The sun had just risen when Arthur woke up, and as Rex stated, Jane woke up at the exact time. Arthur chuckles when he sees Jane's messy hair as she lifts her head off the solid ground. "At least one of us slept well." He says.
"You cheeky boy." Jane said, as she tries to put every strand back in place. But she smiles as well, because seeing Arthur laugh after that incident made her happy.
"Why're you smiling mom?" Asked Arthur
"Oh it's nothing. Anyways, what did you mean by 'one of us slept well', you were literally knocked out cold."
"I wouldn't really call that sleep, considering all that happened."
He begins explaining everything that happened while he was asleep,he tells her about Rex, his powers, and even Romanov. Jane just listened with a shocked expression on her face.
"And that's what happened."
Jane, still trying to make sense of all the things he said, stares at Arthur, speechless.
He then shows her the technique Rex taught him, and how it works.
"It's called augmenting," he says. "It kind of increases the power of my punches. Look!"
He concentrates and punches a hole in the wall of the cave to demonstrate how strong it is, making the cave tremble momentarily and then stops.
Finally able to mutter words, Jane points out that Arthur should be careful, unless he wants to bury them alive.
"But how do you talk to this Rex guy or whatever?" She asks.
"Well I'm not entirely sure because it all just kinda happened without me doing a thing. But maybe something will happen if I press the mark."
He then proceeded to poke the mark on his hand, hoping something would happen.
[You know you don't have to do that right?]
"Oh crap! Who was that?" Said Arthur, startled by the sudden voice in his head. "Hold on, this familiar voice, Rex?"
[Yes Arthur, it's me.]
"You scared the shit out of me!"
[Haha, I didn't mean to.]
"Rex?" Jane asks, trying to access what's going on.
"Ah, he's the one I was talking about a minute ago." He replies
"I see, but how are you talking to him when there's no one here?"
"I'm not sure about that either."
[Since we're linked we can communicate through your thoughts. It's sort of like telepathically.]
"Oh. He says I can communicate through my thoughts with him and it's kinda like telepathy."
"For the most part I think I get it." She says.
"Now that that's settled, what do we do from here on out? There's monsters roaming everywhere and the entire city is turned upside down."
[Your main focus now is getting stronger and honing your skills.]
"I know that but how am I gonna do it?"
[You are gonna do that by hunting monsters and absorbing their magical energy, that way you can level up and increase you magic capacity.]
"I'm sorry I don't think I heard that right. Did you just say hunt monsters?"
[Yes.]
"The same monsters we've been trying to avoid this whole time?"
[I know it's scary but sooner or later you're gonna have to do it Arthur.]
"…"
[Believe in yourself as I believe in you.]
"Ok! I'm gonna do it. To get stronger and save the world."
[This will be your very first step.]
Arthur nods, turning towards his mom and explaining the whole conversation he had with Rex. She looks at with a worried expression on her face, but he looks back with a somewhat light but reassuring smile.
"Please be careful son." She says hugging him.
"It's ok mom, I'm not a kid anymore." He replies.
"You're still my baby you rascal."
She lets go of him, wishing him luck and asking him to come back safely.
"I promise I'll be careful."
[Ready to go?]
"Yeah!"
[END]
To be continued…