I sympathized with them all, but the good news was that we had survived the assault, and had made potential new allies as a result of it.

It took several hours before we were actually able to convene the Council for an emergency meeting, likely a result of everyone being understandably exhausted. Luckily, with the help of Alex, the Army medic, as well as Apinya's magic. Everyone was well on their way to recovering. So, I decided to keep it brief and straightforward.

"The military wants us to begin taking in refugees," I announced.

This caught everyone off guard. At least, those who were present.

Rachel was currently recovering from mana exhaustion, but she had agreed that whatever the council decided, she was fine with. That left myself, Kevin, Jackson, Harrison, Alex, my father, and Dante. We had invited Alejandro to take Antonio's place, but as he was still fairly distraught over his brother's condition, he insisted that he would stay near his brother and Maria. I didn't push him.

"Take in refugees?" Alex asked incredulously, "I hate to break it to everyone, but, I don't think we have the supplies for that; forget about our depleting food levels, water is becoming a much more immediate issue." Alex mentioned.

This was the first I was hearing of a water issue. "What do you mean 'water issue' Alex? I know we probably only have two weeks left of food... Which we are working on, but I thought we had enough water?"

"We did," Alex said, "except the water, lines are going out. Without electricity, the pipes are running dry. I went ahead and filled up some of the water jugs out back within the first few days, but those are almost depleted too. I had figured that if things came down to it we could begin to haul water from the river, or even the surrounding pools, but..." he stopped, and glowered as he looked towards his feet.

"But what?" I asked as I leaned forward.

My Dad put his hand on Alex's shoulder and continued on his behalf. "Thomas, any water that hasn't been in a container the past two weeks is contaminated," he said.

I frowned, "what do you mean contaminated?" I emphasized.

He sighed, and then explained, "once the fires broke out and the ash fell, it polluted the rivers, lakes, ponds, pools, anything that wasn't covered. Normally it might be fine if it was ash from a forest fire... But... Unfortunately, it isn't. All of it came from surrounding urban areas. All of the trash, pollutants in the streets, industrial waste; practically all of it burned along with the city. It will be a while before any of that water is drinkable."

"Shit," I cursed as I realized the extent of the situation.

"Actually, I think there might be a solution for that," Harrison announced as he came to the same realization I did. Except, apparently he had an answer that I clearly did not have.

I looked towards him, along with everyone else, interest clearly displayed.

"Now, you brought up the refugees, right?" He said rhetorically, before continuing on with his point, "the Military uses some serious water purifiers, and they have a hell of a lot of them. I say that we take the military up on the offer they're presenting; along with uh... some conditions that is," he finished.

Alex joined in next, "I... Don't think that's all that terrible of an idea. If we can get some essentials from the military in exchange for taking in refugees, then we can kill two birds with one stone. With more people, we'll have more security and more manpower to take care of tasks around the Community. Plus, we can get some critical supplies, water purifiers being one of them. Also, if they have food, we can negotiate that too. They've got to be reasonable about this. pretty sure they wouldn't just expect us to take people in without the means to support them," Alex paused, and then concluded, "but I guess I could be wrong... Who knows what's right anymore?"

My father looked at Alex for a brief second before making his decision clear, "It sounds fine to me," he said as both Kevin and Jackson nodded in agreement, "except, there's one thing you've failed to mention so far Thomas."

I looked at him with a confused look on my face, "what?"

"How many refugees are we talking about here?" He elaborated.

'Ahh... Ya, I did fail to say that, didn't I?' I thought, and then responded, "several hundred by the end of the Summer,"

The wide-eyed stares of everyone in the room would have been comical if it wasn't for the serious nature of the topic.

"Holy shit," Kevin broke the silence, which then prompted a cascade of additional responses.

"They don't mess around, do they?" Harrison.

"How the hell do they expect us to take in that many people!? That's only three months!" Alex.

"I guess we best get preparing,'" My Father.

"..." Jackson.

I just facepalmed, and then held my hand up in the air and waited until the cacophony of reactions tailored off.

"Look, I know. It seems like a lot. This can be good for us though. First, we'll be establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with Camp Edward and the military. Second, we need the manpower. If the army didn't come when they did, I don't know if we'd have pulled through that invasion. If there had been a hundred of us, then that Lich would never have stood a chance. Plus, we've been spreading ourselves too thin. We've been trying to handle too many things at once which has left multiple holes in our defenses as well as restricted us from dealing with our priorities. Third, and this is the most worrying for me. We can't expect the demons to withhold their advance forever. I'm sure you've heard from the Lieutenant, but they're obviously preparing for something. We can't rely on Camp Edward to protect us. Either we get stronger, or we will join the billions who have already disappeared into the sands of time because of this interplanar conflict."

My words struck true, and deathly silence permeated the room. My message was clear, and the vision was communicated. Once again, everyone realized the reality of the situation, and so, I decided to put the nail in the conflict; "Either we learn to adapt, or we will die," I finished.

As I concluded, our decision was made. We were going to survive or we would die trying. This conflict was no longer some reality we refused to come to terms with, no, it was one that on this very night, we decided we were going to become proactive participants of.

The rest of the meeting proceeded as we outlined the conditions we would offer to the military in response. After all, we were going to make sure that we took advantage of the proposal as best we could. Granted, I doubted we would be getting something like a tank out of it, but we'd be asking for a host of supplies at the very least.

Our conditions ended up being as follows:

At least ten military-grade water purification pumps.

Several crates of food.

Medicine.

Instruction manuals on farming, forging, basic survival strategies, etc. This was per the request of my Father and Jackson. I didn't debate him on it. Knowledge reigned King, and modern knowledge was the master of it all. We would take advantage of what we could get.

The first several batches of refugees to be craftsmen, construction workers, farmers, doctors, or really anyone with the knowledge required to rapidly expand a community like ours. Of course, this may negate the purpose of having manuals in the first place if we had skilled individuals from several different professions, but my Father insisted anyways.

We also requested military-grade entrenching tools, military spades, among other basic tools meant for quick construction and the like. In fact, Jackson was fairly confident that with the appropriate supplies he could get a full-fledged forge up and running for the Community.

Lastly, we requested the delivery of construction materials such as steel and the means to produce them.

We realized that our conditions might be a bit of a stretch, and seemed like they were all over the place. Who was to say that the military, as battered as it was, even had access to the host of supplies we were requesting? That didn't matter though if they couldn't get them then so be it. We hoped that at the very least the most critical supplies, like food and water could at least be delivered. That was enough for us. All we needed was time before we became self-sufficient. My Father was already making some progress in that realm, and ideally, we'd have our first harvest before the onset of Winter.

It would be small, but it would be something. We didn't expect there to be several hundred more people though. So, that project just moved up in priority and in scope.

It was strange. Thinking of Winter already. Only two weeks ago Winter would have denoted the celebration of the holidays. Now? Winter invited a drastically different meaning.

As the emergency meeting began to draw to a close, I made two final announcements.

"Everybody..." I began as they all appeared ready to leave and finish whatever tasks needed to be taken care of before the day's end.

They all stopped and turned to me. I shuffled slightly, suddenly worried at the prospect of broaching them with the request they undergo a racial advancement. In some obscure way, it seemed an invasion of their privacy, but I would respect whatever decision everyone made. In the end, this was simply to grow the strength of the Community.

"I was surprised when it happened, but everyone who was in the battle today reached the vague requisite of unyielding loyalty required to become a High-Human." I declared.

"You mean...?" Alex began.

I nodded, "Yep, if everyone is willing, you may all undergo the racial evolution and become High-Humans."

That lifted everyone's spirits, which surprised me. I had expected at least some level of hesitation, and when I asked them about it, the response I received was simple, "we saw what you and Kevin did in the battle."

That was it. The battle. It was the catalyst that would transform our Community.

Jackson, while looking at me, made a final observation, "The strongest steel is forged by the fires of hell."

We all looked at him, and he looked down upon suddenly being thrust into the center of attention, "It's a Sherrilyn Kenyon quote... I uh, dabbled a bit in reading"

I laughed, "well, it summed up what I was thinking," I paused, and then continued, "Also... I reached level 20," I made my second announcement.

Only Kevin caught the significance of what I had just said. "You're going to advance to Tier 2!? Already? Hell, I'm only level 14 still, what the hell happened?" Kevin was presenting a mixture of feelings. Excitement, astonishment, and a hint of jealousy.

"Magic," I said as I winked at him.

Kevin guffawed, "well shiiiit, I knew I should have gone for that mage class."

I laughed, and then went on to explain to everybody else the significance of a Tier 2 advancement. Basically, every level after advancing to Tier 2 will grant a higher bonus than I was receiving with my current class. My growth per level would begin to exponentially increase as I went through the various Tiers. It also granted access to skills a tier above. Meaning I'd begin having access to Tier 3 skills that weren't already part of a class. It's why getting that [Paragon's influence] skill was such a massive bonus with my [Juvenile High-Human Paragon] class.

Of course, I wouldn't know what I would get from a Tier 2 advancement until I started the process. Which, if everything went well, I would begin tonight. First, though, I think I will be using [Paragon's Bestowal] tonight. After all, I couldn't wait to see the look on everyone's faces when they 'evolved'.

After I finished explaining that, I made one last and concluding remark that needed to be addressed.

"Liam needs to go," I announced. In this case, I wasn't taking any discussion on the matter, not like I expected any opposition to the decision though. I could tell that everyone was equally pissed off, even my Father who had originally been a vocal proponent in favor of allowing Liam into the community in the first place. I could tell he felt some measure of guilt. Someone could have died, and we weren't going to put up with that danger any longer.

⤜⤚⤙⤛

Following the meeting, Alex and I made our way to Second Lieutenant Thompson who was busy delivering a report through the Platoons Radio-Telephone Operator. Both of them were currently crouched together under a tent that I assumed was performing the functions of a temporary headquarters. As of right now, there were five tents clustered near Alex's House. Three of which appeared to house single, nine-man rifle teams. Then there was the tent that currently housed the soldiers who must have been operating the tanks.

As we approached, Lieutenant Thompson motioned for us to wait for him to finish.

We only caught the tail end of the conversation and listened as he responded to whoever was on the other end. "I copy, sir." ... "Yes, sir." ... "Two days, sir." ... "Roger," the Second Lieutenant finished as he gave the receiver back to the operator.

He looked towards us, "I assume you've finished?" He said as he eyed the slip of paper clutched in my right hand.

I nodded, and handed him the paper, "Yes, we agreed to your request to house the refugees, along with the proposals you mentioned. However, we've listed some additional conditions here."

He scanned through the paper, looked up, and gave his answer with one word, "Yes."

I stared at him. I glanced at Alex, and it was clear that he was just as surprised. "Just like that?" I asked.

He nodded, "I only just finished speaking with command. It was agreed that whatever conditions you offered that were within reason, we would accept."

Alex and I exchanged eye contact, "well, that was easy," Alex said.

The Second Lieutenant, apparently amused, commented, "look, when it comes to your community, my intuition tells me something here is important. My instincts have never let me down before, so..." the Lieutenant said as he looked into our eyes, "try not to let me down either."

His tone wasn't threatening, more... Like he was pleading?

It was a new experience for me to experience a reaction like that, but I understood. After all, he was right. There was something here.

But, even if I wanted to tell him all about the system, the gods, and even the new High-Human race; I couldn't. That information could be... Well, let's just say I thought it'd be better to have some basis of trust formed between our Community and Camp Edward. I would tell them eventually, but it would have to wait. Though... Hiding the transformation that was going to occur tonight would be... Difficult.

I smiled at the Lieutenant, and responded, "We won't."

As we turned to walk away, the Platoon Commander suddenly stopped us with one final question, "by the way, how did you guys get a hold of a military Humvee in the first place?" The Lieutenant asked quizzically.

With some hesitation, I decided to go ahead and explain to him what had happened at the refugee camp and how we had come across Harrison and the Humvee.

He listened, and then commented, "So... You have a National Guard member in the Community too?"

I nodded slightly, worried.

"Well... Considering the circumstances I won't report it in. Frankly, I imagine he'll be better off here anyways; and, in good faith, I'll throw in that Humvee as one of the bonuses to our little deal," he smiled.

I clasped his hands, thankfully, "I appreciate the gesture, Lieutenant Thompson."

The man smiled in turn, "Call me Rick. You aren't one of my men."

⤜⤚⤙⤛

Of course, several other things happened after that battle against the Lich. Within hours of his defeat, the mana levels in the mana zone had dropped substantially. Kevin and I met up after Alex and I concluded our brief conversation with Rick. Both of us pretty much inferred that if, in fact, there was a leyline in the middle of the Mana Zone, that the death of the Lich likely dispersed a lot of the mana. The phenomenon wouldn't last long though. The energies of the Leyline would eventually begin to accumulate once again, resulting in a cycle of undead being spawned within the Mana Zone.

We were going to have to somehow stop that cycle. Within Holy Arc Online, I had seen tamed leylines but had never witnessed them actually being tamed myself. Usually, the quelled leylines were the result of a nearby Kingdom projecting their influence. I always shrugged away the matter. Until now that is. I was beginning to make connections I hadn't made before, as I once again began to reexamine our experience in Holy Arc Online with Kevin. It was woefully apparent that Kevin paid a lot more attention to the intricacies of the game than I had.

It was a fluke of the strings of fate that I had been chosen as the title-holder of [Genesis] and granted the position as a Paragon of the High-Humans, and humanity at large along with it. I sighed. Kevin just as easily could have been the one in my position had I tanked the fiery beam that took out Kevin, and had he defeated Balfour in my stead.

The thought would lead me nowhere though, and I discarded it. I could not change the past, only focus on the future.

Kevin's wealth of knowledge and dedication to scouring the scant forums of Holy Arc Online made him one of the most important people on the planet right now. If there was any question of a comparison between the game and our new reality, he likely held the answer.

His hypothesis? With the [Ruler System] we may be able to tap into the powers of the leyline, and hopefully, tame it. It was a far-fetched idea that had no real merit. It was the best we had, though, and regardless, we were going to need to check out the leyline whether we wanted to or not. There had to be something there. Tomorrow we agreed we'd go find out. I'm sure we could recruit some help from our beloved military savior, Rick Thompson. After all, they wanted to find out what was happening here just as much as we did.