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"Okay, so only Jeran, Garrick, Alex, and Titus connected, right?" We all nodded in response to Kyle's question.

"What was it like?"

"I was six, so I don't remember." [Jeran]

"I've always been connected." [Garrick]

"It hurt." [Titus]

"Yeah, same." [Me]

"Okay, you two only came close to connecting." [Kyle]

"But my vision cleared up afterwards." [Me]

"Yeah, 'cause you probably restructured your Neurosphere." [Ciph]

"Wait, but I can use magic." [Titus]

"So? You may have connected, but is there any amount of strength or smooth usage of magic?" [Kyle]

"No..."

"What's a neurosphere?" [Me]

"It's a model of sentience within your brain. See, your brain is the part of your body that links it to a soul, and your soul is constructed of several different parts. One of which, is the neurosphere, the house of your sentience. All your memories, new, old, forgotten, all there. Everything that's ever happened to you is there, and the closer a memory is to the center of it, the easier it is to remember. Before you can connect to your arcane potential, you need to reconstruct it, which can cause things to trigger inside of you that usually hint at your strength, and can get you a little in tune with magic, but just barely." [Ciph]

"How do you know so much about magic?" [Jeran]

"A certain book my dad gave to me before I got into college. It's a rare book, written millenia ago, before the world crumbled the first time. Mine's a translation of the original Arcanomicon, but it holds much the same information. Unfortunately, my dad only gave me thirty eight chapters picked from various volumes, but it's still a lot of information."

"There's an arcanomicon?" [Titus]

"Yup. It's a journal, written in some ancient time. I don't care for the time frame as much as the knowledge inside of it. The person who wrote it basically founded the explanations for why magic works the way it does."

"Oh, so you can tell us what our strengths are?" [Me]

"Well, not exactly. I can help narrow it down, but first you all are going to need to reconstruct your nuerospheres. Come on, follow me." Ciph got up and pushed past us, heading down into the abyssal stair case. We followed blindly, bumping into each other a lot as we went down the dark stairs, the only thing lighting the way being Seth's luminescent body. Down, down, and down we went. We were walking for at least half an hour, and not at a slow pace, before we came out into an open space, still pitch black.

I lost sight of Seth at some point, and felt a hand on my shoulder guide me to some ledge to sit down on. The ledge felt as if it were positioned over some cavity in the chamber, and the only hint at its true size was the howling wind rushing through it. I noticed a figure of markings sit down on the other side from me, and heard Garrick's voice a little to my left.

"I like how we can all see Seth, but he can't see any of us."

"Right, because we totally can't see the outline of Ciph walking around." [Titus]

"I'm right behind you, nimwit." [Ciph]

"Oh, well, then that's Kyle. You know, behind Jeran."

I heard Kyle's voice behind me, "I'm over here, Titus."

"But there's a third figure over there."

"You're just imagining things, Titus." [Jeran]

"But-"

"Not now, everybody quiet down and listen. The Arcanomicon has a device in it that can be used to connect someone to the strength, but first we need to reconstruct our neurospheres. So, think of the happiest moment you can. The single moment in your short little lives that made you the happiest."

I immediately thought of the first time Seth kissed me, and let that emotion fill every part of my body. I waited for the others to come up with something, and Ciph finally continued.

"Now that you have one... Jump off the ledge." Everyone immediately started complaining, groaning, and saying things like, "Not happening!" and "Nope.". The only person I saw jump was Seth, and once he slipped two feet beneath where the other's were, all the lights on his body vanished instantly, plunging us all into even thicker darkness. Once I saw him vanish, I chased after him, throwing myself off the ledge. At first I began to regret it, but I felt a sudden change in the air, and felt myself falling in space. A well lit space.

I could see the walls of the tunnel, and even the chamber above me, but the chamber was falling further and further upwards from me, and soon I was left alone with Seth, on the other side of the space. I tried shifting my weight to work my way over to him, but didn't move even an inch. I slowly began to feel terror inside myself, but the terror wasn't the thrill of the fall, but the fear of being away from Seth. I tried once more, and felt my spine pop in five places as I tried once more to get to him, and was sent hurtling in his direction, but slowed once I was within a foot of him.

"Hey, cutey." [Me]

"Huh? Oh, how'd you get over here? You were on the other side of the room earlier." [Seth]

"Yeah, I don't know. I just kinda shoved myself forward somehow."

"Oh. You know, this fall is getting kinda boring."

"Yeah it's probably an illusion, or there's some kind of strong upwards draft." [Me]

"True." As he said this, we fell head first into a cloud of fog and smoke. I reached out and grabbed his hand, realizing the reality of this seemingly bottomless pit. As we fell further more, the fog became more and more like mist, soaking our fur and clothes as time went by. The mist began to lighten in color, getting whiter and whiter, and becoming more like fog again. Within a second of the fog becoming solid white, the entirety vanished to shows us an open cavity, brightly lit, and miles down.

It appeared as if we'd been teleported above an ocean, due to the rolling waves of water far below, and the infinite sides of the chamber. There was even a sky, with clouds moving along at an amble pace. Suddenly, with a hard jerk we were teleported back into Tanner's living room, where he was sitting down on the couch, startled by our sudden existence.

"What the hell!? Where did you guys come from?" [Tanner]

"The weird hole in your basement?" [Me]

"What? Oh, that. Yeah, Seth teleported you guys out, probably. I remember when he pushed me in there. Let me fall long enough to hit the fog at the bottom before bringing me back."

"Oh, we went past the fog." [Seth]

"Past?! There's stuff after that?"

"Just a massive open area." [Me]

"Well what happened? I mean-"

"Imagine falling from the sky over the Pacific Ocean. That's what it looked like." [Me]

"Oh. That explains it."

"Explains what?" [Seth]

"Seth mentioned something a couple weeks ago about a world beneath the world or something."

"I have no idea idea what you're talking about." [Seth]

"No, the other Seth. Cipher."

"Oh." [Me]

"World beneath the world... Like a Journey to the Center of the Earth type- thing?" [Seth]

"I have no idea. For all I know he could be implying that the Earth's a flat disc and that there's more beneath it." [Tanner]

"Oh." [Me]

There was a weird rushing sound and Ted was on the other side of the room, accompanied by Daniel. They turned towards each other and started hugging and kissing as another rush brought Titus, Jeran, and X into the room. Tanner looked sadder as the room was progressively filled with more couples, and Titus went over to give him a hug.

But Titus did something that any sensible person would've drawn the line at. He lifted his head away from Tannner enough to kiss him on the forehead. Tanner broke. He started balling immediately, and Titus helped him up and carried him into his room. We all heard the door close behind them as Kyle and Cipher popped into existence, ending the stream of people being brought up to the living form downstairs.

"So, now that you've all had a thrill and have adrenaline in you..." Ciph held out his hand and muttered some word under his breath that sent most of us into chaos. First off Zane convulsed and fell to the floor, writhing a little. As this happened, X and Ted both screamed as their hands snapped into an unnatural shape. Daniel fell backwards and started writhing, similar to Zane, but a lot more like a seizure than twitching and shivering.

Seth's reaction was a particularly interesting in that all the markings over his body became instantly more complicated, with thirty new patterns appeared over his body, in moving, complicated symbols and characters. The rings and lines lifted off his body to stay at various levels from his fur, and his eyes glowed with a white intensity. He bent over and started breathing hard, only getting out the word, "Winded."

Jeran, me, and Garrick were the only ones who weren't effected by the strange work of Ciph, who went around with Kyle to help the others. Kyle fixed X's and Ted's broken hands and calmed Zane and Daniel to ask them what hurt. That's when Tanner came running out of his room, tears in his eyes, and absolutely terrified.

"Kyle, quick! Something's wrong with Titus!" They both immediately ran into Tanner's room and a moment later, Titus came out, all the dots on his hyena's pelt had shifted from black to transitioning between glowing colors, and his eyes flashed light colors so quickly it hurt to stare at.

"Woah, that's a change." [Ciph]

"What happened?" [Tanner]

"I guess I should've made sure all you guys were here first. I may have restructured his neurosphere." [Ciph]

"What are you guys looking at?" [Titus]

"Uh, come here, follow me."

Tanner led him into the bathroom, and not three seconds later we heard Titus shout, "What the fuck!?" He came out walking fast and sat down in a chair, trying to calm down.

"How am I supposed to go to school when I look like this? I like completely ridiculous!" [Titus]

"It's not that bad." [Tanner]

"Glowing is usually a sign of higher magical ability." [Ciph]

"Really?" [Titus]

"Ha, suckers." [Seth]

"And electric colors are even more so." [Ciph]

"Electric colors?" [Titus]

"Incredibly rare, mind you, but that would be your eyes. And paw pads." [Ciph]

Titus looked at the front of his hands, which flashed colors so fast it was a little seizure inducing, and he grinned a little, "So I'm like, really good with magic?"

"You're also pretty cute." [Tanner]

"Really, Tanner?" [Kyle]

"Oh shut up, I know you want me to be with him. You're lucky he's the only person actually trying to help me recover from my break up an hour ago. And, by the way Titus, I know it's just a ploy to get to me."

"Oh..." [Titus]

"And I'm pretty pissed off at Marko right now, so-" Tanner leaned over and kissed Titus on the lips and the glow on his body flared up a little, like Seth's does when I kiss him or when he's really happy.

"Hey, is there a way to give yourself glow?" [Ted]

"Yeah, but it's effect on your magic ability wouldn't be there." [Ciph]

"That's okay, I just think Daniel should glow a little, it's pretty cute."

"Psh, you can't choose what I look like." [Daniel]

"I don't know, his specialty might be the body, like with Kyle. Just so you know, the only thing holding me as a hyena is the fact that he thinks I'm cute." [Ciph]

"But now that I think about it, glowing is pretty cute..." [Kyle]

"Well, there goes your dignity." [Jeran]

"Trust me, it left the moment we hooked up." [Ciph]

"Aw, you love me." Kyle swooped up Ciph, and cradled him in his arms as much as he could.

"I do." Ciph kissed Kyle on the cheek and rested his head on Kyle's shoulder.

"... So, my hand broke. Should I be worried?" [X]

"I fixed it." [Kyle]

"Not about that, what's my strength?"

"Yeah, didn't you say this is a big indicator of talent?" [Seth]

"Oh, right. I need my book." [Ciph]

Kyle walked over to the island in the kitchen so that Ciph could grab his book and read from it, "Okay, let's see... You and Ted broke your hands, right?"

"Yeah." [Ted]

"Okay, you're good with forms of magic that require extensive use of the hands, examples being crippilation and primal, but it could also mean that if you use your hands during other forms of magic, it can act as a focus to work better." [Ciph]

"Sick." [X]

"What about me? I had a seizure!" [Daniel]

"Right, you and Zane probably specialize in forms of magic that require usage of the entire body, examples being primal arts, blue magic, and transention." [Ciph]

"Man, I do not want blue." [Zane]

"I'd be okay with your strength being blue." [Garrick]

"Although, Zane, you didn't have the same kind of seizure that Daniel did, yours is probably a general idea, like how Kyle's is healing and the body, it doesn't exactly matter what kind of magic he uses, just that he practices that. So... good luck figuring that out."

"And me?" [Titus]

"Right, you and Seth suffered a physical change, which means... oh, fuck. Okay, so, only have conceptual strengths, like Kyle's, except it ties to the change you experienced, so... Okay we know Seth's is runes, that much makes sense, yours could be anything primal." [Ciph]

"Primal?" [Titus]

"Yeah... As in any fundamental of magic. Okay, you stay the fuck away from my Arcanomicon, I do not trust you at all." [Ciph]

"When I restructured my neurosphere, it hurt in my jaw, what's that mean?" [Me]

"Oh, that's vocalist, hands down. Get used to the idea of chanting in strange, demonic languages. Wait, hurt or broke?" [Ciph]

"Hurt. Like, mild pressure."

"Oh, fuck. You need to... Vis!" I fell to the floor as my chest started to tighten, keeping me from breathing, moving very much, or even thinking. My vision blurred to the point of obscurity and I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I vaguely felt lifted and moved, but blacked out at some point.