.
Aryn looked up where those dots should be, humans. He slowed instantly, crouching behind a parked car. Causing the other two to do the same.
"What is it?" Kaia whispered.
'Why are they red?' Aryn thought.
A chime sounded.
[Spirit: Red indicates hostile entities. Based on current data, these individuals present a high probability of aggression.]
"I don't like this," Aryn murmured. "Let's avoid them."
They tried to slip past. But Kaia had been a little too late on running behind another car and caught the eye of one of the three men.
"Hey!" one of the men shouted.
The three rushed toward the car.
"Come out!" the tallest yelled.
"Kaia," Jaxon hissed and sucked his teeth, "You gotta move faster next time!"
They stepped out.
"We don't want any trouble," Aryn said, hands raised. "We're just heading to Hollowfront Mall."
The tall man laughed. "That place is done. Those green things swarmed it all night. Anyone still there… Is meat."
Kaia's face fell.
"Mom… Dad…"
"We're leaving," Jaxon snapped. "You guys can get back to what you were doing!"
The third man, short, heavyset, and grinning, laughed. "Yeah, Funny you should mention, "what we were doing". We'll get going after you hand over your stuff."
The men lunged and to the trio, the men moved painfully slow. Like children wanting to fight an adult.
Jaxon acted first and charged, loading kinetic energy into his leg. Using the man's momentum, he spun, and the kick landed.
The impact sent the man flying down the street, tumbling violently before coming to a stop.
A bit surprised with himself, Jaxon froze and spoke.
"…I might've overdone that."
Aryn had already choked out the tallest man. While Kaia trapped the third inside a glowing yellow barrier. The man inside Kaia's bubble was banging and trying to escape. His screaming seemed to be a bit muffled though.
"Let me out!" the man screamed.
Kaia rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You saw what we fought yesterday, Jaxon. These aren't guys aren't like those monsters… You might of kil— you know!"
Jaxon scratched his head. "Yeah… fair, but sometimes you gotta learn the hard way."
Aryn glanced at the man Jaxon had kicked. "…He's out cold. I mean, maybe they could have had powers like us, Jaxon. So it works for us, but I get what you're saying too Kaia…"
They looked at each other and acknowledged what Aryn said and moved on.
Ahead, goblins clustered near the park, laughing, shoving each other, crude and playful.Dangerous all the same. But behind the trio, elsewhere. A young man frowned.
"…I can't feel a couple of my links anymore."
He turned, sprinting toward the disturbance. Only to find one man trapped in a transparent yellow bubble.