A spiderweb of star fire and light spread throughout the entire area, filling blank magical rune circles. The intricate magic had stopped the Numbers, Manny and Calis in their place.
"H-how is that possible?" Calis managed to ask through the shock. Diminished Sun's blade had extended and moved all around them in an instant like it was listening to Lee Seng's one innate need: to protect them. The liquid star light blade moved around, filling itself as the entire group snapped out of it.
"It's Lee Seng!" Manny turned and looked at Nikolai. "What're you doing, Uncle Nikolai?!? Despawn it!"
"I'm not… I'm not doing that." Nikolai dispelled the runes around him. He looked at Akali and Akio who were standing with their mouths agape.
"How is that possible?" Akio asked. "He doesn't have any powers like that… right?" Akio looked to Manny for an answer.
"N-not since we last saw e-each other." Manny shook his head. "Lee, could you, uh… Dispel it?"
"H-huh?" Lee Seng snapped out of it. "O-oh, yeah." He looked at the hilt of Diminished Sun and watched as the star fire and light shrank back into its normal burning and molten form. He looked at Calis, asking, "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah." Calis nodded.
"Lee!" Manny ran over, bear-hugging Lee Seng into the ground. "You're okay!" Tears streamed down his face as he squeezed tightly.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Lee Seng yelped. "Get off!"
"I thought you were dead!" Manny became incoherent as he started to pour out his worries. Lee Seng fought Manny, pushing him off and letting his childhood friend cry on his knees. Lee Seng lifted himself up, only to be tackled with another hug. "I thought you died! I-I couldn't find the others! Th-they're nowhere to be seen!"
'He doesn't know where they are.' Lee Seng thought. He squeezed Manny, patting his back to let Manny know he was just as happy about their reunion.
"Who's this?" Nikolai pointed at Calis. Manny turned and looked.
"Calis?!? You're here too?!?" Manny stood up and cried-walked over. He wrapped a hug around Calis, who awkwardly patted Manny's back.
'What do I do?' Calis mouthed to Lee Seng. Lee Seng shrugged and stood up, getting tackled and hugged by his older siblings.
"You're alive!" Akali shouted.
"We thought you were dead!" Akio said. "Don't ever do that again!"
"I didn't do much of anything." Lee Seng smiled awkwardly. "Besides, create a forever heated sink hole where the lab is."
"You did that?" Akali pulled away. Lee Seng turned and nodded.
"That explains why Wisconsin turned into a desert." Nikolai sighed. The twins pulled away, letting Lee Seng's attention drift towards Nikolai.
"Uncle Nikolai…" Lee Seng's voice trailed off. Nikolai smiled and wrapped a hug around Lee Seng.
"It's good to see you, nephew. Glad to know even in the depths of hell, you wouldn't stay dead." Nikolai chuckled. Manny pulled away from Calis and turned, wiping his eyes and snot.
"Lee Seng wouldn't stay dead! He wouldn't!" Manny agreed with Nikolai. Akali looked at Calis like she had seen him before.
"Ah!" Akali snapped her fingers. "You're… You're, uh… I know you."
"Calis." Lee Seng told Akali and the others. "He found me."
"He did? Where? We searched the remnants of the lab and the parts of the city." Akio informed Lee Seng.
"I don't really remember. It's all a fog." Lee Seng pulled away from Nikolai and scratched the back of his head. "Calis, you know more than I do. Tell them."
"In front of the lab…" Calis answered. "That's where I found him… He was… in a daze of sorts. I managed to follow him into a nearby man-made cave and knocked him out of his 'fog.'"
"Fog? What fog?" Manny asked, looking between Calis and Lee Seng.
"I, uh, don't know." Lee Seng smiled awkwardly. "Anyways, I was asleep for a bit, but I'm better now. Some rest and food did wonders."
"You don't remember what you were doing all this time?" Nikolai asked, concerned.
"Nope." Lee Seng shook his head.
"I think he was trying to search for you guys and… his other friends." Calis told them. "He was also… radiating a lot of heat… His body was shaking like he barely drank or ate anything. It's like he was trying to find his friends this entire time…"
"And I did a spell and came here!" Lee Seng stuck his arms out. Manny rushed over and hugged Lee Seng, again. "Okay, this is weird. You're hugging too much."
"It's been a stressful last couple of months! I didn't know what to think!" Manny said, loudly.
"True… He has been especially worried since…" Akali glanced away, not wanting to bring it up. Lee Seng stared blankly at Manny, waiting for him to say something. Manny pulled away and shook his head.
"It doesn't matter now! If you found us then that means you have a way of finding the others!" Manny smiled.
"You have an item of theirs I could use?" Lee Seng asked. Manny thought for a moment and then snapped his fingers.
"It's not on me right now but it's back at the base!" Manny turned. "We should take them there!" He looked at the three Numbers for their input.
"I guess that would be well." Nikolai responded, looking to the other Numbers.
"Yeah, let's go there." Akio nodded.
"Are you hungry?" Akali asked Lee Seng.
"Are you?" Lee Seng asked Calis. The sun had quickly descended lower into the sky.
"The sun will set soon. I think we should find rest and food… if that's what you want." Calis nodded. Lee Seng looked at Akali and nodded.
The Numbers and Manny led Calis and Lee Seng deeper into the woods. They didn't trek that long and made it up the bend to a much cleaner cabin with its door wide open.
"You didn't close the door." Akio scolded Manny. "I told you to close the door even if we had to rush out to see who triggered the trap."
"You guys were yellin' about how we needed to go before they got away!" Manny argued. Akio rolled his eyes as they entered the cabin. It was a spacious place that seemed like it could house over twenty people.
"What is this place?" Lee Seng asked.
"There's multiple of these made around this entire area." Nikolai looked at Lee Seng and Calis. "We've been trying to search the entire place in case the other Numbers or your friends showed up at one of them, but we haven't been able to find anything."
"Twenty-six buildings and not a single one." Akio shook his head. He sank into the chair and yawned. "There's, how many total?"
"Over sixty." Akali followed her brother into the seat next to him. "Code 1 went off which means everyone should've been shown to the nearest telepads and sent off to one of the nearby safety cabins. These things would literally protect anyone from an explosion."
"They're stacked with non-perishable food too." Akio added.
"So, they could be somewhere in this laaaaarge area?" Lee Seng asked.
"Yup." Manny sat across from Akali. He patted the seat next to him. "Come sit, you two. You must've ran for a long time if you came from the lab."
"Yeah." Lee Seng sat down at the other end of Manny's couch. Calis sat in between them, keeping posture and his alert for anything out of the ordinary.
"I'll heat up the food in the meantime." Nikolai grumbled. "Making the old guy do it."
"You aren't that old, Two." Akio looked over to Nikolai. He stood up and made his way over to the kitchen. "I'll help you."
"You guys ran all the way from the lab?" Akali asked Calis and Lee Seng.
"Yup." Lee Seng nodded with Calis. He looked over to Calis. "I'm surprised he kept up."
"I've swam in the deep sea. Running above land with humanoid legs won't tire me out." Calis shook his head. Manny looked to Lee Seng, silently trying to indicate that Calis had said something he shouldn't have said.
"They know already. Well, Akali and Akio do. Uncle Niko doesn't." LEe Seng answered Manny's quiet worry.
"Oh, they do?" Manny sighed in relief.
"Know what?" Nikolai asked.
"Nothing of the sorts." Akio reeled Nikolai back in. "It's nothing special. Calis is a Merman, that's all."
"What?" Nikolai stared at Akio in disbelief before turning to look at Calis. "He is?" Calis nodded at Nikolai. Akali and Akio snickered as Nikolai reeled from the sudden drop. "If Merfolk exist then…"
"What do you think? Dragons exist and you aren't going wild about that." Akali motioned.
"That's cause they never come anywhere near the Midwest."
"There's dragons here?" Calis looked at Lee Seng. Lee Seng nodded.
"They're in the mountainous regions. Saw one in California." Lee Seng told Calis.
"Yeah, we did!" Manny snapped his fingers. "That was so cool."
"You were scared."
"Was not."
"You wanted to not go straight into that forest."
"I was not scared. You're misremembering."
"I have the sharpest memory out of everyone here." Lee Seng stuck his head out past Calis and narrowed his eyes onto Manny. "Do I need to remind you of this sharp memory?" Manny instantly went pale white.
"No." Manny shrank in his seat.
"Good." Lee Seng leaned into the sofa. "Tomorrow we're going to look for the others?"
"For any signs of survivors… but I think that isn't going to end well… Either a place is deserted or untouched… Most people might've made the decision to run back to the city for their families."
"Do you think the Numbers and my friends would've done the same?"
"The Numbers probably wouldn't sit still in most cases…" Akali sighed. "I assume they're in the city somewhere. Your friends probably hid away in case of enemies. Off what Manny said, your friend's older brother was with you, right?"
"Yeah." Lee Seng nodded. "But the Numbers… Would they move if, hypothetically, Number 1 was in deep shit?"
"How deep?" Akio asked. Lee Seng bit his lip and Akali leaned forward.
"What did you do?" Akali asked.
"I didn't do much… really. I just… saved her from the Deimon inside her…'' Lee Seng looked away.
"You what?!?"
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