The two opened their eyes a few minutes later. Both had smiles on their faces and had their eyes glowing in excitement.
Johnathan looked towards them and flashed a smile of his own before asking "So, you guys did it. Right?".
The two nodded in confirmation.
"Yup! What time is it tho?" Asked Ivan, seeing how dark it was outside.
"It's two fifteen in the morning," answered Johnathan.
Ivan and Danny's mouths dropped in shock. They were meditating for hours and they didn't even notice.
Johnathan chuckled at how shocked they were. He was, in the same way, fifteen minutes ago.
"This really is some wuxia-type shit. How did we not even notice!" Danny exclaimed.
Ivan and Johnathan both laughed aloud, but they quickly put their hands over their mouth after remembering what time it was.
"Anyway, how much lighter did your core get?"
"Mine only got a bit lighter. It's not too noticeable at first glance though."
"Same with me"
The two answered Johnathan's question. 'Did they use the same method or did they make something else up?'
Johnathan was curious how they 'purified' their mana cores. He was sure that there're more ways to go about it.
"Same with me. How did you guys do it, though? I made it lighter by rotating it like a washing machine, trying to clean it."
Danny put his hand under his chin, rubbing it. "Hmm, I filtered it. I imagined the 'dirty' mana going through the filter I imagined and coming out more.. pure? It's hard to explain, but it's something like that."
Johnathan nodded and looked towards Ivan. Understanding what he wanted, Ivan started explaining.
"I just imagined a vacuum sucking up all the mana and then releasing it when it was 'clean'. It's hard to explain, but you guys get the gist of it, right?"
Johnathan nodded in confirmation.
"Let's go to bed, guys. It's too...*yawn* late," Danny said with a yawn.
His yawning made the other two yawn as well. "Yeah, let's go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us," Ivan said as he laid on his side and closed his eyes.
Danny was next. He laid on his stomach and closed his eyes.
Johnathan let out a yawn as well and laid down on his back.
They forgot to ask for blankets, so they left sleeping without them tonight. Luckily, however, the apartment let wasn't too cold.
"Goodnight," Ash said as he laid down beside Johnathan.
Letting out a small smile, Johnathan pet his head, and said goodnight.
"Goodnight," the other two said as well.
Closing his eyes, Johnathan drifted off to sleep.
———————-
Opening his eyes, Johnathan looked around. He knew where he was. It was his old room. Getting up from the bed he was laying on, he let out a sigh.
"Was it all a dream? If it was, that was damn realistic."
Walking out of the room with a white t-shirt and blue shorts, he made his way down to the living room where he heard his parents and his brother talking.
He couldn't wait to see them. With that terrible nightmare he had, he could barely contain himself from jumping at them.
Reaching the living room, he saw his family laughing together.
"Oh, you're finally up Johnathan."
His father, who had a tall build, short black hair, and a nice beard, said with a smile.
"Yup. Just woke up."
"How did y- why are crying, sweetheart?" His mother asked, seeing tears falling from his face.
"What do you me- huh, why am I crying?" Johnathan asked himself out loud as he moved his hands to his eyes, wiping the tears.
When he got up from the couch they were sitting on, his mother walked to him in a hurry and asked "are you okay?".
Johnathan nodded as he quickly explained, "I just had a bad dream. You guys died in it."
"Oh sweety, we did. This is a dream and you let us die. You were too slow."
Looking at his mother with his eyes widened, Johnathan stepped back.
"Why are you backing away?" His brother asked.
Their faces turned black as the scene changed.
Cars were on fire, and zombies were walking around them.
"You killed me. I waited. I waited for hours. While you were using your powers and having fun, I was getting eaten alive."
Johnathan's brother yelled as he ran at him and bit his neck.
"You forgot about us and didn't even try to call. You could've saved us, but you were busy playing around with your friends!"
Johnathan's father exclaimed as he and his wife, Johnathan's mother, sprinted at him and pierced his chest with their right and left hands.
"You killed us," they said at the same time.
Johnathan wanted to explain everything and apologize but no words came out of his mouth. He could only stare at them while they tore his body apart.
Tears rolled down his face and once a teardrop hit the group, Johnathan woke up.
Opening his eyes, he touched his throat and chest, making sure he wasn't injured.
Sitting up, he noticed tears were coming from his eyes. 'Fuck' Johnathan thought in anger.
"You finally up? Looks like you didn't have it any better than us."
Johnathan looked at Danny who was in the room's corner. He then looked to his left and saw Ivan by the window, looking at the sunrise.
"What time is it?"
"6:30," both Ivan and Danny answered
Sighing, Johnathan thought about his dream. It would be a lie to say he was okay. Getting blamed for not saving them, even if it was only in a dream, hurt him mentally.
Especially after all the guilt he felt. He knew if he didn't make stops here and there, his brother would've been there with them.
The same goes for how he put checking on his parents to the back of his head.
"What time do you guys want to leave?"
Hearing his question, the two understood what he meant. Like him, they were worried about their families. So worried, they couldn't even sleep. Why didn't they just go off themselves and search for them in the beginning? Was it because they saw Johnathan's family as their own? Partially, but the main reason was that they knew how much of a suicide mission it was. They would've died before even reaching them. So why not go in numbers?
The only thing is, it took too long to reach Johnathan's brother's school.
"We should eat something and pack some food, so 10-15 minutes seems reasonable," answered Ivan. It was early in the morning and they had a long day in front of them.
"Sounds like a plan," agreed Danny.
Johnathan nodded, and like that, they moved towards the bags of food.
"Where are you guys going? Are you leaving again?"
Before they could open a bag, they turned around and looked at Ash, who spoke.
They felt bad for leaving him, but he would just drag them down.
"Don't worry, we'll be back. Until then, come, let's eat breakfast together," Danny said with a smile on his face, trying to ease Ash's worries.
The ten minutes passed by too quickly, and after eating something, they had left once again. Packing some food and water into a backpack, the three left the apartment.