A pointless meeting. It was over. Nothing was ever going to happen. That was the reality. The others wished or hoped against reality. It ointless. Nothing would ge. Accepting the facts as they always had been was the only way. Nothing would happen.

  He only kept going because it was an order. She a. The look in her eyes was very clear. He saw how much she wa. They were but trash. ‘Rheia should not be giving them even a moment of her attention. They aren’t worth our time.’ All of the forces sent against them would be enough. Nothing would ge.

  “Nereus!” shouted a familiar voice through the stone walls. They purposely made their voice difficult to pinpoint by making it travel through the walls. “I’m going to take my rightful spot back today!”

  Nereus ighe voice even though he kly who it was. He tinued his slow walk through the hall. Only oher person was in the hall making it the usual perfect timing to stage an ambush without having interruption. However, the hallway closed off suddenly. The stone grew out in uniform shapes seamlessly to seal off his path forward.

  A ripple came out from his feet. He tested the area making evaluations. Passing him with no i in the quarrel, Ourias made a brisk pace for the blockage. “A wall of stone is but like a mist in the forest, without form.” The stone suddenly ged form to turn into thin particles of vapor. He passed through without interruption. A few seds ter, it reverted to stone again.

  His eyes narrowed a little, already w out the factors. ‘How strong is that man?’ thought Nereus. The words themselves were meaningless against a person like that. His Field gave him strength and the real reason it worked. However, the distance he affected it from was more than Nereus believed the man capable of. ‘He’s only rawelfth among us, but he made easy work of it. Their strength should not be very disparate.’

  The matter required more thought, but it wasn’t something afforded to him. Several extrusions from the wall shot out for him. However, they came to a halt a meter away stopped by something. It was almost invisible, but a ripple ran through the impossibly thin surfabsp; It was water. “You would better spend your time challenging Ourias than myself. It wasn’t I who took your seat.”

  “Silehey shouted again. Rumbles ran through the stoing to their voibsp; “You’re the reason I’m no longer a Titan!”

  Another barrage came after him, but it had the same effebsp; The difference was clear. “It was the 8th seat I took, not the 12th.”

  “You dispced me!”

  “You were the weakest. It’s only natural. It is the way the Titans work.”

  “Arrogant bastard!”

  A bit of his eyebrow raised. Nereus began walking forward forcibly using his Field to make a path for him. “Despite the number of times you call me arrogant, I only speak the truth. It is just the way things are. Until you bee stronger you will not be able to join.” There was no desding tone in his voice, just matter of fabsp; He didn’t seem to hold any ill-will towards the man. And why should he, he wasn’t his equal or rade. He was at least alive, unlike so many others. “I’ve given you your opportunity. Good day, Seilenos.” Nereus had nothing more to say to the man a.

  Chapter 228 – Peak Walkers

  Outside the fines of Omega, Ourias walked through the crowded streets of the Capital. He forewent his uniform, preferring more simple clothes, a tunid pants. Amongst the smaller structures, he felt a little more fortable. The giant needle behind him of Omega still cast a long shadow. But uhe cloth s and sandwiched buildings, he felt like he could hide a little from their sights. It was better being outside.

  He went up to a storefront, it was just a table with handmade goods. Inside, he could see it was their home. Many of the shops were just like it. He browsed through casually, not pletely sure what he searched for. The middle-aged woman smiled at him waiting for him.

  It took him a few minutes, but he found it. “I’ll take this one,” he answered, pig it up. However, whearted to hand it over someone bumped into him. It was enough force to turn him part way around and lose hold of the item. He looked back to see what happened.

  Two MP users stood behind him. The ohat bumped into him looked a the disruption. It didn’t help that Ourias showed no sign of fear towards him, uhe woman. She immediately reized their white uniform and started to try to pull away. “What you looking at old man?” they barked, leaning in to invade his space.

  Ourias no longer held any i in them. He saw where it headed fast. ‘Typical…’ His eyes looked down in search of what he dropped.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought!” The young man started to walk away with his friend following up. It seemed like they would let things go.

  However, when Ourias moved to pick up the tri, acid bubbled up moving for his hand. He was able to get away in time, but the tri was almost pletely ruined. The acid destroyed the paint and carved into the metal making it two pieces.

  The same as before, just enough to scare, but not to actually harm. There was never a danger of that. Even they knew not to act so recklessly.

  Ourias stood up holding the remains of the accessory in his hand. He started to dig around for . “How much was it?”

  The frightened woman needed a little more time to recover. She couldn’t answer him immediately. It took Ourias helping her back to her feet to be able to speak. “Are you hurt, sir?”

  “Just a little startle, nothing more,” he replied, shaking his head. He pyed it all off. “How are you?”

  “Oh fine!” She tried to look brave. It was a on occurrence, but it didn’t ge that eater could turn dangerous with the slightest of mistakes. “If I didn’t feel so damn much about the home I’ve lived in my whole life I’d pack up and leave. Adelpha is always telling me how is outside the Capital. They’re still out there too, but as long as you don’t live in the border towns it’s much better.”

  He smiled a little, seeing that she looked to have recovered. “I’m same. If it wasn’t for my family I’d be out there too.” Ourias passed over the trio the woman.

  “It’s broken! I’ll get you something else.” She started looking over her table in search of somethier.

  “How much?” he insisted. His free hand held out a few s.

  The woman jumped up to her feet. She tried to refuse him. “But sir, it’s broken! I ’t ask you to pay for it.”

  “It was my mistake, I’ll pay for it.”

  She could see the stubbornness in his eyes. There was no ce of her ving him otherwise. “Two brass.” Unfortunately, her answer didn’t go over well for him. He could see through her lie and insisted further. “Fi was four silver.”

  “Thank you,” he smiled, handing over the for it. Ourias walked off. O of sight, he closed his hand over the broken accessory. “It returo its inal form as though the aever touched it.” Lifting his hand, the tri was no longer damaged, returo its inal dition.

  A distant explosion broke the peace he held. Everyone around him ran off frighte what happened. He tilted his head ba the dire of the explosion. Smoke rose from damage on the spire of the Omega plex. ‘Teris again...’ Ourias turned away, no longer ed.

  Coughing escaped through the heavy clouds of smoke. Nothing could be seen through thiess. The explosio everything ringing. Light broke in through the hole carved hly by the bst.

  Sifting through the smoke, a young man fumbled around in searbsp; “Where are you, sir? Are you alright?” He couldn’t find the one he sought. The smoke was still too thick for him to find anything. In his search, he did find the table, which he knocked over by act, at least the remains of it. He stumbled around trying to recover his stanbsp; “Captaienant!?”

  Another couple of coughs turned his head. He found a dire to move. Broken gss ched under foot as he rushed over to the sound. Some of the smoke thinned enough for him to make out a shape. “Captaienant Teris! Sir!” He came rushing to his superior’s side finally disc him propped up against the wall, o him the wall stopped with a startling view of the city below.

  Teris grimaced a little as he looked up to his approag aide. “Didymos…” The more smoke cleared out, the se of age unveiled itself. Blood dripped on the walls and pooled out across the floor. He seemed to ignore or not notice this fact as he pushed off the wall trying to stand. The momeumbled and almost fell, he realized something was wrong. “ht, my left leg and arm were blown off.”

  “Sir!” yelled Didymos, running out to help Teris up. “You’re missing y and arm!”

  His face went a little ft hearing his aide. “Yes, thank you for repeating me.” A chair materialized in his surviving hand allowing him to set up a pce to sit. Didymos immediately started healing the damage. “You’re an idiot, Didymos.”

  “Eh? Sir?” Didymos tilted his head up away from his work.

  Testing his restored arm out, he firmed everything worked correctly. “You have power, use it when you . If there’s smoke in the room, create an Addendum to remove it. I wouldn’t have had to hear you shouting like a blind fool.”

  His aide blinked a little not expeg to be berated by his superior, who nearly seemed to have killed himself. “But, sir—“

  “You panicked and that’s a mistake. Iime you tried searg for me, I was able to administer a numbing agent and a clotting agent to slow the bleeding. You’re an Omega soldier, you o be able to act calmly and rationally even in dangerous situations or you’re useless. You’ll just get yourself killed.”

  “Yes, sir!” It was the only thing he could say. He keris was right. It was his mistake. The work on Teris’ body finished quickly. Freed up, Didymos could look around at the room. It used to be a boratory for Teris, a well-reinforced ooo. “What happened here, sir? It looks like a bomb went off.”

  Teris scratched his head. His mind was already s through the failure and uanding what went wrong with it. Didymos’ words eventually caught up to him mixed among his thoughts. “I was w on a new pound. I got the proportions wrong.” He stood up already better. “Like I always say, one failure is another path explored.”

  “But, sir! It could have killed you! With the power you have, you could have made what you wanted perfectly the first time!”

  The tall Atntean looked back down at Didymos. His faarrowed a bit, turning serious. “You ’t let your powers do everything, otherwise you never learn anything.” He pushed his hand through the air causing it to ripple. Everything up to his elbow disappeared before he retrieved it along with a spherical vial. He took the cork top off and drank the tents. “Like this, in me men’s terms it’s a restorative. The average citizen wouldn’t know it any different from the stuff people peddle oreets. It actually increases the produ of red blood cells to make up for the blood I lost. As a side effect, it boosts alertness and energy, making you very hungry and causes dehydration. So I know to drink plenty of water and snack frequently.”

  Teris tossed the vial carelessly behind him. It vanished into particles before ever hitting the floor. “I know the exaposition of this and all the effects.” He walked around the mess towards the only thing in the room that didn’t look affected by the bst. Almost nothing remained in the room, yet the tall closet in the er looked brand new. He opehe doors, shelves empty. “If I had the materials, I could create it by hand. The same goes for everything in there.” Teris motioned with his hand causing a rge rift to open up o him. Suddenly, vials started to pop on to the shelves filling it. “To use your powers means to uand them. If you don’t uand what they do you ’t use them to their fullest. This is basic Field theory.”

  Didymos had a little trouble still accepting Teris’ lecture. He uood what he said. It was on sense, but he couldn’t agree with the results. “But, sir! You destroyed your b! Almost killed yourself! Maybe some knowledge is too dangerous. You’re one of the Titans, if we lost you—“

  “Didymos!” seris, cutting him off. The unpag finished and he closed the closet. He started to walk over to the hole in the wall. A ripple came out of his feet. “It’s just a title. It doesn’t rank my importany higher.” The wall began repairing itself. “Besides, I knew how much I was using and the worst possible oute. I wouldn’t have died. If you remember ohing from me. There is nothing, nothing, too dangerous to know. Growth is not possible without more knowledge.”

  “Even if it is something you shouldn’t know?” He shouldn’t have said anything. Didymos k, but his mouth moved anyway. It was ooo many questions.

  g his hands together, the b started to rebuild itself. His wall returo being the same white special reinforced crete mix. “Of course, each has its uses. Knowing what you shouldn’t is even more important, because you see when someone is going to e after you. If you know too little or just enough, it’s worse than knowing nothing or too much.”

  Everything was fixed. Teris returo his table with vials of his materials once more. He was ready to resume, undaunted by his failure. It didn’t take his eyes to know Didymos tried to sneak out. “Didymos.”

  He froze, feeling caught. Thoughts of helping with the experience ran through his mind. Sweat dripped down his fabsp; “Yes, sir?”

  “It’s important to remember what I said. The times we live in hinge on you taking that to heart or else you won’t survive the future.”

  Didymos felt relieved, but a little disturbed. He didn’t expect su ominous warning from his superior. The almost deadly seriousness of his words made him take it to heart. “I uand, sir! I’ll carve your words into my mind.”

  “You do that.” He began to lift the vial. His aide reached for the door wanting to leave quickly. “Didymos.”

  Another ce, he dreaded it even more. “Yes, sir?”

  “Close the door on your way out.”

  He nodded and flung the door open. “I will, sir!”

  Teris grinned a little. “Now this is where it started st time. So if I take this instead…”