“The Altarian World Tree has fallen,” the announcer stated as Jack sliced through the tree with his bare hand as if it were a sheet of paper. A moment later, Jack blinked and reappeared where he had been taken, standing in the quad of JATA academy. Several notifications informed him of their victory, explained that the rewards would be split evenly between the players, and that they could be collected from the system at any time. Jack looked down to his phone which buzzed with messages from Leonidas, Gemma, Trid, and Ryan all offering their share of the reward to Jack; he deserved them after all.

“Well this is unexpected,” Robin chuckled, having materialized alongside Jack. “I should probably hurry back to Ella and Marissa.”

Jack looked at the clock. “I’ll need to head over soon as well.” He called Storm back to life, and then, as promised, immediately summoned his newest addition to the family, the Princess of Altarians, Thea, who sparkled with the prettiest of smiles and sighed a sigh of pure relief.

Jack’s phone rang.

“The reward,” Leonidas tried to offer, but Jack interrupted him.

“What about them?”

“I can bring them to you right away.”

“No,” Jack sternly said. “You each volunteered to fight. You are all Earth’s champions. I don’t want to be Earth’s only hope. You don’t need to pay tribute to me like I’m some sort of god or dictator.”

Leonidas wanted to protest, but he held his tongue.

“Enjoy the victory,” Jack said. “For now, Earth is safe.”

“Thank you,” Leonidas replied. “I am grateful for everything that you are.”

“We’ll talk later.” Jack clicked off the phone. “How was the fight?” He asked Robin.

Robin smiled. “He went down easier than I’d expected. His regeneration was nothing compared to yours. And he was way too susceptible to poison. I should’ve fought with bare daggers. It might’ve been more fun that way.”

Jack agreed. “And you!” Jack turned to Storm who fidgeted with her new body, trying to find the most comfortable way to stand at ease.

“Master,” Storm’s voice echoed from her throat although her mouth did not move.

“She can speak!” Robin exclaimed.

“Are you both in there?” Jack asked.

Storm tilted her head as she thought about the answer. “I am both Thunder and Lightning,” she finally said.

“Can it be reversed?” Jack asked.

Storm shrugged her shoulders. “Did I do something bad?” she whimpered, lowering her snout to the ground and looking up with sad eyes.

“Never,” Jack said. “It was just unexpected. I didn’t mean to imply anything.”

Storm let out a cooing rumble.

“What are you?” Thea finally spoke. Her eyes scanned over Jack, tracing along his chest, and then down to his wrist, to the tattoo that had not been visible in the game. She sucked in her breath and stopped herself from making another sound as she fell to her knees with arms extended and head pressing into the ground in the deepest of respectful bows.

“Wait, why is she here?” Robin asked and then answered her own question. “You tamed her, didn’t you?”

Jack nodded. “She asked to be tamed. To be freed from her world and away from a life of torment beneath her father’s thumb.”

“That makes sense,” Robin nodded. “She’s strong. She’s beautiful. She’s a princess. She’ll fit right in. So why is she bowing?”

“Why are you bowing?” Jack asked directly to Thea, emphasizing his own confusion. “Speak,” he ordered.

“I apologize for any rudeness,” Thea stammered.

“Come on. Up, up. Stand up,” Jack insisted. “I’m not god,” he said again, feeling as if everyone he met continued to treat him as so.

“But you are,” Thea said. “You have the armor that only a Celestial could tame.”

“This nuisance?” Jack lifted his wrist. “It eats my mana and can’t tell me anything useful,” Jack said.

“Nuisance?” Thea muttered. If the armor was just a nuisance to him, then he had to be even greater than she had guessed, something far above the celestials she believed to be the highest of the high. “We were all blind to your greatness,” Thea said.

“Come on, get up.” Jack groaned.

Thea reluctantly stood.

“Do you know how it works?” Jack asked. “It doesn’t seem to be able to stay awake for long at all.”

Thea looked into Jack’s eyes. “You truly don’t know?” she asked.

“Not a clue,” Jack said. “I know it’s a Celestial Armor. I know there is currently a half-celestial sleeping inside. And I think the little buggers keep trying to regulate my emotions without my permission.”

“A half-celestial is inside?” Thea repeated.

“That she is,” Jack said.

Robin bounced anxiously to the side. “I told Ella that I would be right back,” she reminded. “I left her at the mall with Marissa. And there aren’t any choppers on campus.”

“Take Storm,” Jack said. “Test out those new wings of hers. See how fast she can go.”

Robin looked to the Warg who wagged her tail and lowered to all fours, beckoning Robin to climb on.

“I’ll meet you there later,” Jack added.

“You’re warm, Mistress,” Storm chirped.

“You’re so soft,” Robin said back.

“Hold on,” Storm informed as she spread her wings and soared into the sky with a whoosh.

“I think I understand,” Thea spoke up. “Your world has so little mana. The armor is starving. And if there’s a half-celestial sleeping inside, it’s probably injured. The armor might even be incubating it, restoring it, which I imagine requires ample mana.”

“Interesting,” Jack nodded along. “In terms of these mana-stones, how much do you think it would need?”

“I can’t even imagine. I saw two celestials when I was a child. They looked as if they were made from pure mana. Their bodies glistened, their voices warmed me. But, their power was unmistakable. A flick of their wrists could topple a nation. Father lavished them with food and drink and they gifted him ten of their mana-stones when they left. Compared to our dingy stones, those ten were world treasures.”

Jack nodded along. He had worried about pouring too much mana into the armor. He wasn’t too sure if he would damage it or harm the woman within. Now, he felt a bit more confident. Jack swiped open a new screen and accepted his mana-stone reward, conveniently accepting the option to deposit the stones directly into the pouch on his waist. And then, Jack retrieved one stone, examining it with EoT.

~Information~

Lowest Grade Manastone

A stone infused with mana.

Jack chuckled at the obnoxious ability, sometimes useful, sometimes utterly disappointing.

“How do I use the stone?” he asked.

“The same way you pull mana from the world,” Thea explained. “You just have to reach out and grab it. For beginners, it can be dangerous. But you probably won’t even notice a difference.”

Jack reached into the stone and called the swirling energy toward him. It felt strange, yet similar. There was an element to the energy. Just as some mana gathered in forests, and others in the water, and some beneath the earth, and others in rivers of magma, the energy felt as if it had a distinctive property. More defined than the slight leanings that he had discovered so far. He posed his question to Thea.

“Right!” Thea said, again having forgotten Jack’s knowledge of the universe was far less than her own. “There is only a single type of mana on Altaria. It leaks from the wind-veins that branch through my planet’s center. Unlike here,” Thea motioned toward her surroundings. “Your world is what we call omni-veined. There are different mana-types, but they aren’t permanent. Wind mana might blow across the field before finding itself morphing into nature mana as it gets inhaled by the trees, or water-mana as it brushes across a lake.”

Jack prodded the energy, examining the differences.

“As long as your mana pool is abundant enough to not be swallowed, you’ll be able to absorb and convert it without a problem.” Thea reassured him.

Jack called the mana into him.

The crystal crumbled.

“Not very much in there,” Jack stated, feeling as if he added a single droplet into the largest of oceans. He pulled another stone from his pouch and then pressed it against the marking on his wrist. Again, the stone crumbled as his tattoo swallowed the energy in a single gulp. The armor did not wake.

Jack wanted to keep exploring, to open his mana seals and pour the energy in until both armor and half-celestial woke, but he knew this wasn’t the time.

“I’m going to release you now,” Jack informed Thea.

“What?” Thea yelped. “No! You can’t. What if I get summoned to another game or what if they find a way to call me back?!”

Jack paused. His ability had already sunk its barbs into Thea’s mind. At this point, he no longer knew where Thea ended and his new underling began.

“Please don’t,” Thea begged, stepping closer to Jack. “Please.”

Jack nodded.

He’d also grown connected to her in their short time. Perhaps he too was a victim of his ability. The thought of her leaving was unsettling. The thought of her returning to her family, her father, and an unhappy life caused him physical discomfort. For better or for worse, they had formed a connection, and he didn’t want it severed. “Okay,” Jack relented. “I’m sure we could find a great use for you at the Academy. And, you have so much information that might benefit Earth. It would be a shame to throw that all away.”

“Thank you,” Thea said, her voice trembling and eyes watery.

The two stood in silence, both lost in their own thoughts.

A few minutes later, one of the JATA transport helicopters landed nearby in the open field and Jack and Thea joined three star-struck students on the quick hop to Los Duellos.