Erik returned to his magic sea. The large cliff with the rushing waterfall was still there, just as he thought it would be. As he was standing in the black void outside the sphere of magic, he could withdraw from the sphere, giving the cliff a slight curvature as the sphere shrank. It was definitely a part of the whole now.

  He went back in front of the sphere again, It felt the same, but it also felt like more. He was getting a bit tired of magic confusing his senses so much. It felt paradoxical most times. Like hot and cold at the same time. Wet and dry.

  He placed his right hand into the sphere, reminiscing to the last time he did so. He still got that feeling that part of him was in water, and the rest of him not, but he didn’t know which part was what. He tried expanding his senses both into the black void around him, and around the sphere.

  Something within the blackness prevented him from sensing anywhere but the exact place he was. It was a resistance without will, like it was just not within the laws of physics.

  The sphere, on the other hand, had no problem letting his senses envelop it in its entirety. It felt like it was asking him why he didn’t do it sooner. The time he first awakened his power, he let the sphere drown him in power as the sea enveloped him. That had felt right back then, but it didn’t anymore.

  He was awakened already.Earlier he had reached into it, practically poking and prodding information out of it. He hadn’t thought of making himself envelop the massive sphere by then. It wasn’t until he was absorbing another power that he realised his will, his focus, were much more in here.

  It was how he had broken away the mysterious talking form that had blanketed him. It was his own willpower that he expanded away from him with such a force that the visage was pushed away. That first experience led to him now carefully covering his magical sphere with his will.

  This was how it was supposed to be done, he realised. The magic didn’t own him. They weren’t separate from each other. It was part of him. He completely covered the sphere, and felt almost whole. But nothing had really changed. It wouldn’t. He was missing something.

  Was it more powers? No. He was missing a clue, but he had all the pieces. He could figure this out. He could make it work now.

  “What am I missing?” he asked himself. He felt like hours had passed as he considered what he could do. A form, much like the usual one, but slightly different, visited him. He decided he wouldn’t give it any thought.

  The last time one of these forms appeared, it had almost caused him to fail the merge of magic. Even if this wasn’t the same spectre, as its colour had a gentle, glowing sheen of pink and orange with a golden core, he didn’t trust it. Unlike the other one, this one hadn’t said a word, which actually bothered Erik. It was there for over an hour, patiently watching Erik, before the Remnant had had enough.

  “What do you want?” he asked, turning to the shape. He didn’t get any response from it. It undulated like normal. “Can you at least just leave me alone?”

  Nothing. Erik realised the new form might have something to do with the new addition to his sphere - the waterfall. The imperial gold quartz he had absorbed had similar colours, now that he thought about it. The other form did resemble his Crest with the black swirls inside it. Could it be? Was this thing a manifestation of his power?

  In that case, why didn’t either of them help him? The first one muttered utter nonsense about Titans and crosses, even actively trying to ruin his absorption of another power. Or did it? It had said to ‘join the Titan’, and it enveloped him. Despite Erik losing his grasp on the links he was pulling in, the two didn’t start drifting further away from each other.

  Did the form help him hold them back? Was it trying to help, rather than sabotage? It didn’t matter. He had to find what he was missing with the sphere.

  What did he know? What did he feel? It was a part of him. They were the same. His will and its will were joining, but couldn’t completely merge. What if their will wasn’t the only thing that had to merge? Could it be that easy?

  Erik looked towards the form still watching him. It somehow seemed to sense what he was thinking, as it undulated more violently. Whether it was excited or angry, Erik couldn’t be sure. It was something at least, so Erik decided to try it.

  His will completely blanketing the magical sphere, he started pushing his body into the sphere. If it was part of him, he had to merge it with both his will and his physical body, right? Struggling to keep his focus completely enveloping the sphere as he submerged himself in it, he eventually was fully inside.

  The separation of his willpower and his body felt odd at first, but after a few seconds, his willpower reached his body again even inside the sphere. It wasn’t just covering it anymore, it had merged with its waters. His own will and the contents of the sphere had now fully merged, and he could do nothing but let his physical body melt away in the waters as well.

  It wasn’t hot and cold anymore, He wasn’t hiding out in the black void anymore. He became one. Whole. It was warm. It felt like several more hours went by as his body broke down into its base molecules. He could sense himself within each of those molecules, melding together with everything else around him.

  Soon enough, he was the sphere. His instincts suddenly kicking in, he easily manifested a copy of his body atop the cliff. The rushing sound of the waterfall was soothing, even more so than the feel of soft grass on his naked feet. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose. He didn’t exhale immediately. The air was incredibly fresh. It was nothing like the air on Earth. Even the air in Afterlife had nothing on this great air.

  The golden cored form appeared behind him, but it didn’t look the same anymore. While both forms had previously been vaguely humanoid-shaped, this one was now a fully-formed being. It was still composed of the same matter, this one glowing pink and orange, the colours undulating every few seconds or so, but it was clearly a man now.

  He had horns growing from each temple, reaching around the side of his head and ending in twin points pointing towards the sky at the back of his head. His body and clothes were from the same matter, a cloak billowing gently in the weak breeze at the top of the cliff.

  “Master Titan,” the man said, bowing deeply before Erik.

  “Hi there,” Erik responded, still analysing the thing in front of him.

  “I am happy you completed your core in such a timely manner, Master Titan. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sovereign Faith, Avatar of Authority,” the man-thing said, not even looking up from the ground as he bowed.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Please, call me Erik,” Erik said, wondering what was happening. Sovereign Faith was what Jessie had called the quartz he absorbed, wasn’t it? That meant her little bonus-ability actually meant something. “Stand up, please. What are you?”

  “Of course… Erik,” Sovereign Faith said, rising to his feet and meeting the Remnant’s eyes. “I am Sovereign Faith, Avatar of Authority,” it repeated.

  “Thanks, Sovereign, but I meant what are you? Why are you here?”

  “I am a spirit, of course. You absorbed me, letting me in as part of your whole,” it explained.

  It was as Erik had started to suspect. The second form appearing after the second power was absorbed, the similar colours, even using the name Jessie called the quartz. Was the creature in front of him now the manifestation of the power he had absorbed? In that case, what was the waterfall?

  “I see,” Erik lied. “Where’s the other guy?”

  “Resting. I’m sorry to say, the misunderstanding between you during the Absorption weakened her. Please understand, we are not opposing you, Master Titan,” Sovereign answered, bowing his head.

  “In that case, I guess I’ll talk to her later. If she was only trying to help, I’ll apologise. Her appearance and the way she surrounded me, it felt like she was trying to sabotage the absorption.”

  “She told me as much. You need not worry. Communing with each other will be easier now that you have become truly one.”

  “I’m glad. It feels like I’ve been here for hours, so I should get back out there. I trust I’ll see you later? I’ve got several more questions to the both of you,” Erik said.

  “Of course, Erik.”

  “Bye, then,” the Remnant said, and the world around him vanished. He opened his eyes again, meeting Sophie’s gaze. He looked to where Jessie had been the last time he saw her, but she was gone. He looked behind him, and she was lying there, asleep.

  “That took a while,” Sophie said. “Any more problems? Your core-thingy and the new golden symbol kept lighting up, but the last minute or so it’s been acting normally.”

  “How long have I been under?” he asked with a lowered voice, hoping not to wake Jessie. If she had gone through the same as him, she’d likely be tired as well.

  “Half an hour or so. It wasn’t long. Jessie woke up after only half a minute or so after you went under. She said she got what the ability was, but wanted to keep it a secret for now. She was grinning, though.”

  “I feel like I’ve been gone for hours. I had some problems, but I managed to work through them. I feel… great now, actually. But I completely forgot about learning about the ability. I…” Erik said, and suddenly stopped talking. He looked confused, but had realised something. “I think we’ve been doing it wrong the entire time. I know what the power does, but the sense of it isn’t disappearing, like last time. I got the whole thing, now. For both. It’s called Authority. I think I understand why Jessie reacted the way she did earlier, as well,” Erik continued, with a wide smile on his face.

  “Really? What was it?”

  “I’ll tell you guys tomorrow. I’m sure Jessie wants to know as well. I should get back to my own room, let you guys sleep.” Erik rose from the bed, and Sophie did as well just as he did.

  “You don’t have to go. It’s only about 9pm,” she said.

  “No, I think I should go. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”

  “Can’t you keep me company a little while more?” Sophie then asked, her lips turned down slightly.

  Erik looked at her, then Jessie. He didn’t want to wake her. They had been up and at it the whole day, and the absorption took a good deal of energy. It was hard to say no to Sophie though. That look in her eyes. It was almost sadness, but not quite there. She truly was a people person, only being at her full potential when around other people.

  Still, it was just for the night, and Erik was tired. They had visited every shop they could think of that day, so now they had to wait until Angela and Emma returned with their haul. That should be the next evening. That meant they had an entire day to relax. She could wait until then, right?

  “Sorry,” Erik said, and her mood visibly dropped. “We’ll hang tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said, smiling at him. They said good night, and Erik left their hotel room for his own. He couldn’t wait to get to sleep. He entered his own room, undressed and went to bed. He fell asleep almost instantly.

  The next morning, he woke to his hotel room door opening and closing, the loud automatic locking system waking him up. Jessie entered and sat down on the side of his bed. She didn’t look at him, nor did she say anything.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting up.

  “Listen, I don’t know how to feel about this, but that isn’t stopping this from happening. You really hurt my sister yesterday. Are you just stupid, or did you really not catch on to what she’s thinking?” she said after a few more silent moments.

  “You mean during the absorption? I’m sorry about that, but I think I know why tha-”

  “No, dummy,” she interrupted, laying down beside him with a sigh.

  “Then what? She didn’t seem upset or anything?” he said in a questioning manner. Maybe she did at the end of the evening, but it didn’t seem bad, right? He just wanted to sleep. He was exhausted, and he said they would hang today.

  “I was awake the last moments before you left yesterday. Hearing that you were leaving, I thought I should let you go. But she wanted you to stay,” she started. “She wants to spend time with you, to get to know you,” Jessie finished.

  “I said we’d hang today. Was that wrong?”

  “Not at all. If you were just as out of it as I was, I don’t blame you. But she didn’t realise that. Listen, she’s a naive and gullible girl, but she’s the purest soul I know. The last few months have been devastating to her, and all of a sudden everything flips. Her sister thought dead, comes back like nothing had happened, and with her comes a dapper man, the strongest and bravest she ever met. She’s clearly crushing on you, but you’re something new to her. I don’t think she realises the pedestal she’s put you on. She might even think that you’re the reason I returned. It isn’t that far-fetched, given the week she’s had. The way I talked you up before you arrived probably didn’t help, I guess. You leaving her last night hurt her because she felt you didn’t want to spend time with her.”

  When Erik considered her words, it did make sense. It would explain why she had paid so much attention to him. She even saw straight through how he acted. “I didn’t realise,” he explained.

  “I get that, doofus. You’re just a boy after all,” Jessie sighed, tussling his hair before pinching his cheeks with a grin. “She’s always been popular, and she’s never been rejected before. She doesn’t know what rejection really is, except when the boys she’s been with break up with her. I’d rather you two don’t get together, to be honest, but I know you, and you’re a great guy, and I know you’re practically perfect for her.”

  “But?” Erik asked.

  “But you’re not human anymore. You’re a Titan. We don’t know what that will mean a month from now, or a year from now. You’re fighting a war while she can only stand on the sidelines. It isn’t fair to either of you, but much less to her. What if she wants to die, just for the hope of joining you as a Remnant? It’s in her blood, obviously, and she knows that.”

  “What about you? Isn’t that exactly the same risk?”

  “It is. That’s why I won’t stand in your way if you decide to pursue this. I’ve made my choice, and I stand by it.”

  “I don’t know her well enough to really decide to pursue her right now. She’s beautiful and sweet, but I don’t know. Would you mind if I spend some time with her today? I have to make up to her for last night, I think,” Erik said.

  “Damn right you do,” Jessie said, tussling his hair again before getting out of the bed. “You should think about it and let her know quickly if you’re not interested. It’s better to let her know now that she’s confused about her own feelings, rather than waiting.”

  “I will. Thanks, Jessie. I’ll visit your room after a shower. You should tell her about Hosu. I kind of mentioned her last night”

  “I know. I’ll do it now. I’ll talk to her about you as well. Don’t worry, I won’t say what we talked about,” she answered, walking out the door once more.

  Erik didn’t have time for drama. He had been worried about what would happen considering his companions were all women. He was certainly not expecting everyone to fall for him, but how much could he trust himself? Jessie was right about everything.

  He was interested in Sophie. It wasn’t love. It wasn’t even a crush, but it was a seed. He’d have to decide whether to nurture it or let it die. He needed some more guys around, as well. He had to keep his mind focused on getting stronger and winning the war. Everything else had to wait until after that.

  He appreciated Jessie letting him know, however. She didn’t have to do that, but Erik thought she was considering not just her sister and Erik, but the group dynamic in its entirety.

  He went into the bathroom to take a shower, thinking about what he should do. He didn’t get anywhere. He dried himself with a towel, got dressed and went to visit the sisters.