Nick opened up the floating chest, finding three separate items. The least interesting item was a plastic baggie that held a large amount of white pills, holding far more than Nick had seen to date. The next item was a small sticker of a cartoon figure running, which Nick assumed was one of the Stickers he’d heard mentioned. He was surprised by its appearance, he wasn’t sure what he had expected but a cartoonish picture wasn’t it. The road to superhuman status was paved with goofy stickers it seemed.

The last item made Nick sigh and made Tony openly shout in joy. It was a golden gem with a white circle on it. A white tiered class gem, exactly the item Tony wanted. Nick didn’t even bother uttering a word and handed the chest to Tony. Much to his surprise Tony broke into an impromptu speech.

“Thanks to the hard work of my team I have finally levelled up! As I am not one to let such hard work and loyalty go unrewarded I shall bestow a gift to the member that served me so well!”

Nick was handed back the sticker.

“Nick, likely the newest Latecomer to the Complex…” That line certainly got the crowd somewhat interested. “...I have the honour of giving you your first Sticker! May you use it well!”

Tony looked around at the crowd, likely expecting some sort of positive reaction to his theatrics, though all he got were blank stares and a few sniggers. Nick certainly got some looks though. He had just been the first person to beat Casper and by de facto, Reggie, and now Tony had just revealed his recent Latecomer status. Oh god, Nick could already imagine the rumour mill churning, likely exactly the way Reggie wanted it to. The man would probably be adding his own rumours into the mix.

Nick once again was made to feel like a tool. Reggie was using him as a way to bring more attention to Tony and Tony had literally just advertised how weak he was to the entire group. Nick slumped, it was beginning to feel all a little too much.

Suddenly there was a flash of white and everyone was standing back in the large foyer of the hotel. Reggie and his group made their way up the staircase and all of the teams began to follow along behind him. The upstairs area was mostly open, with a large table in the centre of the space. There were four chairs around the table and then a throne. There was a literally golden throne just sitting there, an obvious indicator of the type of power relations at play.

Nick wasn’t in the state of mind to pay much attention to what happened next. It felt like he was in quicksand, his mind struggling to stay afloat in a quagmire of thoughts. He was constantly shifting through the last few days and everything that had happened to him. He just hadn’t really processed everything, the train tracks, the car park, the hotel. Fighting monsters, god awful politics and utterly strange people. It was all so surreal it just stumped him. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought about it but he just couldn’t stop the onslaught of thoughts now.

It was crazy, completely crazy. There was no logical sense to be made of his situation, what he had experienced in the last few days could only be considered absurd. It must have been a dream or something right? That was the only rationalisation that he could come up with. It was either a dream, or real, and one of those seemed far more realistic. But what was realistic? He’d been hurt, he’d spoken to a number of different people who seemed so distinct from each other. He’d been slowly piecing together a strange history of this place, different people and different groups. Surely it was all too detailed to be a dream.

Nick looked at what lay before him. The leaders of each different floor were sitting around a table talking with their teams standing behind them imposingly. He laughed out loud, it looked like an image from some sort of fantasy RPG or something. Everyone turned to look at him after he laughed but he just shook his head and turned around to walk off.

“Do you disagree with the idea Nick?” He heard Reggie called out.

Nick didn’t respond, why would he have to respond to the creations of his mind? He just continued to walk off, his laugh refusing to die down. He suddenly felt a crushing pressure on him and frowned. He found himself collapsing down to his knees, it was just absurd, surely such an experience couldn’t be real. He felt the air around him change, in his strange mental state he felt like he could feel the air differently. It was a sensation similar to the one granted to him by the skill he’d been using, a new sense.

The thoughts running through his mind changed tracks, seemingly happy for a new distraction. From desperately trying to process the experience of the last few days, his mind was now searching for a meaning in this new experience. He felt that the air was now no longer the seemingly empty space that he manoeuvred through on a daily basis. As it began to crush him into the carpeted floor all he could do was explore the feeling. There was something in the air, directing it, making it into the energy that was pushing him down. Energy. That just felt like a perfect word for it. The air was filled with energy, no longer an innate space, it was being charged and directed.

The crushing pressure began to bear too much of a force on his body, he felt his bones creak and his organs begin to compress. He wanted to scream and thrash about in resistance, but he was physically unable to do anything. He then felt something within him respond to his desperate desires. It was a tiny, miniscule thing but it snaked out of him and met the energised air head on. It felt no fear towards the gigantic foe it faced, the tiny amount of energy a David versus the Golath of energy bearing down on Nick.

Nick felt the energy that had emerged from him penetrate into the surrounding air and suddenly he was free. The pressure was completely gone. His mind was racing a million miles an hour. What the hell had just happened? What was going in? Was it a dream? That pain of being crushed had been the single worst thing he’d ever experienced, dream or not.

Nick bolted to his feet and just ran. His mental walls felt like they were collapsing. He was struggling to even put a coherent thought together at this point. His mind was just a slideshow of emotions, disjointed sensory inputs and half formed thoughts, everything being held together by an overwhelming panic. And so he ran.

Nick reached the staircase and did his best to get down it quickly. The result had been as graceful as a bull in a china shop. Nick had slipped on the second step and sent his body cartwheeling down the stairs. His body crumpled into a pile on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, but much to the surprise of anyone watching, and himself, he sprang up to his feet. Nick was sure the fall had injured him in more ways than one but he just refused to process it. Running hurt, but that’s all he did. He cleared door after door, he pushed through people, jumped over furniture and objects. He heard people shouting and yelling, but once again he just didn’t process it. He had no idea what he wanted but he felt like running would answer his questions. Suddenly he felt the presence of a door in the distance. He closed his eyes and could see it, a faint doorway a few hundred metres away.

Nick now had a target that justified the dull pain coursing through every inch of his body, so he continued running towards his new goal. The people in each room he barged through began to dwindle until he was pushing through empty room after empty room. Then he finally came face to face with the door his sense was telling him he wanted. It was large and slate black. No handle or anything that marked it was a door, he just knew it was.

Standing in front of it, he had no idea why he was there. He had just listened to what his new sense had told him.

“Nick!” A feminine voice called out.

Nick turned to look at the caller and saw a woman with soft brown hair, her equally soft brown eyes filled with concern. Nick managed a smile, then crumpled to the ground.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

What the hell had that kid done? Reggie looked almost bewildered and slightly mad.

They had been discussing a plan on how to deal with a likely invasion from the Parklands People’s Militia, after Reggie’s Shaman had confirmed a war was coming. Then suddenly the kid started laughing, interrupting Reggie himself. Reggie had stopped, making everyone around the table panic. Reggie wasn’t one to take disrespect lightly.

He was sure the kid was as good as dead and cursed. He had finally managed to get another Explorer and had plans to squeeze him for everything he was worth before he went off the deep end.

Well at least he’d finally gotten level two in his Healthy Individual class, finally no longer a 2-1. He would make it work, he always had. Just had to hope that Reggie wouldn’t punish him for the kids disrespect too harshly.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reggie didn’t want to get rid of the kid, he was going to be useful in baiting someone to get rid of Tony for him.

That’s why instead of instantly relieving the kid of his head for laughing during him talking he had asked the kid for his input. It always paid to be a kind sovereign after all.

Then the kid had gone and walked off as he was speaking to him! Now that couldn’t stand. No one disrespected the King.

He wouldn’t kill the kid, no, he would make him wish he was dead though.

He unleashed his level six aura on the poor kid. Surprisingly the kid didn’t even make a sound as he fell to his knees. Not quite happy with the result he decided to go all in and unleash his level nine aura. The kid crumpled to the floor, looking like he was trying to merge with the carpet.

The pathetic sight brought a smile to his face. While the kid still hadn’t made a sound, it was understandable, he probably couldn’t even breathe under the pressure.

As he was a merciful king, and that the kid served a greater purpose, he was about to retract his aura when he felt something that made him shudder and retract his aura involuntarily. Something had crept into his aura, something alien and chaotic feeling. He panicked and checked that it still wasn’t there, thankfully finding nothing. He hadn’t felt anything like that before, something entering his aura. He doubted it was the kid, being only a 2-0 he couldn’t even have an aura of his own.

Whatever it was, Reggie didn’t like it. He’d ask the Shaman to make sure the area was safe after the meeting.

This damn hotel still gave him the creeps after all these years.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Nick had turned around Maddy had seen a look far too familiar in his eyes. It was the same look Frankie had gotten in the days before she’d run off.

She went to follow after him, the talks on war and politics unimportant to her. That’s when she felt Reggie’s aura crush down onto Nick. She was shocked for the briefest of moments before realising what Nick had done.

She felt despair bloom in her stomach. She’d only been to a few of these meetings but Reggie was ruthless. He didn’t accept second opinions or disagreement. The man was an asshole through and through. Not as slimy as Tony, which she almost respected, at least he was an open and honest asshole.

Nick was likely going to be seriously injured, at best, after this.

Nick didn’t even groan though. He just dropped to his knees, not a whimper at all. Maddy knew this was actually a bad outcome. Reggie had a sadistic streak to him, he enjoyed making people suffer. Nick not making a sound would only aggravate him further. She then felt Reggie’s response. Oh my God, she’d never felt such a strong aura so close before. She wasn’t even exposed to it but could feel it radiating off the space around Nick.

She could only watch as Nick was literally being crushed into the floor. She was about to beg for the man to stop such a cruel punishment when the aura vanished. She silently thanked God before rushing towards Nick.

Nick just got up and bolted. She watched as he flung himself down the stairs and gasped as he landed on the floor, clearly injured. She was shocked to see him still drag himself to his feet and run off. She had to stop him, heal him. She started running after him, using her vastly increased agility and haste skill from level two Scout to quickly give chase. She watched as he barged his way through room after room, ignoring all the people he riled up and pressing on. Nick seemed driven towards something and was unrelenting in his pursuit of it.

She finally caught up to him when he was standing before a strange black part of a wall.

“Nick!” She called out.

Her heart broke when he turned around. He looked completely broken as he smiled at her. She watched as he collapsed to the ground and began her work healing him.

She wouldn’t let what happened to Frankie happen again.