The group consisting of Silas, Dana, Carl, Athena and Thor walk with an eerie tension between them. "No, seriously, why are you avoiding talking about it?" Dana asks Silas. "You just zoned out, crumpled Thor's hand like paper, and just come back and that's it?"
"I have no idea where to begin, to be honest." Silas. "There's a lot going on and I'm still processing it myself."
"But we need to know what's going on, kid." Athena adds. "This is a matter of great importance. We need to get to the bottom of this."
"Not right now!" Silas yells as he stops walking. Silas takes a deep breath, and then continues walking again with the rest of the crew. "I... I'm going to need some time. I'm having a bit of a crisis right now."
"You can talk to us whenever you're ready still, Silas." Carl replies.
"I think he's in shock." Dana says as she looks up at the rest, expressing anger when she meets with Athena's eyes. "Don't push him farther than he needs to be."
After they reached the outskirts of Omnium Guild, the ruined capital that was once the capital of Omnia, The prepared to climb into the truck they borrowed from Pilloa Castle. As they stand outside of the truck, Carl asks as he begins to climb into the back "So what did happen with the stream?"
"Hm?" Athena asks.
"The stream... y'know?" Carl says. "The reason we came here? The thing Silas was trying to close?"
"Well, remarkably, it seems... fading, for lack of a better term." Athena says.
"Fading?" Dana asks.
"For lack of a better term." Athena adds. "It's not closed, but I wouldn't say Silas was unsuccessful. It rather looks like it's... healing the seal that was put there before."
"Does that mean that they weren't seals, but rather punctures in the previous seal?" Dana asks.
"Precisely placed punctures, I might add." Athena says.
"It was a guess and a long shot... but the boy pulled us through." Thor adds.
"But now we all got targets on our backs from Ares, don't we?" Carl asks.
Suddenly, the group heard more than a dozen guns all load at the same exact time, as many agents in armor, wearing helmets and goggles and the letters SWAT written in white on the front seized the crew before leaving Omnium Guild. Everyone put their hands up in surrender. "Seems that's not the only target we have painted on our backs..." Dana says in an annoyed tone.
"Take the kids, execute the rest" McNamara says as he approaches from behind the wall of agents.
"Oh, no you don't" Athena says as she prepares a buff spell.
Suddenly, six agents swept up from behind the three kids and apprehended them in a body lock, as each of the three of them got one gun pressed against the back of their heads. "Move, and we execute the kids first."
"What do you want with them?" Thor asks as he keeps his hands raised.
"Likely the same thing you want with them." McNamara replied. "However, I'm not afraid to break a few eggs. McNamara walks closer as he takes out a pair of new gloves with charms engraved on armored plates around the knuckles and back of the hand. He had a severe burn scar over his left eye. His left eye was also mostly closed, with what little of his eye still showing with a thick layer of white covering the eye. "After all" he says, "I'd love another swing at The Six Guns. You all, take care of these two. I'm leaving with the assets."
Zia, Henry and Felicia continue moving from town to town. By this time, they had already moved from Pythol, located west of Pilloa. From Pythol to Farnhardt, to a remote area northwest of Forehold, near the western coast, north of Omnium Guild. This area was mostly rocky wasteland. There were very few vegetations that would grow in this region, and as such, almost nobody ever lived here. There were mostly highways and rocky deserts here. It was here that the group was aiming to shake the FBI off of their trail, but it was here that they ran into someone completely unexpected. After more than a day of running from Omnium Guild, Thor and Athena ran into Zia and the others by chance. "Oh! Thank goodness, it's you!" Thor exclaims.
Zia stomps away from Felicia and Henry in a fury at the sight of them, and grabs them by the ears, and pulls their ears closer to her mouth as she speaks harshly. "What are you two doing here!? Thor and Athena!? On Earth!? What's going on?"
Thor and Athena look at each other in confusion. "Uh... are you okay?" Athena asks.
"We have been here for a long time." Thor adds. "Don't you remember?"
"Remember?" Zia asks. "What I remember, is I'm both a girl named Zia and also a goddess named Inari. I have memories of both lives, so I'm kind of freaking out. I'm not even sure who I am. Which... me I even am! I remember all gods were sent to Valhalla after that war with Zeus! Then I also remember being a mother of a single child named Silas! I need some god damn help, and the only company I've had were these two, who probably wanted nothing more than to see me dead until I got attacked by what was described to me as a zombie and a nightmare! I am not okay! Will someone who knows me personally please tell me what's going on!?"
"Okay, so Zia might have a slight bit of amnesia..." Athena says.
Thor interrupts before Athena starts to explain anything. "No time, they have the kids."
Zia immediately gets visibly angrier and asks in a hoarse voice through her teeth in anger, "Where!?"
"So, anybody got any fun stories?" Dana asks as the three of them were tied to a circular post in a dark room underground. "I'm guessing agent Dick-head won't be around for a few hours. Might as well kill time before we die."
"That's a little dark." Carl says. "We can find a way out of this, right?"
"And how do you suppose we do that, exactly?" Dana asks. "None of us have charms now, thanks to the Americans and the only one of us who can use magic without a charm is Silas. Do you have anything up your sleeve, Silas?"
"Not anything substantial." Silas replies. "Kinda hard to cast when I can't feel my arms. The rope is a little too tight... Even if I could use the magic, not sure what good it's do us in this situation. I don't think any of us are prepared for a firefight with God knows how many US soldiers. If we're lucky, Athena and Thor might be able to come around, if they're even still alive."
"Yeah, and if they do come, it may speed up our execution date." Dana adds. "So... how about a trip down memory lane?"
"Memory lane?" Carl asks with a laugh. "I'm not much of a mystery man myself. What's there to know about?"
"Had any girls you had a crush on?" Dana asks with a laugh.
"No." Silas promptly replies.
"No." Carl adds. "Wait, yes! I'm sure Silas remembers this."
"Remembers what?" Silas asks.
"Come on, it was long ago..." Carl teases.
"What are- aw, no!" Silas replies, now flustered. "Not that!"
"Now I have to know." Dana says.
"I used to..." Carl says, then pauses. "Actually, we used to both have a crush on you when we were kids!"
"Pfft- what!?" Dana asks then laughs.
"Come on, no fair!" Silas says, then clarifies. "We were kids. It was like that stage in life where if any girl was friendly to a boy, it was like the same as them saying they like you, y'know?"
"I don't know." Dana replies as she laughs lightly. "I don't think that's an actual stage of life!"
"Well, we almost fought over you." Carl adds.
"No way!" Dana laughs.
"Yes way!" Carl says.
"That's not fair!" Silas still pleads. "Look, you two were the only two people I could talk to my whole life! I didn't make friends like you two did!"
"I didn't make many friends, to be fair." Dana adds. "Most of them kept their distance from me after figuring out I don't like most people."
"And I couldn't seem to get friends to stick around." Carl says. "I always ended up with just you two."
"Still." Silas adds. "I thought at first that I'd never get to talk to anyone other than you two. By extension, I guess that made the child-me think that Dana was my only... shot at a romance."
"That's kinda sweet." Dana says. "But also kinda sad."
"Yeah, well" Silas says, "not like I chose to be a weirdo. People just naturally seemed to know that something was wrong with me."
"Don't say that." Dana replies. "Nothing is wrong with you. You're just too antisocial."
"No kidding." Carl adds. "You were like... allergic to talking."
"I still kinda am." Silas says as he laughs.
"So what changed your minds about me?" Dana asks.
"Too smart for me." Carl adds. "I like smart girls, but I think there's a certain point where I just won't be able to see eye to eye. I like hanging out with you, but you are a pain in the ass."
"I appreciate the honesty." Dana says, seemingly unsurprised.
"I think I got a little... turned off from my own past." Silas replies. "I think I liked you for a while, but I gave up because I didn't want someone who knew too much about me."
"But if you're gonna marry someone, someday," Dana replies, "they'll eventually know everything about you. It's healthy to want to understand your partner as much as possible."
"Yeah, well... I guess this was different." Silas says. "Like, I can see myself eventually explaining everything to someone else... but I don't think I'd be stable being with you who has seen me... y'know... murder before."
"Oh..." Dana says as she looks down. "Yeah, I can see that."
"Now what about you?" Carl asks. "Did you ever have a crush on someone?"
"Nope, never!" Dana says.
"Hey, no fair!" Carl says. "We even told you about our situations."
"I never had a crush." Dana replies. "I don't date weirdos and idiots!"
"That's just uncalled for." Carl says. "Silas isn't that stupid!"
"Hey!" Silas argues.
Dana laughs a little, then says "No, but I mean it. It's kinda nice to hear you two thought of me like that even if just once, but I haven't looked at anyone yet and thought I could make that work. You two are like brothers to me. I couldn't possibly do that!"
After a while of silence, Carl asks "So now that we've had some time to break the ice, do you think you might be ready to talk about it?"
"I'm not talking about my formal crush again." Silas argues.
"Not that, dummy." Carl says. "I'm talking about the thing at the stream... and I can also sense you might wanna talk about that murder thing. It's not healthy to keep it inside. We can understand if you tell us it wasn't your fault."
"Well..." Silas hesitates. "I actually learned all about myself at that stream. That murder too. When I froze, Chronos was trying to take over me. I have no idea why, but I got stuck in my own mind where I also spoke to Gaia, and she told me about... a lot."
"Can you tell us?" Dana asked. "We're your best friends, you can trust us."
"Well, to begin..." Silas says as he think. "I'm not a human, apparently."
"What does that mean?" Dana asks.
"Apparently, neither of my parents are technically humans. They've both been modified by Gaia... before she died."
"Whoa, that's a lot to unload." Dana adds. "So, Gaia is dead?"
"Apparently." Silas replied.
"But she altered your parents?" Dana asks. "Then made them... what exactly?"
"She called them catalysts." Silas answered.
"Catalyst to what?" Carl asked.
"To me." Silas responded. "A laibah."
"What the hell is a laibah?" Dana asks.
"I'm not so sure, exactly." Silas replied. "I guess they're descendants of both a humanoid-like-fox-thing and humans. They were a race that like existed once long-long ago, but went extinct. Gaia mentioned they came from Ishmael, which I remember Loki using that name to refer to my dad. Maybe I can ask them about it?"
"I can see why you were in shock." Dana says. "I'm honestly in a little shock myself, just hearing it."
"I guess none of you being human would explain the shapeshifting magic you and your dad have." Carl says.
"As well as using magic without charms." Dana says. "As far as I've seen, humans are the only ones who require charms."
"Oh yeah, that's true! None of the gods need one either!" Carl added.
"And the final horse crosses the finish line..." Dana says. "Look, Silas. I'm sorry all this has been a mess."
"I'm sorry you guys got roped up with me and are gonna die with me here." Silas says.
"Wait, you can shapeshift, right?' Carl asks.
"Yeah, but I've only shapeshifted into a form like my dad's." Silas answered.
"Can't you shapeshift into a form like... a fox?" Carl asks. "You said you're like this... fox-boy-thing?"
"Laibah." Silas says. "But I'm not sure how to. I'm not familiar with the form."
"How'd you become familiar with your dad's altered form?" Dana asked.
"Good question..." Silas replied. "I guess because I've seen it a lot and could feel a version of that appearance in myself. Probably because of Chronos trying to alter my mind?"
"Alright, then try to think of whatever form you can think of that feel familiar and get us the hell out of here!" Dana hisses.
Silas closes his eyes and tries to focus. After hours of meditating, Silas could finally feel something familiar inside himself. His fox form. Silas shapeshifts into a normal sized fox with marbled white fur and black ears with a black snout. However, his arms were still stuck in the ropes. He shook and twisted his body until he finally got free of the rope, and ran around excited at his accomplishment. He stood in front of Dana who was equally as pleased and surprised as she was angry and irritated. "Scout ahead and see who's around, stupid!" she hisses.
Silas tried to speak but realized he couldn't speak in this form and almost let out a small yip. Silas ran ahead into the tunnel leading out of this circular rocky room with the one thick, round and wooden support beam in this underground cave. After Silas leaves the others behind to scout ahead in excitement, Carl mumbles "No, don't help us out of here first. We don't have any charms or tools, but don't worry. We will cut the ropes ourselves somehow..."
"I'm guessing I should have specified that he get us out of here first." Dana says. "I'll accept the responsibility for that one. But this is exactly why I never had a crush on anyone. I'm up to my damn neck in morons..."