Alex sat on his bed and cast [gravitydomain] to make sure, that nothing had changed in the next room. He played around with the Skill and found out, that he could use it at a slow burn and only notify him, if there was a change. Otherwise he had a full view of everything around him, which was extremely disconcerting. He felt tiny insect burrowing in the earth, the wavering grass which grew outside the hut and was moved by the passing wind. He could feel Reiniers chest moving, as he breathed in and out.

If he couldn’t switch the skill to a lower intensity, Alex would have been overwhelmed by the well of information that bombarded him. Luckily he could and soon the teenager concentrated on the door. He snuck forward, cast [shadowweapon] to conjure his dagger and strengthened it with [condense]. The skill worked as the youth had hoped.

[Reverse] may have been a better option, but Alex hoped he could do the same, or much of the same with [gravitydomain]. And [gravitybolt] sounded awesome, but he didn’t have enough Magicka to really make use of the skill, and if he put more points into Intelligence, he would loose out on Constitution and the much needed vigour.

Alex shook his head, and watched his dagger. It looked much stronger and real than before. Slowly he put it between door and wall and pushed the door open. The lock made a keening sound, but the shadowblade concentrated on his [muffled] skill and willed it to encompass the lock. He checked the domain, but still no movement.

With a silent snap, the lock broke and Alex opened the door. He was finally free.

Quickly he rushed to the desk, his steps quiet, his weapon drawn. Luckily Reinier didn’t move and Alex debated for a short moment to knock the boy out. But that would or could be loud and wake the camp. He would gain nothing and cold blooded murder of someone he had known for a few years really wasn’t up his avenue. So the teenager silently moved to the rooms exit, made sure that Reinier didn’t move and with a quick check of [gravitydomain] and an active [shadowcloak] he left the building.

Alex stood finally outside. The first time since days. He took a deep breath, savouring the cold night air and took a look around. A few moments later, he knew where he was. At the backside of the camp, near the orphanages ruin, the others had apparently build a wooden hut, quite like the one Phils group had lived in.

The orphanage was completely empty and a sure way to die. It had always been a little derelict, but four weeks into the ruin, it was broken and stood on its last leg. Alex continued his overview of the camp. The small camp fires, spread through the place were enough for his darkvision to work. The wooden palisade was finally finished and encircled the whole camp, securing the group. Alex supposed that most kids here were orphans, even those or especially those that joined later. He waved away the dark thoughts, remembering his oath to be more focused when out.

The youth gave himself a small slap in the face to wake up, adjusted his clothes, checked the surroundings with his Skills and made way for Lin and Janes campfire. He hoped they hadn’t moved, otherwise it would be pretty dangerous to look into each tent and check for them. And he had to take them with him, otherwise he would give Jones two juicy hostages, through which he would get at Alex.

The youth sneaked slowly through the camp, pinging domain every few meters. Suddenly he had a positive return signal. Someone was coming his way. Alex ducked down and hid behind a tent. The other person stopped all of a sudden. ‘Come on, move’ Alex willed them onwards.

“Hmm, must have been the wind,” he heard a male voice saying, and soon they walked away. Alex wiped away the sweat and carefully continued on his way.

“Psst, it’s me guys,” he whispered, as soon as he had found his friends tent. Alex heard some rustling and hoped he was at the right tent. If it was the wrong one, there would be bad consequences. Someone could call the other boys, Jones’ “guards” and then he would have to run through the night. Exactly what he wanted to avoid.

But he was lucky, as Lin’s head looked out of the tent. “Alex?” he cried out. “Be silent, or they’ll catch me again. Is Janine with you? We have to leave.” “Leave?” he heard Janes voice from inside, “Now?” “Yes now, I’ll explain later. Get you necessary stuff and then follow me. And be silent!” He hissed.

Alex sighed, Jane was outside already, a small bag slung over her shoulder, but she dropped it immediately and hugged her long lost friend. “I thought you were dead,” she cried quietly in his arms. “No, I am mostly alright…Had a bit of a tough last week, but its getting better now,” he grinned.

Lin took some more time, but finally the boy was out. Alex thought he had to convince them some more, but he understood them. Nobody wanted to stay in the camp for longer than they had to. And Alex would make sure, that his friends were safe and had a way to protect themselves.

Soon the group of three stood in front of the wooden palisade. Luckily it wasn’t that high, so with a bit of muscle grease and much cursing, he helped Jane and then Lin over the barricade. “How are you going to get over it,” he heard Lin whisper hoarsely. “Move a few steps further back and I’ll show you,” Alex grinned. His attributes should be strong enough for him to easily vault the palisade.

He took a few steps of run-up and jumped. ‘Shit, too low…’ In the last moment, he grabbed to top of the stem and in an acrobatic pull-up, he got over the barricade. “Exactly as planned,” he answered his friends amazed looks. “That had to be at least two and a half metres,” Lin gaped. Alex shrugged nonchalantly, “easy peasy. Now let’s get a bit further away, and I’ll tell you everything.”

The three reconvened some dozen metres and hid behind another broken house. As Jane poked him in his side because she didn’t want to wait any longer, Alex finally began his story.

“Andrej really did that? That motherf-,” Jane slapped a hand to Lins mouth. “Don’t,” she hissed. “So we’re leaving the camp…Where are we going now?” She asked. “First we’ll get your seeds, so you can level up and get stronger and all that stuff, then we ask Gatex, the shopkeeper, for help,” Alex had made the plan a few days prior his escape, so he had a good handle on what to do.

“Seeds? Plural? You found more and you’re just giving them to us?” Lin opened and closed his mouth a few times and Alex silently compared him to a fish drying out on land. Alex laughed, “Yes, why wouldn’t I? I can’t use them myself and I can still sell every new seed I find. But you two come first.” Lin walked up to his friend and gave him an awkward side hug. “Thanks. The two weeks without you were nasty…Less food, less water and Jones still refused to give any of those who were closer to you any essence seeds. I mean the work on the palisade wasn’t all that bad and it helped securing our camp. But afterwards it got really bad.”

Alex listened and nodded, he could imagine the harassment and mobbing his two best friends had to go through. Jane maybe less, as she was a woman, but Lin had it worse with his foot and all. For a short moment he felt like a hero from the stories of old. Maybe not with rescuing a princess from a dragon. But in the right light or best no light, Lin could look like a woman with his longer hair.

The youth snorted at that image and waved Lins questions away. The other boy had of course heard all kinds of stupid ribbing before. They were still men.

“Back to the seed, I’ve got one lightning and one earth seed. While we grab the lightning, you can chose who gets what,” Alex explained. He hoped their silent discussion wouldn’t attract any nightly predators, but with his domain he should have enough forewarning.

The three wandered through the silent city, Alex at the front, followed by Lin and then Jane. The girl had brought her knife, even if it wasn’t that long. It should be enough to protect herself in the worst case. Alex had no weapons, but trusted in his [shadowweapon]. He tried to gauge his Magicka usage to have enough in the tank to cast the skill. The [gravitydomain] didn’t seem to use up all that much, so he should have enough if they were surprised by a visitor.

They walked up to the edge of the forest with no major problem. “We should rest for a moment. We have to enter the forest for the lightning seed, but I’d like to have more mana ready. If I run out when we’re still in there, it could get ugly.” Jane nodded and looked for a rock to sit down. Lin followed her and while they waited, Alex told them about levelling up. He tried to put his experience with evolving in words, but couldn’t explain how he did what he did.

Lin shrugged and said: “It’s not that important. We have to get our seeds first and maybe then we’ll understand better what you mean.” Alex looked apologetic at his oldest friend, but he was right. He didn’t have to explain everything right now. There would be time for that, later.

“Do we really have to follow you into that? I can’t even see anything,” Jane asked sceptically. “I don’t know where I can leave you, so you’re safe and I didn’t dare to get them before. My escape could have already been noticed and I would have never gotten you out of the camp if they were wary of me.”

The group slowly walked forwards. Lin had his hand on Alexs back and Janine hers on Lins back. They must have looked pretty funny if anybody could have seen them, but it was completely dark. Not even Alexs darkvision or [shadoweyes] were working. Luckily he had [gravitydomain] and they could evade the trees or the odd sleeping animal. Alex nearly was at his former shelter, where he had put the lightning seed, but suddenly he stopped.

“Don’t make a noise, but there is something big in front. Stay here, I’ll get you when I’ve put it down,” he whispered in Lins ear. He felt the boy nodding and concentrated on his domain. Something big was lying right next to the tree that was his former hideout. Alex felt the raising and lowering of its chest through his skill and he thanked his lucky star, that he had chosen it.

With muffled steps, he got nearer and nearer and the form of the sleeping beast emerged. The resolution of his domain wasn’t really that good as he had thought before. He could feel movement through the skill, but to register any forms, he had to concentrate on the skill and then it would give him everything in its perimeter. However that gave him so much information, that he was completely unable to even move.

‘A fucking wolf? That’s to big for a dog…’ Alex cursed. He hoped it wouldn’t smell him and wake up. For a moment, he wondered where the rest of its pack was, but maybe it was a lonely wolf? Or they had a big territory and didn’t sleep at the same place? Regardless, the shadowblade conjured his [shadowweapon] and sneaked nearer.