65 Chapter 65

As I stood there thinking about it I couldn't come up with a plausible reason for why Jake would hide the fact that he had awakened. As such, I was fairly certain that he had to be hiding something, and if he needed to hide it then it couldn't be good, could it?

I didn't like the man, and this information made me very wary of him. Especially now that he was advancing to a metal core. Yet, I knew my speculation wasn't proof, so I couldn't condemn him just because he hid the fact that he had awakened. Our meeting with Jake and John hadn't been on the best terms so I could understand holding back a bit. However, why admit to Carol being awakened and not Jake? Even with my increased mental ability I was only able to come up with negative reasons.

Thankfully he didn't have someone like Caly to explain how to take his abilities up to the next stage. Which meant that if he had an ability he was hiding, it would remain a first stage ability.

Realizing that I was slightly relieved but I decided we needed to keep a very close eye on him regardless. Just because he didn't have anyone to explain it to him, didn't mean he couldn't figure it out on his own, or by accident.

Unfortunately even if things didn't get as bad as we thought they would, I doubted I would be able to keep an eye on him at all times. With that realization I really wondered if we should have awakened everyone like we had. Yet even as I wondered I knew we didn't have a choice. As the ambient mana in the world increased more and more people would awaken, it wasn't a matter of 'if' but when. That and whether they would awaken as a human or a twisted.

Knowing the twisted had once been humans, I didn't want to kill any more of them then I had too, so if I could guarantee that they wouldn't become twisted by awakening them, I would. This situation with Jake worried me though, and even if the situation with Jake wasn't what I feared, we would eventually run into someone who would be that bad, or even worse.

Leadership wasn't my thing, I didn't care about most of the people upstairs. I wouldn't ignore them if I was there while they were in danger, but I felt no obligation to protect them. Instead it was these girls here in my room that I cared about. They had put their trust in me, and I wanted to keep them by my side, so I would do what I needed to protect them. If there was anything I had learned from all the fiction I had read, it was that the best way to protect what was important to me was to be as strong as possible. Having a hidey hole we could retreat into was also a good idea.

Warm lips on my own pulled me out of my thoughts. I blinked and finally noticed Karen standing in front of me. "You don't need to think about it so much." she told me "You aren't alone, you have us, and your elementals. Together we can keep a close eye on him. If he is doing something wrong, we will catch him. If he isn't then all the better."

I sighed then nodded. She was right, we were in this together. It wasn't just me alone who needed to protect them. They could help protect me and themselves.

Karen caressed my cheek as she gave me a big smile. "Much better." she told me.

"Come on, we should head back up and see what is going on." Megan said. "Delilah will you watch over them?"

"What about her explanation?" I asked, looking at Delilah as she sat there in her human like form.

"I am curious too, but will knowing change anything right now?" Megan asked.

I really wasn't so sure. Didn't that depend on the explanation?

"It can wait." Karen told me. "I doubt it is something she can explain in a few minutes."

I frowned but nodded, when she put it like that I had to agree. If it wasn't something she could explain quickly then it would have to wait. By now it had to be two o'clock or even a bit later. As there wasn't any shouting or screaming coming from upstairs things shouldn't be too bad, but I wanted to be up there to see what was going on. "Alright." I told them then I went over and gave both Caly and Grace a kiss on their cheeks, before I headed for the door. I paused in the doorway as a thought crossed my mind. "Delilah, as you are, would you benefit from an advancement?"

Delilah nodded. "Yes master." she said.

I thought about that for a moment before I walked back into the room and placed my hand onto her shoulder. I already knew what I needed to do to advance her from a lesser elemental to a common elemental. "Sil, Enya." I called out. As I looked down into Delilah black eyes.

A warm breeze signaled the appearance of the two elementals. "Yes master?" Enya asked excitedly.

"Hmmm." Sil hummed.

I didn't respond to either. Instead I began injecting pure shadow energy into Delilah. The energy flowed out of me and into Delilah like a fast moving stream. After just a few moments I felt the aura around Delilah change and stopped the flow of energy.

Delilah shuddered beneath my hand as she closed her eyes. After a few moments she opened her eyes and looked up at me and smiled. Her appearance hadn't changed at all, but her aura was nothing like what it had been, it was stronger, much much stronger. Before I could say or do anything Delilah shifted down onto the floor where she knelt before me and lowered her head down to the floor. "Thank you master, I swear to serve you for as long as you are willing to keep me by your side." she pledged.

My mind blanked out for a moment. "I...uh, alright." I stammered stupidly.

Karen and Megan snickered behind me, but I just ignored them as Delilah raised her head to look at me with a bright smile. "Thank you master." she said then resumed her seat.

I moved on and advanced Enya and Sil just as I had Delilah. Unlike Delilah, Sil and Enya had a physical change as they grew to three feet tall, and the color of their hair became more vibrant. Their aura's also strengthened, but I personally felt that they were lacking in comparison to Delilah's.

Once that was done both elementals thanked me, they were obviously excited by the change but neither made any kind of pledge. I was curious about that, but I decided to put that on the back burner along with the other explanation that she owed me.

With that finished I stared at the three for a moment. "Alright, keep a watch around the house and over Grace and Caly." I told them. "We are heading up to see what is going on."

The three elementals all nodded their ascent then Sil and Enya disappeared.

I shook my head then turned back to the door where Karen and Megan were waiting for me. They led the way out the door and down the hall.

"How long before she ends up in Daryl's bed?" Megan asked.

"Megan." I scoffed irritably.

"About as soon as I can convince him to let her in." Karen replied. "Don't worry Megan, I am not in a rush to recruit any more girls."

I sighed and shook my head.

"You can keep pretending you don't want a taste of her, but don't forget I know the types of anime you prefer." Karen said.

"Seriously Karen?" I asked, staring at her back.

Karen laughed but didn't reply.

As we reached the top of the stairs I felt a familiar wave of energy flow over me. I was so startled by the wave of energy that I nearly fell back down the stairs. Despite the information my mother had told us, a fifth gate had opened. Yet despite my surroundings being flooded with potent energy, I didn't feel any pain, instead as the energy flowed into me like a river into a gorge, I felt a pleasant warmth flow throughout my body soothing every inch of my body.

I looked around and saw the pleasantly surprised expressions on everyone. I waited for the pain, but no matter how long I waited there was nothing. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I quickly dialed my mother, hoping she might have an explanation for why there were five gate openings instead of four, but no one picked up on the other side. I had no idea if that was because she was busy or if she had left this world.

After several more minutes the wave of energy began to dissipate then disappear completely.

"Any idea what that was?" Micheal asked as he walked over to my side.

I shook my head as my mind raced around in circles.

"Delilah commented that there were some worlds that didn't have mana spirits." Karen reminded me. "Maybe that was a gate from a world whose mana wasn't infected with a mana spirit."

"That is correct mistress." Delilah's voice came from a nearby shadow.

Micheal looked at the shadow that the voice had come from. "That was kind of creepy." he commented.

Before I could reply the air around us seemed to harden momentarily then shift just a bit to the side making all of us stumble.

"What the hell was that?" I asked worriedly.

"MASTER! OUTSIDE HURRY!" Delilah yelled.

I rushed out the back door as fast as I could move, which was a bit faster than I had expected. Thankfully the back door was already open, or I would have run right into it. As soon as I was outside I stumbled a bit as I tried to regain my balance and footing. As soon as I had I looked around for whatever danger Delilah had detected.

"Up! Look up!" Delilah said from my shadow.

I looked up into the sky then stared in utter amazement. In the sky far to the south I could see a crack in the sky. From where I was standing the crack looked to be as wide as a dime and through the crack I could make out a dark purple sky. More importantly a giant yellow cloud and several other shapes were coming through the crack in the sky.