“They could take her anywhere,” Arthur screamed, throwing his tie on the helipad they had landed and crouching down. Hands on his eyes, he kept thinking about the moment they had kidnapped her. Johnny and Lana.

  “But they won’t. By that logic, even we can take her anywhere, but the chances of us doing that are way higher than them doing that, alright?”

  Elle’s words made no sense. Even if he was speaking with the utmost confidence that Celia would be fine, they still didn’t make any sense. What did he mean when he said she would be fine? How could she possibly be fine? Universe-hopping assassins had kidnapped her, and Elle was not even fazed. How many times had this happened to him? Twice already? Four times already?

  He also crouched down and put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder, “Arthur, hear me out. I’ve been to, like, a couple of dozen universes, alright? A lot of Arthurs, a lot of Celias, and a lot of assassins. And yes, by all means, Lana and Johnny have always stuck out. Mostly because they kind of look like Laurel and Hardy, but that’s not the point. What I am trying to say is that…do you see a couple of dozen Arthurs around you?”

  He wasn’t sure why he looked around, even though he already knew who was waiting for him. Dee, curled up on the floor, was still angry that he hadn’t been able to sense the danger beforehand. Vil, kneeling against him, was looking up at the sky without an expression on his face. Elle gave Arthur another pat on the back and nodded.

  “Look, you’re a rare one. Not a lot of us decide that we want to help ourselves out. Right now, you’re someone that we can’t really let go. We need you more than you need us. And trust me, we’re gonna make sure you get into that portal to home base on your own choice. You will jump in without any regrets, and that means we’re gonna get Celia back.”

  “From what universe, Elle? They could be anywhere…”

  “But they won’t. That’s what I am trying to explain. They do not have the abilities to be able to do that. They’re far too limited, and require other people to do those things for them. They don’t have a Dee that can open a portal, alright?”

  Arthur took another glance at Dee, who gave him a quiet nod.

  “Look, Arthur, it might be too much to take in, but you need to understand how these powers work, alright?”

  Elle pulled him by the right hand, and Arthur dangled along with him. He did not want to stand up, but being a bother did not sit right with him either. So, he let himself free and decided that the man could take him wherever he wanted.

  “The parasites directly connect with your brain. They do not have any powers on their own. They only enhance what is already inside of you. And once they’ve enhanced that, as you can guess, you are slotted into one of the six modules that are available. That is either Space, Time, Strength, Communication, Biotechnology, or Pure Technology, alright? Now, it’s alright. You don’t need to remember all of them, ok?”

  Arthur nodded. He already did remember all of them. He had repeated the names five times in his brain at this point.

  “You have the Time Module. Dee has the Space Module. I have the Biotechnology Module, and Vil here is a Pure Technology kind of guy. Get that? Now, why is this important? Because every module has a set number of skills. Survival skills are the same for literally everyone, and other than that, there are only ten to twelve total skills under every module. Here’s the kicker, though. People usually only have one skill out of those ten.”

  Arthur looked at him with his puffy eyes, unable to understand why any of this was important. It gave him more information, sure, but it wasn’t helping with what he actually needed to know – what were they going to do about Celia? How were they going to save her from the assassins?

  “Yeah, yeah, I am getting to it. Wipe that look off your face.” Elle stood up, walked up to Dee, and gave him a quick pat on the body, “Dee has the portal skill. He can create a portal to whatever universe he wants. If he’s been there before, he can go there consistently. But Lana and Johnny? Neither of them has the portal skill. Lana is a Space Module, but her skill is Atomic Resonance. It can’t get her from one universe to another.”

  Walking back up to him, Elle put his arms on the man’s shoulder and smiled.

  “They usually use some other Space Module user as their conduit of travel. The assassins would be useless if their skill was just to portal to another universe; mostly because there’s a cooldown, without which the skill would be far too broken. But that’s not the point of our conversation. Do you get what I mean?”

  Arthur nodded.

  Yes, he got it. Celia was not going anywhere. She was in this world somewhere, and if he understood the goal of the assassins, she was probably somewhere they could get to easily. At the end of the day, he had thought it first. Their ultimate goal was to kill him. Taking Celia to another universe to achieve that made no sense. They had nothing to do with her, after all.

  He looked at his own hand, the text flashing all over his eyes. The parasite had evolved him. Arthur had never thought about it like that, until now. This was just a new step in the evolutionary cycle. Something that had never been seen before. A parasite coming into contact with a human being, and giving them enhanced powers.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “So, the only skill I’ll ever be able to use is Object Reversal?” He looked up and asked.

  Once the fear of losing Celia permanently was gone, he couldn’t help but start thinking once more. Object Reversal was great. It was very helpful and allowed him to confuse others in ways that were very fun to pull off. But it was still limited. Very limited, in fact. He would not be able to get very far with that, especially since he didn’t have a lot of combat experience.

  “Well, mostly, yeah.” Elle nodded, “Once or twice, we have come across assassins who had multiple skills, but we’ve never been able to figure out how they managed to do that. And as you can guess, they hardly speak, so we can’t get that information out of them either. But, to answer your question, yes. You will be stuck with only Object Reversal…unless you can figure out how you’re supposed to gain another skill.”

  “Oh…”

  Figure out. Right. He was supposed to figure out how this entire parasite ecosystem worked, even though he was surrounded by people who had been living it for far longer now. At the same time, when he really thought about it in a completely honest manner, they weren’t very smart. Elle was way too oblivious to think straight. Dee hardly spoke at all, and it was mostly just about the mission. Vil was…Vil. If he had to guess, the three probably never thought too deeply about their powers.

  But that was for later. Right now, he needed to know something else. Something far more important.

  “What now, though?”

  Elle raised his hands and brought them together for a loud clap, “Exactly! Now you’re asking the right questions. What now? We don’t have time to whine around and explain things to each other. We need to track down Lana and Johnny and then get Celia back. Normally, now, that would be a very difficult thing. But thankfully for us…we have Vil.”

  Elle pointed at the knight as if he were a…knight in shining armor. Arthur pinched his hand for even letting the thought come into his mind. What a horrible joke.

  Vil sighed and stood up like a bored hero, shining his teeth at them all as he gave Dee a part and spoke up, “I have the Pure Technology Module, my friend. Do you know the reason for that?”

  “He, uh, doesn’t really care. Can you just get to the part where you tell us where the assassins are?”

  “No, Elle, no. He must know where my powers come from. Where my strength is rooted. And that is my brain. One might think that I am far too archaic, to be able to have the Pure Technology Module. But that is precisely the point, friend. I have it because I was far too advanced for my time. Thinking ahead, always looking at what could be, and not what was. Do you understand, friend?”

  “Ye-ah?” Arthur had already learnt not to question this man’s choices too much. He wasn’t going to listen to anyone anyway.

  “Good, good. Now, I shall use my abilities and track down the assassins at a moment’s notice!”

  He kneeled down on the concrete with armor pieces clanking all around the helipad and took a long breath. Placing both of his hands down, he closed his eyes and took a long breath. A sudden silence filled the entire area. For the next few moments, even Dee felt like he was holding his breath.s

  One. Two. Three.

  Skill Activation

  Voice of the World

  Even after the three seconds passed, Vil stayed as he was. His eyes began to move behind the closed eyelids, and his hands trembled as the seconds passed. His entire body began to slightly shake, which was further enhanced by the rattling armor that went along with it. But he did not budge from his place, or opened his eyes and spoke up, for almost thirty seconds after that.

  Arthur waited and waited and waited, hoping for a change in the scenery, until Vil finally broke and opened his eyes.

  “Found them.” He said, taking long breaths to gather himself once more.

  “Where? Where are they?” Elle kneeled down, rubbed his armour-clad back, and gave him a small water bottle that he pulled out of his jacket.

  How many things did he have inside that jacket anyway?

  “There is a massive structure to the right of the castle we are currently on. Below that structure is an opening in the ground hidden by its weight. In that opening, both Lana and Johnny have decided to take a rest.

  Of course. Vil was the worst person to have gotten this ability. How were they able to figure out what he meant? In a city like this, every single building could be called a massive structure. They had just caused a massive structure to be destroyed and turned into ruins.

  “Vil, I taught you all of this. What type of building is it?” Elle asked.

  “Well, I…hardly remember. Those pesky books that you gave me are very cute, but they do not help me gain information easily.”

  “Vil, stop being a bitch, will you?” Instead of letting it pass by, Elle gave the knight a short slap and asked again, “We are currently on…?”

  “A…sky…scraper?”

  “Good, yes, exactly. Great job, Vil. Now, what type of building is she under?”

  “Uh, heavens!” He looked up and took a deep breath, “It was a…ware…place?”

  “A warehouse? Alright. That helps. Arthur, is there a warehouse near here?”

  Arthur nodded immediately and hopped over to the side of the rooftop where they could see the warehouse building. It was right in the middle of the city, and while he didn’t know what it was used to store, it was quite popular. It had been an issue of massive contention whether it was fine to construct a warehouse there instead of more housing units. Everybody knew the warehouse.

  “Great, yes! This is it. Come on. I think we’re all ready?”

  Elle clapped and rushed to Dee. The dragon also stood up and waved its tail in the air a little bit to get a rush going inside his body. Arthur took a long, hard look at the warehouse and then ran back to the dragon to get on top of it. This was it. They were going to get her back, and there was no doubt about it. Even if it was the last thing he was going to do, he would do it.

  No. He got on the dragon and shook his head. He wasn’t going to let himself die either. This wasn’t a suicide charge. This was a simple rescue mission that was going to end well. He would make sure it ended well. Celia would live, and so would he. That was the ideal outcome he needed to consider.

  “Oh, just so you know, my ability allows me to read the electrical signals that run through all living and non-living beings. As long as they are in proximity, I can spread my sight forever. And so, by-”

  “Yeah, Vil, nobody cares.”

  Elle shut him up with another quick line, and the dragon rose in the air.