Five minutes later, she returned from the bathroom, the makeup gone but her face still red.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t reapply it like this,” she apologised.

  “I don’t care. How are you feeling?” Erik asked. He wasn’t sure why she was apologising for removing her makeup. It didn’t matter to him either way.

  “Better. I’m sorry you had to see that. He didn’t use to be that gross,” she answered, looking towards where the boys had vanished from.

  “I believe you. Can’t imagine you being with someone like him.”

  “He’s always been a jerk, but he was good to me. Until my sister died, and he didn’t get the attention he needed,” she said, wiping away a new tear, looking mad.

  “You’re cute when you’re mad,” Erik commented, wiping another tear from her she hadn’t wiped away herself.

  “Stop,” she giggled, giving him a smile.

  “Let’s go back to the hotel, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  As the two returned to the hotel forty minutes later, Sophie had cheered up. She’d told Erik more about Brad, and how they broke up, but he already knew most of it. The rest of the way they talked about nothing in particular, but outside their hotel, Sophie asked a question she had clearly held on to for most of the walk.

  “Back there with Brad… That was your aura thing, right?”

  “Yeah. It was just a slight glimpse. I managed to keep it back for the most part. I didn’t intend for that to happen, but I couldn’t control it. Still, it was better than hitting him in public, I suppose. Did you feel it?” he asked.

  He’d only seen Brad react weirdly when he felt his aura slip as he got more and more upset. The moment it broke free from his control, it crashed into the man for a fraction of a second, until Erik got it under control once more. The accidental aura attack wasn’t directed, and only Brad’s close proximity caused him to feel it and no one else.

  “No. He just looked a bit like Jessie did yesterday. Thank you for keeping it to a bare minimum,” she said, shaking her head.

  “I don’t understand why you’re thanking me for that. He practically assaulted you back there,” Erik said.

  Sophie simply looked down on the ground. “He shouldn’t have done that, but that doesn’t mean his life should be ruined. He clearly isn’t acting like himself. I heard the girl he replaced me with has a drug habit. He’s probably stupid enough to get pressured into drugs himself. He’s probably having it bad enough as it is without you scaring the hell out of him like you did with Jessie.”

  “If you say so. You’re too kind, you know that?” Erik asked, opening the outer door of the hotel for her. She entered in front of him, and they both walked towards the stairs.

  “Maybe. But if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have joined you today, so it works in your favour as well, right?” she said with a wink.

  “I suppose that’s true. I’m sorry about last night. I was exhausted, and I should’ve explained that to you.”

  Sophie stopped in the middle of the stairs, looking at Erik thoughtfully. A second or two later, she continued, walking past the halted Erik.

  “Jessie talked to you, didn’t she?” she asked with a rare frown barely visible to Erik as he caught up with her.

  “She… Yes, she did.”

  “That’s why you asked me out today, isn’t it? To make it up to me for last night?”

  “Not entirely, but it was part of it.” Erik felt he needed to be honest right now.

  The two reached their floor and turned to the right, entering the hallway leading to their rooms.

  “I can’t believe this,” she said, huffing as she increased her speed.

  “Sophie, let me-”

  “Not now. Please, let me be alone for a while,” she said, quickly reaching the door to her room, sliding the keycard into it and opening the door.

  Erik didn’t say anything as she shut it behind her.

  Erik returned to his room after wondering whether he should knock on her door or not. He had decided against it.

  He turned on his TV and sat down in his bed. It only took a minute before he was interrupted by his ringing phone. No one had that number, right? It was the phone he had taken from the corpse of his parents’ friend back in his hometown. He had finally charged it a few days ago and had kept it on in case he needed something, though he had all but forgotten about it.

  It wasn’t protected in any way except a ‘Slide up to unlock’ screen, which was terrible security for something as personal as a phone. He looked at the number showing on the screen, and it had a UB country code. He realised he had given it to MacLeod before leaving the air base. That meant he needed something. He answered the call.

  “Hello?” he started the conversation.

  “Mr Fried, this is Major MacLeod, of the UBA-”

  “What do you want?” Erik asked, a bit annoyed at the timing of the call.

  “Sorry. There’s a couple of hounds that got through our barricades at the shoreline. They’re wreaking havoc further inland,” MacLeod’s stressed voice said.

  “Where are they heading?” Erik asked, getting up from the bed immediately, already heading out his door again.

  “They’re headed straight towards Cambridge. Evacuation is under way, but it’ll be too slow. They should be there in about twenty minutes, given their current speed.”

  “What about Jessie, did you reach her?” Erik asked, hurriedly walking down the hallway, stopping outside Sophie’s room.

  “She’s not in Leicester, but she gave me this number. I’ve got a chopper touching down on your roof in two minutes. You’re what we’ve got,” the major said.

  “I got it. I’ll head up right away. Talk later,” Erik said.

  “Thank-”

  Erik hung up the phone call. He was still outside Sophie’s door, wondering whether he should let her know. He knocked.

  “Sophie, there are Hellbeasts headed towards Cambridge. I’ll be back,” he said quickly, and ran up the staircase towards the roof. The reason this hotel was chosen was because of its helicopter access on the roof. He was already sprinting up the stairs with incredible speed when Sophie opened the door in panic,

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Wai-” she said, but no one was there. In her hands were Erik’s trusty Backpack of Stuff.

  “Good to see you again, Mr Fried,” Amir said as Erik put on the headset in the helicopter.

  “Amir!” Erik exclaimed. “Is this a coincidence, or are you joining the party?”

  “I’m all in now, baby! I’m your new personal aerial chauffeur,” Amir answered, lifting off the helicopter. It spun 180 degrees as they had enough clearance, and it leaned forward in the direction of Cambridge.

  “Good to have you with us. I’ve been saying we need more guys,” Erik said, withholding the information that he’d only said so in his head.

  “Well, I’m not joining you on the ground, but I’m glad to be of assistance either way.”

  It didn’t take long before the helicopter reached Cambridge, and the hellbeasts were already tearing up the outskirts. There was already another chopper in the vicinity, likely a scout keeping track of the Hellbeasts.

  “You should wear this,” Amir said as the chopper hovered above the ground, handing the Remnant a black balaclava. “There’s a lot of people and cameras around. Might even be press. Better safe than sorry.”

  “Thanks!” Erik said, removing his headset and donning the facemask, covering his nose and mouth.

  As he went to jump out of the helicopter, he remembered his backpack, and looked around the chopper. It wasn’t there. He didn’t bring it with him. How could he have been so stupid? Already, the drama involving him and Sophie was messing with his mind. He had one job, and that was to fight the invasion.

  Sighing, he jumped out of the chopper. Seven or eight metres further down, Erik landed and rolled, barely getting back up on his feet in a relatively smooth motion. He really had to train to do manoeuvres like that.

  He already knew the direction of the hellbeasts, but even if he hadn’t, he could sense where they were now. He had learned that the tingle he felt with Jessie was him sensing her aura. When his aura was improved by his new power, his aura had increased in strength, which was why Jessie felt it more strongly now.

  His own aura sensing ability had improved as well, though it didn’t make the tingle Jessie gave him any stronger. He felt how his senses had powered up. He could sense the dogs almost fifty metres away when focusing in their direction. That would definitely come in handy later.

  Erik ran towards the hellbeasts. They were crashing into houses and flipping cars, but luckily all the people in the immediate area had already gone. It seems they had gotten a good head start on the evacuation, at least.

  Erik looked around for anything he could use his Core power with, finding nothing but pebbles. Still, the concussive effect of them would really help, so he picked up a dozen or so pebbles, confirmed his power reacted to them as he anticipated, then put the bunch in his pockets.

  He picked up a few other things he found lying around, but nothing gave any indication that he could use it in any other way than its intended usage. He cursed himself for forgetting his backpack again, and could only sigh at the fact that he hadn’t absorbed another power, despite the link not being as powerful as Sovereign Faith was.

  He didn’t expect his aura power to be able to kill the beasts, and he was worried it wouldn’t even scare them off if he released it at them. Still, he could do this. He’d fought off a beast hand-to-hand before, though he didn’t manage to kill it at that time.

  One important thing with the major powers was that when filled, that power would connect to one or more of his innate abilities. It could be strength, speed, willpower or something along those lines. Sadly, his Authority was linked to his willpower, which made sense for both the power, and the tribulation he had gone through to link the waterfall to the rest of his magic.

  He didn’t know if that had actually impacted anything at all, but it felt like it did. Still, willpower wouldn’t help in a straight up fistfight, either. If it had been connected to strength, it would certainly have helped. Maybe the best thing he can do right now is scare them off. That had mostly worked for the military, both at the shore of the UB and at Bridgefort.

  The beasts eventually gave up, retreating for a while before coming back. That might be the best bet, but whether they went back to the sea was certainly not a given. If they retreated to another town or a forest or something, they’d still be a menace to everything around them, possibly hurting a whole lot of people.

  He didn’t have time to consider more as he was quickly approaching the beasts, and the two were charging right back at him. Close enough, Erik figured, he pulled out two of his pebbles and chucked them at his targets, one by one. This meant that one of them practically ended up on top of him after the concussive blast of the rock affected the dog, but Erik whirled around the massive body, letting it slide right past him.

  Hoping to maximise the time it was down, he leapt on top of the dog and immediately punched it in its neck, over, and over, and over. The meat beneath the repeatedly struck area slowly turned mushy, and the skin had torn apart several places in that same area, but the dog-beast soon came to, and it was still healthy enough to roll over, tossing Erik off its body.

  Erik rolled on the ground as he landed, quickly getting back up on his feet. While the dog he attacked hadn’t gotten up on its feet yet, the other one had. It was still dazed, but it was coming to quickly.

  Rather than reinforcing his efforts at crushing one of the beasts’ throats, Erik turned around and ran. He jumped into a nearby house through a window, and he went straight to the kitchen, hurriedly searching for anything he could use.

  He found a good quality kitchen knife that didn’t activate his ability sense, but he could still force his magic through just like last time, so he picked it up. In a pinch, it would certainly help.

  He did sense something that would work with his ability, and it was something he hadn’t used before. Getting a quick idea of how it would work, Erik pocketed that as well.

  That was all he had time for, however, as one Hellbeast had already gotten inside from the same window he entered through. It roared loudly as it searched the house, and Erik hid behind a corner. He forced his magic through the knife, hoping it would hold long enough before melting away.

  The hound’s head stuck out from the doorway, but it noticed Erik almost instantly. Erik stabbed at it with the knife, managing a deep wound on the dog-monster’s shoulder, but the massive beast had the leverage in this tight space. It headbutted Erik hardly into the wall, Erik feeling a rib crack under the force.

  No time to catch his lost breath, he ducked under a swipe of the beast’s paw, stabbing its chest with the knife. The beast jumped back a metre or two, pulling Erik along with it as he clenched the knife stuck in its chest tightly.

  The dog rose to its hind legs, then whirled violently. Erik had no choice but to let go of the knife as he was sent flying back out of the house through a new hole his body bashed out of the wall. He coughed up blood as he got up on his knees, facing the house.

  The second beast was out there waiting for him, this one the one with the softened neck. It looked like it walked crookedly against him, its neck likely damaged enough for the muscles in the area not to function as intended. Still, that one wasn’t the main concern right now.

  Erik noticed the beast inside the house readying a pounce, and Erik figured he only had one chance to get this right. As the dog leapt through the wall, enlarging the hole Erik had made, Erik mimicked the action, also leaping towards it. As he got closer to his attacker, the dog’s leap went too far, and Erik ended up beneath it while it soared above him.

  Just like he’d planned, he reached towards the knife stuck in its chest, forcing as much magic as he could muster through both his hands even before touching the knife.

  As both hands grabbed the handle of the sharp knife, and his magic shot through its blade, Erik’s weight and the dog’s momentum in the opposite direction was all that was needed to end it. The magically sharpened knife slit open the dog’s chest and stomach, opening it wide. Its guts fell to the ground behind Erik as the dog landed, already dead.

  Erik lay face down in the dirt outside the house, and couldn’t move. His body hurt all over. Still, one of the dogs remained. Before Erik managed to move, the dog had pounced on him, ripping up the Remnant’s back with its large claws.

  Erik felt a surge within him as his blood violently escaped his body, and he unleashed his full aura without an ounce of direction or control. The beast audibly whimpered, and got off his back. When it had retreated a few metres, it stopped its retreat and growled harshly, yet didn’t attack again immediately.

  Erik managed to use the last of his willpower to drag himself forward to the house wall, using it as leverage to pull himself up to his knees, and reached into his pocket. He grabbed the first thing he felt, and immediately tossed it at the beast. The rock hit the beast with no additional effect.

  Erik knew that would be the case. Each target he concussed would be resistant to the same effect for a while, though he didn’t know how long. The small rock wasn’t what he was looking for, however. He reached back into his pocket, picking another item and threw it at the dog.

  It was simply another stone, and it bounced off its thick skin. Erik could feel his aura weakening along with his strength and energy, and the dog dared to close in on him, though it still kept its guard up. It didn’t scare easily, and it didn’t recognise Erik’s Authority.

  Erik took the last item from his pocket, knowing this would be the right one. He fell forward, unable to keep himself upright any longer. His face once more hit the dirt, His aura fully retracted. He couldn’t keep it going at such strength any longer, not when he needed his last bit of energy for this last item.

  He looked up at his hand and weakly lobbed the item towards the dog, which had already closed in on him. The lighter he tossed activated, and Erik could hear something like a buzzsaw cutting through a thick piece of wet wood, followed by a thump in front of him. The two divided parts of the Hellbeast’s face stared at him with empty eyes.