63 Chapter 63

"Master." Delilah called out to me getting my attention.

Looking at her she seemed concerned. I took a moment to really look at her. Almost everything about her resembled that small but curvy fairy form she had before. Her long black hair was so dark that it seemed to absorb the light around it, her skin almost as white as paper. Despite the increase in size she had managed to maintain the proportions she had before. The only real difference was the ears and the tail. Though I couldn't see her tail at the moment. The ears though looked a lot like wolf ears and they even shifted a bit under my gaze telling me they weren't just cosmetic. She was still incredibly beautiful, and I had no idea how to feel about that. Even without the ears and tail I knew she wasn't human.

"Any issues?" I asked as my eyes finally met hers.

"There is one matter of concern, but it isn't very important at this moment." Delilah replied. "Although you might want to move Grace and Calidea to somewhere more comfortable. Their mana cores seem to have broken through to copper, so it will be a while before they wake up."

I wasn't sure how to feel about that. Not because I wasn't happy for them, I was. Instead I wondered how I was going to explain all of it to the others.

"Anyone else breaking through to copper?" I asked. I had no idea where everyone had been, especially the new people.

"Yes, there are three others." Delilah told me. "It is part of the concern for later."

I frowned then I slowly got to my feet. "I see." I said. If there was someone outside of me and my girls who had become a copper, then I wouldn't be able to keep the secret. It was a pity, but not a surprise, Tracy had awakened a purple core so she had the same starting place as Grace and Calidea.

I gave her a wane smile. "I want to know more about this." I said gesturing to her current form, "but now isn't the time." I told her.

Delilah gave me a sad smile but nodded. "I have to go now." she told me as she stood up then held Bryan out to me.

I gently took the little man out of her hands then watched as she dissolved into shadow before flowing into my own.

"Where did she go?" Emily asked worriedly.

"Don't worry Emily, she is fine. Your mommy will be waking up soon." I told her.

"Promise?" she asked.

I gave her a smile then nodded. "Promise." I replied.

Thankfully it wasn't long before everyone else started stirring. The moment Rebecca opened her eyes Emily launched herself onto her mother's lap and began to cry her little eyes out. Rebecca's only response was to hold her daughter tightly, a fearful look in her eyes.

I watched for a few moments then Bryan shifted in my arms. I looked down at the little man who looked up at me. While I knew it had been an issue, and that there was no chance that it was true, Bryan did resemble me a lot more than he did his father. At least at this age he did. I smiled down at the little man but he just stared up at me like I was an idiot.

I heard more groans from around the room and from the dining room. After a few more moments I heard what I had been waiting for. "Bryan?" Heather called out worriedly.

"I have him." I replied reassuringly. Heather had been sitting beside Micheal at the dining room table. So she was easily able to see me with her son in my arms. Immediately she looked relieved then stood up and rushed around the table to me.

I happily handed the little man off to his mother. Like Emily, Bryan clung to his mother once she had him in her arms. I gave them a smile that they didn't see before turning my attention back to the others.

I walked back to my girls and waited for them to wake up. After a few more minutes Karen and Megan had woken up. Both immediately sought comfort in my arms. I held both girls tight for a while and promised them that the worst was over. The next time those gates opened like that it wouldn't be as bad. They just held on tighter.

A few minutes later everyone who was going to wake up was up and moving around. Obviously Grace and Caly were still out, so I moved them up onto chairs where they would be more comfortable. I quickly explained to Karen and Megan why they were still unconscious. Once they understood the pair took up seats by our wives leaving me able to look around for the others who had advanced to metal cores.

As I expected Tracy still hadn't woke up while everyone else in the room had. After seeing that I made my way into the dining room to see who the other two were. After a few moments I was surprised to discover that the other two who had advanced to copper were Arnold and Jake. I immediately felt a headache coming on.

"Any idea what is wrong with them?" Micheal asked as I stood silently watching the others try and wake the two men.

I sighed. "Yeah." I replied. "Make them comfortable and leave them be, they won't wake up for a couple of hours." I told Carol and Sandra.

"What is it? Will he be alright?" Carol asked worriedly.

"He is fine." I told her. "Same for Arnold." I told Sandra.

"So what is it?" Micheal asked.

"It's part of their awakening." I told them.

"Why is his different?" Sandra asked.

"Wait, hold on." Carol said. "Jake wasn't awakened."

I stared at Carol for a few moments before I understood what she said. "You didn't awaken him?" I asked.

Carol shook her head. "He had to use the restroom, by the time he was done I didn't have enough time to start his awakening before the energy waves appeared." she explained.

I nodded. "I see, then he must have gone through a natural awakening." I told her.

Carol nodded and seemed to relax.

"Either way, Caly made a recommendation to me that I think all of us should do." I told Micheal.

"What is it?" Micheal asked curiously.

I explained what happened to us in the backyard with the other cat. "So everyone should try and gain the mental ability and max it out. With so many gate openings everyone should have more than enough wisps." I told him. "Mental defense would be better, but I don't know if everyone can gain that." I told him.

Micheal nodded. "That isn't a bad idea." he admitted. "What about the limit on our number of abilities?" he asked.

"You probably just advanced two core grades. That is six more abilities than you had before those gates." I reminded him.

Micheal's eyes widened then he looked over at Jake and Arnold.

I sighed. "Yeah, they are like that because they are advancing to copper." I told him.

Micheal cursed. "Anyone else?" he asked.

I nodded. "Tracy, Grace, and Caly." I replied then hesitated a few moments.

Micheal saw my hesitation "What?" he asked.

"I have a metal core too." I admitted.

Micheal frowned then his eyes opened wide. "Is that why you were out so long?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, so if their transition to a metal core is like my awakening they should be out for hours." I told them.

"But he will be fine?" Carol asked worriedly.

I nodded, "Better than fine." I told her.

"Alright, We can get them moved to beds so they are comfortable, and out of the way." Micheal said then looked around the room. "Alright people, I know that sucked but we need to know what is going on. Kevin, turn the TV on. Brandon, Brian check the net. I want to see what is going on out there." Micheal shouted to get things going.

"Good idea, I am going to get my girls moved down to my room." I told Micheal. "Then I will also tell the others to max out their mental ability." I told him.

Micheal nodded then walked around the table to where Brian and Brandon were setting up laptops.

Heading back into the living room I took a moment to explain to John why Tracy wasn't waking up yet. Thankfully he wasn't panicking. Once I had reassured him that it was a good thing for Tracy, I took a moment to gather everyone's attention then told them about the cat we had encountered earlier and what we felt needed to be done to defend against such an ability. Then I walked everyone through the process of creating abilities, and pushing wisps into them. Once I was done I noticed several people immediately shift their attention into their mana core.

"You don't have to worry about us. We both maxed out our mental ability during the gate openings. We also gained the mental resilience ability and maxed it out while we were waiting for you to come back." Karen told me as I joined them.

"Awesome, now I just need to do it for myself." I told them.

"You should probably push those abilities into the next stage." Karen said.

I frowned but nodded, it wasn't a bad idea. Even if I only had a single ember in both abilities there shouldn't be many who would be able to influence me. At least right now. That could change, there were already five people in our group besides myself who had advanced to copper. So there were probably others who had done the same. The more I thought about it the more convinced I was that I needed to do it. Once I had I could probably share some of that protection to my girls through our bond. While Caly and Grace were also advancing to copper, they would only be able to advance five abilities to the second stage.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." I told them, "Now let's get them moved to our room, then I will advance my abilities." I told them, once down there I could also question a certain shadow wolf.

Karen nodded then gave me a smile. Megan didn't smile though instead she seemed worried.

"Daryl, have you checked the time?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"While it felt like hell, it didn't last that long. It's only one fifty." Megan told me.

I frowned then realized what she was talking about. "Yeah, but even with that much energy appearing all at once it should take a bit before shit started to happen." I told her.

Megan hesitated, "I hope that is all it is." she told me.