It somehow worked, though what to do from there, he didn’t know. The waters of the two didn’t join together, as the sea was a self-contained sphere, and the water from the waterfall fell into the nothingness-void he himself was standing in.

  He felt a tug at both. The tug was always there to his sea, but when he felt himself being dragged in both directions, he had an idea. He focused on the tug, rather than the sea and waterfall, and could feel the links growing more taut and physically present.

  Both sources were linked to his chest in now visible lines; his sea’s link a deep, swirling black, reminding him of the shape of his Crest. The link to the waterfall was deeply golden, with white and black accents moving across the link both ways. As the links were both connected to his Crest, he didn’t feel the need to move the connection somewhere else. Instead, he pulled as hard as he could with his focus. The separate entities moved closer to each other as he pulled on them. It was working.

  “The Titan is reborn. Carry the Cross. Behold the Titan.”

  Erik heard the familiar voice uttering the same three phrases he’d heard before. He looked around, but couldn’t find the figure anywhere. He felt his focus slip just a little, and the two entities he tried joining together stopped halfway. He felt his grip on the links loosening, as if the links turned slippery.

  The voice talked again, this time louder and deeper than ever before.

  “Join the Titan!”

  The form appeared in front of Erik for just a second, before it approached closer still. The next moment the form had enveloped Erik, the sensation warm, but dangerous. Erik felt himself losing focus and grip on the links, but despite that, the sea and waterfall didn’t fall further apart. The ethereal shape surrounding Erik was taking the slack for him.

  “Join the Titan!” the voice repeated, audibly straining now.

  “No way you’ll join me, whatever you are! I’m doing this myself!” Erik shouted, reaffirming his focus on the links, getting a good grip once more.

  Erik pushed the form away from him at the same time, and it simply vanished. On his second wind, Erik pulled as hard as he could, the two entities moving closer and closer to each other until they, a few seconds later, turned to a bright white light.

  Erik was blinded by this, but felt a massive surge of his magic envelop him much like the unknown form had done, but with a more familiar feeling. Moments later, he could see the two joined forces as one. His sea was calm as far as his eyes could see, except at the point the sea met a tall, straight cliff.

  The waterfall, somehow even larger than it had been previously, let water crash into the sea with enormous violence. Atop the cliff was even greenery in the shape of trees, bushes and grass. It was a somewhat beautiful sight. Erik sighed in relief and retreated from his meditation.

  Jessie and Sophie stared intently at Erik from the moment he closed his eyes. The light on his chest grew brighter, as it appeared to do whenever meditating or using its power. In a few seconds, something new started happening, Jessie being the first to notice.

  The quartz in Erik’s hand touching one of his major power slots also started lighting up, and the crystal started merging with Erik’s skin. As the crystal grew smaller in size, the hexagonal symbol on the Remnant’s chest filled in return. It was hard to see the marking as Erik’s hand and the small remains of the quartz were in the way.

  A moment later, when the crystal was about half its original size, Erik visibly strained and looked to be in pain. He opened his eyes, but was otherwise unresponsive as his skin reddened all over his face and torso. The red light from his Core grew brighter than Jessie had ever seen her own or his, but the light from the quartz started dimming.

  Was he going to fail? Jessie didn’t know that was even possible, as Nana hadn’t said there would be any kind of trial or challenge when absorbing powers.

  “This looks bad, doesn’t it?” Sophie asked, unable to look away from the man bathed in bright red and dim golden light.

  Jessie didn’t respond. The younger sister saw Jessie’s fists clenching tightly. Something was definitely wrong. They hadn’t mentioned this could go wrong! She couldn’t let her sister go through this if it could hurt her, could she? They were both powerful enough to win this war without those stupid extra powers they thought they needed. They didn’t need them if it put them in danger.

  Erik’s eyes, open but unfocused, turned pitch black, with only thin swirls of gold barely visible in the black. The quartz in his hand grew brighter once more, and Erik looked determined once again. His Core didn’t dim, but the quartz was suddenly absorbed much quicker than earlier, only taking a few seconds until it was completely gone. He’d done it! He beat it, whatever it was.

  Sophie barely withheld a wide smile and looked to her sister. Jessie was wide-eyed, pale and looked terrified. Her clenched fists had loosened to the point of simply hanging there limply on either side of her hips. She fell to her knees, unable to look away, unable to do anything. She breathed heavily, gasping for air.

  Sophie dashed over to her sister, managing to catch her before she fell from her knees and to the floor. She held her up, yelling at her. She didn’t respond. What was happening?

  Busy with her sister rather than Erik, Sophie didn’t notice the lighting in the room returning to normal in a quick flash, Erik slowly waking up moments later. By the time she noticed that, Jessie was also coming back to her senses, though wet from cold sweat and still deathly pale.

  “What’s wrong?” Erik asked, quickly getting up and coming over to help Sophie with her sister, who seemed to have been through something else while Erik meditated. “Did she absorb her diamond as well?”

  Sophie was crying now, but shook her head. Jessie looked at Erik with intense fear in her eyes for a moment, but seemed to realise there was nothing wrong a few seconds later. She managed to catch her breath over the next couple of minutes, returning to normal after five.

  “What was that, Jess?” Sophie asked, still panicking.

  “It… It was powerful,” was all Jessie could respond.

  She stared at Erik, unable to keep her eyes off him. She had stared at him non-stop for the past five minutes. She looked deeply unsure, but at least she didn’t look terrified anymore.

  Sophie didn’t know why. It was just Erik. Nothing had changed. He was visibly sad at seeing her sister’s reaction to him after his absorption, and Sophie felt warmth inside her chest.

  He was funny, and oddly decisive when it mattered, but she hadn’t seen him this serious. It was clear he cared deeply for her sister. She knew this wasn’t the right time, but she wished someone would look at her the same way. Not as sad, but as caring. It had been a while since anyone, except her sister, did that.

  “It’s… it’s like that feeling you usually give off… but thousands of times more powerful. There’s a tingle, usually. It’s stronger now. It’s fine. But earlier it was… it wasn’t even scary, it was threatening to dominate me, my senses, my… life,” Jessie explained.

  “You feel that tingle as well?” Erik asked, having thought back to when he was alone with Sophie in Jessie’s apartment, feeling that sense of something approaching, his body tingling all over.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  He’d realised it was Jessie when she opened the door, and could sense the feeling coming from her. He hadn’t asked, though. They had been too busy, and it didn’t seem important. That sensation had been there ever since, always pointing to Jessie. Now, he could barely feel it anymore.

  “Yeah, but it isn’t just a tingle anymore. It’s much stronger. It still has that slight sense of dominance, of control. It’s weird, but it doesn’t feel dangerous anymore. I’ll be fine in a few,” Jessie said, now looking at her sister, who was looking back and forth between the two Remnants with an odd expression. She didn’t know what the expression meant, as she hadn’t seen it on her sister’s face before. “I promise,” she smiled at her sister, wiping away her younger sister’s tears.

  “I’m sorry,” Erik said, looking into his best friend’s eyes. Despite him knowing he didn’t do anything on purpose, he felt the need to get it off his chest. Jessie smiled, and sat up.

  “Whoo! Anyway, I need a shower after that. I’m all tense, still. Give me twenty!” Jessie said, getting up to her feet quickly, pulling her own sister up with her. She went into the bathroom immediately after pulling out some new clothes from her bag she had packed from home before they went back to the hotel.

  As Jessie shut the door to the bathroom behind her, Sophie couldn’t help but notice that her sister didn’t lock the door. Again, that intensely hot feeling in her chest grew from out of nowhere. An awkward silence between Sophie and Erik ensued until the sound of running water from the bathroom broke it.

  “I’m sorry,” Erik said to the younger sister this time. She looked at him, wondering what he was apologising for. That moment was it. He looked at her the same way he looked at her sister. He had a serious expression on his face, and his eyes were warm, kind. He wasn’t mad, but genuine. He wasn’t sad, but empathetic.

  “For what?” Sophie smiled.

  “Your sister wasn’t the only one who had to go through something just now. You were frightened as well, though in a whole other way. That’s also because of me,” Erik explained. As he talked, Sophie went to sit on her bed. Her expression told him she didn’t care about all that, especially since everything went fine in the end.

  “You really love her, don’t you?” she asked, her expression unchanging.

  “Of course I do,” Erik said, sitting down on Jessie’s bed in front of Sophie.

  “I probably shouldn’t ask, but what is your relationship with my sister, really?” she asked, looking towards the unlocked bathroom door.

  “She’s my best friend. The last few months, she’s become like family to me. She and I really connected, in a way I haven’t with anyone else in my life," Erik explained, telling the truth about how he felt.

  “You know, she said the same. I just don’t understand-” she started, but stopped herself. She looked flustered, and turned her head down.

  “Don’t understand what?” Erik asked, not sure what she meant.

  “Nothing.”

  “Please? As Jessie’s sister, I consider you my family as well.”

  “You both say the exact same thing. ‘Friends’, ‘family’. There’s obviously more at play between you. She didn’t even lock the door when taking a shower. You’re clearly more intimate than you both say you are. It doesn’t matter to me, but I don’t understand why you’re lying about it," Sophie said, her eyes glistening more and more. Despite how Sophie was obviously feeling, Erik chuckled slightly in response.

  “I’ve seen your sister naked several times, sure. We’ve changed in front of each other, we’ve skinny-dipped. Heck, I’ve walked in on her going at it with Hosu more times than I’d like. I mean, they’re both beautiful, sure, but as I said, she’s family to me. They both are. The fact that she’s into girls probably helps, I guess, but I don’t feel anything more for her than I say I do,” Erik explained, Sophie’s expression changing multiple times over the past twenty seconds or so.

  “Hosu?” Sophie ended up asking. She looked confused and Erik realised Jessie hadn’t told her sister about the love of her life.

  “I shouldn’t say too much. It’s Jessie’s tale to tell, but Jessie is deeply in love, just not with me. There was someone else in Afterlife, and the two of them connected as well, just in other ways,” Erik smiled. “I’d never hurt your sister intentionally, I hope you know that.”

  “I do. I just thought you were… that you were lying, I mean. The way you two…”

  “Behave just like the two of you do?” Erik asked.

  “I guess you kind of do that, yeah,” Sophie said, contemplating.

  “I won’t steal her from you,” Erik said, finally realising what Sophie was acting so emotional about. “You’re sisters! I just hope you’ll want to keep me around as well. Consider me your pet dog, if you will,” Erik grinned. Sophie let out a laugh, finally.

  “You’re hard to pinpoint,” she said, now smiling. Erik loved her smile. It really brightened the world around her.

  “Says you. I haven’t forgotten how you teased me outside the apartment building yesterday. But how so?”

  “You’re such a dork at times, but it’s obvious that you’re doing it intentionally. If you act stupid, you’re doing it for a reason. You’re decisive, but pretend you’re not unless it really counts. I’ve seen you stand up to military guys, not even an ounce of nervousness inside you. You force them to do what you want them to, and I don’t know if they even realise,” Sophie explained.

  Erik thought about her words. She wasn’t wrong, but none of this was new to Erik. He knew who he was, and he knew what he was doing. She was wrong about him not being nervous those times, but he was glad he didn’t let it show.

  No, none of those specific things he said needed thinking about from Erik’s view. What he was thinking as he looked at the girl, was how much attention she had paid him, and him not even noticing.

  Jessie opened the door to the bathroom just then, and left the room. Her hair was wet, but not dripping, and she wore nothing but underwear, the bird-like tattoo between her breasts clear as day. She sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the two beds, grabbing the diamond on the table before she did so.

  “Alright, I’m ready,” she said after taking a deep breath. Sophie looked panicked as she watched her sister exit the other room, but looking over at Erik somehow calmed her. The man stared at the mostly naked woman in front of him, but nothing in his eyes showed any sign of lust or wanting. He gazed into her eyes, he was just as determined as Jessie was.

  “You sure?” he asked. Sophie’s face turned from panic to calm the moment she saw his expression. He had told her the truth earlier. There really wasn’t anything else between the two. She could see it now.

  “No. But I’ll never be readier,” Jessie said.

  “For me, I had to focus on both my ‘sea’ and the waterfall, pulling them into each other by their links to my Crest. I don’t know if it’ll be the same for you, but I hope that helps,” Erik explained.

  “Probably won’t, but here’s hoping.” Jessie said, staring at the diamond in her hands. Brightless Bond, she’d called it.

  “Have you decided which wing you’ll put it in?”

  “I feel like neither is the right choice. I’ll do the fifth first,” Jessie said, placing the diamond beneath the Core of her Crest, in the large circle not on either wing, but on the lower end between both.

  The smaller circles following that circle weren't even connected to the rest of the Crest with the exception of a curvy line from the bigger circle before them. The smaller circles, her minor power slots, were like fruits on a hanging vine beneath the two wings, though Jessie wasn’t happy about the tattoo-like Crest on her chest going down into her cleavage the way it was.

  Jessie closed her eyes and focused. Erik and Sophie looked at each other in anticipation, and after a few seconds, her Core’s red light grew brighter, just as it had with Erik.

  She was within her magic now. Moments later, a purely white light started glowing from the diamond. Erik looked questioningly at Sophie, who understood what he was wondering about. She nodded to him, and faced her sister once more. The same had happened with him.

  He hoped she wouldn’t be interrupted like he was, as it nearly made him fail. The diamond started getting absorbed, and after an uneventful ten or so minutes later, the diamond was completely gone. The large circle beneath Jessie’s Core had a fully white marking, gently glowing.

  As Jessie opened her eyes, Jessie’s eyes were similarly white in their glow, but that quickly turned to normal. Sophie was happy nothing bad had happened. Uneventful meant everything went fine. Right?

  “That wasn’t as easy as I thought,” Jessie said, standing up, but looked a bit dizzy.

  “I know right? Nana never mentioned it being anything special.”

  “No, she didn’t. Did you feel anything?” Jessie asked Erik, sitting next to him on her bed.

  “No, not really. Certainly nothing like you did,” Erik responded, thinking back to when he exited his meditation earlier, noticing Jessie on the floor, her younger sister panicked.

  “Okay. That’s good. That means it was either the type of power you got, or something else that happened. I hope it won’t be the same for the rest of your powers,” she shuddered. Erik agreed, of course.

  “So, time to see what we got?” Erik asked.

  “You don’t know?” Sophie asked the both of them.

  “No. Just like with the Core power, I can feel it, but the feeling means nothing to me. We have to meditate on it,” Jessie said.

  “Are you sure nothing bad will happen?” Sophie asked nervously, looking more towards Erik than Jessie.

  “Not at all. You didn’t feel anything, so you’ll probably be fine. So long as Jessie’s also meditating, she shouldn’t notice anything either, even if the same does happen again. Her mind will be elsewhere,” Erik explained, though he was only guessing.

  “Just to be careful, let me start first and when I’m under, you can go as well,” Jessie said, immediately closing her eyes. Moments later, her Core glowed brighter.

  “Take care of her if something happens,” Erik told Sophie before starting his meditation. She determinedly nodded. Erik went inside his magic once again.