Two guards follow the man, stopping right behind him.

The man strides to the cage and looks around in it. “Now then, who should we start with.” He silently gazes at every one of them, for at most a second each. His gaze makes Blue uncomfortable and she looks down as a response.

The man laughs. “It’s gonna be you.” Blue hastily looks up and sees the man look at someone else. She sighs in relief, it’s not her. Following his gaze it leads to Natasha, who stares back extremely annoyed. “Get over here.” The man mutters in a clear tone that he won’t take a no.

Natasha stands firm and keeps staring back. “No.”

The man chuckles. “I see how it is. Guards, drag her out.” The two guards wait for the cage guard to open it. They step in, pushing aside Blue, Vince, Eve and Ray as they grab Natasha and drag her out.

The guards throw her out of the cage, she lands right in front of the man. “You can try to resist, but I’ll still get you right where I want you.” The man smirks. “Now stand.” He says in a heavy voice.

Again, Natasha refuses to comply.

“My patience is running dry. Are you sure you want to go on?” The man suggests.

No movements come from Natasha.

The man grabs Natasha’s neck in a choke hold. He lifts her up in the air and smiles at her. “I guess you need a lesson on who’s in charge here.”

Natasha grabs the hands around her neck and tries to get them off. Unsuccessful obviously. Her legs flail around as she struggles to breathe. She tries to hit the man, but the man just holds her a bit farther, so she can’t reach him.

The struggle last for a few seconds more before she stops moving. The man lets go of her and she falls to the ground. She reaches for her neck as she starts coughing and wheezing.

The man looks at her with a smile. “Now then, shall we continue?”

Struggling to speak, Natasha instead retorts to a nod.

“There we go. Wasn’t that hard now, was it?” The man questions in a creepy tone. “Now stand.” His tone changes back to the serious one.

Natasha tries to stand up, but she just falls down.

The man clicks his tongue annoyed. “Throw her back.” He orders his guards. They swiftly do as he said and Natasha is back in the cage.

“Now then, who should I try next.” The man opens his arms wide to show how welcoming he is.

[Whatever you do, just don’t annoy him.] Julie’s voice resounds in Blue’s head. [I’m thinking next time he won’t just stop in time.]

[Understood.] April’s voice responded.

[Blue, make sure Vince gets it.] Julie continues. [I don’t want to wait and see what would happen.]

‘Okay…’ Blue thinks. She leans towards Vince to whisper to him. “Just do everything he says, okay?”

“Okay.” Vince quietly whispers back.

This time the man picks Eve. Eve shuffles towards him while looking at her feet.

“Hurry up, I don’t have all day.” The man impatiently orders her.

Eve hurries up and stands before the man.

“Good. Now open your mouth.” The man orders. Eve just does what he says without any struggle.

[Hmm, she realized it as well. Might be a good addition to our team.] Julie ponders.

[Pretty sure she’s already part of it.] April teases.

[The Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, eh.] Julie laughs.

[You know it.] April winks at Julie in real.

The mental talks distract Blue, and before she realizes Eve is back in the cage.

“Now you.” The man stares at Blue. Blue sighs and heads towards the man.

[Good luck.] April sighs.

[It’ll be over quickly.] Julie mentions.

She stands in front of the man. Up close he’s a lot bigger and scarier. She gets uneasy from being near him.

“Now then, let’s see what’s behind that mask. Get it off.” The man smiles.

Blue gets her hands on the back of the mask to untie it. Removing it reveals her azure blue eyes.

“Hmm, I see. That’s gonna give me more luns.” The man grins. “Open your mouth.”

Blue opens her mouth as she is told. The man looks around it and pulls on some of her teeth. “Hmm, this one is loose. Guess you gonna switch them soon, eh?” The man remarks. “Jump.” He continues ordering.

With a confused gaze Blue casually jumps. ‘What is this? Why is he doing all this?’ Blue thinks.

[He wants to see if you’re injured or weak. Any disabilities could bring the price down.] April explains.

[Hey, don’t explain things before I do!] Julie teases.

“I said sit. Don’t make me repeat it again.” The man glares at Blue. Blue hurriedly sits, not letting him wait any second longer.

“I see.” He declares to himself. He starts feeling up on Blue’s arms and stretches them. He starts doing the same thing to her legs as he finishes her arms.

He shakes his head and with a wave of his hand orders her to return. “You, get over here.” He points at Ray this time.

Blue finds an empty spot and lies down on it. The man’s orders as some background noise. They slowly fade away as the noise is replaced.

“You can open your eyes now.” A voice says.

Blue does as the voice says. She sees Lilianne and Thomas in front of her, in the same room they ended last time.

Lilianne gazes at her. “So anything else you want to know?”

Blue thinks before asking. “How do you get followers then?” ‘It might be better to learn more about the process, even Julie knows more than me…’

Lilianne chuckles. “Straight to the point eh? You seem to have changed from before. But well, there are two different methods to gain followers.

The easiest one is to get mentally acknowledged by the follower. Anything will do for that really, simply getting them to bow down for example. The connection is really weak though, because all the follower needs is a reason to not see themselves as your follower anymore and it disappears. It gives you the ability to order them though, and makes yourself the higher one.

For strength it’s a lot worse, since the connection is weak. You can expect about 5% of their total power, if that power isn’t more than 5% for yourself that is. Otherwise the connection gets overloaded.

It costs nothing for you and depends fully on the follower, so it’s easier to gain a lot in a shorter time. Sadly ordering them around and the 5% power is all you’re getting from them, which can end the moment they are done.

Now the second method is something that creates them as followers on equal terms. To get yourself to have the upper hand you would either do it halfway or be way stronger than them. It’s called the soul contract. To do this you hold your hands out and touch their forehead with yours. It connects the two by leaving part of themselves behind. This connection is permanent and can’t be deleted until one of the two souls breaks.

For power you’ll get access to their power, any other soul contracts they have aren’t counted by this and it’s just their raw power. For things like endurance it’s automatically added to yours. Don’t get confused by this though, most people aren’t perfect and their endurance isn’t a lot. You won’t suddenly get insta regeneration from getting one follower.”

Thomas quickly interrupts. “Regeneration is a turn on and off thing though. It’s taking their natural regeneration and adding it on yours temporarily. But as I said, it takes it away. Just like mana, energy and all that extra stuff. If you can choose to use a bit of it, it’s a turn on or off. Turn it off on them, to turn it on for you.”

Lilianne rolls her eyes. “Thanks for the interruption, I was getting to that part...”

“Uh-huh, definitely wasn’t forgetting that part, hmm?” Thomas teases.

Lilianne sighs and ignores him. “Well anyways, where was I? Oh yeah the power part. The power grows with them, so if they suddenly decide to train you’ll gain from that too. If the contract is on equal terms, it means both sides get everything. If you want to turn one of those things Thomas mentioned on you’ll first need permission.

Permission is also needed to go through their soul, watch through them, see their memories, etc. The moment one side has the upper hand it means that side doesn’t need to ask permission anymore. The amount shared is decided by the side having the upper hand.

For memories though, if you’re ever interested in looking through them you probably have one chance before you get noticed. Just one short fragment is enough to leave evidence that you’ve been there if you’re not careful enough.

Soul contract allows people to communicate through their souls. It sounds like it’s in your mind, but it’s the part of the soul left behind that’s talking. Actually if you would look inside your soul at that time you’d see their mouth moving. If you see their eyes open it means they’re looking through you.

Sadly listening isn’t visible since ears don’t exactly close if you don’t use them. Also, thoughts are never ever visible to others, unless you let your soul part speak. Any questions?” Lilianne finally ended her explanation.She expectantly stares at Blue.

Blue hesitates. “Well ehm… I got a follower, or I think I do, with a different method?”

Lilianne grabs both of Blue’s shoulders and stares blankly at her. “A… Different method? What do you mean?”

Blue looks at the hands on her shoulders confused before looking back at Lilianne. “I, uh, just did the forehead touching stuff?”

“But just that shouldn’t do anything at all? What else did you do?” Lilianne tries to get an explanation out of Blue.

Blue thinks about it. “I, eh said something about wanting to make her a follower. I think? And she accepted. Then there was this line..? I grabbed it and then there was this connection with her, I could feel her pain, her emotions I think and she could talk to me like with a soul contract. Also she contacted me saying she felt my emotion and what was wrong so I think it’s the same for her…”

Thomas looks at Lilianne with a thoughtful face. “If she didn’t add the hands part, that means there wasn’t a shield to push the other away. That might mean they opened up to each other, and send everything they got over. What if that ‘line’ is actually their souls merging at that point?”

Lilianne taps her chin in silence. “I don’t know at all. With a line between you, can you follow the line towards her?” Lilianne curiously asks Blue.

Blue raises her eyebrow. “Follow? How would that work?”

“Hmm, try to feel the line and see where it goes?” Lilianne suggests.

“We can’t leave this place, so what use does it have? Also don’t ever do something like that again, it’s dangerous.” Thomas declares.

‘Try to feel the line? Would April even be here?’ Blue ponders. ‘Well, can always try it right? Wait..’ “How would you feel the line?” Blue scratches her head with a sheepish smile.

“Eh, I don’t know. Maybe think about the line, the person or the connection..?” Lilianne suggests yet again.

‘Connection? Is that the same as sending her a thought? Could she hear me here?’ Blue thinks.

“How did you even get a follower, without going outside?” Thomas suspiciously eyes Blue.

“That’s a good question for once.” Lilianne agrees.

‘How should I even answer this?!’ Blue gets worried.

“You know, you somehow changed a lot in these few days.” Lilianne remarks. “From that timid little girl who didn’t fight for anything at all to someone trying to get answers out of us. You even awakened before us, what happened? Did you perhaps find a reason to fight? Find someone you want to protect?” Lilianne smirks. “Or is it love? Are you blindly chasing your first love?” She teases.

“Love? Lilianne, you’re starting with something way above her age. Besides, where would she even find someone like that?” Thomas spits out the word as if he doesn’t like love.

“Oh come on, did you ever read any of those stories? The heroes always magically gain power out of love you know? Or friendship, the magic of friendship.” Lilianne jokes, as she forms a little imaginary rainbow with her hands.

Thomas rolls his eyes. “How cliché, all you need for fast growth is hard work and determination. You get that by having a reason to fight, like being powerless and needing power to survive!”

“As if that isn’t cliché…” Lilianne turns to ignore Thomas again. “So, Little Blue, what is your secret?”