Colin's posts

Luke was sweating heavily, and collapsed into the couch he was sitting on.

"I... am tired and drained." he said.

"But... but I did it." he said further.

"That should... protect this house... at least..." he continued between breaths, trying his best to regain his composure once more.

- - - - -

At the Unit, down in one of the interrogation rooms, Ashley was, once again, speaking with Chris.

It had been a few months, and things seemed to be getting worse... not that most people noticed. Luke and Desiree did, and most people at the Unit did, but people were still puzzling over what was happening.

And Ashley was making little to no progress with Chris.

"All I remember is a barrier of sorts." he told her.

"And then... something wrong happened." he mumbled, shaking his head.

Luke composed himself, and nodded.

"R-right." he said.

He then concentrated hard, and placed his hands upon the soil.

When he did, the entire pot seemed to glow and radiate with life energy, and Desiree could almost FEEL the essence of nature pouring out from it.

Luke concentrated even harder, trying to isolate the mana that Gaea had given him, and then trying to funnel it into the soil. In the end, he managed to do it... but some his own mana was still in there, about a 90/10 ratio.

He then lifted his hands up, and Desiree saw a bud start to rise up, reaching about 3 inches in height... before it bloomed into a very light pink lily.

"......." Luke was silent, his eyes drifting to the view that he was getting of Desiree's cleavage, before nodding.

"Right." he said, mentally slapping himself.

"One moment." he told her, his face slightly red, as he left.

He then left the room, and was gone for about 2 minutes, before returning with a pot of soil, setting it down on the table in front of them.

"Okay." he mumbled.

"I... I'm going to try." he told Desiree.

"I don't know if I can succeed... but... but I WILL try..."

"Ah..." Luke stammered, before thinking.

"I doubt that would wor-" he started to say, before shaking his head violently.

"No." he said.

"I have not tried sprouting a plant with THAT mana, specifically." he told her.

"I mean... maybe I could try..." he then said, thinking about it.

"It might offer some kind of sanctuary... much like Gaea herself, at the Unit." he reasoned.

Luke just sighed.

"I... yeah." he said.

"It... it keeps trying to get me to agree and comply, and just go along with things." he told her.

"Like... it's... I don't know how to say it." he muttered, thinking about it.

"Almost like... it's trying to get me to not think for myself, and take whatever explanation people give me." he went on.

"As for what we can do... I don't know." he admitted, before realising what she had asked him.

"Can I... isolate it?" he asked in response. "Yeah... yeah, kinda. Why?" he asked.

"Guess it's unique to her." Luke responded.

"....yeah..." he mumbled.

"Oh well. Anyway." he then said, shaking his head.

"Some weird stuff is happening around us." he told her.

"Everyone's acting... not themselves, and it's scaring me." he went on.

"...Mom and Dad don't seem to notice... or care... and Lily is... Lily is frightening now." he then said further, pausing for a moment, collecting his thoughts, and looking at Desiree again.

"She won't defend herself in a fight anymore." he told her.

"And she doesn't react at all to being told you love her." he continued. "She's... not acting herself." he went on.

"Nobody seems to be..."

Ryker placed his hands on his head, and shook his head.

"No!" he said.

"No! You've spoken enough!" he told the demon.

"Just answer the question and I'll relay it!" he finished.

"........" he was then silent, before sighing.

"Yeah. He has a name." he told her.

"It's Jalreth. Jal, for short."

"Uhhhhh, it was during that calamity with the familiars." Luke replied.

"We went to the Unit because we were told it would be safe there." he told her.

"And... sure enough, it was." he chuckled.

"Because SHE'S there." he reasoned.

"She... she'd been looking for me." he went on. "Said she needed to see me." he continued.

"Said she'd become TOO powerful, and needed to pass on some of her power to a worthy and proper recipient." he went on.

"...guess that was me."

"....oh, wow." Luke muttered.

"From Emelie, herself." he said further.

"And... yeah. Yeah, I did get a boost." he told her.

"You have something from God, and... uh, well, I kinda did, too." he said further.

Desiree was now visibly confused.

"That is NOT Emele's mana." she said.

"Well, it's a boost from... MY God." Luke then clarified.

"Mother to us all, is another way to put it." he added.

Luke was a polite boy. He was a respectful boy.

But he was also a teenager.

And the first thing he felt when he saw Desiree's body caused him to subtly shift himself to control himself, as he mentally got himself back into the right state of mind to discuss what they were discussing.

"...the... elf, herself?" he asked.

He then leaned in close and brought his hand up to check the tattoo... which caused it to glow.

"Woah." he said.

"That is powerful." he commented, not realising just what the tattoo was 'telling' Desiree.

Luke opened his mouth to say something, but paused.

"I... well, I'M not immune either, no." he said.

"But... what protection do YOU have?" he asked her.

"A blessing." was Desiree's response.

Luke appeared to be confused for a moment, before snapping his fingers.

"Oh!" he said. "Right, the rosary around your neck!" he went on, gesturing to the item in question.

"Didn't realise it was that powerful." he admitted.

Luke nodded.

"Juice it is." he replied.

With that, he had gotten a tall glass of juice for her, and something for him, before they made their way to the den and sat down.

"Here." he said, handing it to her.

"So." he then mumbled.

"You've been noticing something's up as well?" he asked.

"Was starting to think I was the only one..." he mumbled.

"I..." Luke stammered.

"Yes." he said.

"Yeah, let's sit and talk." he agreed.

"You're the first person that's agreed with me on this." he told her.

"...want something to drink?" he asked.

"Our fridge has... well... plenty to choose from." he chuckled.

"I..." Luke stammered.

"No, it's nothing." he said.

"Just me being overly concerned." he said further... before suddenly pausing.

"Wait, no." he then said.

"No, no, it's NOT nothing." he told himself, shaking his head.

"I'm worried about... well... a lot of people." he told Desiree.

"It seems like the whole world is acting weird."