Stanley hovered in the air, a sleepy pug in his lap.

Caffeine, while sleepy, was, as always, never too tired for snacks, and he perked up for each excited child that brought treats for him.

It was a good thing that the cook had a soft spot for the children because he definitely wasn't a fan of Stanley's after their first meeting. Stanley could still feel the nervous glances sent his way.

Stanley ignored it. He was used to that reaction, and with the kids acting as go-betweens, Caffeine still got extra snacks.

Walter was resting as well, more to conserve his power than any fatigue, while Adrian burned cheerfully in his lap.

Walter had decided to share the secret of the healing egg, partly because Evan had guessed correctly on how he had been saved and also because he thought Adrian would want to help. A theory Stanley was inclined to agree with, given how Adrian was clearly happier now. It helped that the people here seemed to actually be a decent bunch.

Together, Walter and Adrian had patched up the odd missing body part, from eyes, toes, and fingers all the way up to arms and legs. It turned out that Stanley's own crazy Regeneration Skill was still a rarity out here. People regenerated over time, but only to a point. Wounds would close, and bleeding would stop, but the missing pieces didn't grow back. Obviously, Adrian was a hit, and it had left the entire camp in a very upbeat mood.

All despite the fact that Stanley's group had stirred up a world of trouble on the surface. Trouble that was unfortunately not going away anytime soon.

"This is probably my fault." After word got out, people shared what was known about the orb weavers, and the most common reason for their appearance was generally agreed to be overhunting in an area. "I should have left the hunting to Daryl…"

Stanley wasn't wasting all his time on self-recriminations. After all, he had gained a reward for his mistakes.

Skill [Split Minds] Level Up.

[Split Minds(Adept I)](Epic)

Reaching the Adept Rank had added another Split, and Stanley had more than enough minds to ruminate while still being useful. "Squish." Another spider died to the north. "Weee!" A spider to the east went for a long flight across the street. "Poke!" That one just skittered in a confused circle to the southwest. All of them were the tiny old-school spiders that now covered almost every inch of the city that Stanley could feel.

He had gone for a sightseeing trip to the north earlier after he was satisfied that no one was going to start shit while he was gone. The camp's stone manipulator had opened a tunnel from the other end, and Stanley flew through the subway tunnels to the north. He'd found more tiny spiders, some even beginning to fill the subway near the stations. Fortunately, their being so small meant that Stanley had plenty of room to fly well clear of any interactions.

The interactions had begun once he reached the river, or at least once his mind could reach the river.

It was still devoid of Souls, and Stanley couldn't pick out anything past the near-omnipresent cloud of tiny spider Souls. While he did feel… something from the water. It might have just been his imagination or fear playing tricks on him. Whatever it was, the water felt off, and Stanley wasn't about to trust it. At the very least, not until he could sense some actual aquatic life in there.

The worst part was the water filling the subway where the tunnel dipped down to run under the river. Stanley was using the light bending still, and his silent presence garnered no reaction from the water. Not that he got any closer. He didn't know if this was just water or if the acid was sneaking in too. He also couldn't tell either way by looking at it.

It didn't hurt his suspicions that the tiny spider he threw in immediately dissolved…

The orb weaver coming to investigate the death wasn't entirely unexpected, but it was disappointing. Especially when it kicked a hole through the street and into the subway yet didn't get close to the water above or below. Neither the acid nor the spider did anything to each other after that, and Stanley wasn't even sure if either knew the other was there.

Throwing a cup-sized glob of the water onto the spider was equally disappointing. Stanley hoped it would be a weapon to use against them, or at the least to turn the two enemies against each other, but the acid water barely left a visible mark on the chiton, and the spider only stepped further away when Stanley went for the eyes.

The liquid had a heaviness to it that Stanley associated with something akin to the tiny spiders, but it also diminished in acidic potency and weight with distance from the main body of water. How that worked, he had no idea, and all attempts to lure the monsters together failed. His efforts did draw more orb weavers north, however, and Stanley retreated when the spiders entering the subway started drawing webs across the tunnel's interior.

His harassment of the bugs did lead to one helpful bit of knowledge; they eventually got tired of investigating every little disturbance, which led to Stanley's current activities.

"Rip." He knocked down some webbing in a doorway.

They might need to travel through the streets again, and while Stanley could handle these little bugs with ease, he really didn't want to meet another orb weaver while they were out there. He figured that he wouldn't even need to kill any of the small ones, it was easy enough to lift them clear of himself or others, and he was just getting the arachnids used to the idea that sometimes shit happened for no reason.

Stanley felt a bubbly Soul rush up to him, get a hand covered in slobber, and run away giggling.

The pile of meat, if you could call spider flesh meat, brought a grim smile to Stanley's face. He hadn't settled for simply harassing the orb weaver.

Stanley opened his eyes and looked at the knife in his hand.

It was nearly black, with traces of violet and indigo swirling over the surface. Tiny specks of blue-white light flickered in that darkness like stars in the night sky.

Stanley had finally found a way to see his Soul.

Sitting in the dark while his two mortal enemies ignored each other had been… annoying. In a fit of anger, Stanley had lashed out with his Soul against the arachnid.

And it worked… sort of.

The spider was obviously in pain and disoriented, but it wasn't dying. The blade he sent into its head likewise failed to end the monster and, worse, got lost inside.

Stanley sent another, and this time focused his Soul around the blade as it went. That spur-of-the-moment idea worked better than he could have hoped.

The Soul-coated weapon cut through everything in its path with almost no resistance, and even better, he could still control it while the blade was inside the spider.

It did, however, cost him some Soul…

-1 Twin-Soul

-1 Twin-Soul

-1 Twin-Soul

The cost came only when he'd punched into the giant arachnid or maybe when hitting its Soul. It then continued to burn while inside the monster, at least while it was still alive. Stanley wasn't a hundred percent on exactly how it was interacting, but he didn't care. The cost was negligible for such a powerful weapon, and with their Undying Soul, even that wasn't really an actual cost.

It turned out that he'd had a potent weapon all along. Stanley wasn't even sure if the spiders would sense the weapon like they did Eve's Soul since, technically, it was still inside the Soul Shield.

It hadn't really mattered this time because Stanley turned the inside of the Orb Weaver's head into a whirling blender…

That finished the job and had drawn the additional orb weavers rushing to his location. Stanley also thought he'd seen some extra ripples in the acidic water, but if the acid knew he was there, it had chosen not to attack, which sucked because it would have been a perfect opportunity to get the spiders and acid to fight each other.

Instead, Stanley had retreated with the Core…

+10 All Base Attributes

…which was better than nothing.

His attack had succeeded in drawing most of the increased spider activity to the north and away from their location here, but not all of it…

"Pretty!" a voice said. Caffeine abruptly standing and turning around in his lap, and a spike of fear nearby both brought Stanley from his musings in time to see the small hand reaching for his Soul-coated knife. Time slowed to a crawl as adrenaline triggered Stanley's by now instinctive use of his meditation, and he moved the knife away from the innocent little fingers that wanted to grab the sparkly thing.

"It really is beautiful…" Stanley thought as he looked at his Soul right before pulling it from the weapon to rejoin the rest where it belonged. And it was beautiful, if a bit… dark. Stanley wasn't sure what that meant since pretty much every Soul he'd seen so far had been far brighter than his.

Caffeine intercepted the child's hand with slobbering licks, and Stanley put the knife away in his new holster before he accidentally gave Adrian someone else to heal.

The holster was a present from Walter, who procured it from a camp member. It was crafted from spider silk and chiton and held eight blades in a surprisingly comfortable arrangement that was all hidden beneath the suit jacket Stanley wore.

Eve had supplied the weapons themselves, and Stanley had already proven that he could wield four Soul-coated blades at once, at least if he wanted to reserve one split mind for the Soul Shield, which he definitely did.

The little boy was dragged away by his mother, who gave Stanley an almost friendly smile that belied the fear in her Soul. This fear wasn't truly aimed at Stanley, though, only a natural worry of a mother for her child when he does something dangerous. Really only the cook and maybe Bartholomew were afraid of Stanley. The rest looked at him more reverentially ever since he'd returned with a massive amount of Orb Weaver 'meat' and showed Eve his new weapon.

Eve had taken the news with mixed results. On the one hand, she was glad he could kill the 'big fuckers,' but she also grumbled about 'overpowered bullshit.'

After that, nearly every parent in the camp, and there were a lot of them, had brought their younger children to him and asked Stanley to take them as an Apprentice. Some even went as far as telling him that he could take the child away with him if he only gave them his Class.

Stanley had no desire to take an Apprentice and even less to practically adopt a child he would need to be responsible for, but it was still a sobering reminder of how fucked up the world was now that they would go to such lengths.

It also was a testament to the fact that having a good Class could provide more than personal power alone. People with powerful Classes would be able to leverage that power for far more. Alliances would be forged, kingdoms built, and armies… grown. At that thought, Stanley had asked Eve whether Nate had Apprentices, and her reply was basically, "Duh."

Nevertheless, it was all moot for Stanley and these people. As he'd half expected and was silently relieved by, they all had terrible Affinity for the Class. A fact that Stanley was sure came from the Soul part of Soul Psionic. Some probably would have been able to take his original Class, but all of them had terribly weak Souls at the moment.

Stanley had reluctantly brought up the idea of using his Soul on them to Eve; unlocking the Soul attribute would probably be a good start on raising their Affinity, as well as likely just a beneficial bonus when it came to class or race Evolutions.

Eve had looked like she wanted to shoot him, albeit while reluctantly agreeing that it might make them all stronger. She had chickened out in the end and passed the buck to Walter, who, for his part, passed it to Bartholomew as the leader of these people.

Even now, Bartholomew was quietly discussing the matter with the cook, who had confirmed unlocking the hidden attribute. Probably he was trying to ascertain what the experience had been like and just how unpleasant it was.

Stanley knew it wasn't fun.

Eve was giving him the stink eye, probably for playing with himself around the children… "Wow, that sounds bad!" But she was mostly paying attention to the map that was being created for them.

Turns out that a bunch of diehard New Yorkers willing to fight for their city against an army of giant spiders actually knew the city quite well. The map already had nearly every street marked, as well as the subways and the other known human hideouts. They had guesses for others and had offered up where they suspected Zeke was based on Stanley's input.

It was almost done, and they would be moving on. The only hold-up now was the stone mover guy that was digging a new tunnel to get around the spiders outside the collapsed section.

Stanley could feel the man's Soul coming back their way when Bartholomew stepped up behind him.

"I would like to go first. If you're still willing, that is…" He started boldly but trailed off. Nevertheless, a wave of silence spread through the underground at his words.

"I want to see your Skill," Stanley said in return, "and see if I can get past it."

"Okay…" Bartholomew nodded hesitantly, and then he… shifted.

There was no visible change, but Stanley could no longer feel the man with his mental touch. He pushed harder, trying to find something to latch onto, and failed. "What the hell!" It felt like there was nothing there, even though he could clearly see Bartholomew and feel his Soul right in front of him. "Fine then. How about this…" Stanley drove his Soul against the other man's, and this time there was an effect.

Bartholomew grunted and stumbled, but unlike the cook, he didn't immediately collapse. Instead, he held his ground, trying to endure the onslaught and stay conscious while glaring at Stanley.

Stanley could feel the futility of Bartholomew's resistance, his own Twin-Soul was an immense mountain toppling down on the man, and it would crush…

"Stop!" Bartholomew gasped, falling to one knee right as Stanley felt something change in the man's Soul.

Stanley pulled back. "Right. I've unlocked people's Soul attribute without knocking them out before."

"I got it," Bartholomew said, still trying to catch his breath, "wish you would have warned me, though…"

"I… uh, thought it would help you evolve the Skill," Stanley cleverly lied. He'd actually just been upset that the guy was able to avoid his Psionic Power. That was some cheating bull…

Eve burst out laughing, and Stanley looked over to see Walter shaking his head next to her. Bartholomew was also giving Stanley an odd look…

"Ah, I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Bartholomew nodded hesitantly.

"Don't worry about it, Bart," Eve said, "you must have a great Skill if this overpowered bastard thinks it's cheating."

"Thanks?" Bartholomew seemed a bit warier as he moved off and started discussing the experience with his people.

A few of the more macho folks came immediately to Stanley, and he knocked them out. Not all were created equal, after all. A few more managed to stay awake, and Stanley went quickly through the volunteers.

It all stopped when one of the parents asked him to unlock their kid's Soul. "You first," Stanley said.

He shook his head. "Just the kid. He wants this. Tell em, Tommy."

"I… I do, Mister." Stanley didn't need the furtive glance back at his father to tell him that this wasn't his idea. So he obliged by unlocking the father's Soul instead.

Stanley caught the abruptly unconscious man and set him down gently while raising his voice to the others. "I can see your fuck…" He saw all the wide-eyed children staring at him. "Uh, your Souls, so don't fucking… goddamn it! You can't lie to me!" What was a little foul language in the apocalypse…

A few people stepped back at his proclamation, and Stanley's original estimation of these people's character dropped a few notches.

To his credit, the lying father did wake up quickly, and Stanley loomed over him when he did. "Do you still want me to do that to your kid?"

To his further credit, the man shook his head. "No… and thank you, Sir." He collected Tommy and retreated.

A few more adults still came forward, and Stanley did his thing. Until a little voice behind him said, "me too!"

Stanley looked down at the tiny little girl. She was one of those offered up as an Apprentice and the one with the highest Affinity at forty percent. She had also been prolific in feeding Caffeine, and he jumped down to greet her excitedly.

"Sorry, Mister." The girl's mother hurried forward to collect her. "She doesn't know what she's saying."

"I do! I want to be stronger!" the girl protested, dodging away from her mother's reaching grasp.

"Youthful exuberance… and naivete." Stanley thought he remembered her name from the Apprentice request. "Sara? How old are you?"

"Mommy says I'm three!" She held up three fingers. "Will you teach me to fly if I get the Soul?"

"No," Stanley said and mused, "three years old…" Something was tickling at the back of his mind.

"She is three months old," her mother said, and Stanley realized what was bothering him.

"Jesus Christ! She's literally a baby!" Stanley felt sick.

"I'm not a baby! Babies are one, and I am three!"

Stanley just stared at her. "We are the monsters in a dungeon… and it wouldn't be a dungeon without the monsters…" How long would it take before the earth was full of child soldiers? A year? Less? This was so fucked up…

"You have a potty mouth," Sara said, interrupting his thoughts.

Stanley shook his head. "Not happening, Sara. You've got a few more years to play before you…" he trailed off. Before what? Before she went to the front lines of a never-ending war? God damn it, this was fucked up!

"Please, Mister Standely, I want to be strong and stop the bad spiders and get the strings so Mommy can make her pretty cloths!" Sara was running in circles to avoid her mother but stopped when her mother stumbled and fell behind her at the pronouncement.

Stanley could feel her heart breaking, and he knew why all too well. They were in hell. That had to be it. What else could explain this nightmare?

Caffeine was running happily along in the game of chase, and he followed Sara back to her mother before helpfully licking the tears off her down-turned face. Sara hugged her. "It's okay, Mommy. I will be strong, and you won't have to cry anymore!"

Everyone was watching the exchange, and Stanley felt the earlier cheer from the healing event fading fast. Reality could be too cruel sometimes.

Stanley found himself leaning toward doing as she asked. The girl wasn't lying about it being her choice… but did it even matter? She was a baby! Stanley looked at Eve, but she was staring at the mother-daughter duo, her body tense and eyes glistening with unshed tears. Her Soul inclined Stanley to believe she was thinking about her own little brother… and what the world had thrust onto his shoulders. But Zeke had turned out fine… hadn't he?

Walter was no help either. He only shrugged slightly when Stanley met his gaze.

"Fine," Stanley said, and the girl practically bounced towards him.

"Really?"

"Yes…" Stanley sighed. Why was he even hesitating? Anything that made people stronger was good, and they would need every advantage to survive. So why not do what he could… even if Sara was technically only three… months… old… "It's going to be unpleasant, okay? It might hurt…"

Sara nodded enthusiastically. "I'm not afraid!" she lied.

Stanley took one last look at her mother. She was watching, her Soul a confused jumble of conflicting emotions. As far as Stanley could tell, she did want her daughter to get stronger; she had been among those willing to part with their children earlier, and yet she hated herself for being so weak as to make any of this necessary. Alongside that was a mess of grief and fear. So a pretty standard baseline human, then.

He started as gently as possible. Sara's Soul wasn't especially weaker than anyone else here, but her small frame made it seem that way. Caffeine was in her lap, and he looked up at Stanley almost accusingly when he pushed his Soul against the girl's.

Sara smiled a strained smile. "I'm… tough…" The smile slipped, and she squeezed her eyes closed while her hands gripped tightly in Caffeine's fur.

Stanley kept slowly increasing the pressure and didn't know if this was the right way to go about it or if he was only prolonging the suffering. "Why did I agree to this?" It seemed to take an eternity, especially because Stanley was deep in his slowed time. He wanted to be able to pull back if something went wrong…

It was because of the intense focus that Stanley got to observe something he hadn't before.

Sara's Soul was ever so slowly being pushed back by the weight of his Twin-Soul, collapsing inward minutely under the pressure… until, from somewhere deep in her Soul, a burst of power pushed back! Her Soul brightened as it regained some of the lost ground, and her eyes widened… right before rolling back in her head.

Her mother was there to catch Sara when she slumped Eve at her other side. Eve's Soul and expression were surprisingly… neutral. Caffeine, however. His normally curly tail dropped low, and his whine hurt more than burning pieces of his own Soul had earlier.

Stanley endured it. At least he did until Sara woke up crying for her mommy…

Stanley fled to the far wall, light bending around him as he rapped his head against the rough stone. "I'm a monster… I'm a monster…"

Sometime later, Eve's voice interrupted his internal self-recriminations, "If you want to hide, then you really need to shut the fu… um, stop muttering." Her hand landed on his shoulder. "Just stop being a drama queen! She's fine."

Stanley knew that. Despite all his efforts, he could not block out the Souls completely. At least not ones this close.

"Standerly!" Sara exclaimed when he reappeared, "I got the Souls! Now can I be the Apprentice?"

"Oh god damn it!" Stanley cursed silently when he saw the updated notification. "Eighty percent…"

Sara wilted. "Sorry… did I do it wrong?"

Eve was glaring at him. "Don't mind him," she said to Sara, "he just has a potty mouth. A very, very potty mouth!"

Stanley was aghast. Eve was calling him… a potty mouth! Her!?

Eve smiled wickedly at him, where Sara couldn't see. "Eighty percent is good, Sara. Stanley can make you an Apprentice now!"

"Really!?" Sara was literally bouncing now, and Caffeine bounced right along with her, his earlier distress forgotten. Even her mother smiled at the sight.

"Why did I ever even suggest this?" Stanley groaned. Still, even if he made her an Apprentice, it didn't mean he was responsible for her… right? She would stay here in this safe, dark tunnel. "It's all good."

Apprentice(Sara Bianco) [Soul Psionic] 80% Affinity

Accept? Y/N

Stanley hesitated and explained that this would adapt her away from a base human, maybe even so far that there would be no going back. Mainly he explained to… "What is your name?" Stanley felt a bit awkward for not knowing her name, especially after all… this, but it would only get worse if he didn't ask now.

"Angelina… Sir."

"Stanley," he said, "don't start that Sir bullshit with me…" Stanley did his best to ignore the beaming and vibrating child. "Are you okay with this?" He didn't ask about the girl's father. Given the state of the world and this city, the odds were good that it wasn't a happy story.

"Yes, yes!" Sara exclaimed. Her mother nodded, unsure, but did smile at her enthusiastic daughter.

Stanley accepted. Which promptly knocked out Sara as she was forcefully Adapted to wield Psionic power instead of Mana.

There were a few more parents bringing children forward after that, even after Stanley explained that he couldn't have more than one Apprentice. Eve's Class apparently had even lower Affinity among the children here, and Stanley suspected that it had something to do with the lack of any machines whatsoever in their short lives. They didn't even know what a robot was… Her metal spiders had not been popular.

Walter declined to even attempt, claiming that his class was not one for a child to be coerced into. From what Stanley knew of it… that was probably a fair point.

Nevertheless, Stanley inflicted his Soul on two more children…

Then it was time to leave. The tunnel was complete that would get them past the blockade, and they were resupplied, had a map, and could go find Zeke.

Eve stopped him. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Her glance toward Sara and her mother was unmistakable.

"They don't have to come… You, of all people, should know that it's probably safer for them here."

"Stanley, Stanley, Stanley," Eve said, shaking her head, "I know you didn't plan for this, and it's inconvenient right now, but you did the deed, and now you need to take responsibility." She was enjoying her little game of innuendo…

"Eve…"

"I think you should take them," Bartholomew interrupted, and when Stanley glared at him, the man pulled him aside. "Hear me out." He led Stanley away from the others and held his hand back toward them. All sound from that direction vanished.

"Is he phasing the sound out of physical space?" It had the same lack of feedback that Stanley had encountered before…

"Angelina's husband died a month ago," Bartholomew said, "what she doesn't know is that I killed him."

That was… unexpected. Stanley wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond, so he just waited.

"He was a shit man, a shit husband, and shaping up into a shit father. He was one of our strongest and didn't let anyone forget it. While I hated to lose his power, I hated the way he treated his wife even more, and after he laid his hands on Sara… Well, I wasn't going to let it happen again."

Stanley still didn't know what to say, but he felt Eve's reaction and realized that her tiny metal spider was still sitting very quietly on his collar.

"She still loved him," Bartholomew went on in the growing silence, "You know how women can be…" Stanley didn't know. "She doesn't know it was me… and Sara… Look, that kid doesn't know this city like the rest of us; it isn't her fight. I hate to lose her, especially if she is going to be as strong as you, but she should go out there. See the world, live in the sun…"

The man was feeling guilty. Had he overreacted to something minor? Or was it justified, and he actually cared about the child? It didn't feel like he was lying, not specifically, but something was… off. Maybe he'd made a pass at Angelina, and she rejected him?

Bartholomew flinched, and Stanley closed his mouth. "Oops."

"Okay, yea," Bartholomew said, "I may have had a thing for her, but I wasn't lying about her husband! He was scum, through and through!"

Stanley clenched his teeth. The man wasn't lying about that part, and that meant… He felt Sara spring into wakefulness, her Soul a bubbly mess of excitement and nervousness. "Fine," Stanley ground out as he turned away. Two more people to protect… Though, there were other camps in the city. Maybe he could leave them at one of those…

"Staney!" Sara cheered, "I got it! Soul Pisonic!"

"Good lord. What did I get myself into?" He smiled. "What Skill did you get?" Stanley was actually curious about that part since he'd started as a regular Psionic himself.

"It says… Soul's Will." Her eyes were unfocused as she read something only she could see. "It says that I can make things happen… if I really want it to!" Sara squeezed her eyes closed in excited concentration, and Stanley remembered a moment too late what she had been going on about over and over before.

Sara shot from the ground, flying straight up toward the ceiling at a breakneck speed! Stanley couldn't catch her… not without…

She collided with Caffeine, hitting him in the throat when he grew to fill the entire tunnel.

Stanley did what little he could to slow her descent back to the floor, but she somehow recovered her wits enough to almost catch herself and landed with only a small tumble. Caffeine was there, licking her face while she tried to stand up from the floor. Her squeals of protest were awfully loud…

Stanley finally noticed the dead silence and looked around at the gaping mouths and wide eyes all staring at Caffeine. "Oh, it's just that." Apparently, Caffeine had managed to remain small this whole time…

"Don't worry," Eve told the stunned Angelina, "Caff does that sometimes. You'll get used to it. Anyway, do you need to pack anything? We should get moving."

"He… What… That…"

"Oh boy," Eve said, "if you can't handle that much, then you're going to have a very stressful time with us…"

"I can fly!" Sara exclaimed and shot toward the ceiling again…

Caffeine caught her, and this time he sat on her. It was unnecessary; Stanley could feel her energy bottoming out from the over-enthusiastic exertions.

Stanley sighed. "I never should have opened my mouth."