Chương 151: Chapter 150 [Home Sweet Home]

The trees thinned as they reached the end of their trip back home. Sasha slowed when she saw it.

"That's the strangest town I've ever seen," she said.

"What are those tall buildings?"

"Flats," Phil said.

"Buildings people live in, stacked on top of each other."

"And all those lines on the ground?"

"Roads. For vehicles, like carriages but they move on their own." He paused.

"You'll see."

"Wait until you're inside it, there's a lot that's going to surprise you," Shai said. Sasha looked at it for another second, then nodded and they kept walking. The group peeled apart naturally once they were through the outer edge. Mike headed toward the Civic Centre, already talking about getting an update. Kai mentioned checking on the trainers and guards, there were things to go over from while they'd been away. Diane left with Ronan, with Carl following along. Nessa made to follow until Sam called after her.

"Say hi to Mars for me." She turned and gave him the finger without breaking stride. The lads laughed.

"She picked that up from you lot," Shai said.

"Usually us responding to Phil's bullshit," Leo agreed. The eight of them plus Sasha carried on through town. Sasha stopped in front of a parked car and stared at it. Leo explained it without being asked and she walked round it slowly, looking at it from every angle before deciding to keep moving. She had questions about most things after that, and whoever was closest answered them. At the junction where their house and flat sat on the corner, the group slowed.

"I'll take you to find your sister," Shai said to Sasha.

"Show you where you'll be staying." Sasha nodded.

"Thank you. I'm sure she'll be happy to see me." The lads caught Rika grinning and smirked along.

"That could be interesting," whispered Brandon.

"Oh gods. What if she walks in on them or something?"

"That'd be hilarious." Rika and Torren decided to go with them. That left Leo and the lads standing near the entrance to their flat. Leo looked at Shai before she walked off.

"See you later," he said, and kissed her. The lads ooohed in unison. Sasha turned to Phil with an expectant look. Luka grinned.

"Go on, Phil. Don't leave the lady waiting." Phil rolled his eyes. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, clearly intending to keep it brief. Sasha had other ideas. She grabbed him and pulled him into an enthusiastic embrace that lasted a good ten seconds longer than anyone had been expecting. Phil looked short of breath by the end of it.

"Get a room," Sam said. Rika and Torren were laughing. Sasha smiled and linked her arm through Shai's like nothing had happened. Phil stood there for a second then turned back to the lads, who were all looking at him with glee.

"Not a word," he said. They headed home. The flat was exactly as they'd left it. Leo dropped onto the sofa while the others sorted themselves out, the quiet of their own space settling around them after two days of festival noise. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. They took turns with the bathroom. Nobody rushed. By the time Phil came out last, towelling his hair, the others were already sprawled across the living room.

Phil looked at his reflection in the dark screen of the television and ran a hand through his hair.

"I need to get this cut," he said.

"It's doing my head in."

"Better ask Sasha first," Sam said, without looking up.

"Make sure she's okay with it," Luka added.

"Both of you can get fucked," Phil said, and dropped into the armchair.

"Bit late to tell us that, mate," said Luka. Sam nodded.

"Yeah, you still look like a zombie. Must have been some workout."

"I'm telling you, man. I don't know if it's Orc women or just Shalendra, but she wouldn't let me rest. I woke up feeling like I'd run a marathon. I surprised myself, to be honest."

"Same. Forget about having one in the chamber, it was like I had a full clip. I'm guessing the UI did that to us?" said Sam.

"I thought the same thing. Pretty sweet upgrade," chuckled Leo.

"Yeah, man. That's probably going to make Tony more jealous than us having magic, to be honest," laughed Phil. Leo looked at the ceiling for a moment. Now is as good a time as any to bring this up and ask for the lads' advice.

"Me and Shai are going to look into moving in together." The room went quiet for a second.

"Isn't that a bit fast?" Brandon said.

"Yeah," Leo said.

"It is. But this isn't exactly a normal situation, is it? I'm not trying to rush anything, I just..." He paused.

"I want to be able to spend time with her without us having to split away from the group every time. She's next door, I'm in here. It's daft."

"I mean, that's fair," Luka said.

"It's not like you'll be waiting to find somewhere. There's plenty of empty places to choose from. You going to grab one of the ones on the end of the row?"

"Probably, yeah. The one next to Ronan's is free, I think."

"All of us living together like this is a little cramped, to be honest. It's not a bad idea. You thinking of moving in with Sasha, Phil?" said Sam with a stupid grin.

"Obviously not."

"No?" Leo reached for his phone and pulled up the photo from the dancing. Phil and Sasha, close, Phil's hand at her waist, the pair of them looking at each other like they'd forgotten there were other people in the square. He turned the screen around.

"You look pretty happy with life here, dude. Why you acting like this is all inconvenient?"

"Delete that," Phil said immediately.

"Bluetooth still works between these, send me it," Sam said, already adjusting his phone settings. Phil pointed at him.

"Don't bother." Leo sent it. Three phones buzzed. Phil watched it happen, screen by screen.

"Yeah, cheers," he said.

"Very supportive."

"What's the issue? She's clearly into you," Luka said.

"Was it meant to be a one-night stand kind of deal? You keeping yourself available or something?"

"I barely know her, man. With Shai and Rika, we've known them for a while now, so with Leo and Brandon it makes sense."

"Why are you bringing me up for? There's nothing going on with Rika."

"Sure, man. Keep telling yourself that," laughed Luka.

"He was so warm!" said Sam, mimicking Rika.

"Whatever, man. We're just friends." Phil reached for his own interface.

"Right. Since we're doing this." He held it up. On the screen was a photo of Leo and Brandon in their ceremonial tournament gear, white and blue, gold detailing across the chest.

"Look at this. You roleplaying as Prince Harry and William or something?" Leo looked at it.

"We look fucking sick." Luka leaned over.

"You do, actually."

"Right?" Sam said. Phil stared at them. Then at the photo. Then he put his interface away. He looked at the photo of him and Sasha on his own screen for a second longer than he needed to before locking it. Luka closed his eyes like he was considering going to sleep where he was. Brandon watched him for a second, then brought the quiver out of his inventory.

"Right," he said.

"So. I think I've worked some of it out." The others straightened.

"The quiver always has normal arrows in it. I can keep firing as much as I want and it never runs out. On top of that, I can summon other arrows, but it uses mana. I think the quiver itself has a built-in mana storage that drains when I create a magical arrow. I noticed it when I made one with a glowing tip, went for something like Ashe's vision arrow in League. The quiver changed colour slightly when I did it, goes from a light blue up to red depending on how much mana's been used.

It took a while to get there and it slowly faded back when I stopped. I don't know yet if it stops working once it hits a certain point."

"Nice," Sam said.

"So when you say it always has arrows, how does that work exactly? You just reach in and there's always one there?"

"Yeah. For the normal ones I just pull and there's always another. For the magical ones, I think about what I want as I'm pulling and it changes as it comes out. Rika watched me do it and told me what it looked like from her end." He paused.

"I think the more powerful the arrow, the more mana it pulls from the quiver."

"That's pretty sick. I wonder what my swords do," said Phil. He created a ball of fire in his hand.

"Maybe they have something to do with fire?"

"Maybe," said Brandon.

"You getting closer to your next unlock?"

"Yeah, I think so. It's been a lot smoother than the second spell unlock. Shouldn't be long now." Leo held out his own hand. A thin arc of purple static crackled between his fingers, jumping from one to the next. He let it run for a few seconds, then closed his fist and it was gone.

"Same. Feels different to when we started. Still have no idea how mine changed beyond the colour, though."

"Well, now that we're back we can work on getting those done. Well, when Phil isn't out showing his new girlfriend the town, that is," said Sam, fog rolling out of his hand, falling towards the floor before disappearing.

"I swear to God, man. You're all fucking idiots."