The Return Home

As the Chaos Tear closed, Marcus' body had manifested with Yuri, Samantha, and Cyrus. They all saw it appear before them, Yuri made a call out to all Fenrir members to which made Cyrus panicked for a brief moment before stopping Yuri.

"You may call your team in just a moment," He pointed to Marcus, "My job is completed and I am not going to stick around for your men to find me with you." Cyrus looked towards the window and shot it out. Then walking over to the window and summoning Visne, who roared and clung to the building. "My summon here will take you all down to the bottom floor. When you're on my summon and going down, make your call to not shoot my summon."

Yuri looked at the wooden surface of the wyvern body. For it wasn't a full dragon, but he nodded to the mysterious stranger. "I will and thank you for stopping the Tear and bringing Marcus back to Earth." He then climbed onto Visne, both Yuri and Samantha held on to one another. Then Cyrus picked up Marcus and waited for Visne to leap off the building. Then with its hind legs grabbed Marcus from Cyrus and glided down to the ground floor.

Cyrus watched as the people down below had taken aim at Visne but over his communicator heard Yuri. "Do not fire upon the drake! That is an order!" Guns hesitated then lowered and allowed Visne to deposit Marcus gently to the ground and then land letting Yuri and Samantha off its back. As they got off, Visne roared then vanished in a cloud of purple flames and ash.

Cyrus sighed as he looked out towards the city. He was back on Earth, the city of New York only a small part of the mega city of Departure. Departure is a culmination of various corporations that protect New York. Though people in the corporations call it District D as if they were just occupied and owned land by the various companies. The incident with the Chaos Tear inside one of the major companies is going to cause an uproar among the higher ups. For Marcus Dramtur wasn't the highest among the great council. He was a great summoner, but was on the lower end of the Superior Tiers in Fenrir.

Cyrus felt a chill run up his spine as both Vexxitiz and Thane appeared from his summon pool. "So this is Earth?" Vexxitiz asked, "Looks like humans haven't advanced as quickly as we shadows suspected. Though your uses of Chaos is interesting." Vexxitiz smirked as the shadowy presence formed into a almost tangible creature. It's head was more slime like, had 4 purple eyes, and a mouth that seemed to look like that of a phantom of some creature.

Thane held his scythe and touched it to the ground, "The presence of souls here is potent." Thane looked to Cyrus, "What do we do now Master?" Cyrus looked at Thane and blinked.

"Master? I am no one's master, just Cyrus."

Thane bowed, "Apologies, Master Cyrus." Cyrus sighed and dragged his hand over his face. Then looked over the city again, then down to the semi truck and a medical tent. People in white armor went running into the building and coming out with stretchers of people in agony. Thane also looked down and hummed.

"I can sense the souls of those that have passed, do you wish for me to collect the souls?"

Cyrus turned to him again and asked, "Why would you need to do that?"

"Because some denizens of Chaos trade in souls. My previous Master has claim to the souls I collected so I have to start anew. If I claim these souls, they can find peace or torment depending on who they were in life." He tapped his scythe to the ground which made a resonating ring throughout the building. As little white orbs floated through the walls and floor of the building.

They slowly danced around Thane and he would touch a couple, "Souls are a type of bargaining chip for some creatures. We of the Aspects of Death trade in the souls of the fallen. Guide them to a better place to where they are judged and placed in a good place with the chance for rebirth. Or send them to a dark place where they will remain until drained of all the evil they have committed and have the chance for redemption."

Cyrus looked at all the orbs of white light around him as they flitted about like fireflies. Looking to Thane, Cyrus gave a slow nod, "If that is your job as an Aspect of Death, then I can't say no. But do not trade any without my consent." He wanted to make it clear that no soul should be traded without his say so. Thane agreed, pulling out a lantern and tapped his scythe again to call the souls towards the lantern. As the souls wizzed by and were sucked into the lantern Thane hid it away under his robes.

Both Thane and Vexxitiz returned to where they came and left Cyrus to himself. His mind now trying to find peace as he had saved many people but lost a lot of the people from his home world. He wondered if having absorbed a fragment of Marcus' soul was different to what Thane does. For he had gone into that weird place where he didn't have a right arm again. He didn't seem to really understand what powers he had as they seemed to come quickly like it was nothing. He felt it would be good to try and understand the powers he has before continuing his process of getting stronger.

Looking back to the ground he decided to use the Devouring Chain to make his way down the build on the outside. The chain would attach to the side of the building and allow him to swing himself down and reduce his fall. When he was behind the building and out of sight from the people below he called Visne to carry him the rest of the way. He decided to put the coat away as it might give him away to Yuri and Samantha who saw him wearing it before. Cici might get mad that he isn't wearing it but he would explain it to her later.

As he approached the ground, he returned Visne and landed on the ground with a quick roll to recover from the momentum of the fall.

Now that he was on the ground, Cyrus walked back to the front of the building and went to the medical tent first. He wanted to find his sister to show her that he made it out alive. But not many people even seemed to recognize Cyrus right away as his appearance changed while inside the castle.

That is when he saw his sister who was busy with applying medical aid to a man who lost his leg. "Someone find me his leg and get it back here as soon as you can!" Other doctors scrambled and returned with a leg that had matched the damage to the man's missing limb. She told them how to line up the leg and prepare to hold him down. As she began to use her ability, the wound quickly began to stitch itself closed and meld together with the leg. The process was quick as the man howled in pain and tried to toss and turn but was held down by the straps on the bed.

As he stopped screaming and settled down, the limb had been reattached allowing Myra to step away from the man. She sighed, "Well it seems we are about to get busy with the Tear closed. I wonder if," Myra trailed off as she turned to see Cyrus behind her all dirty and cut up clothes. He smiled at her as she ran over and gave him a big hug. As she did Myra realized that he looked somewhat different. Smiling she said, "Your hair got longer," he chuckled and brushed some of his hair out of his face.

"Is that all? I just survived going into a Chaos Tear and all you have to say is my hair got longer?" Cyrus complained in a joking manner. Though smiling as they both laughed as she let him go and had him sit down. She grabbed a clipboard and a pen. She began asking him basic questions like how old he was, how tall he was, if he felt sick, had any injuries, and if he has any symptoms of PTSD.

"I am 22 years old, I think now 6 feet tall, I am not feeling sick, nor any injuries that haven't already healed, and not that I have experienced before." He looked at her as she then wrote it all down.

"Do you have a feeling of like a rock crushing your chest? No sudden desire to hurt humans?" She asked these questions as Cyrus knew why. She had to make sure he hadn't absorbed too much Chaos Energy. Tears are known to make some individuals turn into Crisis Beasts. Common symptoms would be hard of breathing, an intolerance to pain, increased anger/rage, and deformed eyes. The eyes are usually the first clear sign for doctors and the CCO, the Chaos Control Organization, would be dispatched to take them away or eliminate them.

Myra sighed with relief as she smiled and sat next to him throwing her head back. "You got to have all the fun in there without your sister to back you up. You could have died in there and I wouldn't have known," she looked at Cyrus and squeezed his hand. "Please don't die on me, okay?" Cyrus nodded and lifted his shackled hand and gave a thumbs up.

"You don't have to worry, I'll get stronger to make sure I can protect you someday. Besides, I made some friends today." He looked up back to the towering building, "I am sure they are happy to be with their family again." He let out a soft smile and then stood as Myra let go of his hand.

"Where are you going?" Myra asked, wondering he was planning to do. Though she followed his gaze to Cici's Forge Truck. She drove a semi or a goofy looking van to do her job for various corporations. However, she usually took a liking to Cyrus and was his personal Forge Master. Even for her age of 20, she was an Super Tier Forger. Sought after by all corporations, as they would pay handsome funds to get her with them. But she had stuck with Cyrus as her go to client since others seemed to find her attitude and presentation off putting once they met her.

Cyrus however, wasn't deterred by these as she cared greatly about her creations and he respected her for it. Though it ended with him getting a lump on his head a few times when he returned with broken equipment. He knocked on the back door of her truck and stumbling, clanging metal, and possibly the sound of small groans as the door creaked open.

"I thought I told ya hollow heads to leave me b-" once she saw a very attractive man which made her smile, "well hello handsome, what can I do ya for?" As soon as Cyrus said a word and told her it was him she backed up and closed the draw door. From inside with his wolf like hearing he heard her freaking out.

"Oh my god, no way dat be Cyrus! He never looked like dat before, how did he sudden look all... that! I called him handsome!" He heard her make a shrill screech as she was calming herself down. Though she didn't know he could hear her entire explosion of embarrassment so he kept himself as composed as possible. Opening the door back up she looked at him again and her darkened skin brighter up a bit. "Cyrus if ya would please come in and explain yourself."

Cyrus' face was struggling to hold back his smile. He opened the door the rest of the way and climbed in, closing it behind him. As he did so, he saw what she had knocked over, a pile of metal tubes and a rotating cylinder. She picked it up and set it aside allowing him to pull up a chair in her mess of a workshop.

"So, what did ya have for me? My armor better be in one piece ya hear me!" He pulled it out of his inventory and set it on the workbench for her to inspect. She pulled up a large magnifying glass on a stand and started to poke and prod the long coat.

"It survived the various combats I had inside the Chaos Tear. It helped more than I could have hoped for." He smiled, then looked to the coat, "You think it's possible to pull the ability from it as it was incredibly useful."

Cici looked at him and sighed, "That would render it useless and unable to be worn for combat. I can do it, but I hope you have something to compensate for it." Cyrus pulled out the skull from the giant chaos beast his friends had killed. The skull of Hur'Drazul when given to a Forger could yield a unique piece of armor.

When she saw the skull her eyes shined brightly, as she picked it up. "Well hello there beautiful, ya got a secret in there dat I can see!" This was the other reason Cici was sought after by many companies. Her Forger ability could see and draw out hidden talents and abilities in crystals and resources. Though the more intense the hidden ability, the longer it would take her to make it. She looked at Cyrus then set the skull down near her. "I'll take out the skill, if ya let me make ya a new piece of armor." Cyrus nodded, never refusing Cici of anything she offered.

Pulling out a hammer and chisel, she kissed the chisel's handle causing it to glow white. Slamming the hammer onto the chisel making the armor spark and glow as it seemed to get cracks along its surface. As she kept hammering, the cracks shattered and the pieces fell away leaving the coat as more of a fashion item. No longer did it have the ability as a new shard of the ability had formed. Tossing it to Cyrus who caught it as his system asked him he wanted to absorb the skill. As Cici was busy now inspecting the skull, Cyrus opened his mouth and devoured the crystal. As he did so, he felt the power begin to manifest in his body.

He had received the Devouring Chains ability, but now it had a level tied to it. This implied it could be leveled up and become even more effective. Though losing out on the extra boon of having increased Devour range was nice but it just couldn't come up in the Chaos Tear's special instance. Since it rewarded him the CM points upon killing the Chaos Beasts. But now not in that special instance and back to the regular Earth and its basic rifts he could use it normally.

Cici finally set the skull back down and looked at Cyrus, "It's going to take me at least a month to perfect this into a workable piece of equipment. I don't want to rush this so I'll give you some intermediate gear to tied you off for now." Cyrus wasn't exactly happy that it was going to take so long, but knowing Cici he trusted her judgement and skill. This meant Cyrus had a whole month to level up to 25 and find a new shackle during that time. Though he doubted it for if he had access to a new shackle then it would have presented itself to him. Plus the extra points from reaching level 20 were suspended until he got another shackle to begin with. So he had to rely on getting all maxed stats of 20 then to get a new shackle.

Looking around the truck he spotted the armor on a rack of others just like it. The design was very military like as it had a ballistic vest and magazine pockets. Though the nice thing about it was the fact it had a hood for concealing his features. Touching the armor revealed it to be called "CQC Armor" or "Vector Armor".

[Vector Armor: grants a 10% boost in both physical and elemental resistances.]

[Having a full set gives the ability to turn invisible with optic camouflage.]

[Attacking or using any abilities that break concealment will reveal you immediately and you can not hide for 3 minutes.]

Cyrus asked if she had a full set of the armor as she pointed to a black box under the stand. Opening it revealed the pants, gloves, belt, and boots. The hood allowed for one to wear a mask but not a full helmet. Cyrus touched the gear and found that each piece gave 1% more resistance. Allowing a full 15% in all damage resistance. He equipped the armor as it quickly appeared across his body.

The armor felt light and flexible, yet sturdy and durable. Flipping the hood up caused his whole body to start bending light and turning him see through. His body gave a very faint outline that was as thin as a hair, though he guessed it was because of his enhanced sight he could barely see himself.

"This is really nice, how much do I owe you for it?" Cyrus asked, looking at Cici who still hadn't put the skull down.

She stumbled over her words a bit as she was focused on the skull, "Uh... take me to dinner after I am done with this and send me 2,000 credits over the course of the month. Cyrus nodded and pulled out his phone. The screen was slightly cracked which made him sigh with disappointment. Swiping on the screen he had accessed his account with Fenrir and sent Cici 2,000 of his earnings. He was only paid 3,000 per week which he saved up because his sister mainly paid the bills for his living and insurance. She earned well over 50,000 credits a week which lent him some leeway on buying food and clothes if needed. But his own earnings were pretty low. That was when he got a notification on his phone.

"All Fenrir operators head to CCO for an update evaluation!" This is what he was worried about, that the CCO was going to find out that he had changed and gotten stronger while just in a short span of time. He knew he had to or it would be considered a suspect of him being a Crisis Beast and detained for life until he was cleared of Chaos Energy. He stood and left the truck, heading to a possibly life changing situation.