Stanley woke pleasantly in a golden glow. "Thanks, Zeke." He opened his eyes, sat up, and smiled at the exhausted Purifier. "Appreciate it, now go get some sleep yourself."

Zeke mustered a smile and crawled onto the bed Stanley was sitting in. "I'll just sleep here," he said tiredly, "Tell Eve so she doesn't worry?"

"Sure." Stanley floated into the air and let Zeke have the bed as he started meditating. Eve was already asleep in her room next door and he would notice when she woke up. Caffeine curled up between Zeke's legs as he sprawled out and Stanley smiled in the void of his [Soul Meditation] as the boy fell asleep almost instantly. "Good boy, Caff. Keep him warm," Stanley thought.

He had found a solution to his nightmares. It was Zeke. If the boy channeled his Skill into him then the soothing warmth let Stanley sleep deeply without dreams, at least none that he remembered. Unfortunately, it took a lot out of Zeke to channel the Skill non-stop like that. On the plus side, Stanley only needed about two hours of sleep if he combined it with Meditation.

But it was still a drain on Zeke, especially with how hard Stanley had been pushing his team everyday. The boy didn't complain though, he was happy to help and even claimed that it helped his Skill level. Stanley knew that he wasn't lying about it either, and that he wasn't just afraid to say no. That made him feel better about asking… and worse. The kid had lost his parents not that long ago and might just be looking for a father figure to fill the role.

"No," Stanley thought, "not a kid. A young man at least." He had never thought to ask how old Zeke was, but guessed he was in his teens at least. Maybe mid-teens, he'd seen Zeke noticing girls, and being too shy to approach them. Unless they needed healing of course… He was serious about that.

The sad fact was that Zeke had to grow up far too quickly. Now he went out everyday to fight and kill wild animals that had changed into monstrous versions of what they once were. Stanley had no idea how to help a young man grow up in this new world. In fact, Stanley could probably use a father figure of his own…

Stanley smiled slightly at the thought that Zeke was practically a rockstar in the Tower at this point, but still seemed completely oblivious to the fact. Turns out that healers were rare, the ones that were available all tended to be people like the doctor, Stinson. His healing was on the order of sealing wounds to stop bleeding and knitting bones back together. Topped off with boosting Regeneration to finish the healing.

Whereas Zeke just touched you and wham bam, you're healed. Hands down the best healer they had. Adrian was almost on par with Zeke, of course, but some idiots didn't like being set on fire to get healed. He also wasn't a chick magnet, for some reason. Another unfortunate detail was that the fire didn't help Stanley sleep…

Sven might be the next best, with his method of postponing damage, then using regen and food to recover later. At least for short periods. That could get dicey in longer excursions.

Stanley stopped his idle musings and got to work. His [Soul Meditation] had finally leveled past Initiate when he changed the flowing energy to include his ears. He was just messing around one day and had accidentally done it. The result being that he was no longer deaf while meditating. The upgrade to Apprentice hadn't changed anything though and Stanley had a feeling that he would need to access all of his senses eventually, if he wanted to level it up more.

In the meantime, he did try to use meditation whenever he could while fighting, in the hopes of unlocking an Evolution into some kind of Combat Meditation. Assuming there was such a thing. But there were no guides to this, only the base knowledge he'd been granted when picking the Skill. Stanley still had to learn the rest through trial and error. It did give him something to do while meditating at least… and helped pass the hours until dawn.

…

Breakfast was usually an entertaining affair. Especially when Caffeine made his daring escape from the kitchen with a giant fish, of which there always seemed to be at least one conveniently on a counter every morning, and then ballooned up to eat the entire thing in one bite. People had gotten used to that, mostly. But a lot of them hadn't seen the giant shark that only recently started to appear around the pug when he went to consume the fish. It was pale and ghostly looking, obviously not solid, but when it appeared all of a sudden and was towering over you…

Stanley sighed at the lack of a reaction this morning. Must be the regular crowd who'd seen it before. It was probably for the best anyway, scaring people with superpowers was risky, unless of course you were an even more powerful pug. But still, someone else might get hurt. "Booo!"

He saw Nate approaching as Caffeine sat next to the table and looked up at him with starving eyes. It looked like Nate was bringing the latest batch of newbies for Stanley to grind down. "Hope this batch is better than the last ones…" he thought, and dropped a piece of food to Caffeine. A tiny little shark appeared around him, almost looking like a costume when that small, and snatched the food out of the air. "You are too cute, Caff! Great White Chomp indeed."

"Stanley," Nate said, stopping at his table, "Good morning!" He smiled.

"Ugh," Stanley thought, "it's too early for your damn cheerful optimism Nate…"

"This is…" Nate started to introduce them and Stanley tuned him out to feed more bites to Caffeine.

The little shark that appeared around the pug actually made one of the newbies jump. "I'll call you… brownie." Stanley thought, "and the rest of you, blondie, shorty, and tubby…" He was a bit surprised to see someone still overweight. "Maybe it's his Class?" He really shouldn't judge. Not yet, he could do that after he saw their true colors in the Lairs.

They all wore crude armor made from ant carapace and carried equally crude weapons. That was a good sign, the weapons in their hands that is, and it usually meant that they hadn't chosen combat classes at the beginning. The worst were the ones who had picked something actually meant for combat, but had low Affinity for the class. Went out with no weapons, all hot shot with their one spell, and ran out of Mana almost immediately. Then the screaming, running away and crying would start.

Stanley grunted in sudden pain and the table in front of him rattled. "Fuck, Lee! What are you doing?" The strain on his Soul was bad… "Go," Stanley growled at the others, "I'll meet you downstairs." Caffeine jumped into his lap and Stanley lifted himself into the meditation pose. "Damn it, Lee… you better be okay!" He focused on his [Soul Awareness] and pushed his will against their Soul. "You will hold together, you son of a bitch! You're not breaking after I barely finished fixing you!"

Skill Level Up: [Soul Reinforcement]

The pressure eased slightly. "Fuck, Lee… do what you have too. Damn it!" He could hear Caffeine whining slightly and dropped out of meditation. "It's okay, Caff," he whispered, "Lee is just worrying me." He gave Caffeine some ear scratches and looked up at the waiting Nate. "Don't worry, Nate. I'll keep them alive."

"I wasn't worried about that," Nate said, politely ignoring Stanley's minor episode, "maybe try to minimize the ptsd they come back with?" He smiled wryly. "Marie is already busy enough and ideally we want them to go back out again."

"But did he die?" Stanley grinned. "It's just some character building trauma, and it teaches them to be prepared for shit to go sideways." Nate just shook his head and headed off to do whatever he did all day. Stanley followed suit.

…

"Here we are!" Stanley said sometime later, his hand out to the building doorway. "Your first Lair, have fun!"

Shorty looked at him askance while the rest were holding their knees or clutching the ground and trying not to throw up. "One of them handled it." It was only a short flight, fast enough to get their blood pumping and amp them up for the coming battle. "Should have closed their eyes like I told them to."

"Grow a pair," Eve spat, herself completely unaffected as she set up her tools and machines. She was used to this by now.

"Come on guys," Zeke was more encouraging, "Form up like in practice, the monsters will be coming any second." He helped them along with a jolt of healing light as he talked.

He was right about the monsters though, Stanley had already sent his mind into the building and far enough to get the first floor riled up. He wounded the few closest ones to slow them down as they charged for the door. "Good luck!" He flew away.

They would be fine, probably. Zeke could keep them alive against what he'd felt in there and Eve would step in if her brother had any trouble. She was a bit overprotective of Zeke and so insisted on joining these excursions, but spent most of the time working on her machines or weapons. Unless she wanted to test something, in which case she had monsters readily at hand.

Stanley had picked that Lair on purpose. Some of the monstrous insects inside weren't even D Rank yet and all of the Humans were. Ever since it became cheap enough with the D Cores, to just promote E Ranked people if they volunteered to fight. More economical as well. Ten people could be pushed all the way into D with what it took for one D Rank to bump his attributes up to two-hundred and the ten newbies would be able to beat that one person in a fight. Usually.

Most of the newbies were then sent out with someone like Stanley to make sure they earned those Cores back and could pass them to the next group. Also of course, to avoid them dying in the first Lair…

Stanley was smiling as he approached a much stronger Lair which wasn't 'that' far away from the others. Not that far away for him at least… He started his own day of killing.

Stanley kept an eye on the newbies, or a Soul Awareness on them, just in case something else showed up, but they were still going when he finished his own Lair. Cores melted into him one after the other and Caffeine ate a handful that must have smelled better than the others.

Stanley did share 'some' of his daily harvests with the others at the Tower, especially Walter, but the majority went to him and Caffeine. He flew back and hovered in the sky above the others while he meditated back to full power and looked for the next Lair. It still took some focus to find the quieter Soul signals inside Lairs but he was getting better at picking them out. No undead yet…

While he did that, he also worked on condensing and solidifying their Soul. The strain was still there, higher than it had been before this morning… something was happening over there and more power was required. The first floor of the Lair below was almost clear and Stanley killed one of the giant insects on the second floor to start the next wave. Then he left for his next target.

+1 Twin-Soul

He looked down at the trail that had led him easily to this place. "Human Lairs aren't the only ones that get assaulted…" The defending… animals? They had four legs, hair, some weird spikes that looked wet… yea animals. They were being invaded by another Lair, and losing. "Bad day for you guys." Stanley cleared out the attacking swarm and what was left of the defenders forces, "But lucky day for you… if you surrender and give me my Core." It did, as soon as his power reached the boss. "Good call."

He followed the now fleeing attackers back to their Lair, a three story apartment building, as he absorbed more power. His palms felt damp when he started inside and his hands wouldn't stop trembling. "Lee," Stanley growled, "you're scaring me again…" A horde of flying cockroaches, each the size of his hand, poured down on him from every direction. They were fast, lightning quick and more were swarming through the doors further in. But still not fast enough. "Get the fuck AWAY from me!"

You have Damaged the [Lightning Swarm] Lair. All Residents Notified.

The building shuddered violently and loudly around him from his blast of power. Stanley glared at the door further in as disgusting goo started to drip and run down from the ceiling and walls.

[Lightning Swarm] Lair has Surrendered.

The doors leading further inside slammed shut. "I didn't ask for your surrender!" Stanley yelled, blood pumping in the fear he felt coming from his twin, "all I want is your Cores!" He flew at the door, his power gathering, focusing into a hammer of destruction. "Knock, Knock!" The Lair reinforced door shattered and blew away in a cloud of shrapnel. The fear coming from his brother carried him through the swarms, his own worry and rising fear turned those swarms into smears on the walls.

The fear finally started to fade as he approached the boss room. And then it dipped sharply and a few moments later, was gone. "He is… sleeping? I think." Stanley waited there, eye to eye with a giant cockroach that was cowering in the far corner of the room. He waited for… something terrible. "Is he sleeping? Or unconscious, about to get killed?" Nothing bad happened and his breathing eased as his pounding heart slowed down its frantic tempo to a more normal rate. Stanley could feel his brother still, he was only sleeping. "Please stay safe, Lee."

"He won," Stanley told the giant bug, "he is just sleeping now…" The boss didn't respond. Though to be fair, it was just a bug. A big one sure, and the only D Rank in here, but still just a dumb insect. "Fuck cockroaches," he thought, "especially expansionist cockroaches…" Cut

Lair Destroyed…

Stanley took a moment to check on the trainees as he flew back out of the building Lair. They were alive. A few of their Souls felt like they might be crying… "Good. They must have taken their first real damage." Zeke had probably already healed them and they should just get over it.

Stanley knew he was being a bit of a hypocrite, or maybe he was just perpetuating a cycle of abuse. The monsters hurt him and now he wanted everyone else to suffer too. "The monsters traumatized me and I turned out fine! So quit whining!" Yea, right.

He sighed and shook his head as he felt out all of the E Rank Cores left behind inside the Lair. "Guess they went quantity over quality here." So, so many E ranks. "Practically worthless now." But 'waste not' and so on. He gathered them up while thinking happy thoughts and calming down. It helped that he didn't need his hands and could use them for pug belly rubs instead, and pug squeezing hugs, of course. "Maybe only a little ptsd for this group."

He really should have flown back to Zeke instead of attacking the Lair… not that Zeke could have done more than try and soothe him. But if he suddenly dropped dead… if Lee died… Stanley shook off the useless thoughts, there was nothing he could do about that. Other than keep getting stronger and escape already. But if he died, the others should know… "That they're screwed?" No, he didn't really believe that. Eve could summon help, Zeke and the others would have a chance to still win this. With Nate, Walter. Hell, Adrian and Daryl were clearing Lairs almost as easily as Stanley these days. If the trend kept up they might actually run out of Lairs and have to restrict people from clearing them. Just to ensure a food supply if nothing else…

Stanley looked down at the newbies, still fighting outside the Lair entrance, now against the monsters from the top floor. Eve must have argo'd them… he would let them fight this boss, Stanley decided, it looked like a mix between an actual combatant and a breeder. A good first boss, not too easy or too hard. He would even provide overwatch, since they would probably be traumatized if one of them died… and Stanley wanted his army to grow. Despite the annoyances of dealing with some of these people, he needed an army, and a strong one. If he died… big if, then he absolutely wanted these Undead Fucks to go down with him! "I won't die!"

The rest of the day proceeded in a similar way. Stanley set them up at a Lair and went out to clear more alone. Maybe not exactly what Nate had wanted by sending out others with Stanley, but he wasn't going to waste time watching newbies fight. Oh, he did watch them and with more focus after his morning bout of panic, but at a distance.

He joined them for lunch and then pushed them on the rest of the day, past sunset. Nights were not as dark to D Ranks anymore, and Zeke's healing helped with fatigue. It didn't eliminate it completely but it let them push longer, let Stanley find their limits and keep pushing them beyond. Stanley made himself the bad guy, made them hate him as he dropped them in front of Lair after Lair. But they fought on, encouraging each other and finding comradire in their shared misery. Nate had some way of picking these groups, probably that damn Intuition he was always bragging about, but they almost always ended up a tight knit group that would go on to continue fighting together.

Eventually it was too much though, and they started getting injured more and more. Even Zeke wanted to go back and Eve was in agreement. Stanley relented, he was getting tired too, and took them home.

On the way back he flew high, looking down over the dark city. Far in the distance he could see a small light from the Tower, most likely Cheesesteak on the roof in all his fiery glory. But closer to them and to the northwest, were more lights. It was the stadium and the fires burning in the field of squatters. "Damn cowards," Stanley thought, then he had a better idea. "Let's make a detour."

He stopped in the air above the stadium and the thick field of Souls below. "So many. All of them are just waiting down there to die…" It was time to do something about it. He drifted lower and pointed a finger into the air above the stadium. "Let there be… LIGHT!" And there was light.

A lot of the people down there had been asleep and a lot of them woke up very suddenly when it seemed like the sun had risen early. Fear rose up from them like a miasma, thick and choking.

"What are you doing!?" Sam shot into the air and arrived next to him in an angry flash of purple light almost immediately after his lightshow.

Stanley ignored her. The woman hadn't liked him ever since they met, probably because he'd almost killed her… bah, he did that to lots of people and they didn't hate him. "Listen up, people!" Stanley didn't shout. He wasn't very loud, he couldn't shout like some of the more physically powerful people because apparently strong vocal cords came from physical Attributes, but he had something better. Willpower. If he wanted people to hear him, they would damn well hear him! "I am Stanley," he continued, "If any of you are tired of cowering in the dirt and want to stand up, if you want to fight for survival instead of waiting to die, then raise your hand!"

"That's not going to work," Sam huffed.

Stanley smiled as he 'saw' some hands tentatively go up. "I will take you from this shit hole and give you weapons, and Cores enough to reach D Rank. If you fight." More hands went up, some people were coming out of their shacks and peering up at the crazy man talking in their heads.

"It worked a little bit," Stanley said smugly at the irritated woman, but most of his attention was on spotting the raised hands. There were way too many people here.

He flew lower to collect the few handfuls of people that had raised their hands. The ones still inside of their sad little shelters, he just pulled through the trash and up into the air. Then he repeated his trick with an opaque platform and started loading them on. Zeke helped by enveloping them in his aura and calming them marginally.

One young man approached Stanley after landing on the platform. "S… Sir," he was very anxious, "Sir, my mother is still down there." He wilted slightly behind Stanley's back. "Can… can she come too? I'll fight twice as hard!"

"Of course she can!" Zeke overheard and immediately jumped in.

Stanley suppressed a sigh, that was a reasonable request. Very reasonable. "If you have family members that can't or won't fight, so long as one of you will join the fight, I will take your whole family." A lot more hands lifted up and Stanley smiled. It was a fair trade. He set the platform on the ground and spoke to the young man, "Go get her."

He shouted again to rest, "Come below the light! If you can't get here, then keep your hand raised and I will retrieve you." Some hands went back up and more stayed up. Stanley gathered them up, causing some alarm in many of them as they were sucked up into the sky. Then he pushed his mental perception out further, to encompass the area, searching for any missed stragglers.

His perception went wide but also above and below… Stanley froze. "That…" He spun to Sam. "Have you explored the tunnels underneath us!?"

"The what?" Her Soul felt worried at his words.

"The tunnels!" Stanley exclaimed, his mind searching, reaching, deeper and deeper. "They go down further than anything I've seen! What if the Undead are down there!" His mind was racing. This could be it! "Isn't the Miasma stronger here?" He thought of something else, "Where is… what's his name, your Undead?"

"I… don't know." Sam felt very worried now.

"We should go check…" Stanley was interrupted by a hand grabbing his arm.

"Stanley," Eve said, "I know you're tired," He opened his mouth to protest but she kept on, "We are all tired, we are a small team, if this is where they are hiding then they aren't going anywhere tonight. We will find them. When," she emphasized, "we come back with the others." She let go of his arm and glanced around. "Plus, you promised to take these people back to the Tower?"

Stanley just stared at her. She had a good point and he tried to calm his pounding heart as he fixated on the strangest part of this. "Eve," he said quietly, "I…"

"What?" she demanded when he hesitated.

"I've never heard you talk so long without cursing…"

"Go fuck yourself." Eve turned away but Stanley saw the smile tugging at her mouth before she could hide it. Stanley chuckled and took a deep breath. She was right, they would come back with the heavy hitters. This nightmare might be almost over! No, it will be over! "I will get home soon, Lee!"

The excitement of that thought must have been why his hands wouldn't stop shaking… and he was sweating… and his heart was pounding! "...Something is wrong!"

[Still Mind of…

A jolt of pain shot through the bond and Stanley flinched violently. "Lee!"

Voices were shouting in the distance.

He felt the far away, but still very present fear spike high, right before it started to fade… into desperate despair… and then the despair dwindled down, flickering, dimming and then it went out. "Lee…" Stanley couldn't breathe. "Lee? No, You can't be… you're just sleeping… wake up!"

Before he could try and calm down, to focus on his brother and make sure he was okay, "Of course he is fine!" The world abruptly tilted and something tugged him backwards, hard! Away from the light and down, down into the dark. "No!" Stanley desperately tried to reach his hands out towards the light, to grab onto something, anything! But he couldn't lift his arms… couldn't feel them… couldn't feel anything…

The pool of light receded further away from him as darkness swarmed in from all sides, dragging him down and swallowing his world in deep, clawing shadows.

The encroaching void stuttered as he hammered every scrap of power he could at staying in that circle of light. "No! I Won't Go!" Then his power guttered out and the light moved further away, the shadow pulling him deeper into its embrace.

He could see Eve and Zeke in the fading light, their hands stretched out to him. He saw Caffeine clawing and biting at the walls of shadow closing in around him, darkness coming in from all sides to cut him off from the fading light.

The light dwindled further and pulled away before the unstoppable tide of oblivion. "No… I want to live… Lee, you can't die… I won't allow it…"

The darkness closed off the light and the last thing he heard was a distant howl. Then he was dragged away, falling into oblivion.

~~~~~

Eve

~~~~~

"Stupid old man! Making stupid jokes." Eve turned away so he wouldn't see her smile. "At least he wasn't charging off down some dark pit…"

A feeling she knew far too well washed over Eve. "Oh Shit! What did he see? Are the Undead coming!?" She spun to see Stanley swaying on his feet. Power was coming off him so thick that she could almost see it. Like a tsunami hanging above their heads, ready to fall.

"No!" Stanley shouted and the ground swelled violently upwards under her feet.

Caffeine ballooned up to tower over all of them and he stood over Stanley, spinning and snarling at something she couldn't see. Each growl a deafening rumble that left her ears ringing.

Then the light overhead winked out. The ground fell back down with a thunderous crash, and Stanley slowly toppled over. Zeke was at his side an instant later, blazing enough to be a new sun as he caught Stanley and followed him to the ground.

Caffeine Howled!

You have Heard the Despairing Howl of the Beast Lord.

+25% Effectiveness of All Attributes to Friends

The Howl kept going as Eve felt her power swell from the effect.

+26% Effectiveness of All Attributes to Friends

+27% Effectiveness of All Attributes to Friends

A screaming Howl that drowned everything else out. On and on, it kept going, Caffeine slowly shrinking down while the volume only increased.

+49% Effectiveness of All Attributes to Friends

+50% Effectiveness of All Attributes to Friends

Until he was only his normal pug sized form once again. "Holy shit!" He stood next to Stanley, his head swiveling from the old man on the ground and then back up to stare off into the distance. He repeated this a few times as the ringing in her ears faded. Then Caffeine dropped down to lay his head on Stanley's chest, and whined softly. It hurt her ears to hear, and her heart.

"What the Hell was that!?" The queen bitch of this shithole was glowing to rival Zeke, a veritable cloud of shining rocks floating around her.

Eve hadn't stood still the whole time, she'd been preparing. "Fuck if I know!" She lifted one of her smaller guns to the sky. "I doubt anyone didn't hear that howl… but I'm not taking chances!" She fired and Power drained from her. "No chances!"

A brilliant star launched into the dark sky, leaving a trail of blinding fire behind as it soared upwards. High above them it detonated in a flash to rival Stanley's previous light. Thousands of streams spread from that explosion, covering half the sky in their light. Eve staggered as she felt the small bit of her Soul burn up in that explosion. "Worth it. No one will miss that!"

She reached her brother who was still glowing like a golden beacon as he poured everything he had into Stanley. "Anything?"

"He's not dead," Zeke said, and Eve felt a rush of relief. "But I don't know what's wrong!"

Sam was shouting orders and her minions were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Everyone else was panicking even more. Eve ignored all of them. "Was it the Undead?" she asked, "Are they coming?"

"I don't know!" Zeke sounded on the edge of tears, "Something is happening… I can't find any injuries but it feels like he is fighting, I think."

"Maybe he finally snapped," Sam muttered behind Eve, "it seemed like he was on the edge already."

Eve laughed darkly. "I doubt that," she said, "we're all still alive, right?" She crouched down and rubbed the almost constantly whining pug's head. "Do you know what happened?" The way the dog had been staring at something…

Eve knew Stanley's Soul, she'd spent enough time around him to get a feel for his moods. And that moment before he went down, he had been afraid. Not like his usual anxiety, but deathly afraid, worse even than his nightmares… "What attacked you, Stanley!?"

Eve was keenly aware of their position here. If the Undead were making a move… well, her spider drones were already spreading out and going for the high ground. "I should have made a damn flyer already!" She would at least see them coming if nothing else. "He said there were tunnels underground…" She retasked one drone to start looking for a way down. "Would have been easier if you mentioned where the entrance was…" She didn't want to face the Undead here and now. She really didn't. But backup should be coming…

"I can give you a room," Sam said, "if you want to get him inside." She then shouted at the crowd around them, "The rest of you get back to your homes!" Only a few of them started to move. "Now!" More left with fearful glances at the woman.

"We're not staying in your undead bait trap!" Eve snapped, "Our ride is on the way." Zeke was still glowing brightly and had his hands pressed to both sides of Stanley's head. "Save your strength, Zeke. We don't know how long this…"

"I can't!" Zeke gasped, "I am healing his brain, I think! I don't know what is happening but… he's taking damage!" The light coming from his hands grew even brighter. "I don't know if I can keep up! Eve," he looked up at her with tears in his eyes, "I think he's dying!" Caffeine was crying louder now and licking Stanley's face frantically.

"Fuck! Even with that insane Buff?" Eve dashed to her bag. "Fuck, fuck fuck!" She slid to a stop next to Zeke, searching blindly in the bag. Her hand came back out with a small fish ball. "Eat this." She shoved it into Zeke's mouth as he kept the healing going. The Regeneration boost would keep him going a bit longer. "Where the fuck are you guys? Get here already!"

Stanley was limp and completely unresponsive to everything happening around him. He felt… distant, not here. Usually, even when he slept, he had a… presence around him, an aura of power. Especially during the nightmares… But now there was nothing. Eve pressed a hand to his forehead. It felt hot, almost scalding. And underneath that, she could feel something. It felt like Stanley, like his power, or Soul. But faint, as if she was sensing it from far away rather than directly touching him.

One of her drones finally reached the top of the stadium and sent her a view towards the Tower. She couldn't see the tower from this distance, but she saw something better! Caffeine tilted his head up and howled mournfully, right before a raging inferno came blazing into the sky overhead.

The shouts and screams were drowned out under the deafening screech of the massive phoenix. Cheesesteak banked hard in a fiery turn, almost crashing into the bleachers on the far side as he spiraled dangerously fast down towards the field. Fire fell from his wings and carpeted everything behind the bird, lighting up the entire stadium more and more.

A golden flare shot from the phoenix's back as he leaned into the turn and fire engulfed everyone around Stanley. Eve almost laughed when Sam fled from the flames, but her attention was on Stanley. So was Adrian's as he came down in that pillar of flames and then was at Zeke's side in the next heartbeat. "Help him," Zeke cried, "his head!"

"I got it!" Adrian said, already pouring flames out over the old man. He placed a hand over Stanley's forehead and then his eyes snapped open. "Move down, Zeke. Don't stop healing!" Adrian took Zeke's place at Stanley's head and then leaned forward, his face hovering over Stanley's as he opened his mouth. Pure white flames, with a hint of blue, flowed from his mouth like liquid plasma. Blindingly bright plasma. Eve had to look away and blink at the spots in her vision until the light faded enough to see what was happening.

Zeke was panting for breath, his hands still glowing but less brightly now as he sat back. He was still maintaining some healing, but not the desperate amount of a moment ago. Adrian looked much worse, he was trembling and pale but still had his hands on Stanley's head, the white flames covering his face as they swirled softly back and forth. "That will keep him going for now," Adrian gasped out and then sat down hard in the sea of golden flames.

Daryl appeared suddenly at Adrian's side, Princess with him. "What happened?" he demanded, one hand resting gently on Adrian's shoulder as his gaze never stopped moving. "Are the Undead here?"

"We don't know," Eve said, and told them what she had seen.

While she talked, the phoenix climbed higher into the sky and was now circling above the stadium leaving a trailing halo of flame over them, with the occasional screech echoing out.

Princess was sniffing cautiously at Caffeine, the pug ignoring her to stare at Stanley's face and whine, over and over. Princess looked up at Daryl and the man met her gaze for a long moment. "Come back, come back… you're a Good Boy." Daryl said, "Princess says that he keeps repeating it… that mean anything to any of you?"

Eve shook her head, then hesitated and opened her mouth, "He does feel… far away? If that makes sense?"

Daryl nodded slowly, "It does… but why?"

"Let's just get him back to the Tower," Adrian interjected. "this could very well be the Undead starting to move." He looked up and must have communicated something to Cheesesteak because the huge phoenix suddenly dove towards them.

Eve closed her eyes against the flying dust as giant wings flared wide. The ground shook with an impact and she opened her eyes to see the flaming talons longer than her arm cutting into the ground, as the bird stepped carefully around them. Each taloned foot was large enough to wrap her up and carry her away if Cheesesteak decided to. Instead of that though, he moved next to them and settled low, providing easy access to his back and the large saddle between his wings.

Adrian easily lifted Stanley in his arms, Caffeine laying on his chest and Daryl stepped closer. "Are you okay after that?" he whispered to Adrian. Eve could hear the whispers easily, a benefit and a downside of having high attributes, something people would have to get used to. "Was it really necessary to use… that?" Daryl asked, still in a whisper.

Eve didn't know what they were whispering about but suspected it was the blue-white fire, given how wrung out Adrian looked after using it.

"I'll recover," Adrian replied, "and it was necessary… I couldn't let him die!" He jumped to the saddle. "Get up here, Zeke," he called down, "just in case."

"I… I still want to join," a man's voice spoke just loud enough for Eve to hear him. "I will fight…"

Eve glanced away from her brother towards the voice. It was the young man from earlier, he was with an older woman. And it wasn't just him, Eve was a bit surprised at how many of the previous volunteers were still standing their ground. "A good sign, if they still want to fight after this shit show." But Stanley wasn't going to be carrying anyone…

Daryl was looking around at them as well. "Our army is coming here. Nate is leading them and can take all of you back with him. But," he said, "it is a long run and your first test in a fight may well be tonight. Are you still willing?"

"I am!" The same man said, with only a slight quaver in his voice.

Thunderous shockwaves announced the timely arrival of Nate, with his ridiculous way of flying by 'kicking the air really hard'... He came into view above the stadium and then veered to the entrance to lead the rest through the gap.

Flaming wings spread wide over their heads. "I'll stay above our forces until we get closer to home! Eve, you coming?" Adrian yelled as the phoenix prepared for takeoff.

"I'll stay on the ground," Eve told him, she really didn't like flying under someone else's power. "I need some damn rocket boots already!"

Daryl dashed off to meet up with Nate and Eve sighed at being left with the newbies and potential newbies. "Follow the bird!" She said loudly and then had to hide her face from the flying debris of said bird's launch skyward.

It was a long run back to the Tower. Especially with the new, slower additions to their group. Eventually they couldn't keep up the pace and Nate ordered them to be carried.

Nothing attacked them and the only conflicts came from them stampeding into and over whatever didn't get out of the army's way fast enough. Eve ran at the front and greatly enjoyed letting some of her anxiety out on the idiot monsters.

Along the way she heard howls from Caffeine above. She also heard echoing howls from the darkness around them. "The Wolves… were they in the area or did they come to Caffeine's howl?" Eve had seen the pug playing with them before on more than one trip, so wasn't worried about them attacking. "Just don't get in front of us…"

~~~~~~

Stanley

~~~~~~

Stanley stopped falling very abruptly. One moment he was being dragged down and the next he was stopped, nothing but a disembodied spark of consciousness deep in the dark. It wasn't a peaceful dark either. No, this darkness burned and clawed at him. He was still fighting it with everything he had, but it was so strong… If being melted inside a lake of fiery acid was a thing, it would feel better than this. "I hope Caffeine is…"

Skill Level Up: [Mental Fortress]

That message went off like a lightning bolt in his mind. Not that it was loud, in fact he barely noticed it in the agony surrounding him. But the significance of the message told him so much more. "I am not dead… Lee isn't dead!" Crushing despair lifted from him and Stanley raged with renewed anger against the dark. "It is an attack… and I will Win!"

He threw everything he had against this attack, and then more. He couldn't feel his power, couldn't feel anything beyond the overwhelming agony and even that was drowned under one singular thought, "Lee is not dead. I can still save him…" That thought was a mantra that drove him on. "I can save him… I can save him… I will save him…"

Skill Level Up: [Mental Fortress]

That Notification came and went, over and over as he fought. The darkness might have been getting less dense.

Skill [Mental Fortress] has Reached the Initiate Threshold…

"Evolve or upgrade, just give me more power!" Stanley kept fighting. More and more Notifications popped up but he ignored them. The darkness was definitely thinning around him but he ignored that too. There was only one thing that mattered now. "I will save him." He didn't know how long it had been and didn't know how long he fought on. Until, very abruptly, it stopped.

Soul-Binding Incomplete…

The sudden cessation of the burning pressure felt louder than the Notification. "Soul-Binding what?" The darkness had been pushed back and an oddly familiar light was around him. Before Stanley could start to make sense of anything, his eyes slowly fluttered open.

It felt very strange, he couldn't feel his eyes, or any of his body for that matter. Yet his eyes opened and looked up at a starry sky. Floating lights hovered above him and nearly drowned out the stars with their glare. Stanley could feel Souls all around him… many of them full of terror and none that he recognized. Strange sounds echoed and seemed to stretch out longer than they should as his unfelt eyelids blinked slowly over his view.

"What happened…" he thought rather calmly in the stunningly peaceful absence of pain. "Where is everyone?" His too calm thoughts and the strange sounds finally triggered the realization. "I am in Still Mind… how long did I…" A few, mostly reflexive, adjustments later and the sounds eventually became clear.

A melodic whistling sound, overlaid with words. "Where is the invisible one?" Other than that voice and a few distant other whistling noises, it was eerily quiet for the number of Souls he could feel.

An annoying buzzing was in his head and he couldn't get a picture of the area around himself. It felt like the area around him was full of static and it drowned his mental perception in the noise.

"She is always with Bradley there," a new voice spoke into the silence, this time without the whistling. Then Stanley felt his head turn slowly, once again through no action of his own. His view shifted to a large number of people, all of them standing still and stiff.

"Come out or I will hurt this one!" the whistling voice again, but from somewhere out of his sight. His head turned sluggishly to the other direction and he connected the speaker to a very strange feeling Soul. "That doesn't feel right…" It was holding a blade to a human man's throat. The human stood still, one hand holding a staff while the other hung limp at his side. His Soul was screaming… in sharp contrast to his placid posture. "You have permission to scream," the non-human said, right before stabbing the knife into the man's gut.

The man screamed, but cut off quickly and gasped, "Mar, Run!" The knife twisted and the scream resumed.

"Stop! I'm here!" A woman's voice yelled as she suddenly appeared between Stanley and the screaming man, her Soul undetected by him right up until she appeared.

"That's new…" Stanley thought, "but that other one doesn't feel like…"

"Mar, don't…" the man yelled.

His yell ended abruptly when the knife wielder whistled, "Silence!" It looked to the side and something was tossed to the woman's feet. "Put it on," it whistled.

The woman slowly knelt and picked up a metal collar from the ground. She placed it around her own neck with trembling hands, even as the stabbed man's Soul screamed with rage and fear.

As soon as the collar clicked shut the non-human smiled and pulled the knife from the man's gut. It whistled at another woman, "Heal that one," and walked to the previously invisible woman. "Very interesting ability. We will…" Its eyes slid from her to meet Stanley's and it continued past the woman to approach him. "Even more interesting!" Its lips spread in a wide smile and he saw way too many sharp teeth in there. "But you should not have awoken so quickly after the binding… it usually takes much longer to recover."

"You…" Stanley's voice came out, a bit rough and once again without him having any control of it.

He could see the being clearly now and along with the teeth, it had long pointed ears like an elf, framing a bald, grey-skinned head. It was most certainly not an Undead. "Where are the Undead? And who are all these people?" Another horrible thought occurred to him, "Were the Undead not the actual leaders…" Either way, he realized it didn't matter. This thing felt weaker than the Undead, he would just kill… Pain burned into his mind at that thought.

"Go back to sleep," it whistled at him before he could recover and decapitate the monster.

The words slammed into him and Stanley was dragged back down into the dark, screaming defiantly all the way. "No! I'll kill you!" His defiance was useless and he once again found himself trapped in the dark.

Only this time he wasn't smothered completely. A small area around him was free of the darkness and now Stanley could feel something else about where he was. This was their Soul space… something had obviously gone wrong, but this was definitely their Soul.

"That monster… those people…" Stanley thought, as something else began dawning on him. "The collars…" There had been that message about Soul-Binding… "That was Lee's body!" It made sense now, why he couldn't control his body. "They put Lee in a collar too and he is forced to obey, just like the others!" That other man hadn't even tried to defend himself when the bald, pointy-eared bastard stabbed him…

As for how he had been dragged into this… Either something to do with their Twin-Soul or the fact that some of his Mind was in their Soul, it didn't matter. "Lee is still alive! And I can help him!"

Stanley stood up. As much as standing or sitting was possible in this place. He was in their Soul, even though it looked nothing like it should, and that meant that Lee should be in here too. "Time to clean this shit out!" He attacked the darkness once again.

There was an immediate backlash! Pain dug into his mind from every direction and threatened to break his concentration. "You think a little pain will stop me now!" Stanley raged at the dark, "You will never stop me!" The pain got worse. It felt like his Soul and mind would be ripped apart. "I put it back together once and I can do it again!"

Skill Level Up: [Mental Fortress]

The darkness pushed back. Only a bit, but it moved! Stanley redoubled his efforts, hammering his Will against the invading dark. "Get the fuck out!"

It fought him. Every attack he sent, every millimeter that he pushed, felt like he was dragging razor wire through every part of his Soul and mind. The only thing that gave him a sense of accomplishment, of progress, was the repeating Notifications.

Skill Level Up: [Mental Fortress]

That encouraged him to fight harder. "I must be doing something right."

Time had little meaning in this place, and he lost all sense of it as he fought for his own… for their own Twin-Soul. Until something was finally revealed by his efforts.

The clear area had grown steadily over time and he had seen a tiled floor emerge from the gloom. He hadn't thought much of it until a wall appeared on one side, then a door and a window… "I am inside the fortress that my Skill showed me…" He had seen something else during that brief awake period, something that he had overlooked at the time. In the background there had been buildings, ones that had looked awfully similar to his [Mental Fortress] Skill.

"Lee!" he yelled into their Soul. There was no response. "He should be in here…" But, there had been plenty of times when Stanley had been in here while repairing their Soul and Lee hadn't been there. Of course, he had been in here when their Soul had been attacked by the Raid Leader. This collaring had to count as an attack… maybe he is asleep? Or trapped in the dark…

Stanley attacked the darkness again with renewed fury. "I'll find you!"

Room by room, Stanley drove the invading darkness from his Fortress. A Fortress that was increasingly being revealed to indeed be an apartment building.

Fatigue built up in him and he pressed on regardless. He tried to activate [Soul Meditation] to help keep him going but couldn't feel his body. In fact he was having trouble telling whether he had Still Mind active or not… Zeke was probably healing him… it would be fine. He was trying to avoid using the mental acceleration but honestly had no way to tell how fast time was in here. The pain coming from clearing out his Fortress drowned out any mental strain he might be feeling as well.

Some unknown amount of time later and he had cleared the entire first floor. Stanley tried looking outside by cracking a door and barely managed to get the door shut again. He lost two rooms to that mistake and had to backtrack and clean them out again. He went upstairs after that, clearing the darkness from every room and hall. The courtyard became clear as he worked his way up, eventually revealing a square of darkness overhead. Somehow it kept the darkness out, despite seeming open.

He never found Lee inside. "I have to go out there anyway…" The second time opening the door, he was ready and kept the darkness from getting back inside. He stood in that doorway for an unknown amount of time, fighting to just hold the gap. Then he took a step.

Stanley almost lost his focus when he found Lee right outside. He had to take a few moments to regain his concentration, before scooping up his brother's… was it his mind? and carrying him to the door. There was a brief moment of resistance in the doorway, as if he was not allowed to bring Lee inside. Stanley did not accept this and forced them both through the door.

Skill [Mental Fortress] Forced Evolution Pending…

You do not hold Full Dominion over your Twin-Soul. All Involved Parties must Agree.

"I'll allow it." Stanley set down the vaguely humanoid blob that was his brother and collapsed beside him. "I did it!" Lee still seemed to be asleep but something was happening.

Glowing symbols grew from beneath him, crawling and spiraling across the floor. As he watched, they slowly moved up the walls and onto the ceilings. Stanley decided that a few moments rest was acceptable and relaxed as he watched the light show. "That must be a good sign." Stanley thought tiredly...

All Parties Agreed. Evolution Completed.

[Twin-Soul Mental Fortress]

Stanley twitched awake from the Notification. "I didn't know I could sleep in here... I must have been..." his thoughts trailed off as he saw the changes before him. The entire courtyard was now lit up with beautiful and intricate symbols, and the person standing in front of him was… "Lee?" Stanley whispered in disbelief.

"Nice place you got here," Lee replied nonchalantly as he looked around, "kinda reminds me of home." He smiled at Stanley, and he looked real… not an amorphous blob any more, but truly himself!

"I…" Stanley practically flew across the distance between them and threw his arms around his twin. "I'm so glad you're alive!" He could feel his brother in his arms! He was really here in the flesh! "Wait…" Stanley stopped that line of thinking and just stayed in the moment. "He is alive. He is here. That is all that matters!"

Lee hugged him back just as hard and they stayed there as long as they could. But unfortunately, there was still more to do… Stanley could tell that they were still inside of the Soul space, and inside the newly improved Fortress. He looked up the new Skill, wondering if that was why he could hug his brother now.

[Twin-Soul Mental Fortress(Initiate I)](Unique)(Passive)

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Leave Undefended. Two Minds Even More So. Protect and Strengthen Your Minds Inside a Mental Fortress Sheltered Within Your Twin-Soul.

Greatly Increases Defense Against Mental Attacks or Intrusions. Anything Attempting to Touch Your Mind, Must Breach Both the Fortress and Your Soul.

All Twin-Soul Attributes Added to Mental Defense.

+50% of Mental Attributes Added to Soul Defense.

It didn't explain why… and he didn't care. He reluctantly pulled back, "Lee, I…" he paused when he finally noticed the black band around his brother's neck. It was the same darkness that he had been fighting… "I'll destroy it!"

Lee winced sympathetically as pain shot through Stanley's mind. "Yea," Lee said, "it doesn't like defiance. Even just thinking about removing it hurts."

"Fuck." Stanley had to look away because he kept giving himself pulses of pain from glaring at the thing. "Can you… do anything?"

"The good news," Lee said, "is that whatever you and Caff were doing in here, it fucked up the binding." He shivered. "It went from a Collar of Absolute Obedience, to Collar of Obedience. I can't imagine how bad that would have been…"

"That's something… wait, did you see Caff?" Stanley asked, "Is he in here?"

Lee smiled slightly but it didn't last. "Come see." He lifted off the ground and flew up towards the blackness overhead. He smiled again at the look Stanley must have been giving him. "Just will yourself up, this isn't reality." Stanley only hesitated a moment before following. They were inside their Soul and gravity wasn't a thing here… duh.

Lee led them into one of the apartments and Stanley was surprised again to see furniture in the living room. "This is my place," Lee said, "in the real world, in the real Three…"

"I still don't know why my Skill looks like this building," Stanley said into the quiet moment.

Lee shrugged. "Don't know, but I'm guessing it must have been something to do with our Soul being used to create Three." He moved to the porch. "Come out here," Lee said, "Don't worry, I've been adding my own touches to this place while you slept. It won't get inside here anymore."

Stanley tentatively followed him outside, ready to go to war against the darkness again if necessary, but it was indeed held back.

At the edge of the blackness, Lee pointed up. "Look closely, it's hard to see him in the dark."

Stanley looked but only saw more black. He was about to give up when he saw an area that was darker, a thick ring of… something bad. "The Collar." Very bad… It circled out of sight to either side and loomed large with horrible promise above the Fortress. But almost directly overhead, with gleaming white teeth clamped around that ring of nightmares, Stanley saw the towering black pug. "Caff…" He could make out Caffeine's front legs now, like giant sequoias they stood there, planted firmly on either side of this place as the pug stood guard over Stanley's Mental Fortress.

It was a strange perspective and he couldn't tell if he had shrunk or if his Soul was bigger... "Or," he thought, "this small Fortress is the only area left that is free of the collar's influence." Stanley clenched his fists and whispered, "good boy, Caff." He really hoped Caffeine would hear him.

"Beast Lord indeed…" Lee murmured, "As for the bad news, look down."

Stanley looked down towards where the ground should be and saw a faint white line that ran underneath the Fortress. A Crack. A glowing crack in their Soul. It took a moment to realize that it wasn't actually any dimmer, it was getting swarmed. Against the backdrop of the light, Stanley could now see the thicker, denser tendrils of darkness that were stretching down from the ring and reaching for the crack.

"So the bad news," Lee said, "is that the collar is a goddamned Legendary Artifact that says it was 'Source-Forged'. I don't know what that means for us exactly, but it's definitely bad."

"No shit." Stanley cursed.

"The other bad news is that I am currently outside of my actual Fortress and surrounded by enemies, who have all of my friends and allies as hostages. Oh and I think the leader of our Fort betrayed us to the aliens." He paused and then added, "I'm pretty sure it's the aliens that attacked that first night… I thought they died but at least one must have survived, and brought back this collar for me… They must know about the Source, Stanley."

This was so not good. "I should have gotten back already! Fuck!" Stanley was seething with impotent rage and really wished he had a pug to make him feel better. Lee hugged him. "Oh, that works too."

"I know you have your own problems over there, Stanley. I saw them first hand, remember?" Lee murmured. "We survived that, and we'll beat these fuckers too."

"Think we can break it with the Source?" Stanley finally asked, "How are your Attributes?"

"I am just over two-hundred," Lee said, "and I really hope so, but I'm worried about that 'Source-Forged' tag."

"Damn," Stanley cursed and shook his head, "I'm over four-hundred now. But maybe if Caffeine can dump some more Attributes on you like last time? That might work…"

"That is our last resort," Lee said, "I have some ideas to try first and I'm almost ready."

"I'll keep working on this shit," Stanley waved outside. "see if I can get it away from the crack."

"I suspect that every bit will help," Lee said and sat down on his couch, "but doesn't it hurt?"

"It does," Stanley grunted, "but only a little." it was truly nothing to the pain he had felt when he thought Lee was dying.

"It's good to see you," Lee said. A glowing tapestry of magical symbols formed in front of him and he started muttering to himself while tapping at the shifting pattern.

Stanley nodded and grit his teeth. Then he started hammering away at binding darkness invading their Soul. It hurt, of course. "I hope you can keep me going, Zeke." Stanley could only put his faith in the young man and his allies. He didn't know how much time had passed but they should be back at the Tower by now. "Adrian can help with healing." Stanley slowly ramped up his mental acceleration as he fought the dark, trying to gauge if he could tell the difference, or if he could feel any adverse effects through the pain of the collar. There was so very much of that shit out there and so little time…