Elisa watched, in horror, as blood seeped from out of Ezrael's wound.

She had managed to extract the bullet, the boy anguished cries almost distracted her and there was something primal about seeing blood spilling, it was worsening her jitters.

Now she was furiously trying to use what her son promised would heal Ezrael's injury, hand over the wound she poured energy forth with the image of a cross shining like a beacon in her mind.

Disturbing, was how nearby blood flowed back into the wound, the abdominal muscles spasming in pain, Ezrael's screams deafening all else.

The overlay of flesh scabbed over, but the skin was clearly still swelling and bruising visibly, so she poured and pushed even more of her energy forth.

She felt some new yet odd sensation weaken, it was near the middle of her chest, in came from within her chest but not in her chest, did that make sense?

Somehow as that sensation weakened, she felt the flow of energy slow to a crawl, and no matter how much she pushed and fought it mattered little as the energy dwindled slowly.

Soon it was dry, there but an ineffectual sensation of weariness turned to complete exhaustion, she could push no more.

'That..was...intense?' Elisa marveled at the sensation of weakness, pushing a muscle until the brink of collapse, the release of stress that was the essence of what she felt.

As Ezrael's screams quieted to groaning she sighed, there was nothing more she could do.

Worry and hope were everything she could feel now, her emotions in conflict.

Ezrael was clutching his wound panting, or was it wheezing, both? Elisa really did not know the difference.

The couch Ezrael lay on was covered in blood and with his exposed chest it lent a feeling of a ritual occurring, Elisa blushed when she realized she had been pressing on his abdomen, it was indecent.

'I definitely can't do this to Eian.' Elisa shuddered at her reaction if she heard her baby screaming like this.

The young boy's sobbing alerted her that time was still rolling forth, she held herself realizing she was shaking.

She heard muffled sounds as Eian spoke to the boy, hopefully comforting, she realized she had to go there.

Walking away from Ezrael, Elisa approached the door the two boys were in.

"Ma?" Eian looked at her, she was shaking.

"I...I think it's done... No, it's done." Elisa clarified.

"And my Dad?" Junior was watching her with teary eyes, Elisa wasn't sure how old the boy was but he couldn't be more than twelve.

"He just needs some rest. Go check on him, don't bother him too much." Elisa shooed him away, the boy bolted leaving both Elisa and her son alone.

Eian hugged her, she welcomed the embrace, they were family, they supported one another in hard times and she was glad he never treated her badly how other teenagers treated their parents.

"Ma? How are you? How is he?" Eian asked she was still shaking.

"He's...I can't know. There, there was just so much blood." Elisa admitted.

"It's fine ma, look at me I'm fine and I lost some blood too." Eian pointed to the angry red claw marks he had, Elisa cringed.

"We need to get those healed as soon as possible also." Elisa touched the wounds reminding him, Eian winced.

"I'm fine it already stopped bleeding, nothing serious was hit either." Eian shrugged.

"You'll still get sick. The hospitals are likely already looted also." Elisa scolded him, but they already had this argument so she knew his answer.

"No problem, you can just heal it later. His abdominal injury could be more serious, so heal that first." Eian repeated what he had told her before helping the man.

Elisa sighed, she was not sure what to make of his new attitude, he was much more intense ever since that nightmare of a dream-world experience, commanding even.

Her son was a lot of things, immunity to pain from injury was not one of them, he would complain about physical education class and be never immune to slacking off on his off time.

In her opinion, her son was smart enough to excel in school, perhaps not enough to get a scholarship like his friend, but he never needed summer school and sometimes forgot to do his homework.

He could have the mental drive needed, she knew he could, whenever he saw his grades dropping he would focus, relentlessly hunting down his goal, but once they went up he slacked again, he did just enough to get by and pass with about average marks.

Weary, Elisa plopped down on the bed taking note of the ceiling of this particular room, it was a child's room and had some sort of cloth atop the ceiling depicting stars.

Elisa briefly wondered where everyone else went, the streets had been completely devoid of people after their escape.

Thinking she wondered if they fled the city, it was a small one after-all perhaps the police or someone else had rescued them.

Elisa decided they had to find somewhere safer as well, so far the monsters were easily killed by them, especially by her son, that last monster was menacing and for a moment she froze and that there were monsters that strong to begin with was concerning.

'More people, better walls, and food.' Elisa listed her thoughts, so far they mostly scavenged leftover meal-materials the tenant of the house had left.

Staring as they waited Elisa felt the tension grow between her son and herself, she remembered how he killed those men.

He killed bad men, true, but that he could do such things and walk it off the next day had her worried, power was a dangerous thing, it corrupted the hearts of good men.

The image of Eian stomping that poor man's skull into a bloody pulp would haunt her for weeks if not years, she worried for him, what if he became cold and indifferent to such things?

Every good mother wanted what was best for her child, Elisa wanted her son to be a successful and good man, upright and honest.

She had researched men's clothing, choosing respectable clothes for him, insisting his attire be impeccable, lack of money did not justify dressing like someone off the street.

Eian recently had begun slacking off on her teachings, much to her detriment, he no longer listened to her every word like an obedient wonderful baby boy he had been, she blamed that rotten Edward, despoiling him so with his slobbish views on the world.

No matter what she said he seemed determined to look little better than a hoodlum, how was he to get a good job looking that way?

First impressions were everything at a new job, a worry that was likely irrelevant now, however, or at least for the foreseeable future.

She had given him space about the dead men, hoping he would speak to her about the issue but he seemed to have forgotten already, as though killing was the way of the world now.

It was difficult for her to admit, but perhaps she had done a poor job as a mother, everyone said a good child needed a good father and mother, she tried but perhaps it was too much for her to fill both roles?

She had no idea what young boys wanted or did in their free time, she scolded and was hard on him because that was how HER father had been to her.

That did bring some unwelcome memories with Eian's father, the running and the fear, but thinking on that too perhaps she had been too hasty, it was a bad habit she had never managed to leave behind.

"Sweetheart..." Elisa started.

"Yes?" Eian turned to her, his gaze questioning.

"I want to talk to you. About what happened back at...that place before we escaped." Elisa burst into a fit of nervousness, hoping he would respond well.

"...Did they hurt you?" Eian's eyes hardened and he patted her shoulder reassuringly.

"No. Not that. I mean those men you killed." Elisa opened her mouth to continue but found herself lacking words.

Eians eyes clouded over, face slackened and he stared at her with worry.

"I...They were bad people and we needed to escape." Eian took a deep breath and his eyes grew hard again, resolved.

"I... I know I'm worried about you. Killing...it is not something to just brush off sweetie." Elisa placed her hand on his reassuringly.

"I'm fine ma." Eian slowly retracted his hand away from hers, his face a mask.

"Are you sure? I love you sweetie and you can always talk to me." Elisa frowned, was he growing ashamed of her worry?

"Thanks, ma, but I'm good. Remember they had guns so it might have been us if I hadn't acted." Eian nodded and gave her a soft smile.

It worried her that he thought that way, but he seemed adamant not to talk about his feelings, Elisa sighed when did parenting get so hard?

They spoke some more on other topics, distracting themselves on old times and what they could do, eventually Elisa drifted to her bed, Eian said he would stay up a while longer, but she was too tired to think.

Bedding down, Elisa closed her eyes and prayed to alleviate her worries, faith would get her through, it had worked before whenever things were hard, and dark days lay ahead.

*****

Eian stayed up late, he was glad his mother was still on his side despite having killed people, bad people true, but living people none the less.

Fears tend to not listen to reason and he was not sure how he would take it if his mother judged him evil, it had always been just him and her.

His feelings on the killings were a bit complicated, a tiny vicious part of himself enjoyed hurting bad people, but for the most part, he felt it had been a necessary evil.

The social part of himself, ingrained into him by school told him what he did was an evil act, but that was a part easy to ignore, his mother and his own safety were all that mattered in the end.

Walking over to check on Ezrael he looked at the man, his breathing had calmed and while he still looked pale his wound looked mostly healed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better. Like I'll live." Ezrael smiled.

"Good. Then...I think we can go our own ways tomorrow." Eian exhaled the breathe he was holding.

"What? Why?" Ezrael shot up and winced.

"We escaped. Mister, look it's nothing personal but your power. Well, it's dangerous." Eian nodded feeling only slightly guilty.

"Ah. Well...can you reconsider? Please, and no offense I did help you escape. Plus I really think we cover each other's weaknesses." Ezrael grimaced.

"You can read my mind, and you do it without my permission with me unknowingly, how can I ever trust you?" Eian raised his brows.

Eian was half convinced Ezrael had already brainwashed him to help him in some way.

"I. Look I can teach you and your mother how to defend against me and other Psychics. I can do it only because you have no defense in that area." Ezrael clarified.

Eian looked at him questioningly, mildly intrigued, that did sound useful, but was it worth the risk?

"Alright how?" Eian asked, he was intrigued but also worried Ezrael might get desperate and Dominate his mind, he should have put more thought into this.

"It has to do with your mindscape," Ezrael explained, turning himself to sit, wincing at every movement.

"Mindscape?" Eian wasn't sure if he had heard it before, did Ul tell him about it?

"Inner mind or subconscious world are other words. Listen you'll need at least five in Mind to construct it properly." Ezrael explained.

Then he had to go out hunting, and he had just chosen to put another point into spirit recently.

His debacle with the collector must have given him enough, or close to because even after he hit full power he had a remaining point.

Tired as he was, his core empty and spirit recovering it had to wait for another day.

"I only have four in there." Eian sighed, referring to his mind points.

"Then we can work on that later." Ezrael seemed self-satisfied with his convincing.

"You can teach my mom then." Eian frowned, feeling used and trying to get something first.

"Oh? She has that many points?" Ezrael seemed surprised.

"Why does that surprise you?" Eian knew but he asked anyway, skeptically he narrowed his eyes, anger mounting.

"Oh? Well, I sort of assumed...well since she had no guide in the dream." Ezrael chuckled softly, licking his lips.

"Great, so you are in the fucking habit of poking in everyone's head." Eian was definitely pissed.

"Hey...I'm sorry but I needed to know what kind of people you were, my son's wellbeing is at stake here." Ezrael raised his hands in mock surrender.

Eian grit his teeth, wrestling with the urge to berate the man, he held off in the end somehow, but that had to stop.

"Look. I'll stay, and you'll teach us, but if I find you are somehow manipulating me. I'm leaving." Eian growled.

"Understood and I am sorry but my son comes first." Ezrael nodded, helplessly shrugging after.

Annoyed Eian decided to get some fresh air, he stepped outside and sat on the porch.

He scanned the darkness, his eyes unfailing and mind sharp, he enjoyed the brisk air for a moment, standing there he felt his eyelids begin to droop.

He heard a noise in the distance and shot up, looking around he saw nothing and everything remained silent save for buzzing insects.

'I need some sleep.' Eian rubbed his weary eyes and stepped inside, barring the door.

*****

Waking Eian stretched, feeling refreshed as well as glad nothing had broken into the house during the night.

Staring out he noticed it seemed close to noon, he supposed it was normal as he had gone to sleep late as well as exhausted.

Getting off the couch he stretched, relaxing for the first time in a while, his stomach growled, loudly.

"Ma?" Eian got up off the bed and exited what seemed a teenagers bed, the game posters, and undersized clothing led to the assumption.

He heard bustling around as well as unhurried footsteps, exiting the room he found a strange scene, along with someone he recognized.

The red-haired woman was sitting drinking something that appeared to be a cup of water while the other two adults spoke.

It was so bizarre, so unreal Eian rubbed the fog from his eyes to ensure he was seeing right.

"Sweetie? Are you awake? Let's get that treated." Elisa pointed at his scabbing chest.

The healing was quick and easy, Elisa's healing seemed to be faster than Alex's had been, Eian wondered why was the dream not wholly accurate or had something changed?

"Breakfast? Brunch?" Elisa asked after he was healed properly, a neat set of scars ran through his chest.

"I'm fine, what's she doing here?" Eian pointed at the red-haired woman.

"First of all, it's rude to point, manners sweetheart, also Kristal here was unsure of where else to go." Elisa clarified.

Eian closed his eyes and sighed, apparently they were taking in strays now, another mouth to feed, which depending on food stores may be a problem.

He was also worried they would keep getting more and more people, how would they feed them all and how would they know they were good people?

As Eian thought of the problem he noticed Ezrael's previous point of view on reading their minds if roles were reversed would he do it to Ezrael?

His answer soured his mood instantly, still, it did not mean Ezrael was trustworthy yet.

"I'm also grateful for your help Miss Elisa." Kristal nodded with a smile, oblivious to Eian's thoughts.

"Oh, not at all, I barely knew what I was doing." Elisa blushed and smiled prettily at the compliment.

Those two women continued speaking, while weird it made him glad his mother had a woman to speak to, he knew he would feel weird surrounded by women.

Eian turned to look at the two Ezraels, father and son were poking at their respective food, seemingly in deep thought.

Shrugging it off, Eian walked and joined them at the table, a plate of food was untouched, likely his.

Digging in Eian quickly stuffed full his mouth swallowing the food down, his meal vanished.

"So." Ezrael cleared his throat getting their attention.

"Yes?" Elisa tilted her head in question.

"Your son. Eian wants me to teach you how to form your mindscape." Ezrael did not mention anything else from last night.

"My what?" Elisa turned her head at Eian.

"It's to protect your mind ma," Eian repeated Ezrael's vague explanation.

"It has many other benefits also." Ezrael nodded but tilting his hand in a vague gesture.

"Excuse me, but what are you all talking about?" Kristal interrupted.

Eian closed his eyes and sighed, would they have to explain everything a thousand times?

This presented a problem if they joined more people or vice versa, how many would need teaching?

Also, Eian was not the type to trust just anyone, even this young woman could potentially be dangerous.

"It's a defense against situations like yours." Ezrael tsked at Kristal.

"Situations...like mine?" Kristal's eyes grew confused, Eian noticed a trace of fear.

"Yes, you were clearly possessed by some...being capable of using Psychic energy. A malevolent one at that." Ezrael nodded solemnly.

"Then...can I learn, also?" Kristal was much more focused on Ezrael now.

"I...well not now. If you were possessed in the first place your Mind likely had to be low, to begin with. Either that or something powerful attacked you. How high is your Mind?" Ezrael tilted his head in question.

Kristal mumbled an answer, which even Eian had trouble hearing, at further prompting she answered again.

"Three." Kristal looked down at the table.

Eian frowned, he had begun at three at first, was he liable to be possessed at four also?

"Yes. Average. You'll need at least two more in there I'm afraid." Ezrael shook his head.

"I don't see why I even need it. We should be looking for somewhere safe." Elisa frowned at glanced at the door.

Ezrael looked at Eian dumbfounded, he raised an eyebrow at him in question before shrugging and looking back at his mother.

"Missus Elisa I'm surprised your son has not told you, there is no place safe. Not anymore. I'm sure you have taken note of the lack of police officers, military personnel and other types of law enforcement? The truth is they likely have their hands full already. I'm not even sure they are still operational." Ezrael explained.

Both of them only had an instant to process that, Eian already had a bit of this talk with his mother but perhaps it would click more from a stranger.

"Why?" Both Elisa and Kristal blurted out.

"...How would I know? Maybe there is a bigger threat, maybe they are focusing mostly on certain areas? There could truly be a million reasons why, but we need to proceed as if no help from the government will be forthcoming." Ezrael said staring at them both intently.

Ezrael painted a grisly picture to the two women, sparing not even his son, who did not bat an eye to all this.

Describing the worst case scenario of having to rebuild civilization, all while fighting the newly mutated creatures in the world.

Their only advantage was now magic, all three new energies ready for humans to dive into and master, together with their advanced education perhaps they could even rise to greater heights than before.

Ezrael went into a few steps they would first have to reach, training warriors for defense and organizing themselves.

Throughout the whole thing Eian raised an eyebrow, it seemed as though Ezrael had put a bit of thought into this.

By the looks of it, he also seemed to want to establish himself as capable, perhaps to make himself the leader.

Eian had no problems with listening to Ezrael's advice if it made sense, but he would sooner eat shit before following a man with an inflated ego and Eian wasn't sure which one Ezrael was yet.

God knew Eian wanted very little role in leadership, babysitting people seemed like a hassle, so Ezrael was welcome to that role but Eian and his mother were leaving if things got ugly or stupid.

"...I...I understand, but what can we do?" Elisa was forlorn.

"Relax ma, I can handle the monsters." Eian inputted, he didn't want her to fall into depression or something.

"For now," Ezrael added.

"What?" Eian turned to look at him with a frown.

"I'm sure you can handle everything for now, but the monsters will only get stronger. To keep up we need to keep growing also." Ezrael clarified.

"I know, I'm planning on hunting today." Eian flattened his frown into a neutral expression.

"Will that... Listen...Eian, you are strong but one person can only go so far alone. If you are out fighting, who will defend the base? Who will grow food? Who will create armor, housing, and weapons?" Ezrael changed tack.

"There's plenty to scavenge." Eian scoffed.

"As I said, for now. What about a year from now? Two or ten? You are thinking short term. You can't just wander about forever hoping to find everything." Ezrael explained.

"I know that. It's obvious, but we need to get strong enough first or the monsters will just kill us." Eian argued.

As a matter of fact, Eian still wasn't a hundred percent sure he trusted Ezrael, nor his power 'Dominion'.

"Yes, but you're only looking at pieces. When people don't have something they don't just go around making or finding it, they ask others for help and trade for it. That's how you build society." Ezrael argued.

"We don't have to build society. People are still out there." Eian argued.

They went back and forth on a few things before realizing they were both just speaking the same thing but in different sequences.

Eian's idea was more, get strong then look for other strong people to build with, Ezrael's found people and start building and grow strong together.

The end result was much the same, simply a difference of priorities.

In the end, they simply agreed to whichever came first, if they found a group of good people who were holding out they could join them, meanwhile they would try to increase they fighting potential as much as possible.

As they were speaking of groups, an errant thought entered his mind, Russel and Edward were likely still looking for a way to free him.

'Oh shit, wait. Fuck!' Eian stood suddenly, those bastards knew Eian and Edward were connected somehow!

They likely went looking for them at Edwards house, those murderous bastards were capable of anything.

While Edward was a bad friend, Eian didn't want him dead, and Russel had always been a good friend to him.

There was also the matter of whatever family both of them had over, he really had not thought things through by just escaping randomly.