Angela shut the door behind him, and kept looking out the window until Erik couldn’t be seen anymore. She and Emma smiled at each other knowingly before they signalled the pilot to keep going.

  Erik landed on a narrow straight of asphalt. Quickly approaching him was a yellow car, the headlights blinking rapidly. Erik moved to the shoulder of the road, and the car rushed past him, the people inside waving in fear at him, signalling danger.

  A few seconds behind the car came the beast, and the people trying to escape the monster had no intention of stopping to rescue Erik, as they were long gone already. The beast, now more interested in Erik than the yellow car, didn’t prove any smarter than the rest of its ilk, as it rammed straight into his invisible wall.

  As its face got smashed in, Erik threw a handful of screws at his victim, and the match was already over. He grabbed hold of his knife, forced his magic through it, and slit the monster’s throat with it.

  As he removed the knife, the metal that was its blade had visibly corroded, and was almost liquefied at certain points. Erik ran more magic through it, and in less than a few seconds it was broken beyond repair.

  The Remnant sighed and tossed the handle away. His magic wasn’t much into recyclability, it seemed. He broke everything he used his magic on. The knife was understandable, as Erik spent a good deal of effort forcing the magic into the knife, unlike the other stuff he used, where his magic and the object seemed made for each other, and united in perfect harmony.

  Still, that didn’t mean the items survived the massive influx of magic. The screws that made his Tesla Bomb all melted, his frisbees shattered after two uses and the yellow bouncy ball that he used on the defence of Bridgefort turned to acid sludge, meaning it certainly wasn’t reusable.

  The sticks shattered and the pebbles turned to dust. Erik wasn’t sure why the frisbees could be used twice, though he was happy they did. They weren’t as easy to find as regular rocks or screws were.

  Erik looked around, and found no one. It seemed it was just that one beast that got past the shoreline. There weren’t any people around to observe his deeds either, luckily. But how would he hide the monster corpse? He deeply wished for a looting ability that turned the looted corpse into rainbow smoke or something, but he had no such thing, nor anything to dig a grave with.

  If anyone discovered the corpse of a Hellbeast, there would be no chance to continue on covertly. The world would never stop until they found what killed it, and Mathisen could only help so much. The entire trip here was, at least for General Mathisen, just to deliver a message to the air base, hoping they would follow her lead to go rogue, for all intents and purposes.

  While it wasn’t really defection, it was certainly possible they could be convicted of that in court. To prevent that, Erik had to give results, but it was still too early. He had to grow stronger first. When he was ready to fight back for real, he would make himself known if they needed him to, but right now, everyone needed him to lay low.

  He pushed the massive dog-like being out of the road and into the brush on the roadside. He covered the corpse with branches, straw and whatever else he could find, but when he was done, there was only one way to describe what was in front of him; a suspicious mound.

  It was perfectly noticeable and obviously man-made, but hopefully no one would even bother with it. Hopefully, everyone using this road would travel by car, which could make it a bit more difficult to notice, Erik hoped. He grabbed his backpack tightly and went on his way, heading in the direction of Leicester.

  A few hours later, Erik had been wandering around the town centre for a little while. He felt awkward wearing the deep-green casuals of the SEMP, but it was the only clothes they had available at Bridgefort after he showered there that morning.

  He looked like a background character in a low budget war film, and he felt constant gazes focusing on him as he wandered around. Luckily, he had been given some cash to be able to buy what he needed when he arrived, and he didn’t waste a second when he spotted a clothes store.

  He always had trouble buying clothes as he wanted them to fit him in a certain way, which was neither too tight nor too loose. It didn’t sound too complicated an order, but clothes usually followed trends, which for the last ten years or so meant the clothes were as tight as possible.

  Erik had hated this development, and had been forced to buy in bulk whenever he found a pair of jeans that fit him just right. He had never been skinny, nor really fit, but he wasn’t large in any sense of the word. He had flab, or at least, he used to. Erik just noticed when trying on some clothes, but they seemed a bit larger on him than he expected based on the size. When he looked at himself in the mirror, a slimmer and fitter man looked back at him.

  He wasn’t body-builder material, and it certainly wasn’t the body of a gym monkey, but he looked like he was working out regularly and eating healthy. His flab was just gone. It made it slightly easier to buy clothes as well.

  Decked out in new clothes, courtesy of the Scandinavian Empire Military Power, he headed back out, much more comfortable as he walked the unknown streets. Reaching the apartment building he had been looking for, Erik long-pressed the button next to a sign marked ‘Callum’.

  After half a minute or so, he tried again, but still didn’t get any response. Having no idea where Jessie might be or what she might be doing, Erik had no choice but to wait around, hoping she’d return shortly.

  He watched the passing cars to make time pass faster. It was a trick he’d been able to do since he was a kid. He could almost completely zone out, making minutes pass by like seconds, so long as nothing made him lose focus. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he finally did lose it.

  He didn’t know what distracted him. That could happen sometimes. He looked around just to be sure, but didn’t spot anything particularly interesting. He sighed, but didn’t bother zoning out again. He walked around restlessly for a few more minutes until a young woman caught his attention.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  She was walking towards him on the sidewalk, with long blonde hair and a pink hairband on her head. She wore clothes that showed off her long, skinny legs. She noticed Erik, and watched him watch her walking closer. She walked past him with a smile, only to press a key into the keyhole on the door Erik was waiting by. She pulled the door open, visibly straining as she did, but had no problem holding it open. She turned to Erik instead of walking inside.

  “Would you rather wait inside?” she asked, completely unprompted.

  “Uhh… Do I know you?” he asked, hoping he didn’t look too confused.

  “Not yet,” she said in an obvious attempt at flustering Erik a bit more.

  “I’m waiting for someone,” he said, just realising she already knew that beforehand after he said it. What is happening right now? Luckily, the girl didn’t seem to mind his answer.

  “And wouldn’t you rather wait inside?” she asked again. Her smile was wonderful. Warming.

  “Uh, no, it’s alright. She probably won’t be long,” he responded.

  “Oh, it’s a she, is it? Girlfriend, perhaps?” the girl asked with a wink.

  “Oh, gods no. I mean, we’re friends. She’s with another friend of mine, actually-”

  “I knew it!” the young woman said, her angelic face suddenly much more normal. “I knew she met someone, but when she talked about you she didn’t have that… spark. Also, she isn’t usually interested in guys,” the girl continued.

  “What’s happening?” Erik asked, even more confused now. The girl, still holding the door open, stepped in front of the door with one foot and stepped forward with the other, stopping the door from closing and getting closer to Erik. She got real close to his face, as if analysing him.

  “I’m Sophie,” she said with a smile, her face suddenly that of a divine being once again. How did she do that? “I’m Jessie’s sister.”

  Erik wasn’t sure why he didn’t even consider this girl to be Jessie’s sister. Now that he knew, he even saw some resemblance. The way the girl had flustered him was probably the reason why he couldn’t focus.

  “Oh! Hey. I’m Erik. I’m sorry, I should have realised..-”

  “Oh please, you had no reason to know that! Besides, I’m the pretty one, so I would’ve been hurt if you recognised me by memory of her,” Sophie interrupted. “Anyway, coming in? I’ve been living with her since she got back, so I’ve got keys to her flat.”

  “R-right…” was all Erik managed to say as Sophie waved him inside.

  He followed behind her, a bit weirded out. That was very unlike him. He felt like he could handle most situations just fine, with only minor deflections by joking and so on. He hadn’t been ready for whatever this girl was doing, but that was exciting in and of itself, he thought.

  “Ta-da!” she said, gesturing to the entire flat as Erik walked inside behind her. It certainly wasn’t much. Besides the entrance, there were three doors, one of which led to a tiny balcony above the street where Eric had waited.

  The other two doors were right across the room from the balcony, one of which led to the one and only bedroom, the other to a small bathroom. Everything between those doors were a small kitchen and a tiny living room area with an old sofa and a tiny square table.

  While it was a whole lot better than the ashen remains of Erik’s house, it was nothing short of a travesty compared to the luxury apartments in Afterlife. If Erik hadn’t lived on the road for the past week, he couldn’t understand how Jessie could even live in a place like this.

  Even so, her sister had moved in with her? Into this small space? There had to be some serious amount of love involved from both of them if they both thought that was okay.

  “This looks great,” Erik lied without any attempt at hiding it.

  “I know, right? I love to walk around naked in here,” Sophie said, entering the kitchen with one tiny step.

  “What?” Erik said while clearing his throat.

  “You’re such an easy target. Sis will be back in a few minutes I think. She’s visiting dad.”

  “No worries, I guess. How, uhh… When she..-” Erik tried, but had no idea how to even ask the question. While Sophie looked at him questioningly, he thought for a moment in silence, rather than seeming more like a monkey than he did already. “Was everything alright when she was gone?” he attempted after a moment.

  “Oh… No, not really,” she said, looking down. “But she’s back now,” she continued in an attempt at making herself feel better. It didn’t look like it worked, as her divine features still looked a bit rugged, and her eyes were glistening in the weak light from the lamp on the roof.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

  “No! Don’t be. Jessie told me about your circumstances, and at least she came back to someone. I’m sorry for your loss, by the way.”

  “Thanks. How are things now that she’s back, though? That must be… different?”

  “Yeah,” Sophie said while laughing slightly. “Magic really exists, huh? I suppose I started hoping those family tales were real when the invasion started. They didn’t mention having to actually die first, otherwise I’d have started hoping she’d return to us someday. But then, what if she didn’t? How long should I have held onto that hope? I’m sure that would’ve broken me completely, eventually.”

  “I suppose. How’s your father doing?”

  “He’s better now. He didn’t handle Jessie’s death well. I mean, he worked and drank. Barely slept. Repeat. He withdrew from me. I understand that he didn’t want me to see him lose it. But I needed him, you know?” Sophie was tearing up at the thought, and she could barely hold her voice from cracking by the end.

  “Hey… I’m sure he tried his best for you. Is he alright now, though?” Erik said, stepping closer to Sophie, but didn’t do more than that. He just met this girl, and he’d never had such an emotional conversation with a stranger before. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this?

  “I think so. When Jessie got back here two days ago, she found me. Later we went together to dad. There was a lot of crying involved, a bit of anger. Not specifically targeting anyone, of course. I think he’s still having a hard time believing she’s back, so she wants to spend some time with him. He’s taken a few vacation days, and I don’t think he’s even touched the bottle since then. It’s getting better, I hope,” she said.

  Two days ago meant that Jessie too left Afterlife a few days earlier than she had too, if Erik did his maths right. He returned seven days ago, the same day his portal appeared. Maybe she missed her family.

  Erik felt a tingle unlike anything he’d ever sensed before just then. He looked around, but couldn’t make sense of it. It was like a low buzz in his ear, a little voltage running through his tongue and mild goosebumps all at once. He felt a sense of direction from it, but after a few seconds, it stopped moving. Something was pulling at his senses, but he couldn’t pinpoint where exactly he was pulled to. It started moving again, and the door opened moments later.

  “Hey sis!” Sophie said, wiping a tear from her cheek with her finger, giving her sister a wide smile, despite her red and puffy eyes and cheeks.

  Jessie entered the room, wearing one of her signature black hoodies. This one depicted a skull with a heart-tattoo on its temple with the words ‘Death’ in heavy metal lettering above it.

  “Erik!” Jessie said, sprinting two whole steps and attacked Erik with a big hug. “You’re here!”

  “Hey! It took a bit longer than expected, but here I am,” Erik explained, hugging her back tightly.

  “I can’t believe most of the Empire is gone! That must’ve been hard for you, returning there to find nothing but ruins,” Jessie continued, eventually letting him go.

  “Yeah, that took me by surprise for sure. It wasn’t easy getting past all those Hellbeasts, I’ll tell you.”

  “How did you get here? That’s still beast territory, isn’t it?” Sophie asked as if she hadn’t considered that before now.

  “Let me tell you a story of bravery, magic and more bravery!” Erik started, and started telling his story, starting with his resurrection at the burned down ruins of his old home.