Austin took a moment to explain everything that happened to him while he was out to Maya. He explained to her how time worked differently and how he met someone to train him. Then he explained that he had already made it to Copper under Artas’s direction and the many other things he learned while he was there.

  ?

  “Also very importantly,” Austin reached into his pack to pull out a scroll. “Artas gave me scrolls filled with food.”

  ?

  “Wait, wait,” Maya put her hands up in a stop gesture. “You are telling me you met an elf?”

  ?

  “Yes,” Austin nodded.

  ?

  “And he taught you about Essence and helped you become Copper?” Maya asked in disbelief.

  ?

  “Yep,” Austin nodded once more.

  ?

  “And you’re telling me that in that scroll is food?” Maya’s eyebrow raised.

  ?

  “Yeah, not just that,” Austin reached into his pack with excitement to pull out more scrolls. “I have scrolls with books, cookware, elixirs, and even some of Artas’s skills!”

  ?

  “You are expecting me to believe that you met an elf in the woods that just gave you all that stuff?” Maya asked aggressively. “Not to mention this whole other world you went to that apparently moved slower than this one?”

  ?

  “I mean, aren’t I proof?” Austin sighed. “You were the one who pointed out I looked different.”

  ?

  “With all the other crazy stuff, I don’t find it hard to believe,” Josh spoke up in Austin’s defense.

  ?

  “Shush, go back to your book. This is between me and my crazy husband,” Maya snapped at Josh before turning back to Austin with her hands on her hips. “You do look different, I’ll say that. But I just find the rest hard to believe. A strange elf man decided to train you and give you all this stuff out of the kindness of his heart?”

  ?

  “I know it sounds crazy,” Austin admitted. “You just have to trust me. According to him, there are various shrines throughout the forest for masters. Remember, this whole Survival Game is meant to get us using Essence? Well, the masters are just another part of that.”

  ?

  “Fine, I’ll believe you,” Maya sighed after Austin’s explanation and relented. “So how are these scrolls supposed to work?”

  ?

  “Oh, it’s really cool,” Austin slid one of the scrolls out of its case. “You just need to send your Essence into the scroll, and whatever is stored inside will pop out.”

  ?

  Austin knelt down on the ground and unrolled the scroll. Afterwards, Austin placed his hand over it and started to flow Essence through his arm. Silver wisps of light flowed from his hand and crawled across the paper, filling each character with light. As the final character lit up, books bounced up from the scroll and landed in a stack.

  ?

  Maya held her hand over her face as she tried to control her laughter. “That looked so silly.”

  ?

  “I thought the same thing,” Austin replied. “But it’s still very useful.”

  ?

  From the other side of the room, Austin heard Elliot giggle and clap his hands. Abruptly, he ran over to Austin and Maya and looked over the stack of books. “Again!”

  ?

  Austin placed his hand on Elliot’s head and ran his hand through his hair before he replied, “Not right now, but I promise we will soon.”

  ?

  “You promise?” Elliot raised an eyebrow as if he were skeptical.

  ?

  “Yes, I promise, bud,” Austin smiled.

  ?

  “Good,” Elliot nodded his head in exaggeration. A spark of realization seemed to come over his eyes as he nodded his head, and he looked Austin up and down. “Daddy looks different.”

  ?

  Austin did not even think about how Elliot would react to his appearance. All he knew was how Austin usually looked, so it must have come as quite a shock to him. “Yeah, daddy does look different. But don’t worry about it. You know how sometimes superheroes transform as they get stronger to beat the bad guys?”

  ?

  Elliot did not respond immediately. Instead, he moved his eyes to the side as if he were trying to remember what Austin was talking about before he said in an unsure tone, “I think so.”

  ?

  “Well, that’s all daddy did,” Austin explained. “I got stronger so I can protect you from bad guys.”

  ?

  “Oooh,” Elliot’s eyes grew large as he looked over Austin in excitement. “That’s cool!”

  ?

  “I guess it is pretty cool,” Austin smiled.

  ?

  Elliot nodded again and jumped in excitement, “Daddy! The superhero!”

  ?

  Austin swiftly grabbed Elliot and lifted him in the air. As he lifted Elliot over his head, he started to move Elliot around back and forth like a flying airplane. “I may be the superhero, but you are the one who can fly!”

  ?

  Elliot giggled in joy as Austin swung him around his head. After swinging Elliot around a little more over his head, Austin swung him to the ground and got on all fours. As Elliot landed on the ground, he immediately started to climb on Austin. Elliot pulled at Austin’s arms and legs and tried to wrestle him to the ground.

  ?

  As Elliot crawled up Austin’s back, Austin yelled out, “Oh no! You got me!” Austin’s body fell to the ground as Elliot continued to climb onto his shoulders. Elliot then wrapped around Austin’s neck with both of his arms.

  ?

  “I got you!” Elliot laughed triumphantly.

  ?

  “Not so fast!” Austin replied as he began to rock his body. Elliot tried his best to hold on, but eventually his grip on Austin’s neck broke. As it broke, Austin reached around and grabbed Elliot. With a quick movement, Austin swung him back to the ground.

  ?

  “Not fair!” Elliot pouted with an exaggerated lip.

  ?

  Austin did not respond but instead smirked mischievously before he pounced on Elliot. He tickled Elliot immediately after pouncing. As Austin tickled him, Elliot tried his best to keep pouting, but he could not help it and broke into laughter.

  ?

  “Daddy!” Elliot exclaimed in between laughs. “Stop it!”

  ?

  “You don’t seem upset anymore to me,” Austin laughed.

  ?

  The two continued to play until Elliot grew tired. His eyes could barely stay open as they played, and then finally, Austin let up. As Austin let up, Elliot quickly fell asleep, and Austin tucked him into his sleeping bag.

  ?

  “Sorry, I just got caught up in it,” Austin said to Maya as he sat down next to her.

  ?

  “You don’t need to apologize,” Maya smiled. “It’s important for you two to spend time together. Even in all this mess.”

  ?

  “I appreciate your understanding,” Austin smiled.

  ?

  “Of course, I’ll always understand you wanting to spend time with him,” Maya moved closer to Austin as she spoke and wrapped her arms around him.

  ?

  Austin felt his body melt as Maya embraced him. The time in Artas’s domain had worn down on him and he especially missed the soft and quiet moments with his wife. The moment made everything else go away as if the world was just the two of them. There was no Survival Game and no worry, just the two of them.

  ?

  As the couple embraced each other, Josh awkwardly looked up from his book. He quietly turned away from the two and kept reading. As the third wheel, he felt no reason to intrude on the two. Especially if what Austin said was true, and for him, the time apart was much longer.

  ?

  “I missed you so much,” Austin sighed in relief. During his time with Artas, Austin’s mind raced and felt like it was constantly going. With Maya, he felt the exact opposite. It was like his mind cleared, and he could just enjoy the moment with her.

  ?

  “Wait, really?” Maya sounded shocked at first. She was used to Austin being gone for a workday, and to her, the time he was gone was less than that. “Oh, right, you’ve been in that other world. What was that like?”

  ?

  “Strange, I think that’s the best word for it,” Austin said. “It’s calmer than this world. Even the Aether felt extremely different. Like the Aether here feels wrong and corrupted now that I’m back. But I could not help but miss you two. Even when I was working long hours, I always came home to you.”

  ?

  “I get that, I don’t know if I could spend a week away from you,” Maya said. “It just would not feel right.”

  ?

  Austin nodded and pulled Maya closer to himself. “It doesn’t matter how scary this place is. It is even scarier to be away from you two.”

  ?

  “Well, you're here with us now,” Maya’s tone was soft and gentle.

  ?

  “Yes, I am,” Austin smiled as he looked at his wife.

  ?

  The couple sat in soft silence. Their eyes started to drift as they embraced the overwhelming calm of each other’s presence. Eventually, they could no longer keep their eyes open, and they fell asleep against the wall of the building.

  ***

  “Good morning, daddy!” Elliot yelled and shook Austin to force him awake.

  ?

  As Austin woke up, he noticed that his sleeping bag was placed over him. He could only assume that Josh did it after he realized that Austin and Maya had fallen asleep. Austin also noticed that Maya was still fast asleep next to him. To not disturb her, Austin carefully pulled away.

  ?

  “Shhh,” Austin whispered to Elliot. “We don’t want to wake mommy.”

  ?

  “Oh, right,” Elliot whispered in response. At least he tried to; the tone was like a whisper, but the sound was much louder.

  ?

  “Let’s go over there and play while mommy naps,” Austin suggested.

  ?

  Elliot nodded and grabbed Austin’s hand with his tiny fingers. He pulled Austin to his small collection of toys and started to play with them. As he did, he directed Austin on how to play with his toys. If Austin played in a way that Elliot did not like, he would protest and show Austin the proper way to play with the toy. At least, it was the proper way in Elliot’s mind.

  ?

  As they played, Austin noticed Josh’s return from the forest. He reached from within his pack and set out berries and mushrooms. Austin was shocked to see Josh still foraging for food since Austin told him that he brought back food in the scrolls.

  ?

  “You don’t need to still forage,” Austin informed Josh. “We really do have plenty of food.”

  ?

  “I know, I mostly did it to hunt some beasts,” Josh replied as he walked towards Austin and Elliot. As he arrived, he handed Elliot a handful of berries. “Also, Elliot really likes the berries.”

  ?

  “Thank you, Josh!” Elliot smiled as he took the berries and started to eat them.

  ?

  “Thank you,” Austin said to Josh. “I guess you’re growing fond of him?”

  ?

  “What can I say? He is pretty cute. It’s hard not to like him,” Josh replied as he sat next to Austin. “So, I didn’t get to talk to you much last night. You gave us the gist of everything, but I was wondering if you could explain in more detail?”

  ?

  “Interested in how I can help you get stronger then?” Austin smirked.

  ?

  “Kinda yeah, I thought maybe there was some info you could give me that would help,” Josh replied.

  ?

  “There is plenty for me to tell you,” Austin said. “I want to tell both of you, though. That way, we can get started on your paths to Copper.”

  ?

  “You’re gonna make me wait until Maya is awake, then?” Josh asked.

  ?

  “Yep, I have all sorts of surprises in store for both of you,” Austin said.

  ?

  “Well, that’s just not fair,” Josh said in disappointment.

  ?

  “You are beginning to sound like Elliot,” Austin laughed. “Work on purifying that Aether until Maya wakes up.”

  ?

  As Josh walked to the corner, Austin resumed his attention on Elliot. Red juice covered Elliot’s mouth and hands. Austin sighed and reached into his pack for a strip of cloth.

  ?

  “You are so messy,” Austin laughed as he tried to grab a squirming Elliot to clean his hands and mouth.